Song for Arbonne SPOILERS of a sort

[Zara]

> Carol responds:
> Does the book involve any real historical events and people, or is it
> entirely fictional?

zgirnius:
Entirely fictional. Arbonne is one of several fictional countries in a 
fictional world. They share a fictional religion about which they have 
fictional doctrinal differences, a fictional ancient history to which 
occasional reference is made, etc.

> Carol>
> Who are the other two characters in the scene? (Blaise seems to the
> the point-of-view character, so I'm guessing that he's the protagonist
> as well.)

zgirnius:
Blaise is the protagonist, yes. Bertran is the guy whose antagonist 
Urte is, and he is an important character in the book too.

> Carol:
> Do any of the characters perform magic, and, if so, are they wizards
> like Merlin in the Mary Stewart books (obviously based on Arthurian
> legend) or something different?

zgirnius:
In this book, the people who do something closest to 'magic' are 
members of the clergy. No wands, staffs, or incantations - the sorts of 
things they can do is to seem mysteriously powerful and knowledgeable 
when in their own holy places, to see through the eyes of owls who are 
sort of like their familiars, to foretell the future (dimly), and to 
heal.