Janalyn: Kai, tell me what it’s like to become a Guardian of Rivenn at a young age.

Kai: When I came to Torindan, the high hold of Faeraven, Lof Shraen Timraen sat upon the largest throne in the Presence chamber with Maiven, his fair lady, beside him. I bent my knee and took my oath of fealty to the high king, but I was never wholly his, for Maeven stole my heart from the first. Of course mine was a child’s crush. She served as mother to me, in place of my own, left behind at Whellein hold when I entered service. Such are the difficulties of a second son. While Daeven,my older brother, would one day inherit Whellein, my portion could only be that of a servant to duty. I embraced my lot, even excelled as a guardian, but paid the price of a lost childhood.

Janalyn: Your association with Maeven rose above that of a servant and mistress. How would you describe it?

Kai: It might be termed a lifelong friendship, and yet it was more. It’s hard to explain, but some people enter your life to change you, and that’s exactly what happened.

Janalyn: Your older brother seemingly had everything you might desire, and yet he forsook it. Did that make you angry?

Kai: It made me sad. As you say, Daeven was born to a privilege he did not esteem. But he, too, paid dearly.

Janalyn: Do you believe him dead?

Kai: What else can I think? Father showed me a board bearing the name of his ship recovered from the site of a shipwreck. Even so, hope still beats in my chest. I can’t convince myself that he doesn’t live and breathe in some far-off place. If he were dead it seems I would know it. Ah, but that may only be the whisper of regret.

Janalyn: Regret?

Kai: I should have tried to prevent his leaving. My penance, if I can but pursue it, is to seek the truth of his disappearance.

Janalyn: Another day I am sure you will solve that mystery, but in DawnSinger you choose whether to take on a different quest. How difficult did you find that decision?

Kai: It tore me in two. I wanted with everything in me to please my father, but my duties at Torindan pressed me also. In the end, I made the decision honor required me to make.

Janalyn: You’re not the only one who had a tough call to make in the pages of DawnSinger.

Kai: True. I wonder how I would fare if faced with Shae’s decision. The question sometimes keeps me awake at night. That, and wondering how it will all end.

Janalyn: We’ll have to save that question for now. Tell me what it’s like to ride a wingabeast.

Kai: Riding one of the winged horses of Elderland is not as easy as it might appear. A rider must attune to a wingabeast’s subtle movements that, if misinterpreted, can mean a fall to certain death. However, there’s nothing like soaring through the air with the world laid out below.

Janalyn: It sounds dangerous but oh, so beautiful. I’d like the chance to try, if I may.

Kai: I’m certain something can be arranged, but you’ll have to bring readers along.

Read the first chapter of DawnSinger.