Well, goys and girls, we've made it through the first third of Across the Sea. I didn't actually think I'd make it this far, I was convinced I would have given up by now. Nope! We're coming up on the one year anniversary in about a month and a half, I hope to have some important events in the story published by then. So, spoilers ahead of Doompaul here, read at your own risk:

Super spoilers here. Man, talk about a shitty 12 hours for Aharôs. Euthanizes his own father and then his half-brother steals his kingdom he's spent the last 15 years building almost single-handedly. Protip: I like to knock my characters down and then kick them. Why aren't our heroes on this side of the ocean going south? Well, the kingdom to the south, Bîerlas, doesn't exactly like the Loiars, and sending our young pegasi in alone wouldn't be a good idea either. What about west and then south? Not the friendliest area either, they'd eventually hit the Karthâ river, which is pretty much like Renaissance Italy in terms of politics and little states battling each other. So, north is the only option available. The March ought to be safe enough. Right?

Anyways, if Across the Sea was divided into three sections, we just finished the first one. We're more than 33% in, volume wise (probably somewhere around 37%), but plot wise, we're definitely a third of the way there. Character building will always go on right until the last chapter, but the ball is really rolling now. Some of you thought the end of Verâd and crowning of Aharôs would move us right on to the clash of civilizations... Nope! Well, not from any of our Sarathûl POVs. Now our heroes on this continent need to get to Ar-Athazîon, the crowning gem of mankind's civilization. And after that... Well, I don't make anything easy.  

Equestria, though, they face no such trouble. Celestia won't forestall her actions just because Turaz and Tempest are no longer in front-row seats to international affairs. If you're reading a John Hood fic and you expect everything to along smoothly without any wrenches in the gears, you might want to go back to My Little Dashie. No plane ever survives first contact with the enemy, as all our characters will soon learn... The Happening has just begun.