Afterword - Book 4 - Chapter 35 (Patreon)

Chapter 35: Love and War

(Original Chapter Title: Love and War)

More time slips by.

Ranthia's journey with her [Mind Healer] continues. She's starting to recognize problematic thoughts and behaviors as they come; but she isn't immune to them. Still, recognition is an important step.

As to the war, the shimagu have largely learned how Ranthia works—they might not know the exact mechanics, but they've learned how to hurt her. They just can't (or perhaps aren't) committing enough forces to see her and the rest of Remera done and dusted. But sometimes a prolonged conflict can be won just by inflicting pain and misery as often as possible. Some gambits, like the false convoy, could have potentially been decisive—had Remera been far too lax—but war is seldom concluded by a single bit of cleverness.

The faux-twins weren't explicitly called out in the OG draft for whatever reason. I definitely had planned them and laid seeds showing they existed, yet they were never acknowledge in the prose for w/e reason. I honestly don't know if I had some logic behind that or if it was an omission; it's been too long since I concluded the OG draft.

Dimlit was always going to be a two-off, but when Ranthia finally reunited with Rigira, I had the means to give him a proper sendoff. This bones of this scene are unchanged from the OG draft, though I clarified Avyna's displeasure a bit. One detail I weirdly wrestled with when I was editing was Rigira's explanation for why she considered Dimlit's wearable flying devices to be hogwash. "A device is impossible unless the System can do it with a single Skill" is simple enough on paper—and a bit of an in-joke, considering Elaine's flight Skill—but it also just feels outright wrong. The devil is in the details, but tweaking it to "a single Skill for most classes" solved the dilemma for me.

Sure, flight off a single Skill is possible—if you have a class that has the framework necessary to allow it. But your average [Blacksmith] or [Baker] or [Spearman of the Legions] isn't going to get single-Skill flight. I'd wager even most [Mages] would need multiple Skills (at least at first) or are like Artemis in that they can technically fly a little, more or less by accident with their existing Skills (and Ranthia falls under this too!).

But for now, Avyna wants to talk about something. And I'm sure it won't have any repercussions.