Character Interviews!

[Samifi to SHO!:] No. That seems rather dishonest. And wouldn't have worked anyway.

[Samifi to SHO!:] I'd never known any prophets personally before my daughter, so I have to admit the whole concept is uncomfortable for me, but it's not my place to stand in anyone's way. I would do again exactly what I did last time: Cooperate with the prophet council's recommendations for my daughter or son. They understand their own and I have to admit I do not.

[Samifi to SHO!:] She's powerful and wise. And I'm uncomfortable around her. She doesn't seem very warm and loving, so it puzzles me that my daughter was able to attach to her so easily. They obviously communicate on a level I can't hear. Personally, I think I'd feel more comfortable with Tabitha if I could speak to her directly, but we always had to have Ashnai translating if we ever talked face to face at all. It was awkward.

[Samifi to SHO!:] Maybe we have a dialect mismatch or cultural misunderstanding, but asking that sort of question about my wife seems somewhere between bizarre and disrespectful. Is there something you actually want to know about my wife, or are you trying to insult us?

[Samifi to SHO!:] Where she's gone, our culture isn't much use to her. I've always wanted my baby to be well cared for, and if there was a way I could send her money, I would. I guess the best substitute would be to send her some kind of food that travels well, with instructions for whoever she meets on how to prepare the food the Ailaoan way.

[Samifi to SHO!:] Yes, but I'm sure that if the dimension where my daughter went doesn't generally receive dimensional travelers, they wouldn't take our money.

[Lalaf to SHO!:] I never would have done anything to try to keep my daughter from fulfilling what the prophets termed her destiny. I'm not sure how I would have changed her hair color even if I could, but not all prophets have red hair anyway--plus trying to hide information from the people who HAVE all the information doesn't seem to make sense. Obviously I'd have really liked it if my daughter lived out her life here in Ailashuo, but I never had even a scrap of an idea that I might have tried to stand between her and her destiny.

[Lalaf to SHO!:] If another one of my children turned out to be a prophet, the prophets would know it and would recommend a trajectory for the child's life. Ashnai's situation was very rare, and I doubt I'll ever have to deal with losing another child to a quest in another dimension, so even if I have another prophet in the family I'd do the same thing without fear that I'd lose him or her. I really don't think the prophets would do it twice to one family. They'd have to know it would be too much to take.

[Lalaf to SHO!:] Well, as a person I see her as very intelligent, very good at her art, a good role model, and a little bit too strict. I don't know if that's just how humans are or how prophet teachers are or what, but she loved my daughter (and my daughter loved her) in a way I can't really understand. Ashnai worked so hard to please her--it almost seemed like obsession--and I thought it was a bit unhealthy. I had to wonder what went on between them and how Tabitha set her up to be so driven that she became alienated from her family through her closeness to her prophecy.

[Lalaf to SHO!:] Well, I'd honestly have to say yes. She basically took a lot of my opportunity to mother Ashnai away from me. I know the prophets are supposed to form a very close bond with their teachers, but I wish it hadn't happened in such a way that I felt like Tabitha was the favored parent and I was the one who just didn't understand her. And of course if I'd said anything against their relationship, I'd have just been viewed as oppressive or trying to destroy something important. I definitely felt like I was pushed aside, and Ashnai sometimes reacted to my affection toward her like it was inappropriate. Just because I didn't relate to her doesn't mean I don't love her.

[Lalaf to SHO!:] A really long letter. She wasn't allowed to take any mementos with her, and the distance between here and her destination meant she'd lose most specific memories, so that means she doesn't remember me. I would want to send her a letter expressing my feelings and telling her she's loved.

[Shoen to SHO!:] I didn't really do anything deliberately to "distance" myself from her. It's just that I barely knew her. Whenever she was here she kept to herself and it seemed like we had a visitor, and she acted like she couldn't wait to get back to her teacher . . . she obviously wasn't all that comfortable at home. I loved her as my sister, but her being gone forever is pretty much the same as when she was here but making random appearances while apparently not wanting to. I'm pretty much used to it and it didn't affect me much, though when I think about it I mostly just feel sad that I'll never see her again.

[Shoen to SHO!:] I would say neither. Her situation was mostly irrelevant to mine, though that sounds a little harsh because it makes it seem like I didn't care about her. But to tell you the truth my life went on as it would have if she hadn't been a prophet. I just would have had one more little sister around the house. I'm sure we'd have had a good relationship if we'd had more time to get to know each other.

[Shoen to SHO!:] No, not at all. Our paths didn't cross often, so I don't feel like she got any attention that I could have gotten. If I'd been a prophet there might have been both more opportunity to know each other and more possibility for being eclipsed by her (since I hear she's pretty talented), but my everyday life wasn't really changed by her.

[Shoen to SHO!:] Well, I was just starting my lessons in school when she was born. I was pretty distracted by that, and I got a lot of attention myself for being the first to start academics. She was a really sweet and quiet baby. Sometimes I read to her and babbled with her when we were really young. But I got busy with academics and later apprenticing while she got busy with her schooling along with prophetic studies, so we didn't see much of each other. By the time we were both teenagers, I feel like we didn't really know each other, except that we were related and knew the same people.

[Shoen to SHO!:] I guess what I'd do is ask her teacher what would be something useful for her prophecy, if she doesn't already have everything she needs, and send her whatever that is. Maybe that's a cop-out answer, but I don't think anything personal from me would have much meaning to her, and her prophecy skills are all I know for sure she cares about.

[Noaleen to SHO!:] Not really. I mostly thought the whole prophet concept was a little overwhelming and ultimately uninteresting. It seems like she was always studying and WANTED to be always studying, and even though I have respect for that I never wanted it for myself. It seems like it would be so hard, and it seems like you would never get to live for yourself. I want to get married and have a family. Ashnai was married to her art.

[Noaleen to SHO!:] Again, not really. Our family didn't really know much about what it meant, so every time they said Ashnai was important it seemed like it didn't really have much importance in OUR circle. It's kinda sad to think about, but she was the odd person out, not the one everyone wanted to be. The attention she got was disturbing to me, not something I was envious of.

[Noaleen to SHO!:] Truly can't imagine that. I'm afraid I really don't relate to my sister at all. I don't know what she went through so I don't think I can answer the question very well.

[Noaleen to SHO!:] . . . Is that some kind of coded message? A really weird euphemism? It sounds like something my grandma would say to talk about bodily functions. If so, um, none of your business.

[Noaleen to SHO!:] Okay, now THAT'S not nice to say to a lady. And I'm really confused about why you'd ask me that. Who let the pervert in here?

[Noaleen to SHO!:] Oh, a real question that isn't dirty. Okay, I'll answer this since you're behaving again. I don't think I know what Ashnai wants and what I'd like her to remember. Maybe just a simi-elashi of us all together, so she remembers where she came from. Sorry, I'm not very imaginative. I wish I could have known her better when she was here, but we just grew up in two different worlds, so now that that separation is literal, I guess I don't feel very different about it.

[Falah to SHO!:] I don't know much about it. She always seemed secretive about it and I figured I wouldn't understand anyway, so I never asked. I didn't want to bug her. I just took it for granted that prophets know better than I do what's good for their own kind, so I'm sure she's doing something great with her life. I hope she's happy.

[Falah to SHO!:] She doesn't seem very interested in our family--just in our sister. So since she doesn't really want to talk to me, I don't want to talk to her. I think maybe Ashnai tells her bad things about us and she has a bad impression of us.

[Falah to SHO!:] I think I'd probably want to send her some books with Shioan writing and stories and some legends and stuff. She was always reading in English with her teacher. I'd like to think she'd want to remember OUR language too, and some of OUR stories.

[Lafee to SHO!:] Noaleen never plays with me. I play with Mama and by myself. Noaleen's not any different since Ashnai left. I can't wait 'til I start lessons.

[Lafee to SHO!:] I didn't want her to go away and I don't know why she did. Tabitha is pretty nice but a little scary. She was best friends with Ashnai. So she must not be scared of her.

[Lafee to SHO!:] She might be lonely without us. Maybe I'll send her one of my dolls. I'm not as lonely when I have one to hug and talk to.