Character Interview: Anara Turiel
Posted by: Finch in Character Interviews, tags: character“A visitor?”
I nod briefly, smiling at the pretty auburn-haired woman. “For a time.”
“I am unaccustomed to visitors,” she says, venturing a small smile. “Some tea, perhaps?”
“If you would join me.”
“Of course,” she says, standing briskly and moving to the cupboard. Filling a thick, stonewrought kettle from a ladle, she addresses me. “Tell me, what conversation is so compelling that my husband might allow you to see me?”
“We can get to that in time. I’d like to know how you’re doing.”
An infintesimal pause in her movement as she considers the question. “Quite well, I should think, considering the circumstances.”
“And what of the circumstances?”
She places the kettle atop the mantle and seats herself, arranging her skirts, before answering. “I want for very little. I am well kept, well fed. I have books to read, yarn with which to knit, journals in which to write –”
“And no freedom.”
“Who of us are free?” she asks, a small, certain smile brushing her lips upwards.
“I am free enough that I may pass through that door behind me. You may not.”
“And yet you are not free to do as you will once you have passed it, are you? You must abide by others’ laws, do their bidding in order to survive in their world. Your movement is free, but your will is not.”
“You go to great lengths to justify your imprisonment.”
She looks away, thoughtful. “Once, perhaps, you may have been right. It took some time to adjust to this existence. I found books to be my salvation.”
“Philosophy?”
“Philosophy, religion, wild tales, artistic sketches, bawdy romances, treatises on logic. There are so many ways to see the world, and even more ways to express those visions.”
“And they kept you sane?”
“They gave me the option to find pleasure in what I have been given. He has given quite a lot, really.”
“Does he visit you?”
She stands, turns to collect the kettle from the hearth. “No.”
“You told him you did not want to see him again.”
“I did,” she says calmly, placing finely crafted stoneware mugs on the low table. “Given the circumstances I believe it was an appropriate response at the time.”
“And now?”
She pours the tea, carefully, methodically, replacing the kettle on the hearth before replying. “We fought the Night together, you know. Side by side, we drove back the agents of Vran, of Toras and Dalor. We were matched like no others. When he… when I was brought back, here, now… well, when I discovered he was in the service of the very ones we had struggled so hard against, it was more than I could bear.”
“You have not answered the question.”
She smiles suddenly, sipping at her tea. “Yes. No? Whatever would I do with him if he did come to visit?” she asks contemplatively. “Before I… died… we lived in the same world, ate the same foods, believed in the same things. When I returned, I hadn’t changed at all, but for him…”
“Three thousand years had passed.”
“Can you even imagine it?” she asks, awe plain in her expression. “How can… how can anyone hope to have anything in common with that? I judged him poorly when I sent him away, I fear. I have since learned — I have realized — that my husband died the same day I did. Paldor… he means well, and in his own indecipherable way I know he loves me. But he is not my husband.”
“And what of his devotion to you after all these years?”
She chuckles and takes another sip. “It’s not me he’s devoted to. It’s my loss he’s enshrined, the moment his world was broken. That was when he found his great truth. If it were me he was devoted to, we’d have run off together and been done with this entire affair, don’t you think?”
“You don’t sound resentful of his priorities.”
“Resentful? The man has lived through three thousand years! We were married for three.” She sips, smiling to herself. “I’m pleasantly surprised he even remembers my name, to be frank.”
“And what of your son?”
Her smile wavers, ever so slightly. “That circumstance, I do regret.”
“Having had him?”
“Not in that sense. I have not been able to see him, to touch him or hear his voice since the day he was born. When I was revived, Paldor was… well, we were rash. I did not yet realize how utterly the world had changed. When I did, I… I said some foolish things.”
“You threatened to stop your own pregnancy.”
She nods, sadly. “I wouldn’t have. Or maybe I would have. I’m not sure, really.”
“So you became a prisoner.”
“A restrained and sedated prisoner, I might add. Carefully watched and guarded at all times — not a moment’s privacy! Half a year of utter madness, and nothing I said could change his mind.”
“And what if he had relented?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s easy to threaten such a thing, early on, but later — well, it didn’t matter in any event. He never relented. My child was born and taken from me. And here I stayed. He felt I might be a risk to the child, but he couldn’t bear to see me harmed. This was his solution.”
“Do you miss him? Your son?”
She hesitates. “I wanted to lash out at you just now for asking that. Of course I miss him. But… but I know now, after these many years, he is no longer just my son. I don’t know what they’ve told him, but he either believes he has no mother, or another woman has filled the role for him. What pain would he feel in discovering me? I would wish him happiness, and I do not know that finding me would make him happy. I miss him, but I am… not content, exactly. He lives and is well. It is enough.”
“Do you miss the outdoors?”
She smiles, sipping again and placing the empty cup on the table. “This is my world,” she says, gesturing to the expansive suite. “This is my empire, and I am its mistress. Beyond that door, that which you call freedom is a world I can only barely comprehend.”
“The sun has not changed, even in three thousand years.”
“No,” she says, for the first time with a hint of sadness, “but everything it shines on has. Those things I miss the most are gone, forever, and shall not return. Perhaps, in time, this new world may interest me more than it frightens me. Until then, however,” she says suddenly with a disarming smile, “would you like some more tea?”
(For a more historical view on this character, view her entry in the Codex Vocrotha.)
