Not long ago, I decided to kick Alex out of Stalemate, and enter Kei in his place. Several outlines later, Alex has come back to haunt me. I thought I had Stalemate all plotted...but lately...I've been missing Alex...but I love what I'm doing with Kei and Akasha in the story. Alex cannot take Kei's place or purpose in the story--well, he could take some of the place and purpose, but not all of it. I need Kei's berzerker curse, and it doesn't bode well on any of the other characters. Keeping Kei is not the question...putting Alex back in is.

But, there are many complications.

Advantages:

1. I think Alex and Akasha made a better couple

2. Putting Kei in Alex's place makes necessary changes to her personality, changes I'm not sure I like. She's too wise, and act much older than she is, where I had wanted her to be more childlike and naive. Being with Alex tones down her adult side some.

3. I like the love/marriage scene between Alex and Akasha much better than the one between Kei and Akasha.

4. A new love triangle to toss things in to make the story a little thicker, more complicated.

5. Kei can live at the end, and for some reason, I'm seeing the ghosts of a team forming in that strand...Navianna and Kei...sounds like it could be an interesting duo lol.

6. I can keep Akasha's purple hair in the beginning.

Complications:

1. Too many people would be attracted to Akasha...it would almost be like a C-ko syndrome. Kei wants her, Alex wants her, Navianna wants her, there's nobody else in there who wants one of them to balance it. Unless...I don't make a triangle out of Kei and Akasha...I always thought, that the way I wanted Akasha to be, she would be more like a little sister to Kei than a lover.

2. It ruins the subplot to make it seem like Kei is the main character. Or at least as the subplot stands now. To make Alex and Akasha's relationship stand, I would have to set it up some before they go on the journey, I would have to have the kids killed and Alex live for now to put her into the autumn phase...well...maybe not necessarily...she would have to go through the summer phase first: maturation, which the journey would probably bring to her. Then autumn...how to deal with autumn now...the lengthening of nights, the dying of nature...I suppose, her helping Kei with his berzerker curse, could have ill effects on her? She could begin to get depressed, as they travel and the quest seems futile, the land, in chaos, unsavable and depressing. Mute autumn's experience. Winter strikes when Alex dies, killed by Akasha's hands during a berzerker rage backfired onto her...OOOO! That's it! Autumn! The completion of autumn is her sucking ther berzerker curse into herself during the backfire. She assumes part of Kei with the curse and begins to turn more solemn, but, autumn had begun to set in before that as they traveled Taerion and she saw all the sadness, chaos, and desolation. Then, when they do battle again, with nobody to calm her berzerker rage, and set on by the fact they are surrounded by the very creatures that gave Kei the curse, she loses it and unleashes her powers. Kei manages to survive, just barely, along with the other magic folk about him, but Alex, being only human, dies. Thus, she is issued into winter.

3. I want to hide the true plot awhile. Make it look like a simple story of revenge for Kei...how to do that...how to do that, and still keep what I want between Alex and Akasha...what is the connection between Kei and Akasha, how do they find each other...? How do I make Alex not seem like a tag-along? What are Akasha and Alex's place in society? Are they thieves again? How did they meet? With Alex, the "old woman just outside the village/outcast" thing doesn't seem to work, though it never really worked for Akasha in the first place.

Perhaps I should start from the beginning and work up. I think, I'm still going to keep Alex where he is. Akasha, knows a little magic--she could be a healer or something. But what about Mikasis? Wouldn't his death and life alone have issued her into autumn already? If there was no Mikasis, then there would be no autumn phase yet...but, who was she raised by then? I think, maybe Mikasis stays, but he only recently died, maybe when she was 16 instead of 10...when he dies, it must be, upsetting, but at the same time, gentle. She has healing powers though...magic...perhaps he knows it is his time...or is it divine intervention, Onshtranals, knows it is necessary in order to get Akasha where he needs her to be...yes, I think that's it. But I must be careful about this divine intervention stuff...too much of it could be very bad...we want Onshtranals to do a lot of intervention, unseen in Akasha's life, all of his meddling is what turns her from him in the future, but we need to know why. It can't be foresight, if it was, then he would know that what he was doing, while it would push her through the experiences she needs, it would also push her away in the end--unless it was a toss up, the future, past a certain point was blurred. Stereotypical explanation though...I think, perhaps Justice knows. It fits in with his ultimate plan, and he, being the advisor of Onshtranals, could inform him of the decisions to make in order to get future balance out. His abilities could be to see all futures and pasts, and thus the reason for his being positioned to carry out the justice of the gods/goddesses. So why isn't he the High God then................................he doesn't like to lead--it's a personality thing. But, since he doesn't like to lead, he, being who he is, is in the perfect position to become the head advisor to the lead.

Yikes! That's completely off the topic I was trying to sort through I think. Anyway, before Mikasis dies, he somehow gets her involved with a rich family in town--I think Akasha aught to know basic illusion, it would be better than her cloaks. Make her look normal, that would throw off the readers too. Alex could be a part of that rich family, he came from a rich family originally, but his father died leaving nothing but debts and that's why Alex originally turned to a life of stealing and living on the streets. In this version, his family still has the money. He is drawn to Akasha's plain looks, seeing a hint of what's under the illusion without realizing it. He is facinated by the idea of magic, to the grief of his parents who would have rather he'd pursued other studies with his intelligence.

By God, this is working! It's really working! Don't know why I was so resistant to Akasha using illusion to disguise herself in the first place. BUT...now I have to start the outlining almost from scratch. *sigh* oh well. I think it will be better this way.