I Celebrate NZ Women’s Suffrage—By Celebrating My Women Characters: Part 1, The Heir Of Night
This week is NZ women’s suffrage week, celebrating the day NZ became the first self-governing country in the world to give women the vote in parliamentary elections—in a bill passed on 19 September 1893.
An “epic” event by world standards: so as a NZ author and an author of epic stories to boot, I decided that a very personal way in which I could celebrate 121 years of women’s suffrage was by celebrating the women characters from my books—the heroes, the villains, and a few of the less prominent characters for good measure.
Starting today with The Heir Of Night, The Wall Of Night Book One, since it was both the first novel I wrote (although not the first published—that honour goes to Thornspell) and not only the main character, Malian, but a swathe of other important characters, are women. (Shades of Sir Julius Vogel’s Anno Domini indeed ;-))
So here we go:
Celebrating NZ Women’s Suffrage & Meet Some Of The Women Characters From The Heir Of Night
Meet Malian Of Night:
Malian is the only child and Heir of the Earl of Night, the warrior House of that leads the alien Derai Alliance who have brought both their aeons-old war and their enemy, the Swarm of Dark, to the world of Haarth. When the Wall of Night story opens, Malian is thirteen years’ old and the Derai-Swarm conflict, which has been smoldering for centuries, is about to flare back into life. Here is the reader’s first introduction to Malian:
“…a slight figure swarmed up one of the massive stone pillars that marched along either side of the hall. There was an alarming creak as the climber swung up and over the balustrade of a wooden gallery, high above the hall floor—but the timbers held. The climber paused, looking around with satisfaction, and wiped dusty hands on the seat of her plain, black pants. A narrow, wooden staircase twisted up toward another, even higher gallery of sculpted stone, but the treads stopped just short of the top. She studied the gap, her eyes narrowed as they traced the leap she would need to make: from the top of the stair to the gargoyles beneath the stone balcony, and then up, by a series of precarious finger- and toe holds, onto the balcony itself.
The girl frowned, knowing that to miss that jump would mean plummeting to certain death, then shrugged and began to climb, testing each wooden tread before trusting her weight to it. She paused again on the topmost step, then sprang, her first hand slapping onto a corbel while the other grasped at a gargoyle’s half-spread wing. She hung for a moment, swinging, then knifed her feet up onto the gargoyle’s claws before scrambling over the high shoulder and into the gallery itself.”
A young woman with an adventurous spirit: what do you think?
Meet Asantir, the Earl Of Night’s Honor Captain
Readers “hear” of Asantir, the captain of the Earl of Night’s personal guard, before she is first glimpsed across a crowded hall, but only meet her properly a little later in the story.
“Appalled, Nhairin sought out Asantir, finding her amidst the wreckage of the invaders’ last stand. The Honor Captain was surrounded by a tattered remnant of her guard and what seemed like a small army of the main keep garrison. One guard was binding up a bloody wound to the captain’s shoulder while a sergeant pored over plans spread out on the floor. Asantir leaned over his shoulder and nodded as his finger stabbed from one corridor to the next. The grim and weary troops surrounding them were either watching, too, or occupied with their own hurts and battered gear.
Nhairin hesitated as Asantir turned away from the plans to deal with fresh dispatches coming in…”
From that point on, Asantir remains central to the story.
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Meet Nhairin, High Steward of the Keep of Winds
The Keep of Winds is the chief stronghold of the House of Night and readers meet Nhairin, the High Steward, early on:
‘ “Oldest, first, and greatest of all the Derai Houses on the Wall, in deeds and duty if not in numbers,” a new voice put in, as though reciting indisputable fact. A spare figure rose from an alcove seat and limped forward. She was as dark and reserved as the minstrel was golden and flamboyant, and her face was disfigured by the scar that slashed across it from temple to chin …
She had soldiered once for the Earl of Night, until the fight in which she gained both limp and scar, and she liked to say that she soldiered still in the Earl’s service, but as High Steward of the Keep of Winds, rather than with a sword.’
Meet Rowan Birchmoon of the Winter People
Rowan Birchmoon is one of the nomadic Winter People and the Earl of Night’s lover and consort. Like Nhairin, she first appears early in the story.
“Malian … was struck again by how alien her father’s consort, the Lady Rowan Birchmoon, looked amongst the Earl’s dark-clad, dark-visaged household. Her skin was almost as white as the snows of her own Winter Country, her eyes gray and clear beneath slim brows. Pale brown hair hung down her back in a long braid, with pieces of shell and small feathers plaited into it; her long tunic and leggings of supple white leather were embroidered with beasts and birds. There was usually a white hound running at her heels, or a spotted, tuft-eared hunting cat pressed against her legs. Tonight, Malian saw with a pang of envy, it was one of the feather-footed hounds.
She did not, however, envy the ripple of disquiet that followed Rowan Birchmoon down the length of the cheerful hall. … How many Derai, Malian wondered, still believe she is a witch and my father ensnared in her spells?”
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Meet Sister Korriya
The priestess, Korriya, like Asantir, is first met properly a little later in the book.
“The watcher, swathed in a gray, hooded cloak, was concealed in the shadow of the gatehouse opposite, on its temple side. The cloak blended with the surrounding walls and the watcher stood so still that for a moment Nhairin thought the silent figure was stone. Her skin prickled, sensing a keen scrutiny from within the shadowing hood. “Who are you?” she demanded. “What are you doing here?”
“I might ask you the same questions,” the watcher replied, in a woman’s voice. “Except that I know the answers to both, Steward Nhairin.” As she spoke, the watcher lifted the hood back, revealing a face of indeterminate age. Deep lines tracked the corners of eyes and mouth, and like every face that morning, the watcher’s was etched with exhaustion.
Nhairin’s brows rose. “Korriya,” she said…”
Meet Jehane Mor:
Jehane Mor belongs to Haarth’s Guild of Heralds, one of a pair sent to the Wall of Night from the land known as The River.
‘ “Tarathan of Ar and Jehane Mor, heralds of the Guild,” one of Nhairin’s stewards roared out, above the hubbub. “From Terebanth, on the Great River.”
Absolute silence crashed down as every face turned toward the man and woman who stepped through the door. The man had multiple braids of chestnut hair flowing below his shoulders, while the woman was fair, with a single plait twisted around her head like a crown. They were both of middle height and clad alike in gray, their long cloaks cast back. A badge pinned each cloak on the left shoulder and a dagger was sheathed at their belts. Both their faces were drawn and weary, their clothes mired from the road, but they walked steadily through the watching, silent hall until they stood before the Earl’s chair. There they stopped as one and bowed, first to the Earl and then, slightly lower, to the woman at his side … The heralds straightened. “Hail, Earl of Night,” they said, their individual tones weaving together as if they had only the one voice between them. “Honor to you and to your House.” ‘
Meet Lira
Lira is a warrior, serving in the Earl of Night’s Honor Guard. Readers first meet her toward the middle of the book.
‘ “Was that the Golden Fire?” Lira, one of the honor guards standing with Sarus, was staring at the cone lamps. “Has it come back?” Her voice was full of hope.
“Perhaps,” said Asantir. “But it may simply have been some property of the lamps themselves. Do not hope too much, Lira. We need to be sure.” ‘
Meet Eria
Eria is an initiate priestess from the Temple of Night. As with Lira, readers first meet her properly further into the story.
“The young priests had exchanged glances as the guards unpacked storm lanterns, then Eria had brought out palm-sized cone lights that were secured by a strap across wrist and hand. Silently, she had offered one to Asantir. The cones had caps that could be flicked off with a thumb, emitting a shielded beam that fell no more than a few feet ahead of the holder. “Useful,” was all Asantir said, but the look she had given Eria was very keen and the storm lanterns were packed away again.”
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Heirs and Honor Captains, senior clerics and high stewards, consorts and heralds, as well as rank-and-file warriors and acolytes: readers will find them sorts and conditions of epic women amongst the characters in The Heir of Night’s pages.
In that sense at least, it’s an equal opportunity world. 😉
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To read more about September 19 and NZ women’s suffrage, check out:
Christchurch City Libraries: Votes For Women — 19 September 1893
Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Voting Rights
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