37: Wind

Been so long I kinda forgot this was a thing. Wops.

Anyway, we're in the final stretch (which I've prolly said half a dozen times by now). Doesn't really feel like it with so much still up in the air - but I promise we'll bind things up real tight by the end. ;)

(Well, kinda. Some things will be left open. At one point I was considering a small follow-up piece a few weeks or so beyond the epilogue, which will in itself be ahead a few weeks from the last chapter - but I'm not sure if that's still in the cards. We'll see.)

Anyway. Thanks to all of you still hanging in there. And hello to any unfortunate soul who's found their way here after all this time. Hope you've enjoyed the ride thus far. :)

Cinderpaw11

Oh, Trick, you soft hearted fool! I can't believe you're making me pity Tamber of all foxes like please she is still a can of garbage STOP MAKING ME PITY HER.

Honestly I didn't ever think I'd see the day that Trick, of all characters, was called a "soft-hearted fool." She's come a long way!

And I think you can still pity people while simultaneously hating them. Though, honestly, it's a narrow line to walk, from an author's POV. Usually readers end up pitying characters you want them to hate, and vice versa. But usually that's a miscommunication on my part - always more to learn, in this bizz. :)

AND KOULDER YOU LYING SACK OF CRAP THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT HOW THAT STORY WENT. YOU'RE TAKING CREATIVE LIBERTIES TOO FAR. MAKE UP YOUR OWN STORY INSTEAD OF TAINTING SPRITES. RUDE. If only he had went with Trick. Except then Faun might've died, Riven might've died, and that reunion... might've died. It was definitely interesting to realize just how much Koulder wanted to be friends with Sprite.

Honestly giggled at this last bit the first time I read it, because I knew how Sprite's next chapter was going to do. We really had no idea how deeply Koulder's feelings ran - but, then again, she was the only friend he had, at least for a few days.

Rewriting the jay story from his POV was a whole lot of fun, though, especially since it wasn't something I'd originally planned. It was nice to touch on the idea that all stories are warped by their tellers - even the original was told by Sage to Nella to please her, so he made sure it had a happy ending and all that jazz, because even though he didn't really believe in such a thing, he did. Maybe Koulder does too, in his own way - though what's happy for him certainly isn't what's happy for most of the other characters.

Also that Riven/Sprite reunion? Super cute. My happy pups. Please stay this way forever.

This was also pretty funny in light of how hard Sprite crashes the next chapter, haha. But I think we've all been there - knowing we should feel really happy/good about something, but feeling that emotion ebbing away, and not knowing why. Lucky for her, Riven's there to perk her back up.

Running away seems unlikely if [Trick] imagines Musk ripping her apart in front of everyone. Which leads me to think about her thinking, "Wouldn't it be something if someone tried?" because TRICK NO DON'T. Unless... she did. And Koulder helped her. That'd be fine. A true challenge of what side Koulder is on. 

Forcing Koulder to choose between himself and Trick would be interesting, though. We've seen him do it in an underhanded way, by offering to kill Tamber - there's no telling what Musk would do if he found out, but it wouldn't be good. But that offer was for something Musk would probably never have found out about, much like what he did for Sprite in this chapter. Forcing him to act in broad daylight (moonlight?) would be neato.

Jayfeather 3

Hooray! It's good to see you back.

Thanks, it was good to be back, even though I disappeared for another 4 months after! Hopefully that won't happen again, but this semester I'm going to be doing taxes for 25-30 hours a week in addition to classes, so...no promises.

I don't know how she keeps doing this, but every time I start up a Trick chapter, I roll my eyes and sigh, ugh It's her again. Which precedes to be oh, shit I forgot about how much she's changed, to ah! it's so good!

Not gonna front, I actually used to feel this way about writing her. She was just so much colder/reserved than some of the other characters that she was kinda hard to work with, and frankly I didn't like her (for the rebelling-against-gender-roles ladies I would much rather have a Riven-esque character, loud and fiery and able to bend people in half). But she's progressed pretty nicely, and I'm fond of what she's become.

(I had the same problem with Riven, early on. Ordinarily, I don't hate my characters, even the villains, just because they're fun to work with/explore. But boy oh boy, was I ever happy to write about him getting his ass kicked that first time!)

Swyfte

to think I'd nearly forgotten what it was like to cry at a prin pardus story

Hopefully you haven't forgotten all over again! Thanks, love.

Rowanfire

I really just hope that you will complete this story! I've read all your warriors fanfiction stories as well, and it's easy to say that you're an AMAZING writer. So pretty please, finish?

Wish granted (or at least we're one step closer)! Hope you'll stick around as we tumble to the finish line.

And that's it for this round, I guess! Hopefully this new review-answering layout made things easier to comprehend. I think I used to kinda do this in the beginning, but then I got lazy. Such is life.

See you around!