Mishinug is a soldier, and he has a sweetheart in his home city that he hopes he will marry if he succeeds well enough.

He is a very mild man, usually balanced emotionally, not shy nor outgoing. You could say he's almost placid. It is only when he is in the middle of fighting, or he has gone through something deeply humiliating, or he is thinking about his sweetheart, that he has any real spark to him.

Though quiet, he is not altogether thoughtful, but becomes uneasy when he sees that something is not right, and has difficulty acting on principles which he is not sure of. He is most afraid of being a coward. Next to that, he is afraid of doing something wrong. Hurting or killing someone when he shouldn't have, without realizing.

His friendships don't usually go very deep, but they are quietly loyal and satisfying to him. His closest friend is a young man who he met by chance while going through certain duties in a politically troubled city. The young man was helping to trouble it politically. Mishinug didn't think much of him, but the young man stuck around, you might say, and they ended up being together through some very difficult things.

Any questions would be very nice. Mishinug will answer them himself.

Mishinug sounds a lot like me.

How do you pronounce your name?

What do you do for a living?

Do you not want to ask your Sweetheart to marry you if you aren't successful, or is it because you won't be able to afford marriage if you don't succeed?

Do you have a family? How close are you to them? How old are you?

Does being afraid affect your ability to be a soldier? How good are you at your job, and does your fear interfere with your work/promotion up the ranks?

What's your rank? What's your preferred weapon?

(That's encouraging that he is human enough to be like anybody. And, incidentally, he's one of my favorite characters in this book. * grins at Faith *)

Most people call me only 'Mishi', and say it 'Mee-shee'. The last piece of the word is said 'nuhg'. I answer to many ways of saying it, however, as the different peoples often pronounce it as is easiest for them.

I sit still very well and hard.

No, that is only what the soldiers say when they are bored in the barracks. * laughs quietly * Sometimes, since there is not active war yet, there is little for the men in the soldieries to do. Our captain sends us as guards for political persons when there is danger of disturbance sometimes, and sometimes we receive labor when a large work is happening.

And sometimes, we fight.

* tosses head slightly and thinks * If I do not show myself good, I can't marry her. How could I? It would not be possible anymore. I do not understand your question entirely. * pauses *

But one of the reasons I am waiting is because I do not have the money to begin a household, if that is a part of what you are asking me. Soldiering is not a rich occupation. It is all I have done, however.

I do, yes. They are in O-ar. I have not seen them since I left; the husband of my sister is the only one who moves about at all, and he has been dealing down by the lake, with the New Men. I love my family, and they have always been affectionate.

I am thirty-five.

* does not answer for a bit * I am not certain what you are talking about. I – am not – what are you saying that I am afraid of? I do my duty. * looks a little roused and also a little pained *

I am doing well enough. My officers know me and know they can use me whenever necessary. That is the beginning of success.

I am still only a common soldier. My old captain had begun plans of giving me officer duties, before the soldiery was disarranged and I was placed in an unfamiliar command. The captain put over me did not know anything about me, and I have had to begin over again. But there is not much opportunity for showing your skills when there is only a threat of war. Gaining trust again is slow. * apologetic *

A gun. The Eecil burners are too unwieldy and complicated, and they are the only other long range weapon common here. Other than arrows. Those are a bit too foreign, I never tried learning the craft.

I have been unable to use a gun for some time, though, as they are more expensive than burners and many other weapons. I had one from my father, but it was stolen shortly after the skirmish with the pirates near Dun del. Now I prefer, in absence of a shooter, the sickle-tipped stave. It gives a wide range of protection.