ADELE'S FAMILY

Adele's immediate family is made up of her mother and father (Lalaf and Samifi), her older brother Shoen (age 22), her older sister Noaleen (age 20), her younger brother Falah (age 9), and her baby sister Lafee (age 4). Her parents had already had two children and all of a sudden they had an unusual situation on their hands: They'd become the parents of a prophet. They gave her the name Ashnai (which means "red girl" in Shioan, an unimaginative but appropriate name) and raised her at a bit of a distance, knowing she'd been identified early on as a good candidate to be spirited off to the human world.

Because Adele/Ashnai is so often at her teacher Tabitha's, she has a very limited relationship with her siblings, though the youngest sibling Lafee really seems to like when her sister comes home. Her relationship with her parents is a strained one at best, and that's the fault of both the parents and the child for not knowing what balance to find between having a good relationship and suffering unnecessarily when they inevitably part.

Adele does not like being forced to interact with her parents in the presence of her siblings because it is so obvious to her that she is not a part of their lives. They are not a part of hers either, but everyone involved wonders what kind of a person Adele would have become had she not known since day one that her destiny was elsewhere.

Her family does love her, but they don't know her so it's hard for all but the youngest to show it. And though she will not remember any of her immediate family once she's crossed through the pool, they will always remember her and wonder how she's doing once in a while.

My favorite pictures of Adele's family (click on the small pictures to see large, good quality scans):