Annotated 6-1
That “boom tube effect” Erica added is pretty and dramatic, though we didn’t really duplicate it in later portals (the girls are clearly a bit blinded by it). But then, there may be more of a difference in lighting between the sky elves’ home and the shady forest than most other portals we showed, so that could account for it.
The message that arrived by falcon in the last chapter has given Syr’Nj the basics– LEAFPORT DESTROYED– so she is appropriately serious and unsurprised, even falling back on military jargon.
Hey, way to take credit for Gravedust’s observation there, Mr. “I doubt wood elves actually did this.” Not even “We?” And you were doing so well when he called you “pal.”
The name “Harki” was not intended to evoke French-aligned Muslim Algerians. “Harki” and “Harky” sound exactly the same and we were a bit undecided about which to use, but I thought using the more exotic spelling here would foster more confusion over whether this “Harki” was a person, a race, an army, a cult, some kind of weapon, or something else. “Harky” looks more like “Billy,” “Bobby,” “Marty,” etc., and is therefore more likely to “read” as a person. Since none of our heroes has seen this name written out, spelling is determined by how they’d guess it would be spelled… and that remains true long after they meet the actual Harky.
The goggles! They do something!
At the time I was wondering if you were going to morph it into a Dune reference as the story played out.
With knowledge of the future, all this mystery and build-up surrounding Harky seems a bit excessive.
Well, that’s the thing about mystery and build-up. The pay-off is always in the mind of the reader, and they may not feel it as the author(s) did.
I do like the way Syr’Nj is, y’know, *totally* in control. (As if.)
There’s more to tell about our early plans for Harky and the series, but I don’t want to bring it up until he shows up.