Afterword - Book 1 - Chapter 21 (Patreon)

Chapter 21: Ariminum, the Capital of Remus

(Original Chapter title: Ariminum, Capital of Remus)

I swear things get better for Ranthia! Honest!

This chapter is the largest reason I expanded her childhood so much. Instead of this being chapter 8, now it's chapter 21. When I finally broke down and accepted that I needed to rewrite the start of book 1, Ranthia was insistent that I HAD to give the men more time. They deserved it.

She was right, of course.

Every time I come up on some tragedy while editing there's always a weird brief "I could remove this" urge. I don't enjoy hurting Ranthia after all, no matter what she might tell you. Unfortunately, her losses (in all meanings of the word) do more to shape her than her victories and achievements. The entire structure of what's to come wouldn't work if I started erasing the tragedies.

The temple scene is where Ranthia's problems with guards stemmed from. I remained highly amused ever since that she managed to actually get arrested twice in one day, in a temple. This caused her problems going forward, so as I revised her past I added more. She has a thing with guards, it's important! Or at least amusing.

It makes a LOT of sense though, with her personality and her love of chaos. Not exactly things guards enjoy.

Ranthia's arc for her childhood is officially done though! Now we enter the second arc, one that's focused more on personal growth.