I probably should've put this between books 6&7 but I got several letters from very upset readers. Understandably upset.

Looking back at messages and comments, I probably would change a lot about the series. If I push out books 2+ out to paperback, I would probably re-write a lot of Alton and Duxton scenes. I had expected book seven to have pretty much the big answers and solutions and book six to be the lowest point for all characters.

But people are upset. The goal of this isn't to make you all upset with me. It's a story with five main characters, and three, err, mainer characters? Sybil, Alton, and Veximarl are the main three, while Chickadee and Zaniyah are the main support. And yes, I understand that the majority of you hate Alton.

I could say a thousand things about Alton, but I'll save that for second. Let's talk about Sybil.

One of my regrets is not better showing that Sybil does have some, if not a lot of mental instability. She pushes away friends randomly, she stays near people who hurt her, she spirals towards failure over and over again. Sybil has a form of depression. She's had it since she was a very young child. It's basically destroyed her ability of forming healthy relationships with people or making good choices for herself.

It was when Sybil got very sick as a young child, and how it's Lydia's fault that Meredith, Stallis' wife, is dead. I can't really say much more, but it will come up in Book Seven, I promise. I promise that Sybil's life isn't like this forever. I'm sorry that I kicked her down so much and that I just keep kicking her while she's down, but I do believe that every character will be getting the ending that the readers, you all, want.

As for Alton, his life wasn't so tragic, but he's only half-human. A lot of dumb decisions he makes are based on pure animal instinct barely filtered through human head. That's how strong the influence of his song is. And what are songs? They are a means to an end for Bellia, who is the god of souls and the Alcea family are their "prophets." Bellia is willing to sacrifice sirens to get the result they want, so what do they want with Sybil? That is also a Book Seven answer, so I can't say.

As for knight training, let's change topics to Braytons. Braytons is an establishment that was founded upon the idea of monsters fighting monsters. The first year Sybil was a knight was the first year that Till took over. The third year class was an example of the years upon years of squires that had gone through the establishment. Elite nobles who bribed their way in with very few good fighters.

Sybil's education shifted from a solider to the noble curriculum, and Lustro is a sexist society. She was also raised in the core, which had a very bad school curriculum. Sybil good at math and engineering, but has no concept of grammar, literature, history, or anything else. Hence why she's forced to spend a lot of time studying. Lady Till doesn't want Sybil to have the life that Lady Larkin did, where Lydia had to struggle to gain every inch until she became a war hero, but then she still died in a cave to an overzealous golem. Till thinks she is helping Sybil, but doesn't see how much Sybil is drowning, so doesn't intervene.

There's still a lot of lore and other stuff that we can cover. Gods. You want god stuff? I've got all sorts of lore in my head if you guys want that.

Honestly though, brief side table. I did get a lot of messages about Sybil's overall mistreatment, but Tish's magic stuff over Veximarl is one of the main reasons why Sybil ended up possessed, Zaniyah getting paralyzed, and Grimhawk dying. I didn't get a single message from anyone asking me why I'm also kicking Veximarl down.

I'm starting to think none of you like him either.