Characters:Raven/questions

Fletcher's question - round 1

Fletcher sips from his snifter, and nods to Raven.

"Captain Raven, I understand you've distinguished yourself in the service of Amber's Southern Fleet. A career as a naval officer is uncommon for a woman but not unheard of, especially for one of the royal blood. One wonders what circumstances have persuaded you to conceal your womanhood, and whether you anticipate doing so indefintely upon your return to Amber."

"You'll want to ask the old hag that gave birth to me about that," Raven says briskly. "She told me once that it was to keep me safe on the docks, but she's also told me that my father was either the Man in the Moon or a three-legged donkey - among other things that I won't be mentioning in delicate company." She tips her head slightly in the direction of Silhouette. "Take it or leave it as you will. I'm inclined to take it, but I grew up down there."

"The thing of it is, I thought I was a boy when I was little." She shifts in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with the topic. "Finding out I wasn't when I started turning into a teenager was... well, it was a shock. I don't know that I'd know how to be a proper girl - or a proper woman, even. I don't know where to start. And I don't know that I want to try. I wouldn't be able to keep on in the Navy the way I have, would I? It makes the lads uncomfortable, the one or two I've told. It's only necessity that made me captain; I was the bosun before, and there's just no way you can be a bosun on a ship full of men that all know you're a woman."

Silhouette's question - round 1

[Silhouette's] cold gaze drifts toward Raven. "Captain Raven. Please discuss how you expect to discover your way home when you cannot even find yourself. Is it reasonable that someone has lost their gender expects to navigate their path back to Amber?"

"How do the two have anything in common?" Raven asks. "Knowing that I don't entirely fit in anywhere I've been and knowing that I have a duty to the rest of the crew to get us home don't depend on each other, you know. Sooner or later, we'll find the way back, and that will be that. You don't have to know whether you're a farmer or a prince to find your way from the docks to the nearest tavern, do you? Or whether you're human or an animal to find your way from the water to the shore? Our way home's more complicated than that, but that don't mean I need to know anything more than how to direct the crew to send our ship through the next possible way that might be nearer to home. It just takes the nerve to do the job, and I've got more than enough in the way of guts.

"As for how you lose a gender?" She scowls and picks up her mug again for a drink. "Be born to my mother. Get dressed up and treated like a boy every day of your life. Don't care that you're really a girl when you find out. It's not exactly losing it, though, now is it? And I don't have a problem finding myself. My name is Raven, I'm the child of a wench and Unicorn knows who or what, and I've been right here for the last ten minutes. It's finding the places where the me that is will fit that's harder than I'd thought, that's all."