A/N: I am bending the rules to get this message to you so, in interest of keeping my account safe from the fingers of overzealous site moderators, I will remove this three days from now.
I highly doubt many of the people who used to read my fanfics still frequent this site, but many of you have kept me on your Author Alert list, and I'm making use of that fact to send out this message.
I know Of the Dragon, of the Stars Chapter 12 has been 2 years coming. And yes, I've been hard at work. A third of the time, anyway. Where "a third" means "whenever I wasn't preparing for some exam or other, which amounts to about five weeks a year".
But anyway. What I'm here to say is, Chapter 12, currently 68,457 words long, is almost done.
I'm hearing crickets.
I know I said it was "almost done" four months ago, but this time it's so done that you could probably read it, right now, and find it satisfactory.
And if I could say so, it's the best chapter by a mile. Or at least a...two metres? That's 2.18 yards for you strange Imperialists.
I expect to be able to post it very soon, particularly given that my holidays just started. To those who are around to read this and it, however few they be, thank you for your dedication. Your readership means worlds to me. More of that soppy stuff when the actual chapter comes out.
And in a rather sorry attempt to salvage this "story" from rulebreakerdom, here is a terrifically short bit of prose.
she is lying.
lying on the ground, to be exact, her scalp pressed against the frigid marble, veined like young skin, and so cold it could be ice. her hair swirls around her, pink filigree about her shoulders, rich as the dawn clouds and almost as soft. her fingers are sprawled, and all she can feel is a quiet, wintry sort of bliss.
the oculus above is blinding. great eye, they call it, the hole at the top of the dome, through which the birds fly free. she smiles to herself as if listening to a secret no one understands. the pantheon sky is fierce as fire tonight.