Creation

Nida was created by Kelly Thompson and Meredith McClaren in Black Cloak 1.

Major Story Arcs

Nida is the head medical examiner for the police department, and the Black Cloaks, in the city of Kiros.

Nida is a Dracona. Her girlfriend is Phaedra Essex, a Black Cloak.

She helps investigate the murdered body of Freyal III of Sidra, but doesn’t have her soulprint gear to finalize his identity. She is not there when Phaedra shows up later to look at the body of Freyal—her ex-fiance—as well.

Nida later studies the body of Dace, an Elf who had been dating Freyal, and a Maid (mermaid) named Yanha. Dace’s body was found near the Lagoon, where she had a huge bite taken out of her. Nida and the Black Cloaks hypothesize that Dace was poisoned, so when Yanha bit and killed her, the Maid was then poisoned and died in turn.

Nida is empathetic with Phaedra about Freyal being killed. She is also concerned that Phaedra may be in danger if she interviews Freyal’s family, which is the royal family. Phaedra assures her that she will be fine.

Phaedra, however, is actually attacked twice that afternoon. First she is knocked unconscious by her half-brother, Hadrian, who doesn’t like her because she left Freyal and cast shame on the family. One of the royal magicians, Valorie, heals her, but then she is attacked again by a stranger with a deadly Dracona Dagger, leaving her near death.

Nida brings her to the Morgue, where she can watch over her and keep her out of sight. Phaedra survives the attack, partly because of her earlier healing but also partly because she is half-Elf and half-Dracona. Being a “half-breed” is unacceptable in Kiros society and could lead to her family being attacked with Honor Killings, so Phaedra keeps her racial identity secret. Nida believes it is better to be honest and open about it. Phaedra counters that she can’t put her family in danger, and that she left her life with the royals behind and prefers the life she chose with Nida and the Black Cloaks. Nida ultimately agrees to keep Phaedra’s secret and in her report she says she survived only because of the healing spell.

Phaedra continues to investigate the killings. The Queen, feeling in danger, pressures the Police to put out a search for Phaedra, forcing her to go underground.

Phaedra visits Nida and fills her in on her various activities, including that she went swimming with some Maids, who are widely considered to be extremely dangerous. They have some high-intensity sex due to all their tensions and relief. Nida asks what happened between Phaedra and the royals when she was younger. Phaedra explains that when she realized she was half-Dracona, she broke off her engagement, but without explanation to the Queen or Freyal. That led to her being exiled. However, she doesn’t regret it, because she loves Nida.

Nida gives Phaedra the tox screen on Freyal, proving that he died of the same poison as Dace and Yanha.

Eventually, Phaedra and her partner Pax solve the case: the Queen was behind the deaths. She and her magician, Lysanthir, had been cruelly absorbing the magic from the beloved furry animals known as Taka in order to make up for a lack of magic in the city. Freyal had found out and they had to kill him to keep it a secret. Phaedra destroys the machine that absorbed the Takas’ magic, which led to widespread fires and floods that destroyed many of the most vulnerable areas of the city. The Queen and Lysanthir were arrested.

Phaedra left the Black Cloaks and left Nida as well. Seemingly she never spoke to her about it, but guessed that Nida, like Pax, believed that the cost to the marginalized citizens of Kiros was too much to pay for the destruction of the Taka machine.

Five years later, Phaedra is contacted by Pax to help solve a new series of murders. They end up being attacked by a Dragyern, a creature they thought was mythical.

Phaedra wants to learn more about Dragyern so she goes to the one person she knows who happens to be curating an exhibition on them at the Kiros Natural History Museum—Nida.

Nida has seemingly been working there for some time. It’s not clear if she lost her job in the wake of Phaedra’s decisions or if she decided to leave on her own.

When Phaedra shows up, Nida lets her have it for not communicating with her. Phaedra apologizes and says she is there for work. She asks about Dragyern. Nida fills her in on the little that is known about them and tells her that Jono, a friend of hers, might know more.

Before she leaves, Phaedra says she knows she can’t really apologize or make up for what she did, but that more than anything, the thing she regrets from that night was losing Nida.

Phaedra and others solve the case with the Dragyern and discover a new source of magic for the city, which they give to the Prime Minister, who happens to be Phaedra’s father. He uses it to help the city, including the marginalized people hurt in the wake of the destruction of the machine.

After the situation is resolved, many of Phaedra’s friends get together to hang out outside in one of the now-improved areas. Nida and Phaedra are seen together, holding each other, with Nida saying that Phaedra had done well to try to make up for what she had done, not only with the new synthetic magic but by giving a set of mech wings to one of Pax’s children, who had lost her wings in the fire.