Rain & Fire (6 page)

Bonnington:
The Pennykettles' cat. He is transformed from a lazy, slightly stupid tabby into a creature of wonder when he “commingles” with a Fain entity in
Fire Star
. He rarely gets involved with the Pennykettle dragons (he knows minimal dragontongue, they even less felinespeak) but does come to their aid in times of trouble. On Co:pern:ica, Bonnington's equivalent, a katt, is called
Boon
.

Winston:
David's teddy bear. Does not have a large role to play, but he's there or thereabouts in the background.

Bronson:
A toy mammoth belonging to Alexa. She sends a thought projection of him to
David in the Arctic at a crucial point in
The Fire Eternal
.

 

Gaia:
The spirit of the Earth; Earth Mother. Appears in a variety of guises and semi-physical forms throughout the series. Helps Lucy, particularly in times of need. Also creates Ganzfeld, Liz's listening dragon.

 

The Fain:
A mysterious race of beings who first enter the saga in
Fire Star
when G'reth, the wishing dragon, makes contact with one of them. The Fain have no physical body and exist in another dimension on a plane of thought, manipulating the dark energy of the Universe to create a thought-world known as Ki:mera around them (though this is never seen). The Fain can “commingle” with any physical life-form, but regard dragons as the most perfect form there is. The Fain's spiritual development depends upon them commingling with the “white fire” of a living dragon, a process called “illumination.” They frequently come to prominence as the story progresses, but their history with the
human race is checkered, largely because humans and dragons have, in the past, struggled to live in harmony together on the Earth. On the alternative world of Co:pern:ica, the Fain collectively call themselves
The Higher
.

 

The Ix:
In effect, the flipside of the Fain. They are in a continuous unseen war with the Fain, seeking to gain control of the dark energy of the Universe to manipulate it for their own evil ends. In the past, they have attempted to use the imaginative power of humans to their advantage, leaving shadows of darkness in the human psyche (gargoyles, bogeymen, fear of spiders, etc.). Dragons are the physical enemy of the Ix, but the Ix have countered them by producing a template for an antidragon, a creature they call a darkling. Darklings are terrifying monsters, but are no match for dragons, because so far the Fain have been able to prevent the Ix from creating “dark fire,” the most destructive force in the Universe, which the Ix would need if they were ever to “delumine” one of their darklings.

When Chris is invited to speak in schools, one of the questions he is always asked is “Where do you get the characters' names from?” He usually replies that they just pop up when they're needed. Although this is accurate, it's worth citing a few examples of how this happens.

A good place to start would be with David Rain, since he's the hero of the series. Chris was always fascinated by the stories he was taught in religion class. He particularly enjoyed those about David (later King David) and they stood out in his memory. Thus “David” comes from the Bible.

“Rain” is from a completely different source. Chris is a huge Beatles fan and many years ago they released a double-A-sided single with the songs “Paperback Writer” and “Rain.” Since Chris wanted to be the former, he thought his alter ego, David (who is based on Chris in his younger days), ought to be the latter. And while we're still on the subject of the Beatles, you might
like to know that David's teddy bear is named after Chris's all-time hero, and the person Chris would most like to have met, John Lennon. Winston was John's middle name.

The Pennykettle last name is based on a previous neighbor of Chris's. As a boy he used to live next door to a family with the last name Kettle. Whether the lady of the house was called Penny or not, he can't remember.

Bonnington, the cat, comes from a road name close to our old house in Leicester, even though Lucy claims, in
The Fire Within
, that he is named after Chris Bonington, the climber (who incidentally spells his version with a single “n”).

Mr. Bacon is a serious nod to Mr. Curry in the
Paddington
books, written by Michael Bond. Chris absolutely adores these. In fact, Paddington is hands down his favorite children's book character.

Zanna was picked up when Chris signed a book for someone of that name, as was Godith. The girl in question pronounced it
God
ith, with the emphasis on the
first syllable, but Chris changed the pronunciation to Go
dith
in the books. Either way, a superlative find.

Grockle, the modern-day natural dragon, has an onomatopoeic name, that is, he makes that sound when he tries (and fails) to produce fire.

Gadzooks couldn't have been called anything else. It's a magical name for a magical dragon. Besides which, he wrote it on his pad, so Chris couldn't mistake it.

The name Glade, another of the Pennykettle dragons, was suggested by a girl who e-mailed Chris. She just thought it would be a good choice, as it begins with a
G
. Chris thought so, too, but had to wait a long time for her to make an appearance in the story. When she did, it was the perfect name for her, and again, couldn't have been anything else.

Lono, a mother polar bear, was “pinched” from a man who wrote a book about them, again as a tribute. It is his last name.

In some cases Chris's characters have been based on the personalities of people he knows or has seen, rather
than their names. For instance, Russ, the helicopter pilot for the Polar Research Station in Chamberlain, is loosely based on a working cowboy and musician that we know, who goes by the name of Austin Dan. And, believe it or not, Tam Farrell's entire dress sense is based on a man featured on a fashion makeover show! Chris was so impressed with the jacket that the stylist provided this man with, that he not only went out and bought an identical one for himself, but wrote it into the story. He still has it to this day.

T
here are quite a lot of words in the series that are either obscure, in a foreign language, or simply made up by Chris. The following list should help you understand them all. Most are fully explained in the text as you come to them, so no need to think that you have to have a degree in languages and a memory the size of a planet to enjoy the books. You don't. But here's a general note: The Co:pern:icans use a lot of colons in their language, but almost all of their words are exactly the same in meaning as those we are familiar with in English. For instance — re:gressive, tele:scope, mech:anism. Only those that are substantially different in meaning have been included below.

 

auma
— an Inuit word meaning “fire”; Chris, however, uses it in the Last Dragon Chronicles to mean inner spirit or animating force, the fire within. Dragons are the animating spirit of the natural world. The more auma something has, the more lively or creative it is, and the closer to Gaia it becomes. Auma can be sensed, “read,” followed by someone sensitive to it, or raised, usually by specific intention and focus of thought.

 

aumatic
— containing or responsive to auma.

 

bonglers
— everyday name for wind chimes with a relatively low note. As opposed to chinklers, those with a higher-pitched or tinklier sound.

 

Ci:pherel
— a natural dragon who can “read” a person's auma and thereby detect whether they are telling the truth, or are who they claim to be.

 

coelacanthis
— stasis; a state of suspended animation.

 

Cluster
— an Ix assassin, consisting of a few to a multitude of negative Fain entities. Also called
Comm:Ix
or
Ix-risor
.

 

commingle
— to mingle or mix together. Used in the series to mean a conjoining of minds, or of whole personalities, usually involving an entity from a race of beings called the Fain.

 

Comm:Ix
— see
Cluster
.

 

:coms
— communications that are the equivalent to our e-mail, telephone, or video. Also called
e:coms
,
t:coms
, or
v:coms
.

 

construct
— an imagineered being, in all other respects the equivalent of a human person, animal, or item.

 

dark fire
— the most destructive force in the Universe. Can be brought into being only by an inversion of a
source of spiritual purity, such as a selfless act of love, or a moment of inspired creativity. A dragon born of dark fire would be a monster, known as a darkling.

 

darklings
and
semi-darklings
— semi-darklings are potential antidragons, created and controlled by the Ix. They have no separate volition of their own. Attempts to delumine them, i.e., give them independent life via the introduction of dark fire, thereby making them into full darklings, prove fruitless until the events of
The Fire Ascending
.

 

delumination
— the means by which semi-darklings would be brought to independent life as full darklings, via the introduction of dark fire.

 

digi:grafs
— digitally created photographs.

 

dream it
— a phrase used predominantly by Liz Pennykettle to lull someone into a state of relaxation
so they can “live” what she is telling them, rather than just imagine it.

 

fain
— on Co:pern:ica, a creative energy possessed by all, and used to imagineer constructs.

 

Fain, the
— a race of thought-beings who have no physical body and exist in another dimension. They have the ability to commingle with any physical life form, the ideal being that of a dragon. This latter, highly desirable achievement is called illumination.

 

firebird
— creature between a dragon and a bird in looks and temperament.

 

Fire Eternal, the
— another name for love, and as such, the title of a book of poems written by Tam Farrell. Also the spiritual fire (white fire) at the center of the Earth, the source from which every natural dragon in this world springs. The greatest creative force in the Universe.

 

fire star
— a portal used by the Fain and the Ix to travel between their world and the Earth. It had been out of alignment with the Earth for a very long time, but is coming into an appropriate position once again by the time of the third book,
Fire Star
.

 

fire tear
— a single tear cried by a dragon immediately before it dies. All the fire that was within the creature is contained in this tear, which falls off its snout onto the ground. It then finds its way back to the fire at the center of the Earth, from whence it originated. A dragon can be made to cry its fire tear before its due time by not loving it, or by otherwise making it extremely sad.

 

fire within, the
— see
auma
.

 

fluenced
— influenced, caused to do as intended by means of magicks.

 

fosh
— Lucy's way of referring to fish. Taken from Allan Ahlberg's book
Ten in a Bed
.

 

fraas
— sparks shed when a dragon's fire tear is produced just before its death. At the place where it lands, its energy will linger; benefits may accrue to any who touch it.

 

Gaia
— the principle that the Earth is a living and breathing entity in its own right, with needs, feelings, desires, and intentions of its (her) own. She works in spirit form to keep the Earth in balance and has, in Chris's books, the ability to bring this about by appearing in many different guises, as circumstances demand, to those who can see her. As they help her, so she in turn helps them. Also called
Gaia principle
or
Mother Earth
.

 

gardenaria
— a construct similar to a human-world garden. It may be changed around or added to simply by desiring it so, and holding that intention.

 

Grand Design
— the Higher's overall plan for Co:pern:ica and its citizens.

 

Great Re:duction
— the loss of plant and animal life on Co:pern:ica caused by too much imagineering by its population.

 

healing horse
— a unicorn.

 

helegas screen
— Co:pern:ican TV/computer outlet, which can also be projected straight onto a wall.

 

icefire
— the substance with which Liz Pennykettle makes her clay dragons come to life. Given to her as a “snowball” when she was a young child.

 

illumination
— the result of the commingling of a Fain entity with a natural dragon. A highly desired spiritual goal and achievement.

 

i:lluminus
and
i:sola
— the former is the illuminated being comprised of a Fain entity and a natural dragon, while they are commingled. The latter refers to the
dragon element only of the pair, when the two are physically separated.

 

imagineer
— to create and manifest objects and even people by mental power and intention alone.

 

inua
— soul, inner self.

 

Inuit
— native peoples of the Arctic regions, meaning “the people.”

 

Inuk
— the singular form of Inuit, meaning “a man” or “a person.”

 

inversion
— positive emotion such as love transformed into negative emotion such as fear, and used against enemies of the Ix, traditionally the Fain and their natural dragons, but now encompassing human beings also. The Ix's intention is to induce humans into negative thought patterns and despair (such as believing there is
no hope for the world to solve its problems of pollution, global warming, etc.), so that they can use these to power their semi-darklings, and ultimately to fuel a full darkling. Inner white fire turned into dark fire.

 

i:sola
— see
i:lluminus
.

 

isoscele
— the final triangular scale of a dragon's tail.

 

Ix, the
— the negative element of the Fain; a breakaway group. They wish to gain control of the dark energy of the Universe.

 

Ix:risor
— see
Cluster
.

 

kabluna
— white man; white person.

 

katt
— feline similar to Earth cat, kitten. Also called
kitt-katt
.

 

Ki:mera
— the thought-world inhabited by the Fain and the Ix in a different dimension from the Earth.

 

krofft
— homestead.

 

librarium
— a real building holding millions of real books (i.e., not constructs), looked after by a curator.

 

mark of Oomara
— a symbol of power which can be used for good or evil. The three jagged parallel lines of it represent the lives of men, bears, and dragons — always running alongside each other, but never meeting. The mark, wherever it is found (on Zanna's arm or emblazoned on a polar bear's head, for example) brings an expansion of consciousness. Can be a blessing or a curse.

 

minits
— minutes in Co:pern:ican time.

 

motested
— meeting house.

 

moyles
— the final rows of teeth at the back of a natural dragon's jaws.

 

mukluks
— Arctic boots, made of skins, often trimmed with fur.

 

nanuk
— polar bear.

 

nanukapik
— literally “greatest bear.” A leader from the ancient times when dynasties of bears ruled the ice and lived in packs.

 

natural dragon
— a real dragon, large and fire-breathing, as opposed to Liz Pennykettle's clay dragons.

 

nauja
— seagull.

 

Naunty
or
Nunky
— everyday expressions of Aunty and Uncle, used by Lucy, and later by Alexa.

 

obsidian
— a volcanic rock from which the Ix intend to create their darklings.

 

parthenogenesis
— means of reproduction using only an unfertilized egg. How Liz and Lucy were created.

 

portal
— gateway able to be used for time or distance travel.

 

Premen
— early group of beings comprising of a Fain entity commingled with a human being. They ruled the Earth in those far-off days.

 

Prem:Ix
— a human being permanently commingled with an Ix entity.

 

Pri:magon
— a priestess.

 

properly
— the series uses the normal definition of this word, but a note here to say that Lucy uses it
grammatically incorrectly. This is deliberate, as part of her character.

 

puffle
— descriptive term for some of the Pennykettle dragons, including Gloria, the dragon on the toilet tank in the bathroom who “puffles” a nice rose scent in place of a more traditional type of air freshener.

 

qannialaaq
— falling snow.

 

secs
— seconds in Co:pern:ican time.

 

semi-darklings
— see
darklings
.

 

SETH
— an acronym for Spatial Enigma and Time Horizons, it refers to an analytical computer program that can detect whether time-slips have occurred, and the probabilities of “portals” being available to use for the purposes of time travel, etc.

 

sibyl
— wise woman, prophetess, witch.

 

snuffler
— descriptive term for some of the Pennykettle dragons, including Gwillan, who as part of his household duties snuffles up dust (as an alternative to a vacuum cleaner), but then puffles out the dust, as ash, later.

 

spins
— Co:pern:ican “years.”

 

spiracle
— part of the ventilation system of a dragon, which can be closed at will.

 

Stencilla
— the template used by the Higher to design their perfect society.

 

stig
— retractable thorn that decorates an adult natural dragon's skeleton, particularly along the wings.

 

taliriktug
— strong arm.

 

therma:sol sheet
— an imagineered and therefore pleasantly warm — or cool, as desired — fabric.

 

third eye
— the pineal gland, alleged to be a channel of creative energy, the focus of extra senses (the “sixth sense” and more) in humans and other beings.

 

time nexus
— an unseen field that spatially connects the three worlds of Earth, Ki:mera, and Co:pern:ica. Creatures familiar with the “enchantments of time” (such as dragons, unicorns, and firebirds) have the ability to open portals between these worlds and therefore “Travel” across the nexus.

 

tornaq
— a talisman of fortunes, the correct use of which enables insight into one's true path of destiny. In the books, this particular talisman is a piece of narwhal tusk, a variant form of a birdlike dragon called Groyne. Groyne can freely morph into different shapes, become invisible at will, and Travel through time and space, along with anyone who happens to be holding him, when in his tornaq form.