Timothy M.

A good concluding chapter. I agree with Cannd about wanting to see more of Patrick and Alan together. I've read several of your later stories and you're very good at portraying the love and trust between boys. But I wouldn't mind seeing more of the physical side too.

It's always nice when they visit old friends.

So Thom's staff was indeed effective against trolls, Good rescue indeed, and I liked the Baron's approval of Daniel as Ceti's companion. Nice to see all five members of the group get the rewards they deserve.

They are fast becoming a force of Light to be reckoned with, and the Baron and his advisors are clever enough to know it.

You might want to fix the Spring Anthology date too.

The brigands were not very clever to attack the farm when they had just taken in armed visitors. But most likely they didn't know about them and were simply unlucky. Good for the farm people, who were rewarded for their guarded hospitality.

I liked both the discussion about education and the rescue operation. It was god for Thom to see his companion put priority on this. Patrick took his first direct kill well.

This was a most productive stop for both their trades, and also very sweet in relation to Thom and Eric.

St. John really needs to stop putting himself down and blaming himself all the time. It's not healthy. But then I guess his state of mind isn't exactly good, eh? And he never gets a break, some new shit always pops up to hit him where it hurts.

The malaria case was interesting and I can't help wondering if evil had a hand in the mutation. We didn't find out why Kenneth felt the child had to be saved.

I enjoyed the revisit to Stolze's farm and it was particularly nice to see Thom have fun. It was a good wake-up call for Kenneth, he won't make that mistake again.

A new adventure begins I think Kenneth was getting restless anyway, lol. Patrick's worry is not unusual and a sign of a good leader.

I hope that was the last of the brigands, they had preyed on the countryside for too long. Also Thom got to revenge his captivity. The quarterstaff story was really cool, and it seems to have brought some good forth in both father and son..

This meeting was eagerly awaited, I like these four champions of the Light and it is no coincidence they have met and banded together to combat Evil. Thom will benefit too, and not just in the shaing of boy magic.

Their missions are becoming more daring and important. I'm glad Patrick could comfort Alan after his first kills. Thom may gain some much needed confidence from mastering sword skills. I'm glad he has the two tweens to look out for him, and I hope they won't regret taking on this oligation.

Yay, a dungeon crawl Not much exitement, apart from the turkey, lol. The rescue of Thorn was good in spite of the sadness related to the boy's broken spirit. But Patrick and Alan will help him heal, if at all possible. Also great job on recruiting the farmer to the spy network.

The mission of the boys is now clear and I think they are well-suited to the task. The mishap of Cadfael unlocked this possibility, so perhaps we should not chide him too much for his stupidity in riding his horse across the river rather than walking.

I love all your stories from this world, but this is one of my favorites. Patrick is such an honorable tween but the love and devotion of Alan will not be denied.

Any more Fire and Ice for us to read about? I'll recall reading about Paxeunt in the Sedona chronicles, but that was before the Baron died, I think.

Sigh, why did Tobias turn into a cat, I thought he was smarter than that. Same for Kiorl kissing the Fallen Angel. And now he's probably back in his room, still hungry, silly twit. Yep, Nassau is making them all pay for the new bathroom.

Well, that went well, so Erik can hopefully relax a little now. I like the whole family and they way they interact. I did chuckle a bit at this sentence: Christian nearly choked on his soap

Forcing kids to taste food before they reject it, to eat what's on their plate, and making them sit at the table until they do, as some sort pf punishment, strikes me as old-fashioned and counter-productive. So many parents turn the matter of food and dinner time into conflicts and power struggles. No kids in affluent families will starve to death from missing a meal. Simply telling Troy and Bradley they can have some carrots and apples and plain pasta instead would have solved the problem. In Denmark we would give them rugbrød med leverpostej (healthy dark bread with paté made from liver). In any case, lots of kids dislike have food where they can't distinguish the ingredients, so next time Alan should stir fry things separately and put them in separate bowls, so the boys can take what they want to try. Other than that, I think they did pretty well, and Alan should simply have told Bradley that fuck was a very bad swear word which would make teachers and other adults upset if they hear it from a kid. But it's OK to say in the privacy of your own room when you're upset. Forbidding kids to say such words will simply make them more attractive. But telling them not to say it in front of grandparents and at school, for their own sake, is useful. Bradley is smart, he'll get it.

One could argue the best gift from Andy's grandmother is her saying he's not the son of Gunnar, but I think the real one is her saying Andy's mother wanted him and loved him. She must have felt guilty all her life for not letting her daugther stay and support her wish of a divorce. Andy paid the price for that, too. Otherwise this was the celebration we were all waiting for. Loved the hoodies.

All I'm gonna say is well done on tying everyone guts into huge tangled knots. Not that I'm surprised the news of the wedding burst out like that. And I know who Nonna is going to call. The bad guys won't know what hit them before it's too late: someone who knows everyone and everything in this town.

I agree with mayday, the main point of this chapter was to show how Andy was able to stand up for himself and deal with these situations firmly but politely. I think Mrs K was asking Andy those personal questions as a stand-in for Zander. It's the best explanation for why she would do something awkward like that. I'm glad he could confirm to her that the decision to let Kaz participate was the right one. The sibling reactions were more unthinking than prejudice imo, and I can still recall Zander coming out to his parents. They got a wake-up call which showed they had never really been confronted with this matter before, and Zander's gramps probably influenced the Stevenson side of the family with his old-fashiond views. But at least they are ready to listen and learn, and their love is never in doubt.