Like you, I'm a big fan of happy endings, and this one definitely hit the mark! Seeing Palledia walk Annie down the isle and the two reflecting on things as the sun set was absolutely beautiful.

I didn't really say it enough throughout the story, but Tebryn was a really good villain. Powerful, heartless, and driven, it felt like our heroes were overmatched against him throughout their journey, which kept the stakes high throughout the story. I was a big fan of his personality as well. I mean, I get that the misunderstood villain has been a really popular trope for some time now, but sometimes I just prefer my villains to be evil for evil's sake. And Tebryn was definitely that. Combined with his ability to manipulate and his eagerness to betray his allies, he was incredibly fun to read.

Also, he was apparently played by Jack Nicholson, what with that line about wonderful toys.

While we're on the subject of betrayed allies, Christina taking a surprise flaming sword the gut was pretty satisfying. And the lead-up to it, with us getting to read her justification for what she was about to do, was interesting. I love the fact that seeing things from her point of view only made her seem more terrible, when most of the time taking over the narrative makes characters more relatable. She came off as incredibly fickle, particularly in her reasoning for being happy for Amaya's would-have-been assassination. She was still a shit person for it, but I can understand why she would want Annie dead. But damn, wanting Amaya dead just because she doesn't like the "new money" imperial playing such a huge role in modern amazonian society is really, really pretty. Did I mention I'm glad she's dead?

It was great to see Annie be the one to take down Tebryn by herself, and by outsmarting him, too. Palledia understandably gets a lot of the focus in this story (it is called "The Exile" after all), but this story was almost as much a coming of age story as it was a redemption one. Annie coming into her own and taking down that unbeatable foe who was so focused on killing her specifically was a big moment in that regard, and it led in nicely to her taking charge in the aftermath of the battle. While she's still fun-loving, super horny Annie, it became a lot easier to see her more as Lady Ironshield and less as that kid we've been following around throughout most of the story.

And, of course, Palledia did a lot during this final lap of her redemption arc (do arcs have laps?). Although, I did find myself wondering if Griselda would have taken that bullet for Amaya even if she hadn't experienced the things she did on this journey, and I kind of think she would have. For all her faults, I always thought of her as brave and willing to self-sacrifice if needed, particularly for those she's fighting beside in the heat of battle. That was one of the things that made her so interesting to me as a villain in the original story (despite that stuff I said about villains when talking about Tebryn).

That being said, it was still an incredibly heroic moment for her, and it was clearly enough for Dirk and Cora to realize that Griselda wasn't out to get them (I also don't think she ever was, based on the last time we saw her in the original story). And confronting (or being confronted, I guess) by Dirk, Cora, and Cynthia and being able to apologize for what she did was a huge moment for Palledia. The ultimate expression of contrition is actually showing contrition to those you've wronged in the past, and that's never an easy thing to do. It may not have completely convinced the trio from Rain's End, but it did seem to have an impact.

Svetlana standing up for Palledia against those three was also satisfying. Yeah, obviously I get why Dirk, Cora, and Cynthia acted the way they did, but it's still frustrating (by design, I know) to see everything Palledia has been through and all the changes she's gone through be completely unnoticed by three people who've jumped to a radically wrong conclusion. So we got to live vicariously through Svetlana for a minute. And she was rewarded later in the chapter with a hilarious second shot at Arturus (for sex or assassination, we may never know).

Clyde didn't have a ton going on in this chapter (you know, aside from getting married), but I did like that he stood up for Palledia when Christina was trying to dismiss Annie's concerns. Between that and the slight teasing Palledia gave Lord Ironshield when she woke up were fine examples of the low key friendship that seems to have been forged between the two. I don't think "Lady Griselda" would have teased a man about such a title in that way before. I don't know, we didn't seem them interact directly a ton (although Palledia did have plenty of thoughts about Clyde early on), but I feel like they get along with each other pretty well, even beyond the mutual respect they've built with each other.

It was also awesome to see Clyde put an amazon in her place, albeit in a small way. And given that those recruits surely have plenty of experience in amazon swordsmanship (or in whatever weapon each one uses), I think Annie's troops having the Imperial swordsmanship style handy as well will give them an edge in battle. Versatility is always a good thing.

As always, your description of the action scenes that made up the meat of the chapter were spot on for me. You're always concise, but at the same time, you give us enough that I can picture things vividly. Sometimes getting too bogged down in descriptions can take away from the action, so you being able to do paint a clear picture without getting too wordy is much appreciated. I think the fact that you mix in a lot of dialogue and inner thoughts into scenes like this helps, too. It gives your descriptions personality.

But yeah, I came away from Amazon Country thinking Griselda was an intriguing character that I would have liked to have known more about, and I'm glad someone else not only felt the same way, but was also willing to pay to do exactly that. Thank you to whoever that was, by the way! This was a great story, and I loved that Griselda, for all that she did, eventually found a happy ending of her own.

I've got to admit, I wasn't expecting a holy war to break out in this story!

Cynthia and Svetlana going at it a bit was a lot of fun, especially since they both not only kind of stole the show in their respective stories but are also complete opposites personality-wise. So, in a way, it makes sense that they actually have more hostility toward one another than Palledia and Dirk and Cora, even though the latter two have very legit reasons to hate her.

But I found that interesting as well. Despite everything Palledia did to them and the confusion that led to them thinking she kidnapped their daughter, Dirk and Cora still have a respect for her. Dirk was understandably pissed and went into dark mode, it didn't take him long to believe (or at least partially believe) Palledia wasn't out to get them. And Cora, even when she assumed the worst, was still trying to get her to out of the stupor she was in. I mean, they used their memory of Palledia to scare their children into behaving, but it didn't take long for them to remember that the former Lady Griselda was a bit more complicated than that once they saw her in the flesh once again.

And Amaya, having been raised with those bedtime stories about the monster Griselda, handled the truth better than I thought she would. Yeah, her initial reaction was to think that Griselda was scheming something and she's still wary of the ex-noble, but all it took was Annie to calm her down. I kind of thought Amaya would distrust the rest of the group just as much as Palledia once she found out, especially after finding out that Annie was the missing Ironshield heir, but the bond between them is really strong, even though they haven't known each other for very long, and this was illustrated pretty well early in this chapter. That set up softening her reaction to Palledia's secret quite nicely.

I enjoyed the irony that Christina was disgusted by Griselda's presence when she herself was planning to do something far worse than Griselda ever did. Sure, people died because of Griselda's plan, but that wasn't her intent and now that she's well removed from her Machiavellian leadership mentality, we've seen that she's truly remorseful about that. Christina tried to organize a straight-up assassination, and of the last heir of the family she's supposed to be serving. Not to mention that Christina's motivation seems to be purely selfish, while Griselda never intended to use the gold for herself but for the betterment of her people.

Amaya very much reminded me of Cora in this chapter. In some ways, she has more respect for men than the average amazon, and she's annoyed that the men of the Queendom tend to frown upon her telling battle stories. She even thinks it's weird that they want her to buy them a drink, which I thought was funny to note. But at the same time, when things got dangerous, she adopted that amazon sense of superiority but did so out of a sense of protection rather than arrogance. I believe her when she says she respects men (with Dirk as her father, how could she not), but she just hasn't me that guy (like Cora did with Dirk) to show her that some guys NEED to be able to take those kinds of risks and may even surprise her with how capable they turn out to be.

As for Griselda herself, we see her growth as a person really shine through here. I think maybe seeing that Dirk and Cora achieved her dream and went beyond it, doing more than she could have done, maybe was the last thing she needed to see to realize that she was just as wrong practically as she was morally. Dirk, despite having a penis, was able to do more than she ever could for her people. Then later, she was able to move past her bad habit of underestimating men, standing up for Clyde during the razorlizard "attack" even after she initially dismissed him without really thinking about it. Clyde may have been annoyed that he was told to stick with Annie, but Griselda complimenting his battle prowess at all is extremely high praise, something we certainly wouldn't have seen even in the earlier chapters of this story.

So is Clyde going to leave the Imperial Army? Annie fawning over him is adorable, and, again, he takes her teasing better than I would have expected him to early on, but is he really going to move to the Ironshield estate? As much as he clearly loves Annie, I have a hard time seeing him deserting. Maybe he can get a discharge, but is that even what he wants? I think Griselda's concerns about how Clyde will fit in this new setting are well founded, but I'm not sure her solution of getting him a bunch of books to culture him up is going to solve that. I don't know, it feels like Annie and Clyde are just a young couple in love who haven't really thought to far ahead or planned anything out yet. I'm really curious to see how things turn out for them.

And as always, the Palledia and Svetlana scenes were maybe my favorite parts of the chapter. They're usually fairly brief, but seeing the side of Palledia that Svetlana brings out is really special. I feel like anyone else ruining Palledia's razorlizard hunt would get a much harsher reaction from the amazon, but Svetlana has best friend privileges and can get away with saying and doing things around her that she wouldn't let slide with most other people.

Oh, and do the summer and winter courts consider it an insult to be confused for one another? Do they not really like each other, or is it more about being annoyed at the ignorance of the one mixing up the two?

One more to go! It should be a pretty fun finale, I think.

Keep going. I can't wait to see what happens when she gets to town.

There are trains now?! I absolutely love the western flair of Amazon Country, and this chapter brought a lot of that to this story as well. Train "robberies," blown bridges, demon-possessed trains: All classic western tropes! I still remember the first movie I saw where John Wayne stared down that demon train.

But seriously, the way you blend fantasy and western styles seamlessly is really impressive, and having a lizardfolk summon a demon to possess a train is great example of that. I'm eager to see what exactly our demon friend is going to do.

I also really like the way Annie is developing. She's shown herself to be smart, yet naive, nervous about her future but supremely confident when it comes to what she wants, namely Clyde. It's only been three chapters so far, but it feels like we've been with these characters for a while, so it took me a minute to realize that this was actually the first time Annie has fought as an Amazon. Seeing her have a sense of invincibility only to do something stupid at the end of the chapter makes a lot of sense, not only because of her overconfidence but because of the pedestal she's put amazons like Palledia on as well. She truly felt unstoppable, right up until Tebryn shattered that false reality for her. It should make for a great learning moment, assuming she survives, of course.

Clyde has also been pretty interesting to follow. On the one hand, he has kind of become that puppy dog Palledia said he would become. He was devoted to Annie before, and pelvis-shattering sex has only strengthened that feeling. He's also adapted well to Annie being bigger and stronger than him as well. Yeah, he had that lack of confidence in the last chapter, but he hasn't really seemed to be emasculated by his lover at all. Even when Annie joked about him becoming her official foot masseuse, other than being given that title, he didn't really seem to mind it. But despite meeting Palledia's idea of a "proper man" in some regard, he's also proven himself to be extremely useful both in planning and in combat (as shown in this chapter). He hasn't let that submissiveness with Annie actually change who he is. Instead, the fact that he can still be the brave knight when needed but choose to put aside his pride to make the woman he loves happy makes him a really likeable character.

I'm also enjoying the side journey of Svetlana's sex tour. It seems that wherever she goes, she gets drunk, finds dudes to shrink and fuck, and changes their lives forever. Sometimes she even remembers to grow them back!

Our favorite dark elf also continues to play dual roles in this story, serving as both comic relief and confidant to Palledia. Every time the two of them are together, it shows a different side of Palledia, whether their joking about Annie handling Clyde's sword or talking about the disgraced ex-noble's past, these scenes really humanize Palledia, even if they're brief, as it was in this chapter.

Tebryn and Allister's conversation was interesting. Having seen the lizardfolk mainly through an amazon lens up to this point, it was different to see an imperial official not only dealing weapons to them but also be willing to cooperate with them in a plan that would kill imperial citizens as well. Well, I guess that's SOME form of equality?

And it was good to see the revolving guest cast continue, this time with good ole' Tom Cat himself, someone who has actually dealt with Palledia before. It kind of makes sense that his first reaction was to draw his gun on her, but at the same time, she has basically served her sentence from the Queen already, so she really wasn't doing anything wrong here. Of course, it makes sense that Tom's ego would lead him to automatically assume that she was there for him. But it was also interesting to hear Palledia judge him for his cattle rustling and criminal past. That sure didn't seem to bother her when she was in charge of Rain's End and he was one of the hottest pieces of ass in town.

In any case, it seems as though Palledia's secret is about to come out (it already kind of did, as I'm sure Annie will have some questions about her mentor stealing gold mines now). The next chapter should be a fun one!

I have really been enjoying the Amazon stories.   Especially the original one where you used dreams as a mechanism for greater height with the priestess.   I was really hoping Dirk would marry her too early on because I wanted to see a dynamic between them all as more of an intimate trio rather than separating them out.

In this one I really like Annie even though she is so new at being an Amazon.  It's fun that you have a Dark Elf to shrink the humans with!

I have been in the process of reading your entire library of works, as I like the tone you set for your stories in general.   I even got my wife who isn't into GTS to read some of the stories in your short story collection and she liked them.   The GM witch, the succubus, the mile high story.

Anyway hope you keep writing, and OMG what a cliffhanger on this one!  Meanie!! lol.

Great job so far. just love it.

Stoked to be back in the  Amazon Queendom 

You know an author is great when they write a story that makes you want to root for the villain from one of their previous works…Love that you’ve returned to this story. Eager to see how things develop! 

Author's Response:

The commissioner has good taste, what can I say?