So... we come to it at last.
I spent all day yesterday itching to start. Some days at work it is easy to concentrate, but yesterday was not among them. I spent all day trying not to run through plotlines in my head or compile elaborate lists of characters and their motivations. Most people can make it through a day just fine without doing those things, after all.
Yesterday evening, I took a nice walk. Not quite a Ramble, since I was listening to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and thus not thinking at all about my own novel. But I plan to keep reading/listening as the month goes on, if only to step away from writing for a little while. Cleansing my palette, as it were. (I know it's spelled palate in regards to food. It's an elaborate pun. Never mind.)
So now I'm going to do that elaborate list of characters, including physical descriptions, which I so often neglect. Oh yeah, spoiler alert.
- Bryony - I won't go into her character, because I know it well enough not to need to invent it here. As far as appearance, she starts off as a very slight girl, almost waifish. She has very dark hair, almost black, that hangs straight to her shoulders. Her eyes are brown and her skin pale, with a scattering of small freckles across her nose. When she gets older, she gets taller, and for a while feels like she's all knees and elbows. As an adult, she has remained slim. Remark: "You're a natural attendee, girl. Turn sideways, and you can disappear until you're wanted."
- Elma - Smiling, matronly woman with fat cheeks and tightly curled gray hair. Her manner is kind and conciliatory. She works in the needlecrafts, and spends her life in one large knitting circle. She doesn't really understand conflict, but it doesn't bother her in the slightest. She has an unshakeable faith that everyone is good at heart. Not the most talented craftswoman, but valuable because she manages to defuse conflicts before they start. Earlier in life, she sat attendance upon a highborn girl (Illiantine? Would make sense in a way.), but came to the market when the child outgrew her. Chosen to watch over Bryony because of that experience.
- Gessica - Mistress of the market. She is very, very aware that she was exalted to her position through a testing, and as a result, feels justified in her belief that she is better than everyone. She is a capable administrator, and has a keen insight into the minds and attitudes of the people under her. It was she who accepted Elma, recognizing her talents.
Gessica is in her mid forties as the story starts, and is the youngest of the mistresses of the markets. She is a stickler for protocol, in part because she was so often neglected earlier in her career as mistress, which began when she was thirty--a record. She has tried to cultivate a regard for herself second only to the highborn, insisting on the title of Mistress even in non-formal situations. She is unusual among the high middling in that she will meet with the lowborn herself, without resorting to a middle man. As a result, she achieves better deals.
She is extremely jealous of her own position and regard, however, and therefore sees Bryony as a potential threat. There is a fascination with the highborn among the middling, as royalty to commoners, and the idea of a highborn girl, even one set middling, threatens the order of things. The Patroness did not want her moved, so Gessica couldn't get rid of her. Instead, she encourages the bullying and discrimination against her by the others, so that her own status is clear. Of course, when Byrony is chosen to be her successor, the threat becomes amplified. - Yancy - Bryony's first, and best friend. Yancy is extremely open and straightforward, and her one weakness is that she will speak her mind to anyone. But there's no malice in her, and she's refreshing to have around. As she grows older, she learns to guard her tongue around those other than her close friends, and serves as Bryony's deputy.
Yancy is from Far Aquafell, one of the southern islands; her parents were among the staff of the king of Aquafell, who were gifted to the Hoeningcourt family (the family of the Patroness) during a trip to the capital. She has no memory of her original home, however, and has essentially lived in the capital all her life. She has the deeply tanned complexion of the Aquafeill, with almond shaped eyes and hair as dark as Bryony's. She is very sturdily built, and her active lifestyle matches her personality.
She is looked down on as a "provincial," even though she grew up in the capital. They have a stereotype of being rude and uncultured, unintelligent, and smelly. Of these, Yancy may be rude, but certainly none of the others. The Aquafeill in particular also have a reputation for exotic beauty, which amuses Yancy to no end. - Devan - A couple of years older than Bryony, Devan has shaggy brown hair and an athletic build. He also has green eyes, which is unusual among the middling, although exotic eye colors are much in vogue among the highborn. Later on, once he is brought low, he is nicknamed Kel Greeneyes.
He is impulsive and volatile in temper, quick to anger and quick to forgive. He will be angry, then suddenly laugh at himself, the anger gone. That trait can be disconcerting at first, because those with less rapid changes of emotions struggle to keep up. He will occasionally act just be be cheeky and stir things up without considering the consequences, and lead others along with him. Among the others of his age, he is well regarded without being part of the popular crowd, and can flit among the social groups, being friends with all of them, but a member of none. He befriends Bryony and Yancy as he defends them from bullies, and when they get him out of trouble at another point, their friendship is cemented. Occasionally, Devan gets serious, and you get the idea that this is the real him, underneath the banter. He betrays great insight at these moments.
The most disturbing thing to Bryony after Devan is brought low is the change in him. He is serious all the time, and tells her that he has nothing to smile at. The scars he bears give him a somewhat grotesque appearance, but Bryony doesn't see them as part of him, more like a mask on a handsome face. She tries to keep in touch with him, but they have a falling out for a while, as Devan is trying to come to terms with his new life, and seeing Bryony only reacquaints him with the life with her that is denied to him. When they reunite, he becomes the leader of her lowborn army, and some of his humor reasserts itself, if in a grim way. - Shulash - In his 50s as the story opens, brown hair streaked with gray, and with a tight beard cupping his chin. He's never presentable enough to come up to the main levels, although the highborn men who offer him their custom often deign to come down to him. He manages to treat them as equals while still deferring to them, and it gives the highborn a sense of social liberalism to be treated so.
Shulash constantly berates his underlings, but they've learned what criticism to take, and what to ignore. They are devoted to him, and his slightest praise is worth mountains of gold to them. He talks of iron as if it's a living thing whose will must be conquered, and this gives Bryony a magical insight--that all matter has a will, which can be convinced or conquered as the purpose warrants. - Eddard - Shulash's twin brother, an identical twin by birth but not by appearance. His hair is dyed to its original brown and kept short, and he is clean shaven. He does the delicate silver and gold work, jewelry and fittings and ornamentation. Shulash always talks about how Eddard ruins his blades with all the gold and silver filigree, while Eddard accuses Shulash of attacking every problem with a hammer.
Eddard's style is quite different, offering criticism in a way that makes the recipient feel better than if the critique had not been delivered at all. He believes that you must work with the metal and convince it to take shape for you... this is where Bryony gets the second half of her insight. (After all, both methods work. It's all a matter of how they are applied.)
Devan is skilled in both types of smithwork, and becomes the focus of a competition between the two, since his testing marks him only as a smith, and does not specify the type. - Jorik - A professional scholar who instructs in language and history for Bryony's class, and becomes her private tutor. It is through him that Bryony (and the reader) learn much about the structure of this society. At first, he resents having to tutor Bryony, but he discovers that she has a keen mind and wants to learn, and sort of views her as a blank slate. He has a realist's view of their society, and speaks more openly with her than he might normally, once their relationship is established.
He is a short man, with deep black hair an intense eyes, with a closely cropped beard and mustache. He encourages critical thinking only among those he feels capable of handling it, and for the others, demands immediate recall of facts. He has a tendency to pinpoint Bryony's weaknesses and seize upon them, not out of cruelty (as she first thinks) but because that is where his efforts and hers would be best directed.
Once Bryony takes power, he becomes her advisor, and confronts her about her true aims. By that point, he's in his 60s, and not in a position to fight, but he has the historian's love for great events, and takes her side so that he can chronicle the career of someone who he feels will change the face of the world, or will die in the attempt. Either way, hers is a story worth witnessing. - Kalocia - Blonde and popular, at the risk of perpetuating a stereotype. Of course, in this culture to be blonde is to have a feature usually associated with the highborn, so it is regarded highly among the middling. Kalocia has already tested and is a future attendee (though not Mistress), and as a result occupies the natural upper echelon of society.
Before Bryony came, she was top dog, and privately hinted that her father was highborn--which he may well have been. Bryony is a threat to her, so she doesn't need any urging to make Bryony's life hell. Later on, Emecia becomes a full adherent of Gessica's faction, but she is the weak link, and through her, Bryony finds the key to dethroning Gessica. - Emecia - Almost as tall as Kalocia. Almost as pretty. In Kalocia's absense, she would have been the superlative, but always seems to come after her in the regard of others. Instead of holding this against Kalocia, though, she instead stays as close to her as possible, realizing (in some way) that she'll get more regard in Kalocia's company than in competition with her.
- Asry - Emecia's roommate, and the least attractive of the three. Her heart isn't in the torture that the others give out, but she's insecure enough (at first) that she'll take whatever dregs of regard fall to her from her association with the others. Finally stands up to Kalocia after Bryony's testing. Later a member of Bryony's inner circle.
- Sili - One of the other girls in Bryony and Yancy's suite. Sili is short and stays that way, with short, light brown hair. She has a fascination with the highborn, and is always up on the gossip. Although as she gains experience that adoration fades, she still maintains the in-depth knowledge of the political currents, and becomes a valuable asset in Bryony's inner circle.
- Zeoly - Quiet and a little dark in outlook. She has the biggest grudge against the highborn (until the rape attempt) because of the way she and her parents were treated by their original patrons. Her father was brought low. The subject of the highborn is the only disagreement between she and Sili; otherwise, they are great friends. Zeoly keeps her past secret, and looks fondly on Sili's naivete, not wanting to burst her happy bubble.
- Tynofast - One of the highborn, fairly low by birth but of good position. He is a bachelor, in his thirties, with a hooked nose and short, blond hair. His manner is very brusque, but he appreciates talent. He doesn't much seem to like anybody, but he is devoted to the patroness (his employer), and to furthering her interests.
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