I’ve found some of the most compelling reading in science fiction to cover situations in which long-standing characters in a series have to face their mortality, and those around them – their family, their friends, their enemies, and those who seemed indifferent – must deal with the prospect of losing them.

After a long and historic life, the Grand Matriarch of house de Gonari feels her reign reaching its end, and that’s even before her dearest friend disappears, seemingly to have committed suicide rather than face a disease that would leave her helpless and debilitated. Vanarra must not only reflect on her past, but think of the future of her house – who should lead it after she is gone, does her house truly need her, or has her time truly ended already and nostalgia and honor and respect are all that are keeping her in her place.

Second, there comes a dichotomy which has some application in our own world and in the personal lives of those who hold a faith.  When presented with a future that extends beyond what others would consider death – a future that far exceeds this present age in terms of joy, health, and being, how does one deal with the pulls of those two worlds – the world of here and now, and the world of hereafter?  Does a one who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease look forward to the afterlife with the knowledge of those close family who are left behind?  Does a parent of a critically ill and suffering child desire the release of their son or daughter from pain knowing that they will be parted – potentially forever?

Vanarra will have to make such a choice, and it is not easy, nor is it clear-cut.  When it’s made, she must live with the regrets of what might have been and who has been lost from her as a result that ultimate choice.

JTL