Hey, my Squids.
It’s hard to talk and think about this page. It’s the point that begins the entire story. It’s why this tale is about grief. How it is capable of either destroying or cleansing us. It’s why Taliah is changed forever.
I know I’ve avoided getting to this point. I make excuses: I’m too tired, I need to research how a flashlight looks on water, I need to look up police uniforms across the world so I can design one for the enforcers of Jaixia, I need to… the truth is that Leira and Saul are reflections of me. Having to draw their pain, their loss, the feelings of loneliness and isolation, their grief… it hurts so thoroughly because it’s my own. I can’t apologize enough to them and for what will happen in the rest of the story until its final, climactic, harrowing conclusion. I just hope they, and the rest of the cast, understands why. And I hope I do, too.
Take care.