#tmatb spoilers

[keydekyie]

did liruk go to the village thinking demayn was there and wanted to finish him off via ruyak and was disappointed he wasn't actually there or was it complete accidental coincidence that he at first was seeking demayn out from the village for ruyak not realising he might've been after the same guy?

SPOILERY STUFF FROM BOOK I!!

Liruk wouldn't have known exactly which village Demyan was from, since he was captured on the road. All Liruk knew was that the human was a blacksmith, since he had his wares with him. That was why in coming right into Motylek to find an artist for Ruyak, he sought another blacksmith. He didn't know (or care) that they were looking in the same village.

Also, way back when, right after Sliuk got kicked out, everyone assumed Demyan was killed in the shuffle. I doubt Liruk spared much thought to wondering what really happened to him.

[theboarsbride]

Time for Jojo to have a ramble about themes in TMATB because-

i wanna...

while working on the new cover for TMATB and doodling the frame of the portrait/mirror, I wanted to add structures that resemble eyes kind of??? (also eye motifs seen with the butterflies' designs - both in the art and book!

Because a major theme in TMATB is the idea of being watched. Sophie is constantly watched, whether it be by Edgar, the butterflies (...there lies a spoiler in this fact btw....), the Ghost, Claude, and Late Victorian London society. There is also the theme of fear of being perceived, shown in Edgar wanting to hide himself from everybody out of fear that perceiving him would lead to repulsion and Sophie dreading of her being perceived by society after she sells her hair-

i just... i love rambling about this stupid aah shiznit...

[keydekyie]

Continuing on from the last ask. 'Danger thickened the air like pooling blood'. 'While the blizzard' ending in 'melted back into thoughts'. The part where Kaelin burns her old house such as where it starts 'Burning cottage' ending in 'belched smoke'. 'Words snagged' and ending in 'like cloth on a splinter'. 'Followup questions raced' ending in 'coherent speech'. The whole part where Kaelin has to leave and has thoughts starting from 'feel like circling' and ending in 'like a brooding peasant?'

More good quotes! Thank you!

[keydekyie]

but sir, this is my emotional support monster

[keydekyie]

After they trust and feel comfortable around each other, does Kaelin try to find as many comfy places she can cuddle Ruyak? Like he asks him to hold out his hand/paw and she can look at them as big, fluffy, warm hammock with toe beans instead of dangerous claws

🤨

you been peeking at my book III draft? (lol)

[keydekyie]

At the top of page 114 of Book I (physical version), is imaginary Sliuk referring to when her brothers would eat any humans they came across, or something else we haven't seen yet?

Yep! That's absolutely what she's referring to.

[keydekyie]

Theoretically, if Anfisa ever had the change to sit down and properly talk with Ruyak, would she be willing to try or no? And If she did, would Ruyak act the same way he did with Vadik, or would be regard her differently?

🤫🤐

[keydekyie]

Pt. 1/2 since phone is wonky:

Just finished TMATB ii after finally having time to read it through. I loved this start to Kaelin and Ruyak's journey despite it being difficult (communication, stormy weather, brief sibling drama, new acquaintances etc). Favorite part off the top of my head was Kaelin drawing in the dirt and explaining to Ruyak different insects while both are drunk. The interaction was too cute with both so comfortable with eachother in the moment. Can't wait for book iii 🙏 so I've been going back through old posts of yours for now and will continue to do so ❤

<3 <3 <3 thank youuu!!!

I'm glad you liked it! I had so much fun writing it, and I'm really excited to finish book III. The mead and spiders scene is one of my favorites too, as it's the start to the way things will be moving forward.

thanks for your kind words! :D

[keydekyie]

Some Questions!

@higurehige was asking me some TMatB questions, and I decided to post the answers so everyone can read them like an ask. Some things will be answered in book III or IV, so if there's something missing (or heck, if you're a someone who's sent an ask that I haven't answered and have been waiting for a long time) it's probably because it'd be a spoiler or I'm writing a short about it.

Minor spoilers for book II under the cut:

How did Professor Kaminski end up with a Kanai baculum?

She inherited it from her predecessor along with a few other specimens, all collected from slain Kanai. She keeps it in her office specifically to make Vadik uncomfortable.

[Ruyak] had such a weird reaction to the antler in his paw, what was that about?

Ever stubbed your toe really bad on something stupid and had someone come running and make a big fuss over it? That's how Ruyak felt about that antler. Not only was he A) in pain and B) embarrassed about it, Kaelin's intense interest was just really annoying. That and he's got a tendency to be snarly and growly about things. Not good at words, that boy, especially when he's worked up. It took him a minute to realize Kaelin just wanted to help and he could stop being a grump about it.

i wonder how urikes nameday went….i wonder if she had gotten attached and had to just get it over with and if thats why she worries about ruyak so much…. do they still participate in name days? Or will tion and suika have a different ritual for their name days?

Urike was the younger sister and had a pretty similar upbringing to Datee. She got through her adinen rite without too much fuss. However, there was always something that didn't sit right with her about the whole eating humans thing, especially after witnessing her future husband Harirak have a very hard time going through with his rite. As Urike got older she became more compassionate than her sister, and raised her children with a kinder hand than she herself had been dealt. She's not exactly willing to draw a line and say it's wrong to eat humans, but she's also raising her children to be compassionate. So, you know. We'll see. As for what Tion and Suika's namedays will be like, I think I'll leave that up to speculation for now. Tion's would be coming up relatively soon after Ruyak and Kaelin's visit, so... that'll be interesting. Certainly it's obvious Suika's going to find the whole thing extremely upsetting, but will anything come of it? Would Urike be willing to allow her children to risk their futures by skipping by the whole thing? Would they petition the other local Kanai for an alternative? Perhaps others in the area are feeling similarly, and have just been too nervous to speak up about it for fear of reproach? Hmm... things to think about.

[keydekyie]

It wasn’t long before she awoke to find herself on the cold floor in a bruised heap, her right shoulder throbbing horribly. She’d fallen asleep sitting up. Had she tumbled over or was she pushed? She scrambled upright, but a crushing weight knocked her back to the ground.

“You aren’t taking this very seriously, are you?” whispered a terrifyingly close voice.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m just tired!” Kaelin whimpered, trying her best to seem repentant. It took a great deal of self-control to keep from struggling against the hand pinning her to the rocky floor, but she knew being compliant was the best way to avoid injury. Her experience with Ruyak told her that when she was being handled roughly, resisting only made her handler more forceful.

“I knew Ruyak wasn’t disciplining you properly, but you’re downright insolent,” Kadu growled. The weight on Kaelin increased, and she was finding it difficult to breathe.

“P-please,” Kaelin gasped, “I’ll s-stay awake now!”

“No, you won’t,” Kadu rumbled, “not without something to help.”

Check out my book?

More little animations from book 1. I don’t draw Ruyak’s oldest brother Kadu very often, but when I do he always scares me.

[keydekyie]

So, how many Kanai has Vadik or anyone from his group actually killed?

From the time Vadik joined the Loske Special Guard (the Beis-slaying unit) as a foot soldier at about 20 years old to the time of the story 35 years later, the unit successfully slayed about 24 Kanai. More than half of those are during the decade of Vadik commanding the unit.

Let's just say the unit was not nearly as successful at actually killing Kanai until Vadik became commander. Plenty successful at bothering Kanai, but that tended to come with heavy casualties.

I'll also mention that those 24 Kanai were from all over Kellabor, not just around Loske. The unit goes where it needs to go, but where it needs to go is most often around Loske, and that's why it's based out of Loske.

I started writing Vadik and Anfisa's life stories just now and had to stop myself because yikes, ain't nobody got time to read all that.

[keydekyie]

Heyo Anon!

I'm answering your ask under a cut to hide spoilers!

So yeah, TMatB BOOK II spoilers below:

Yep! That's the one!

This ask made me laugh because I can't remember where I mentioned the water table, but it makes me indescribably happy that my silly little story about giant man-eating bear monsters is teaching people science ❤

[keydekyie]

ahh im a bit nervous and im not sure if this is right blog to send this to but i just wanted to drop by and say that i absolutely loved your book!!! Made me cry a bit actually and had me feel some of the nervousness the characters feel!! I've re-read it maybe 4 times now and I'm so looking forward to reading more from you!! Have a great day!!

Thank youuuuuu!!! omg if the first book made you cry then the next one is gonna be a doozy!

[keydekyie]

Ruyak looked up. “A ferry?”

“It’s a kind of boat-”

Suddenly Ruyak’s head whipped around to face his pack on the other side of the camp, his focus entirely diverted. He sat up and got swiftly to his feet without a sound.

“What’s wrong?” Kaelin asked, but Ruyak just flicked an ear at her. When she repeated herself, Ruyak glared at her sidelong and flicked his ear again, somehow more insistently.

Shh, he seemed to be saying, so Kaelin crossed her arms to wait.

Ruyak then crouched low, stalking silently towards the pack with his ears trained on it. When he was close, he bobbed his head, just slightly, sniffing the air. It was a display so much like what Kaelin would expect to see from a rodi listening to a rat in the walls, she knew it just had to be that some creature was rustling around in their supplies. She took a few cautious steps back, imagining a feral rodi or a drake bursting out in a vicious frenzy.

But nothing happened for a long time, and Ruyak sat so perfectly still Kaelin had to wonder how he had the patience for it.

Abrupt as a lightning strike, an explosion of rapid movement and thunderous footfalls made Kaelin scramble farther away, once again rattled by how terrifyingly fast Ruyak could be given his size. The chaos ended with a quick shriek from whatever unlucky creature had just met its end amid the pile of Ruyak’s pack and scattered supplies. Kaelin reflexively shut her eyes and covered her ears, trying to block out the awful, hollow sound of crunching bones.

Once things quieted she peeked up, and there Ruyak was, grinning hugely. The look of utter joy on his face was a difficult thing to parse with the blood dripping down his chin, but Kaelin tried to smile back. She put her hands down and shook herself off.

“What was it?” she asked, peering at the torn-up earth and scattered supplies.

“Kreezin. Big one, too.” 

Kaelin frowned in confusion, still looking around Ruyak’s feet. “Where is it?”

“Well I, uh…” Ruyak sat up and shook out his mane, grin turning sheepish. “I ate it.”

“You… you what?”

“I ate it.”

Kaelin blinked, “You’re joking.” 

“I was hungry, and it was trying to get to my rations, so…”

“So you just… ate it. Just like that.”

“Yep.” Ruyak dusted off his hands for a moment, then sauntered back over to where Kaelin was standing and sat down. “So, what were you saying about ferries?”

Kaelin shook her head distractedly. “R-right, they’re, um… They’re for… Sorry, you have, uh…” she gestured to her own mouth. “You have something…”

“Oh,” Ruyak tucked his ears in embarrassment and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Probably shouldn’t have done that in front of you…”

“Um… no, it’s…” Kaelin stammered, trying to find her scattered thoughts.

Ruyak finished wiping his face off and smiled at her. There was still an unsettling amount of blood, now smeared around. 

“Better?” he asked.

[for more check out my books]

"Sorry, you have, uh... you have something..."

[keydekyie]

The Moth and the Bear Book II goes live tomorrow!

Tomorrow (August 27th) Book II will finally be available on Kindle and Smashwords. Within a few days, the paperback will also be available, though Amazon doesn't tell me exactly when.

If I get any asks or post anything spoilery, I will be tagging it "#tmatb II spoilers", so feel free to blacklist that until you're done reading.

As a reminder, I did split what I was calling book II into two books, because otherwise it would have been abominably long. The good news is that it means book III is already mostly done. The bad news is that you'll still have to wait a little longer for it.

Anyway I'm just really excited for people to read it. I've worked very hard on it and I think it's genuinely really good. Way better than book I, anyway.

Thanks again to my beta readers for helping me with those final touches, and to everyone for their support and kind words.

Happy reading!

[keydekyie]

Hi! I am super stoked to read your second book soon! Is there any chance you could post a small sneak peak of a fluff scene or part of the next book? Those were always my favorite parts of your first book🥰

Ask and ye shall receive (though it's hard to find fluffy scenes that aren't peppered with spoilers, I think this one ends on a cute note). For context, the two of them have been traveling together for a little more than a month at this point. They've been slowly getting more comfortable with each other and haven't encountered all that much mortal peril yet.

The Stranger

Excerpt from TMatB II: The Crossing (Chapter 26: Upwind) 1408 words, no content warnings

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After making camp that afternoon, the weather started turning again.

It wasn’t surprising, spring in the mountains was always temperamental, but as Ruyak picked his way through the brush, the smell of coming cold rains put him a bit on edge. The wind was biting, and overhead a blanket of clouds rushed across the sky as though they had somewhere to be.

The change wasn’t all bad. It did bring with it the hope Kaelin would forgo her tent again. Weather like this made Ruyak the better option, and the prospect was oddly enchanting to him. For the moment, though, he needed to get some hunting done.

He was moving across the wind away from their camp, hoping to pick up the scent of something as he went. If he picked up a trail in enough time before the weather turned, he’d count himself supremely lucky.

The spring foliage was truly starting to thicken up here and there, shiny green leaves unfurling all around in impenetrable clumps. Everything smelled fresh and growing, even in the cool air. If he couldn’t find prey here, Ruyak was hopeful about finding other fare.

He paused to more closely sniff a spot that caught his attention. Boar, less than a day gone. Young male. No… several males, mixed ages. Ruyak walked along the trail, sniffing carefully. The herd of boar had headed east. If they were still somewhere over there, his own scent was likely wafting on the breeze towards them. That was inconvenient, but he took off in that direction anyway. If he had any hope of catching them before they were alerted to his presence, he’d need to hurry.

He tracked the scent with his nose close to the ground, following the trail. It wasn’t too difficult, as boar usually made tracking easy with how much they stirred up the leaf litter as they foraged, but he needed to stay close to it. Wherever the forest opened up, the scent was stale and mixed up by the wind.

Finally, Ruyak heard a soft rustling in the brush up ahead, and he broke from the trail to move downwind of his quarry. When he found the right place, he crouched down in a patch of thick foliage to watch.

The forest before him was clear and open, smelling strongly of cool, decaying pineneedles and mushrooms and podzol. Mediocre terrain for a chase. It’d be slippery, and a boar would be able to turn quickly around the huge trees.

The thing about boar was that, like Ruyak, they were faster than they looked.

Ruyak watched motionlessly from the edge of the thicket as the boar meandered through the towering pines. It was just one boar, a male, a few years past his prime, but very large and well fed. He had a slight limp in his left hind leg that was only apparent when he raised his head to move to his next rooting place. He smelled clean, no recent injuries or illnesses, but a little stressed. The limp was worrying him, or something else was.

Ruyak started to creep forward, but then another scent caught his attention.

He almost disregarded it at first, thinking he’d somehow crossed his own trail, but it only took a second of consideration to realize how foolish that was. Ruyak ground to a halt and snorted, heart turning over, and at the sudden sound the boar sped off with a wailing screech. Ruyak didn’t care. Boar forgotten, he scrambled back to where he’d noticed the new scent.

A Kanai, just a few minutes gone. Ruyak wasted another moment trying to determine whether the scent was familiar or not, before realizing in what direction the trail was going.

Whoever it was, they were at that moment somewhere between him and camp. Camp, where Kaelin was. Alone. 

They could be doing anything. They’d had plenty of time while Ruyak was wandering after boar trails. And Kaelin was alone.

And then Ruyak was sprinting, tearing through the woods as fast as his legs could carry him. Panic spurred him straight through every obstacle he met, and in no time at all he was crashing through the trees back into their campsite. 

He skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust and looked around. The abject stillness of the camp felt alarming enough to kill him. 

“Kaelin?” he wheezed.

After a few heart-stopping seconds, a little red headscarf poked cautiously out of a pocket in his pack, and the relief at the sight was so debilitating Ruyak could have collapsed right there. He managed to steady himself and stagger closer, but Kaelin didn’t come out to greet him, instead cringing fearfully back into the pocket. 

Too breathless from running to speak and lacking the patience to wait for her to speak on her own, Ruyak crouched down to sniff the pocket Kaelin was hiding in. She smelled afraid, of course, but unhurt. That would have to do, for now.

Ruyak turned away and stood fully upright to look around at the forest and sniff the air. The stranger would likely be downwind, probably biding their time. Watching. Listening. In any case, Ruyak couldn’t catch the scent of them anymore, so they hadn’t come into the camp after all.

Kaelin’s annoyed voice came from below, “What are you doing?” 

She’d emerged from her hiding place and was glaring up at Ruyak with her arms crossed. Of course, Kaelin would have no awareness of the stranger’s presence. From her perspective, Ruyak had just come barreling back into the small clearing at full speed like a living landslide for no apparent reason.

“Sorry,” Ruyak gasped, still breathless. He fell back onto all fours with a heavy thump, and Kaelin staggered back. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Of course I’m alright. What’s going on?”

“There’s someone around.”

“Who?”

“A stranger,” Ruyak explained. “A Kanai stranger.”

Kaelin’s eyes widened, all annoyance evaporating. “Oh…”

Ruyak watched her face as her eyes raked the trees. He blinked hard, trying to push from his mind all the grotesque imaginings that had started accumulating the moment he’d realized in what direction the stranger’s trail was heading. His fur prickled. “I was… I wasn’t sure I’d make it back in time,” he said miserably. 

“Well, apparently you did,” Kaelin chuckled. She looked up at him, rubbing her arms. “What should we do, now?”

“Leave. Definitely leave.”

“Okay.”

Kaelin stepped away, giving Ruyak room to get to his pack. Hardly anything had been unpacked, so it only took a moment to get everything put away and strap it on. The only sign of their presence would be the unlit pile of firewood in the middle of the clearing.

“Ready?” Ruyak crouched down, watching Kaelin expectantly with one arm angled for her to climb up, but she hesitated.

“Could I actually, um…” she pointed at Ruyak’s chest.

“What? You want in the pocket instead?”

“Would you mind?”

Ruyak laughed at Kaelin’s sheepish expression. “I’d greatly prefer it, actually.” He leaned further down and flipped the top of the pocket open with one claw. Now Ruyak was glad he had kept the pocket empty ever since their visit to Urike’s, in case Kaelin wanted to ride in it again.

Kaelin squared her shoulders and marched over, spent a moment awkwardly scrambling up into the pocket, and finally tumbled into the bottom with a disgruntled huff. Ruyak waited a moment longer while she arranged herself, and finally she popped her head out.

“Ready,” she said.

Ruyak blinked at her. It was strange, how the sight of her looking up at him from that pocket made everything feel so much less daunting for a moment, made the world feel so much smaller, so much friendlier. It was even better than pretending to be a tent.

Kaelin cocked an eyebrow at him, tilting her head. “Well?”

Ruyak inhaled. The wind shifted, carrying the stranger’s scent straight to his nose, and suddenly the world was a hostile place again. He shook his head and got moving, heading northwest. “It’s nothing.”

“Why do you prefer I ride in here, anyway?” Kaelin asked.

“Oh, uh… it’s just safer, probably,” Ruyak fumbled over his words as he tried to avoid blurting what he was thinking, which wasn’t very coherent in his head anyway and probably would have come out wrong. His attention was too split between worry and euphoria for any eloquence. “And it’s getting cold. It might rain.”