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The Masquisit/Naquisit In General
The Masquisit/Naquisit In General
- Close-Knit Community: The population of Masquapaug is about a thousand people total. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone knows Anequs as Nampisheweisit. Yearly they come together to make sure everyone has enough food and supplies to make it through the leaner winter together, and clothing is handed down to others with little regard to whose it was before.
- Free-Range Children: Children of all ages are free to go out on their own without their parents with them; Anequs can go out in her canoe unescorted between the main island and any of the smaller, and even all the way to Naquipaug if she desired (though it's an hour long trip). Her younger brother and sister are free to go in and out as well without their parents. After whalers come home from months away at sea, the children are encouraged the day after the return celebration to stay out of the house and keep themselves occupied elsewhere until sunset, so their wives can welcome the whalers home in their own way.
- Housewife: Women and girls generally remain on the island most of their lives, tending the homes and farms while male whalers leave out to sea. (Women that leave the island alone and go to Catchnet frequently go missing and few bodies are found.) It's a big deal that Anequs is leaving to go among the Anglish, even just to attend school—and upsetting to her mother Chagoma. Chagoma was okay with Niaquit leaving even if it was earlier than she expected and to the mainland, because families expect sons to eventually leave home; she expected Anequs as her oldest daughter to keep the house after her and thus never leave.
- Non-Heteronormative Society: The Masquisit have no issues with gay or lesbian relationships, trans people—one of Anequs's great aunts, Auntie Mamisashque, is trans and their word for it is mupauanakausonat—or polyamory. Anequs thinks the Anglish are exceptionally unpleasant about being offended about any of it and complicate their lives with rules that make no sense about who should be with whom and how.
- Only One Name: Everyone has a single name; unless there's a title like Aunt, Uncle, or Sachem, they are called by a single name. People are referred to as the children of their parents to distinguish them, e.g. Anequs is called the daughter of Chagoma and Aponakwe. Among the Anglish, Anequs has been given the Patronymic last name Aponakwedottir but she doesn't like it.
- Polyamory: Polyamory is not a problem in the community. Many men have second wives (some of which are in relationships with each other) and some whalers go to sea accompanied by their husbands. Chagoma jokes that Aponakwe should get a second wife, as households often run smoother with more women (but they only have eyes for each other). Anequs desires a relationship both with Liberty and Theod and wants to actively court them both and bring Liberty to her island once she's freed of service. She doesn't see why she can't pursue both since she's interested in the two of them, and actively does so—even with the limitations of Anglish disapproval of it.
Anequs
Anequs
A fifteen-year-old Masquisit girl who, after seeing a dragon and bonding with its hatchling, becomes Nampeshiweisit—one bonded to a Nampeshiwe dragon—and the first from Masquapaug in two hundred years. She has to go among the Anglish to learn the ways they require to be a dragoneer, enrolling in Kuiper's Academy. She's determined only to learn what she must to keep Kasaqua rather than embrace any of the Anglish ways more than she has to to get by. Her dragon is Kasaqua, a Nampeshiwei—a dragon species native to North Markesland.
- Actual Pacifist: Anequs has little desire to harm anyone; she says in front of Jarl Joevarsson that neither she nor Theod wish to attack anyone and the fiercest thing she's ever killed is an aging rooster, and that's the most she wants to do. The only time she defies this is when she, Kasaqua, and Jarl Joevarsson are all shot in an assassination attempt; even then, it's Kasaqua who's driving the desire to stop the assassin more than Anequs.
- Affectionate Nickname: "Chipmunk," by her father and brother Niquiat.
- Alliterative Name: With the last name she's been given—Anequs Aponakwedottir.
- Brutal Honesty: She sees no reason not to be direct or honest in her words, and in fact finds the bobbing and weaving that Anglish do around each other frustrating, especially among the ladies. Even when she begrudgingly does it to navigate through Anglish society, it's with her teeth all but gritted.
- Deadpan Snarker: While not all the time, it's paired with her directness and brutal honesty. After being shot at, she tells Theod she doesn't recommend it.
- Embarrassing Last Name: The Anglish give her the patronymic surname Aponakwedottir — "Aponakwe's daughter." She rejects it nearly anytime she hears it, saying it's not her name.
- Farm Girl: Anequs has lived as a farmer and whaler's daughter her whole life. She frequently informs people expecting her to leave home and stay among the Anglish that that she's planning to eventually return home and use her skills as a dragoneer for her people's benefit.
- Humble Hero: Anequs is quick to point out, when people praise her—good or bad—for being a dragoneer, that she is the daughter of a whaler and intends in the end to return back home to use her dragon skills to help her people; she has no desire for glory or prominence more than what unfortunately comes with being a nackie dragoneer.
- Interclass Friendship: Anequs makes several. First with Sander Jansen—even though his mother is ashamed of him—and then Marta Hagan, though it takes more time and their connection starts off on the wrong foot. Sander confesses that his older sister Lisbet also wishes to make friends with Anequs, but their mother intervened. Anequs also considers Liberty—of a lower class than her—to be the kindest person she's met so far, even beyond her romantic feelings.
- Joke and Receive: Anequs says to Theod during their fight that if becoming the darling of jarls and kings is what it takes to secure her and Kasaqua's freedom to go as they may like without being tied down to the academy, she'll do it. She becomes a hero and darling to Jarl Joevarsson himself when she and Kasaqua together dispatch his would-be assassin—but not without all three being injured in various degrees.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: Averted. It's very matter of fact to her that, when her father Aponakwe returns home after eight months away at sea, that she and her siblings will be out of the house the next day after the celebration well until sunset, so Chagoma can welcome him home in her own way without any of their children around.
- Queer Establishing Moment: The first time Anequs sees Liberty, she immediately thinks she's beautiful. She later kisses Liberty while they're alone together in Liberty's room during Valkyrjafax, and Anequs says she's interested in both men and women. She's willing—and wants—to court both Liberty and Theod.
- Rite of Passage: Anequs, having already had her first period at thirteen, is considered an adult among her people and is thus allowed to loop her braids up.
- Scholarship Student: Anequs is being sponsored by Kuiper's Academy on a full scholarship, rather than paying to attend like many well-off dragoneers. This is due to her "unique" circumstances—that is, being a female nackie dragoneer.
- Twofer Token Minority: Among the Anglish and at school, being a female and nackie dragoneer.
- Working-Class Hero: Anequs is quick to remind anyone trying to elevate her into Anglish society that she's the daughter of a whaler, grew up working on a farm, and intends to take her learning back to her people for their benefit.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: Anequs is told this by many Anglish people as only the second nackie dragoneer in recent times in Lindermarten, and the only female one. Frau Kuiper tells her in private (after Anequs strikes Ivar for his rudeness) that her and Theod are there at the academy in part to help prove that nackies can be integrated into civilized Anglish society successfully, and Anequs is setting a precedent—much like Frau Kuiper did serving in the dragonthede and allowed women outside of jarls' daughters to become dragoneers at all. Anequs doesn't want to be a representative at all, but she is whether she desires to or not.
Aponakwe
Aponakwe
Anequs' father. Of the Naquipaug people, he's a whaler who is gone to sea for eight months at a time. His sister and aunt still live on Naquipaug, while his father and brother were executed in the massacre.
- Happily Married: With Chagoma.
- One True Love: He and Chagoma are deeply in love with each other, and Anequs can't imagine them loving other people.
- Survivor Guilt: While he doesn't openly speak about it, Aponakwe is the only male survivor of his immediate family—he was at sea during the Naquipaug massacre or he would have been part of the war party that tried and failed to drive the Anglish away from the island. His brother Motuckquas and father were both victims, and several of the people he grew up with. Including Theod's parents, who he knew well and attended their wedding.
- Technologically Blind Elders: He doesn't see the point of Niquiat studying machinakraft or bringing his skills back to Masquapaug; to him, it's Anglish ways intruding on their way of life, when they've lived the way they have for generations. He's also initially very upset by Anequs being Nampeshiweisit, rather than feeling pride about it. This is more because he is scared of her being changed by the Anglish and what such a change could mean, especially with her getting the attention of the Anglish. The last time that happened was Naquipaug.
Chagoma
Chagoma
Anequs' mother. She has two brothers: the older is a whaler and the younger Mequeche lives nearby with two sons and a daughter, Mishona.
- Empty Nest: She fears this in part with Anequs leaving. Her oldest, Niquiat already has left home and is living far away in Vastergot; he almost never comes home but does send money. Anequs hears Chagoma crying privately to her own mother, Anequs' grandmother, about Anequs leaving: while she expected her son to leave—sons eventually do, and mothers must make peace with it—that she expected Anequs, as her oldest daughter to stay home with her always. She doesn't know what she'll tell Aponakwe when he returns to see another child has left her unexpectly while he was away.
- Happily Married: With Aponakwe.
- One True Love: She and Aponakwe are deeply in love with each other, and Anequs can't imagine them loving other people—even though her mother jokes that Aponakwe should bring home a second wife to make the household run smoother.
Niquiat
Niquiat
Anequs' older brother, who is seventeen going on eighteen. Rather than follow his father's path as a whaler (or any other simple life on the island such as a potter), he left a year and a half ago to Vastergot, where he studies tinkering at his co-op between shifts at the cannery or mill. His goal is to become a machinakrafter/enginekrafter and bring the technology back to Masquapaug for his people to use in the modern era and be seen as advanced a people as the Anglish are.
- Country Mouse: Niquiat moved to Vastergot away from his rural native community on Masquapaug, as there was no chance for him to learn machinakraft there; the most technological thing on the island is the telegraph office. To him Masquapaug is stuck in the past, and he's away but wants to come home with the skills to bring his people into the modern era with the same level of technology the Anglish have.
- Horrible Housing: The flat he's staying in in Vastergot is six stories up and houses four people in one room; the windows are mere slits with oil paper over them. To him, it's just where he sleeps, and he tells Anequs not to be in his room or go there without him—or tell their parents about the awful conditions.
- Mr. Fixit: What he aspires to be—he studies machinakraft with the hopes of becoming a machinakrafter, and bring back the technology he learns to make to his home island.
- Small Town Boredom: What he feels on Masquapaug; he says to Anequs that he needs a world that's moving, while Masquapaug is stuck like a bug in amber.
- Too Desperate to Be Picky: Niquiat's Horrible Housing flat is terrible and the fourth place he's rented, but there's few places that rent to nackies at all, so he has to make do with what he can get.
Sigoskwe
Sigoskwe
Anequs's ten-year-old brother.
- Classical Hunter: At his age, Sigoskwe is skilled enough to hunt animals successfully such as possum, squirrel, and skunk pigs.
Sakewa
Sakewa
Aneque's eight-year-old sister.
- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of four.
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Sakewa is a skilled finger weaver at her age.
Grandmother
Grandmother
Anequs's blind grandmother (her mother's mother).
- Appeal to Tradition: At the idea of Anequs potentially leaving home—something women and girls don't generally do—she states that it is how Masquapaug will die: by the young people leaving home and going among the Anglish, learning their bad habits and forgetting their own traditions in the process. She thinks Niquiat has already done so, as she's very upset at the way Niquiat speaks to her and Chagoma when he's trying to convince them why Anequs should apply to the local dragon academy, calling the way he speaks to elders now rude and influenced by his time with the Anglish.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: For both her and Anequs. After getting a racist threatening telegram at home during winter break, Anequs wants to return to the academy for safety out of fear of anything happening to her people with her staying there. Her grandmother—who has been against Anequs leaving home and living among the Anglish, and believed she should stay hidden on Masquapaug with Kasaqua and the Anglish couldn't make her go—not only agrees, but tells her son-in-law Aponakwe that Anequs is right: what an Anglishman with a fully trained dragon could do to them is horrifying.
- Unnamed Parent: Grandparent. While she has a first name, it's never stated; Anequs only refers to her as Grandmother.
Mishona
Mishona
Anequs' cousin through her maternal uncle, a drumsinger. They relate like sisters, as Anequs has no older sisters and Mishona has no younger.
- Cool Big Sis: As Anequs has no older sisters and Mishona has no younger, Mishona serves as one to her; clothing that no longer fits her is passed down to Anequs and will later be passed down to Sakewa.
Great Aunt Mamisashquee
Great Aunt Mamisashquee
Anequs' great aunt through her father's side. She is transgender, what Anequs refers to as mupauanakausonat, and lives with her husband, niece (Anequs' Aunt Shanuckee) and Shanuckee's three children on Naquipaug.
- Recurring Extra: She isn't seen much in the story, often with the elders and mentioned in passing at being at celebrations. Justified, as Anequs spends the majority of the book away at school and Mamisashquee lives on Naquipaug (to keep the claim on the family plot), only coming over for celebrations. She is, however, spoken about when Anequs brings up her being transgender (to Liberty's horror, with the mere idea of trans people being anathema in Anglish society).
Aunt Shanuckee
Aunt Shanuckee
Anequs's paternal aunt. She lives on Naquipaug with Great Aunt Mamisashquee (and her husband), and has three children, two girls and a boy.
- Recurring Extra: She isn't seen much in the story, mostly mentioned as attending celebrations. Justified, as Anequs spends the majority of the book away at school and Shanuckee lives on Naquipaug (to keep claim on their land), only coming over to Masquipaug for celebrations.
Sachem Tanaquish
Sachem Tanaquish
The leader of the people living on Masquapaug.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: As opposed to Anequs' grandmother (who insists that Anequs remain where she is, that the Anglish cannot teach her anything about being Nampeshiweisit, and that their treaty should rightfully keep the Anglish from removing Anequs if she doesn't go among them), Tanaquish understands that the Anglish will break a treaty to get to a dragon (something much more valuable to them than coal, which was the downfall of Naquipaug) and forcibly separate Anequs from Kasaqua or kill them both if they don't approve of the situation or suspect the Masquisit are hiding the two of them. He listens to Niquiat and gives him time to explain what the Anglish want of a dragoneer—citing that he's lived in Vastergot among the Anglish and can provide insight they don't have on the island—and then asks Anequs what she thinks; she surmises that even if she wishes to be Nampeshiweisit in the older ways, there isn't anyone to teach her as there hasn't been a Nampeshiweisit in hundreds of years and she needs to learn to shape Kasaqua's breath so it's not dangerous for everyone's safety. Tanaquish agrees in the wisdom of her words and supports her sending in the application to Kuiper's.
