Character Interviews #2

Again, we find ourselves in the same dim room with the bright light on the chair.  In this case, however, there's no food waiting.  Instead a vase full of yellow flowers is sitting there.  The door slides open and a petite young woman enters the room.  As soon as you see her you're filled with a sense of warmth and any lingering unease fades away.  The woman smiles and takes a seat.


She stands no more than 5'3" tall and if she weighs more than 120 lbs you'd be surprised.  Her hair is the color of honey and is twisted up in a knot at the back of her head.  A few strands have escaped and curl about her heart shaped face.  Her eyes are a luminous chocolate brown.


Hello.  Ms. Woods told me to expect something completely different.  I'm rather glad she was wrong.  I really don't like hostile situations.  I suppose that's a strange position for a diplomat to take since without conflict I would be out of a job.  But between you and me, I'd prefer less conflict and more free time with my children.

My name is Eloise Telphys-Pylon.  You met my husband Jon in the first of these interviews.  I'm sure he was very abrupt and almost hostile.  Unfortunately because his parents insist on getting first hand information about the Tershanes, Jon tends to be that way since he's the best equipped to get that information.

Oh, I'm sorry.  I have a tendency to ramble on and get side tracked.  Jon says it's a characteristic of my inability to focus.  I just enjoy being around people and love to chat.  Let's get back to the basics, though.  I'm 29 standard galactic years old and have three children of my own.  I've also adopted something like eight or nine children and I seem to attract every stray child of an age to play with mine because I've usually got two to three times that many children running around the house and yard.

I'm an ambassador for the Telphys family, and these days I pull double duty as the ambassador for the Pylon-Telphys alliance.  It's not much of an alliance though, not with how strained things are between my parents and Jon's parents right now.  I keep the peace as best as I can and I make sure the children get time with both sets of grandparents.  Well, Mali and Aeryk do.  Seffie...the less said about Seffie the better.  Officially she's not even supposed to exist anymore.

My best friend is also my older brother Jaspen.  He's the one who introduced me to Jon.  I've always been a fan of laser ball and Jon plays very well.  He was the highest ranked offense in pairs and front row center in team for the Astral Planars.  He was amazing, and I was more than a little star struck when I saw him the first time.  And the second.  And the third.  *laughs*  Oh let's be honest.  It took me being married to him for a few years before I finally got over my good fortune at snaring him as my husband.  He's a very loving father, and the contracts he brought to the negotiation table have put my family back on top of the R&D business.

I don't get as much time with my kids as I'd like.  I'm forever off world trying to resolve one crisis after another.  I'm home more often than Jon is though.  Mali resents the fact that we're gone so much but Aeryk just smiles when he sees us.  He's definitely a daddy's boy, though.  Whenever Jon's around he follows him like his shadow.  He does the same to my father when Jon's not home, or so I've been told.

My parents are the matriarch and patriarch of the Telphys family.  We've been engineers for generations. Jaspen and I are the black sheep of the family, though I'm considered to be more useful by my parents than my brother is.  I don't see why, though.  My brother's a commander in the planetary militia and was Pylon Academy trained.  The Pylons have the best pilot and officer training classes of any of the military families.

I don't know what else you might be curious about.  I've got friends among the different races and among the different families.  I take care of my children when I'm home and trust my parents to take care of them when I'm away.  I love my husband and my children and I'm looking forward to the day when we can work out some kind of lasting truce so we can all get a breather.

She smiles, picks up one of the flowers and smells it, and then heads to the door.  She waves as she exits the room.  Feelings return to normal as she leaves, revealing the other part of Eloise's nature - and the reason she's such a good diplomat.  Eloise is an empath.