The day after Benavud went through the Journey Door and regained the rest of his lost memories, he agreed to an interview with me. After some discussion, it was decided that some of the information he offered should be redacted, either because Ben requested it, or because it was felt it would be best for the safety and wellbeing of people whose identity should be protected. What follows is the interview, with the redacted parts noted.
CARL: Thanks for meeting with me, man. I've read the logs and talked to some of the other explorers involved, but I've still got questions and I'm sure other explorers do, too. You sure you're okay to talk about this?
BENAVUD: Yeah, it's okay, Mr. Palmner. I'll answer whatever I can.
CARL: You can just call me Carl, you know. Ok, so let's start with a summary. On Monday and then again on Friday, you revealed two different parts of your story. Can you give us a quick summary of that here?
BENAVUD: Sure, Mr. Palmner. So my parents were both D'ni. The DNA tests didn't lie. My dad was a child named [REDACTED] during the Fall. He was the son of [REDACTED] a Writer in the D'ni Guild. My dad escaped from the AeGura theater when the Fall happened. He apparently had some help, but I don't know who the helpers were. See, the journal I found was written by my adopted father, [REDACTED]. So my dad grew up on the surface somewhere, but eventually he went back to D'ni, where he met my mom. I don't know anything about her, not even her name. My parents thought they might be the only D'ni left, so they procreated, but split up not long after I was born. At that point, my dad took me to the people who adopted me, [REDACTED]. They named me "Ben-Avud," which combines the Hebrew words for "lost" and "son." See, they were Jewish. And I grew up as Ben-Avud Levi, went to synagogue, had a normal American life, without ever knowing I was D'ni. I guess I would have figured it out eventually, since D'ni adults age more slowly than surfacers, but they never told me. Maybe they were going to. I don't know. But they died in a car crash in 2020. I heard the Call and came to the Cleft, where I met a man named Rafe Templeton. He was there for the same reason I was. We solved those first few puzzles together and got our Relto book, which we shared. We took the Journey together. We grew close. But not long after it was over, Rafe betrayed me. He took back the Bahro pillars, the totems of the Bahro soul we'd freed. He tied me up in our Relto, said he would let me go once I could see that Yeesha was wrong and the Journey pointless. He'd gone sort of crazy. I managed to get out of the ropes, but only after hours alone, listening to the Bahro screams. I wasted no time in returning the pillars, but when I got back, I learned that Rafe had returned while I was gone. In rage over my escape, he'd destroyed all the Journey Books. We had another fight, and Rafe left. So I went to explore D'ni to get away from it all. Not long after, I had my accident with the bookshelf, and the rest your know.
CARL: Humor me and sum up the part I know anyway.
BENAVUD: Okay. Jules [Lavisham] found me, an injured amnesiac. He brought me to Dr. Quinlan. While I was recovering a met a few other people, including you, Mr. Palmner. And then later, when I was healthy, I met the other explorers. Some of them went with me to the Journey Ages to help me get my memories back. I was wearing a Yeesha shirt, so they knew I'd been there before. They were really helpful--Cpt. Jericho, Dni Seeker, Murry, NoMore, Sleeper Jan, Mouski, Isa, Mystlander. They were really supportive, and stuff started to come back. Eventually we learned that I was D'ni, and I went to stay with Keith Lord's friend Tommen for a while to learn about D'ni culture. But then my memory came back. I went home and found the journal, confirming my heritage. A trip through the Journey Door helped me remember the rest.
CARL: Yep, that pretty much matches what I know. Can I ask q few clarifying questions about the "Rafe" situation?
BENAVUD: I guess.
CARL: How did you share a Relto? Did you and Rafe have separate instances of the Ages? How did that work, exactly?
BENAVUD: Honestly, I don't really know. We didn't have separate instances. I don't know why. Maybe because we took joint ownership of the Relto when we got it, and the Journey somehow recognized we were doing this together? Everything was the same instance, even the Bahro Cave.
CARL: Now that's interesting. I've never heard of anyone able to share a Bahro Cave before.
BENAVUD: Well, we did. I wish I could tell you how. At the time, we didn't know how it normall worked, so we didn't know it was unusual.
CARL: Ok. If Rafe destroyed your books, how did you get off of Relto to explore D'ni?
BENAVUD: He didn't destroy them all. He just destroyed the Journey Books.
CARL: Ah, so you just used the Nexus Book?
BENAVUD: Well, no actually. We had another Book--a Linking Book to [REDACTED], in D'ni. I wish I could remember where we got it.
CARL: I've never heard of [that place]. Are you saying you have a Linking Book to somewhere in D'ni we don't know about?
BENAVUD: I guess so. I located it again after I got my memories back.
CARL: The Restoration would be very interested in that.
BENAVUD: I'm sure they would. But I'd rather keep it to myself for now. I've never seen anyone else there, and it's kind of nice to have a private little part of the city for myself.
CARL: You know I'm going to keep bugging you about this, right?
BENAVUD: (laughs) Go right ahead and bug. Maybe I'll even change my mind someday.
CARL: Switching gears a little. You mentioned earlier that you were found wearing the Yeesha shirt. I notice you don't wear it anymore. What you're wearing now looks like the pub jacket from Ahnonay.
BENAVUD: It is. I picked it up on a trip with some explorers. After a while it didn't feel right wearing the Yeesha shirt when I couldn't remember the Journey. And now that I can, I don't know, I just want something to connect me to the D'ni. The people I never knew I had. I found a bunch of other identical pub jackets, and I wash them regularly, I promise.
CARL: Ok, that makes sense. You just keep them all on your Relto?
BENAVUD: No. I'm not living there anymore. Now that I can remember everything, I don't know, Relto is a little painful for me. I'll still use it to help me get around, but I don't make it my home anymore.
CARL: I see. Where are you staying?
BENAVUD: Remember I mentioned my grandfather was a Writer? He has a workshop in D'ni, and I managed to find it from notes my father left with my adopted father's journal. He lived there when he was in D'ni, and he wanted my adopted parents to be able to find him in case of emergency. That's where I'm living now--in my grandfather's workshop.
CARL: I take it from the past tense that your father no longer lives there?
BENAVUD: I have no idea where he is. He definitely hasn't lived in the workshop in years. It's just me.
CARL: Wait, rewind a bit. You said your grandfather was a Writer, and you're living in his old workshop. Does--
BENAVUD (laughs) You want to know if there are Linking Books there?
CARL: You read my mind.
BENAVUD: There are. I haven't explored them yet. But I plan to get myself a Maintainer Suit and do that soon.
CARL: The Restoration--
BENAVUD: I know. Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Palmner, but I'm not turning anything over to the Restoration yet. This is the only link I have--
CARL: No pun intended?
BENAVUD: What? Oh. Yeah. This is the only link I have to my past, and right now I want to hold onto everything. But I might be willing to supply the Restoration with some stuff in the future. It will probably be a while, though.
CARL: Okay. I'm trying to curb my excitement here. You have access to a new area of D'ni and some new Ages, and you're sitting on them.
BENAVUD: Just for now. We'll see what the future holds.
CARL: Will you continue to be a part of the explorer community?
BENAVUD: Yeah. But I'll be spending a lot of time on my own, now, too. I need to process everything, now that I remember it all. I need to explore my grandfather's Ages and the part of D'ni he lived in. I need to learn. But I'm sure I'll be back.
CARL: We're happy to see you anytime, Ben.
BENAVUD: I'll pop into the public areas now and then for a bit just to say hello and goodbye to folks, and let people know I'm okay.
CARL: Okay. Well, I think that's all my questions.
BENAVUD: Okay. Don't publish this right away, okay? It occurs to me that there are some things I might not want people to know just yet--like the name of my grandfather, or the names of the D'ni areas I've found. I'd like to keep some things to myself for a while. Give me a day or two to decide what's ok to share, ok?
CARL: No problem. I'll keep this interview for my records, and I'll only publicize the parts you okay.
BENAVUD: Thanks, Mr. Palmner. I gotta run. I'm starving.
CARL: Shorah for now, Ben.