Visit Sky @ Further Up and Further In or Cait @ Paperfury to join the BP linkup!

It’s meh favorite time of the month. BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE TIIIIME. And I haven’t actually done one since March. *gasp* *shock* *ack* So I’m super excited to be doing one today! It’s only my favorite linkup ever.

Today I decided to feature Lystraea from, you guessed it, Burning Thorns. (Really, do I ever do BP posts for any character from my other novels anymore??? I only have like 23849834 characters from my many, many novels. Sheesh.) It occurred to me the other day that I…haven’t done a BP post for her. Or if I have, it was ages ago and my goldfish memory has no memory of this place. But either way, WE’RE DOING LYSTRAEA TODAY. And I’m a smidge excited.

Lystraea is an elf, and her story is quiiiiite the mystery. (And she may or may not be trapped inside a mirror. *cough*) So if my answers are vague, I apologize. She’s not a main, main character, as in we don’t see her a whole lot, but she kind of ties the whole plot together. Like…the WHOLE plot. So yeah, spoiling things about her would basically spoil the whole book… BUT WE’RE DOING THIS THING ANYWAY.

__________________________
 
White haze swirled inside the mirror. Nothing more. Purely white mist and silence. Not even the air felt real—ethereal, weightless. Like floating through a dream.
She never hungered, never thirst. She merely was. A soul with no body, existing in the nothingness around her. All substance came from the outside world.
A rounded window that vanished and appeared at her will allowed view beyond the hazy prison. Small, webbed cracks now tainted her sight to the tangible world.
Her view had changed from the rooms of the castle her feet—real, physical feet—had walked within for not an entire fortnight before the curse took hold of her. Now she peered through the window inside another, smaller castle. Here she had no ability to transport from mirror to mirror with a mere thought as she had done in the Forest castle.
Sometimes she thought she felt it, the Forest trying to tug her home, bring her back to its borders. But the connection weakened by the day.
Never had she thought her prison could become smaller.

__________________________
 
LYSTRAEA

1.) What’s their favorite place they’ve ever visited?
Well, she adores her home in the Forest of the Fae. (All the people that live in the Forest are called “fae”. Her race is an elf, but in general she’s a fae, like we’re called humans…if that makes sense.) Honestly, she loves it more than just about anything. But she does have a sweet spot for the human world, and has traveled all across the many human kingdoms outside the Forest. She loves learning the ways of humans, and also teaching them of her ways. Many stories are passed around of the elf woman who visits human villages giving away breathtaking, unearthly white roses. It’s kind of her thing.
One of her favorite places is the exotic kingdom of Mysira far to the south. The wild dances of the people fascinate her, and she loves their colorful clothing.

2.) What’s one mistake they made that they learned from?
She learns—in a very difficult and drawn out way—that trying to force someone to follow one’s beliefs may cause the opposite effect and drive them away. That there is a very fine line between justice and mercy. Mercy often overpowers justice. And that love is so much more important and powerful than law. (And yes, I know it said one mistake, but this all does connect, I promise!)
Lystraea is naturally a kind and loving person, but her strong beliefs in law and justice often get in the way of that part of her. She has to go through a lot of growth.

3.) What was their favorite subject in school? Or favorite thing to learn about?
History. Lystraea can never get enough of learning about the history of her people, the Forest, and even the human kingdoms. She loves culture of all kind.

4.) What’s their favorite flower/growing thing?
Well, this one is easy. Roses. Her rose garden is her pride and joy. Especially the white ones. She could spend hours upon hours amongst her roses.
But she does love all growing things. It kind of comes with being an elf. The elves’ very purpose is to grow things, and have mastered the art to a spectacular degree.

5.) Have they ever made someone cry? What happened?
I think Lystraea has caused angry tears more so than sad ones. Remember the whole she-had-to-learn-mercy-over-justice thing? Her strong sense of the law and justice has caused some…problems with a couple of people.
OH. And she did cause both Rose and the Dragon to shed some tears at a certain point or two. But, um, I can’t really tell you why.

6.) Would you consider them a reliable or unreliable narrator?
Well, I think Lystraea only has one short point-of-view in the whole novel. But she’s very reliable. She’ll tell you how it is. Which is probably why she only has one POV. Being in her head is too spoiler-y. XD

7.) What do they dream about at night?
Once, she dreamed of beautiful things—of her home, of enchanted fairy dances, of new places and swirls of colors. Now her dreams are much darker. Shadows haunt her dreams. Thus she rarely chooses to sleep, because she doesn’t actually need sleep due to…reasons. Occasionally she’ll sleep out of sheer boredom, but the dark things tend to creep in and wake her.
Though, every now and again, her mind is kind to her and gives her a peek of the golden days in her dreams. It’s for those rare moments that she attempts sleep.

8.) They’ve gone out for a “special meal.” What would they eat?
The Forest boasts much delicious fruit and game, but for something special, she’d probably go to one of the human kingdoms and try a new dish. Again, she loves Mysira’s culture. A traditional dish of theirs is their exotic vegetables split open with spicy sauce poured inside. That’s something she definitely loves to partake in. She much prefers fruits and veggies over heavy meat-oriented meals.

9.) Do they have any distinguishing or unique talents?
Yes! The Giver of Lights (the God-figure of this world) gave her the gift to grow green things. As in, she can literally make flowers, plants, even trees sprout straight up from the ground with her ability. Fun stuff, fun stuff.
She also has a particular special gift she can give any one person she chooses. Buuut that’s spoilers, sweetie.
Although none of this stuff serves her anymore, since she’s trapped in a mirror. AHEM.

10.) What’s at least one thing they want to do before they die?
Heh heh. This is an…interesting question due to things only my beta-readers will get. *grins* (I’m evil, I know.)
But seriously now, her ultimate goal and purpose in life is to spread the Light. To combat the darkness, and shine the Giver’s light across the world. Her greatest task is to fill the Forest with light and keep the shadows at bay. That has always been her aim in life, since she was old enough to understand light vs. darkness.

~ ~ ~

Well then. I hope these answers were vague and confusing enough for you. Eheh. Spoiler-y characters are hard to do Beautiful People posts for, I can’t help it!

But wow, now I desperately miss working on Burning Thorns. This story is my heart, guys! It’s my goal hope to start the second round of edits on it in a few weeks. I’m chomping at the bit to get at it again (especially after writing this post!), and hopefully by then life will be a smidge less crazy. (Shhhh, let me live with my delusions.)
 

Speak! O fair blog readers. What do you think of Lystraea? Did you manage to grasp anything about her from all this babbling confusion? (You might not have, but this actually gave me a much deeper understanding of her. Yay for BP!) Most importantly here, have you joined this month’s Beautiful People???