The unlikely trio

I truly loved writing A Calamity. The 5th novel of my elf fantasy series, it was the easiest novel to write and quite a rollercoaster of emotions both happy and sad at times. You'd be surprised to know that I wrote the draft in only 4 weeks albeit the constant editing took far longer than that.

Writing Damantin is always fun. Cunning, deceitful but with a heart of gold, he's an intriguing character with a troubled past. Living in exile due to the sins of his ancestors and being present when his father Sharad was cruelly murdered when he was a child, it was only natural that he would grow up with a tint of hatred against the Elf Kingdom. Despite his cool demeanor, the Äimite guard had their eyes set on him from the start and even though Spaulding believes he and Adinjandanir are trustworthy guests of his palace, the guards are just counting the days before Damantin makes a mistake in order to arrest him.

Without spoiling the fun twists in the novel, Damantin ends up arrested due to a misunderstanding and nearly perishes in prison at the hands of Lord Garain. When Spaulding discovers the truth, in a fit of rage he orders Garain to be forcefully dismissed from the guard, stripped of any social title he once had and exiled from his nation forever.

After losing everything, Garain ends up in Ayrtain and is grudgingly allowed to take care of a severely infirm Trevilin until he is healthy enough to be repatriated by Spaulding. Knowing this might be the last time he ever interacts with the friendly elf that is Spaulding's best friend, he yearns for the chance to someday see Damantin and beg for his forgiveness.

This is where one of the fun twists of the novel begins. Trevilin is resting in a garden when Damantin is casually strolling by with his hawk and the two elves meet face to face. Trevilin attempts to use sign language but Damantin is incapable of understanding him and quietly walks away.

Distraught, Trevilin tells the story of the mysterious foreigner to Garain and he nearly collapses on the ground when he realizes Trevilin might have possibly met Damantin without even realizing it.

With a recovered sense of determination to right his previous wrongs, Garain runs off to find the elf he unjustly harmed and finds him inside of a barn. Damantin oddly enough doesn't take revenge on the dishonored guard and asks him to take care of his pets and belongings for a few days. Out of every possible reaction Garain expected from the elf, being asked for such a strange favor wasn't on the list.

Garain returns to Aetherfeld Castle with Damantin's belongings and tosses his backpack on Pieran's lap who was comissioned by Spaulding to act as Trevilin's bodyguard during his convalescence. The guard that still considers Garain to be an Äimite, he feels somewhat offended by Garain's behavior but at the same time curious to know why Damantin is resting in Ayrtain. Both guards become increasingly flustered when they find Froylan's scroll among his belongings and decide to confront Damantin at once.

Without spoiling the plot further, I find the power dynamics of these three characters to be real fun. One of them is a longtime captain of the guard with a seemingly mundane mission, a dishonored guard that is trying his best to prove himself in the hopes of being allowed to someday return to the kingdom and resume his lifelong duty as an Äimite and a foreigner demonic elf that is trying to find his place in a hostile world. Damantin would have never conceived the possibility of sleeping under the same roof with the elf that nearly murdered him but Trevilin manages to guilt-trip him into staying for a night which ended up being a handful of weeks.

While Garain and Pieran seem to test Damantin's patience every now and then, he starts to have a feeling of comradery with the two guards which only strengthens in the 6th novel. I really enjoy the scenes where the three elves are together and it's always fun to write scenes where Damantin and Pieran are together.