THE UNBROKEN
Summary: Braham, Malena, and Reistr discuss what's next for the Legendary Trio, which results in them deciding to join the Pact. Afterward, Braham thinks about what he saw of Destiny's Edge, and grudgingly admit that they're a good team. Meanwhile, Destiny's Edge is planning what to do now, and Caithe brings up Scarlet Briar. She manages to get them to commit to fighting her - without divulging the secret. As she leaves the conversation, she ponders her secret and how Wynne and the human twins tie into it. Destiny's Edge, meanwhile, talk about Braham, and Zojja tells Eir that they'll all be there for her if she wants to talk. The next day, Zojja speaks to Braham about Eir, but he sends her away. Braham sends a message to Eir, but her reaction probably isn't what he expected. Later, Destiny's Edge talk to the dredge about Scarlet and plan their next move.
Prologue: Destiny's Child
Author's Notes:
Hello everyone! No, I am not dead. I am sorry for making you wait… what, two months? Two months or so since I posted the end of Trinity Rising. Well, I did post the first few chapters of The Unbroken, but I found that I was having difficulty writing it like I've written all the other books. So, I took it down, and am waiting until the current plotline is written to post it.
But I got to worrying, since I never posted anything on the end of Trinity Rising to tell you about this, so you are all likely feeling very confused and perhaps betrayed right now. (Unless you haven't read the other books, in which case… be wary of spoilers. Obviously.)
So this prologue is a way for me to say what I just said, and also to give you some teasers.
Also, a note on capitalizations; since the Pact is so new, only a few select people - Tiffany, Forgal and Fiona - say 'the Pact.' All the others refer to it as 'this pact' or even 'the pact' without any capitals. Don't worry, the Pact will acquire it's full capitalization as time goes on.
Okay, here's the story now:
The day after the Battle of Lion's Arch, the Legendary Trio - yet to be named something actually legendarily awesome - had helped the newfound alliance of the Orders run the Risen off of Claw Island.
They had all thoroughly enjoyed fighting alongside the Pact, and had even gotten a few charr to use their unique brand of battle cries.
Braham grins at the memory. "Hey, Getter!" he calls to Malena. "Think what's-her-name, Sarria, might get the rest of her warband to start using the Trio Call?"
"Well, Basher," Malena notes humorously, "I suppose it depends if her warband are like her or not."
Braham shrugs. "I guess there's not much we can do about that."
"So what do we do next?" Reistr asks, walking over. "We've helped save Lion's Arch from total destruction, got some practice beating up Risen, made some useful contacts in the realm of dragon-fighters - what's next for the Legendary Trio?"
"Bash stuff," Braham replies enthusiastically.
"We'll get all of them," Malena smirks.
"And I'll burn the bodies," Reistr agrees. "But really, what's next? The Legendary Trio can't sit around doing nothing!"
"I still say that's not our official name," Braham grumbles.
"I agree," Malena shrugs. "It's not a name like Destiny's Edge or anything."
"Ah, but see, I've been thinking," Reistr tells them, "if we all get to be super-famous and legendary, then anytime some young norn thinks about being legendary, then he'll think of us. Make sense? Once our legends are all that's left of us, we can't control how much our legends are remembered, and that's the important part. If we're thought of every time somebody else wants to be legendary - something that every norn thinks about - we'll never be forgotten."
"Good point," Malena notes. "But it's so… unimaginative."
"If unimaginative is what it takes to become legendary, so be it," Reistr points out. "Now can we please get around to figuring out what to do next, preferably with a focus on becoming legendary?"
Braham snorts a laugh. "Sure, Burner."
"Our usual tactic has been to wander around and look for adventure," Malena muses. "So what's the most obvious legend-building opportunity at the moment?"
The question falls on silence, a silence that quickly becomes derisive when Braham snorts. "We're all stupid," he notes. "We fight dragon minions. All the great legends have to do with dragons. And the best place to do that is by joining the Vigil."
"If I'm right, this new pact is going to head to Orr," Reistr frowns. "The only dragon minions we'll be battling there will be Risen."
Braham nods. "You're right. I can't bash Risen - they don't care about being turned to mush. I don't see why the Burner cares, though - burning must be the most effective tool against Risen."
"Hey, maybe just bash 'em with something sharp on the end," Malena suggests. "Protection can do that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, but still," Braham grumbles. "I'd have to start shouting about impaling, and that's not right. I think Sarria took that one, anyway."
"No, she's the Cutter now," Reistr corrects. "Augurna's the Impaler."
"Whatever!" Braham sighs. "So what are we going to do?"
"This whole pact thing is the most obvious opportunity," Malena points out. "Fighting dragons is also how several other people have decided to make their legends - that Forgal fellow who was leading our charge on Claw Island seemed rather well-known among the Vigil, not to mention Eir Stegalkin."
"But don't forget that girl, the one Munin told us about, who was captured by Svanir," Reistr speaks up suddenly. "What was her name, Over or something? Fighting dragons has a very large risk vs reward balance - she was lucky her friend came to save her."
Braham frowns, trying to remember the story the skaald had told them. "That all happened around the time the sylvari happened, right? Before we were born. And her name wasn't Over - I remember asking because I misheard - "
Reistr snickers. "Of course you misheard," he inserts.
Braham rolls his eyes. "And I never understood why the Svanir would capture a female, anyway."
"Asvor, that was her name," Malena recalls. "Braham, the Svanir don't think we're useless… we're just supposed to be docile and domestic. There are some things females are useful for," she grimaces. "I don't want to think about what the Svanir did to her. Her friend brought her through Cragstead, seemed really worried about her - the way Munin told it, he was rather battered up, too, from fighting them to get her free. They both stayed a few days in Cragstead to recover, and then they headed back out to beat up the Svanir. They were victorious that time."
"Didn't Munin say something about returning for a lost item?" Braham asks with a frown. "Really important?"
"Yeah," Braham nods. "Munin himself tried to stop them - they couldn't go back that soon - but they insisted on going. Asvor had lost something extremely important, it couldn't wait - but Asvor wouldn't say what it was."
"The point is," Malena reminds them, "it's dangerous fighting dragon minions. The price for losing to Risen is death and corruption. But, as far as I can tell, if we don't lose…"
"The benefits are rather high," Reistr agrees. "Experience fighting things, experience knowing when to run for our lives - hey, that's a valuable skill!" he protests at laughs from his friends, before continuing, "not to mention the rather high chance of gaining a reputation in the field of fighting dragon minions, and maybe outside of it, as well. Fighting dragons is very important to Tyria, you know, and if we do a good enough job, we might become well-known. Everyone knows about the Vigil."
"If not the specific people within it," Braham notes. "But fighting dragons will go on forever, so I don't particularly mind if it's only the other people who fight dragons that will know about us."
"Yeah, that or we kill the dragons and become the most world-known legends ever," Malena notes with a roll of her eyes.
"Yes!" Reistr agrees enthusiastically. "We'll beat up all the dragons, all their minions, push back the corruption and be the champions of the world!"
"If it's even possible," Braham frowns.
"Well, that's decided!" Reistr announces before Braham can continue. "We're all agreed that burning dragon minions is the way to go?"
"I'll bash 'em up for you so they squiggle out of the fire," Braham offers.
"Neither of you have said anything about finding the minions in the first place," Malena chastises. "Don't worry, I'll get 'em for you."
"If you say so," Braham notes. "You're the only one who doesn't have sound effects."
Malena rolls her eyes. "Getting doesn't have sound effects. That's counter-intuitive. If they hear me, I'm toast. You might have a sound effect, but it's vocal. Reistr at least has the actual sound of flames to back him up."
"Shouting 'kuh-bam' is better," Braham tells her. "Flames are quiet unless they're crackling, and you can't control that unless you're an elementalist. Besides, it allows me to not have to hear the unnatural silence upon dying that dragon minions have. Anything else will normally scream in pain."
"Fair," Reistr allows. "Can't argue with an all-natural sound effect, though."
"Go play with a sylvari," Braham smirks. "See how well they like fire."
"Hem-hem," Malena says loudly. "So how are we gonna do this? Are we going to join this pact separately of the Orders, or join the Vigil, or the Priory, or the Order of Whispers, or what?"
"Vigil," Braham replies.
"I thought the Order of Whispers sounded interesting," Reistr frowns.
Malena grimaces. "I was going to go with the Durmand Priory, but we can't all be separated like that."
"Why would you want to join the Priory?" Braham wonders. "Sounds boring."
Malena snorts. "When I start utilizing a Priory device that can squish Risen on command, you'll wish you'd joined me. But the point still stands - we can't do that, or we'll all be separated and will probably never see each other again. Sure, they're all one unit now, but they still have different methods and specialties."
"And if we join the pact independently, we'll… what?" Reistr frowns. "Be the people who fill in the blanks and vacancies?"
"That sounds off," Malena points out. "We'd be put where we could do the most good… which is together, and in keeping with our abilities. If we joined an individual Order, that might not be as important to the higher-ups."
"So that's what we'll do," Braham says decidedly.
As Monday draws to a close, Braham is walking through Trader's Forum, looking at all the destruction that Zhaitan's champions had wreaked. He had had the opportunity to be up close and personal, keeping one of them down while Destiny's Edge took on the other.
He had been amazed at their teamwork and strategy; they clicked, fit together somehow. They weren't a haphazard group thrown together, just throwing things at the dragon until something worked; they knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, and relied on each other as a team.
Much like the Legendary Trio, in fact - just… better.
Braham isn't sure what to make of this. The words 'Destiny's Edge' take on a whole new meaning to him - it is no longer the group that his mother left him to fight with; it is no longer the group that failed, that made Eir's desertion in vain - no, it is a guild, a close-knit group of those dedicated to the cause of protecting Tyria - at any cost.
Braham can see their reasoning, can understand Eir's decision to leave, but he doesn't quite agree. When the cost is family… who sacrifices family? For anything? Braham huffs. They weren't even consistent with that, he grumbles. Apparently the loss of a teammate is too much. He wonders how anyone could say 'friends over family' and mean it. Not when they have any family left, that is - and Eir had as good as disowned him when she abandoned him.
Braham knows that Eir will always haunt him, particularly if he takes up the dragon-fighting business. In one way or another, she will be there - as a legend to surpass, as a dark taint on his past, an obstacle to overcome, or even just a simple reminder of what he had lost.
But he has Malena and Reistr. They are his family now, since his father had died, and with their help, he can surpass any accomplishment Eir might achieve. The strength of the pack lies in loyalty.
As Eir approaches the place that she and her allies had decided to meet, she hears Logan's voice.
"It was worth a try. I'm not surprised we lost - it was three to four, at best, and three to five if you count Sandy. Which I do."
"Hey," Rytlock notes as Eir comes around the corner, "what if we have another go of it? See what's changed in five years. Maybe exploding arrows won't surprise us so bad," he concludes with a chuckle.
"What, Dragonspawn's Destiny versus Edge of Steel?" Eir asks. "It might be intriguing, but it wouldn't be the same. Snaff is gone."
A momentary silence falls on the group. Snaff had been the life and spirit of Destiny's Edge. Now, Eir knows, the group is little more than a machine, taking down dragon champions with brutal efficiency.
"It's different, without him," Caithe says quietly, after a moment. "We have to carry on his legacy."
"Right," Rytlock agrees, huffing as if to dispel the somber mood. "What now? We've busted Zhaitan's store of champions - I doubt it has any more - and Destiny's Edge can't sit around doing nothing while this pact moves against it."
"The pact seems fairly capable," Caithe points out. "If anything, they will cull Zhaitan's army a fair amount. They are going to move in on Orr."
"I agree," Eir informs them. "We will be needed elsewhere."
"Compared to thirteen-twenty," Zojja speaks up, "Tyria is fairly calm. Unless we want to see if Jormag or Primordus have any more, we might not have much choice."
"We're moving into action," Logan notes. "We've always reacted to threats. Now we are the threat."
Eir doesn't think so; even with Snaff and even Glint by their sides, they had failed to even scratch Kralkatorrik. The Elder Dragons can always raise up more champions, but something more will be needed to take on the dragons themselves.
"Not quite," Caithe says quietly. "I know of a dragon's champion that is not all brute force - she may not even be dangerous yet. But she is a threat."
"Who?" Eir asks, intrigued.
"Scarlet Briar," Caithe replies. "The sylvari we fought in Sorrow's Embrace."
Eir grimaces. The memory of turning to see Fiona stop the bullet with blue fingertips - an image that had taken a moment to comprehend - and the sound of the bullet clanging to the floor is not a pleasant one. Garm's panicked warning would not have saved her, and he has been wary of Scarlet ever since.
Logan frowns. "But sylvari can't be corrupted - and she didn't seem like she was."
"She worked with Kudu," Zojja sniffs. "Anything is possible - Kudu was playing with dragon energies, and Scarlet may still be down there, tinkering with his perversions."
Eir nods, frowning. "She seems fairly dangerous, true - but how could she be a champion?"
"In Sorrow's Embrace, Caithe called her Ceara," Zojja points out. "The name was familiar to me, so I looked her up - and she's a prodigy. She graduated from all three asuran colleges in under a year each, studied under Beigarth the smith, and even apprenticed to some gladium in the Black Citadel. She's one of the smartest sylvari in Tyria - and more knowledgeable than most asura. If she has taken over Kudu's work, she is probably more dangerous than he ever was - and he managed to get the dredge on his side, if temporarily, and reanimate the Iron Forgeman." The asura sighs. "But, you're right - that does not make her a champion."
Eir frowns. "Caithe… is this about that secret she mentioned?"
Caithe hesitates, and Eir sighs in worry. After all they had been through to put themselves back together… secrets will destroy them.
"She was once known as Ceara," Caithe tells them. "Her very mind has become corrupted, and now she is Scarlet Briar. Scarlet Briar was never anything but a deadly foe; Ceara was an innocent searching for knowledge."
Rytlock huffs. "That doesn't tell us any more than we already knew, if she's been corrupted," he says. "That's how it always happens. But if it was Kudu, what makes her a champion?"
Caithe pauses for a moment, but Zojja speaks up. "She has access to all of Kudu's research and power, and a brilliant mind on top - she could easily have found a way to extract corruption from dragon minions. If she was searching for power, she would have infused herself with as much magic as possible - and if she was smart, she would have tried to rival the dragons for power, so she wouldn't be under their control."
"But her mind?" Logan asks skeptically. "Which dragon is she a champion of, anyway?"
"One as yet unawakened," Caithe tells them. "Her mind may have been her only vulnerability."
"Anyone else getting flashbacks?" Zojja asks.
Eir sighs again, unsure. "It is clear you don't wish to tell us, Caithe. While I wish you would - we've gone through too much together to not trust each other - I, at least, will not pry. I will trust that your secrets are not harmful." She turns to the rest of the group, hoping that this course of action will not blow up in her face later. "Shall we find Scarlet Briar and stop her?"
"Of course," Zojja puts in. "She's Kudu's successor - I won't let her escape for the same reason I wouldn't let Kudu continue."
Rytlock huffs. "Maybe Kralkatorrik got Snaff's end of the laurel and put his own end on her," he speculates sourly. "I'm in."
"I can't leave now," Logan points out. "Not after all the ruckus that caused. What do we know about Scarlet?"
Caithe turns and disappears into the shadows, her tense mission complete. Possibly one of the most delicate plans she had undertaken - and the one with the most risk - bringing Destiny's Edge on board with the plan of taking down Scarlet was always going to put her on edge… especially after the warning that Tiffany and Fiona had given her.
Caithe isn't a nervous sort of person, but she can't help glancing over her shoulder at the thought of the human twins. They know something, Caithe thinks. Something dangerous.
The fact that neither of them will tell her what their secret is - when it so clearly has something to do with Scarlet and the sylvari - is worrying. There are not many possibilities - and Caithe knows that Scarlet was speaking of Mordremoth. She had guessed, reached out through the Dream to the crazy Secondborn, and found very little. Scarlet is Soundless, Caithe is sure, and more cut off from the Dream than any other Soundless Caithe had met.
This only makes the possibilities smaller; the Dream keeps the sylvari protected from Mordremoth, even as it sleeps, and the unguarded are vulnerable. Caithe does take solace in the thought that the Dream is with Tiffany and Fiona; they cannot be enemies.
For long the Dream had guided her steps and her daggers, been with her in battle and guided her intuition, and Caithe is not about to leave its safety now, nor doubt it.
And the Pale Mother had been with them. Tiffany and Fiona have the same sanction of the parents of the sylvari that Caithe has; either their knowledge equals hers, or is of no import to her.
The Dream guide them and the Tree bless them, Caithe whispers, so inaudibly as to be a mere thought. She had reached out to them, but the Dream blocked her. She is glad; the Dream could merely have distracted her search, giving her nothing, leading her to believe her guess was wrong. That it trusts her enough to tell her 'no' calms her.
She is not fool enough to believe that means the answer to her question is positive; Caithe had learned how to sift through the layers of truth when reaching out through the Dream. For all she knows, there may be another secret of the sylvari that she does not know of.
But her task is to bring down Scarlet. Her Wyld Hunt may be to slay Zhaitan, but Wynne had - at least in Caithe's opinion - passed hers on to Caithe when she died.
Caithe knows how to step from one obstacle to the next. Winning over Destiny's Edge was one. The next will be in locating Scarlet. Caithe can only thank the Pale Tree that the possible future foretold by the Dream had not come to pass.
"Eir," Rytlock says suddenly. "What's up with this Braham fellow?"
"He's my son," Eir replies quietly.. "I… left him when he was young. He hasn't forgiven me. I wish you didn't have to see that."
There is silence for a moment, and Eir wonders what her friends are thinking. Suddenly, though, Rytlock barks a laugh. "Well, if you've said that, I guess I can come clean, as well. I've got cubs somewhere in Ascalon."
Logan stares at Rytlock so hard his eyes nearly fall out of his head. "I'm… having difficulty wrapping my mind around that," he says flatly. "Rytlock Brimstone is a father?"
"Well, when you put it that way," the charr huffs, shifting slightly.
"It's no odder than Eir having secret progeny," Zojja points out. "Eir Stegalkin is a mother?"
"I'm afraid Braham doesn't see it that way," Eir grimaces. "I may be related to him, but I am not his mother. Our relationship is not… friendly. I wish I could have been there for him, growing up, but…" she sighs.
"We should set Tiffany on him," Logan suggests humorously. "She got us together."
"They are currently at odds," Eir tells him. "I'm afraid this is one we'll have to work out by ourselves."
"We're here if you need us, Eir," Zojja says quietly.
"Thank you," Eir replies sincerely. "All of you. Just talking about it…"
"Has made the burden lighter," Logan finishes. "We all know the feeling."
"Hey," Rytlock says slowly, after a moment of silence, "where's Caithe?"
"She slipped off before you asked about Braham," Zojja replies. "You know Caithe."
"And if I said I didn't?" Rytlock asks with a gleam in his eye.
"Then I would gut you," Zojja replies primly, and Logan snorts a laugh.
"That would be a sure way to repeat the arena," Rytlock points out. "With fewer certainties."
"I was joking, you great fuzzball," Zojja sigh, "as were you."
"Braham Eirsson?" Zojja asks in her no-nonsense voice. The norn and his two friends don't faze her - not with their compared levels of intellect and her experience in this field.
The three turn around, and Zojja represses a smile of satisfaction as Braham glances around for a moment before laying eyes on her. That always throws them off.
"What do you want?" Braham asks shortly, after registering who she is.
"To talk," Zojja replies swiftly. "I can't mince words with you, so I'll just be blunt."
"You'd better," snorts the male norn by Braham's side. Zojja ignores him.
It is Tuesday at noon, and Zojja had given this confrontation a lot of thought and preparation. She could see Eir hurting the night before because of Braham, and isn't about to let her own mistakes be repeated before her eyes.
Zojja had said she would be blunt, but it is not that simple. She can't just say what she thinks - there has to be a stratagem, especially since she doesn't know Braham.
"Eir values her relationships," Zojja begins, "and she did not make the decision to leave lightly."
Braham's face clouds with anger, and he snarls, "I don't care what you have to say. This isn't any of your business - now leave."
"Not until I have said what I intend to say," Zojja says firmly. "I made the mistake you are making, some years ago, and I deeply regret it. I hurt her, and you are doing the same."
"What do you want me to do, talk to her?" Braham sneers. "She's been ignoring me all my life - I intend to return the favor."
"You think she would have done that if she hadn't thought it best not to?" Zojja fires back.
"The fact that she did think that is the root of the problem," Braham replies coldly. "You would think she'd have shown up when Father died, at the very least."
Zojja hesitates, realizing too late that she probably should have spoken to Eir about this beforehand.
"You didn't even know she had a son," Braham's other friend speaks up. "You can't know her that well. Basher, let's go."
The three norn turn and walk away, leaving Zojja still struggling for words.
What had gone wrong? Her intentions were nothing but the best, and she had experience dealing with this same problem. She'd considered it from every angle… but she hadn't known her facts.
Zojja curses her mistake. Facts are the basis of everything - no theory can be applied to a problem without facts. Few theories can even exist without facts to back them up. And now her only chance is blown - he won't hang around to listen to her again.
Well, she consoles herself, at least I didn't singe him like Hellforge. Being on the other side of the argument wouldn't change the result any.
Frustrated, she heads back to the place that had been found for her amidst the ruins of Lion's Arch to ponder her mistake - and possibly figure out how to rectify it.
"Eir Stegalkin?" an unfamiliar voice asks.
Eir glances up to see a blond norn boy standing a few feet away. "Yes?" she replies curiously.
"I have a message for you," he says simply, handing over the written missive. He turns and jogs away as soon as Eir takes the letter from his hand.
Unfolding it curiously, she blinks at the scrawl on the page.
Eir -
Don't send another henchman at me. I don't need your problems. — Braham
It is short and to the point, but Eir frowns. Henchman? she wonders. Garm is just as clueless.
But although the meaning of message very easily could have been intended for another, and although his intent to keep her away from him is clear, Eir finds herself reading the two sentences several times over.
This is her son's handwriting - his hand and signature, his style. The unique way he forms his h's and the spiral that is the lower case e - all Braham, all her son. And yet Borje is reflected in it, as well; he'd filled in his o's and slanted his t's backward.
Eir carefully refolds the message and slides it into a pocket. Garm sends her Braham and surprise. "No," she replies with a smile. "Probably not how he expected me to react. Come on - let's find Caithe and the others and plan our next move."
As the Pact gets itself organized and begins planning to march on Orr, Destiny's Edge speak to the dredge who had assisted with taking down Lion's Arch. They ask for information on Scarlet's whereabouts, as she had last been seen in the depths of Sorrow's Embrace.
Their answer is quite intriguing; the dredge had tried to keep her trapped down there, not being able to fight her and not wanting her to get free. This had succeeded for a few weeks, but she had managed to get out of the blockade somehow, and had threatened to bring down the rest of the underground city if they didn't let her leave.
"We need to see what she was doing down there," Caithe points out. "She didn't bring anything special out with her, so Kudu's research should still be down there."
"Maybe we should investigate that Vyacheslav fellow," Rytlock suggests. "He worked with her, didn't he?"
"No," the dredge tells them. "War Minister Shukov tried to order him to stop work on the Sonic Vaporizer, but he wouldn't listen. The dredge have been working with Agent Ifwyn to stop them another way."
"Hmm," Eir says with a frown. "Perhaps if we can get Vyacheslav alone, we can see if he has been in contact with her. If he has, we wait and watch for her to return. If he hasn't, we look elsewhere."
"What do we do when we meet her?" Logan asks. "Last time we fought her, we had allies, and she still got away and nearly killed Eir."
"We can't give up," Eir tells him. "We just need a strategy. Scarlet appeared out of nowhere last time, and we took the bait and chased her into a trap. This time, we'll be the trap. Caithe, if she knows you're there, what influence will that have?"
Caithe frowns. "I don't know. I'd never interacted with her much before Sorrow's Embrace, and not recently. It would be advisable to surprise her, though - if she came prepared we would have a much harder time of it."
Eir turns to the dredge. "Can you put us in contact with this Agent Ifwyn?"
"I can't," the dredge shrugs, "but Minister Shukov should be happy to help you."
"Thank you," Eir tells him. "Destiny's Edge - let's find this Scarlet. Maybe she can't handle us, but can she handle a flood of Icebrood as well as we can?"
Zojja laughs. "You've got a good head on your shoulders, Eir. But we won't need to handle the Icebrood - I'm sure if this Ifwyn can get me in to the Sonic Vaporizer, I can rig a distanced activation."
"Perfect," Eir smiles. She opens her mouth to say more, but thinks better of it and falls silent. She had been going to say that they would test Icebrood versus whatever had corrupted Scarlet, but that might revive the previous argument.
"Let's take on a dragon champion, then," Rytlock growls. "She's a threat whether she's corrupted or not if her followers are threatening to topple the Durmand Priory and allying with the Flame Legion."
Author's Notes:
I had the most hilarious time writing the first section of this chapter! "So what're we gonna do?" "Bash stuff!" Braham says enthusiastically. As a note, in case you were wondering: that isn't Braham-bashing (oops… my punning finally got away from me, didn't it? Didn't it?!). I'm poking fun (as Rox always did) at his bashing. Plus, he's a year or so younger than when we meet him in the game… and his friends aren't dead. (I decided that they died when Cragstead was overrun by Molten Alliance, because you can't just make up OCs out of the blue.)
Also, since this was a prologue and not technically the beginning of the book, I get to save all my disclaimers, Guild Wars 2 spoiler warnings, and Tassof Series spoiler warnings for chapter one, so I don't have a boatload of author's notes in one chapter and hardly any the next.
Now, I have an assignment for all of you, mostly because I made a mistake in chapter thirteen of Trinity Rising that was hard to fix in story-form. It works, but it would make more sense if you knew the background behind it (and I'm used to you knowing the background behind things). So, I wrote it all down in the most coherent non-story form possible (aka similar to author's notes, rambling included) and posted it on my blog (which I started several months ago) called Tiffany's Tyrian Experiences. You don't have to read it - the story still makes sense if you don't!
To get to it, just search 'Tiffany's Tyrian Experiences' online. Google will try to give you results for 'Tiffany's Train Experiences,' but tell it that you want what you searched for - but even if you don't, my blog should be the second or third result. There's a search bar on the site itself where you can search for The Dream - Sylvari Connections.
Also, I will give you an estimate - an estimate, mind you - of when I will post the rest of the book. I've been slogging through rather slowly the last couple weeks, and I hope that posting something will get my creative juices going again. My current goal is the 24th of October… yeah, that's a long way away. Sorry. I hope to get it done before then - hopefully within a month. If it's not done in a month, I'll at least have the first half done and ready, and you can have that. (And I might go back to a normal posting schedule for the second half, not sure about that though.) Remember, reviews encourage me to write harder and faster! (Literally, so don't hold back.)
