Some of you will notice that an update has appeared to my latest short story, "Meetings in Moxgo".

This is because the original contained a number of minor errors which, although they did not detract from the tale, were a cause for annoyance. Thus, I have changed a few minor matters which required changes and tweeked a few others.

Most of these errors occurred because I have been under the weather recently, as have a number of other writers here. I suspect that it is just a 'time of year' thing. I hope that for all of us, matters may improve as the spring approaches.

Still, that is no reason for submitting a substandard product.

Changes

I had seriously underestimated the distance from Palarand to Moxgo. I based my original date on the known date of Jaxen's departure and the length of time it took the caravan to get down from the mountains at the beginning of SEE, plus a little bit.

What I overlooked was that the whole of that original journey was downhill. Uphill, and even partly loaded, it would have taken much longer - though, of course, going down the other side might have been quicker. In addition, I had not looked at the map of the route before I posted. When I did so, I discovered that it was much further than I had thought, hence the adjustment in arrival date from +7 days to +20 days.

Also, it was always planned to have the titles of the ruler of Moxgo and his subordinates be something exotic. To make life slightly easier, I went with "His Majesty" and "Her Majesty" for direct adressing and reference, but references to King and Queen were just plain wrong. These have been fixed. It was also pointed out that I named Robanar "uncle" instead of "grandfather" to the three boys and this has been fixed.

There have been some other minor changes to clarify people in speeches.

Background

While I'm here, it might be as well to explain why I did this tale. It partly explains two loose ends in SEE, namely, i) what is happening in Moxgo and ii) who did Elizet marry. I always had in the back of my mind that Elizet might have married someone 'down Moxgo way' but I had not thought much more about that until recently. It didn't really matter since she isn't part of any of the main tales... so far.

Marrying her to the Autokrator (which just means Absolute Ruler) seemed a way to both explain what happened to her and to give me a chance to create Moxgo and the region immediately surrounding it. Although it is effectively a neighbor of Palarand, it is also three weeks travel away so that makes the relationship a distant one, unlike that of Malann in Vardenale.

The Autokrator is essentially a King but he has a larger and more difficult realm to administer. Kordos is a bit of a loose cannon, but given the potential threats he faces from south and west that might not be so surprising. I suspect that his heir, Nikos, will be a much better ruler, especially once Garia's improvements trickle through.

I have considered that the small outpost of Chivans who managed to set up a colony in Moxgo - hence the mountain road - survived the deadly virus that killed most off in the north. Perhaps a subsequent addition of a transferee from, say, Byzantium is what gives the region the flavor it does. That is why titles and names sound the way they do. Subsequent connections during the time of later empire will explain why they speak the way they do, and why many of the can use Valley-speak as well.

So that explains my small submission for the winter break. Work on Visund proceeds at a slow but steady pace; as I mentioned my health is questionable at the moment.

Penny