Seraphina (52 page)

A
T
D
OMBEGH
H
OUSE

Seraphina Dombegh
—our charming heroine, often called Phina

Claude Dombegh
—her father, a lawyer with a secret

Amaline Ducanahan
—Phina’s counterfeit mother

Linn
—Phina’s real mother, alas

Orma
—Phina’s mysterious mentor

Zeyd
—Phina’s former tutor, a dragon

Anne-Marie
—Phina’s not-so-wicked stepmother

Tessie, Jeanne, Paul, and Nedward
—the moderately wicked stepsiblings

T
HE
G
OREDDI
R
OYAL FAMILY

Queen Lavonda
—a monarch who faces down dragons

Prince Rufus
—the Queen’s only son, inexplicably murdered

Princess Dionne
—the Queen’s surly daughter, first heir to the throne

Princess Glisselda
—Princess Dionne’s cheerful daughter, second heir to the throne

Princess Laurel
—the Queen’s other daughter, dead of elopement

Prince Lucian Kiggs
—Princess Laurel’s embarrassing bastard, fiancé of Princess Glisselda, Captain of the Queen’s Guard, possessor of too many descriptors

A
T
C
OURT

Viridius
—the irascible court composer

Guntard
—a professional musician

scrawny sackbut player
—exactly as you imagine

Lady Miliphrene
—Princess Glisselda’s favorite lady-in-waiting, called Millie

Lady Corongi
—Princess Glisselda’s governess, an antique despot

Dame Okra Carmine
—the Ninysh ambassador, an antique darling

Josef, Earl of Apsig
—a Samsamese lordling

Regent of Samsam
—the regent of Samsam

Count Pesavolta
—the ruler of Ninys

O
UR
D
RACONIC
F
RIENDS

Ardmagar Comonot
—the leader of the dragon world

Ambassador Fulda
—the dragon with the best manners

Undersecretary Eskar
—Fulda’s laconic second-in-command

Basind
—a walleyed newskin

N
OBLE
B
ANISHED
K
NIGHTS

Sir Karal Halfholder
—obeys the law, even if the infernal fiends do not

Sir Cuthberte Pettybone
—his somewhat less humor-impaired comrade

Sir James Peascod
—once knew General Gann from General Gonn

Squire Maurizio Foughfaugh
—one of the last practitioners of dracomachia

Squire Pender
—the other one

I
N
T
OWN

Sons of St. Ogdo
—unhappy with the treaty

Lars
—the genius behind the clock

Thomas Broadwick
—a cloth merchant

Silas Broadwick
—the reason they call them Broadwick Bros. Clothiers

Abdo
—a dancer in a pygegyria troupe

A pygegyria troupe
—and there’s the rest of them now

I
N
P
HINA’S
H
EAD

Fruit Bat
—the climber

Pelican Man
—putting the grotesque in “grotesque”

Miserere
—the feathery one

Newt
—the wallowing one

Loud Lad
—the noisy one

Jannoula
—too curious for her own good

Miss Fusspots
—the finicky one

Pandowdy
—the swamp thing

Nag and Nagini
—the speedy twins

Gargoyella and Finch
—mentioned in passing

Five more
—to be named in a future publication

I
N
L
EGEND AND IN
F
AITH

Queen Belondweg
—the first Queen of united Goredd, subject of the national epic

Pau-Henoa
—her trickster rabbit companion, also called the Mad Bun and Hen-Wee

St. Capiti
—representing the life of the mind, Phina’s patroness

St. Yirtrudis
—the spooky heretic, Phina’s other patroness, alas

St. Clare
—lady of perspicacity, Prince Lucian Kiggs’s patroness

Allsaints
—all the Saints in Heaven, invoked as a unit. Not a deity, exactly; more like a collective

apse
—part of a cathedral behind the quire and altar (and Golden House, in Goreddi cathedrals), often with radiating chapels

ard
—Mootya for “order, correctness”; may also denote a battalion of dragons

Ardmagar
—title held by the leader of dragonkind; translates roughly to “supreme general”

aurochs
—large, wild cattlebeast; extinct in our world, but existed in Europe until the Renaissance

binou
—type of bagpipe, used in traditional Breton music in our world

cloister
—peaceful garden surrounded by a colonnade, where monks may engage in peripatetic meditation

Comonot’s Treaty
—agreement that established peace between Goredd and dragonkind

Daanite
—homosexual; named for St. Daan, who was martyred for that particular quality, along with his lover, St. Masha

dagged
—deep scalloping, as of houppelande sleeves

dracomachia
—martial art developed specifically for fighting dragons; according to legend, it was invented by St. Ogdo

Golden House
—model of Heaven found in the center of Goreddi cathedrals and larger churches

Golden Plays
—dramas depicting the lives of the Saints, put on by the guilds of Lavondaville during Golden Week

Golden Week
—cluster of Saints’ days at midwinter, bookended by Speculus and Treaty Eve. It is traditional to see the Golden Plays, walk circuits around the Golden House, hang Speculus lanterns, throw parties, give gifts to friends and charities, and make grandiose pronouncements for the coming year.

Goredd
—Seraphina’s homeland (adjective form: Goreddi)

Heaven
—Goreddis don’t believe in a singular deity, but they believe in an afterlife, the dwelling of Allsaints

houppelande
—robe of rich material with voluminous sleeves, usually worn belted; women’s are floor-length; a man’s might be cut at the knee

ityasaari
—Porphyrian for “half-dragon”

Ker
—council of dragon generals that advises the Ardmagar

Lavondaville
—Seraphina’s hometown and the largest city in Goredd, named for Queen Lavonda

Mootya
—language of dragons, rendered in sounds a human voice can make

nave
—main body of a cathedral, where the congregation gathers for services

newskin
—dragon who is inexperienced at taking human form and living among humans

Ninys
—country southeast of Goredd (adjective form: Ninysh)

oud
—lutelike instrument, common in Middle Eastern music in our world, often played with a pick, or plectrum

Porphyry
—small country, almost a city-state, northwest of the Southlands; originally a colony of dark-skinned people from even further north

psalter
—book of devotional poetry, usually illustrated; in Goreddi psalters, there’s a poem for each of the major Saints

pygegyria
—Porphyrian for “bum-waggling”; an acrobatic variation of belly dancing

pyria
—sticky, flammable substance used in dracomachia for setting dragons on fire; also called St. Ogdo’s fire

Quighole
—dragon and quigutl ghetto in Lavondaville

quigutl
—subspecies of dragon, which can’t transform. They are flightless; they have an extra set of arms and terrible breath. Often shortened to “quig.”

quire
—enclosed area behind the altar of a cathedral (or behind the Golden House in a Goreddi cathedral), where the choir and clergy sit facing each other on benches

saar
—Porphyrian for “dragon”; often used by Goreddis as a short form of “saarantras”

saarantras
—Porphyrian for “dragon in human form” (plural form: saarantrai)

sackbut
—medieval ancestor of the trombone

St. Bert’s Collegium
—once St. Jobertus’s Church, now a school in Quighole where saarantrai scholars teach mathematics, science, and medicine to those brave enough to attend

St. Capiti
—patroness of scholars; carries her head on a plate

St. Clare
—patroness of the perceptive

St. Gobnait’s
—cathedral in Lavondaville; St. Gobnait is patroness to the diligent and persistent. Her symbol is the bee, hence the skep in her cathedral.

St. Ida’s
—music conservatory in Lavondaville; St. Ida is the patroness of musicians and performers

St. Masha and St. Daan
—the lovers; often invoked in anger, perhaps because it’s safe—it’s hard to imagine paragons of romantic love actually smiting anyone

St. Ogdo
—founder of dracomachia; patron of knights and of all Goredd

St. Vitt
—champion of the faith; this one will smite people, particularly unbelievers

St. Willibald’s
—covered market in Lavondaville; St. Willibald is the patron of marketplaces and news

St. Yirtrudis
—the heretic; it’s an open question how there can be a heretical Saint

Samsam
—country south of Goredd (adjective form: Samsamese)

shawm
—medieval instrument similar to an oboe

skep
—old-fashioned beehive made of woven straw

Southlands
—three nations clustered together at the southern end of the world: Goredd, Ninys, and Samsam

Speculus
—Goreddi holiday on the winter solstice, intended to be a long night of reflection

Tanamoot
—dragons’ country

transept
—wings of a cathedral built perpendicular to the nave

Treaty Eve
—celebration commemorating the signing of Comonot’s Treaty, concurrent with New Year’s Eve

Ziziba
—very distant land indeed, far to the north; home to many strange beasts such as crocodiles and camelopards (adjective form: Zibou)

My heartfelt thanks to: my sisters (including Josh); my parents, stepparents, and in-laws; Dr. George Pepe; Mac and the Children’s Book World gang; my intrepid Beta Readers; the Sparkly Capes and Oolicans; Epicurus; George Eliot; Lois McMaster Bujold; and Arwen, Els, and Liz.

Thanks to Dan Lazar, my agent, who has the singular ability to see things that aren’t there yet. Thanks to Jim Thomas, my editor, who understands the correlation between laughing at my jokes and getting me to work hard.

To Scott and Byron, who made me laugh when I was grumpy and gave me reasons to keep working. And thanks to Una, whose tiny whippet bladder ensured that I went for several walks each day.