Hello everyone,

I hate to disappoint you, this isn't a new chapter, though it is a good approximation where length is concerned, it's just a rather long winded rant/request. Though, to pacify those that are now enraged over my insolence, the next chapter is in the finishing stages and just needs some polishing, so it should be up sometime tonight.

Getting to the point now. First, the rant (alongside some clarifications):

While I was writing this chapter, I remembered that with Tesni's character I might be venturing on some shaky ground. My personal experience with hearing impairment extends no further than a mildly annoying tinnitus (a meagre ringing that really doesn't count), which is to say: I don't have any.

First thing I need to say, I'm a bit confused on political correct terminology. Some of my sources say that it's perfectly all right to say deaf, some say it's a mortal insult and suggest one use 'hard-of-hearing' or 'hearing impaired'. Other sources claim that 'deaf' is the way to go and that 'hearing impaired' is a mortal insult and anybody who uses it should be fed to the wolves. All of this confusion is aggravated by the fact that in German, which is what we speak where I live (that being Germany: Surprise!), there are pretty much just two words that are socially acceptable and there's been fairly little controversy about it, to my knowledge. While I doubt that anybody would want me to fry for using an outdated or controversial word, I did want to mention that I spent some time fretting about proper terminology. Some squirming and hair-pulling was involved, too. In the end, I settled for using 'deaf'. For the most part, because I can't imagine medieval characters spouting terms like 'hearing impaired', 'hard-of-hearing' or much bother with contemporary political correctness at all. Also, Wikipedia assures me that it is the way to go and when in doubt...(I hear my prof shriek with outrage). So in any case.

Obviously I did some research before tackling Tesni, though I played around with her character a lot and her deafness is a fairly recent addition, so I'm still learning as I go along. I am conducting some fascinating experiments by plugging my ears and venturing into town. Holy cow, that makes for some...strange...experiences. It's totally different than listening to music via earphones. Though I can't stand staying 'plugged' for too long, because like I said somewhere at the beginning of this masterpiece of intro- er, middleduction, I have a tinnitus. Without any background noise, it soon drives me crazy. And I did have that almost encounter with a car that was intent on getting friendly. I think it announced its intentions with some noise – which I didn't hear. After which I thought it wise to limit my experiments to the pedestrian zone.

My room mate was very much put out when I didn't hear the doorbell and missed the delivery of her new netbook. She informed me I'm a bloody moron (well, she was more subtle about it, but I read between the lines) and punished me by making me pick it up at the package station. She also informs me that I'm awfully jumpy these days, because I have literally started jumping (and yelping) whenever I see a motion out of the corner of an eye. Two days ago, I ungracefully landed on the floor, because I tired to escape one of my own hair-strands. I never realised how much I relied on sound identify approaching 'danger'. Talk about primal instincts and fight-or-flight. Though sound never warned me about my hair, so why I have started jumping at that is anybody's guess (though it can get really vicious, you should see me in the morning. On second thought: DON'T!).

Though, you know, the more I do it, the more I get used to it and interestingly, when I'm in plugged-mode, I see a lot of things I might have missed otherwise. I'm going to continue doing it, I think, till I'm finished with Maere or until I get to second base with another vehicle.

Phew. So much for the rant. Now comes the request part:

As so often in works of fiction, I am taking some artistic license. Probably a lot of artistic license. But I don't intend on selling you a pig for a dwarfed short-snout elephant. So if by any chance one of you guys is deaf themselves and wouldn't mind helping out with Tesni's character, I would really really appreciate it if you contact me. Same goes for anybody who has second-hand experience with family or friends. Or if you know a fanfic-reading person that is deaf and might not be entirely averse to sitting down for a chat (er, email session, or something). My ear-plug experiments go a long way in helping with my research, but they fall a little short in the human interaction department. I can't really reconstruct people's reactions to a deaf person, since all my friends and acquaintances know that I'm not. There's probably more to it than the odd looks I get from cashiers when I crane my neck to see the price of my purchase on those little screen devices. There's a deaf community in the town where I live that holds meetings at the university twice a month, but I didn't think barging in there to do research for fanfiction was such a great idea.

In any case, 'nuff said. This middleduction is approaching critical mass. I'm off to polishing the next chapter until it's all shiny and sparkly.

Cheers, C.