~Namia is sweet
natured but fragile. Her emotional health relies quite heavily on the constancy
and companionship of Willa, the nursemaid turned handmaid, and on the presence
of her son, to whom she is ardently devoted.
Having been still very much a child when she married, Namia does not deal
well with the adjustment. She is frequently timid and cold with her husband,
a rather imposing man, and remains always detached from his affection. Her
attention is, instead, copiously directed at her only child, Regin. With him,
she is more a giggly playmate than a mother-so fastidiously affixed and adoring
that she makes herself physically ill in his absence.
Although near in age to Namia, Willa plays a motherly role with her--or rather,
she is left little other choice but to play that role. Namia is in frequent
need of a comforter, confidante, and a more figuratively venerable rationale.
Namia later promotes Fox (who she renames Keegan) to the position Regin had
previously inhabited. Binding her full attention to him, he becomes a device
to ward off the desperate, lonely unhappiness that, otherwise, so easily subdues
her.
