Shaiala

Shaiala is a fictional character in the novel Crystal Mask by Katherine Roberts. She also appears in the next book in the series, Dark Quetzal. She is a half human child that was brought up by centaurs and has learnt their language over time; half-creature speak. She is one of the major characters in the novel Crystal Mask and journeys with characters such as Renn, and Erihan through most of the book. She was captured by The Echorium also known as the Singers at the start of the book.

Character sketch

Motivations

Shaiala is determined to find the herd of centaurs she was separated from, because of Yashra and Frazhin, who both use khiz crystals to manipulate the minds of others wiping Shaiala's memories. She has a vivid memory of her fellow centaurs being taken away to mine khiz crystals. Throughout the story she wants to find and save the centaurs from peril as the evil Yashra has taken the centaur tribe's young foals to work in the mines of the Sunless Valley.

Goals

Shaiala's goals in the first section of the book is to find and meet up with her old friends within the centaur clan she grew up with during her childhood. She has vivid memories from the past of "Two Hoofs"; humans, ransacking the centaurs camps and taking their foals. She is determined to free the centaurs from the evil "Two Hoofs" and finally be together with them again.

Conflicts

Shaiala finds it difficult to communicate and make friends with humans what she calls "Two Hoofs". She especially has trouble getting along with one of the main characters "Renn", who is very stubborn and is very offensive to Shaiala. She has quarrels with him frequently and they cannot work together. She hates the Harai for taking away the centaurs foals and cannot stand Yashra and thinks she is a twisted, evil woman.

Minor irritations

The other captured children, taken away to be part of Yashra's plans did not get along with Shaiala at all. They were ignorant and never listened to what Shaiala or Erihan had to say until the very end. A few were separated and didn't escape with the rest of the children. Although Shaiala did make friends with Erihan.

Epiphany

Shaiala finally realised she was not a centaur and she was a human with "Two Hoofs" as she would call it. She joined with Erihan to live with his family in the Purple Plains, with the Kalerei. She also finally cooperated with Renn in the end and realised he wasn't so bad after all the abuse he had called her.

Personality

Shaiala appears impatient and easily aggravated throughout the book; getting into arguments with Renn and often resorting to violence to get her point across. She is stubborn and does not like to be kept against her own free will. She has many similar characteristics of centaurs which is explained through the fact that she lived alongside them for a long period of time especially at a young age. Throughout the story of the Crystal Mask she attempts to bring the centaurs she was brought up with to freedom, searching and longing to be with them and never giving up showing her determination and persistence to achieve her goal.

Biographical summary

Prior story

Before Crystal Mask, Shaiala lived with the centaurs until her tribe was ruthlessly attacked by the Harai, led by Yashra, who is thought to have wiped Shaiala's memory and sold her on to pirates where she finally ends up on The Echorium island. Yashra yearns for her previous life with the centaur throughout the book until the end where she realises she is not a centaur any longer.

Actions in the "Crystal Mask"

After the attack of her tribe she ended up on the Isle of Echoes where she was traded with The Echorium for a bluestone. The Echorium attempted to stimulate her past memories that had been lost from when Yashra had wiped her memory to try and work out what exactly was going on and why a "crazy" (person not right in the end that comes to the shores of The Echorium to receive healing and song} had landed on their shores.

A khiz crystal refreshed her memory as Yashra had used one to wipe her memory. The singers and herself were soon off to Southport (a town to the east) to track down Frazhin and Yashra who they believed were the culprits. Upon reaching Southport, Shaiala escaped the singers and consequently was captured by the Harai at the docks of Southport. Unfortunatley she had fallen upon Yashra's child network, where she would put the children into hard labour to mine her khiz. Shaiala escaped with another boy named Erihan.

Erihan and Shaiala travelled to the Purple Plains in search of answers. They focused on finding Shaiala's old tribe and eventually found them hidden in a valley. After talking with the tribe the centaurs agreed to lead the two into the watercourse where they would have to trust the nagas to lead them out of the underground passage into the Sunless Valley.

After passing the underground route they freed Shaiala's centaur friends and helped with other allies to defeat Yashra and Frazhin.

After Yashra and Frazhin's fall, Shaiala and Erihan travelled together to live with the Kalerei with Erihan's father Nahar. The author does not clarify what happens afterwards in the future with this relationship only that they had gone to live with Erihan's father and that she would take up life there. Erihan's mother is said to have come down from Southport to teach Shaiala how to be a "proper" tribeswoman with the Kalerei

Relationship with other characters in The Crystal Mask

Friends

Erihan - She becomes friendly with Erihan after discovering that he was also from the Purple Plains. Erihan and Shaiala travelled together and vanquished Yashra and her Khizalace with the help of novice Renn. Erihan and Shaiala lived together afterwards with his family and the Kalerei in the Purple Plains.

Rialle - Shaiala became friends with Rialle at the beginning of the book as she was kind and pleasant towards her. She never saw Rialle again throughout The Crystal Mask book until she reappeared in the next novel, Dark Quetzal.

The Centaurs - Shaiala made friends with the centaurs during her childhood, trying to fit in with their lifestyle but found it difficult and she was rejected as she wasn't as capable and reliable as the other centaurs.

Enemies

Renn - She was enemies with Renn until the very end when they accepted their differences. Renn was very unpleasant towards her at the beginning of the book, showing hatred towards her presence.

Yashra - She hated Yashra from the beginning, when she attacked her centaur tribe and wiped her memory. She hated her right until the end when she felt pity for her when she had only 2 alternatives; execution or solitude.

The Harai - Same reasons as Yashra. Yashra belonged to the Harai and they attacked her centaur tribe.

She had a neutral relationship with the singers not hating them or liking them as some of them showed hatred towards her and some showed helpfulness and kindness towards her.

Major themes

Shaiala is a very wild human being, showing an impulse in most situations, always determined and always ready. She plays the underdog in the novel, and is not recognised as human or centaur properly. Shaiala is rash and hasty with her decisions tending not to think about her actions. She is uncontrollable and unfriendly at points.

See also

* Crystal Mask
* Katherine Roberts
* Erihan
* Yashra
* Renn

External links

* [http://www.katherineroberts.com/ Katherine Roberts homepage]
* [http://www.knibb.org/roberts/crystal.htm Direct link to Crystal Mask section on Katherine Roberts' homepage]