From: Rachel
Hi Luna, hope all is well, and I am very much looking forward to catching up on what’s been happening to everyone lately in the upcoming book.
I’ve been thinking about Dark mages, and the fact that there seems to be a disconnect between the two strongest (at least politically strongest) Dark mages, Richard and Morden, and their Chosen. I associate the older mages with having more vampiric style traits – savagery with a veneer of old-world style and sophistication – very Machiavellian. Their Chosen, while powerful, lack self-control, and are blunt instruments, in a way, by comparison (more like werewolves,
no disparagement intended to either your characters, or werewolves, of course).
Morden and Richard are political and subtle, yet their Chosen don’t seem to reflect those aspects of their characters at all. Is this deliberate, or just a bit of a mess-up on their parts? Or do independent thinking apprentices tend to end up dead – or rogue like Alex?
I would also love to know more about Morden, if you’ve heard anything interesting – how old is he really, and why is he willing to be the political front for Richard? He seems to be powerful enough to be on his own.
Anyway, thanks for reading my rambling questions/thoughts, and thanks for continuing to share your insights with us!
Rachel
Yeah, it is a bit weird that both of them ended up with the same pattern. I’m not sure why it happened, but I’ve got a feeling it’s something to do with the problems with the whole Dark way of thinking. Way too much of a tendency to promote violent psychos.
The other possibility is they both just screwed up. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both of them ended up putting a lot of distance from their Chosen.
From: Sierra
1. Did you notice that when Anne was using the jinn the wish magic seemed limited to just a power up? Do you think this is because willing hosts are better able to limit the jinn’s ability to mess when them and use their power more effectively. Or could it be that this was just the tip of the iceberg and Evil/Not Our Anne was just testing the waters so to speak?
2. Alex is a diviner and Anne is a life mage, is everyone in the mage world jealous/envious?
Seriously though are there magic types that just connect well with each other either romantically or general friendships? I know you and Alex have a good connection with your overlap of Chance/Divination, do you think that it is similar with your friendships with Anne and Vari being a Life and Fire mage, or am I just overthinking this?
3. Do you know what Light Council Sonder is affiliated with? For some reason I could see him being involved with any of them but none of them if that makes sense he seems to undecided. Is that even possible with the Light Council?
1. I think she was still testing the waters. Plus she was limited by having to keep things quiet from her other half. The jinn can do more than that – a lot more.
2. There probably are, but it’s really hard to tell when it’s a case of the magic types and when it’s just the people.
3. I’m not sure, honestly. I don’t really keep in touch with him these days.
From: Brian
1. Now Richard and to some extent Morden have had their eyes on Alex
for some time but with Anne it seems different. By that I mean for
using something as powerful as the jinn you would need to find a
willing/non Dark Mage host for it to be used effectively which would
be quite difficult on the best of days, unless they had some foolproof
method of knowing that there would be a suitable host when Richard
came back. I do not think regular divinations could do this as I
believe that only Alaundo has the ability to look that far into the
future if at all and I doubt he would help Richard out being a Light
Mage and all. Now of course Richard could be a diviner and get the
information that way, but even if he was one I think it would be like
how Alex uses it, the Apollonian style because as far as I know most
diviners involved in mage politics uses that branch of divination. And
I doubt he would go to Dragons considering the drawbacks, but there is
another branch of divination that can get similar results and seems
more Dark affiliated, which is the Dionysian style which can make
pretty accurate predictions if you substitute morality something Dark
Mages have no problem doing. Sorry for the length of this question but
do you or Alex believe that it is possible that Richard could have
used Dionysian divinations to discover who and what he would need when
he came back and have his associates look out for them? I believe
Morden tried to get Anne to be his apprentice once, and I don’t they
would risk their plans to fate if they want to take out the Light
Council and rule Great Britain. I am sorry if this is just worthless
speculation but I don’t believe someone like Richard would leave
things this important to the off chance he could find someone as
powerful as Anne who wasn’t a Dark Mage for his plans to work but
would do you think?
2. A quick side question has Alex ever discovered how Richard knew he
was a diviner? Do you think Dionysian divination was involved or are
there are other methods that could be used to find new diviners?
1. Okay, look, I tried to read this question, I really did, but I couldn’t stop my eyes glazing over.
2. No.
From: Julianne
Hi Luna,
I hope you don’t mind me asking personal things, I’m just curious if you, Alex, Anne and Variam are still in touch with your families? If so, do they know what you’re doing right now? Alex’s father for instance doesn’t even know that his son’s a mage or the truth about his time with Richard and what happened afterwards. How about you, Variam and Anne?
Thanks for answering all those questions you get, take care!
We’re in touch with them. Kind of. It’s a long, complicated, uncomfortable subject, too big for a question on this blog. I also really don’t want to draw extra attention to our families, for reasons I think you can probably guess.
p.s. I don’t know if you’re still searching for this Alex/Variam slash fiction, but in case you do…
https://archiveofourown.org/works/19283494
Oh god. I thought it was just a joke! I’m sorry!
From: Alicia White
Hey, Luna! How are things?
I just wanted to know if you can tell us more about the history of the Arcana Emporium and more about the previous owner?
How long was the magic shop in operation before Alex took it over & how did he come to own it?
Weirdly enough, I’ve never asked. I think I probably should. I’ll try and remember to do it next time I get a chance to chat with Alex and there aren’t any emergencies . . . actually, come to think of it, that could take a long time.