material~ pics and fics ~ Black, an introductory minific
In a nutshell
I’m Nimay, General of the King’s Own, Raykin’s fifteen best warriors. I have an yrae stone, but I have no idea how I got it. I woke up at the palace when I was seven, and don’t remember anything before then, but I imagine the yrae stone must have had something to do with it. Still, it was only the first seven years of my life. I’m told nobody ever remembers much of those years anyway, so I can’t be missing much.
On being mute
I’m not really mute, I just don’t talk. I have no idea why. I’ll chalk that one up to the yrae stone, though. It’s a good scapegoat.
I don’t really have a lot of problems being unable to talk. Apparently I’m emotive enough that people know what I want to say. Well, people who know me, at least, and the people who don’t know me and can’t understand me don’t really matter. I’m only General of those fourteen other guys, not the whole Raykinian army. The guys in the Own all say they hardly notice anymore.
Sometimes, though, it would be nice to have words.
On flying
Oh, Lin's blood, flying is brilliant. I'll never, ever tire of flying. That's one of the things the yrae stone does, gives me wings. I've always got these two silver wing-shaped clasp things that somehow hover over my shoulder blades, like they're in mid-air but somehow still attached to me. Anyway, the wings are inside them. Big, black-feathered wings. I can extend them with as much thought as I would give to extending my arms, flap a few times, and up I go.
Seeing Raykin from the air is just gorgeous. Like standing on top of the cliff that overlooks Ni-Yana, but higher up, and so, so much more free. That's the best part about flying, the freedom. Better than riding a horse at full-pelt. Words can't describe it. It's just brilliant.
On the King's Own
My boys are fantastic. Admittedly, it would be nice to have another female presence in the Own somewhere, but that would mean one of the current bunch leaving, and I can't think who I would want to go. Probably Kaen, but he's just an annoying blade archer. I can't imagine that a female blade archer would be much better. He is good, though, I'll give him that much.
I've loved getting to know the guys in the Own. For the longest time, they were like these higher beings in my mind, perfect marksmen and perfect swordsmen with unbreakable defense. Now they're just ordinary guys, for the most part. Of course, fame has turned a few of them into idiots, but when it's just us, on a mission, at the pub or training, then they really are just ordinary blokes who happen to be really, really good at what they do.
I try not to be cliquey with my fellow swordies, but sometimes it's just so hard not to be. The blade archers are always impossible to control, and they would have to be bound and gagged before they'll listen. The bow archers... aren't much better, if we're honest. They'll all shoot me and make me a martyr for saying that, but it's true. The swordies, well, we just have a certain sophistocation. Every other weapon-wielder thinks they're the best. We know we are.
On Kazin
Kazin is cold, wet and miserable except when it's hot, wet and miserable. In the mountains, it's almost impossible to see the sky through the matted blanket of trees and an even thicker blanket of cloud above that. It's always cold, 'Summer' lasts all of one day if you're lucky, and even that feels like a mild Winter day to Raykinian skin. The language is hissy and harsh, they have a seemingly infinite number of words for 'rain' (we lost count at thirteen) and they're always mocking us for being unable to speak it with any sense of coherency. Well, mocking the guys. Obviously I can't speak it at all, though if they talk slowly enough I can understand it, for the most part. They're all just so anti-Raykin up there, as much as we are anti-Kazin, I guess. They don't pick on me so much, though, I guess because I look more Tsaythi than Raykinian, so they don't know what to do with me.
The tropics up north I can handle. At least it's warm, though still very, very wet. They can almost time their day by the rain, because it always comes at the same time every afternoon. However, hot and wet is not a comfortable combination. It's no wonder they're all archers up their. Keeping a sword rust-free in humidity is a nightmare. I hate it.
On Prince Nolryn
Aeia, where to start? Nol's was the first face I saw waking up in the healing house. He was petrefied of my yrae stone then, and he's still not exactly comfortable when I use it. He can be a bit of an idiot sometimes, but that's the blue-shirted archer in him, I think. He's just... I don't know. There is something about him. If he wasn't the crown prince, there could well have been something there, but... no. Whether Raykin likes the idea or not, he's going to be king one day, and Lin's blood is he going to need one strong queen by his side. That won't be me. General I can do. There are only fourteen guys I have to listen to and organise. Ruling the entire kingdom? That's beyond me.
I'm happy to just be friends with him. I do sometimes wonder, what if he wasn't the prince? But it's so much a part of him, it's hard to imagine him being just another archer. How much of him would change if he wasn't royalty?
On the author
We get on okay, I guess. It did take us about half a year to reach Ni-Mytaa at one point, though. That never takes longer than a week, so yes, she's a bit slow at times. Still, we're left pretty much to our own devices, do what we want, very little being forced into anything, which is nice. I'm not sure I like her trying to tell us all that she's higher up than Lin and Aeia, though. That's a bit farfetched.
Anything else?