First off, my apologies. This is not the next part of the fic, though rest assured, it is coming along. Rather limpingly, but I do believe that that's it just over the horizon (squint a bit - yup, that dot right there's it). Unfortunately, three moves in less than 2 weeks along with classes and a pseudo-promotion has left me with very little free time. Maybe I'll be able to finally crank out that next chapter while I'm squatting on Telegraph for the next three days waiting for my new apartment to be made available... =P I have one more move to make then (hopefully the last one for at least the next three months) and then I can finally settle down to see to other affairs...such as writing, sleeping, writing, studying, writing...
Anyway, the purpose of this posting is 1) to let you know I haven't abandoned the fic, and 2) to respond to the wonderful reviewers who have continued to write comments despite my long stretch of inactivity. =) Thank you, everyone, for checking in every once in a while; it is highly flattering to see that the story's drawn enough interest to warrant such effort.
haiiro - *beams* Wonderful. Though I'd say continue to keep a sharp eye on the ball, please...one of the reasons why part 11 is coming so slowly is that I keep rewriting it. I'm not very happy with the pacing of it; I think I'm trying to cram too much into the scenes and neglecting proper development in the process. But, I'll wait and see how it is received when it is actually posted. =P
Swift Shadows - I did, thank you very much! (Erm...sheepishly I do believe I replied, right? If I didn't, I humbly beg your forgiveness, and ask if you would consent to sending it again. I forgot to re-synch my mail files with my laptop when I stuck my main system into storage thwaps herself over the head and so I'm unable to access your original message to check right now and make sure that I did respond. I recall mulling over the reply to it, but not if I had actually sent off the draft.)
Pyrephox - Welcome, and thank you for the lovely comments. =) Actually, you brought up something that I had thought about long and hard myself, and I am going to lay out some of the points that I have come up with in doing so. I am then going to ask a huge favor: would you mind looking them over, and letting me know if I'm smoking something? Any suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Anyone else with thoughts on this matter is welcome to jump on the bandwagon as well. =)
- As I recall, Alberich had a tendency to speak excessively in the passive voice. When I read Thief, the fact that he did indeed sound like Yoda was what first caught my attention about the man. However, my memory is somewhat hazy on how far it actually went, so it may be I'm now over-emphasizing that trait. If you feel that strongly about it, I kind of have a feeling that this has, in fact, happened. ;) I'll try to get a better feel for what the man's speech patterns are like and mimic it without it becoming overwhelming.
- Yes, I am aware that Alberich knows perfectly well how to speak 'proper' Valdemaran(?). I believe this knowledge was displayed a handful of times when he was undercover. (The very fact that he frequently dons other identities is proof that he is able to mask his typical habits of speech - there's no use in constructing another persona to have it all go to waste as soon as he opens his mouth.) I believe it is a matter of choice that he doesn't choose to speak as typical Valdemarans do. Habit can be a strong motivator by itself; I have had the two languages that I speak interfere with each other very frequently, in terms of both grammatical structure and literal translation of terms, even though I 'should have known better' if I had really stopped to think about what I say. Also, perhaps pure stubbornness itself can play a factor. After all, Yoda is how many centuries old, with how many of those spent as the head of the Jedi council arbitrating galaxy-wide conflicts and spear-heading the Jedi order's interests - and he still doesn't know how to string a sentence together in the active voice? It is my feeling that it is a combination of these and other factors that makes Alberich such a...'unique' conversationalist. Maybe he feels no need to redefine himself so completely, though he has whole-heartedly devoted himself to Valdemar's cause, and my parents are proof enough that even years spent in a country that speaks another language other than the one they grew up with can do funny things to the way they talk. =P (I'll admit that I have not read the story about Alberich's Choosing, so all of this is pure conjecture. I hope I don't sound too high-handed here, because I really am asking for any and all input that you may have, and not merely trying to justify my portrayal of Alberich to the exclusion of all other considerations.)
Jocelyn Magus - Thank you, and I'm trying to (as my multiple rewrites of part 11 has shown, at least to me). =P
ola - facepaws Some people are dyslexic. I have a problem with homophones. Thank you very much for pointing that out; I'll correct it when I upload the new part.
M'cha Araem - patpats Fanfiction just doesn't seem to like your reviews, does it? =) And with such an emphatic order as that, how can I disobey? Hopefully I'll have something for you in one and a half to two weeks from now. ^_^
Megan - Quite all right. After all, I haven't posted in quite a long while as well, and in the end, you did review. bounces happily Thank you for such a wonderful compliment. I hope I won't disappoint after building up all these expectations and then finally unravel the plotlines.