Ask Sheth!

Hey, digressors! Sorry I'm so late with this post; it was a busy day, preceded by busier ones, and there are more of the same fast approaching, so free time has been somewhat restricted. But without further ado, I shall introduce to you this week's character to be interviewed, Sheth Terrem. (Yes, fangirls,  please contain your shrieking, or we'll never get this interview underway.) 

Sheth Terrem

Sheth Terrem was born to Kheleth immigrants, and spent most of his growing-up years in the back of a wagon. His parents were merchants, largely of animals and their byproducts, but also of various other transportable goods. When Sheth was sixteen, the family made a stop in the Reshan-Shamindo bordertown of Lans and, while Sheth guarded the wagon, Shamindo cultists attacked the town and robbed him of both parents. The city council assigned him to live with Sern Jesyn, a Serdak dragon-rider turned evangelist who eventually led him to Yahveh-Jeshua. Seven years after moving in with Sern, Sheth is on his own, and has been called up for service in the Reshan Guard, despite his pacifistic stance. Now traveling with a ragtag combination of Reshen, Khanor, Shamindo, Kiratai, and Serdakai, Sheth struggles to stay strong in his faith without alienating certain others around him. Sheth is an introvert with a dry sense of humor, and loves books and stories. If he could be anywhere in the world, he would likely choose to return to his childhood home-base of Delnam and read a good book with his dog, Tori, beside him. (Poor Tori -- she must miss Sheth quite a bit, as I'm not convinced that the Guard allows recruits to keep pets.) Sheth is currently courting (or whatever you call the process) Yannah Delraen, and is in an uneasy truce with Sohrem Terahl, who assaulted him once for fighting with Yannah and making her cry (long story, Sheth and Yannah have since reconciled, and it wasn't really worth the assault). 

Sheth is the protagonist of 'The Follower', and also (arguably) of 'The Merchant's Son'. He's been bumped from that role for 'The Rescuer', but he's still in there, and he still has fangirls. Hm. I wonder if Yannah ever gets jealous...? 

Anyways, here he is, peopleses. Have fun asking questions. I shall do my best to post the answers a bit earlier in the day on Wednesday. 

Character Interview #4: Yannah Delraen

Hello again, fellow digressors! This past Saturday, I opened up my character, Yannah Delraen, for an interview. For those who might not be aware, this is Sheth's girl, the one on whom Sohrem had a crush strongly enough to make him try to kill Sheth. Yeah, it was interesting. But anyways, here are the answers to your most pressing questions. 

What is being in the Guard like? 

It's not quite what I expected. I mean, I knew that except near the borders, the Guard was fairly inactive. We don't get that many conflicts with other nations these days. But life at the base is actually a little boring outside of training sessions. But that could just be because I was among the younger recruits, so we had to take classes and such. Things get a lot more exciting on patrols. Or at least on the only one I've joined so far. But at the base, since I'm grouped with the newer recruits, it gets extremely tiresome. You'd think people joining the military would at least know how to act their age. They don't. Believe me. The officers are fine, and the people who have some experience under their belt are generally manageable. But I wouldn't be surprised if all recruits under the age of nineteen were discharged for disorderly conduct within the next six months. 

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised, either. But if they're not discharged, at least you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you'll probably advance more quickly than they will. Maybe. What was the hardest part about having to take care of your younger brothers? Or was it all extremely challenging? 

The hardest part was convincing them that they weren't going to lose me, too. Mother died, Aviram ran away, and Father acted like we didn't exist. But in the end, they lost me anyways. And I always knew deep down that it would happen, so it felt like I was lying to them. But I had to, or they would have lost whatever hope they had left, and where would we have been then? So I guess that was the hardest part. 

If you were suddenly reunited with your younger brothers and the government allowed you to take care of them again, would you leave the Reshan Guard without a moment's hesitation? Even if it meant not being able to say goodbye to the people you met there and leaving them all behind? 

I promised I would come back for them. So I guess I wouldn't have much of a choice. 

What about Sheth? 

He would understand. Or... he would recover. But either way, I have to look after my family, no matter what else I lose in the process.  

Which one of your brothers were you closest with? 

Aviram and I were close for a long time. I was his little sister, and we were both "big siblings" to the younger boys. I mean, the age gap between me and Rens is -- 

Whoa, hold up. Let's just clarify here: How old are your younger brothers, and what are their names? 

...Rensan is fourteen, Shan is eleven, and Joram is eight. 

Got it. Continue. 

I was just going to say that the age gap between me and Aviram is only a little wider than the gap between me and Rens, but I'm... older, I guess, in personality. So it sort of felt sometimes like Aviram and I were parents and our brothers were our children. After Mother died, he got... distant... but we were close once. 

Were you closest to your father or your mother? 

My mother, definitely. My father was... He wasn't cruel or anything. I did love him. Whether he loved me back is debatable. But Mother and I were more alike in personality and beliefs, and the two of them fought so much that I just found it hard to be close to him while I was still close to Mother. 

What are some of your fondest memories about your mother? 

...I... Carissa, I don't want to answer this question. 

Well, you have to. 

Well, I don't want to. 

I wasn't giving you a choice. 

I'm not. Answering. This. 

Come on, kiddo -- it's just a simple question. 

About my mother. 

Yes! 

My dead mother. 

Yeeeeesssss. 

I don't talk about my mother. 

You just did two seconds ago. 

No. 

I'll hurt Sheth. 

You do that fairly frequently. 

I'll hurt him again, and it will be your fault. 

You already did that. 

JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION, WOMAN. 

...No. I don't think I could choose one memory, anyways. They're all painful now. 

All this time, and you still don't have one memory you can look back on and be happy? 

I'm happy for about two seconds before I remember that she's dead. 

Well, what's a memory that makes you happy for two seconds? 

...I guess the time we stayed up late sewing a new tunic for Aviram's birthday. I was anything but a seamstress, so we kept having to yank out stitches. But she always had this way of making me laugh when I was upset. And I swear she intentionally made mistakes just to make me feel better. You could never tell with her. Then Joram came in and wanted to help, so she let him. That was one of the sloppiest tunics I've ever seen, but Aviram actually wore it a lot after that. I'm not sure whether it amused him, or whether Mother asked him to do it. But... actually, that was Aviram's last birthday before... See, this is why I didn't want to answer this question. 

Okay, okay. You can go now if you want. 

But now your readers will think I'm some stubborn, spoiled little brat like Dehlara. 

Ha. I think that's the first time you've called her that out loud. 

...I-i have to go. 

--------------------------------------------------- 

Well, there she goes, folks. I remembered about two-thirds of the way through this interview that Sohrem was attracted to her temper. That might have been a useful thing to take into account while I asked the questions. However, it did not occur to me until too late. She's generally kind and likes to help, but once she's decided to be stubborn about something... Jinkies. 

Okay, well, thanks for reading! Did you enjoy this interview? I'd love to hear your thoughts! (And I'm sorry about that spell where I didn't reply to any comments; I shall make an effort to be better about that now. Y'all are cool people.) Feel free to ask any questions that might take your fancy (serious or no) in the comments.

I shall also try to come up with a non-interview-related post in the next couple of days. Maybe something about NaNo, eh? A lot of people I know have written blog posts and such about NaNoWriMo already (some before the event began), and I haven't yet. That might be a good topic. And I have this terrible habit of jumping onto bandwagons as they're rolling off into the sunset. You guys have any ideas as to what I should choose as a topic? You're the readers, after all. I'm just a rambling, crazy writer sitting in a room with a laptop and a ton of books. How am I supposed to know what the public wants? Well, I guess I have a general idea, but... 

But, um... but whatever I was saying, I'm sure I digress. 

Ask Yannah! (Yes, I Do Actually Have Female Characters.)

Well, here it is, fellow digressors -- my first post of November. I was going to try being cool by referring to the blog by its initials, until I remembered that its initials would be either DOADS, DDS, or DADS, none of which are especially cool. Although dads are cool. And bow ties. And fezzes. 

Wait, what was I saying? Oh, yeah. 

Today, I present to you yet another lovely character for an interview. And yes, as indicated in the title of the post, this is the first character in the blog series who would not be likely to protest to being called "lovely." (Although Jorthen is a lovely man, and I'm sure he's used to hearing it.) 

Yannah Delraen

Yannah Delraen recently turned seventeen, but despite her easygoing manner, her spitfire temper, and her tendency to get flustered and blush, she is old beyond her years. The second-born of five children, Yannah was left to fend for herself and her little brothers when her mother died of an illness, her father stopped fulfilling his role as caregiver, and her eldest brother, Aviram, left to make his own way in the world. When the government took her younger brothers and assigned them to different families, Yannah was left alone with her faith broken and her purpose lost. She joined the Reshan Guard. and there met Sheth, Sohrem, and Jorthen. She has, in the months since, renewed her faith in what her mother taught her, become Sheth's best friend and eventually his girl, reunited with Aviram, and been stalked by Sohrem. (All this after her crush on Jorthen faded because she didn't like his bossiness.) She loves to draw, and is Shaetha Sohran's best friend, sort of an older sister figure. She's the sort to sit quietly in the corner and mind her own business, while silently firing off sassy comebacks to anyone who says something she doesn't like. She rarely says these things aloud, but entertaining the thought of them is her guilty pleasure. She is not a naturally forgiving person, but she is learning. (Fun fact: Yannah is the first character I ever based off of a real person. She was based off of me, actually, but she's since developed her own personality and doesn't even look quite like me anymore. A cousin, maybe, but not me.) 

From now until Wednesday, Yannah will be taking questions from anyone who wishes to ask her anything. I'm not sure whether her shy or sassy side will take the reins during the interview. It will probably vary based upon which questions are asked. 

But anyways, ask away! And now I must be off. It's the first day of NaNoWriMo, and I have not written anything for it yet. *guilty look* I did, however, submit 'The Merchant's Son' to a publisher at long last, so I don't have proposal-writing or editing to use as an excuse for my own natural tendency to procrastinate anymore. Drat. 

Uh, I mean... you see... 

*sigh* Never mind. I digress.