A (parenthetical) aside

So, yeah.
I was working on the Taleene chapter, and it was going pretty well. There wasn't exactly blazing speed happening or anything, but it was motorvating along just fine.
Annnnnnnd--

Someone else wants to be in that story.
Badly.
And I've no idea if that character will even actually fit in that story, but she desperately wants me to give it a shot, so, okay.

I therefore turned my writing chair and my laptop 90 degrees to the left, and started to work on a tie-in story, which gives the background info on how this girl got tangled up in the Halloween that ended all Halloweens... or whatever it is that we're calling the Chaos Event in the Unquenchable Fire story.

Now, if you're getting cranky over yet another delay caused by my notorious vulnerability to 'ooh, shiny!' distractive things and ideas, fear not. This isn't something that will push the schedule back another six months. In three days of writing, this past weekend, I got 7000 words into it, which is probably about halfway. My absolutely serious intention is to finish this up within the week.

Hey, stop laughing!!!!

But no, really--it's gonna happen.

Then, while I'm back to working on the actual chapter that's currently on pause, waiting for me, you guys can read this one, think it over, and let me know your thoughts on whether or not this late addition works in the context of the bigger story.
If you approve, I'll put it in. If not, then it will either sit there, quiet and isolated, forever, or maybe there will be some later thing where this girl goes off on her own solo adventure now and then.

And, that's it for now.