quote:
Sound like you're involved in something pretty intense. How did you fall into this line of work? Are there others like you?
What do you think of the emperor? How are you compensated?
I arrived at the Imperial City intending to atone for my failure to protect Governor Lal Tsi, and to prevent disgrace for my family. However, the Emperor deemed it... inefficient, to have me die on the pyres of the Day of Great Accounting. So it is that I find myself, instead, in his service.
I have been informed by Cheng Huan, one of the Council of the Seven Wisest Men, that there are officially thirty-seven conjurors currently in the Emperor's service. It is possible that the number is smaller, since Wu Wei has not been heard of for some time.
It is not my place to judge the Emperor. I will say only that he values efficiency, and I strive to be suitably efficient, as best I might.
When I am present in the Imperial City, I have apartments at my disposal. When I travel - as is predominantly the case - I bear the Emperor's Tablet, and thus receive what aid I require.
quote:
How long did you train to become a conjurer?Do you have any friends? If so, who is your closest?
What do you fear?
What makes you laugh?
What offends you? Drives you mad?
What do you think of when you think of love?
What do you think of when you think of your father? Mother?
Do you have other syblings? Which are you closer to, if so?
What's your favorite: scent? fabric? taste? sound? animal? person? spell?
Where do you live?
Do you like to cook?
I have been training to become a conjuror for some years. I have mastered five of the Twelve Unspoken Words, and am accounted capable for my age. I have my sister to thank for that; she knows all twelve.
A conjuror cannot afford friends.
I fear... failure.
I do not laugh.
Hypocrisy offends me. Malice offends me. Those who would upset the natural order of the world offend me. But these things do not anger me. There is no purpose in anger.
When I think of love? I think of my older sister, Yi Bai, and of her family, and my cousins and my nephews.
My father and mother are dead. My mother died giving birth to me. My father died because of my failure. I remember them, that they might dwell on the southern slopes of the Silent Mountain, amongst the pleasant courts of Wu Feng Kai Fan, Watcher Over Those Who Are Gone But Not Forgotten.
My closest sibling? Yi Zhang, my stillborn twin, from whom I can never truly be parted.
The scent of jasmine. The feel of silk. The taste of ginger. The music of the guqin, or else the soft sound of a fountain. I do not care for animals. Yi Bai, my sister. And the Fifth Unspoken Word: The Word That Binds And Releases Spirits, for that is my duty to the Emperor.
When I am not travelling, I dwell in apartments in the Imperial Compound. When I travel, I stay where I might, according to what is made available to me by the local authorities.
I cook, if I have need, when I travel.
quote:
What makes you laugh? Or perhaps more pertinently, when's the last time you remember laughing?
I do not recall laughing, though doubtless I did as a child.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
