Huge thanks to Eva Vanrell for inviting me to participate in today’s Character Interview Blog Hop!
Eva is an: Author. Attorney. New Orleanian. Lover of Cherry Ring Pops. Confirmed Japanophile. Dreamer. Sometimes Obsessive. Blunt to a Fault. Wishful-Thinker. Tea and Anime Compulsive. Diehard. She lives in New Orleans with her husband, two cats and a Japanese maple. Eva’s debut novel, The Butterfly Crest, is about a young woman who learns that she is part of an ancient prophecy. The woman travels to Japan, where she is suddenly thrust into a world of myths and legends. Eva is currently working on Book Two of the series, so stay tuned!
The idea of this blog is to interview a character in your current WIP. Mine is Dream of a City of Ruin, Book II in the Dreams of QaiMaj series.
Spoiler alert for anyone who hasn’t read Book I: Dream of a Vast Blue Cavern; I’m about to give away the ending in a big way. Read on at your own peril.
At the end of Book I, the main character, Stasia emerges from the underground world. She meets a secondary character, Maia, at the beginning of book II and she has a lot of questions for her, so I figured I’d have Stasia interview Maia. I decided to plunk the interview down in the middle of the scene where these two characters meet.
Excerpted & adapted from Dream of a City of Ruin:
More people, brown and stout and bundled in furs like the man, rode the giant beasts, and even more walked beside them, some pushing little carts with runners through the ice. They all gathered around Stasia and her captor. Spears bristled among the moving crowd. Stasia’s nervousness increased.
The man facing Stasia spoke, but his words had no meaning, like a baby’s babbling.
“Who are you?” Stasia asked him. “Where are we?”
The man gasped, and the spear faltered for just a moment. Uncertainty eroded his steady, unnerving gaze, and fear crept in around the corners of his eyes. He shouted something, then, still holding the spear between them, he reached for something at his belt. Stasia tensed, but the object he pulled was a large, hollow tusk with a deep curve, carved in intricate designs. He lifted it to his lips and blew.
A horrendously loud noise issued from the tusk. At the same time the beast stopped its rolling motion, and Stasia was pitched forward, toward the man’s spear. She shoved it aside with T’Jas and fell to her knees, catching herself with her hands. She pushed herself up again, drew T’Jas, and melded the spear to the man’s hand—not deep enough to do permanent damage, just to stick the skin to the shaft. He yelled and dropped the tusk, then tried to pull the spear away with his other hand, which she promptly froze as well.
“I am sorry to bind you so,” she said. “But . . .” She fingered the blood on her face. “Why did you bind me? Why did you hurt me? I’ve done nothing to you. Are you working for the Flames?”
“What are you?” he asked, suddenly using words she could comprehend. “You do not look like Dhuciri.”
Before Stasia could think of a reply to that strange response, a stout woman with her long black hair in braids and lighter furs than the man pulled her steed close. She shouted something Stasia could not comprehend and the crowd around them eased a little; spears were lowered.
The woman turned and spoke to Stasia. “Forgive him, Child of Ice. He did not understand what you are. He should not have treated you as a prisoner.”
Child of Ice? The woman wasn’t any older than Stasia herself. Taller, yes, but certainly not older. “Who are you?” Stasia asked again, this time of the woman.
“I am Maia. Healer of the Liathua Khell. You are the one I’ve seen in the bones.”
“I don’t understand,” Stasia said. “You saw me? Where are we? When are we?” Though their speech was civilized, the woman’s people seemed primitive, their furs raw and sewn with sinew. No metal in their weapons.
“This is Khell.” Maia spread out her arms to encompass the vast, white space surrounding them. “The Land of Those Who Stayed Behind to Wait. We are travelling from the Winter Camp in the Doaltooth Mountains to the Summer Camp at Pebble Beach.”
Stasia could barely digest those strange words before the woman continued with something even stranger: “The stories our greatmothers passed down say we have been waiting since the end of time, Child. But today, the Waiting of Three Thousand Winters is over.”
“What have you been waiting for?” Stasia had to ask, though she felt she knew what the answer would be.
“You,” Maia said softly. “And him.” She glanced down at where Dynat lay, draped in his cloak, across her beast. Hatred stirred in Stasia’s heart when she saw his chest rising and falling shallowly. She would not have been sorry if they’d killed him. “The Greatmothers foretold your coming. A Child of Ice and a Man of Fire will come to rescue the Khell.”
Stasia looked around at the gathered people and their beasts. “Just what am I to rescue you from?” she asked, trying to make her tone light. “The howling, freezing beast that roams this wasteland?”
“The . . . storm?” Maia said, looking perplexed. “Of course not. We rescued you from that. The legends say you will end the tithes and bring the Khell back to the place of their origin.”
“Tithes?”
“Maia, enough,” the man said suddenly. He had been struggling to free his hands from his spear without success. He said a few words that Stasia could not make sense of. Maia answered him in kind.
“Please free him,” Maia said suddenly. “Please. He will lose face before the tribe.”
“Only if he swears not to stick a spear in me,” Stasia said. He nodded grudgingly, and she drew T’Jas and unstuck his skin. He dropped the spear instantly, rubbing his hands and examining them. The spear clattered to the hard ground, where one of the other Khell picked it up.
“What is it you want of me?” Stasia asked.
“I don’t know,” Maia said softly. “I thought . . . the stories all say you will come from the ice and rescue us. They didn’t mention . . .”
“That we wouldn’t know what we’re supposed to do?” Stasia suddenly felt sorry for the woman. How would she feel if the Ancestors came to life to save Iskalon, and they didn’t know who Stasia was or what was going on? “I think you’ve mistaken us for something we’re not, Maia. He’s certainly no savior, and I have my own problems. I left my people in the middle of a brutal war. I have to get back to them.”
“No,” Maia said sharply. “You must not. I have seen you in the bones. It is no mistake. I will not allow you to forsake the Khell.”
Find out more about Maia’s foretelling in Dream of a City of Ruin, coming Fall 2014.
Sadly I don’t have anyone to tag; all my writing buddies are blog-shy (probably a good thing–means they get more actual writing done, right?) so I’ll give Eva Vanrell one more shout out, thanks for inviting me Eva! Everyone check out her amazing book, The Butterfly Crest! Also Monica Pierce invited me right after Eva did, check out her character interview here. You should already know that you have to read Famine so I won’t mention it again : )
Tomorrow, a special treat from guest blogger Jesikah Sundin in 101 TIWIK #42: Subject, Symbol, & Theme. All I’ll say is that I never really understood theme until I read her post.
