May Character Interview
Patricia Parrington ~ May 1, 2023
Hello my lovely readers and fellow booklovers! For those of you who are new here, I, your fabulously-dressed host, Patricia Parrington, have the pleasure of interviewing characters from books all over the world.
Today we have here with us Beira Thomson from the book Haven by Ceril N Domace. Domace is an accountant, animal lover, and a dedicated dungeon master.
Beira Thomson
[Patricia sits on the edge of a suede orange couch and smooths out the skirt of her dress.]
Welcome to Fable Features! Tell me a little about yourself. What’s your favorite color? What do you do for a living?
[Beira smiles and leans back in her armchair.]
Good afternoon, my name is Beira Thomson. My favorite color is light blue, and I currently have two jobs. One, which is more of a break from my main position, is teaching history classes at the biggest high school in Tearmann. I believe that the best way to prevent the atrocities of the past is to teach our children how they happened and what we can do to prevent them. My other position is ruler of the fae.
[Patricia adjusts her glasses.]
Oh wow, a ruler? I’m not familiar with how leadership is attained among the fae. Was this a position you were born into?
[Beira laughs and folds her hands in her lap.]
You could say that. Really, it has to do with my role as a vampire. We’re—or I, I suppose I should say, as I’m the only one—are the alpha fae species. All other fae must obey any order I give them, up to and including giving their life to defend me or worse if I tell them to.
[She pauses, and fiddles with the hem of her blouse.]
It was . . . rather traumatic the first time we ran into that particular aspect of my abilities. I had to completely revamp how I tell jokes, since the wrong deadpan comment could end . . . poorly, shall we say.
The other Founders and I—that is, the first humans who were turned into Fae—aren’t exactly sure why. The others only control their specific species, but my reach is broader. Even the other Founders can’t resist it if I tell them to do something. By the time we realized what that meant, I’d already assumed a sort of leadership position and when we were actually establishing our government, it just made sense for the Founders and I to “run things” as it were. We’ve formed a council, which I lead, that oversees the fae.
[She smiles and it’s clearly meant to look reassuring but doesn’t quite come off that way.]
Don’t worry though, we’re not immune to our own abilities and we can’t influence non-fae. If I swear not to abuse my power or if I make a promise to someone, I’m bound to it just as firmly as the fae of legend. In fact, we’ve got a whole democratically elected government beneath us that runs most things. We’re just there for the high-level decisions and to look intimidating to any foreign dignitaries who come visit. [Patricia shakes her head slowly, looking amazed.]
Wow, sounds complicated. And stressful. So what does a typical day look like for you then?
Most days, I wake up early to teach two large history classes. I usually lecture about the first fae war, the situations that led to the rise of the fae research centers, and the development of the Tearmann Accords. Afterward, I usually have open court, where I deal with civil problems that don’t fit nicely into our court system or meet with local ministers and visiting dignitaries to discuss issues facing the country. I end the night at home, going over paperwork or playing chess.
On my days off, I enjoy walking in the markets and the greenhouses.
Oof, sounds like a very busy schedule!
If you were to suddenly get very rich, what would you do with all the wealth?
[Patricia leans forward]
Assuming you’re not already rich of course.
[Beira laughs]
Some might say I’m already rich as I’m queen of the fae, but I actually have very little material wealth to back up the position. If I were suddenly wealthy among human society, I think I would sponsor educational videos and campaigns about the fae. Too many humans have negative ideas about my people, and I’d like to fix that.
Alternatively, I’d buy food, medicines, and building supplies for Tearmann. Smuggling gets us the bare essentials, but being able to have a stockpile would give us some breathing room come winter.
Smuggling, huh? What’s keeping you from just buying the items you need?
Politics. Specifically, the anti-fae lobbyists that work to restrict our movement and trade more and more each year.
The Tearmann Accords ended the Fae War and put a stop to human experimentation on fae, but the whole matter didn’t exactly endear us to humanity, especially since it ended with a major city gone and its population suddenly turned into battleborn fae. Most countries outright refuse to trade with us and for the most part, we’re not actually allowed to travel outside our havens. Since we don’t have the advantage of modern technology, producing medicine, clothing, and food is difficult. We have a network of allies in America and Canada that help our away teams get supplies for the North American haven, otherwise we’d starve. The situation in the European haven—which is in Scotland—is much kinder. They send over supplies, when they can.
That’s awful the way so many people are treating you!
[Patricia shakes her head]
I admire the way you’ve handled the situation. Really. Something like that can get very wearying overtime.
What are you most proud of?
The Tearmann Accords and the founding of Tearmann, the first fae haven. The Accords gave us legal protection from experimentation and a homeland where we could live away from humans. They gave my people a chance to recover from the war, to make a new home, and hopefully reintegrate with humanity one day.
That’s amazing and I’d love to hear more about the whole process behind creating those Accords sometime.
On a separate topic, do you have a best friend?
Yes! Dani Burns, or Lady Guivre as I call her when she’s annoying me. She’s one of the dragon founders and we’ve been close since before we became fae. My brother, Franklin, will probably be annoyed that I didn’t say him, but there’s a reason we’ve only communicated through letters for nearly a decade.
Hold up—dragon founders?? I LOVE dragons. Scribblemore, c’mere!
[A ferret-sized blue dragon races over to Patricia and climbs into her lap.]
That’s too bad about your brother—sounds like it’s perhaps a strained relationship?
[Beira coos and looks absolutely enchanted with Scribblemore.]
Oh, that’s adorable! Most of our dragons are much larger, so only the very young children can cuddle with us like that.
[Looking away from Scribblemore, Beira nods.]
And, yes. My brother and I don’t get along. He doesn’t agree with many of my political decisions since the Accords were signed. He’s a Founder—one of the gryphons, in fact—and we’ve butted heads in council meetings more times than I can count. It’s . . .
[Beira falters and she looks quite sad.]
Our parents died during the war. There’s a part of him that blames me for not being able to save them. It sounds harsh, but we’re almost eighty years old and neither of us has the patience to pretend otherwise anymore. He and I have come to terms with how things stand, and we get along much better with an ocean between us.
I’m sorry to hear that.
Is there anyone you absolutely can’t stand?
Yes. Politically, it’s not the best look, but I can’t stand the current battleborn president. He’s rude and makes negotiating the annual treaty renewals a nightmare. The last president may not have liked me, but at least they were civil during our discussions. At least his last term will be over in a few years.
Sounds like he’s a piece of work. Kudos to you for putting up with him for the sake of your people!
On a lighter topic, what’s a funny or embarrassing thing that happened to you?
Oh, the funniest thing that I’ve been involved with is definitely Lord Bress’s first council meeting. He’d just turned eighteen and it was springtime, which for young trolls means they put off something similar to a cross between BO and pollen. Nervousness makes it much worse and before the meeting was halfway through, we had to stop to air out the council chamber because Lady Guivre and Lord Fafnir, the dragon founders, couldn’t stop sneezing. They lit half the curtains on fire, tipped over the harpies’ perches, and knocked me clear across the room before we managed to get them out of the room and away from Lord Bress.
Frightening as it was while it was happening, it was hilarious in hindsight. Bress was mortified, but it certainly made that year’s spring planting discussions interesting. After that, we held those meetings in the greenhouses.
[Patricia laughs]
Aw, poor Lord Bress.
So if you had to give someone advice, what would you say?
[Beira’s face turns serious, and she sits up straight.]
Study the past. We recognize the atrocities then for what they are but are inclined to turn a blind eye to the same thing happening now. I guarantee, whatever excuses people use to justify treating another group horribly now, were used then. Ask yourself how you want your people to be remembered in a century’s time.
[Patricia nods slowly]
That’s a great piece of advice we should all keep in mind. Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to interview you!
Thank you for having me! Have a lovely day.
End of interview.
Want to Read More?
Beira Thomson’s author, Ceril N Domace, can be found at https://cerilndomace.com/. Her book, Haven, can be found here. The other Fae Queens Court books can be found on Amazon as well.
See Ya Next Month
Aaaand that's all the time we have today. Thank you, readers, for coming. And thank you, Beira Thomson, for letting us get to know you! See y'all next month, and until then stay outta trouble and keep writing!
If you would like to submit a character to be interviewed for a future issue of Fable Features, please send an email to linnaekconkel@gmail.com with the subject line: Fable Features.
If you have questions you'd like Patricia Parrington to ask in a future interview, please submit them to linnaekconkel@gmail.com with the subject line: Interview Questions.
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