Ayla

Ayla (姶良 (アイラ) , Aira^?) is a recurring character in the The Apothecary Diaries series. She is an envoy of the Country of Shaoh.

Appearance

Ayla is a tall beautiful woman with golden hair, blue eyes, and a well endowed physique who greatly resembles Aylin, despite being cousins. During her diplomatic mission to Li, Ayla wore a western dress with a red hair accessory.

Personality

Of the two envoys, Ayla is the more bold of the pair. She was extremely prideful and confident in her appearance, which she thought would be enough to seduce the Emperor, until she saw the moon spirit.

Abilities

Diplomacy: Ayla represented Shaoh as one of its envoys and brokered an agreement with the Shi clan to sell them the latest feifas.

Background

Ayla and Aylin once served as apprentice shrine maidens to the Shrine Maiden of Shaoh, and received an education from her.^[2] However, Ayla grew to hate the Shrine Maiden, and plotted to bring her down.

At some point, Ayla took an albino girl and raised her to become one of her agents as part of her vendetta against the Shrine Maiden of Shaoh.^[3]

They both came to Li as envoys on a diplomatic mission to discuss trade with Shaoh. During a banquet that was held to welcome them, Ayla was unimpressed with the performances and left her carriage to approach the Emperor's carriage to flirt with him. Before she was able to do anything more, Aylin stopped and convinced her to go back to her carriage. Ayla later watched the moon spirit performance her great-grandfather had witnessed several decades ago, which deeply moved her. Ayla exited her carriage and rapidly spoke to Maomao in Shaohnese, who mentioned the name of the Shaohnese moon goddess in response. Shocked, Ayla was again guided back by Aylin.^[4]

The events of the performance led to Ayla speaking less during trade meetings, with her pride in tatters.^[5]

When Maomao was taken to a hot springs village in the Northern Province, she saw Ayla walking around.^[6] Maomao later saw Ayla and Shenmei together, confirming that the Shi clan was working with Shaoh, and had supplied the feifa used in the imperial brother's assassination attempt.^[7]

Aylin later fled to Li seeking asylum, due to being ousted by Ayla.

Trivia

• Her name means "moonlight" or "halo of light around the moon" in Turkish.
• In Moon Fairy (season 2, episode 5), Ayla says "Bu ne böyle? Nereye kayboldu? Peki, o da kim?" in Turkish. This translates to "What is this? Where did it disappear to? Well, who is that?"

References