Author's Note to Readers

No, this isn't a new chapter. But I promise, there will be one soon.

Though it doesn't feel like it, I've been working on this project for over two years now, not counting the work I put into Canto and the related shorts I've published here and in other places. I've been happy with the little feedback I've gotten; most of the readers I have are people that have been kind enough to review on every chapter that they've read and have been following this story from the start. And I just wanted to express the huge amount of graditude that I have for the people that have put up with my sleep-deprived typos and the slow pace. Since I don't put notes on every chapter, I don't really have a way to say that every little review, even the short blasts, have been meaningful. So, much thanks to all of you, and I hope that you'll continue to enjoy the story I'm telling. It really means a great deal to know that a few people are reading.

Aside from that, I don't know how the general Tekken fans are responding to the story. It's somewhat of a mixed blessing. On one hand, it gives me the freedom to continue writing the story the way I want with no interference from fanon. But on the other hand, it's almost a slap in the face to see another Tekken fic with similar length but with a very tried and true formula with tens times the amount of reviews. Again, I have no way of know who's reading, or even if it's being read outside of the people responding. This isn't a complaint at all; mostly, it was an observation I made tonight when I was making my regular browse through this section. I know I couldn't possibly be the only author on the site that's noticed the odd trend, and I just wanted to say something to the readers:

You really owe it to yourselves to read through some of the other Tekken fiction on this site. There's no commitment needed as far as reviewing, but there is a lot of wonderful and creative fiction on this site that doesn't center around the same few characters as the literally hundreds of Tekken fic hosted here. As of late, I've been delighted at the amount of new fics popping up featuring rarely written about characters and creative takes on the story canon. Unfortunately, many of these fics aren't recieving the feedback and recognition they deserve simply because they're not about the three fan favorites: Jin, Hwoarang, and Xiaoyu. Though it might be hard to make yourselves excited about other characters, sometimes the best thing is to go ahead and read something that's different. Of course, there's always the chance that it won't be to your taste, or worse yet, you'll completely hate it. But not reading at all is even worse than hating something. These writers put just as much effort, sometimes more, into their work as any of the more conventional Tekken authors on the site.

With that said, I want to say thank you again to anyone that reads this story. I know that I didn't put a pairing label in the summary nor that I didn't mention all the characters involved. I know I didn't spell out every detail, and I know I never change the summary when I add a new chapter. I know that my prose can be a little hard to follow and that my interest in character development slows the action down immensely. So, I thank you all for having the bravery and patience to venture into something presented differently from most of the fiction in this section. It really gives me faith in my fandom to know that authors like me do have a very small place on this site to be welcomed at.

lilykane, December 2004