CHARACTER INTERVIEW wit' Kalen!!!

Folks, so I've been promising you all this feature on ETHOS.  Well, I'm still delivering.  Today, I've got the main star of ETHOS here with me.... Kalen!  

Click on the author's name below to visit her site...

 Desiree Finkbeiner 

Kish: So Kalen, it’s great to finally meet you.  I’m a longtime fan
[smiles].  Well, a fan for as long as I’ve been reading Ethos,
anyway.  You’re a career man, I’ve heard.  How long were you in the service?


Kalen: From the time of my coming of age. I was only a boy when I was called to the office of daghoon warrior, and training began immediately. I was taken from my home and placed in a military monastery, completely immersed  in  training  to recondition my thoughts and actions.  Everything I do is related to my duty as protector of our deepest magic, and there were times my training was so brutal that I was sent to  the healers to recover. During my military training, I also received  spiritual training from the elders to teach me how to harness my gifts to their full potential.




Kish:  What's the one thing you have always wanted to do but
didn't/couldn't/wouldn't?


Kalen: I always wanted to find love, but my station and calling forbid it.  As a consolation, I was allowed the special opportunity to become the companion of Lebion, my queen dragonfly. And though I’m sure it doesn’t compare to the connection shared between husband and wife, it is a very rare and special connection nonetheless. Lebion empowers me with a spiritual connection to the universe that few will ever find in mortal life.


Kish: Ok, Kalen, tell us the honest truth, when did you fall in love
with Bree? At first sight? Or did it take a while?


Kalen: It wasn’t until I studied her afterglow. I saw such purity and
strength that I felt immediately connected to her. But I fought it,
buried it, and resisted the temptation to love her. Then, when I
thought I had failed her, when I turned my back for only a moment and she fell into the hands of Ellette’s minions, I knew I couldn’t live my life without her.




Kish: Yikes!  I so hope Bree isn’t reading this right now, but how
many girlfriends did you have before her?  [Sorry Bree!  Honestly.
I’m a big fan of yours too.]


Kalen: As a very young boy, I remember having simple attractions…. crushes, I believe you call them… but they were innocent and never allowed to blossom. I was taken from the world of courtship and thrust into a military life early on. I’d never even kissed a fae… Brianna was my first and only love. Though, admittedly, I spent many nights dreaming of what it would be like to have a companion to love and hold. The elders told me it was even forbidden to dream of love, so I forced it from my mind… until Brianna entered my world. Forcing her from my mind would
be like stopping the beating of my own heart.




Kish: And in your relationship with Bree, how are you different with her than you are with your family and friends? Why do you think this is?


Kalen: My relationship to my parents was very formal, and before Brianna, the only female love I knew was that of my mother. I didn’t have many friends, other than the dragonflies, since my mission was very solitary. Most of my relationships have been with the elders and my training officers. As a daghoon, I was taught that relationships were dangerous, that they could endanger my mission, used against me. In spite of my lack of connection to others, I was still taught to have compassion on all forms of life. It was through the dragonflies and the animals of Earth that I learned to respect life in even the meekest form. But with Brianna, I have been opened to an entirely  new level of understanding about the universe and how love can empower its recipient. My greatest source of strength however, also seems to be my greatest weakness.

Kish: What parts of loving come easy for you? Hard?


Kalen: Love, in essence, was always easy to possess, so long as I did not  let it possess me. I am the master of my own heart, but I’ve learned that in loving an equal, one must give their heart to their companion.  So it was with Brianna, I’ve given my heart to her, and while it was  easy to give, it was also the hardest thing I’ve ever done… especially since I’ve been indoctrinated to deny myself of such a connection for so long.

Kish: If you were granted three wishes, what would you ask for?


Kalen: First, to wish for an end to the war so that all sentient beings may find peace. Second, a wish to an alliance between the worlds of Ethos and Earth, that we may comingle peaceably. And third, a wish for all beings to have their agency to choose for themselves, without evil constantly  trying to force its will on others… but then again, without opposition in life, would there even be a choice? Would there even be an understanding of love or peace?