Oh, this was brilliant! Simply amazing. I admit I was a bit taken aback by the quote in the beginning, but truly, I can't imagine another that would have been more appropriate. I like this view of the characters. It seems more honest than most and has more than a touch of real-world feel to it. I like the idea that the final battle will be a tale spun from whole-cloth by a set of fantastic story-tellers. Nice work. And the false mpreg bit was sheer genius. As was the "bonding." Heh. Brilliant. *bookmarks*