Author's Notes for Ashes

Well, I've had a good time writing this, despite the occasional frustrations, writer's block, and the characters not doing what I wanted them to do, and I hope that it's been fun to read. Additionally, I hope you forgive me for constantly pushing back the chapter deadlines (as the late great Douglas Adams said, "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by."), this story not really having anything to do with Escaflowne, and the grammatical errors I'm sure I've made. I have a few things I want to mention here, nothing terribly important so if you have something better to do, like watch TV, I wouldn't blame you.

I'd like to begin with the disclaimer I consistently forgot to include: Though pretty much all the characters in this story are mine, Escaflowne still belongs to Bandai and Sunrise/Setsu Industries. I'm not making any money off of this, it is for my own enjoyment. Additionally, the names Din and Farore are property of whoever created The Legend of Zelda video game. I stole them. Also the names of Cayn, Dust and Brayan, and Alexander in his entirety belong to my friend Chet. I asked him first before I stole them but he deserves a mention anyway.

Also, Tempest informed me of the word 'panwere' so it's not mine. I'm not clever enough for that sort of thing.

The rest of the story is the product of my imagination. Resemblances to people living or dead is purely coincidental. Sorry, I've always wanted to say that.

I'd like to give an extra special thanks to FireDemon, Tempest, IceEyes, normalisboring and a friend of mine (who will remain nameless) who left me about ten reviews under different names. Also a big tele-hug to everyone else who reviewed. You guys rock. ^_^

Just in case you were wondering:

*Cayn decides to wreak havoc on those who killed Dilandau: Allen Schezar, Van Fanel, the Girl from the Mystic Moon (though he has some trouble finding her), Millerna Aston, Merle, Dryden Fassa, Mole Man etc etc etc. He arrives first at the Schezar manor with the intent of stabbing Allen in his sleep but is caught by a young woman with an astounding resemblance to Dilandau. Celena has a nice long chat with him and sets him back on the straight and narrow. While he's not exactly happy, he does manage to find a comfortable place in society and live productively and in relative comfort to the end of his days.

*Laesha wanders all over the place and finds out bits and pieces about her people, while finding no evidence that there are any left. Eventually she comes to enjoy traveling for its own sake and has a lot of fun hitchhiking all over Gaea and meeting interesting people. She and Owl run into each other again about ten years after the end of the story. He's joined the Traders Guild as a guard and is doing pretty well. They eventually get married.

Now isn't that a happy ending?