Paksworld

100,127 words by midnight Tuesday night.

Interesting stuff, some of it, too.  Kieri is having to cope with a very difficult situation and he’s settling down and putting his strategic mind on.

Can an ancient elf-queen be wrong?   Can she, in fact, screw up in a major way?

Inquiring minds will find out, once I know all the answers.  I don’t ever know all the answers until later (which means some re-writing, where I’ve gone astray, guessed wrong.

I’d like to stay home and work on this today but it’s not possible.  Plumbers coming to rip out the toilets and put in new ones,  a guest to pick up at the airport 60 miles away, business conferences, Ash Wednesday services, choir practice…

As of Sunday evening, the current wordage for the new book is 97,129.

There are problems with that scene, but I can fix it once it’s all out in the open…

Chances are excellent that I’ll hit 100,000 on the book this week.   There are other things going on in our lives, including plumbing work that needs doing, dealing with bureaucracies (academic and governmental both), so I may not get as far as I’d like, but…it’s quite happy to be written, now that I’m able to write again.

A cloud on the plot horizon that I wasn’t sure would head this way has now headed this way…I think we may find out (if not in this book, in the next) how the elfane taig became the banast taig that Paks and Macenion stumbled into.    There are threads that begin to look as if they connect to other threads…life would be easier if I could outline, but not nearly as much fun.

The new book’s total is now 91,285 words.  Not sure of yesterday’s total because I had lost the 3×5 card with the chapter totals and–having worked in multiple chapters–could not be sure what was done which day.  Definitely time to get formal with the count again.  Today’s a half-day work day (I need a nap this afternoon because I must sing two services tomorrow, each including 3 Mozart anthems, a real workout)  so must get at the work and see what comes of it.

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The magelords moving north from Old Aare and Aarenis introduced the concept of “knights” to the north.   The Old Humans who lived in the north before the magelords came were not horsemen, though they knew of horses from the horse nomads north of them.

In the present day,  knights as such exist in Fintha, Tsaia, Lyonya, and Prealith.   Most are knighted as part of a specific order (Knights of Gird, Knights of Falk, Knights of the Bells)  but some are battlefield promotions of squires, knighted for deeds of valor.   Any knight may create a knight, though most leave that to the knightly orders. ..in the north, at least.  In Aarenis, knights are created individually more than in orders.  Knights of an order wear insignia indicating the order.

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Young people in Tsaian and Lyonyan society may be fostered with another family at several stages–for noble families, typically as pages (ages 7-10 or 12) or squires (ages 14-18ish.)   In addition to fosterage, there’s formal schooling in a boarding situation (like the young students in Fin Panir, including Aris Marrakai).   Nobles are more or less expected to take in a few of one another’s offspring .   This forms bonds between families (they hope), relieves some sibling rivalry (a forlorn hope, usually), and provides the “shared” young person with experiences most find valuable.

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This snippet is the first in the book (in the present version) to resonate with the title Oath of Fealty.    Location: Duke’s Stronghold, shortly after word reaches there  (finally!) that Kieri Phelan is a) the rightful heir to the throne of Lyonya and b) on his way there.    The snippet is in snatches, leaving out bits that aren’t relevant to the title issue.

Arcolin woke to the memory of yesterday’s surprises and the realization that he needed to parade the whole Company.  They had given their oaths to Kieri, who had now left them.  They must now give their oaths to him.

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Those of you who also read my LJ know that I’ve been down with pneumonia, so the happy dance is partly (but only partly) because the doc says my lungs are clear.

The relevant part of the happy dance for this blog, though, is that I’ve now heard from my editor, who’s had time to read the new book and is enthusiastic about it.     I have work to do on the first part, something we’ll discuss as I feel better (and I knew it needed “something”–just could not figure out what) , but she says she fell right back into that world.

As the energy level returns,  I’ll get back to regular posts on progress.  I was able to work on a variant beginning last night; it’s probably no good but at least the juice is flowing again.