My name is Cassay, and I believe in honesty, so I want to say right up front--I'm that vile creature of civilization...a vestie. (To the ignorant, that's street slang for transvestite.) OK, those of you out there who are summarily outraged now have my permission to grab your coats and leave! The ones remaining are the more tolerant, I imagine, and actually want to know about my relationship with Sinbad sh'en Singh.
In the first place, we didn't have a relationship. I met him only once and briefly, but in that short time, I saw that he was a person of integrity, the kind of man who'll go into danger for a friend, so when the time came, I did that for him. I'm not the most socially-acceptable as you've already surmised and my background's not the most savory. My mother was a Social Worker (and that's not the same as that old government job dealing with Public Welfare). She died when I was eight and I inherited her street corner, made a fairly good living at it until one of my "clients" beat me and left me for dead. One of Prince Ludsa's men found me, took me to him, and he had his own physicians treat me and when I was well, asked me to stay with him. Whatever else Ludsa is--and there are a great many people who believe the galaxy would be a safer place without him--he's been good to me and I'm grateful to him. After all, being hereditary Prince of Vercengetorix-2 and the Crime Lord for that quadrant of the Galaxy (so powerful even the Brotherhood of St. Dismas hesitates to cross him) isn't a position that gains one a following of close friends!
Sinbad is one of the people who'd like to put Ludsa in the family crypt. The Prince ordered the murder of his two best friends for attempting to rob him during one of his bashes, and ordered Sin killed, too, though he had no idea what they were up to It was only natural for Sin to swear revenge. When he came to Vercengetorix-2 with that pretty little woman, I was certain he was going to try to kill Ludsa, but all he wanted was information--about Andi's husband. I like Andi. She's tolerant, but then she's a Natural and they believe in the equality of all species. That once got them in Big Trouble with the Fed. She and I became friends even though we started out a little rocky. She thought I was actually a girl! Can't blame her, I try damned hard to look like one--five-two, black hair to my waist. I was wearing a copper gown that day, if I remember correctly. It matched my fingernails and lip-salve and she told me she thought I had the most beautiful hair she'd ever seen. That was definitely the way to become my friend! Andi's a lot older than I am--thirty to my sixteen, but that didn't stop her from treating me as if we were totally equals. Anyway, when Ludsa nearly killed Sin, she and I were the ones to rescue the Felidan and help him escape.
At that point, Andi and Sin went out of my life, and I went back to Ludsa and the palace and the task of keeping the Prince happy and trying to convince him not to kill so many people before breakfast or because some petty thief had pilfered some of the silverware. I was incidental to Sin and Andi's at this point in their lives, but I just wanted to let you know that I consider Sinbad sh'en Singh a person it's a privilege to have met.
I hope they made it to where they were going safely....
(Sinbad's Last Voyage is the first novel in the series The Adventures of Sinbad, released as an e-book and paperback by Double Dragon Publishers. It has also been made into an audio book in abridged form by Books in Motion. Sinbad's Wife is scheduled for publication in Summer, 2008.)
I hope they make it too.
Compelling.
You just keep on doing it, girl! Great characters.