Guilded Age

I have to say, Gravedust keeping his dead friend’s spirit in an enchanted arrow sounds like a great alt-universe story to explore. I think I wrote this bit partly out of my ongoing mild frustration that we’d set Gravedust up as “peacemaker” for the dead but always seemed to find some excuse for him not to fill that role when important characters actually died.

The puffiness of Syr’Nj’s eyes is a bit subtle. We’ll get a fuller effect on page 3.

I always feel a bit weird… like, not quite plagiaristic, but a little weird… when I see something I’ve written and recognize most of the words and cadence from somewhere else. “I’m aware of that, Commander. In fact I’m counting on it” clearly lodged into my consciousness after some early viewings of Star Trek: TNG‘s “The Best of Both Worlds.”