Integrating Denny

Once upon a time, Denny was a joke between my bestie and me. He decided Alvarick and Velden needed nicknames because everyone needs a nickname to feel loved. He has several nicknames for me based on my real name, but one I can share here is "Poofy Fro." Thanks, Bestie.

"Have Al and Denny done the deed yet?" he'd asked as I was writing book 2 (now book 3).

"Who's Denny?"

Denny is now canon, thanks to a lovely feral human named Amara who has visions of the future. "You will call him Al. He will call you Denny. That's when you'll know he's the one." (Why, yes, I love Paul Simon. Why do you ask?)

Denny needs a shot at redemption. He's been exiled from Velastes after the death of their Empiri. Some even think he killed the Empiri, including Faraki, his fellow elf in exile.

For the handful of you who read The King's Physician, you're probably wondering, "Denny who? I don't remember a Denny. Or Veldani/Velden/whatever." Velden is the main character of the Farbonnur Elves series. He *might resemble a certain elf from Dragon Age: Origins (we won't talk about what they did to him in Dragon Age 2). When I wrote The King's Physician (TKP), it was in the Farbonnur world, but I didn't include Velden because the events of the day were supposed to happen at the same time he was in Velastes, defending the tower from a blood mage attack. Instead, I've changed the timeline so this is a century later. That means I can also include Denny and begin the overall series arc, saving the realm from the blood demon Huroth, and introduce Al as the whisper of a true dream planted in Denny's mind before he even entered the tower at Velastes.

Farbonnur Elves is a fated mates love story, with one mate (Denny) so deeply paranoid that his goddess will rip his happiness from him that he refuses to believe in it. Al isn't even born yet in book 1, but there's the memory of this dream, and the quest to bring Al home to Velastes.

Integrating Denny was hard work, but it was so much fun. The other elf character in TKP, Faraki, had been dull and lifeless, but now that he has another elf with whom to interact, he's the comic relief. The elves' story is more relatable and there's more on-screen awfulness to the elves to show what's at stake for the series.

I had fun rewriting TKP into Stone of Power. May you also enjoy reading it (preorder now - coming February 25!)!