We find another interview - this time in the cellar...
by Tara Maya
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I begin the interview in the cellar of the castle. I know that for my guests, medieval technology would seem advanced. But I think they will be comfortable in the earthy cellar, that is not so different from the subterranean kivas built by their own people.
My guest, Gwenika, arrives. Typical of her tribefolk, she is solid and healthy, with cropped, thick dark hair and sun-warmed skin that shines golden brown. Her dress is beaded with polished acorn caps and quail feathers, and she sports a single gold ring in her nose. She’s cradling a chipmunk.
GWENIKA: I hope this interview won’t take long. Not that I don’t enjoy talking to you! It’s just that I don’ have long to live.
Tara: It won’t take long…. Wait, why do you say you don’t have long to live? Are you worried that the Blue Waters warriors might attack?
GWENIKA: (Coughs dramatically.) No, it’s this terrible illness I’m suffering: Itchy Throat and Trembling Tummy Disease. It’s fatal. I know, because I had it last year too, and almost died, though, as usual, my mother and sister didn’t care at all, and my mother still insisted I practice dancing! But even if the Itchy Throat and Trembling Tummy doesn’t kill me, the Jiggling Toe Pox certainly will. (She lifts a leg and wiggles five healthy looking toes.) You see? The jiggle has already set in.
Tara: You wiggled your toes yourself.
GWENIKA: Well, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact I’m about to die! You’re just like all the rest. You don’t take my illnesses seriously!
Tara: How many illnesses do you have?
GWENIKA: At least three or four a day. But I’m not making it up! I really am hexed, only no one will believe me! Except Dindi.
Tara: Didn’t your mother advise you to stay away from Dindi?
GWENIKA: My ears are hurting, I didn’t hear that last question. It’s probably a case of Deafening Buzz, a terrible hex that makes your ears ring. But anyway, my mother worries too much. She had to raise my sister and me by herself, so she wants to make sure we have friends with high status. Dindi isn’t high status. Among our people, the Tavaedies, warrior-dancers who know the secrets of dancing magic, earn respect and prestige. No one in Dindi’s clan has ever been chosen to be a Tavaedi.
Tara: But Dindi wants to be a Tavaedi?
GWENIKA: More than anything! I’m worried for her. I don’t think she has a very good chance of passing the Test during our Initiation ceremony. But I don’t care if she has magic. She’s kind, and to me that’s more important. She’s the only one who took the time to listen to me, the only one who believed in me. Maybe she’s a little strange. But I don’t care. She’s my friend.
~end
Interview with Gwenika post created for Fairy Tales in Bruges event by Tara Maya author of The Unfinished Song: Initiate (Book 1) © 2011. All rights reserved.
by Tara Maya
~-~-~-~-~ guest ~-~-~-~-~
Read more about Gwenika...
Initiate (Book 1)
by Tara Maya
* image source castle cellar
