Astrid: It’s okay. I’ve been thinking about that recently myself. And I can promise you that my next saga will be . . . different.
In the meantime, would you like a signed book? I have so many of these, I could build a new wing of the house with them.
Hyacinth: I didn’t follow most of that, but YES!
Astrid (thinking): What should my next saga be about? All I know is, it can’t be anything like the one Lord Imri wants me to write. And if my editors don’t like it . . . Well, if any author in Sønheim can afford to start a new publishing house for the sake of one saga, I can.
Maybe I’ll include a rough-mannered Ceannic girl in the cast. Not as the main character, of course. But she could can give the heroine simple-yet-wise advice at a key moment . . .