Exchange Magic

It's after #NaNoWriMo and I'm just “doodling” now, exploring as I plan out a second draft. This is me talking to Daisy. Her comments have bullets before them. Mine don't. It was easier to write this way than full script mode.

Hello there Daisy!

• Hi Nate!

So, what I want to do here is get to know you in your own words, what you think and feel about your life and the world in which you live.

• So you're talking to yourself. 😃

Sure. But enough meta-chatter. Tell me about your childhood.

• Well, let's see... I grew up in a pastoral village, just a little place, mostly shepherds or goat farmers or people who raised hay for the sheep and goats. I'm the fourth of six children, three older sisters, two younger brothers. Daddy said he kept having kids until he got a boy, then didn't know how to stop.

Huh.

• Yeah, always classy! Anyway I grew up running around a lot, outside all the time. All my sisters are some shade of blond. The older two are more “dishwater blond” and hate that description.

can't blame them.

• Right? My brothers are both “toe headed” which also means blond? I guess?

That's what I hear.

• So we stand out. My mom named all of us girls after flowers.

Oh, really?

• yeah, honestly, I think I won that lottery, or maybe she finally got good at it when she got me. My sisters are Rose, Lily, and Daffodil.

Oh my.

• Yeah, “Daffy” kind of hates her name and goes by “Dana”. Anyway, Mom is a typical farm wife, she cooks, cleans, raises kids, makes cloth, and knows enough basic nature magic to keep the house running.

How much is that?

• Oh, simple things; quick little fire spells, enchantments to make the spoon stir the soup while she does something else, nothing fancy.

Are those normal spells that everyone knows?

• I mean, all my friends' moms use them as well, so they're not surprising.

Interesting. You learn something new every day.

• Weird. Anyway, our little village has a healer, she was really young when she came to the village, but she grew to love it in our place, so she stayed there when her Sojourn was over, just became the resident.

Is that normal?

• Not exactly, but it happens from time to time. We all kind of fell in love with Healer Anna as well. She's kind, and funny, and mischievous, and happy and silly, she was a good fit for our little village. And she's a really good healer of course.

You said once that she had to spend half her time finding you and the other half healing you.

• Ha! I did say that, didn't I? It's not too far off. I liked to go out into the woods or fields; youngest of four daughters, I had plenty of opportunities to do so. Also I think I never really had any fear growing up. I never felt like things were gong to be that bad, and I wasn't afraid of doing things that might hurt if I knew I could manage the pain and get through it.

Like what? What's an example?

• Oh, like, say, climbing on a branch that has a sharp twig on it or something. I could handle the twig digging into my arm if I knew that once I got past it I could get the bird's nest I was after, or whatever. Even if it cut me, if I knew I could clean it up that was okay.

Do you not feel pain?

• I feel it, I just...don't care about it sometimes? I guess? Like, someone told me that pain is a signal that you're are in danger. If you're not in danger, why listen to the pain? It's a false alarm.

Interesting. So you were fearless as well?

• Well, when I was little. When I turned, oh, probably thirteen or fourteen, in there somewhere; I started to understand that whole “fear” thing, and anxiety, and all of those things. I was never afraid of people when I was a kid, but when I was a teenager I started to be sacred more easily.

Why is that, do you think?

• Oh it could be any number of things. I wasn't traumatized by anything, if that's what you're asking. But I started to be aware of how the world works, and my family started to change. My two oldest sisters got married and moved out, and Lily moved back when her husband died, and Lily was pregnant with her second baby, which I helped Anna deliver.

How old were you then?

• Fourteen. The delivery wasn't scary, although it was eye-opening. But Lily had some hard times as a mom with no husband, and I started to see that bad things were out there. I think I was very sheltered as a kid, in a good way.

How do you mean?

• Well, like, my mom gave me space to just be a kid, she didn't force me to grow up faster than I was ready. Lily moving home was very real though, especially because it happened when Ian died.

her husband.

• Yep. So Lily having a hard time, and we were all sad about Ian being dead! I liked Ian, he was funny! Anyway it was clear that bad stuff happened. And I started to think about bad things happening to me.

I can understand that. How did you get over it?

• Have I? But I'm just kidding. I think I got through it. Bad things did happen to me, but I kept living through them.

Like being kidnapped by Brant?

• Oh that was very different. I knew, somehow, that nothing bad was going to be done to me.

Some might say that being locked up in a cell by yourself with a raving madman who says he's going to kill you is a bad thing.

• You know what I mean! I was never physically harmed. And I had a sense that I was learning something, something I couldn't have learned any other way. Also I knew Kaelyn was coming. It never felt real to me.

Back to Kaelyn in a few minutes, tell me about Lily. Does she still live with your parents?

• Oh, no, she got married again when I was an apprentice. Kaelyn came home with me to the wedding. Her new husband's a tinkerer, but only works a small circuit, so he's home every night, then goes to a different village the next day.

that's good for Lily. Do you like him as much as you liked Ian?

• Oh, that's not fair! They are very different. Davis—her new husband—is a sweet and loving man, not as funny. But! He has an amazing singing voice, and loves to sing with Lily. They just randomly practice and break into singing, so they can improvise together and do really incredible harmonies just...out of the blue.

That sounds lovely!

• Yeah!

Okay, so tell me about Kaelyn.

• Well, she's my best friend, but that wasn't always true. She hurt my feelings a lot when we were younger.

Oh dear!

• I don't think she meant to; but she was very unguarded about her feelings about me. She seemed to have a certain image of me, and she didn't like that image.

What was her image of you, do you think?

• Well, that's not entirely fair to her, but I think she thought I was a... I don't know the word. I think she thought I was a “girly girl”, a flighty, shallow girl. And it hurt, because I like being girly, but that doesn't mean I'm dumb or flighty! I like talking to people, even boys, but I'm not, you know, a floozy. I would sometimes see Kaelyn staring at me at the Fountain when I was talking to people, and I would feel so judged. It really hurt.

Do you think she knew how you felt?

• Not for a while, not until we got closer and she got to know me better. I think, once she felt safe around me, she could actually start to see me.

When did that happen?

• Again, I'm talking for her, but I think she was afraid that I would just...take advantage of her, or not like her as much as she like me? That she would invest and I wouldn't? I think it was when I gave her a notebook, just because it was pretty and I thought she would like it. She seemed really startled and touched.

You seem to have a lot of insight into Kaelyn.

• Well, we talk a lot, of course. I think the whole thing with Brant brought us closer together, in a lot of ways. And a lot of other things as well. It's not just one thing, and we went through a lot of ups and downs.

Everyone does.

• Yeah, I think so.

Okay, well, I need to get back to spending time with my family.

• And I need to get back to being fictional!

Hey, what did I say about the meta-commentary?

• [Giggles] Bye!