Azellian Affairs: Diary of Ambassador Merran Corina #5

Has your life ever changed suddenly and everything you thought you knew is different? Merran is about to embark on the life he will have in Alawahea:Book One of the Azellian Affairs: he is to become assistant to the Azellian Ambassador, a post that will change the entire course of his life.  

Merran Corina - about seven months after he first arrives on Earth

Finally got a chance to talk to the ambassador. He told me he’s had his eye on me for the past few months. He was impressed with how I’ve managed to work my way from waiter to manager in two months at the cafe. And that was without using my psi or my body. Mostly. Well, at least not on purpose.

My influence over human woman continues to grow. For some reason, they find me extremely attractive. It’s rather a mystery to me. I have to be very careful not to show them everything I can do, though. They are terrified of my mental abilities…just the suggestion that I might know more than they think I should know about what their likes or dislikes are, or echoing too much what they’re thinking…I have to be very, very careful not to reveal myself fully to them. I’m just glad I have no interest in a relationship. Keeping my partners rotating through and only for a few days at a time helps, but it’s been something of a challenge. There are women out there who would, consciously or unconsciously, attempt to trap me into legally linking myself to them. Pregnancy is apparently a popular way to create this kind of legal linking, which doesn’t make sense to me, but I’ve steered clear of a few women with thoughts like that. Apparently, the father is required to support his child on Earth, whether or not he had any say in the child’s conception.  Good thing I can prevent conception with or without the woman’s complicity in the matter. No way am I a going to ever be a father.

Oddly enough, it’s my…notoriety and popularity with human women that brought me to Saren’s attention. He has been watching me juggle humans on my own for the past three months and I’ve apparently impressed him. Assistant Ambassador. It feels like my life is on the cusp of a huge change. I wonder what’s next?

Want to find out more about Merran Corina and his experiences on Earth? Read an excerpt from Alawahea: Excerpt of Book 1

Azellian Affairs: Dairy of Merran Corina #4

We all go through a period of time of searching for ourselves, for a direction, maybe even a purpose. Merran is seeking to find that piece of himself and a direction that will shape his life for years to come. But like many things in our lives, it doesn't come easily. 

Merran Corina - about four months after he first arrives on Earth

Applied for a job with the embassy. I’m told my chances of getting in at the embassy are zero to none, but if I want to stay on Earth, I have to get some kind of employment soon, or they’ll be shipping me back to Azelle.

Merran Corina - two weeks after he submits his job application

The embassy rejected my application. I’m not giving up. They say the ambassador spends hours a day at the human-run coffee shop around the corner, spending time with Azellians and humans alike. I’ll get to see him eventually…I managed to land a job at that coffee shop as a barista. It's a busy coffee shop, but that means I get to meet lots of humans. Such interesting lives they lead! So many differences...but some similarities, too.

It’s hard to believe, but I’m having more sex now than I did when I was with her. It's very weird to me, that human women find me so attractive. Is this the same Merran Corina who spent his whole life being hated for his caver roots? It is totally unreal. Surreal, perhaps, but also very pleasurable. And, by the aarya’s eyes, human women are something else! They have no shields, no way to hide what they’re feeling or thinking from me. Reading a human woman’s mind while I’m stimulating her body….We’ve always been taught humans are uptight, controlled and lack sexual appetite. That’s not been my experience. Even though they can’t link with me during sex, I can certainly read their physical sensations and it’s quite a rush. There is a sort of unrestrained, unflagging joy they have in who they are that I find quite stimulating. 

Sometimes it can be overwhelming and unpleasant, though. I never let my interactions go on for very long. It's better that way. Relationships based on a lie? Even I know better than that.

Want to find out more about Merran Corina and his experiences on Earth? Read an excerpt from Alawahea: Excerpt of Book 1

Azellian Affairs: Dairy of Merran Corina #3

Change comes to all our lives, taking us down roads we would never have expected. Sometimes, those side paths are dramatic enough to completely change our direction. In Merran’s case, he went from being a fairly typical young Azellian man briefly visiting Earth to becoming the youngest ambassador ever. He also accomplished something none before him ever had: human/Azellian cooperation and active collaboration. But, before finding that path, he lost himself for a time, wandering and creating a sexual legacy for himself that would continue to haunt him years later.

Merran Corina - about a month and a half after his arrival

She left me. Kaelynn left me. Says it’s because she’s not ready to settle down, that she came to Earth to get away from me and she didn’t expect me to follow her. They all know I am Liporinn and even my Corina blood can’t balance it out. The aarya damn them all. 

Humans have some very colorful language for times like this that I didn't learn in school. One of the women I went out with last night gave me quite a list, in between our other activities. Taught me quite a bit, too. Who would have thought humans could be as talented and innovative as the acolytes when it comes to sexual exploration? Women seem quite fascinated by the question of whether or not my resemblance to human males is from head to toe...Apparently I do resemble human males in all the particulars: the physical ones, anyway. The mental ones are another story. They don't know about those, and I'm not going to enlighten anyone.

Of course, no one seems to care that my mother was a Liporinn...they just seem quite enamored of my body and what I can do with it. I suppose I might as well distract myself for the moment.

Want to learn more about Merran Corina and his experiences on Earth? Read an excerpt from Alawahea: Excerpt of Book 1

Azellian Affairs: Diary of Merran Corina #2

We continue our view of Merran’s early life on Earth. Only twenty years old, just stepping into adulthood, Merran has followed his girlfriend from Azelle to Earth. He's exploring Earth with all of the enthusiasm of someone who has never been away from their home before. Excited about what is coming his way, he's learning as much as he can.   

Merran Corina—about a month after he first arrives

Kaelynn wants to talk tonight. I wonder what she wants to talk about? We’ve been together for a couple of years now, we moved to Earth together. Maybe she wants me to move in with her? Right now, we’re keeping separate domiciles. It seems silly to me to do that. I love her, she loves me. We could declare it publicly and live together. If she does, I’m ready for it. I’m so glad I met someone who doesn’t care what my mother’s family name was. I love her so much.

Humans have a concept of exclusivity, too. They have another name for it. I learned about it when I met my first human this week. She is married. Interesting concept, to spend one’s life legally obligated to someone else. Even the Raderths, who are pretty archaic in many of their practices with their families, don’t legally link themselves to their mates. Seems odd to do that.

There’s got to be a history of marriage on the internet. It’s really helpful that humans have computers and track their history so easily where anyone can access it. It doesn’t even require a trip to the Temple or a talk with the Keepers to get access to it. Maybe I’ll do some research. Humans are really rather fascinating beings. Such a rich, complex history. I’m so glad I came with Kaelynn to Earth.

Learn more about Merran Corina and his experiences on Earth. Read an excerpt from Alawahea here: Excerpt of Book 1

Azellian Affairs: Diary of Merran Corina

Merran Corina has always been one of the characters who speaks the most loudly to me. In early versions of Alawahea, he was meant to be a minor character, someone distant and uninvolved. That didn’t last very long. From early on, he sauntered onto the stage in my head and proceeded to take over. Who is Merran Corina? What makes him tick? Why does he act the way he does? I asked those questions of myself and of him, and I got the next several blog posts of “diary” entries: an intimate peek inside Merran Corina’s head.

Merran came to Earth as a young man, just out of acolyte training, wary, but still willing to hope for the best, before he learns that there is something beyond both hope and fear. 

Over the next several posts, we will be playing inside Merran’s head and getting a peek into the man we first meet in Alawahea: Book One of the Azellian Affairs. If you're meeting him for the first time, welcome! If you have already read Alawahea, have fun learning more about Merran...I certainly did! 

Merran Corina—one week after his first arrival on Earth, fifty years after the first Azellian embassy was established on Earth.

Interesting planet, Earth. Full of people who are so wide open. No barriers to their thoughts at all. It's like standing in the middle of a party of people talking and shouting at once....overwhelming and nothing more than noise, unless I stay shielded all the time. I don't know how other Corinas do it. I don't think a Healer, sensitive as they are, would ever survive here. If I hadn't had extra training from the aarya, I'd be a mess and heading home as fast as my feet could carry me. Even if it meant Kaelynn left me.

Speaking of Kaelynn, we had really great sex last night. I'm really glad both of us were acolytes. They taught us stuff that I'd really miss if she ever left me. I wonder if she thinks the same thing?   I mean, I might be Corina on my father's side, but my mother...I'm not going to think about that. Kaelynn isn't from a High Council family. She’s an acolyte, like me. Surely she doesn't care if I'm...never mind. She doesn't care.

Want to read more about Merran Corina and his experiences? Read an excerpt from Alawahea to learn more: Excerpt of Book 1

An Interview with Merran Corina

A wonderful fellow author, Melissa Kline, suggested that I play with having characters talk to me through an interview. The first character I chose is also the most intense of my characters. Merran Corina swept me away when I first started writing about him, and he still does. We have been through many adventures together…I am so excited to have them finally out there interacting with everyone!    Sara: It’s been a while since we sat down and talked, hasn’t it? I’ve missed you.

Merran: We’re here now, aren’t we? Let’s chat. This is supposed to be an interview. We’ve done lots and lots of those, haven’t we?

Sara: Yes, we certainly have. You’re a camera hog, you know.

Merran (laughs): When did you figure that out?

Sara: The day you walked onto the pages of the first book and took over. The first book was not supposed to be about you, you know. You were originally a very marginal character.  Someone who was a distant figure….the Azellian ambassador who loomed over everything but had no immediate interaction.

Merran: Me, marginal? No immediate interaction? Oh, that’s funny. I can’t imagine not having a connection with you. We’ve been together for nearly twenty years now. When DID the story shift from to Tamara and me and all the others?  You didn’t start there, remember?

Sara: That’s true enough. I didn’t start there, not with the play I wrote for my friends and me to act out, and not with the stories that took off from there. Of course, the original characters were the voice of an overly dramatic adolescence and too many romance novels. Tamara and you were so much more sedate.

Merran (with a grin): I’m not sure I’d call our adventures sedate. I went through hell.

Sara: Well, what did it bring you? Peace, love, harmony. Joy. Everything you were looking for.

Merran: What about you? You ready to step back in and play with us some more?

Sara: Oh yes! I love playing in your reality. You ready for me to come in and channel some more of you?

Merran: Bring it on. You’re going to love what’s going on here in our world. (Extends a hand)

An Interview with Tamara Carrington

I first met Tamara Carrington many years ago, when exploring the new world I’d just begun to discover through my stories. A young woman, barely beyond adolescence, she captured my imagination and made me wonder just what made her tick. We discovered many things about each other in those years, including things I never would have imagined. Listening to her has been an amazing journey and I’m very glad to let her speak:  Tamara: We haven’t spoken in a while, have we?

Sara: No, but the best friendships are the ones that last no matter what happens. The connection is still there.   

 Tamara: That’s what they say. It feels right on, too. What was your favorite part to write about my life?

Sara: That would be giving out spoilers….but I’d say that you had a particular relationship with a particular person that was my favorite to write. You seemed happy in it, too.

Tamara: I am happy. Deliriously so, even if it took a while to get there. I was so volatile when I was younger! Everything seemed so much more…dramatic. Earth shaking! But richer, too, somehow. As if throwing myself into life was the only way to fully live.

Sara: Isn’t it?

Tamara (laughs): I could live without the emotional extremes. Committing to life doesn’t necessarily mean being a firecracker.

Sara: Does it have to mean anything? What if it could just be something we do without effort? What if living fully is our natural way of being and it takes effort to cut ourselves off?

Tamara: You sound like Greg. Or the aarya. Not that I ever really had much exposure to the aarya, but they don’t see reality the way the rest of us do.

Sara:  No, they don’t. It’s taken me a while before I could even hear what they had to tell me. I’m not sure I know even now.

Tamara: I’m not sure I want to know.

Sara: You’ve never liked the deeper stuff, have you?

Tamara: I don’t know about that. I’m more interested in things that you can hear and see and touch, yes, but there’s something to be said for the perceptions you get from the other awareness. We call it psi. Greg would know more than I would about the theories behind it all.

Sara: Yes, there will be more about it all, you can be sure about that.

Tamara: Good. I’d hate to be the only representative of the story. Thank you for writing about us, by the way. I’ve had fun and it’s great to share it with the world.

Sara: So have I! Tell me when you have other stories, by the way. I can hardly wait to see what they are!