I never explained our ways to anyone else until I went away to the Academy (“the Academy at Karis” as it is known in the Inhabited Worlds). Then I met Jehen and her half-sister Yasmin and half-brother Ferenc, which changed my life.
And theirs, not necessarily in a good way. But that’s a story for another day.
Until we meet the wider world, we think “our ways” are “the way.” You learn the geography of each of the Inhabited Worlds, and the spatio-temporal fabric of Ordinary Space and the Jumps, but in spite of the mathematics of relativity there’s the quiet bone-deep assumption that Karis is the true center. Other folk have peculiarities, not your own.
And your own family, of course, is ordinary.
***
Character interview with the archaeologist and Expedition Chief, Martisset yr Astok, from NaNo 2013, Inside the Jump. Weekend Writing Warriors offers eight-sentence excerpts from a variety of writers; see the other excerpts here.
As I’ve been posting excerpts from character interviews, it’s become clear that every one of these characters has a story. Currently I am plotting Ship’s Heart, whose events take place 15-20 years earlier than Inside the Jump, an action-adventure romance featuring Hernan and Taryn from Inside the Jump, and various short stories in this universe.
E. P. Beaumont 
This is so true.
Some things are universal. ;D Great excerpt!
Lovely character interview which includes so much truth for all of us. And it does sound as if there is definitely a story here 🙂
Well said indeed and an excellent excerpt. This is such an intriguing story…
Actually, personal thanks are in order here, as you’re one of the godmothers of the action-advienture/romance novel mentioned above. ‘The Wreck of the Nebula Dream’ taught me some new moves with character and relationship building under fire. The other godmother is Kris Rusch writing as Kris DeLake, in ‘Assassins in Love,’ which throws a bit of comedy into the action/adventure/space-opera/romance/erotica mix.
Everyone’s own family is ordinary…mine is…aren’t they? Great snippet again!