I’ve discovered that fans refuse to acknowledge that characters lie or see events through different filters. For example, Windwolf states that he was “stunned” by the saurus and Pony states that Windwolf was “knocked unconscious.” Fans claim this is a mistake, ignoring the fact that unconscious people don’t realize they’ve been out of it for more than a few seconds and Pony couldn’t actually have witnessed the events, else Tinker would remember a second sekasha at the scene. I didn’t realize readers wouldn’t follow this logic, or I would have made it clearer when Pony makes his claim. Having learned this lesson, I realized that the twins couldn’t interact with any of the known characters prior to the end of Elfhome without fans calling it a mistake on my part.
This created a huge timing problem. I wanted the twins in Monroeville to witness the orbital gate crash and Earth’s reaction to it at the start of August. If the Skin Clan had a back door to Elfhome, they would use it as quickly as possible. The elves had realized that oni forces were in Pittsburgh. Unless the Skin Clan reconnected their supply lines, their troops would be stranded without Earth’s resources. The nestlings, however, would be killed shortly after the Skin Clan took them to Elfhome.
All these factors meant that the twins had to cross worlds immediately. It left me with a gaping hole in my timeline. Where were the twins during the entire period represented by Wolf Who Rules and Elfhome? Because of the nestlings, if they’d gotten anywhere close to Pittsburgh, the tengu would know where the children were.
I either had to make the timeline unclear at the end of Wood Sprites or leave the nestlings’ fate still in the balance. I wanted the twins to beat the oni decisively after everything they suffered, so I decided to be very vague on how long things took in the last chapter.
After Wood Sprites advance reader copies came out, fans started to piece together a timeline showing when certain events happened. They started to contact me wanting to know how the book fit into Elfhome. This got worse when I posted the first scene of Harbinger.
It became clear that I would need to firmly pinpoint events.
Sigh.
Hopefully this short story explains everything. If not, here is a timeline that more clearly spells it out.
Louise called the gossamer to the cave shortly after Oilcan was kidnapped. Tinker does not see the gossamer go because she’s dealing with the chaos at Sacred Heart. When she finally pays attention to the airfield, the Wind Clan gossamer is already gone and only the Stone Clan airships are moored. Because of the Kryskills’ connection to the tengu, they’re some of the first outsiders involved. The phone call isn’t Team Tinker enlisting Alton’s help but the tengu asking him to contact Team Tinker and anyone else he knows that is trustworthy. (If you need a political reason for this, humans are considered neutral and thus could confront the Stone Clan elves without triggering a clan war. The tengu are firmly Wind Clan. They could only watch from a distance once Oilcan was found. Tinker had made it clear that she didn’t want the tengu engaging Forge and Iron Mace on her behalf. Team Tinker is Riki’s Plan B.)
As the gossamer heads out, Gracie is leading the tengu chasing after it. She knew via a dream that she was needed in Oakland. When the airship bolts, she knows that this was why she was in Oakland. Jin and Riki are caught up searching for first Oilcan and then Tinker. While the males are in Pittsburgh, they are out of contact with the people in the tengu village (which doesn’t have a cell phone tower). When Gracie finds the twins, she decides that this is news that needs to be told face to face to Jin, not trusted to a phone that might be tapped. (And trust me, there’s no code words to cover the twins and the babies and Joy.) It is Jin’s place to tell Tinker, so the tengu settle the twins at the village and wait.
Meanwhile, all the elves are distracted from Tinker’s side by the train on the South Side. Because of the bad cell phone connection with Alton, the wrong information is spread through the tengu. They believe that the oni planned to collide the inbound train full of elves with an empty outbound passenger train. Riki doesn’t know what really is going on when Oilcan calls him, looking for Tinker. All he knows, from piecemeal reports, is that the domana are nuking the hell out of South Side and there’s at least one derailed train.
Shortly after that, Tinker blows up Neville Island. Wind Clan elves show up to serve their domi and talk with one pissed-off Tommy. They don’t tell the half-oni squat.
Tinker, being Tinker, ignores everything that doesn’t connect to what she’s focused on at that moment. Yes, she knows that the Harbingers have showed up; she doesn’t think about them in the last chapter. Yes, she knows Jewel Tear was rescued by Tommy and is living with Oilcan; not a word about the battered female. She also knows that something happened involving the trains at Station Square. She doesn’t think about that either. (To be fair, she didn’t know that Oktoberfest was being held there and that loads of humans were in danger. She will freak once someone finally connects the two for her.)
Harbinger starts shortly after tea with Oilcan at the end of Elfhome. Jin has flown home and discovered the mess waiting for him.