"So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending."

J.R.R. Tolkien

Dear readers,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your ongoing support throughout the composition of this piece. It has been, as many of you I'm sure are aware, a very long, very time-consuming process, but the response to the story has made it a wholly rewarding one. I appreciate every review and message, and especially the simple act of having taken the time to read my little narrative. In the words of one John Cheever, "I can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss—you can't do it alone."

I would also like to offer my most sincere thanks to my beta, who has offered continual advice and suggestion that has allowed this story to become what it is today.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this story even half as much as I have enjoyed writing it, for then it will have been an incredible journey for the both of us. My sincere thanks to you all,

g.i.w.