HoF Retrospectives 5 - Chapters 7 8

HoF Retrospective 5 – Chapter 7&8

*Of COURSE, this contains possible spoilers regarding The Heart of Fire series... read at your own risk.*

Chapter 7 is pure romance, really. Nothing much goes on other than some bonding between our heroes, Cyllin showing his caring side and all that.
But... it's not really JUST that. I can just say that this place Cyllin takes her to is not really ALL that close to the Divine Tree, and will come in play later on... just keep it in mind, as it's kind of the longest foreshadowing of the whole series.  … Or rather two different, separate elements that came together so nicely as to look like foreshadowing.

Chapter 8 starts with the new, definitive version of Andrea's visions. No more abstract, and very precise instead, they lose a lot in how much they can show, but they do so clearly. This first vision is of a scene that, in the end, will play out three times... a scene that will become boring, and also present Titania in a very wrong way.
In any case, as a design note of sorts, I'd like to point out that, except for Andrea's visions, all the rest of the story is presented in rather strict chronological order. You never have something happening and then going back to a time before that. It can get a bit more muddy on the thin line of contemporary events... but the plot goes on only in a linear fashion, with Andrea going against that flow and scanning ahead, or more rarely behind, and in places she couldn't be in.
As for why Andrea's power works like that, why it changes so suddenly from abstract visions to these short movies, and even why the whole story begins at that precise moment in time, with Andrea talking with Sanui just before meeting Cyllin... well, these things are connected, but it would be spoiling the third book if I just said how or why.
The main reason why her visions come out more often now that she left is that, during the previous years, while she was living in an Order town, Sanui regularly sealed back her magic, otherwise she would have been identified as tainted by Chaos way, way before the start of this story. So, of course there is an evolution of her power as the seals come loose, but there's also another reason.

And we also have the scene of Cyllin going all out on those poor human guys. More hinting at Order guys not really being human, by the way.
The scene wasn't easy to write... and I hope it was okay. The point was that it had to be horrible, at least a little bit, but without making relating to Cyllin impossible from there on.
To achieve that, the “battle trance” and impersonal way in which it is told was the best thing I could come up with... and that too will be a theme that will return. How the Fairies lose completely all sense of mercy and compassion when it comes to defending the Forest... like it seems to be customary in this part of the Retrospection... that too is something that will find answer in the third book.
This chapter is also a way to show Cyllin at his worst. The initial killing he did was self-defense... here it's a hunt, easy enough to almost pass as bullying, really. While he didn't want to do it and tried to avoid it, once it's started all those initial doubts disappear, and he's just a killing machine, all the bundle of feelings about it will trigger his growly emo mode in the part to come, so that things can move on...