Afterword: A Note from Falchion1984

Hey there. I am (Falchion1984 for / for DA) and, with the consent of my friend and co-author (Elly3981 for / for DA). I wrote this interlude which give us a picture of Lesalia before, during, and after the War of the Lions. So, do I know my stuff, or do I know my stuff, or do I know my stuff? *skitters to one side as a sandbag 'mysteriously' falls from the ceiling* Geez, the tiniest bit of grandstanding, and people start grousing! Seriously though, I hope this "interlude", which broke any and all length-associated confines of its trope less than halfway through, drew you in. I hope the splendor of pre-war Lesalia made you ooh, ahh, and feel the contagion of affluence's sedate effects, only to be roused back to wakefulness by the implication that things changed, and for the worse, when the War of the Lions began. I hope you gasped, shuddered, and repeatedly said "oh my!" when the mutual anger and depredations between castaways and natives alike were enumerated. And, I hope you breathed a sigh of relief and gave a weary sort of smile when peace returned and, on its heels, reconciliation between contrite castaways and natives who, as sometimes happens, found people who could be trusted in the very, very last place they'd think of looking. Heck, I even hope you inexplicably gleaned that I wrote a good chunk of this late at night with Modest Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" blaring on my speakers...and how bad an idea that is when you plan on sleeping. And, yes, Modest really is his first name.

And, Delita? I hope I kept you all in suspense as to what manner of king he will be. Every one of his honorable, magnanimous, or hither-to-unheard-of-but-lovable deeds is counterbalanced by a not-so-savory ulterior motive. I also hope you see how, since falling in love with Ovelia was most likely not in his original plan, this created a conflict he himself was unaware of. His the-ends-justify-the-means and my-greater-good-is-all-and-all-else-is-expendable methods of thinking and acting proved a most insidious trap...for him. By placing what he wants on so high a pedestal as the greater good, and considering no means or methods as being wrong, immoral, amoral, or otherwise unacceptable, he had lost sight of both the people he was trying to help and, in a manner of speaking, made himself into something even worse than the nobles he scorned. After all, making sure Goltana dug himself a deep enough grave meant knowingly allowing many thousands of people to be displaced and/or to starve. That his qualms about this became fewer, less, and then none make the act all the more hideous to his newly cleared eyes. And, if anything, this makes him too akin to the nobles in that he spent lives that were not his to spend, all while professing to be acting in their best interests.

Simply put, Delita had fallen into the trap of paving his road to hell with good intentions and, quite a distance down that road, he has been roused from that trance by seeing with new eyes - Ovelia's eyes, in a manner of speaking - what he has done and what he has become. And, he is horrified. Of course, this opens a whole host of questions. How can he break free of this trap he unwittingly dug for himself and dove into? In fact, can he? And, even if he can, what will become of his kingdom and his marriage both in the interim and afterward? And, if he fails, then what? Will he fall into his older methods and embrace his darker nature? A part of himself did consider the possibility that Ovelia had become a liability and treating her accordingly. And, for that matter, what will be the effect if Izlude and the Pisces stone cross Delita's doorstep while he's in either a horror-induced torpor or, worse, if he's wholeheartedly embraced his darker nature?

Now, just for the record, I am not saying that Delita is evil, straight-up. What I am saying is that, as a man capable not only of muzzling his own conscience, but doing so often and effectively and, thereby, allowing himself to act in the absence of moral or ethical inhibitions for ever lengthening periods of time, has a great capacity for evil. And yet, Delita stopped himself from trying to kill Ovelia, albeit with desperate strength and only after belatedly realizing what was happening to him. Thus far, he's been walking the narrow line between good and evil, taking along his sincere desire to improve life for the common Ivalician, his love for Ovelia, his wish to do right by Ramza, and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, his lust for revenge, his hunger for vindication, and his belief that no means of achieving what he wants are forbidden. Now, however, something has got to give. But, what?

In truth, (Elly3981 for / for DA) has already made up her mind on that account. But, I see no reason for the readers to know that before we have to tell them. Why? Well, Delita isn't the only one with a great capacity for evil. Bwahaha! Bwahahahaha! Bwahahahhahahahha! Hahahaha! Heheheheheheh! Yehahahahahaha! *stops laughing and dives out of the way as another sandbag "mysteriously" drops from the ceiling* Oh, for the love of-! Well, that is my interpretation of Delita, as written by myself. I hope it lends additional depth, suspense, interest, and even some food for thought to the story. Keep reading and, more to the point, keep reviewing. The number of hits on a counter doesn't do nearly as much for an artist of any sort as do a few words of honest appreciation and/or some constructive advice from a fellow artist looking to help his or her fellows become even better. Thank you for letting me ramble and...actually, no, I'm not done. You see- *jumps to safety after another sandbag 'mysteriously' falls from the ceiling* Damn it all! Fine. Read, review, and, whoever's doing that, my boot heel and his ass have an appointment.