Afterword - Book 4 - Chapter 47 (Patreon)

Chapter 47: Seeing II

(Original Chapter Title: Seeing)

I the OG draft, the singular Seeing chapter began with the aftermath of the dullahan's death, when she discovered she was a [Priestess]. In that draft, she kind of numbly ignored the conclusion of the battle, which was wildly unsatisfying to read.

But, in some ways, that was the least of Seeing's sins. I'll get back to this in a moment.

In my old notes, I'd recorded that the [Healer] shrub had been informed about the death of the king under the mountain (who wasn't a kin, raising questions about why he was notified) after fourteen days. Just in case anyone somehow hadn't realized that past me was terrible at math, here's the actual timeline of events:

Day 1: (Night) Night kills the King Under the Mountain.

Day 2: Coalition spies/scouts confirm the death of the 6th twin, kill attributed to Sentinel Silence.

Day 3: (Delay while they ensure the twin doesn't reappear.)

Day 4: Word sent to Coalition City. That night Ranthia is summoned to Spearpoint, uses the night travelling.

Day 5: (Morning) Night informs the Sentinels the King Under the Mountain was killed 4 nights ago.

Day 6: Coalition Meeting starts. Madness ensues.

Day 7: Day 2 of arguing.

Day 8: Day 3 of arguing.

Day 9: Day 4 of arguing.

Day 10: Day 5 of arguing.

Day 11: Day 6, arguing concludes and teams assigned. Battle begins that night.

Day 12: Battle concludes by midday. Ranthia returns to Remera while scouting. [Healer] informed of the King Under the Mountain's death.

I've no good answer for what went wrong with past-me. But here, Ranthia's weighty "I'm a [Priestess] and that has to mean something for this moment, right?" speculation crashes and burns beneath a new question.

Why did Night know?

In the OG draft, the greater sin I'd alluded to was that I didn't really show Ranthia's work adequately. She took [Chest of Experience] but she only reviewed the meeting and connected dots without going through the work for the reader. I assumed far, far too much of my readers' ability to recall myriad events throughout the book.

Ranthia is jumping to conclusions, yes, but in the OG draft it felt like an almost comical leap given how little explanation was provided. So when I edited it, I elaborated and brought in all of the evidence Ranthia was using to create her theory.

Is her logic compelling? I imagine the answer will differ from reader to reader. Of course, those that have read BtDEM already know the truth, but I'm genuinely curious how this will land for the readers that haven't.

At what point does evidence and neatly lined up dots constitute damning proof?