#I'M SORRY ERIK I GAVE YOU SUCH A SAD BACKSTORY FOR NO REASON AT ALL

[lilflowerpot]

Hello!! I’ve been reading Little Blade for around three years now—I think actually four?? Around the first couple of chapters at least and I just wanted to say: thank you so much for all the fun nights I’ve had reading your fic! I’ve re-read it to keep entertained on long flights and just for fun. Heck I even gush to my friends (who sadly aren’t in the fandom) about how much your writing style enamores me and the way you explore characters relationships! Especially the PLOT I am always here for the romance with plot ^^

Speaking of plot 👀 I also had a question about the Druid “Erik” from a couple of chapters ago! If it’s not going to be revealed later in the plot ofc. He was such a big part of the infiltration mission on Keith’s end (and honestly kinda cute, he’s just a lil guy who imprinted on Keith!) and the big mystery of how he functioned and all—but he disappeared and I don’t think he was ever mentioned again besides Lotor in a dialogue exchange in chapter 22 or 23?

Like, he’s so interesting?? I wanna know why he focused so much on Keith and called him Rhyal??? Was it because he was aware it was targeting Keith? Or is smth in Keith just Inherently “Rhyal” to other Galra? Is he self sufficient in anyway? Do people in his condition need to be cared for or can they survive without eating at all? He was described as “leaking” so can you somehow fix that and rebuild his quintence?? (I probably misspelled that) if so!!! Does he even remember himself or is it like being “born” again??? I just!! Have so many questions and wanna see him again!! He was given a name, so going by most rules of literature that means he’ll be returning no?

I’m sorry if I just missed a line that explained it or not i just thought to ask since I could. Thank you again so much for writing and sharing your fic with us!

😭😭😭😭 you're so very sweet and ilysm thank you!!

Erik was a beautiful accident for me—one I never explicitly planned for that came about as I was writing that chapter purely by chance—so I'm genuinely thrilled to know that you love them as I do! I had hoped that their reasoning behind repeating "rhyahl" would become clear after the resolution of that chapter, but I suppose I did leave it somewhat ambiguous: though Keith thought Erik was using Lotor's nickname for him, they were actually trying to warn him about the monster that lurked ahead! ...Though why they were warning Keith specifically is up to you to decide, as that's not something I'll be disclosing just yet ;)

Though initially Erik's purpose was solely confined to chapter 18, I grew unreasonably attached while writing, and given that they were largely so well-received I have since minorly tweaked to the plot to allow for them to make a reappearance in the (distant) future! I shan't say much more than that, but what I can tell you is that their quintessence was drained by the rhyahl to such a severe level (far beyond that which Keith himself suffered) that,,, the person they were before is essentially dead and gone, and that which Keith met was an entirely blank slate.

When Keith glances back a second time to gauge their reaction, Erik’s ears prick up slightly and they click their tongue with a fluttering trill that neither Matt nor Hunk seem to hear, and it’s so… it’s so sad, not just the sound but all of it, as if in bearing witness to this leaking vessel’s ethereal gait turned slurred and stumbling, Keith himself has been burdened by a hollow ache in his chest, because whoever this Druid was before—whatever terrible things they might have done in the name of Haggar or the Empire or even Sa itself—they simply aren’t anymore. They just don’t exist. Keith’s stomach takes a swooping, sickening swan-dive as the full force of what it means for a living being to suffer such a monumental loss of quintessence hits him; this Druid isn’t simply ‘leaking’ in the abstract, but rather comatose, and haunting their own corpse. - Little Blade, chapter 18