Afterword - Book 1 - Chapter 22 (Patreon)

Chapter 22: Old Faces, New Encounters

(Original Chapter title: Old Encounters, New Encounters)

When you're struggling and grieving, sometimes it's easy to get focused on new things. You're still very sad when you stop and reflect on it, but new can sometimes be intensely distracting and prevent you from noticing. ...It also makes it easier to choose to engage in difficult tasks that you arguably shouldn't have bothered with.

Ranthia's not in a good place, but she's doing her best to not get dragged back down into depression again. A mobile sort of grief.

Back when I first shared this chapter with beta readers, back before I launched, I got to see a delightful sequence in comments. One of my beta readers did exactly what I hoped for: recognized Hexara's name when she introduced herself and wondered if it was the same woman. I've always enjoyed the reunion scene.

A flustered Ranthia is always a delight, once she's on the back foot emotionally or mentally, her mouth runs amok and it's a real struggle for her to piece herself back together. For all her self-confidence, she's adorable when someone she considers 'out of her league' takes initiative.

And yes, for those that read BtDEM this is a familiar salon. There'll be other confirmations of this in the near future chapters.

In my original draft Ranthia's mother was irredeemable scum in my mind. As I edited, revised, and expanded... I understand a little more where she's coming from. She's still gods awful and carries it WAY too far, but... yeah, I get it. A little. I don't want to go into this too much here, but well, it's hard to imagine a parent NOT reacting poorly when their child nearly dies, gets saved, and suddenly acts completely differently with strange mannerisms and knowledge that no one should have. Though distance and time really should have mended things, and I think I've done an adequate job with seeding just how bad a parent she was even before Ranthia "went wrong."

Still, I get it. A little.