Guardian Chronicles
Enegene Namrae
THE GAEIZAANS
It's obvious early on in the novel that Luapp and Enegene knew each other before they met on Pedanta. Both refer to the fact that he arrested her and she spent six months in jail.
She wrongly assumed he had recommended she serve the full six months for a first offence and harboured a grudge against him. However, sometime after being released, she discovered the truth of the matter and her attitude changes.
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I assume I've done what every author does. I base my characters on people I've known, with changes. Enegene was based on my late mother. She had a great sense of humour and a firey temper that would flare up and just as quickly cool down when anything annoyed her. My mother was the last surviver of fourteen children, a survior of WW2 and someone who loved my dad enough to follow him around the world. She also had enough gumption to get herself , me and my sister, and all our luggage, onto a bus to a train station, by train to the docks and onto a refurbished battleship to go out to Sri Lanka in the early nineteen fifties to meet my dad. That explained, onto Enegene.
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Enegene would seem an odd choice of assistant for Luapp in this mission, and she asks the question why he chose her. She has her theories, but his answer surprises her. Despite her suspicion of his motives, she mostly acts as a professional and they generally get along. However, Luapp's responce to one of her outbursts of; "Talking to guardians is so much easier," is very heartfelt.
Enegene's nature is on display as soon as she appears in the novel. She appears vindictive, giving Luapp an unsettling couple of hours thinking things have gone wrong. She even says, "a small payback for past encounters".
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While she's playing a part, her sneered remarks about the guardian's appearance seems to add to the misconception, but in reality she's shocked. Her naivety about what he would look like after being a slave for three months is made clear in her thoughts. Added to this is her confusion about her emotional state on seeing him like that. Throughout the novel, Enegene is conflicted between her anger of what happened leading to her arrest and serving time, and her feelings for the guardian.
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Despite her tough life growing up in the Swamplands, and being sucked into the criminality of the place, Enegene has a strong sense of right and wrong. She also has a strong sense of loyalty. Swamplanders always supported Swamplanders, or so she thought. When she found out it was a Swamplander who tipped off the guardians about where they were, she was incensed. It changed her outlook from Swamplanders always being hounded by guardians and guardians always being the oppressors, to something more balanced.
Luapp helped that change when he arrested and interviewed her. She says she was terrified when placed in the because of the rumours she'd heard about what guardians might do to her. The fact that nothing happened apart from being charged with obstruction was a great relief. The relief quickly wore off when she was sentenced to the whole six months for obstruction. She blamed Luapp for that, and became very sullen and vitriolic whenever he visited to assess her educational improvement.
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The fact that he suggested she became a Spyrian in a backhanded way when annoyed, and then supported her efforts to become one wasn't lost on her. She had her suspicions about why he would do that, until she found out the truth about her arrest, and subsequent serving the full sentence.
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Enegene like most people is a being of mixed emotions. Her normal nature is sincere with mischievous undertones. While she isn't immature in her outlook, she sometimes portrays herself that way as she knows it irritates Luapp. However, due to her experiences in the swamps, she is sometimes quick to accuse and even quicker to produce the knife strapped to her wrist. Even though she was furious with the guardians arriving and Luapp arresting her, she respected him for "taking her knife without getting sliced", and she admits that pulling her knife on a guardian wasn't the most intelligent thing she'd ever done.
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As the novel progresses, Enegene's respect for Luapp grows. When he uses his "talents", their words for mind power such as telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation she is surprised at his ability. He also scares her when she infuriates him to the point where he grabs her. She likens the resulting contact as if being connected
to a low power source, and she was in no doubt it was only a fraction of what he was capable of.
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Luapp Nostowe
Unlike Enegene who is 90% based on my mother, Luapp is based on a group of men from my family, including my late father. Luapp has the same seemingly unending patience as my dad, until something really upsets him, then like the red head he is, Luapp explodes. But even then it's not in an uncontrolled fashion. When Enegene dosed him with the drug he was angry, but it was a controlled anger. If he'd lost it he could have seriously injured or even killed her. Instead, he did just enough to make sure she didn't do it again, then he took his fury out on a tree stump. He's just as careful with the language he uses.
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He has a quick wit and amusing turn of phrase, although it's not portrayed in this novel apart from the quip that having a script machine in a cooler drawer put's a new slant on contacting the deceased. As this was the one and only time he responed like that, it made Enegene nervous.
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Very little is really learned about Luapp during this novel except that he takes his job seriously. When on a mission, there is no room for frivilous behaviour. It's explained that he's a Grey Guardian, colloquially known on Gaeiza as Shadowmen. It's the equivalent of MI5 in Britain; internal security within the Seven Systems. He states that his mother died when he was very young, and he has few memories of her. Added to that he mentions that his father never married again.
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To Enegene he's a mystery, diverging very little about himself, which makes her curious. To add fuel to the fire, his best friend, Green Commander Ekym Yetok refuses to tell her anything about him. She has her suspicions he's in a serious relationship or even married. She changes her mind on this on the way home.
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The last few insights given in the novel are from Ekym himself. He mentions a woman called Keela in the past tense, and tells Luapp that Enegene is possibly the one to replace her. He also says that Luapp's father is "power absoloute" , while not explaining what that means. However, Luapp does say that if his father objected to Enegene it would make his life difficult. It is only at the very end as he returns to space duty is there an insight into his more relaxed side.
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