Happy New Year, everyone! I hope everyone could look back at the year they had and find at least something positive to remember, and a reason to look forward to 2023! I figured I'd celebrate in my own way with yet another chapter! And of all the chapters of the story so far, this is the one that I was the most intimidated by from the start because it's one of the biggest crux points with the most to juggle at once. Several characters are meeting for the first time, we have a long action sequence involving all of said characters, two of their arcs intersect and have major developments, and it has to all transition back and forth between fast action and slower introspection on the fly. I knew this would be the case, and I'm really happy that I've now gotten past this point in a way I consider satisfactory.

Because I had initially planned for the events of this and the previous part to all be in one chapter - a very foolish idea, I'm now realizing - I do want to get one more chapter out before deciding whether or not I want to keep focusing on this story, or switch over to another new fic to shake things up a bit before returning to this. Part of me wants to put out something different for anyone who doesn't really care about this fic, but another part wants to build off the creative momentum and get it closer to a proper conclusion. I'll see how I feel after Part 16. :)

I also want to thank everyone who's commented so far, particularly on Archive of Our Own, where this fic has found a fairly new home. You're all awesome! As are the people who simply Kudos or Bookmark the fic! :D