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Heroine

Keladry of Mindelan is the heroine of my story.

Plot Summary

First Test: Keladry of Mindelan wishes to become a Knight of Tortall. She is opposed in her wish by the training master of all pages, Wyldon of Cavall but Wyldon is overruled in his desire to say no by the King (King Jonathan). Alanna the Lioness, the King's Champion, is excited that there will be another woman Knight in the Kingdom of Tortall, and is infuriated when she discovers that she cannot associate with this new young girl who will be coming in on probationary status. The story is that of a young girl, 10 years old, and her experiences with her first year of being a page -- the trials, tribulations and joys encountered while confronting an implacable foe from both without and within.

Departure

While there are four books in Protector of the Small, I am using the first book of the series, First Test, for Part 2 of my project.

~Call to Adventure --

Keladry of Mindelan was only 5 years old when she witnessed her mother, Lady Ilane of Mindelan, single-handedly holding off 5 warriors wielding swords -- while armed with a glaive. Kel worked very hard to get her mother to agree to let Kel go to page's training.

~Refusal of the Call

Keladry finds out that she will be put on probationary status if she becomes a page. She decides that if the people in charge cannot "treat her the same as they would the boys, then she wasn't going to settle for a half portion".

~Supernatural Aid

Kel is helped out by Daine (Veralidaine Sarrasri) - a wild mage - when she acquires a mean-tempered and unruly horse (Peachblossom) as her 'page's mount'.  Daine communicates with the horse and finds out what his wants and needs are and conveys them to Kel. Peachblossom and Kel then start a relationship based on mutual respect and admiration.

~Crossing of the First Threshold

There are a few places in First Test that could be regarded as Crossing the First Threshold. One that seems of importance to me is when she decides that the bullying of first year pages, by older pages, is not right and she acts upon her decision.  She tells her group of page friends, when they are protesting her 'setting tradition on its ear': "You can laugh and say I'm a silly girl--but when I see anyone big pick on someone small, well, there's going to be a fight."

~Belly of the Whale

Keladry is, contrary to everyone's expectations, allowed to come back in the fall to continue her page training. She is no longer regarded as 'the Probationer'. A gift arrives for her two weeks after returning to her parent's home (during summer break). It's a tilting saddle, of the finest possible materials, and the note hidden in the top rim of the saddle says "Goddess bless, lady page."

Initiation

Well, what I REALLY wanted to do is draw a picture of Kel on Peachblossom, when he is rearing up and she is about to fall off (but doesn't because he keeps backing up, while on his hind legs, keeping her in the saddle). However, stick figures just wouldn't DO justice to it. :D

~Road of Trials

In Kel's very first day of training, as a 'probationer' Page, she gets to encounter the various ways of combat that a Page is taught. And she is highly successful in the hand-to-hand combat (she'd been school at it since age 6) but when she went to the archery range, she consistently held the bow and drew the arrow incorrectly.

~Meeting with the Goddess

Kel experiences a very powerful love for her horse, Peach Blossom. He shows, publicly, the temper that she is, by training in the Yamani Islands, forbidden to express.

~Woman as Temptress

Kel is driven to become a Knight. I don't remember her encountering anything (in the first book of the series) that could tempt her to stop her desire to become a Knight. I do remember, though, that she has a fear of heights -- and she 'fears' that this fear of heights will cause her to be deemed unworthy of becoming a Page and then a Knight. (I think, though, this might be something of the 'Road of Trials' more than 'Woman as Temptress'). 

~Atonement with the Father

There is a place, in the first story, where the training master finds out about Kel's fear of heights. He 'commands' her to give attention to him and, in doing so, he is actually helping her (for the first time) realize her goal of becoming a Knight.

~Apotheosis

I do not see this in the first story of the series. I can see it later on ... but not in the first book.

~Ultimate Boon

The Ultimate Boon, for the first story, is for Kelandry to be taken off of Probationary status and to become a 'real' Page.

Return

I decided I really wanted to show/illustrate a picture of Kel's horse, her destrier. His name is Peachblossom and he is the 'self' that she doesn't show in public. She loves this horse ... and he has helped her with so much through all the books of this series. I couldn't find a suitable picture for the longest time ... so you get what I could find. Peachblossom as a 'young' horse with an inset close-up picture showing the wisdom and courage inside of him.

(from Page, the second book of the series)

"Kel hid her face against Peachblossom's neck. What would she do without him? No other horse would give her that same fearful, gleeful sense of riding an avalanche. She envied the gelding his freedom to be mean. Sometimes she told herself that Peachblossom was her temper, her true temper under all her Yamani manners."

Final Thoughts

Song:

Kelandry

(sung to the tune of The Beverly Hillbillies)

Now listen to a story 'bout a girl named Kel

Went to learn some fightin' and done herself well

She knew what she wanted and she stuck to her cause

And ended up throwing old ways to the wall!

And she did it brave

Persevered

*****

I'm sort of amazed at how many of the points of the Journey of the Hero that Kel actually met, and in the order described. I sort of blew it by limiting my project to just the first book because the whole story (which is in the 4 books of the sett) contains all of the elements, even to meeting a Goddess! (Well, supernatural aid....!) 

And yes, I see aspects of the Monomyth in other stories and movies. In fact, I just finished watching Avatar for the first time, and am totally impressed with how Jake Sully does 'turn into a hero'.  He has the 'Call to Adventure' and suffers an 'Initiation' (with a particularly heavy duty Road of Trials -- and his Return is actual and literal. He has Freedom to Live in his new world of Pandora.