And just to prove I can do short, here is a drabble that all have the time to read. http://virusq.livejournal.com/330535.html?view=921639#t921639
With kind regards, the Good Librarian. ™

Jean - This is actually one of those scenes that wrote itself. Fun when the characters begin to speak their own lines, isn’t it? When they appear to you on the stairs, as happened to poor Mr. Earbrass, then you need to worry. As to Maldik’s name, actually, it really is just an unconscious thing or an outright coincidence. I look for what sounds right when I make up my fantasy words and names. Some of them have exact analogs in history - not surprising since I’m dealing with pure western phonetics, which is quite limited in its combinations. Sometimes I unintentionally make puns.

The Origami Guy - Thanks for the compliment on the art. But you know what they say about expectations.

Gremalkin - Hard to tell whether you’re sincere when you’ve invested so much in deception. Ah, Yanora. Are you lying now, or were you lying then?

Wolfgang - He’s a bit gun shy, and truly, who can blame him for that?

Peregrin - We’ll see what kind of a man he turns out to be.

Jim Farris - One of the things that happens when you’re in over your head is you try to keep your mouth shut. He hasn’t learned that one, yet.

tricksterson - It will definitely be one of those three. Okay, probably. Maybe probably. Oh, hell, just check back tomorrow night.

Lictre - Magick does, indeed, play into much of what they do. But, in this case, it would not be anything genuinely magickal about the act of regicide, rather it’s religious. Killing an anointed king or queen would supposedly be a one-way ticket to The Deeps, which is their version of Hell. But, since Maldik has already called the Holy Tome a “book of fairy stories” it is doubtful that that would stop him.

InCestusWeTrust - Yanora does, indeed, have Erogenian ancestry a few generations back, and she is tall for a woman, being about 5′10 or so, slightly taller even than Tula. Maldik is only about 5′5 or so, taking that gene from his father’s father’s side. Kendrik was about six-two, not short, even by Erogenian standards, but a full head shorter than Zonn. Neither of them are wearing heels, as no footwear in Erogenia or Kivalia has heels higher than a double layer of thick leather. Just the styles, is all.

Retiarius - Redemption is actually one of my favorite themes, and thus I need to use it sparingly.

Freelance - Oh, yes. She knows, and now he knows she knows it.

LorannaPyrel - For Gudik to disguise himself as Maldik would take a nice feat of magick. Gudik is over 6′ 5″ with shoulders like a wrestler.

Joe - Blub. Blub-fricking-blub …

Lora - “M” is for the million things she gave me,
“O” means only that she’s growing old,
“T” is for the tears she shed to save me,
“H” is for her heart of purest gold;
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be,
Put them all together, they spell
“MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

=D

Hevaess - I don’t know. Show of hands?

Lebbrin - She seems to regret having been such a hardass to him for all his life, certainly. And she is his mother. Her disappointment is greatest because she had actually expected better of him.

Mish_Lady - She and even Kendrik, to some extent, thought that what had worked for them in their lives - essentially tossing the kid into the deep end and making him sink or swim - would work for anybody. Alas, it seems not to have worked for the youngest.

zangoules - Many thanks. I’m just making the kind of story I like, and glad that you like it, too.

Nimue - No, but there’s the question: Is Maldik people?

Soulworker - I hate to spoil a subject for speculation, but this once I will: The glass is just a glass of wine that she’d had on the table beforehand. It’s not poisoned or a secret weapon or anything. If you didn’t see it, it was because it was out of sight behind something else or something. My reasons for using it is that Yanora needed to do something with her hands in the scene, and also I wanted to experiment with rendering glass without using raytracing, which eats up processor resources like a frigging hog and adds to render time incredibly. I think the results came out pretty nice. So, be sure to tune in Tuesday for the next exciting installment!

Elizabeth - Actually, no. Tethik is currently sitting down with King Tor in his hall and about to have an argument. Oh, wait - was that a bit of a spoiler? Heh. Not really, you all could have figured that one out all on your own.

warnie - One of my favorite bits of anything, mate. Thanks!

Gemma - Gudik is actually not nearly as cutting or nasty as Yanora is. Their relationship is distant, but usually not bad. The problem is that his older brother, when trying to be kind, just comes off as condescending and insensitive, and is not patient with Maldik’s flaws. and so, Maldik resents him on several levels. What a bitch, huh?

Very well-played family dramatics!

JED….I have relapsed….and am fully addicted to your webcomic once more…Your really should consider having a support group for this thing…and echoing zangoules… I am most taken with your story telling here…nothing superficial or un-needed in each of the panels…makes my detail orientation hummmm with anticipation for the next episode…(in that sense it reminds me of those old time radio serials that you had to tune in every night dfor the next “exciting chapter”)