Hmm. That’s a tough question, Anon, because I’ve got several, and I’m not even done writing the fic yet! 

So – let’s start with number one. I loved writing the scene where Charles returns to the Maroons’ Island and talks with Jack. It just sets the mood for that half of the fic entirely. It’s Charles thinking “ok, I’m home, thank fuck,” and then finding out that not only is he not home, everything – and I mean everything – is completely wrong in his world. And it also tells us a lot about Jack and where he’s coming from – I realized a few things about him while I was writing that scene.

Number two though – number two absolutely has to be the scene where Madi talks with Hennessey, because again, it tells us a lot about where everyone’s coming from and they’re so very different, but in this they are alike – they miss James, they care about him, and they’re grieving, and they come together in that grief as – not partners yet, exactly, but just as two people who have lost the same person and need answers. It’s really important to me because together Madi, Hennessey, and Charles are all facets of the same stone, and then they get to come together with one singular purpose that’s based around simple human emotion. Also, Madi and Hennessey play off each other well and that dynamic was fun to write.

And finally, last for now but certainly not least, was this: 

“I spoke with Silver,” she confirms. “He is alive.” She does not hear Hennessey breathe a sigh of relief, but she sees his fists unclench and his back straighten, as if a weight had been lifted. Vane, on the other hand, looks more tense if anything. His brows are drawing together – his mouth becomes a line composed out of purest concern and anger, and she sees small lines form at the corners of his eyes as they narrow.  Focused, directed anger, and when he speaks, his quiet growl is almost soothing to the part of Madi that wishes to rip, wishes to tear, wishes to cause mayhem to match the howling in her soul.

“Where is he?” he asks, his tone menacing, and she meets his gaze head-on without flinching, speaking to him directly.

“There is a plantation,” she tells him. She needs say no more – Vane freezes, and Madi holds his gaze, and feels a piece of herself slot back into place at the look in his green eyes.

“A plantation,” he repeats. It is not a question. It is the rumble of thunder that comes before the storm, and she nods, agreeing more with both his statement and the sentiment behind it than with anything else she has heard in the past three months.

“North of Spanish Florida,” she says. “Where they farm sugar cane.” She can see Vane’s eyes widen – can hear the way he stops breathing for a second and then starts again, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

I love that scene, Anon, because it’s the scene where Madi and Charles really understand each other completely for the very first time. This is a hint of what’s to come – it’s his anger answering hers, and his concern mirroring hers, and the two of them understanding without words what the other is thinking. This is where people are meant to think – you know, that could work, if they haven’t thought it already, because in this moment right here, they’re of one mind. I love their other scenes as well and I loved writing them, but this one really stands out.