Early Page 405

*Page 405* is ready!

Anyone who's read the side-story "Heart Questions" probably has some questions about this! After we solidified timeline and ages, Ari and I decided that we are going to make Heart Questions *non-canon*. As it turns out, I had Briar's age wrong from the outset, which means everything in that one is wrong.

To elaborate:

• Creatures and humans mature at different rates, following the gist of "my dog is 34 in dog years". This is a headache and a half.

• My original thought was that Briar and Belfry were 5 years apart. However, I was thinking 5 human years. With creatures' accelerated maturity, 5 years of maturity difference is only 2 chronological years separated. Which makes Briar 18 years old chronologically and early 20's maturity-wise.

• Although previously it was still technically okay for Milo and Briar to date, since 14 chronological years is 18 years maturity, we were not happy with the optics of it. We don't want to come off as "Oh sure, she looks like a baby, but she's thousands of years old, so it's okay!" Which, there's lots of nuance to that topic, but it was never my intent to engage with that particular buggaboo in Tamberlane. So we ultimately decided that 18 (equivalent 25 years maturity) is when official adulthood is.

• Regardless of whether or not Brilo is A Thing, the reality is that because Briar reacted to Milo with a crush in Chapter 3, that is a plot thread left dangling in the main comic. We do not and have never wanted anyone to have to read side stories to get the full story. So we knew we had to address this in the plot at SOME point.

• Either way, I want to make it clear: Briar/Milo is a possibility now with the way we tweaked things. Will it end up that way? Who knows. I'm not telling. Regardless, it no longer feels taboo and weird to address it at all.

Anyway, enjoy your shipping content, nerds!

And thanks to Izzy for flatting!