As I mentioned the other day– and have talked about on more than one occasion, I had already written book 3 of Senta and the Steel Dragon before writing book 2.  Knowing what was going to happen with the characters, I extrapolated a year and a half back and fit them into the new book’s plot.  In some ways this worked well, and in others it didn’t.  There are some spots in which I think Senta acts a little more immature in book 3 than in book 2.  On the other hand, that happens to all of us now and then.

I also had to extrapolate how the town of Port Dechantagne was going to look.  In book 3 there was a thriving town square, so in book 2 it had to be under construction.  Here is the scene from The Dark and Forbidding Land when Senta first visits town square.

It was a walk of only about three hundred yards from the new home Zurfina the sorceress and her ward to the large gate in the protective wall that divided the now completely subdued peninsula from the large and still untamed forest.  When Senta reached the gate she found a great deal of activity.  A town square had been built just outside the gate some months before, and it would eventually be the center point of the colony.  A new flagpole had been delivered on the last ship and two men, while a small crowd of men and women watched, were erecting it.  That was not all that was going on though.  No less than three good-sized buildings were under construction around the square despite the frigid and damp weather.  The two new buildings on the east side of the square already had walls, doors, and windows and now men walked around upon their roofs hammering down shingles.  The building on the southwest corner was still being framed in when Senta had last seen it—little more than a wooden and iron skeleton of a building.  Now its walls were done and it too was getting a roof.  The three were joining the two buildings that had sat along the east side of the square since its construction—the dress shop and Mr. Parnorsham’s Pfennig Store.  Senta saw a face she knew and walked over to its owner.

“Hello Mr. Darwin.”

“Oh hello, Senta,” said the bespectacled older man, who was only slightly taller than the ten year old girl.  “How are you this cold morning?”

“I’m okay.  Which of these buildings is going to be yours?”

“This one right here,” he replied, pointing to the left most of the two having their roofs put on.  “I’m right next to Mr. Parnorsham’s Pfennig Store.  I think that’s the best spot in the square.  Don’t you?”

“I kind of thought you would have moved in there when Mrs. Wachtel died,” said Senta, indicating the shop just to the left of the Pfennig Store.

“Yes, well… to be honest, when Mrs. Wachtel… a…  passed away,” Mr. Darwin crossed himself.  “I had already signed the paperwork.”

“So what are they going to do with her place?”

“It’s my understanding that Mrs. Bratihn is going to take over the business.”

“I guess that will be good since her husband can’t work on account of being blind.”

“Mmm,” nodded Mr. Darwin, noncommittally while he took off his glasses to wipe them with a clean handkerchief.

“I didn’t expect Mrs. Government to let us go too long without a dress shop.”

Mr. Darwin bit his lower lip.  “Senta, you are irrepressible.  You are going to have to learn to watch what you say.”

“I think Senta will always say what she means,” said a voice from behind them.

They turned around to see Egeria Lusk in a beautiful dress that was only slightly less white than the surrounding snow and a bright colored coat that was only slightly more red than her fiery hair, which just now was pulled up into a bun and tucked behind the straw boater she wore.  Miss Lusk was a very small woman with very large green eyes, and though strikingly beautiful, she was known more for her keen mind.

“Good day to you, sir,” she said, curtseying to Mr. Darwin, who bowed at the waist in return.  “Where are you off to, Senta?”

Senta shrugged.

“I’m going to the Pfennig Store for some lace.  Why don’t you come along with me?”

“Okay.  Good day Mr. Darwin.”

“Good day beautiful ladies,” said Mr. Darwin, once again bowing at the waist.