Q5 The Blessed One

Q1
In The Blessed One, Em, Von and Kyra are aboard Bravo, where they have slowly been running out of heat and air and have decided between them to swallow a pill that will allow them to drift off into unconsciousness. What has it meant to the three characters respectively to have been so close to death?

Trée:
The story hasn't told us much on this matter. We know Kyra longs for the peace she saw in Von's face and we know Em lamented the fact that "earthly" matters so quickly returned once they were out of danger (losing her sight). We know next to nothing as to how this has affected Von. In many ways, the story has not explored, the way I would to explore, especially with Kyra, how the dramatic events have changed them. For example, the "Kyra Incident" is one we need to revisit, or at least, revisit how she has and is processing what occurred. Then again, we still don't know the details of what exactly happened between the taking of the pills and the capture at the hands of the Arc'teryxians. I have my suspicions Kieran played a role here. :-)

Q2
The Blessed One refers to Kyra's sister, who died as a young child. Given Kyra's background and her parents' apparent lack of interest in her, whether or not her sister was treated any differently, what would it have meant to Kyra to understand that though their lives were too busy to include her, still they became parents to a second child?

Trée:
I haven't explored that idea and would rather not give an answer off the top of my head that could influence the way we see our main character. Maybe in time, we will see some Kyra and Emily chapters. :-)

Q3
Why is Em as affected by Kyra's story as she is? In her final hour she asks to hear it again, drawing hope and faith and peace from it from the words spoken by the child. What more it is (if this is the case) that the story is able to give her that the necklace does not?

Trée:
I suppose we all look to others who have experienced what we are about to experience. Em is about to die, just as Emily before her did. They both had that small window of knowing death was upon them. Em, as you can imagine, is filled with standing on the edge of the unknown, of dealing with her own uncertainty and fear; and yet, she knows the story of Emily (The Blessed One) and she is amazed at how the young hynerian was able to rise to a level of love and peace beyond Em's grasp, now that she is standing on that same cliff edge. So, in order to gain strength and hope and perhaps a measure of courage and insight, she wants to hear the story again, wants to believe that there is something more, that a hynerian can rise above unerring fate, so to speak. Now, why she doesn't take that from the necklace, I'm not sure, but I would guess that the issue at hand for Em is not the life to come but rather finding wisdom and courage in the moments of eminent death, an experience that Emily can speak to (with her story; I believe Em was not privy to her mother's last moments--just her dad and the "priest" and so her knowledge of how her mother handled the "edge of the cliff" is not the same), in a rather dramatic way, and this, I believe, is what she is looking for, needing. The second thing we see is her involving Kyra, helping to take Kyra's mind off the death to come, which is a very nice think to see Em do, which is also evidenced by the sketch she did of Emily--it was a way for me to show the pure heart that is Em, thinking of others when most would only be thinking of themselves.

Q4
In her reference to her sister as the blessed one, Kyra speaks of her being like an angel amongst them, sent to teach them 'how to live, how to give, how to love', she speaks of her courage and she speaks of her wisdom and later when she reveals, as she did not before, that her sister's name was Emily, she apologises to Em for allowing Em's name and youthfulness to put a distance between them that would not otherwise have been there. Though Kyra knows and understands the lessons of her sister, how far is she able to live it?

Trée:
Not to be cheeky, but I'd say two things here: (1) read the story; (2) keep reading the story. We have seen all our characters grow and change to some extent over the last two years. In my mind, I see the story continuing for years to come, and in that context, I cannot show dramatic growth in a short window of literary or real time because that would leave me no room to "grow them" over the long haul. Likewise, they can only grow as I grow. I can't write of things I don't know and, in that light, the story challenges me to continue to expand my understanding. If I don't grow, neither can they. In particular Kyra, since, as I've remarked several times, Kyra is as close to me, my personality, as any of the characters. Very little does she do that I could not see myself doing. Likewise, very little does she know is beyond what I know, or think I know. So to answer your question directly, there are days when the lessons she has been taught by Emily or Papa are clear and lived in her actions and then there are days when, for whatever reason, it appears she has taken a step back.

Q5
You have spoken several times in your comments about the wisdom of innocence, hearts that trust, eyes that see, ears that listen to the truth that lives inside, is the reason the words that she speaks about love being eternal and neither time nor distance or death being able to break the bonds that bind us truest to them for what they know or for what they hope?

Trée:
What they hope. If they "knew" it, there would be no need for a chapter like this. :-)