Zel Gris was born on Livno III. Later in her life, she was hired by Queen Forsythia to teach Princess Rinetta Gan combat drills, culture and strategy.
Gris located Gan in the royal treasury while the girl was trying to break into a locked container. As soon as the princess opened the container, Gris recognized the artifact inside. Gris told the princess the story of the Architects who built a machine on Livno III to regulate the weather. The Solstice Globe was one of three power sources for that device. She convinced the young girl that the Globe had to be returned.
On a second trip to the treasury, Gris took images of the Solstice Globe and sent them to her clan, who confirmed that the artifact was real. She was told that the conditions on Livno III were deteriorating and the device needed to be returned as soon as possible.
Gris was playing sabacc in the Frozen Kova cantina against Bweena and Lando Calrissian. She was attempting to earn credits to book passage off Hynestia but lost to Calrissian when he realized her changing fur patterns revealed that she had a bad hand. After the game, she went to leave but noticed a bounty hunter named Xersko entering the cantina. She attempted to flee but was chased down and restrained by the bounty hunter. Queen Forsythia Jin and Princess Rinetta Gan arrived to confront Gris. The queen sentenced Gris to be locked up in the royal dungeon.
Gris was visited in the dungeon by Gan and explained that she was captured while trying to earn credits to flee Hynestia. When Gan offered to free her, Gris declined and told the princess that she had to come up with a plan to return the Globe herself. The princess ruminated on Gris' lessons and realized the best way to return the artifact was to convince Calrissian to use his ship to transport the Globe to Livno III.
Gris was still imprisoned in the dungeon when Calrissian was returned to Hynestia and jailed for failing to deliver the Globe to the Empire. She had a brief conversation with the smuggler, but chose to ignore him. A tureen of soup was delivered to the prisoners, and the Lynna discovered a message from Princess Gan. Once the princess put her plan in motion, she freed Gris from her cell. Gris covered Calrissian with a hold-out blaster as Gan made him promise to return the Solstice Globe to Livno III. The group was discovered by a guard, but he was subdued. Gris used her teeth to tear a gherlian fur into strips so she could tie up the guard.
After leaving the dungeon, Gris climbed into a refuse cart with the rest of the fugitives so they could make their way to the docking bay undetected. During the ride, Gan asked Gris why she was angry at Calrissian. She explained that he had disparaged the appearance of her fur. Once they reached the Millennium Falcon, Gris boarded the ship while Calrissian and Gan bluffed the guards into thinking it was a kidnapping. She went to take control of the freighter's dorsal gun and complained when the princess ordered her not to shoot any of the guards.
Fleeing the planet, the Falcon was engaged by a group of Ne'eda's Stalwarts. Calrissian joined Gris on the guns. As L3-37 put the ship through a Mustafarian Special, Gris engaged the targets and destroyed several of the pursuing ships. She teased Calrissian about his bad aim.
The crew escaped from the Stalwarts and entered hyperspace for the journey to Livno III. Gris assisted Gan in cleaning up after the princess got sick during the maneuver. She was nervous that she might be too late to save her planet. To pass the time, Gris played sabacc with Calrissian and Gan. When they exited hyperspace, Gris went to the cockpit and saw nothing but an asteroid field. She feared her planet had been destroyed, but L3-37 explained it was just a debris field from a passing comet and steered the freighter toward Livno III.
The freighter landed on the planet, and Gris pushed a cart containing the Solstice Globe to the Chamber of the Sun. Zim Azul greeted her and asked her to install the Globe into the weather-controlling device in the middle of the room. She did and waited to see if it would affect the climate of the planet. She worried when no changes happened, but the device activated and sent a bright beam of light through the roof into the sky. Gris rejoiced as the storms cleared and the weather improved. She joined her fellow Lynna in a celebration. When Calrissian and L3-37 left to return Gan to Hynestia, Gris stayed on her homeworld but gave the smuggler a large chunk of kakaorzum as a reward.
Zel Gris had fur that changed shades depending on her mood.
- Star Wars: Timelines