Wow, I go away for the day and see what happens! I've really enjoyed writing this story, but frankly, it'll be quite a relief when it's done.
Himaran, I'm so glad the death of Jurex is fine with you. And thanks for sighting the Gondorians; it helps to tie the story together.
Earendil, terrific work! Thanks for moving it along so swiftly. And I'm glad that the confusion has sort of... resolved itself.
Your posts are great.
Durelin and
Aman, marvelous job! I haven't read many death scenes from the protagonist's side. And both of you, your writing is incredibly vivid and graphic (in a good way, of course
). I enjoyed your posts very much.
I'll get up at least one more post for Calnan. One thing, though: How many loose ends do we tie up? We've got Meri without Avershire, of course; I'd hate to just leave the girl on the beach like that. Then there's Devon himself; do we drag Ambassador Thrann back in? Or can he just stay fallen out of the story?
Then there's our "fellowship," if you will. I suppose Telson (if Arvedui can post for him one last time) will get back to his duties. He seems the loner type. Adeline has a family in Umbar; I'm fuzzy on the details now, but she does have a life she can get back to. As for Callath and Calnan, they were pretty close to Devon and it'll hit them hard. Aman, you've shown pretty well how this is for Callath, even for the "new" friends he's made and lost. Calnan was rethinking his political career earlier in the story anyway, so he'll be returning to Gondor, at least en route to someplace else. If he asks Callath to go with him, would Callath be interested?
Finally, our secondary characters. After taking such good care of Sedal and Orda (way to go, Callath! er, Aman), I wouldn't like them to have to fend for themselves in the struggles of restoring Umbar to tranquility. Plus there's Callath's friend Rilgari, a seaman without a captain. I know in real life things don't just end neatly, but also in real life people are forced to make decisions and do something with the rest of their lives, even after a major crisis of these proportions.
Do you think I'm going into too much detail here? I plead guilty by reason of perfectionism.
The end is in sight!
~ Nuranar