Meet Valdesha

Tuesday, 4/18/23

Hello, everyone!

I hope you enjoyed reading about Shopnil. He’s the comedic relief and Michael’s best friend on Ralga, so he’ll get some good “screentime” in “Obsidian.” There should be more of him in future books, so stick around when he takes on a larger role!

Next up is Valdesha. She’s the de facto leader of the Camoursaka community and participates in some dramatic moments in “Obsidian.” If you have any questions for any of my characters, I promise they don’t bite! You’ll even get a response in English (yes, I I’ll translate your message for free :) ) Next time I’ll be interviewing the giant Bahij from Gardona, so be sure to come back for that.

Disclaimer: the images of the characters were generated on Canva’s Text to Image Artificial Intelligence (AI) software. They aren’t the final representation of the characters in “Dark Salvation” but, rather, visual representations of the characters so you can understand the characters better.

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JOHN: Tell us about yourself. Where you’re from, what you do for a living, for fun, etc. etc.

VALDESHA: I was born and raised in Camouraska and am the leader of the community here. For fun, I love being with my people and supporting our missions to Gardona.

JOHN: This is the first time Gardona has been mentioned in my interviews. What can you tell me about it?

VALDESHA: Gardona is a distant planet. It’s people, the Gardonans, have been kind to Ralgans in the past. We send chosen travelers from our community to represent us there quite often.

JOHN: How are people chosen to go to Gardona?

VALDESHA: There’s a selection process. I can’t go into the details, but only the most loyal can represent us on Gardona.

JOHN: Last week, Shopnil mentioned you trained Charlize and that he considered joining you to be trained. Have you trained many Camouraskans?

VALDESHA: I have. I love teaching others about the Energite and how to use it. I’ve lost count how many people I’ve trained, but it must be one hundred.

JOHN: Some others have called Energite dangerous. Do you consider it dangerous?

VALDESHA: It’s only dangerous if you don’t know how to use it properly. None of my students have been injured, and none would think of using the Energite improperly.

JOHN: A lot of the other interviewees talked about their impressions about the Light of the Stars. How do you feel now that Michael is living in Camouraska?

VALDESHA: First, we don’t know if he is the Light of the Stars. Second, if he is, he’s never lived in Camouraska or even on Ralga as far as we know. I am the leader here, and if he doesn’t like that, he can go back to the desert or wherever he came from.

JOHN: I just interviewed Nyla from the desert, and she said some interesting –  

VALDESHA: – don’t listen to her. She’s unstable and can’t be trusted. I’m not sure why you’re even talking to the desert people anyway. They left years ago for good reason.

JOHN: Why did they leave?

VALDESHA: I’m sure they told you I was the reason they had to leave. They agreed to leave to preserve our community in Camouraska. We were running out of resources and space. They volunteered to leave.

JOHN: Will you let them come back in at some point?

VALDESHA: I don’t like your tone. I volunteered to do this interview. Show some respect.

JOHN: What do you think about Camouraska, the part human, part Kadeshi that lives in the Energite in your community?

VALDESHA: It supports us, and we support it. It hasn’t interrupted us and has let us live our own lives. We show it the same courtesy.

JOHN: Do you have a family in Camouraska?

VALDESHA: The people of Camouraska are my family. I had a family once, but they have passed on.

JOHN: Is there anything dangerous that you can talk about? I mean, this is a science fiction novel series with some thrilling/suspenseful elements.

VALDESHA: I can’t believe you’re writing about us. I’m sorry, but that really is revolting.

JOHN: Why?

VALDESHA: You don’t know anything about us or what it’s like to live where we are. Just like Michael, you’re an outsider and yet you think you can just insert yourself into our lives. I put in a command to my Honor Guard to disallow anyone else from being interviewed by you. You have no right thinking you can do anything you want in Camouraska.

JOHN: That’s a little drastic, and I will still get my interviews, with or without your permission.

VALDESHA: Who are you interviewing next? I will not have any more interviews!

JOHN: Try and stop me.