Afterword - Book 4 - Chapter 36 (Patreon)

Chapter 36: Avyna's Offer

(Original Chapter Title: This Action Will Have Consequences...)

What? Did you expect Elaine's one major bit of proffered misinformation to have no impact on events?

Weird confession, I spent months... not looking forward to this chapter—Ranthia might murder me if I claimed that—but plotting additions to the chapter. Getting into the process of the alchemy, discussing how elves had resolved two women creating children when Avyna was 'young' (first few centuries) but men remained a more difficult obstacle, and getting into the whole "it's almost for sure going to be a girl, but sons have happened a few times using this process."

...Yeah, no, there was no possible space for that. And Ranthia's curiosity was soured by her all-encompassing fear. That's a side-effect of worldbuilding, sometimes you build elaborate ideas and there's no reasonable way to convey them. Which is fine! Just fine. That's fine. I'm not at all annoyed and writing this moments after I tossed the chapter to my beta readers.

Eh, at least I have you lot to inflict some of it upon.

Bear in mind, an obvious better solution that BtDEM readers know about doesn't exist at this point in time. But the elven society is mature and, compared to Remus, quite advanced. The same problems still exist, and where there's a need there's a way. The alchemy-based solution is inferior, but it provided a solution to a problem that otherwise couldn't readily be solved. Sure, some women could probably use the System—especially if they had a class to spare—to find a way, but a broader solution was required.

And honestly, Alchemy is one of the cooler aspects of BtDEM's worldbuilding that never got enough attention in the main series, if you ask me. I love weird magical liquids!

Anyhow, I actually reshuffled things slightly between this chapter and the last. In the OG draft, the previous chapter actually ended with Avyna stating that she had come to regret the section the barred her from bearing Ranthia's child, and then this chapter picked up on Ranthia's... er, response. Honestly, as fun as that was, it also felt like a weird place to cliff the last chapter and it made this chapter feel less complete; thus I decided to adjust things when I was editing the prior chapter.

The original title for this chapter was never going to stay. Past me liked the gaming reference—even if I can't recall which game I specifically sourced the exact phrasing/punctuation from—but it's incredibly on the nose and implies more than the text gives. It needed a change, even if the new title is less evocative.