Was it really April when I wrote up my last "Dear Characters" post? I've moved on quite a bit since then and changed some things around, mostly locations. I'm currently at the climax of the story where the characters face the main antagonist for the last time. Things aren't going so well for them at the moment.

Dear Adair (the Forcepainter/illustrator),
Here you are at the end of your adventure. (This adventure anyway...) You're going to need everything you've learned over the past few months to try to get through this and protect your friends- and all the other mages, really. I know you're a pacifist and it's going to suck to go against your nature, but Talan is going to learn to beware the nice ones the hard way. You're going to snap and it's not going to be pretty. On the plus side, you have the element of surprise: Talan doesn't know who you are under the Sol disguise, he doesn't realize he just took out your best friend, and he's going to figure out too late that you're actually a Colorweaver, not a Forcepainter. Two can play at his game.

Dear Etri (the Shadowwalker/fire-eater),
You and your tag-team need to keep better track of your possessions. Adair still has Blythe's scarf which you really need right now. Adair has your knife which would help either you or Blythe. Adair forgot to give the second bottle of invisibility paint to Blythe who could probably find a good use for that again. ... Actually, how does Adair keep ending up with all your stuff? Anyway, go guard your Artist before it's too late. Even incorporeal, you can help him, and that knife and scarf are only going to get him so far.

Dear Blythe (the Bladeshielder/blade-dancer),
Okay, first thing first, get that invisibility paint from Adair. Then I finally give you permission to start beating bad guys. Even Dolph. Particularly Dolph. I need to wrap up that antagonist's storyline, so you'll be running across him soon. After that your job is just as important as Adair's: get Etri back. You're destined to become their Muse, which you can't be if the Guard's off floating around on a different plane for all of eternity. By the way, you should have given him your other scarf. Hindsight, right?

Dear Grandeau (the Shadowshaper/mime),
Well, you're the shadow-mage right now. I'm still not sure how, but you have to help Blythe and Adair face Talan and his minions because they're currently short their usual Shadowwalker. That is, if Ember doesn't distract you again. I can't even figure this out- are you staring at her because she has hidden fire or because she's a pretty, older woman? Freaking teenagers.

Dear Chantrell (the Songshifter/melodist),
I'm not following you much at this point because you and Sol split away from the three narration characters, but please don't let him get out of your sight. I'm not sure what he's going to do when he can't sense Etri anymore and I won't find out until the both of you stumble across Drake. I love how you're the youngest character by far, but yet you always seem to be babysitting the older ones.

Dear Sol (the Lightbringer/fire-breather),
You and Adair had a plan to confuse Talan by both of you pretending to be you and I can only hope this sort of works. Everything else seems to be going pear-shaped for you all. I am still curious what happens when you take away a Lightbringer's Shadowwalker...

Dear Drake (the Spellbinder/fire-dancer),
I love watching you go feral! It's such a wonderfully drastic shift from your usual pretension and flamboyance to see you maul Shadows with your bare hands, clawing, pouncing, and hissing. (By the way, I think at this point you can stop saying how much you hate Etri. You two have this highly antagonistic thing going on, but after seeing you vengefully lash out at someone else for hurting him, it's clear that he's your friend. I'm fully expecting the first words out of your mouth upon seeing him again to be a scathing insult, but he won't mind; this will mean all is right with the world again.)

Dear Ember (the mystery mage),
Thank you oh so much for showing up on my figurative doorstep on page 215 saying "Hey! I heard you complaining about too many males in this book. I'm here to help even the numbers!" You unpacked your bags before I could explain that I'm trying to wrap things up, not add to my already huge cast of characters. Sigh. You're just going to make things even more confusing in the next book, aren't you?

~Meri, the author who is itching to get to book two in this series. Come on, guys, we can do it! We're almost there!