Jabu
Where are you from?
I live with my father up at Kkhi-Top in the castle compound. My father is the falconer; he’s Kkhi. My mother, his second wife, was Gala. She died recently. They call those of us who are mixed Gala-iin.
What’s your favorite thing to do?
I like to go hunting in the marshlands to catch dragonflies.
Who’s your best friend?
My dragonflies Httt and Sseta.
Who’s your enemy?
At first I thought Draezel and his darshadkolo. Then it started to seem like everyone: the Advisors, the Mill-Towners, the marsh imps… I couldn’t trust anyone — except my dragonflies.
What’s one of your favorite lines from the tale?
Maybe when Tyz-mana said: “Would you prefer a ride, my young drowning tadpole?”
It was such a relief that it was her and not those trying to kill me.
What’s one of your favorite happenings from the tale?
I don’t have a lot of good memories from what happened. If I had to choose, I guess it would be the first part of the contest between my dragonfly, Sffr, and the falcon, Greening Wings.
Ssenjer (Kendha-Lenad)
Where are you from?
KENDHA: The Gala-confines. That’s on the Mid Step.
What’s your favorite thing to do?
LENAD: Eat jhuun eggs and drink glosala.
KENDHA: No, not glosala.
LENAD: Yes, glosala.
KENDHA: No, I don’t like it.
LENAD: Yes, I do. Skin it!
(Ssenjer strikes himself repeatedly)
LENAD: I also like to ride my vesed.
Who’s your best friend?
KENDHA: Wez.
LENAD: No, she’s not.
KENDHA: Wez is a he.
LENAD: So she pretends. My best friend is my vesed.
Who’s your enemy?
LENAD: Kendha.
KENDHA: Me? No, Lenad’s the problem.
LENAD: Skin it, ghuub-licker!
KENDHA: Skin this!
(strikes himself repeatedly again)
What’s one of your favorite lines from the tale?
LENAD: When after Mhesaa gets inside me and I say: “Thank you for helping me out, but it’s crowded enough in this body without you in here too.”
KENDHA: What’s so great about that? A better line is when I say: “When the up was down and the down was up…” Because that means I was starting to tell a story.
LENAD: Another boring storing about Jhuunjha.
KENDHA: They’re not boring!
LENAD: Wake me up when it’s over.
What’s one of your favorite happenings from the tale?
LENAD: Meeting Emjiik.
KENDHA: That’s in Volume II — they mean in Volume I. For me, it was meeting Sejhehii.
LENAD: Sejhehii? That oaf? No, in Volume I, the best part was riding my vesed across the water.
KENDHA: What? That was horrible!
LENAD: The only thing horrible is having to share this skin with a worthless little guppy.
KENDHA: Guppy, am I?
(strikes himself repeatedly again, forcing an end to the interview)
Qen’aam
Where are you from?
The Satii-confines.
What’s your favorite thing to do?
Satii warders don’t bother with favorite things.
Who’s your best friend?
Satii warders don’t have friends.
Who’s your enemy?
The Uuxt. Behei. Qen’oqi.
What’s one of your memorable lines from the tale?
None of it is worth remembering.
What’s a memorable happening from the tale?
I’d rather not remember any of it.
Httt
(translated by Jabu)
Where are you from?
The marshlands.
What’s your favorite thing to do?
Eat.
Who’s your best friend?
Jabu and Sseta.
Who’s your enemy?
Anyone who’s Jabu’s enemy.
What’s one of your favorite lines from the tale?
Whenever Jabu encourages me to fly ahead and eat.
What’s one of your favorite happenings from the tale?
There’s lots of chasing and action – I like those parts best.
Behei
Where are you from?
Your piddly thought-maker couldn’t conceive of the place.
What’s your favorite thing to do?
Cause others to fight and then watch them make fools of themselves doing so.
Who’s your best friend?
Dead.
Who’s your enemy?
You.
What’s one of your favorite lines from the tale?
So many great insults, it’s hard to choose. Here’s a random one said to Qen’aam:
“Do you really believe you can catch me if I don’t want you to? Surely you’re more intelligent than that? But the females of your kind aren’t blessed with intelligence, are they? Your role is to simply be a receptacle for the male seed. You Satii girls think you’re more than that, I know. Easy to believe many things in that cave of yours. Easy to misunderstand me and the possibilities that lie with me.”
What’s one of your favorite happenings from the tale?
So many good ones. Tormenting Qen’aam might be the favorite though.