Hello everyone,
The hazard of the kind of writing I do is that I need to be emotionally present and accessible to do it, otherwise the prose and narrative don't quite click. That's what happened with yesterday's draft — I was too focused on getting it out the door while juggling other stuff I have going on in my life at the moment.
Fortunately, a patron on the Discord helpfully let me know that the chapter didn't quite land. Why? They had no idea.
Now, don't get me wrong: ...
2025-11-05 21:36:50 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 97 – In Perfect Silence, Accompanied
Although great was her exhaustion, rest eluded Saphienne as she lay within the cool sheets of her bed staring up at the colder, celestial hallucination. The challenge waiting for her was equally as astronomical where it loomed in her mind, but both the false sky and the real demands of her apprenticeship were as dwarves beside a remote, luminous star.
What did High Master Lenitha want?
Saphienne had told herself that she’d a...
2025-11-05 01:12:52 +0000 UTC
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Hello all,
I'm getting ready to do a big edit pass of the existing chapters, and as I finish each one I'll be adding volume art to Royal Road. These aren't the future book covers, just a fun placeholder. Since you're supporting me, you get to see them first.
I'll reveal the art for Volume 3 to you all at some point in the future...
Thanks for reading,
LJ
2025-11-01 04:17:06 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 96 – The Learn’d Magicìan
“Tell me again.”
Across from Saphienne in Celaena’s study, Faylar squared his shoulders. “If anyone specifically asks what I was doing with you, I tell them that I was helping you copy some books using the library’s Tome of Correspondence. I don’t try to hide it; I didn’t do anything wrong. I never looked at their contents because it was late and I was tired, and I wanted to get the task done. If they ask where the books were ...
2025-10-31 23:48:12 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 95 – Readers Don’t Steal
Relations were not improved overnight. For the first few lessons after their confrontation with Almon, his three youngest students were wary, Saphienne and Celaena in particular being deeply sceptical that he would amend their record in his ledger. Their caution was reciprocated by the wizard, who retreated into formal politeness so unlike his previous behaviour that everyone – even Iolas – was left on edge.
Fortunately, Iolas accepted th...
2025-10-29 21:13:33 +0000 UTC
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Hello all,
Chapter 95 needs reworked. I thought the feedback I got from test readers would be easy to address and have sorted, but the deeper I went into it today, the more I realised I need to restructure it quite significantly (around 30% of it needs redone) to achieve its goal.
Should* be done and posted tomorrow. Sorry for the delay, but all the same, I'm not pushing it out when it doesn't deliver on the quality you deserve.
Thanks for your patience,
LJ
2025-10-29 00:55:45 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 94 – And Greater Still
Summer turned to autumn as so turned the leaves, and red spread through the hair of the elves who flourished in the Eastern Vale. True to her recollection from the prior year, Celaena was early to lose her blonde for auburn — for which Iolas teased her in retaliation for her remarks at spring’s end. Neither were serious in their bickering.
Saphienne was not much further behind, at least in the colour of her strands. She was so preoccupied wit...
2025-10-25 23:46:43 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 93 – The Unknown, and the Unfamiliar
Never before had the apprentices seen their master so elated as he was in his garden after Iolas cast his first spell. Almon laughed for joy, forwent bowing to instead applaud his student with great enthusiasm, delighted beyond measure at the feat he had just witnessed.
“Excellent! No — magnificent!” His grin showed not the slightest care for the dignity with which a wizard ought comport himself. “Utterly superb!”
Ca...
2025-10-21 22:46:05 +0000 UTC
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Hello everyone,
Well... damn. The Patreon has hit $1k a month, which means I now owe +4 chapters to the read-ahead, for a total of +14 beyond the public release.
Rather than drive myself to ruin cramming this all into a tight timeframe, I'm going to adopt a different release schedule for the next little while. Basically, until we're on +14, I'm going to throw chapters up as soon as they're ready, with the aim to do three (or maybe four) a week for this very limited pe...
2025-10-19 20:22:00 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 92 – To Bind, or Loose
Now all but initiated into the ancient ways, Saphienne reacted as she always did when she felt too much: she distracted herself with her intellect. She was powerless to prevent the mill of suffering from grinding on, and to throw herself between those long-stained stones would neither have made her feel better nor accomplished any useful purpose. This much, Filaurel had taught her well.
Perhaps her mentor had observed how Saphienne first learned ...
2025-10-19 20:08:44 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 91 – Ways Ancient and Magical
My Dearest Saphienne,
Sat under the maple tree in the upper terrace of the garden, Saphienne smiled through her blush as she read the salutation in the letter from Laelansa. The afternoon was balmy due to the stirring breeze, soothing with the rustle of leaves and the sway of tall grass, clear beneath the rolling clouds that threatened no rain.
I’m sorry I didn’t write back sooner! I wrote you a letter during the jou...
2025-10-16 17:01:37 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 90 – Maiden and Crone
An age had passed for Saphienne since she last entered the library, and potent nostalgia made her pause on the threshold in recognition of what she had never consciously admitted to herself:
This had been her home.
With that revelation came the pang of loss, as she beheld in the phrasing of her thought that she had become homeless since she had been attacked. Whereas once the shelves had been a wonderment that conveyed the feeling of childho...
2025-10-14 23:49:01 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 89 – Assumptions of Responsibility
“You’re the one who shattered the tree…”
Having lived in anticipation of a reckoning with Almon for months, Saphienne listened from beneath a tide of overwhelming despair.
“…And Saphienne covered for you, didn’t she?”
Surprise made her eyes flutter open — stunned that he blamed Celaena.
Yet the older girl had arrived prepared for confrontation, and she slipped past Saphienne to interpose herself aga...
2025-10-13 20:10:01 +0000 UTC
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Hello everyone,
I'm alive! High dose of doxycycline knocked me on my back for most of this week, but I'm nearly back to normal today (just tired — slept very poorly last night). I'm going to be throwing myself at the writing tomorrow and over the weekend to catch us up, and all being well we should be fully back on track by the end of next week at the latest.
Sorry for the sick days. Longer term, I want to get into a position where I have a proper buffer for things like this, bu...
2025-10-10 00:21:53 +0000 UTC
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Hello everyone,
I'm really sorry to do this, but Chapter 89 is going to be late this week.
I've been increasingly unwell since Saturday, consequently working at a snail's pace. I'm phoning the doctor when the surgery opens this morning; I anticipate I'll be back on antibiotics yet again, whereupon I should quickly perk up enough to get things back on track.
If some miracle occurs and I get 89 done before we tick over into Wednesday British Summer Time, then I will of course ...
2025-10-07 06:37:31 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 88 – Deconstructing the Unseen
“Thou art mistaken child.” Celaena tried to pull away; the spirit possessing Taerelle tightened her grip. “Wormwood hath come.”
Although Celaena struggled and the alarm bell rang, Saphienne calmed as she learned the bloomkith’s identity. Both her tutor and Hyacinth associated with Wormwood, and while she’d been warned that the ancient woodland spirit was bitter in temperament, Saphienne trusted their judgement. “You...
2025-10-03 19:45:54 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 87 – Mobbed
Crying out attracted the attention of the patrons in the teahouse, and Alinar was quick to hurry over to Saphienne with a towel at the ready, utterly perplexed as he slowed to a halt beside the couches. Thessa had jumped across the table and was hugging her with a high-pitched squeal of joy, while Saphienne was laughing hoarsely through the pain as she cradled her spasming hand against her chest.
“…Are you two alright?”
Thessa leapt to her feet ...
2025-09-30 12:00:14 +0000 UTC
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Hello everyone,
This is just a brief update to explain what I'm doing at the minute.
You'll have noticed that we unexpectedly blew past the $500 target for the Patreon, and we're rapidly closing on the $1000 target. Each of those involve increasing the read-ahead for TEWWBAD on here by another +2 chapters.
If this hadn't happened right after pushing the Patreon to +10 chapters of read-ahead, and right while I'm in the middle of doing something urgent (more on that i...
2025-09-28 23:27:23 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 86 – In Visibility
Once Laelansa had set off for the Vale of the White River, Saphienne used the remainder of the day to study her sigil and attempt to deconstruct its meaning. She had thought about it idly during the week, and was pleased to discover that her time away had deepened her capacity to contemplate the puzzle, finding new associations between the shapes that she recognised.
As best she could discern, casting the spell required no words — which had initial...
2025-09-26 12:00:16 +0000 UTC
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Periodically, I get suggestions from readers that the price of subscribing to the Patreon is too high, and that it ought to be lowered, or the Patreon should have another, cheaper tier added.
Did you know that when the TEWWBAD Patreon first started, it had two tiers? And that the lower charged $2 for four chapters, and the higher charged $5 for six?
Would you believe that, when it switched to charging $10 for the main tier, the number of subscribers immediately went up?
It's...
2025-09-23 15:59:56 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 85 – Absent Resolutions
With her plan confirmed, there was nothing for Saphienne to do but wait for the right moment to make her move. That meant giving her adversaries time to relax, which in turn meant that they must see her often enough to feel reassured that she wasn’t a threat; they would worry about her, if she kept her distance.
Happily, Laelansa gave her the perfect excuse to be seen out and about, and the two of them went for increasingly long walks together...
2025-09-23 12:00:13 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 84 – In Justice
Sitting with Laelansa in the expansive kitchen, still cradling Hyacinth within herself, Saphienne contemplated the next step in her plan, aware that there were several preconditions that would have to be met before she could execute it. Chief among them were solitude and secrecy — she had to be alone, and no one could know what she’d done until she chose.
“What’re you thinking?”
She blinked. Laelansa had given up on her book, and was stu...
2025-09-19 12:00:15 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 83 – Other Songs to be Sung
There was much to do before Saphienne began. Were she to succeed in what she intended, she first had to ready her arsenal — including her mind.
Querying how busy the teahouse would presently be solicited suggestions that they wait until afternoon. That allowed her to ask Celaena when she usually went along, and that invited Laewyn – who attended more frequently, with other friends – to recommend the exact hour Saphienne wanted.
2025-09-18 12:00:18 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 82 – Unaccountably Sick, and Tired
A small mountain of gifts awaited Saphienne when she returned to the guest room, as did Laelansa, who perched barefoot and cross-legged on the bed with the enchanted tray of tea and chocolates levitating beside her.
Yet Saphienne only shut the door and walked to the windowsill, studying the soil of the plant pot in which Hyacinth rested.
“…Saphienne?”
She wished Hyacinth was well enough to speak…
“What’s ...
2025-09-17 12:00:15 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 81 – Her Necessary Transgression
Allow me to paint for you a backdrop, before I stage the drama.
The summer solstice festival was a time of joyful unity for wood elves and spirits of the woodlands, the ancient ways embodied in their shared merriment. Across all three days, elves who had befriended spirits would walk abroad the forest with them — bone and wind unified, finding through each other the expression of their hidden selves, experiencing the world in vivid fr...
2025-09-16 12:00:39 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 80 – Summer Snow, and Winter Sun
Of course — it had to be Laewyn who found them on the floor.
When Saphienne sat up with Laelansa – her fury at herself mistakable for the fervid bloom that lit her paramour’s cheeks – she saw the older girl leant against the doorway, grinning from ear to ear.
“…Oh, gods.”
Teasing was compulsory for Laewyn. “How long was I watching? At least five min–”
Laelansa pul...
2025-09-11 12:00:12 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 79 – Ask Not For Whom …
Gathered in the long dining room for interrogation by Taerelle, Saphienne’s friends were unprepared for the intruder alarm to ring, and the instant she tiredly announced its significance they started to panic.
Yet the senior apprentice was calm.
Saphienne’s eyes flew open as Taerelle seized her arm and yanked her upright, her tutor walking her to the centre of the room while gesturing in quick flourishes and uttering syllables in an ...
2025-09-09 12:00:15 +0000 UTC
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A member of the Patreon comments:
The casual use of the word "fuck" by the elves is kind of off-putting. Does the word have the same multifaceted meaning for them as for modern English? Its an ugly word.
Yes, the wood elves use "fuck" and a few other words in the same way as native English speakers.
You'll note that I've varied real-world idioms, and invented new ones for the wood elves to draw upon, to better illustrate their culture. It should ther...
2025-09-08 07:24:21 +0000 UTC
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See Saphienne as she was becoming, the forthright young girl, fourteen years old. Her hair was once more brown as the earth, and she was still pale — though even these features had begun to lose their resemblance to those of the quiet child she once was, her hair thicker, gloss beginning on her skin. Her eyes were still green, but their childlike openness and passivity had been replaced by sharp observation and implicit judgement, qualities which shone brightly even when she said little. Sh...
2025-09-05 08:57:52 +0000 UTC
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CHAPTER 78 – Flock Call
Before Saphienne could cast her first spell, she would have to fully comprehend what was required. Through having listened diligently and by reasoning through the apparent implications, she drew several inferences about the practice of the Great Art, all of which were right, and none of which were sufficient.
She knew for certain that she had to memorise the sigil, and that once memorised, it would be difficult to retain. Her correct suspicion was that ...
2025-09-04 12:00:13 +0000 UTC
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