happy birthday, Nath

Yes, his birthday is on Winter Solstice. It was terribly conveniant for the plot, you see. XD The funny thing is, it's his birthday but he's not turning any older, because he needs to stay seventeen for most of the book.

Here comes Ezroth to eat your face! Too much to do, and I can’t be in three places at once. The street was in tumult. Mothers screamed for their children, chickens squawked underfoot, and the road was clogged with carts, carrying the people of Amren to Birchwall and safety with all possible speed.
It wasn’t enough.
I can’t do this, I thought again, picking up another child and putting her in the cart. The girl’s eyes were wide with fear, her face tinged red in the glow of torchlight. I cast a glance over my shoulder, towards the mountains. The sky in the east was stained with soot and flames. I want to help these people... but Alethia needs me too... and Nath...
As I thought his name, Nath came running up with two children in his arms. “This isn’t working,” he muttered as he handed his charges up to a woman in the cart bed. “The carts aren’t moving fast enough. I sent out a couple families by way of the river, but we only have a few boats. I don’t see how we can possibly get everyone out of Amren in the next three hours.”
“We can try,” I growled as the cart drove away, laden with townsfolk and chickens. “We’ll save as many as we can.”
Nath’s face was drawn. He grabbed my arms, forcing me to look at him. “Andra, I’ll be eighteen at dawn.”
I locked my gaze on him. There was fear in his eyes, the same fear I had seen in the face of the child, but he wasn’t afraid of Ezroth. He thought he was going to lose his sight.
“I know,” I said, and turned away, gritting my teeth. “Better work faster.”

Something like this will be happening in Chapter Ten, which falls between the Black Moment and the Showdown on the story line. There's supposed to be some sort of 'tension clock' in this chapter that's kind of like a time bomb. You know how they always do it in movies, where there's an explosive device with a digital timer in red numbers on it that's counting backwards really fast, and the camera keeps cutting back and forth between close-ups of the timer and the hero trying to get to the timer/take out the bad guy/save the pretty girl? It's like that. But different, because there's no such thing as time bombs in Wrothmore. XD Instead, I have a rampaging pyrodemon and a dude who's going to go blind if they can't break his curse in the next few hours.

Happy Birthday, Nath! *glomps him* Sorry for everything I do to you...

Commander Kip

We must spank the children immediately, before they try to KILL you again!

Normal is overrated!