Hello! My name is Verchiel and I’m from Joleene Naylor’s Amaranthine series. Using state of the art-mumbo-jumbo-author magic crap, Jo usually has Katelina interview other authors’ characters but now we’re finally interviewing fellow Amaranthians. Even better, the questions come from you, the readers!

There was quite a debate about who should do this interview. I think Katelina would have been a fun choice, but no one else agreed. Then there was gloomy boots Jorick but… anyway, I volunteered, so here I am! Yay!

Verchiel: Why was there a discussion? Because, today we are interviewing Kateesha! *bum bum*

Kateesha:  Verchiel. Well, it has been awhile. Thank you for that… introduction.

V: Aw, come on, it was pretty good. Would you prefer something about being the dark queen of the night, with eyes that sparkle with menace and power?

K: Yes, well. What have you been doing?

V: Ah, tut tut. This interview is about you, my dear. So let’s see what our discerning readers want to know, shall we? This comes from Juli, “You obviously are/were a woman of great power. What are some of the challenges you faced on your journey?”

K: My biggest challenge has always been the ignorance of men. And I don’t mean “men” as in humans, or “men” as in mankind, but rather men as in the male of the species. Their superior attitudes towards women have been, and remain to be, the biggest bane of my existence. Over the centuries I have met thousands whom I could crush with the merest effort and yet they believe themselves above me because I am a woman! And a “woman of color”, as they once called it, no less. One of my greatest amusements has always been to make them squirm! To grind them under my heel and then ask “who is superior now?”

V: You know not ALL men are like that. “Blinks eyes innocently*.

K: *laughs* No, my pet. You always did know your place. *chucks him under the chin* And what is next?

V: Here’s one from Donna. (hello, Donna!) “I think you’ve got a real attitude – want to tell us why?”

K: Ah! What a question! It is an attitude of superiority, nothing more. Next.

V: Mmm-hmmm. Ah. Juli says, “*I believe that I read that you had worked in a brothel.* If that’s correct, how did you end up in a place like that? What happened?”

K: *smile disappears* Someone has been telling stories, have they? Well! *lifts head* Yes, perhaps I was in such a place, long ago. Though brothel isn’t the word they used for it, but the definition is… similar.

V: That’s not much of an answer. Where was it and how did you end up there?

K: The Ottoman Empire is as good a name for it as another, and how does any woman end up in such a place? I was taken of course, or sold by my… biological father. It’s hard to say which, for each man has his own story that absolves him from guilt and blames another. I was not the only one taken from faraway lands in the night to be dressed like a queen and used like a whore as some exotic plaything to those foreigners who could afford the “delights of the East”. Next question.

V: Really? That’s it? After all the hours our amazing author spent researching the history of prostitution in the Ottoman Empire, that’s it?

K: What more do you want? Next question!

V: Fine, fine.  Here’s the last one from Juli, “Did you have difficulty, after you were first turned, overcoming your human past?”

K: No. I was quite ready to let it go and move on to something better; a life of power. Take a starved, beaten child and hand them the whip. Do they cringe and cry, or do they turn on their oppressors?

V: Lovely visuals there, sweet one.

K: Well, I haven’t heard that name in a long time. You’re getting nostalgic.

V: Oh, just buttering you up before the next question. *smiles innocently*  From Donna, “I also think you really want Jorick, so you must feel totally upset that he isn’t interested, right?”

K: Hmph. And who says he isn’t interested. I can read his thoughts, you know.

V: *coughs* So can I…

K: And?

V: Oh, nothing. I was just saying.

K: Are you trying to imply something?

V: Only that ol’ Jorick seems pretty happy with Kately-

K: Does he indeed? Let me tell you of a time long before your dear little friend was born, shall I? Jorick was not always so prim and proper! His high ideals of morality are a recent addition to his personality. I have been with our dear Jorick, more times then you can count. I have tasted his skin and his blood and I have feasted on his deepest, most inner thoughts, something which that petty, pathetic creature he now calls his consort will never know! So which of us is more qualified to say what our Jorick does or does not like?

V: You know, that’s something I admire about you. You just won’t admit defeat. And for our last question from Sue, “do you have any regrets?”

K: Oh yes, there are things I regret. Allowing that ridiculous human to live is one.  Malick is another.

V: Malick?

K: Yes. I gave him too much loyalty. I should have known that in the end he was a man like any other. I should have gouged out his heart early on and then Jorick and I would have been freed of him. Had we never come to this accursed ‘New World’ things would have been very different.

V: Speaking of Malick, there is an unofficial question from Bonnie. You know, she thinks that you and Malick… well, you know….

K: *Laughs* She wants to know if I and Malick were lovers? Mmm. Perhaps. And then again, perhaps not.

V: That’s not very specific.

K: And it is not an official question, is it? Do you have anymore?

V: Nope, that’s it. I was really surprised, I thought for sure they’d bombard you with questions about me!

K: Why would they?

V: Well, since you turned me and all that. But I guess no one thought about it, or else they like me being mysterious.

K: You’re hardly mysterious. Strange, perhaps, but mysterious? No.

V: You wound me! *clutches heart* But alas we are out of questions, and so ends our interview series! Next week Katelina will interview a character from a different author and then… Well, I don’t know. If you guys want anyone interviewed then I suggest you appeal to our illustrious author and perhaps she’ll do it.

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