User blog comment:SaynaSLuke/Seven Tears Shed/@comment-2142396-20161115185449/@comment-7662967-20161116003352

Well .. yea, I'm not sure what happened with the length, it just seemed like a good place to end it, so I didn't fight my gut instincts there :P

That was pretty much me the entire time I was writing it .. I'd planned it that way forever, but it was a really dumb move on their part. They expected it to be hard ... but not as hard as it was. They pretty much expected a 'Sayna, Timbal, Groddil, and Sandingomm breaking into Kotir' level of hard .. but nope. Ublaz is ten times the villain that Tsarmina was, and if you pitted Sampetra against the Greeneyed Alliance ... there'd be heavy casualties on both sides, and Sampetra would annihilate Tsarmina and forces.

Oh, I don't think that guard was terribly serious about that, really, he just couldn't care less what Hood was and thought that might be a nice insult. Welko and Cracklyn? Hmmm ... truly, I've never thought of that one. I'll have to see how they keep interacting and see if I ship them too lol ;P

Yea, Clecky just has a knack for comebacks XP No, he's actually quite the tactician and level-headed thinker when he wants to be. There just was never any real reason for him to display his true worth and power before now, as somebeast else always stepped foreword, and Clecky is not an overachiever. Well, the vest is leather, and that forces most of her spikes to stay hidden. Not all of course, but it's what they could find on the ship that fit her. Yea, Merith doesn't show her face in a lot of scenes, and really, she's only out to protect herself. But she did save two pearl holders and the rest of the woodlanders here, and she saved Kage, who later works as a spy for Romsca as he comes to despise what Ublaz is doing to the country.

Ublaz despises emotions, he views them as weak and hindering, and truly, he's afraid of them, because all his emotions ... or at least the ones he dwells on .. bring him pain. So Grath is quite the exception, to bring that out in him, but she can do it. Holt Lutra has a long and shady history, broken by many wars and greed ... Grath will eventually learn it all, when Romsca gives her the 'History of Holt Lutra' book along with the pearls out of conviction.

Yea, Hood's not a good position. Pretty much, Ublaz wants him for two reasons. Either his cooperation, or his hair. Well, yea, Ublaz has no connection to Hood, so he really doesn't have any emotional interest in the situation. Ublaz is tricky that way .. partly, it is just a lie to cover his desire for revenge and power, it's his way to justify his actions. But on the other paw, he's lied to himself so long, he believes it. He really does think he can bring peace to the world by killing all woodlanders .. or at least, relative peace. But to Ublaz, peace means the world submits to his version of it. He won't be afraid to kill any who stand in his way. Yes, Icetor has, over the seasons, transcended the normal boundaries, and all beasts see each other as equals (on the whole) But Ublaz is basically the twisted version of say .. Lutran. To him, all woodlanders are scum, pawns, worthless, and the only good one's a dead one.

Yea, basically, Hood accidentally caused the death of his parents and sister, and his brother did that to him in a fit of rage. That's why while he can't help but be resentful, he has no real drive for revenge, because he blames himself. And tragically, he is the one to blame. It is ... although in Icetor his status is deceased. So ... ehhh.

Ublaz and Hood are very well matched adversaries, at least mentally. Hmm .. yea, now that I think of it, that is a lot like this. But that's Hood's point .. Ublaz wouldn't spare his friends no matter what he agreed to do, and he's right. Oh, he ate one ... or at least, a small amount of one, otherwise he likely would have died from his injuries. Really, all that's left holding him together at this point is the faint traces of it that are simply a part of him from being exposed to them his entire childhood. The wounds were never really healed, so there's a battle going on inside him, as that magic in continually trying to keep him alive, where his wounds are doing their best to finish him. Eventually the traces of flower would simply be used up and he would die, but thankfully the dragons are expert healers.

Yea, Shui and Val both share boundless energy, randomness, and a positive outlook, so they find themselves agreeing on many things quickly. Also, Shui is the virtue of Mercy as a pearl holder, as she has a very open mind and doesn't especially love killing others. (well, except ratguards, which the lizards feel have the same status as ferals) poor Shilo. :/ Yea, that's pretty much it XP No, Isan adopted Rocks and Drip, they are considered princes and legitimate heirs to the throne. There were multiple reasons for this, one, Dragons simply do not have that many children, they can't. Couples normally have on child at a time, and at four to eight season intervals. Isan and wife (who I have yet to bring into the story, not sure if she's dead or not, I guess it depends on if I have space for her) love children and wanted more, but physically could not have them. Number two is their culture. Dragons see children as their greatest blessings in life, as the heartbeat of their society, and they believe no child should be an orphan. If one is orphaned, with no family to turn to whatsoever, it is custom that the ruler or one of his close affiliates adopt them. This is their way of righting the tragedy that happened to the child, if they can't have their birth parents, they become royalty or close to it.

It doesn't often happen, as dragons are extremely tough and live long lifespans, but Rocks and Drip were a case where it did. So Isan adopted them, according to custom, but also because he wanted to. Lutran was the same case in the dragon's eyes once they came to accept him, and while he was fourteen/fifteen, to a dragon, that's still a very young child. (Rocks/Drip/Shui/Jian are all from twenty-six to thirty-three, which equals sixteen to twenty-three) Dragons are considered adults at thirty. Therefore Lutran's still a teen to them, even if he's twenty-four :P

Yea, Isan has small wings, sorry, I probably hadn't decided when I first introduced him ... :P Well, mostly they're worried about the numbers of ferals, previously they figured he couldn't have over five hundred, because of the breeding issue. However the threat of over a thousand is staggering even to them. That's pretty much the gist of it, he's actually modifying them in a sense, through controlled breeding and actual genetic alterations. Of course it's at a crude level, but he's pretty much the first mad scientist of the Redwall universe. To them, honestly, the ferals have no humanity anymore. It may seem cold, but remember that the law is an eye for an eye. Good for good and bad for bad. The ferals shunned their people, so in their mind, they deserve their fate and have the same intelligence and status as any non-sentient life. The only difference is that it is extremely taboo to even consider eating one ... for quite obvious reasons. Now, they do fear Ublaz could do the same to them, but as for any bond they had with the ferals, it's not a personal offence. However if he dared try the same thing with a sentient dragon, it would be quite a different story.

Yea, Romsca's going to be beating herself up for a good while over this. (She has a knack for not moving on and getting bogged down in emotional things like this) It is .. and it also isn't, at least in his mind. To a dragon, you either are a dragon or you're not. So because the vermin are running from Ublaz, asking the dragons for shelter, Isan figures they're basically asking to join the tribe. And that means they need to become dragons, like Lutran did. So they get the same test ... kill ratguards.