It’s funny – I’m thinking that “I need to finish Chapter 4” until I look at the page count and how nicely I finished up a particular section of writing.  So, although I thought I was going to “get more done” in that chapter, the truth is that it involves Sahnassa (disguised) rescuing her own sister.  That required some time and care, and frankly had a lot of opportunities for interesting interactions as Sahni gets to learn about herself as her sister speaks to someone who is – on the surface – a total stranger.

Chapter 5 is the turning point into the next section of the book.  There is still one huge rescue to finish, but then all the characters will have to live through the horrible sols after such a massive attack.  As someone who was around during the time of 9/11, it’s brought up some interesting memories.  One of the most profound was that for several days, there were no planes in the sky.  It’s amazing how used we’ve gotten to their presence – there are few places I’ve lived where you couldn’t look up in the sky (day or night) and see something moving up there.  There was also this on-going worry about “what’s next.”  It’s a feeling I also felt when the DC Sniper was on the prowl.  He got as far south as Ashland, so even we in Richmond were on edge.

Imagine if those feelings were world-wide, and (validated or not) one particular group was claimed to have taken responsibility.  Like after Pearl Harbor, where internment camps were used to house Japanese-Americans, one can expect the rights of that group to be severely endangered if not abolished.  So much progress can be so easily wiped out and rolled back.  In the end, the real adversary in this book is not any set of individuals, it is fear.

JTL