Meri Greenleaf

Short Story: The Summoning Spell

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 16:04:00 +0000

Belatedly she grabbed at the fading shadow only to have it slip out of her grasp. This wasn’t her forte. Her grandmother had only taught her how to banish spirits, not keep them around. She hadn’t previously wanted to keep any around.

Gilly didn’t intend to eavesdrop. It wasn’t like she made a habit of listening in on conversations, but she couldn’t help it when this one went on at full volume right behind her. Or rather, half of it went on at full volume. She had the feeling that she was the only other person on the street who could hear the second half of the argument.

This was because most conversations didn't include the dead as a participant.

She may not have meant to listen in, but as the two teenagers walked past, she followed a few steps behind and did so anyway. Ghosts were common enough, sure. She found them attached to objects or buildings or people often enough that she had turned finding them into a sort of career. She didn’t get paid for it, really, unless you counted the occasional trinket one had left behind, so maybe ‘career’ wasn’t the right word. ‘Hobby’ implied she'd chosen this path, when it was more that it had picked her. One day she’d walked into her grandmother’s antique store, same as she’d done billions of times before, to find no less than five ghosts staring at her. Her grandmother had always said the place was haunted, but Gilly hadn’t believed her. If it hadn’t been for her magic deciding to manifest, she still wouldn’t. Ghosts were just so absurd. Energy shouldn’t linger after someone died and it certainly shouldn’t attach itself to, say, the watering can she’d freed one from last week.

So, no, coming across a spirit wasn’t what drew her curiosity. It was that someone else could see one.

The pair were about her age, although for all she knew, the ghost could have died at sixteen a century ago. The living one got a lot of stares from the people passing by. It could have been his outrageous outfit-- a bright yellow and purple leotard, with his painted face glimmering in stage makeup-- or the strange looks could have been because he appeared to be talking to himself.

The ghost, wearing a lavender sweater the color of the other’s hair and a pair of cargo shorts, would have passed anyone’s notice if they’d been alive. Sure, their skin was pallid and their hair nearly white, but the rest of them looked normal, down to the skateboard they carried and the sneakers on their feet. What would have been unremarkable in a human struck her as impossible in a ghost. Every other spirit she’d come across had been entirely grey monochrome. No neon skateboard wheels or hot pink shoelaces or purple sweaters of any kind before now.

She had to be right, though. Human teenagers didn’t hover an inch or two off the ground or have voices that reverberated through her skull without passing through her ears. As Gilly trailed behind, she noticed scars crisscrossing the back of the ghost’s neck. Possibly how they’d died? The afterlife didn’t seem to be bothering them much. From what she’d heard so far, this one led a far more interesting life than she did.

The human shook his head, long hair falling out of his messy bun. "Mom is going to kill you. You know that, right?"

"Too late."

"Ugh. Okay, she'll find a way to bring you back, then she'll kill you. You know how she feels about skateboards."

"That's because your dad tried to put wings on the back of one to make it fly."

"And you chose the hill at the guild. That's like a 90 degree drop! You could have crashed!"

"And?"

"You're impossible!"

Come to think of it, none of the ghosts she’d come across before had been this self-aware, either. Usually they were echoes of the past, repeating a routine from their lives. Some existed more in the present; those were always malicious and latched onto someone or something simply to cause trouble.

Okay, judging by the conversation, this one had caused trouble, but not in the usual doors slamming, objects being hurled kind of way. And if they were attached to the boy, he obviously wasn’t concerned.

Gilly was so drawn in that she didn't notice when the two of them stopped at a crosswalk until a clammy coldness coated her skin for just a moment. Then the skateboard clattered to the ground as the ghost vanished. Frit! She’d walked straight into them. Belatedly she grabbed at the fading shadow only to have it slip out of her grasp. This wasn’t her forte. Her grandmother had only taught her how to banish spirits, not keep them around. She hadn’t previously wanted to keep any around.

The human scrambled to catch the skateboard before it rolled into the street. It took him a second or two to register that his friend wasn’t by his side and an unfamiliar girl was. He spared her one raised eyebrow before calling out, “Skia?”

When he didn’t get a response, panic began to tint his voice. He shoved the skateboard under one arm and reached out into open air with the other. “Skia, this isn’t funny.”

Gilly tapped his shoulder to get his attention, then signed to him, “I’m sorry. I think I banished them.”

She didn’t expect him to understand and was reaching into her backpack for a notebook when he grabbed her by her sleeve and dragged her out of the way of foot traffic. He signed back, “What do you mean, banished?”

“It was an accident!”

The bracelets on his wrists jangled together as his gestured words grew frantic. “How can you accidentally banish someone?”

She wasn’t sure of that herself. Previously she’d had to concentrate and use tools to get her magic to work and even then the spirits sometimes got stubborn and didn’t want to go. And it turned out all this time all she had to do was walk into them? She repressed a shudder as memories of some of the ghosts she’d had the pleasure of meeting crossed her mind. No thanks. “Maybe they wanted to be set free?”

He shook his head rapidly. “No way. Skia wouldn’t leave me. You did this. You’re going to bring them back.”

“But I’ve never brought anyone back before!”

“Congratulations, there’s a first time for everything. How do we summon a ghost?”

--------------

It took a name exchange and some back and forth conversation while juggling the skateboard before Gilly thought to tell him that she could hear perfectly fine. After that they came up with a plan. Well, the start of a plan. It was plan-adjacent, anyway. What they needed were things familiar to the ghost-- Skia, she had to remember this one knew their name-- and that meant going to their home.

Gilly expected burned down ruins after seeing Skia’s scars. Instead Ametrine led her a few streets over and through a long tunnel into a grass courtyard full of people. She blinked in the sudden sunlight. On all sides of the courtyard were brightly-painted walls and balconies. She’d lived in Silveridge her whole life and hadn’t known this neighborhood was here, a stone’s throw away from her grandmother’s shop. Distracted by the noise and activity, it took her a good ten ‘Hey, Ametrine, where’s Skia?’s to realize something important.

“Wait, they can all see ghosts?”

“I can’t even see ghosts.” That explained why he hadn’t immediately known his friend had vanished. “But I’m the only one who can hear Skia. They’re just really good at letting people know they’re here.”

“How?” This was wild to Gilly. She’d never met a ghost people actually wanted around. Not that she’d met Skia yet, not after fumbling the introduction so badly.

Ametrine held up his arm and shook it. A few of his bracelets lit up with the movement. “For one? They’ve got these, too. People can see the light even if they can’t see them.”

Gilly hadn’t noticed any jewelry on Skia. Their sweater must have covered their wrists. “How can they wear bracelets?”

Ametrine stared at her. “With their arms?”

“No, I mean, how can they wear stuff? They’re a ghost. They should only be able to wear whatever they died in.”

Ametrine stopped walking. Sadness warred with annoyance until a stubborn frown settled on his lips. “When you meet Skia, don’t you dare tell them that. Not that they’re dead, they know. The other thing. Look, Skia’s special. If there’s a rule, they’re going to break it. And not just like, no swimming in shark-infested water, although they’d probably try that, too. More like they don’t know how ghosts are supposed to be, so if they think they can do something, they usually can.”

His attention was on fiddling with his bracelets rather than Gilly, which was fine because she wasn’t sure what to say in response.

“I can hear Skia because I got a black eye once. It was all swollen up and I couldn’t read what they wrote when they asked what happened. Skia got really scared for me and they used all their energy to make themself heard. After that, they couldn’t talk or move anything for two days. I thought they were gone.”

Now he looked up and met her eyes. “That’s why I know they wouldn’t choose to leave. They promised me they wouldn’t go anywhere. Wherever they are now, they’re trying to get back. We’re going to help.”

All she could do was nod.

“Come on, me and Skia’s apartment is upstairs.”

She followed Ametrine into one of the buildings and up a flight of stairs. It wasn’t too long before another question flowed through her hands. “Your parents let you live by yourselves?”

Ametrine stopped at a purple door-- no surprise there, considering what he was wearing-- and fished a set of keys out of his bag. “It was getting stupid crowded with nine people. Me and Skia finally got them to agree to move our room into the empty apartment down the hall.”

“Move your room?” She assumed he meant packing their things and putting them somewhere else, but no.

“Yeah. Don’t the rooms in your house know when they’re needed and go away when they don’t?”

“No?” Gilly hadn’t known that was an option. Great, now she’d be staring at doors for a while to make sure they didn’t decide to go somewhere else and leave her stranded. She’d think he was making it up if not for the fact that magic could do strange things. She was a medium, for Petra’s sake.

“Huh. Weird.”

The small apartment was pretty much what she expected: a lot of second-hand furniture and moving boxes still stacked by the door. The two beat up wooden stools at the kitchen counter caught her eye-- did this mean Skia could eat or did Ametrine live with someone else he hadn’t mentioned? A board game was set up on the table by the couch, which had a well-loved blanket pooling from the seat down to the floor. Off to the side was a piano with tubes sticking out of the lid. Not organ pipes, those would have made sense. These were glass tubes spiraling in loops.

As she tried to make sense of this, a few small lights floated over to land on Ametrine’s hand. They reminded her of fireflies until one settled on her own hand and she saw that it was just a speck of light, more like the floating embers from a campfire. It remained there for a few seconds before fluttering away with the rest to circle the suncatcher hanging in the window.

Ametrine must have noticed her confused expression. “Light elementals. My parents have a bunch of them hanging around their place. A few followed us here when we moved.”

That explained absolutely nothing, but Ametrine didn’t seem inclined to talk about these more. He picked up one of the game pieces from the table and asked, “Where do you want to do this summoning thing?”

Not that Gilly really knew what ‘thing’ this was going to be. Her only guess would be her usual banishing only backwards. “Where does Skia spend the most time?”

“Bedroom. We’ve had that longest.” Which made sense if the room had moved with them. However that worked. He pointed. “It’s the door on the left. I’m gonna find the things Skia likes best and I’ll be right there.”

Gilly paused by the piano on her way to the door. She checked to make sure Ametrine wasn’t looking and softly tapped one of the keys. When nothing happened, she tapped it harder. This time there was a distant tink, like it was being played several rooms away. Maybe adding the tubes had broken it? She shrugged and kept walking.

Ametrine’s bedroom was more lived-in than the rest of the apartment. It was also obvious that two very different people lived here. Or unlived here. Half of the room was cozy, with pale purple walls decorated with a few paintings and a rack of hula hoops hanging above the bed. Two desks, one overflowing with clutter and the other with neatly stacked books, were pushed against another wall. The other half of the room was… loud. That was the only way she could think to describe it. The walls were a blinding neon pink where they weren’t black. Comics were drawn on the dark surface in what appeared to be chalk, so she guessed this was a kind of chalkboard. No bed-- presumably Skia didn’t sleep even if they might eat? Instead there were racks of skateboards and skates next to an easel. A nearby table was heaped with painting supplies and canvases. What floor she could see under all the clutter was splattered with paint.

Gilly would have preferred to set up the circle on the side she assumed to be Skia’s, but with no clear space on the floor she had to settle for Ametrine’s. She left the container of salt in her bag-- something to keep spirits away was probably not the answer-- and pulled out a set of candles. Those should be okay. Normally she cornered the ghost into a circle and then snuffed out the candles to dismiss them. In theory, lighting them would help call a spirit.

She’d located her lighter at the bottom of the bag and was pulling it out when Ametrine snatched it from her hand. “No candles.”

She frowned up at him. “That’s what I always use.”

“No candles. Skia’s scared of fire. If you light them, they’ll stay away.”

“Do you have a better idea of something I can light in a circle?” She was the experienced one here. As far as she’d learned, Ametrine was only familiar with one ghost in particular.

Although that was kind of the point, now that she thought about it.

Ametrine tapped his fingertip against his lip. “I guess I could go out to the store and get fake candles. Skia might be okay with those... No, wait, hang on!”

He dropped the lighter into her bag and went over to his bed to pull down one of the hula hoops. “Tada. Light up circle coming right up.”

He twisted a spot on the hoop that looked identical to the rest and it began to glow a rainbow of colors, much like a larger version of the bracelets he wore. Then he turned it off and set it on the floor next to where she knelt.

“It’s not very wide.”

“Neither’s Skia. They’ll fit. Now what do we do?”

“We put Skia’s stuff inside the hoop.”

She’d never spent much time thinking about why ghosts attached to the things they did. She usually found them haunting jewelry, books, dolls… although once there had been a single safety pin. That one had taken forever for her and her grandmother to track down because it had gotten caught on the underside of a carpet. There was a book in the collection Ametrine handed her, but it was a kid’s math textbook, not an ancient manuscript. Then there was the skateboard. A game piece in the shape of a large, lumpy animal, maybe a hippo. A bright red kazoo. A handful of wrapped candies, all strawberry. A jumble of bracelets made from cheap, colorful beads. A dull knife that might have something to do with painting since it was speckled blue. A pair of pink heart-shaped sunglasses.

The last thing Ametrine placed in her hand was the necklace he’d been wearing. It was cool to the touch, despite having been against his skin. It vibrated slightly, as though gears turned inside the locket. Before she could place it in the circle, he stopped her. “Nothing will happen to it, right? Because that’s my dad’s and he’ll be really upset if something does.”

Ah. A family heirloom. That was more like it. “It’ll be fine. Worst case is Skia possesses it and then I’ll have to pull them out.”

She’d done this part dozens of times before. Summon the spirit from the possessed possession, hold it in the circle for however long it took to get it to leave, blow out the candles, sweep up the salt. This time she’d only have to get a ghost who wanted to be here to show up. How hard could that be?

“It might get a little crowded.”

“Don’t tell me you have a ghost in it already.” She hadn’t noticed one, but that could explain why it felt like it was trembling.

“Of course not. It kinda has some of my parents’ soul in it.”

This... was less like it. “It has what?”

“Only part of it!”

Gilly looked from the necklace to Ametrine and back to the necklace. It seemed to pulsate stronger unless that was her own heartbeat she was feeling. Quickly, but carefully, she placed it between the kazoo and the textbook. It was one thing to control something that was already dead. She had no desire whatsoever to play with the spirits of the living.

“And this has what to do with Skia exactly?”

“Oh. They’re in there too.”

She was beginning to question her choice of career. Maybe it wasn’t too late to tell her grandmother that she wanted to be an accountant instead.

It took her a moment to find the button on the hula hoop. When it was lit, she set it on the floor and signed a few words of command. Now to wait. She crossed her fingers for luck that Skia would pick anything but the necklace. She could deal with a haunted kazoo. She had a feeling the locket was beyond her skill.

Seconds ticked by into minutes and Ametrine started to fret. “It’s not working. Why isn’t this working?”

Gilly didn’t know. It could be that they did need candles. Maybe Skia didn’t understand her signed words, although she’d never run into a ghost who couldn’t; something about being dead made ghosts polyglots. Maybe Skia’s things weren’t personal enough to summon them. Maybe they had a fear of hula hoops as well as fire.

Ametrine took a step closer. Gilly held out her arm to keep him back. Skia wouldn’t hurt him, but it was possible the circle might, especially if they accidentally summoned something else. “Wait.”

“We did it wrong. Maybe you banished them too far. What if they’re not coming back?” Ametrine tried to step around her but she stood her ground and tugged him back.

Neither of them noticed the skateboard beginning to roll until it hit Gilly’s ankle. She took a step backwards, grabbed at Ametrine to steady herself, and ended up pulling both of them down. As they hit the ground, the lights of the hula hoop flared, bright enough to make her eyes water. She kept her eyes shut tight while she fumbled behind her. Her hands found the hoop and eventually the button to shut it off. Ametrine should have told her it had a setting that could be seen from the moon.

Another voice, spoken through laughter, made her eyes snap open. “I can’t tell if you fell from heaven or tripped on the last steps out of hell. Either way, you found me.”

Ametrine launched himself up and into Skia’s arms. Gilly’s mouth gaped when he didn’t fall through to the floor again. He could touch ghosts? Even she couldn’t touch ghosts. In fact, she was pretty sure Skia must have had their foot through her side at one point. Either that or she’d been sprawled in an invisible pile of ice cubes.

Skia pulled back so they could make a face at Ametrine. “You thought the sunglasses were important?”

“You wear them all the time.”

“Well, yeah. Because I have style.”

Ametrine’s eye roll matched Gilly’s opinion there. He let go of Skia so he could help Gilly to her feet. Once she was up, she stepped out of the hoop. It was turned off and in theory shouldn’t call anything else, but she’d rather not take the chance.

Hoping that Skia could understand, she signed, “What brought you back?”

“Not the sunglasses.”

Ametrine couldn’t roll his eyes any harder. “Skia.”

Skia turned to Ametrine and grinned. “You, of course.”

Ametrine blushed, which made Skia laugh again. It was a strange sound, hollow and distant, but it wasn’t malicious. Neither was the smacking kiss they placed on Ametrine’s cheek.

This was sweet and all, but Gilly was dying to know more. Nothing about Skia was normal for someone who was supposed to be dead. “Why did he work? I need to know for future ghost purposes.”

“What, there’s more ghosts you want to bother? Can’t the dead walk home in peace anymore?” Skia didn’t seem to be annoyed, though. They grinned as they reached for Ametrine’s hand and held it up for her to see. “He’s more important to me than anything else. Which he’d know if he stopped to think about it. Seriously, the sunglasses?”

Before Ametrine could do more than open his mouth, Gilly asked him, “And what’s this about your parents’ souls?”

Skia mock-whispered to Ametrine, “Does she always ask so many questions?”

“Yeah. Your turn to answer them.”

Skia’s answer was drowned out by the deep tone that echoed off the walls and shook the floor. For the second time in five minutes, Gilly stumbled.

Ametrine let go of Skia to grab Gilly by the shoulders. “You didn’t touch the piano, right? Please tell me you didn’t touch the piano.”

--------------

(If you want to know more about these characters, check out the secondary character page. Gilly and Ametrine also appear in the story "Bottled Spirits" which you can read here.)

Meri's Monthly Musings - Fall 2024

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 21:35:00 +0000

Welcome to a very delayed Meri's Monthly Musings! It's been a long time since I posted here, but since I've been doing more writing lately, I figured it was time for an update!

The reason I haven't shared content here in about two years isn't anything bad, per se, just that I've been dealing with a lot of health issues and brain fog. I have been doing some writing and brainstorming off and on, just not regularly enough for me to share anything new. Friends and my medical team have been cheering me on, though, along with giving me mental tools to help. I'm writing much slower than I was before and struggling sometimes to fight through the fog, but the words are starting to come a bit easier.

I'd like to start sharing short stories again, as well as art that I do of my characters. I've been learning how to draw and paint in the time I've been away and I'm proud of how much I've improved. (Oil pastel has become my favorite medium, closely followed by charcoal, pen, marker, and watercolor line and wash.) You can follow me on my art Instagram if you want to see my progress and I'll post any art that's writing-related to this site. You can get there from the drop down menu above; it's under "series art/pictures" then "illustrations & visuals".

These are some of the drawings/paintings that I've done recently that aren't for my writing since I'll share those later. The bottom right is my first self portrait!

Getting back to writing, I've changed things about plot and characters since I last updated this site because my writing has always been fluid and never set in stone. I'm going to keep my short stories as they are even if they're no longer canon to what the books will likely be (or the new stories I share), but I will be gradually updating the moodboards to reflect changes. Nothing too big, just enough that I want to keep all my info up to date. I have world building info I want to share, too. I use this site as my own organizational system as much as it's also for others to read.

For now I'm not going to be on social media much, sticking with the occasional post to my main Instagram and more frequent ones to my art Instagram. I think I might start updating my author Facebook page as I update this site, so if you want to stay up to date you can follow me there or sign up for blog/site updates here. Or check in with my home page- I'll update that with new stories, moodboard posts, and these ramblings as they go up.

I can't promise how often I'll update but I am going to try to share somewhat regularly. I have a lot of things accumulated from the past two years (and some from before which never ended up on here) so you'll see more soon!
~Meri

Unexpected Inspiration Main Characters - Art Commission

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 21:54:00 +0000

I just realized that I never shared this art of the five main characters that I commissioned like two years ago! This was drawn by Niiausen over on Instagram and it's perfect! It's so them from Adair painting his found family, to Dray picking on Blythe (in retaliation for my previous art where it was Blythe poking Dray, that's the art I use in my site banner), to Etri being the quiet support to his goofy twin Sol. There's a cute excerpt about their found family and how much they mean to each other that you can read here. I'll be sharing that full story sometime in the near future since it's almost done.

I love the little details in this art so much, like Addy's paintbrush glowing the color of his magic and his tattoo-like skin discoloration from the time he channeled Etri's magic, Dray's dragonscale sleeve tattoos, the embroidered moons on Etri's coat, and how Sol never wears shoes if he can avoid it. Then there's Blythe's constant exasperation about these four dorks being hers, of course!

As an aside, I've been working on some writing again. It's been a rough year without much that I've felt was good enough to share on this site, so that's why I've been so quiet here. But I'm doing kind of a mini-NaNoWriMo to try to get back into my creativity and it's possible I'll share some of the stories I've worked on over the past few months. I'm not sure if anyone still follows this site, but if they do, I promise I haven't forgotten about it.

Dolls of the Unexpected Inspiration characters

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 18:11:00 +0000

I don’t think I ever shared these dolls/plushies that I made of my main characters, so here they are. Left to right in the top picture are Dray, Sol, Etri, Adair, and Blythe.

These are all a few years old and if I’d done them now, I probably would have made a few changes, like putting Blythe in her regular clothes instead of her knife-performance costume, and giving Addy more normal clothes because this outfit became the pajamas he starts book 1 wearing. (He meets the other characters when he sleepwalks into their carnival.) If I ever get my crafting motivation back again, I’d love to finish the set and make Camille, Rosalie, Ametrine, and Sapphire, at least.

They’re all about 6" tall and crocheted, with polymer clay items and felt and fabric paint embellishments. Like Addy has a clay pie and his paintbrush (focus of his magic), Blythe’s got her knives and a sheathed sword, Etri also has a knife, Sol has a torch (originally that was going to be the focus of his magic but since he's still a fire performer, it works), and Dray has a pair of fire-dancing swords. These plastic eyes always look crossed when photographed, but they’re not actually cross-eyed lol.

Unexpected Inspiration Character: Dray (Firedrake)

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 22:04:00 +0000

There was something about dance mixed with the trailing light of their daggers that caused Dray to lose all track of time and fall into a meditative state of tranquility. They let their fear, worry, and irritation fall away as they focused on the whirling motion of their long skirt and their lit blades.

All that mattered were the steps, the props, and the flame. Especially the flame.

Dray is a carnival performer and dancer more than a little obsessed with props and fire. What was once just their stage persona of a dragon has gradually taken over their daily appearance. Dray is agender, uses they/them pronouns, and doesn’t care an iota about anyone’s assumptions of gender. Their entire petite being is fueled by sarcasm, snark, and spite, and their moral compass has a habit of malfunctioning. Dray gets a kick out of pranking people, usually by using their fire and mind-manipulation magics. Despite all this, Dray is a good person at heart and refuses to use their magic to do more than humiliate or inconvenience someone. After years of being kicked around, Dray will never kick back at someone who doesn’t deserve it.

It's been a long time since Dray's life could be considered normal, if you could call a childhood raised by Concordian spies 'normal.' Dray grew up in Galanvoth, the neighboring country of Concordia. Like all firstborn and only children from the Named class in Galanvoth, they learned their career parent's occupation from a young age. In Dray's case, this involved both the disguise identity of a translator and also the covert one of spy. Quick-witted, sharp, and adept with words and languages, Dray took well to both occupations. Everything looked hopeful for Dray until the day their father left, then, a few years later, when their mother did the same. The rejection from the first caused Dray's fire magic to manifest after the second. They never had a chance to finish reading the letter their mother left behind because it burned up in their hands. Around them, the house caught on fire, burning with it Dray's hopes and dreams.

Panicked and thinking they were abandoned yet again, Dray made the rash decision to run away. They used all the skills they'd acquired from their parents to change their identity and seemingly vanish. They joined a theater company as a ballet dancer and somewhere along the lines, likely out of boredom, decided to become a sort of vigilante against those who tried to harm others. They continued down this path until they were nearly caught and had to make a rash decision for the second time in their life. In this case, though, it led Dray to seek refuge with a carnival troupe where they met Blythe who was also running away from Galanvoth. Dray took on a new identity yet again. They began performing with the carnival troupe as a dancer and gymnast with Blythe becoming their sibling-by-choice and sometimes performance partner. When she left to finish her training as a healer, Dray soon left the troupe themself to become a solo performer. Dray understood her reasons for leaving, but it felt like yet another abandonment by someone they cared about.

Dray is forced back into Blythe's life after their fire magic flares out of control once more. They find her surrounded by new people who pull Dray into their dysfunctional family. Feeling out of place in their own home and more than a little overwhelmed, Dray initially tries to keep their distance. This doesn't last too long before the walls Dray has built around their heart begin to crumble. Their life may never return to any semblance of normality, but at least they no longer have to face it alone.

Dray is one of the main point-of-view characters in the first trilogy of the Unexpected Inspiration series. You can find their bio page here.

Powerpoint Intro to the Unexpected Inspiration Series

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 21:02:00 +0000

It’s the comic sans powerpoint that’s barely a powerpoint because the only punctuation mark Sol has ever met is the exclamation point. Brevity? He’s never met her either. This was a thing going around Tumblr a while ago and I realized I never shared it here, so if you want info about my series told in a silly way by my sillest character, look no further!

(Note: some of this might not end up 100% true to the series because I'm always making changes. I'll update it if anything big changes but likely it'll stay pretty close.)

Meri's Monthly Musings - Winter 2021/22

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:57:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest Meri's Monthly Musings! Still not monthly, but I'm trying to at least make it seasonal as I slowly get back into writing.

Winter 2021-22 Creative Summary:

I've still been struggling with words after having to take about three years away from writing. (A little less, if you consider the moodboards I worked on about a year and a half ago. And I did spend November outlining book 2, although those were notes rather than story.) But! See that picture above with the laptop? That's a good sign! This year I've written a few short scenes and short stories to try to get the creative pipes flowing again. The words aren't coming as nicely as they used to, but a friend keeps reminding me that the more I do these little exercises, the sooner I'll flush the gunk out of the pipes and be able to write freely again. I'm not ready to share these quite yet, although I'm hoping some will turn into something longer that I can share later. I suppose I could share some of them as little drabbles like I did for this tiny fic thing I wrote last year, so maybe some will show up on here sooner rather than later?

I have been continuing to do lots of art this year. I've played around a little with acrylics, having fun painting along with youtube videos with my sister and mom. None of us really know what we're doing, but it's a great time. I also did a bit more with watercolor and oil pastels, and joined a drawing challenge in February for drawing faces. Prior to this month I'd never drawn people before, so this was a neat learning experience!

Here are some of the things I've drawn/painted so far this year. You can check out my art Instagram if you're interested in seeing what I'm creating. I've fallen off of social media over the past year or two and maybe someday I'll be back on twitter and tumblr, but for now I'm mostly just on my art instagram and my main instagram.

Upcoming Plans:

Right now I'm trying to ease into writing, so I'm going to try to focus on just the little stories. Once I can get the words flowing, I'd like to go back to working on books 1 and 2. I also have some more moodboard ideas for characters I haven't really introduced yet. I figure since I'm writing about them, I probably should ramble about who they are. I don't want to make any promises on content yet because I'm afraid I'd have to break them, but hopefully soon I'll be back to updating this site again.

I hope everyone is having a good year so far!
~Meri

Meri's Monthly Musings - Fall & NaNoWrimo 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 18:42:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest Meri's Monthly Musings! Which has turned into a twice a year musings. With NaNo, though, I'm trying to get back into writing, so here's an update.

2021 Creative Summary:

It's been a difficult year and my writing progress has been minimal, so I haven't had anything much new to share on this site. I did share this little thing from my book 1 antagonist's POV. This was the first story writing I'd done in about three years, so it's incredibly rusty, but any writing is productive writing since it's been so long. Otherwise I've been brainstorming books 1 and 2, which unfortunately isn't really able to be shared since it's all notes. I'll talk a bit about book 2 in a moment since it's my NaNo, though!

What I have been doing this year is art. I decided that I want to finally learn how to draw and paint, so my creative energy has largely gone into that. When the brain fog is thick and energy is low, it's easier to draw/paint something from a reference photo or tutorial than it is to work on writing or blogging. That's honestly why I've done so little with my series and this site this year-- it's been hard to think.

These are some of my favorite artworks from this year. I have been keeping my art Instagram updated as I finish things, so if you're interested in seeing what I'm creating, check it out or give me a follow. When I remember to, I also share my art and writing updates to twitter.

NaNo Plans:

This is exciting because I'm working on a first draft! I haven't written one of these in about six years, because I spent several years working on drafts of what were book 1 and book 2. About a year ago these two merged into one book around the fourth draft of each. I've got a pretty good idea of what's going to happen in that book, but didn't want to spend NaNo working on it. This is partly because I wanted something new, partly because I think the few plotholes and gaps in it will be filled in by writing the book that follows.

So that brings me to Flashover, the new book 2! Here's the summary:
The dorks have uncovered who is indirectly responsible for the thefts in their home city, but the problem goes much deeper. A plan is made to infiltrate suspect locations using fake identities and the less-than-lawful background of the least reliable dork. Dray, who agrees with this assessment of their character, starts to dig for information with Adair's help while the others investigate a surge in illnesses all too near the pair for this to be coincidence. The careful plan veers off course when mistaken memories of the past collide with visions of an alternate present. Now the clock is ticking on finding what and when things went wrong. Dray needs to find a way to stop the flashovers and regain their correct memories or else the identities of the dorks will be exposed. Dray has avoided jail this long, they'd rather keep that trend going. And keeping the people affected by illness and the reality split safe, that's probably important, too.

Basically this book is a bizarre cross between political intrigue, the paranormal, and a parallel universe. It's going to be a lot of fun to write!

Right now that's what my writing looks like: a binder filled with notes. Before I start the draft, which may happen this month or it might not, I'm going to put together a detailed outline. Previously I'd used a whiteboard (which I still am-- that's at the top of this post), index cards, and post it notes to outline. This time I'm using a binder because I have five sets of characters with their own story arcs, so it's easier to keep track of all this in tabbed sections.

The other fun thing I've been using? Tarot cards! Those are also in the leading picture as a peek, but I'll talk more about them in a later post because this has become a big part of my brainstorming process.

I'll wrap up here for now and hopefully I'll be able to start updating this site again more regularly. I do post little writing process updates to my main Instagram and likely I'll start using my Twitter and my author page on Facebook in case you want to give them a follow.

I wish good luck to others who are doing NaNo this year!
~Meri

Colorweaver (Book 1) Antagonist POV Fic

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 23:39:00 +0000

(It’s been something like two years since I wrote any new words. I’ve worked on the series off and on, but struggled hard with brain fog, and narrative? Wasn’t happening. But I’m back to working on book 1 and I have a sneaking suspicion that this draft is going to need a lot more pantsing than I, as an obsessive planner, have used before. Today I pushed myself to start at the very beginning, before book 1 actually starts, to pull this from the antagonist’s POV. Probably all spoilers, but eh, that’s okay. I’ve never hid that Feren was the antagonist lol)

Feren scowled at his once-muse from the other side of the street. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t trying to hide. Adair was the most oblivious person on the planet. Besides, flirting with that dopey-looking Protectorate would take all of his focus. Once Adair got on a roll with his puns, he wouldn’t stop for anything. Feren knew this all too well. He was also pretty sure he knew the Protectorate, but not well enough to remember his name. This guy truly was a nobody.

The Protectorate laughed, obviously trying to get Adair to take him upstairs. Feren’s scowl turned into a glare. Adair was his, even if he technically wasn’t.

Feren had done everything right. He kept an eye on Adair to make sure none of his dates or friends– it was never easy to tell which, with Adair– took advantage of his naivety. He gave Adair space. Not that all the space was intentional. It had taken Feren weeks to find out that Adair was working on his grad project in Silveridge. He’d only found out because something tugged at him one night. He’d dropped the mop in his hands and rushed out the door to see Adair munching away at something as he turned the corner. So Nina had known Adair was around and hadn’t bothered to tell him. Typical.

Somehow he always knew when Adair was close. Once he’d assumed it was a sentinel link forming early, but that was disproved when Adair broke up with him. Not the first or second time. Feren still held out hope then. But by the fifth time, he knew. Whatever it was that connected him to Adair wasn’t a link. Nina would call it obsession and she would be wrong. It was simply watching out for someone he cared about.

So Feren gave Adair time to come to his senses and come back, like he’d always done before. Only this time he didn’t. He was avoiding him. He had to be. That was the only explanation for not staying at the Artisans’ guild, where Feren studied. Why pay for a room to rent when the guild was free? Who was paying for it, anyway? Amateur artists couldn’t earn money, or at least they weren’t supposed to. They were supposed to save their weaving for their project. Adair could be selling his mundane art, but frankly he wasn’t that good. Feren could have done better, given the chance. If Nina was giving Adair money for something stupid like this, Feren was going to have words with her. They barely made ends meet at the cafe as it was. Sure, it looked like it was bustling, but it was just a place where low-ranking Protectorates– like the loser Adair was grinning at– hung out. She could have been assigned a better place where Feren wouldn’t have to work if she’d just waited a few more years. But no. She jumped at the promotion as soon as she’d reached novice.

It wasn’t fair. Feren should have had weaving like Adair and Nina. He came from a long line of Colorweavers and Savorweavers, after all. He didn’t really want the stupid power and it seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth, but it would have meant more status than working as a glorified busboy and barista. And Adair had no right to be seeing other people, not when he knew Feren was right here. Well, not right here, right here. Feren checked again. No, he and the Protectorate were still giggling.

The flirting didn’t matter because Feren had a plan. It was foolproof and a perfect way to get Adair to stay in Silveridge longer, which would give Adair time to come to his senses. If he could take Adair’s project– only to keep it safer than those useless Protectorates could– Adair would see that he needed a reliable muse to look out for him. He had a plan laid out and everything. It would just be a simple matter of disabling the inn’s alarm system. This would be a cinch. For once, Feren being so weaving-null that he practically came around the other side would be something other than a flaw. All he had to do was wait for Adair’s "friend" to leave.

Meet Concordia's Constellations

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Mon, 17 May 2021 14:00:00 +0000

I'm learning how to paint watercolor and was super excited when I saw that one of the lessons had us painting a sky with constellations! Concordia, the main country in the Unexpected Inspiration series, has a ton of history and mythology about their constellations, which they call the Muses.

It’s said that these were beings who came down from the sky to teach the original Concordians art and magic. This is partly true. There were beings who granted this magic and knowledge, but they came from other worlds via a portal, not the sky. The humans simply assumed the sky when the beings seemingly popped out of nowhere when they heard the call for help. Each of these constellations became the Muse of a specific branch of art/magic because they granted that particular flavor of arcane creativity. Most of the Muses are no longer remembered as their original appearance; over the centuries stories have made them larger and stronger (or at least stranger) than they were.

They're not in quite the right locations, but artistic interpretation, right? I included all nine Muses that make up my world's sky. From sort of left to right: Piquant, Pritchel, Chiaroscuro, Stele, Andante, Mortise, Tessera, Twisen (which is Whorl and Weft in one spiral constellation), and Scriven. Here's a bit about them:

Piquant: Muse of the culinary arts. I introduced him ages ago as a human-shaped imp who had a few small mushrooms "growing" on his body. He is now remembered because of the mushrooms; his constellation is a mushroom turned on its side. His name comes from a flavor. He helped grant food magic to the early Concordians because he saw they were hungry and wanted to help.

Pritchel: Muse of metalwork. Pritchel (along with Scriven and Stele) were Creators, who were beings from another world who moved into what became Concordia and joined together with the humans there to create one culture. At some point, these three Creators lost their human forms, however briefly, because they’re remembered for what they actually looked like. (They’re also remembered for their human forms, too; somehow the humans never made the connection that these three beings were the same as the “human” newcomers who helped unite the two groups of people into one. This means Pritchel, Scriven, and Stele are remembered separately as the founders Petra, Dee, and Elda.) The Creators’ original forms, before they crossed through the portal that shifted them to human, were all of one species, but took on the appearance of the material they worked most. This means Pritchel was golden with flecks of silver to represent iron. Her constellation is based on her namesake: “a pritchel is a type of punch used in forging, particularly in making nail holes in horseshoes.” In this case, the constellations is the punch and the horseshoe. Concordians have never kept horses, but back before the Concordian humans were sent to Concordia, they did. Pritchel had lightning and metal magic, so she granted the ability to work metal, as well as use lightning to power magical inventions.

Chiaroscuro: Muse of illustration. He’s a celestial being of both light and shadow, who had come to Concordia's world centuries before events of the Muses. This makes him very, very old, even at the time these Muses visited Concordia. He had no physical form except as an amorphous dark spot with glowing golden eyes. Mostly it's his eyes that are remembered and the constellation is simply these. “Chiaroscuro” means “the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.” I know Chiaroscuro best of all because he’s important to both Concordia and Montglace and he comes into play in the current books. He granted illustration and illusion magic.

Stele: Muse of sculpture and another Creator. In her case, her appearance took on the look of either marble or clay. A “stele” is a variation on “stela,” which is “an upright stone slab or column typically bearing a commemorative inscription or relief design, often serving as a gravestone.” The constellation was supposed to be an upside-down gravestone. It became a clay teacup pretty quickly because this was too morbid for a Muse remembered as fondly as Stele. The reason Stele is associated with memorials was because when she was alive, she helped create the walls that contain the names of everyone in Concordia who has passed since the founding; these update automatically because of the magic tied into them.

Andante: Muse of music. He was originally some sort of bird person and is somehow still remembered as a bird person. The fact that this constellation looks like a bird person with wings and a tail is probably the reason. I’m still amazed that the program I used to generate stars threw some together in a way that made this shape form so well! His name is a musical term involving tempo. The magic he granted involves sound, both in terms of music but also in recording and amplifying.

Mortise: Muse of woodwork. They were a being of the same species as Chiaroscuro, but even older than Chiaro. While Chiaro stayed a celestial, Mortise bonded with the land and became one with the planet. They're remembered as a tree because their voice came from the grotto at the center of the early Concordians' homes. It's not barbaric to have a tree be the Muse of woodwork because Concordians use fallen wood whenever possible and always replant. The earth magic granted by Mortise makes the land flourish; they've grown weaker over the centuries so now their magic can only stretch as far as Concordia. A “mortise” is a woodworking joint and Mortise granted magic over wood.

Tessera: Muse of glasswork. She was originally a Salamander, a human-sized lizard person, but over time she was remembered as a dragon. Possibly this is because large, scary dragons are more exciting than lizards, but more likely because the constellation’s arms got mistaken for wings. The tail probably didn’t help since the constellation is all tail. Tessera did have a tail, though, so that part’s okay. “Tessera” means an “individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a cube, used in creating a mosaic.” She granted light and heat magic, which generally manifests in control over glass.

Twisen (Whorl and Weft): Muses of textiles. They were sisters or at least appeared to be sisters. They're from the same world as the Concordians, but their kind was there long before the humans arrived and long long before Concordian's founding. Their species lives deep underwater and most of the world doesn't realize that they share their planet with other people, even now. These two are remembered as a pair of waterspouts and they’re closely tied into wind and water, such as the wind in the sails of boats. Their names are spinning and weaving terms because they granted textile magic.

Scriven: Muse of words. This also includes poetry, stories, and words both spoken and written. Scriven was the third of the Creator-Muses and was the Creator who called on the other beings and their worlds for help. This constellation looks weird, but I see it as the side view of a person holding a book or a piece of paper. It could also be an old-fashioned desk where the chair is connected. Either would work for Scriven. While Pritchel looked almost like metal in her true form and Stele looked like stone, Scriven's skin had the appearance of parchment and whenever he used magic, his words would show on his body. He granted power over words, such as an ability to bring emotion from the audience/reader.

Concordia's culture revolves around art, hence the art-themed names, so painting this felt wonderfully appropriate. Chiaroscuro, the Muse of illustration, would approve. At some point, I'll get the chance to finish introducing my other six Muses in their own posts, but for now you can read the ones for Mortise, Piquant, and Scriven.

Meri's Monthly Musings - Winter 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 02:55:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest Meri's Monthly Musings! Which is most certainly not monthly again, but maybe soon? I have been working on series stuff, I promise.

Unfortunately, it's been a lot of backbone things that aren't easily shareable, so please bear with me if I'm silent on here for a while longer as I work these things out. I included a picture in the banner of the scarves I made my family for Christmas since I didn't have much in the way of writing photos for this update.

Winter Creative Summary:

Character backstories! Remember how I was sharing backstory moodboards for my main characters last year? I was so confident that after seven years of writing them, this was all finalized. 2021 laughed at me. I think Adair's is the only one that's still accurate. Everyone else has had significant changes to their pasts, so I'll be re-writing those again. While the gist hasn't changed for most of them (except Camille, she's getting a massive redo), there are enough specifics that have been added or adjusted that I'll have an easier time keeping track of the characters if I update these. Their backstories all tie into the second two books in this trilogy, so I definitely had to iron those out before moving forward with the "now." Speaking of...
Colorweaver (book 1) This book was already getting a massive overhaul because I was combining what had been two books into one. After months of trying to make this work, it still felt off. I'm working on changing the main plot slightly, which branched off into a thousand tiny threads that have to be tied back together because when is writing ever easy lol. I'm optimistic, though! This is the first time I've truly enjoyed working on this book in years, so I'm pretty confident I'm on the right track.
Flashover (book 2) This one is still being brainstormed and outlined, so the only big change I've made is that I'm thinking I'm going to take Rosalie's time travel plot out of it and move it into its own book/novella with Rosalie as the main character. This means she's likely to be pulled out of this trilogy and that's why Camille is getting a massive redo to her story arc. Otherwise I've been moving more of Dray's book 1 character arc into this book-- this made sense because book 2 is Dray's book. I'll be sharing new blurbs for the trilogy as soon as I get those figured out and written up.
Worldbuilding. Lots of history, lots of culture building, lots of math (ick) as I try to figure out when events occurred. Some of these ideas are likely going to make their way into worldbuilding moodboards since I'm looking forward to introducing my other two main countries (Montglace and Galanvoth), as well as elaborating more on the Salamanders, the species of shapeshifting light elementals from another world. (My "elementals" are actually aliens, if you want to get technical.) I don't have any species world building on this site yet, but if you're curious, I did talk about imps, light elementals, and shadow elementals on my tumblr a few years ago. I think most of that info should still be fairly accurate.

Spring Plans:

Mostly what I've mentioned above. I'd like to continue brainstorming/outlining the first two books, re-update the character backstories, start sharing more world building, and possibly do some short stories or excerpts? Brain fog and fatigue have been massive problems this winter, so I'll do what I can and share whatever makes sense to share. :)

I'll leave off with sharing a picture of this notebook because it's special to me. My five year old niece, who is the biggest source of joy in my life, picked this out for me as a Christmas present all on her own when she picked out gifts for her family through her school. She knew how much I love notebooks, writing, and drawing, and she nailed it! Rainbows, sequins, unicorns? That happen to match my favorite pen? Perfect! I love her aesthetic at this age because she has the same taste in things that I do lol. I haven't decided what to do with it yet because I want to use it for something special. It's not a lot of pages, so it's probably not going to become a writing notebook, but possibly some sort of journal?

I know I haven't been using anything but Instagram this winter (and even that not too often), but I'll add my links to Twitter, Instagram and my author page on Facebook in case you want to give them a follow. Eventually I will be back to sharing series updates regularly. You can also sign up for two kinds of email alerts. One option will give you a post like this as a monthly newsletter. (Usually. This month I'm not going to bother sending out a newsletter because I don't have a whole lot to share.) The other option will send you an email every time I share content to this site.

I hope everyone is having a good 2021!
~Meri

Meri's Monthly Musings - Fall 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 18:49:00 +0000

Welcome to the latest Meri's Monthly Musings! This is turning into a not-so-monthly thing since my last was in August, but that's okay! It's been a hectic, draining past few months, and when you're chronically ill, life tends to simultaneously speed past you while knocking you out.

Add in a global pandemic and I've definitely not had the most productive of years. It's hard to find creativity and motivation during a pandemic and this is a problem a lot of writers and artists have been dealing with, so if you're also in this boat, try not to fret. It'll come back again. Any forward progress is forward, no matter how slowly or how slight, and even if you're just spending a few minutes a day brainstorming creative things to do in the future or thinking creative thoughts, that's forward! Some days all I've been able to do is journal and some days all I can do is spend a few minutes thinking about my characters and some days (more often than I'd like) I can't brain anything at all. Whenever I can, I've been trying to focus on small goals and small tasks like character development, worldbuilding, or book brainstorming. It's not the rewrites I'd wanted to do this year, but it keeps my head in my writing and my series moving along. So no matter what you're creating or not creating, be gentle to yourselves.

August/September/October Projects:

Outlining! Those are massive spoilers up there, but it's really cool to see books 1 and 2 taking shape. I love these huge whiteboards! Earlier this year I realized I needed to combine what was books 1 and 2 into one book, which is still titled Colorweaver. (That's the first picture.) It's much more detailed because I'd already had several drafts of both of these old books. New book 2 (what had been book 3) got a title-- Flashover-- and is slowly coming together. This one is brand new and hasn't had any drafts yet, so the first step was what's in the second picture: sorting out the timeline. This book takes place in something like 4 locations at once, so first I had to nail down when all the main events have to happen.
Updated character info. I've been going through my characters and updating their bios and the moodboards that go along with the bios. Since the last Musings update, I've updated Blythe, Etri, and Sol, which means I only have Dray left of my mains.
Character backstories. These have changed, too, as I've worked out what happens in this trilogy and what the events were leading up to it. Here I've caught up with the main cast by sharing Blythe's and the twins'. (This one is a double moodboard because Etri and Sol obviously share a past.)
Worldbuilding. These are always the most fun posts to write up! I've been working on this series for about seven years and it's such a cool thing to see how much my worldbuilding has progressed. The two most recent ones are about Concordia's art magic and the place of shadow, which is a sort of mirror world to my main one. If you'd like a recap of the worldbuilding thus far, check out the Cultures & Locations tag.
Short stories. Unfortunately I don't have anything to show for this, but I did outline a short story about two of my secondary characters. It's about Ametrine as he grows up, befriends a ghost, then falls into a relationship with said ghost, all because of dyslexia, a kazoo, and a missing sweater (which might also be dead). This may become part of my NaNo project this year.

November Plans:

Start Flashover (Book 2). My goal is to start the first draft for NaNo in November, so that means wrapping up the outline. That's getting there and I'm hoping to have it ready this first week of November so I can start writing the book this month. I'd wanted to have the outline done by now, but October was not a good health month so I didn't get much done. (That's also why my updates on my blog and social media have been lacking for so many weeks.)
Short stories. This may actually be were I start NaNo this year. Since it's been almost two years since I wrote new story words, it feels so daunting to start NaNo with a novel. So I might write the Ametrine and Skia story first, then slide into Book 2 later this month.
Moodboards. This may get pushed to the backburner and picked up again in December. Once I finish Dray's bio board, I'll be moving into updating the secondary characters, or at least the ones that have had the most change, so that means a new bio for Ametrine and likely Talan and Feren. I'm also going to be introducing Skia, the aforementioned ghost and the character who's rapidly becoming my favorite.

I'm hoping that I'll be more active the rest of the year and not fall into another hiatus, so If you'd like to follow me for regular updates about what I'm working on as I share them, I'd love it if you followed me on Twitter, Instagram, or my author page on Facebook. You can also sign up for two kinds of email alerts-- one will give you a post like this as a monthly newsletter (at least until I decide how I want to do the newsletter moving forward), the other will send you an email every time I share content to this site.

Since this is still the endless year that is 2020, I'm going to sign off with the wish I had in the summer post: I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!
~Meri

Unexpected Inspiration Character: Sol Celeste

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 22:15:00 +0000

Dray strode over and shoved on the door to no more avail than Adair's effort. "Solei Celeste, what did you make?"

Sol all but whimpered. Use of his full name had that effect. "A mistake?"

- excerpt from "Is This Closet Mine or Yours?"

Sol is a fire performer with light/fire magic who you can usually find swimming through a dumpster or garbage heap. He’s an inventor who uses scraps that no one else wants and the heat from his magic to create objects ranging from "useful" to "what the heck is this thing?” He always has ideas, although whether they’ll work or backfire spectacularly is up in the air– which is frequently where they end up when they backfire. Sol is something of a genius ditz; he comes off as a vapid, musclebound goofball, but inside that thick head of his is a mind that’s always five steps ahead. It’s just that they’re five steps well off the beaten path and his Sol-ish comments tend to leave people bewildered. He's happy, cheerful, and optimistic, but his life wasn't always so good.

He and his twin brother Etri were born in Montglace, a city/country deep under a mountain far to the north of Concordia. In this city are the Sanctuaries of Shadow and Light, which is where the twins spent every day of their life up until they escaped. When Etri's magic manifested and he began training to become a priest of shadow, they made the decision to keep Sol's magic a secret. If it was discovered, he would have been sent to the Sanctuary of Light and they would likely never see each other again. Considering that the only two people Sol loved and trusted had shadow magic, he wasn't about to be parted from them. Eventually, though, he wasn't given much of a choice. The Sanctuary was incredibly dangerous, especially since Sol didn't have the limited protection that came with being an apprentice priest, so he, Etri, and their best friend came up with a plan to escape. Unfortunately they were caught. The trio put up a good fight, but there was only so much three teenagers could do against those who were much more trained than they were. Celeste sacrificed herself, using up every last bit of her magic, to buy the other two time to get away.

Sol was heartbroken. It took him a long time to smile again, and if it hadn't been for the constant support of his brother, he might never have been happy again. The twins took care of each other, Etri stealing what they needed to survive and doing everything he could to help Sol through his grief, and Sol learning everything he could about repairing and fixing things so that he could support Etri. They decided to take on their friend's name as a surname in her memory. They spent about a decade in the neighboring country of Galanvoth, in that time being taken in by a family but never officially adopted. This was far better than Montglace, but never quite ideal, and eventually they moved to Concordia. There Sol truly flourished. He was able to use his fire magic as a carnival performer, make all the inventions his heart could desire, and with the carnival troupe, he finally found a place that truly felt like home. The twins moved into an apartment with Blythe, who quickly became like a big sister to Sol and a best friend to Etri.

After that rough patch earlier in his life, Sol has become as sunny as his chosen name, and is always ready to befriend anyone who crosses his path. He's the first performer Adair meets and he's the one who convinces the others to let Adair stay. When the others are angry at Dray, it's Sol who forgives first. He wants nothing more than to make other people smile and he loves being helpful, whether that means inventing things to make life easier for those he cares about, using his magic to make the performers' stage lights bright, or just doing something silly to make someone laugh. He's a huge guy, at six and a half feet tall, and he says that the reason he's so big is so that he can give the best hugs. He's not wrong.

Sol is one of the main characters in the first trilogy of the Unexpected Inspiration series. You can find his bio page here and his backstory moodboard/post here.

Unexpected Inspiration Location: The Place of Shadow

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 20:35:00 +0000

Etri reached out to grab them as they ran past, catching Adair’s shoulder and Blythe’s wrist. Between the span of one breath and another, they were in the place outside of time that Etri considered a secondary, if lonely, home.

His friends were justifiably disoriented. Adair stumbled as he stepped closer to Blythe, whose eyes narrowed as she sought out the potential threat that had brought them here. In a voice barely above a whisper, but which reached Etri's ears in a place so empty, Adair asked, “Where are we?"

Etri had been equally fearful on his first trip here. It had been an accident, a touch to one of the elemental traps in his home temple that he noticed all too late. It had banished him here as though he himself were a shadow and he might still be caught here if not for an unusually curious and friendly elemental leading him back. Over the years he had learned that he could cross back and forth at will, with no danger so long as he took care to leave precisely at the time he had arrived. That had taken some calculations and experimentation. His friends would be safe if they remained with him, and since the shadows hadn't noticed them yet, Etri took a moment to pull a timer from his bag. With luck, they'd be able to return before they had left and miss the guards entirely.

As the grains of sand began to fall, Etri walked over to join them. “I apologize for not first gaining your permission. I took the opportunity before anyone could see you vanish from the street.”

Adair spun around with a grin on his face. “Etch! You brought us here! I'm so glad you're here. Where is here?”

Etri glanced down at the small hourglass to hide the smile that came so easily around Adair. He used this opportunity to better calculate how much time remained before they could again cross. “To my knowledge, there is no name for it. I have only thought of it as the 'place of shadow.' Please, we must get through the city soon. We cannot stay here long.”

“Why not?” Blythe asked as they hurried through the eerily silent streets. "Not that I want to stay. What's with this place, anyway? I know there were more buildings here before. Addy dragged me into a bakery I know was on that corner."

Adair waved his arms vaguely to the left. "And over there was the greenhouse we were in for like an hour."

If the two were back to teasing each other, it meant that they felt safe. Their trust in him made Etri's head swim just as surely as his friends must have felt moments ago. “This place is but a reflection of the real world and time does not flow as we perceive it. If we are not careful, we could be caught here for a century or return into the past. As for your second question, it is because temporary objects do not exist here.”

“What, like ice sculptures?”

Adair's comment made Etri chuckle, but Blythe was less amused. “Sheesh. You've been hanging around Sol too long. Think, art-boy. He probably means like people. Plants. The traffic we're not getting run over by."

Adair recovered before Etri could further explain. "I had noticed the lack of squash, which makes this better than the hour I spent hanging out with the vegetables."

Blythe groaned. "Etch, do us a favor and get us out of here. I don't think I can deal with a century of his bad jokes."

-An excerpt from Colorweaver (book 1) switched to Etri’s POV

Here are some facts about this location:
-As far as Etri knows, he's the only living human who has visited, besides the friends he brings later. He's never heard anyone else talk about it or found any records of anyone else visiting. The creatures from this place that are capable of communicating with humans have never revealed that this is where they come from.For instance, the priest/esses in Montglace who summon shadow elementals know that they're coming from somewhere, but have no idea what this somewhere is.

-The place of shadow isn't as creepy as you might expect, despite it being the home of ghosts and shadows. It's simply an empty and grey monochrome. Since it's only borderline real and there is no weather, the sky will always be dull, vacant grey, with no stars or planets to be seen. The air is breathable, but it's stuffy and you probably wouldn't be comfortable breathing it for long.

-This is because it isn't so much a world of its own as a reflection of the main world. The only things you'll find in this place are things that have existed in the main world for an extended period of time. This means geographical features, such as hills, mountains, and caves, but nothing like trees or plant life because nothing living exists there. In Etri's experience, rivers and lakes have been empty or missing. There may be oceans, but if so, he hasn't explored far enough to know.

-Towns and cities are ghost towns, but not in a dilapidated, creepy way. Only the oldest buildings and architecture echo over; these are all empty inside but otherwise solid and in new condition. The buildings are never furnished because anything that can be moved around counts as temporary.

-On the flip side of this, if a building has been recently torn down in the real world, its mirror will still be standing until it eventually begins to fade away. You're also unlikely to find ruins here-- old buildings will begin to vanish rather than fall apart.

-Nothing lives here because nothing native to that place is technically alive. This doesn't mean the place is unpopulated, though! One type of elemental that exists here are shades, which are echos of strong memories and emotions from the main world, vague blurs without much sentience.

-Once in awhile Etri will run into a ghost, which are usually the spirits of those who possessed magic and were killed in a way that didn't fully dissipate this power. Usually, these don’t remember who they once were, and they vary in intelligence and communication skills based on how long they’ve been ghosts, how strong their magic was to start, and how they were killed/ended up as ghosts. Some can move around and cross to the human world if they choose to, but many are echoes not much stronger than the shades.

-The creatures I often refer to as shadows are the most common type of elemental here. These are the ones capable of communication (via telepathy/feelings) and their intelligence level is somewhere around that of a smart dog. These can go wherever they wish but are easily controlled or summoned by certain humans. Shadows are mostly intangible when in the human world and are generally mistaken for a normal shadow if they're noticed at all. On their home world, and to any with the magic to see them properly, they look like a plume of smoke.

-Through trial and error, Etri has worked out how to calculate time passing in the main world while he's here in the place of shadow. Time doesn't flow linearly; instead it ebbs back and forth, almost like waves. Sometimes the waves are strong and will make "time" rush, meaning that you could step back outside into the far past or the far future. Sometimes it's weaker and almost no time has passed at all in the main world. Hourglasses are the only timekeeper he's found that work because gravity functions here even if time-- and watches-- do not. Between the hourglasses and carefully observing the waves, he can predict when he'll step back out again. The shadows and ghosts have less restriction than he does because Etri is human and has a chronological mindset at navigating this. The elementals can just pop out anywhen, but to be fair, they don't really understand what "now" is. Time has no meaning for them.

Unexpected Inspiration Character: Etri Celeste

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 22:56:00 +0000

Blythe's heart pounded against her rib cage at the sound of a voice where no one had been. At least she had an answer to her earlier question: his voice was nothing like his twin's. It was soft and almost lyrical- whatever his accent was, she couldn't place it, and had never heard anything like it. She looked up into a face as white as the sheets in the healer's wagon and took a single deep breath to calm her nerves. The boy was just a boy. Stories of ghosts were just stories, even if he moved with uncanny silence and was so pale he was nearly luminous in the glow of the campfire.

- excerpt from "Spirits by the Campfire"

Etri is a carnival performer specializing in knives and fire-- or more specifically, the lack of fire. The carnival troupe in Concordia's capital city double as the thieves-of-thieves who return stolen art back to its creators; you can learn more about Sapphire's Saboteurs in this post. His magic is that of shadows and darkness, which allows him to snuff out light and fire (something he contributes to his brother's fire performances), as well as giving him the ability to shift his body into a shadow. Being able to turn himself nearly invisible has helped both his thieving career and his social anxiety immensely. I talked about his magic here if you're curious to find out more!

Etri and his twin brother Sol are relatively new to Concordia. They were born in Montglace, a country deep under the mountains far to the north, and spent the first sixteen years of their lives inside the Sanctuary of Shadow. I talked about their time in Montglace in this post, so I'll sum it up by saying that this was not pleasant for either of them, as the temples in Montglace are strict and dangerous. Etri was taught a little about how to use his magic, but since he never revealed the full extent of his ability, he had to discover most of what he knows on his own. Normally magic in Montglace only means that you can control light or shadow elementals, not become one. If there's a reason Etri can shift himself into a shadow or why Sol has the ability to summon light and fire, the twins haven't worked out what it is. They never trusted anyone enough to ask, even after learning much later that the Glassweavers in Concordia have similar magic to Sol. They have yet to find anyone outside of Montglace who has magic similar to Etri's shadow kind.

After the twins escaped Montglace, they lived for almost a decade in the neighboring country of Galanvoth. This was a huge culture shock after coming from the repressive and isolated place they grew up. Sol began learning how to repair and invent things, and this, along with the occasional theft from Etri to steal what they needed to survive, was their source of income until they were taken in by a Galanvoy family. Here they were educated and loved, although never officially adopted, and Etri began learning transcription and translation as a trade. (He was also taught certain skills related to spying and espionage, but you didn't hear that from me.) Eventually the brothers were sent off to Concordia to help Sapphire and her group of reverse-thieves. These are the carnival performers of Silveridge, the capital city of Concordia. With them, the twins have flourished more so even than in Galanvoth and they will always consider the carnival troupe as their family.

Etri is the epitome of the expression 'cold hands, warm heart,' and not just because his magic leaves his skin noticeably chilly. While he's a reserved introvert with a fear of social situations, he's also kindhearted and intensely loyal to anyone who has gotten past his shy demeanor and distrust of new people to earn his friendship. This loyalty and a fiercely protective streak lead him to become one of Adair's sentinels, alongside Blythe. He can frequently be found doing something quietly, usually reading or writing poetry, somewhere close to the people he cares about. He may not say a lot, but his constant support and presence mean a lot to the others. He's the brains of the group of five, reading anything he can get his hands on, and loves astronomy and history more than anything else. He's the one most likely to think a plan through, as well as come up with several backup plans in case the worst happens. Unfortunately, he's also the one most likely to dive headfirst into danger without telling anyone about it. He'd much rather risk himself than allow someone else to potentially get hurt.

Etri is one of the main characters in the first trilogy of the Unexpected Inspiration series. You can find his bio page here and his backstory moodboard/post here.

Unexpected Inspiration Series: Concordia's Art Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:31:00 +0000

Blythe could only assume that if Adair was holding a paintbrush, the jar in his other hand must contain paint or ink. Then again, it was Adair. It could just as likely be grape jam. And to think, she'd finally got herself unsticky from Sol's glue fiasco this morning. With some trepidation, she held out her hand. Adair dipped the tip of his brush into the jar, then drew a quick blue swirl on her palm.

At least that solved the mystery. It was, in fact, paint. "I wouldn't call a paint smudge much of a glow."

"Give me a minute." This time Adair didn't return the brush to the jar and instead held the tip of the bristles just far enough away that they tickled Blythe's skin. She fought back the reflex to close her hand so she wouldn't disturb whatever it was he was trying.

When nothing happened for a long while besides Adair gazing intently at her hand, Blythe mouthed to Etri, "What's he doing?"

Etri tapped his finger against her wrist, calling her attention back down. She had expected nothing to change and hissed a sharp intake of breath when it had. The swirl was still there, but now there was an aura of purple about an inch away from her skin. When she moved her hand, the strange glow stayed with it. Etri leaned closer for a better look. She pried her eyes away in time to catch Adair looking pleased with himself in an embarrassed sort of way. "So all Weavers' hands look like this?"

"Yeah, but not just our hands. Picture that covering your entire body and you get a better idea of how we glow."

Blythe made a face and wiped her hand clean on the paint-stained cloth he handed her. "Blech. I'll pass."

-Excerpt from an early draft of Colorweaver (Book 1)

Concordia as a whole is filled with artists, craftspeople, inventors, and creative hobbyists. The culture has art at its center and almost everyone joins in, even if it's just a way to pass the time rather than as a vocation. It's a drive passed down from generation to generation and the reason for this is that art magic runs deep in the blood of Concordians. History and myth have blended together into stories telling of how the first Concordians-- several struggling, displaced groups of people who joined together to survive-- asked for help in driving away a threat and to help keep their small population safe. Legends say that the constellations came down from the sky to teach magic to the people. Centuries later, these magics have become the nine types of art magic in Concordia.

Not everyone has magic particularly strongly: some are only good at never burning what they cook, some have simply a pleasant singing voice, some are above average at writing poetry. Sometimes these people will make this part of their careers, sometimes it'll only remain a hobby they enjoy. If the magic is particularly strong, though, it requires additional training and those people are considered Artisans. There isn't a lot of difference between an Artisan and a craftsperson when it comes down to what they create; the only real difference is that an Artisan has magic as an extra tool, so their end results are different. Considering no two artists ever create exactly the same thing anyway, this means that there has never been more importance placed on the Artisans versus craftspeople. Each person will only ever have one type of art magic; even if they carry several types in their bloodline, one will be dominant and only this one will be usable.

Each of the nine types of art magic has its own color that glows in both the artist and the creations they make. Only those with decently strong magic can see this, but it does mean that a lot of people, clothing, objects, and locations in Concordia have almost a stained glass look to them if it's something you can see. I talked a little about Silveridge, the capital city, in this post, and part of the reason most buildings are made with white stone is because of these glows. Silveridge is where a large percentage of the Artisans live, so it became a tradition to build and paint in white, then add colorful embellishments. Otherwise think about how badly paint colors might clash with the glows used to create the things in the city! Even if most people aren't really aware of how magic glows, they've embraced this aesthetic. Concordia, and Silveridge in particular, is all about aesthetics.

Here are the types of magic. These are represented in the moodboard from left to right, top to bottom.

Wordweaving (Glow color: red) These Weavers work their magic into words, both spoken and written. These are the poets, the storytellers, the actors, the writers. They're the ones who can affect emotion or, in the case of my morally ambiguous main character, influence someone's thoughts for a short time. This is probably the most dangerous or easily corrupted of magics, but considering the tests that go into becoming a master artist and the checks in place after someone does, this hasn't been a huge problem. (Dray has just made it a problem by avoiding any real training, which is also not a usual thing-- nothing Dray has done with their magic is correct, if you get down to it, and it means that they are going to have Consequences sooner than later. But I digress.) Another example of how this magic can be used is in the scrolling marquee in front of the theater the characters visit in book 1.
Colorweaving (Color: purple) These are the artists whose tools are ink, paint, pencil, charcoal, etc. They're essentially illusionists with the ability to make what they draw/paint move around on whatever they're using as a canvas. Adair has this magic and while he'll sometimes use this to make animated paintings, his career as a cartographer has him creating interactive maps. As the series progresses, he figures out that if he paints on himself or someone else, he can change their appearance. He may even work out something that Colorweavers have forgotten they once knew how to do: by drawing on the air, it's possible to create a believable 3D illusion.
Timberweaving (Color: dark green) Woodworkers and carpenters, obviously, but their magic does more than just allow them to make sturdy creations from wood. Not that this is anything to scoff at-- this is why the oldest Artisans' houses haven't fallen over despite being built on stilts and almost every generation adding a new room or even a new floor. This magic can also make wood as buoyant on air as it would be on water and is a frequent way transportation is built. Not all vehicles hover a few inches off the ground, but this does include the "float-wagons" my main characters call home. Those are something of a cross between a motorhome and a house and can be driven (albeit slowly) around.
Terraweaving (Color: orange) These are the Weavers who work with stone and clay, sculpture and pottery. Way back in Concordia's history there was a Terraweaver who used to sculpt trainable dog-sized animals to give companionship and help to those who needed it. Not just by way of a service dog-- one of the things she made for a gardener friend was a pet that doubled as a planter. The more traditional ways of working this magic are the ability to work stone as though it were soft clay and putting their magic into buildings to make them more steady and solid, much like the Timberweavers, or to make them resist fires.
Oreweaving (Color: red-violet) These Weavers frequently have chemical or heat magic and often use this to etch, shape, and manipulate metals. They're the jewelers, the smiths, and are probably the most "inventor" group of the bunch. Sol tends to use his light/heat magic in a similar way to how the arcane metalworkers would (softening and shaping metal in his hands), so there's some overlap here in terms of heat with the glassworkers. The reason for this is Oreweaving was originally a kind of lightning magic. You'll still find it used as a kind of "battery" when an Oreweaver works with a different type of Weaver on a project. This could be to extend the life of the magic in something else, because eventually all magic inside a creation will run out and need to be recharged, or it'll be a backup battery. Concordia relies on wind, water, and solar power, so magic is only ever a backup or a way to store power they already have.
Savorweaving (Color: pale green) The Weavers who work with food and drink. What they cook doesn't burn, produce stays fresh longer, herbs don't lose potency or flavor after they're dried, food keeps longer or can be made to be more filling. They're the reason Concordia has the equivalent of refrigerators. These artists can also influence the taste and strength of flavor, and I bet they can look at a person and guess what their favorite foods might be.
Glassweaving (Color: gold) This magic involves heat and/or light. These artists are the reason why Silveridge has so much stained glass! As well as using this to make super-strong glass, some Glassweavers use this magic directly by putting it inside glass globes to be used as lamps. Portable heating, like something to keep in your pockets to keep your hands warm? Probably also had a Glassweaver involved. Concordia's mail system is via pneumatic tubes that run about twelve feet off the ground, and while a few different kinds of art go into creating these, the tubes themselves are made of magically-influenced glass.
Songweaving (Color: blue) This magic involves sound and voice, although in terms of pitch and changing how you sound, not the verbal influence of the Wordweavers. I have a character in later books with this magic who can make her voice sound like anything, as well as throwing it so that the sound appears to be coming from somewhere else. This is also the reason that Concordians are able to record sound and music, as well as amplify it or play it at another location simultaneously.
Threadweaving (Color: blue-green) These are the fiber artists, the spinners, weavers (small "w"), knitters, tailors, etc. They can put their magic into clothing and fabric to make it warmer or cooler than it would otherwise be. (This suits Concordians well because current fashion calls for lots of layers of embroidered fabrics and they live in a warm climate.) This can also make clothing protective, usually against things like weather, but it is also how the Protectorates are able to stay safe without needing to wear something heavy that would look like protective gear. Remember the floating homes I mentioned earlier? Some of these are propelled via large fans, sort of like a hovercraft, but some are made with sails on the roofs. Whether it's land or sea, these sails can propel the vehicle forward even if there isn't much wind and can quite likely store some of the wind for later, should it be a still day.

These are just some examples of what each kind of magic can do. Concordians are always coming up with new ideas-- sometimes those ideas work great, sometimes they fail spectacularly. Either way, the artists and craftspeople are constantly creating. Their art magic allows for greater technology than their world might have had without it. Concordia freely trades their creations, so most of their world has access, as well. At some point I'll talk more about Galanvoth, the country that considers itself Concordia's competition. In the future, I'd also love to talk more about the Artisans, the history of magic, and how art and technology are one.

Unexpected Inspiration Backstory: Sol & Etri's Past

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 19:45:00 +0000

The crisp snow crunched under Etri's feet in a sickening way reminiscent of the rough gravel floor of the Sanctuary's acolyte quarter. His skin burned every time he sunk into a knee-high drift, the pain a constant reminder of the flames that waited for him should they be caught. His fingers were numb under thin gloves meant for concealment, not warmth, and his robe was nigh-useless outside the cavern city. It had been cold underground-- every day of his life had been spent shivering-- but nothing had prepared him for this overwhelming numbness spreading through his body. If he couldn't find shelter soon, it wouldn't matter that they had escaped. They would die anyway.

-Excerpt from "Stuck With You"

As their lingering accents and pale features can attest, Sol and Etri weren't originally from Concordia. They come from Montglace, a place far to the north where the population lives in a single city deep below the mountainous snow and ice. At one time, long ago, people lived on the surface, but this was so long ago that the rest of the world mostly assumes the population of Montglace died out, if they're reminded of its existence at all. Possibly this would have been for the best, considering what Montglace has become. The twins do not have a happy backstory.

Montglacian culture is dominated by a dual religious order of light and shadow; Sol and Etri were born into and raised by the Sanctuary of Shadow. Within the carved stone walls of the temples, there is no concept of family and children never know who their parents or possible siblings are. Being identical twins granted Etri and Sol some insight, although it took years for them to work this out. While Etri was delivering a message for one of the high ranking priestesses, he came across a mirror for the first time in his life. It was then that it made sense why people had always called him by the wrong name-- he looked identical to one of the other boys. Since their language has no word for brother or twin, the closest they could come up with was "person who looks like me," but this was enough for them to realize the other was important.

Etri's shadow magic manifested soon after this and he was allowed a small room of his own. This offered a little more security from the dangers of the temple, but it meant that it was harder to sneak around to spend time with Sol. In working out a way to do this safely, Etri discovered that his magic could turn his body into a shadow, much like the elementals the priest/esses controlled. This brought its own kind of danger in keeping it secret, but Etri has always been careful. He made sure that they were never caught together and when Sol began showing signs of light magic, Etri made sure no one else found out. If this was discovered, Sol would have been sent to the Sanctuary of Light and it would have been unlikely the two would see each other again. Sol played dumb, which was easy when the priest/esses never guessed he could have light magic and instead only tested his control over shadow elementals. To this day, shadows still terrify Sol.

Only one other person knew the truth about Sol having magic and she took it to the grave... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Sol befriended another person in the temple and this needed as much care to avoid detection as his connection to his brother. Knowing how important Celeste was to Sol, Etri took a risk and befriended her, too. Etri tried his hardest to keep both of them out of trouble, but this wasn't an easy task. Sol had a tendency to become easily distracted and not notice a threat until too late. Celeste constantly talked back to her superiors and made herself a target all too often, usually as she tried to divert someone's attention long enough for Sol to get away. Celeste always stood her ground, refusing to be quiet and accept life as it was in the temple. She hated the Sanctuary and while she and Etri were able to give Sol happiness as best they could, both hated seeing him scared so much of the time. There had to be a way out, even if leaving was forbidden. So the three made plans to sneak out of the city and out of the mountain.

Their plan almost worked until it didn't. They were caught and what was essentially an elemental firefight went down. Etri, doing the best he could with magic that had never been fully trained, blocked the elementals long enough to give Celeste time to summon shadows of her own to use against the light elementals. Sol, absolutely terrified of everything happening, lost control over his magic. He flared hot and bright like a small sun, which took out a portion of the elementals before he fainted. This was a losing battle and the other two knew it. Celeste urged Etri to get away with Sol, then used every ounce of her strength to buy them time. Etri, in turn, threw all he could into wrapping his magic around the other two to try to shadow them to safety, but he wasn't strong enough. He was able to grab his twin-- just barely-- and pull him away before Celeste drained her own magic dry.

The twins got away and made their way south into Galanvoth, eventually being taken in by a Named family. There Etri learned their trade and Sol was able to invent things to his heart's content. It wasn't easy and they struggled at first, both in terms of controlling their magic and with life in general. As Sol grew more confident with his magic, he decided to change his name as a way of claiming his power for himself and also to get rid of the birth name that reminded him too much of his past. Both brothers took on the last name of Celeste in memory of their friend. After about a decade, the two were sent to Concordia to help Sapphire and her group of reverse-thieves. This, though, is a story for another day.

Ten years have passed since they fled Montglace and both have grown up and found happiness. They now have safety, security, and friends in their carnival troupe. When they meet Blythe and later Adair and Dray, they gain a family they never had in anyone but each other. Forever at the back of both of their minds, though, is guilt and regret that they weren't able to save Celeste, too.

(I think most of the images are pretty straightforward, but I'll explain the two important ones that probably aren't. The necklace represents the one Sol and Celeste made together; they both put magic into it so it served to protect Sol a little while they were living in the temple. The crescent moon tattoo on Etri’s side represents the branding he was given when his magic manifested; everyone in the Sanctuaries is branded when they develop magic.

This is part of a series of posts about the main characters' backstories. You can find the ones I've shared so far over on the moodboard page.)

Unexpected Inspiration Character: Blythe Bladedancer

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 17:48:00 +0000

"I'm a Protectorate. What little I have in me of Artisan isn't even worth talking about." Wysta already knew this and Blythe was getting fed up with the insistence that she was something she wasn't.

As much protector as healer, Blythe is strong-willed, quick at making decisions, and just as quick to speak her mind. She has a soft spot for those in need and will defend and help anyone who looks like they might need it, even if they insist they don’t. She's a blade performer with a carnival troupe, but her main occupation is that of healer and she currently works at a clinic in Silveridge, the capital city of Concordia. With the equivalent of several medical degrees and a rank as a Protectorate, Concordia's guards of art and artists, she could have a much more prestigious position. She's at a crossroads in her life where she hasn't yet decided which path to take. Part of this reason is that she feels duty-bound to stay with the carnies who took her in and gave her a home. Partly she suspects that her long-held desire to be a Protectorate no longer fits. Mostly, though she wouldn't admit it, she stays with the troupe because she lost one person she loved by stepping away. She doesn't want to turn around and find another gone.

Blythe lost her mother soon after her birth and her father when she was in her early teens. Prior to this, she was training to follow in his footsteps as a Protectorate, but when he passed away, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a different country. She wasn't there more than a few months before her uncle lost his fight with a long-term illness and passed away. She was left with an aunt she despised and spent months angry and contentious, disobeying her aunt as much as she could get away with. While she was wandering the streets to avoid going home, she came across a few medics helping people in the less prosperous section of the city. A purpose sprung to mind. If she couldn't be the guard she wanted to be, she would learn to be a medic. It took some convincing to get the medics to take on a teenager as an apprentice, but her stubbornness, determination, and willingness to work hard won them over. After a few years of studying in secret so her aunt wouldn't find out, they advised her to return to Concordia as soon as she could so she could further her training under an arcane healer. Not having the patience to wait until she was of age and could reclaim her citizenship in Concordia, she joined up with a Concordian carnival troupe passing through. There she met Dray who, after a short conflict where they both thought they were competing for the same act, became her performance partner and sibling-by-choice. She apprenticed to a healer in Concordia for a while after arriving back home and dove deep into her medical studies. After a few years of training, she spent a year traveling as a sort of residency required of all healers. Once this was finished, a few months before book 1 starts, she moved back to the capital city to rejoin the carnival troupe.

While she was gone, Dray left the troupe to perform on their own. Blythe had once again lost someone she cared about. She kept mostly to herself for a while, focusing all of her attention on her medical career and getting the rank as a Protectorate she had wanted since childhood. Her life was lonely, although her denial would have called it peaceful, until Etri and Sol joined up with her troupe. Against her better judgment, they became her closest friends. A few months later Adair bumbled his way into the performers' theater and Dray entered her life again, which pulled her organized, calm life into chaos and forced her to realize that there was more to her magical abilities than she'd previously thought. Her life is no longer lonely and the others are unlikely to leave her... but now her path is uncertain. Protectorate, healer, medic, sentinel, carnival performer, Artisan... all parts of her past and identity have caught up to her and she has to decide which one she wants most.

Blythe is one of the main point-of-view characters in the first trilogy of the Unexpected Inspiration series. You can find her bio page here and her backstory moodboard/post here.

Unexpected Inspiration Character Backstory: Blythe's Past

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 20:07:00 +0000

It was pretty, really, the way the molten glass exploded across the room. In places it dripped, in places it pinged. A droplet hit Blythe's hand and she brushed it off before it could harden, then brushed a few more off her shirt as it was smoldering. The glassmaker gasped and snatched her hands away before she could clear off the rest. She turned Blythe's hands over to look at the palms. Okay, so they were slightly red. A few welts were already fading. Nothing big. Blythe rolled her eyes as she pulled her arms back. She'd always healed quickly and a brief touch of hot glass barely registered as pain. The real problem was that this was another mistake in a series of mistakes. If it turned out she didn't have magic and couldn't do anything with art besides make a scribble, a din, a tangle, or an explosion, she was going to have to live with her aunt. A week in her company was long enough to know that was the last thing she wanted.

-Excerpt from an early draft of Colorweaver (book 1)

Blythe had a fairly normal Concordian childhood, but in a different way than Adair. While he grew up in a small town, she grew up in the capital city. He comes from a family of Artisans, the artists and craftspeople who have magic, while Blythe's parents and the community she grew up in were Protectorates, the elite group trained to guard art and protect artists. He had a huge, sprawling family. Blythe only ever had her father.

Blythe's father became a single parent after her mother passed away shortly after her birth. As a Protectorate who guarded trade shipments, Blythe's mother should never have been traveling so far from healers so late in her pregnancy. But, like her daughter, stubbornness was her defining trait. Truth be told, her father also possessed it in abundance and he was the biggest influence in Blythe's life. Blythe looked up to him: he was strong, brave, kind, and driven to succeed in whatever he did. With his blessing, she began training and studying to be a Protectorate from a young age, until his stubbornness got the better of him, too. As a single parent, his assignment should never have been dangerous. Blythe never learned the details, no matter how much she looked into this later as an adult, and at the age of thirteen was orphaned. She had hoped to be adopted by her father's closest friends until an aunt showed up to claim her. Blythe had no choice but to go with her after she failed every test to see if she had artist magic. Had Blythe shown signs of this, she could have stayed in Concordia. She didn't particularly want artist magic, but would have preferred this to having to leave the country with a family member she had never met, who she disliked immediately.

Her uncle had been the Concordian diplomat to the neighboring country of Galanvoth for several years, long enough that Blythe had barely any memory of him. Blythe didn't mind his company and would not have minded Galanvoth so much had he not been gravely ill. He had been sick for a long time, according to her aunt, and after he passed in the same year as his brother, Blythe's aunt became her lone remaining family member. Blythe was miserable. She wanted nothing more than to return to Concordia and her training as a Protectorate. Her aunt, meanwhile, was determined to turn Blythe into a perfect Named Galanvoy citizen, the perfect house-spouse to one day marry off for political advantage. Something about her aunt rubbed Blythe the wrong way and it always seemed strange to her that no one else saw her aunt the way she did.

This misery lasted only for a few weeks, weeks which were filled with arguments and teenage rebellion, before Blythe snuck out into parts of the city her aunt would never visit. There she saw medics clandestinely helping sick and injured No-Names, people without the protection of a recognized family lineage. This was a thing Blythe could do that would both spite her aunt and give her a purpose until she came of age and could leave! The busy medics brushed the teenager off at first, until her stubbornness got them to see how hard she was willing to work. She got little sleep in those few years, being dragged around to social events and "taught" by her aunt by day, working with the medics and reading their medical tomes by night and whenever she could sneak away from her aunt. Medicine became her focus the way guard training had when she was younger and within a few years she had the culture's equivalent of a medical degree. Before too long the medics realized that she likely possessed magical healing, something not native to Galanvoth. They urged her to find a way back to Concordia for training, a difficult trick with the border closed and Blythe still underage.

Blythe's escape eventually came in the form of a traveling carnival troupe, one of the few Concordian groups allowed to cross the border. It wasn't quite what her Protectorate training had prepared her for, but her experience with blades made her a passable performer. It was there she met Dray who, after a short conflict where they both thought they were competing for the same act as blade-dancers, became her performance partner and sibling-by-choice. Shortly after arriving in Concordia, the pair joined up with the capital city's carnival troupe so that Blythe could study medicine. She apprenticed at a nearby clinic with a healer who became her friend and mentor while she studied. Blythe, being Blythe, decided that while she was in Silveridge, she may as well do the equivalent of a double major and pick up where she had left off with Protectorate training. By the time she got her second medical degree, she had passed the tests for the Protectorate rank. She then spent a year traveling the country as a sort of residency that was required for all new healers.

During that time, Dray decided to leave the carnival troupe to become a solo performer, traveling the country by themself. Blythe assumed this was because Dray was lonely without her, although Dray never said as much. The two didn't communicate much in the time they were apart, it being hard for letters to reach them when both never stayed in one place long. Blythe tried to keep in touch with them, but Dray's correspondence was stilted and sounded nothing like the verbose and argumentative sibling she had left behind. She tried to keep herself busy and almost managed to convince herself that she wasn't hurt by Dray's actions. She knew as much about Dray's past as they were willing to tell anyone and had picked up pieces of memories while healing them, so she suspected why Dray had left and understood the reason. This didn't make her happy, though.

Shortly before her residency ended, Blythe received word from Sapphire, the leader of the carnival troupe back in Silveridge. Sapphire wanted to know if Blythe would be willing to share her apartment with a pair of new performers. Considering that Blythe had no way of knowing when-- or if-- Dray would return, she figured she had room to spare. Blythe found the twins impossible to dislike and she became close friends with Etri and quickly fell into an older sister role to Sol, acting as his personal healer as she patched him up after every failed invention and bad idea. Before too long the twins became as close to her as she had been with Dray, and when Adair wandered into the performers' theater and needed help getting back his stolen art, she and the twins readily agreed to help. Blythe was less than happy when the search led the four to cross paths with Dray almost immediately. Communication had never been her or Dray's strong suit and it took a while before they were able to get back to where they had left off.

Her found family gave Blythe some much-needed direction. It might just be possible to be a healer, a performer, and a Protectorate. As Adair’s sentinel, the bodyguard to an artist with magic, she can use her guard training as the highest ranking level of Protectorate. This would be the perfect solution if fate didn't have other things in mind than letting the five stay normal carnies, if a carnival performer could ever be considered normal.

(This is the next in a series of posts about the main characters' backstories. You can find the ones I've shared so far over on the moodboard page.)

Meri's Monthly Musings - Summer 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 20:18:00 +0000

Welcome to the reboot of Meri's Monthly Musings! After taking a hiatus for 2019 and the start of 2020, I'm back to working on the Unexpected Inspiration series and that means it's time for the monthly update again-- well, tri-monthly, because this includes June and July, as well as my plans for August. So let's get started!

You might notice from these pictures that I get a lot of "help" from Aries, my furball assistant. I write everything by hand, so he takes every opportunity to sit on any project. I think he's telling me that Adair's cat needs more screen time, so maybe I'll get around to writing the story from the cat's point of view that I've been knocking around in my head for ages, if just to get him off my notebooks for a few minutes.

June/July Projects:

Biggest news: My quartet is back to being a trilogy! I've felt for a while that books 1 and 2 weren't working, but after something like four drafts of each, I was stumped on why. I finally realized this year that it's because they belong together as one book. So a big portion of my attention has gone to outlining this new book to readjust events, as well as working out a timeline for the events leading up to Colorweaver (book 1)-- that's the picture at the very top of this collage. Aries is sitting on the previous outline I was in the midst of changing.
This means new book info. Eep! Since I went from having 1/2 of this sub-series planned to having only 1/3, this means the next two books are that much closer. Instead of diving right into rewriting new book 1, I need to figure out sooner than expected what actually happens in the next two. I'm gradually making progress with this. Remind me again why I thought time travel and parallel universes were a good idea? Book 2 finally got a name (Flashover), though, and you can find the blurbs about what's in each book here. I'm really looking forward to working on these!
New character info. Well, "new" in terms of updated. Surprisingly I only added one new character to the series amidst all these changes. He's a mischievous teenage ghost who's rapidly becoming one of my favorites, so I'll be introducing him soon. So far I've updated Adair's bio moodboard, Camille's, and Rosalie's if you want to learn more about three of my main characters. I also shared a drawing I did of Dray and Sol being the adorable dorks that they are.
Character backstories. These have also changed as I've worked out what happens in this trilogy and what the events were leading up to it. So far I've shared Adair's, updated Camille and Rosalie's, as well as updating Dray's first backstory post and writing them up a second one specifically about their life as a teenager. (Dray has a lot of past and most of it was filled with abandonment and not-so-petty crime.)
Worldbuilding. I've also been working on info about the different locations in the series. I recently shared one about Concordia's carnival performers. If you'd like a recap of the worldbuilding thus far, check out the Cultures & Locations tag.
New short story. This is also a case of "new" because I wrote it shortly before my hiatus, but didn't have a chance to share it before now. That one is called "Roasted" and you can find it here. The premise is an insult contest gets wildly out of hand, like it normally does for these characters!

Let's just say that there's a reason I buy notebooks on back to school sale this time of year! I can get super cute ones and by this time next year, I will have gone through most of them. Pictured are my new ones and I can't wait to use that one in the middle. It's got three sections, one lined, one grid, one blank, and that would be perfect for worldbuilding since I can draw in the same notebook I'm writing notes in. I recently filled up my last worldbuilding notebook, so this was a well-timed find.

August Plans:

Keep brainstorming the trilogy. I know it's unlikely that I'll have the new books 2 or 3 outlined in the next month, but I would like to have the general idea of what's in each book. If I do get book 2 outlined, though, that would be great! It's likely that will be my NaNoWriMo project this year, so it definitely needs to be outlined by November.
Moodboards. I'd like to finish up the character backstories for Blythe, Sol, and Etri, as well as update the character bio boards/posts with any changes.
Drawing. I had started chibis of the dorks and I'd like to get more of those finished. I've also been itching to get back into drawing maps.
Short stories. I have a bunch that are started that I could finish and a few new ideas bouncing around inside my head, so we'll see if any of those make their way from my head to my fingertips.

If you'd like to follow me for regular updates about what I'm working on as I share them, I'd love it if you followed me on Twitter, Instagram, or my author page on Facebook. You can also sign up for two kinds of email alerts-- one will give you a post like this as a monthly newsletter (at least until I decide how I want to do the newsletter moving forward), the other will send you an email every time I share content to this site.

I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe this summer!
~Meri

Unexpected Inspiration Character: Adair Cerulean

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 21:34:00 +0000

Adair tapped his thumb to his ring finger for luck, something he had picked up from his new friends, then tucked his paintbrush behind his ear. Emotional support from an art supply. Creators, he was pathetic.

Adair is a young artist in a culture where artistic talent goes hand in hand with magic, which in his culture is called weaving. He's a trans boy who wears his heart on his sleeve next to the paint stains that regularly splatter his clothes-- he's a cartographer and an illustrator specializing in illusions. (His drawings have the uncanny ability to move around on the page, for example.) More than a little obsessed with food, particularly pies and desserts, Adair loves cooking almost as much as he loves drawing, spending time with his friends, and puns. Nothing can compare to his love of a groan-worthy joke! He was working on his final project as an amateur artist when his life suddenly became much more interesting-- and complicated.

Adair lived a relatively ordinary life up until his unfinished map was stolen. He had spent six years serving as an apprentice under a skilled master artist, learning both colorweaving and cartography. A few months before the events of Colorweaver (book 1), his former teacher had deemed him ready and his studies complete, and Adair was sent on his way to independently work through his year as an amateur. During that time an artist's main purpose is to create and finish a project that would allow the Artisan council to promote them to novice status, the first rank of a full adult artist. The arcane map was to be his graduation project.

He had done well as an apprentice, but truth be told, his master wasn't as traditional as most. This shaped Adair's outlook and personality and he now bears little resemblance to the average Artisan. It's a running joke that no one ever recognizes him as one, which both pleases and irks him. He's adaptable and warmhearted, two traits that helped him fit in when the tug of his stolen project led him straight out of normality and into a troupe of carnival performers. Unfortunately, those same traits can also lead to him being too passive and patient, too willing to go with the flow, too willing to give someone a second, third, fourth chance. After years of being disregarded and mistreated by someone who never deserved even a second chance, Adair must find his voice in order to stand up for himself, his friends, and his future.

Adair is one of the main point-of-view characters in the first trilogy of the Unexpected Inspiration series. You can find his bio page here and his backstory moodboard/post here.

Unexpected Inspiration Character Backstory: Adair's Past

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 19:45:00 +0000

Addy had one foot in the water when a hand snatched at the back of his shirt and heaved him away from the shore. "No, dope! You won't get there in time, not the way you swim! Climb!"

Feren shoved him towards the tiny island's lone tree before shimmying up it. Addy bit his lip as the water reached his feet and rose almost immediately to his calves. Feren was right, he wouldn't make it to the other shore by swimming. He touched his favorite paintbrush to make sure it was safe in his pocket-- and to feel more courageous, not that he'd admit that a paintbrush was his comfort thing. Feren would never let him live that down and would call him a baby even in the middle of a flow that was rapidly becoming a flood. He forced himself up onto the lowest branch. Even here was too high! Addy closed his eyes while his stomach churned as bad as the water below him.

"What are you doing? You have to climb higher than that!"

"I can't!" Addy didn't open his eyes. He was already so high. The flood couldn't reach him here. It wasn't like it was going to get that deep.

"Dammit, Addy! Are you too weak to climb one stupid tree?"

Addy squinted one eye open and looked up, which had to be better than looking down. It wasn't. Feren was perched about a mile above him on a larger, sturdier limb. He wasn't sure what view was worse: Feren glaring at him or seeing someone up so high. Addy closed his eyes again and hugged the trunk with both arms. Maybe if he clung tight enough the water wouldn't carry him away. Maybe it would turn out that the magic he didn't have yet was glue magic. No, he'd never been that lucky. He was dimly aware of muttered curse words above him, ones he wasn't allowed to say at home, then Feren shouted, "Grab my hand!"

The current reached Addy's dangling feet. With a whimper he hoped Feren didn't hear, he reached up. Feren grabbed his wrist and hoisted him up, then shoved him further upwards. Addy kept his eyes on the tree trunk. He was going to have nightmares for years about this stupid tree trunk. After an eternity of climbing, he was on the wide branch Feren had been sitting on. A thundering heartbeat later Feren joined him. As much as he hated the other boy, Addy couldn't say he minded when Feren's arm wrapped around him to hold him in place. He was pretty sure Feren wasn't going to push him off, anyway. Not after the effort of getting him up here. Not when Feren avoided the word "effort" as much as he did the words "selflessness" and "not being a jerk." Nothing about this day was going right.

-Excerpt from an early draft of Colorweaver (book 1)

To all appearances, Adair has the most normal backstory of the dorks. He didn't grow up in a weird temple like the twins, Rosalie, or Camille-- Concordia doesn't technically even have a religion. He didn't lose his parents young like Blythe did-- if anything Adair has too many parents, which annoys him on occasion because what teenager wouldn't be eye-rolling at six parents and parental figures. He was certainly never unloved or neglected by any of his parents, like Ametrine and Dray were-- his multitude of parents have always supported his hobbies and interests and since he always lived in Concordia, no one batted an eye when he declared that he was a boy. He's never had to struggle to make ends meet or to survive, like any of the others. He had the most normal, traditional, seemingly-unexciting childhood that you can have as a Concordian.

But that's where the normality of Adair's life stops. Weird things have a habit of happening around him. Mostly it's given him an attitude of "Oh. This is what we're doing now? Okay" because he rarely knows what's going on. He often feels like he's just along for the ride with his own life.

To take it back, Adair grew up in a small, quiet town where not much happened. It was so small that there were only two sets of Artisan families who lived there. When his magic manifested as a kid, he was apprenticed to the set that wasn't his own. Okay, he probably would have preferred to get the heck out of a place so dull, but his master had cartography magic which is precisely the flavor of colorweaving that Adair did. Her son was a thorn in Addy's side for years, but Master Idra was welcoming, loved to travel, and was eccentric in the best ways. One of her spouses was a master chef, so their way of welcoming Adair into the family was by having him help out in the kitchen and making all sorts of yummy desserts that he liked. (There's a reason Adair does this with his own adopted kid!) Adair quickly befriended Nina, the apprentice of said spouse, and she made him all sorts of sweets, too. If not for living with Feren, his master's son, it would have been perfect. Even then, it sort of worked out because Feren went from bossy bully to bossy boyfriend, but that's a can of worms I won't get into here since I already talked about it in their relationship moodboard post. Suffice it to say that this was not a great relationship, but it does mean that Feren was there for almost all of Adair's Weird Events.

If asked, Adair would tell you that the first strange thing he remembers is the timing of when his magic manifested. He was hanging out with the other local kids at a nearby lake when the dam suddenly cracked. He has honestly tried to block out most memory of this, not because of the flood, which wasn't too bad since the stone-magic inside the dam prevented it from bursting entirely, but because he had to climb a tree to avoid the water. Heights have always been Adair's greatest fear and he was never sure what he would have done had Feren not been there to help him. Adair's only positive memory of this situation was when purple light appeared behind his closed eyelids. When he snuck a peek at his hands and arms clinging to the tree, he saw that they were glowing. The glow wasn't unexpected, that was just the sign that his magic was now active, but it was impeccable timing in a way that became Adair's normal. His master theorized it happened then because he was so frightened. Adair would rather not think about it at all, thanks.

Another Weird Event was a sudden cave-in when he, Feren, and Nina were poking around what should have been a safe cavern. The most recent Event was when he woke up at the performers' theater with no memory of how he got there. That one led to him meeting the dorks, so he was cool with this once he dealt with the embarrassment of being seen in pajamas and quacking ducky slippers. At least nothing burst or collapsed that time.

That said, usually the events were small and I don't think he was much aware of them because they tended to happen while he was asleep or zoned out. It's one thing to have vivid dreams and occasional hallucination when tired; that's par for the course with a sleep disorder. It gets weird when other people can see what he's dreaming. These are mundane enough that anyone who gets caught in one of the illusions usually brushes it off by thinking they just nodded off. Adair has spent so much time around Feren, though, that Feren has long suspected that something was up. Has he told Adair? Of course not, why would someone as wonderful as Feren ever think to help someone he supposedly loves? Instead, he watches and wonders and documents, and when strange things start happening around the other dorks that are similar enough to Adair, Feren notices.

But even with the strangeness in his life, Adair has plowed on happily. He finally broke up with Feren, so the past few months have been a breath of fresh air. He finished his apprenticeship and is nearing the end of his year as an amateur with his graduation project almost finished. He has the other dorks in his life and the future looks bright, minus a few hiccups and malfunctioning magic that isn't always his.

(This is the next in a series of posts about the main characters' backstories. You can find the ones I've shared so far over on the moodboard page.)

Unexpected Inspiration Drawing: Dray & Sol

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Sun, 26 Jul 2020 01:32:00 +0000

I've gotten back into drawing with chibis of my characters. The first one I finished is Dray and Sol, the pair of fire dorks. Sol managed to sweep Dray off their feet-- literally here-- mostly through silliness and kindness. Dray couldn't tell you exactly when this happened because theirs was a relationship slow to develop, but I don't think it takes any characters by surprise to learn they're a couple. It's much more likely that their friends were placing bets on when Dray and Sol would finally admit it. (Hint: it takes three whole freaking books.)

You can find out more about their relationship here with their moodboard. They're adorable and chaotic and I love them.

This drawing started in my sketchbook and then I moved it over to my tablet to finish and color it. Below are details of the drawing and what it originally looked like. I'm having a lot of fun learning how to highlight and shade!

Unexpected Inspiration Character: Rosalie

noreply@blogger.com (Meri Greenleaf) — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:45:00 +0000

Unlike Camille who was branded with a sun with many rays to signify the strength of her light magic, Rosalie has the barest sliver of a crescent moon to represent her control over shadows. This sent her early life in a drastically different direction from Camille, despite them both being priestesses of the Montglacian temples. While Camille was given extensive training and got away with disobedience because she was valuable, Rosalie had only the barest teachings and was mostly ignored. However, being neglected was preferable to being noticed.

When Rosalie was a child, a tiny shadow elemental came to her. She kept it hidden from the larger, more violent shadows, and in return it protected her. As she grew older, her pet shadow grew stronger. While she doesn't have much ability to control shadows, they will frequently listen to a polite request asked by someone who respects them, and her pet in particular would do absolutely anything to keep her safe. In the Sanctuaries it wasn't uncommon for those with strong magic to target those with weaker to show off their power. Rosalie's pet warned her of troublesome people around, giving her time to get away and find a safe place to hide. She couldn't avoid being found if it was one of the higher priest/esses deciding to use her as the day's test subject, but by staying quiet and out of their way as much as possible, she kept herself off their radar. The scars she has from these days linger, as well as her tendency to look for a place to hide if things have a potential to become dangerous.

Rosalie's life continued this way for two decades before she was chosen to go alongside Camille on the task of returning the escaped twins. While Camille was sent because their superiors wanted her out of the way, Rosalie was sent simply because she wouldn't be missed. At first she was terrified of Camille, especially once she learned that Camille was one of the priest/esses assigned the job of testing the strength of elementals on others who had weaker magic. She had nothing to fear, though. Camille had never tested elementals the customary way and she was livid when she learned that Rosalie had been one of the "weak" ones hurt by this. Her anger was certainly a factor in the pair so readily giving up on the task they were assigned. For the first time in her life, Rosalie was valued by someone, and it's no wonder that she's willing to give up her own desires to help Camille achieve her goals.

Rosalie doesn't particularly want to return to Montglace, though. She much prefers the world outside her home and finds comfort and safety in a crowded city; a large crowd means she won't be noticed and won't be singled out, so she'll frequently be found at concerts, carnivals, and large events. She tries to live life to the fullest, learning everything she can about the world by experience the way Camille does through observation and research. Rosalie is a woman who appreciates the simple things in life because it's far more than she had before. One of the seemingly small things she likes best is fruit, particularly plums, because back in the temples so deep underground, only the most powerful had a full, balanced diet. Sweets and some foods are too much for her, so she prefers the flavor of fruit and simple, filling meals.

When Camille has to leave her for a while, Rosalie stumbles across a way to potentially help her partner. Unfortunately, this leads her to trusting the wrong person, being dragged into the wrong crowd, and ultimately getting pulled further from Camille than she could have imagined or wanted. The situation is disorienting and rather frightening, but she's spent her entire life adapting to dangerous situations. She and her pet will find their way back.

Rosalie is one of the main point-of-view characters in the first trilogy of the Unexpected Inspiration series. You can find her bio page here and learn more about her and Camille's backstory here.