Editing Emily Maddison (section)

==Speech==

Emily's natural register is modern British English — youthful, enthusiastic, and free of profanity. She uses "like" as a filler, as when she recalls the cellar: "We thought like it might be cool." Her speech is peppered with earnest expressions of excitement: "I think it'll be exciting" and "This is more exciting than boring old Dartmoor, isn't it".

She is frequently talked over or dismissed by her siblings, and sometimes retreats into sulking rather than arguing back — after Luke hits her for disturbing them (she was trying to tell them Meg had been kidnapped), she curls up on her bed and growls "Go away" when they come to apologise. She does not have Susan's assertiveness or Luke's authority, and her contributions are often overlooked until events prove her right.

When included in adult discussions, she responds with surprised eagerness. Asked her opinion about the Sometria plan, she says "Me?" — surprised and thrilled — before offering a simple, loyal answer: "I just don't want Susan to get hurt." She pleads to join the mission with childlike earnestness: "Please. I'll behave, I promise."

She is blunt when emotional. Upon seeing the ruined Portian House, she states flatly: "It means Mum and Dad are dead." She does not hedge or soften the implication, and the others are struck by the directness. Similarly, at Midsummer's Day, she simply says: "I want to go home... I want to see Mum and Dad again" — cutting through the siblings' reluctance to voice the thought.

She shows flashes of irritation when not believed. When the others doubt her identification of the tree marker at the portal site, she looks around "with some irritation" and insists: "It is. I know it is." This stubbornness when she is certain is characteristic — she does not argue at length, but she does not back down either.

She does not use the Altierran forms of address naturally. Susan notes with amusement that "She doesn't like curtseys," and Alucio acknowledges she will need to accept them if she is to pass as a novice at Sometria. Her Altierran speech is learned and uncomfortable, not adopted.

A representative line that captures her voice: "I want to see Mum and Dad." — simple, direct, emotionally honest, and brave in its willingness to say what others will not.

Uses "like" in her sentences in the way that modern children do.

* “Flipping”
* “Yonks”