Well, that’s it.

Exodus has been a very special story for me, on a lot of levels. Some of my close friends/editors have told me they liked it more than anything else I’ve written. It makes me glad because it felt that way to me, too.

I think I’ve talked about this already, but now that the episode is posted, I am brooding on it again. The end of Ko and the fate of the !Xomyi is not a wholly happy tale, though I think realistic given the circumstances.

I chose Ave Maria as the song to commemorate the world after giving it a lot of thought. I asked around, but I wanted a song with deep connections to our history. Realizing that the meaning of the song could adapt to a new universe and conditions made it a perfect fit. And I feel that it is simply a beautiful song, no matter your beliefs.

Will we see the !Xomyi again? One of my goals in this has been that individual episodes would not be dropped and forgotten in the future, so yes. There will be references, the impacts it has on individuals and the Union as a whole will be felt in the future. The universe at large has seen the actions that occurred here and will have their own thoughts and views on it. Distance and different outlooks will color their opinions.

It will be some time before we see a live !Xomyi again in the flesh. But I have plans.

Speaking of such plans – there is one more episode of Other-Terrestrial for this season. It is already completed, and posting will begin on Monday, November 27th.

I’ll reveal more about the story tomorrow, including its name and cover art!

Soon after, I’ll talk about plans for after episode 13 is finished.

To those who have been regular readers – thank you. Coming in and seeing that people are looking at these stories makes me incredibly happy. I sincerely hoped you enjoyed this episode and that maybe at some point it moved you, like it did for me when I was writing it.