Unexpected, fabulous and well-crafted! Thank you and please continue! :)

i just found this and am enjoying it. i hope you update soon.

The truth points to itself. Indeed it does. And "Faith manages" is just the sort of thing the Minbari would say! Your characterisation is very true to the original. I love it :)

I do wonder how a Slayer would go against a shadow warrior though. Do you think we will get a chance to find out? She would probably get owned based on how Kosh fared but maybe if she had the Scythe? It has to be around somewhere right?

I just finished reading this story so far and found it very well written and intriguing. Keep up the great work and I hope you update again soon.

Great story. I have never watched Babylon 5 yet. Will I still be able to follow to story OK? I can't afford to buy the DVDs. Glad RL is allowing you to resume writing this. Keep up the wonderful writing.

Should be able to, at least to a point. If you've followed it this far...

It's such a shame that (as far as I'm aware) it's not currently being shown anywhere. For a few years it was in the late-afternoon rerun rotation on SciFi, but it got bumped out of there when they dropped SG Atlantis in.

The thing about this story that probably makes it easier to follow for non-viewers is that most of it is taking place "off to the side" of the series. I mean, up to this point in the series, I think there'd been a total of one, maybe two scenes on the Minbari homeworld, where we've been for half the story. (And I may be over-counting at two scenes.) At least three of the main series characters have been heard about but not actually seen in the story. Etc.

excellent so far

You have done a really good job so far with the story.

::Gives the art plot bunny some Waldorf Salad::

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There is no abstract art. You must always
start with something. Afterward you can
remove all traces of reality.
- Pablo Picasso
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That's just evil you know that right? I love this chapter though. I look forward to the next installment of this wonderful story.

I'm working on a partial draft of the next already. With a suprise (but not very important) twist.

Love the "Valen could be sitting down to dinner with us right now but doesn't yet know he's Valen" bit, with Geoffrey Sinclair earnestly and honestly partaking in the conversation (whatever he might privately think about those few recovered memories of his examination by the Gray Council that led to the end of the war!).

Yeah, I enjoyed writing that part. It's debateable that he knows it all, even this late in the game... if he does he's (understandably) hiding it on purpose.

I hope you get well soon.

::Gives the plot bunny some Waldorf Salad::

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Integrity without knowledge is weak
and useless, and knowledge without
integrity is dangerous and dreadful.
- Samuel Johnson
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EDIT: I think you have done an excellent job with the story so far.

Me too. But, being sick does mean I'm home (I don't have electrictiy, much less a computer, at work), therefore more likely to write (when I have a clear concept).

I've been turning over a couple ideas for the minor details (the grand arc was already set from the beginning, but how to get there is a work in progress). And I have an idea for a sequel story (to cover the actual Shadow War).

I also have an idea - it may turn up as a seperate story or as a chapter or two in this one - of a scene with Faith (and possibly others) learning the details of the Battle of the Line.

As one of my most frequent reviewers, I do wonder what in particlar you may have to say about the story itself....

... evil place to end!

However, sinus infections suck pretty bad.

Honestly, I'd always planned on ending the reveal right there. The readers don't need any more information than they have right now; I was using the letter as a way to catch Faith and the crew up.

There's a couple more things I want to do before wrapping up the story, and getting too deep into what Valen wrote, why, when, who... well, it's not time for that yet.

Yay, new chapters.

::Gives the plot bunny some Waldorf Salad::

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Just once, I wish we would encounter an
alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets.
- Unknown
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This is a wonderful story. I am very glad that you are writing about Faith and not one of the other more used Scoobies, don't get me wrong I like them just as well I just feel that Faith gets the short stick of fan fiction and she is just as important as everyone else, and more than likely did the most growing. Again I love this wonderful story and I look forward to the next installment.

Thank you. Sometimes I've worried that I'm writing her too mature, but then, it's supposed to be a few years after Sunnydale (with Faith being close to 30ish), and as you say, she was already a long way toward that.

I think maybe the thing with Faith in fanfics is that out of all the major characters, she had the least screen time (less than a single season's worth of episodes, I think, which would be less than Andrew or Riley). So it may just be a matter of familiarity.

don't know if it is but i keep seeing Xander as Valan or as a friend of his...

No, Xander's not in the story, certainly not as Valen... first, because that role is already taken from B5, and second, while you're kinda right in that he certainly is the type who would be member of the Anla'Shoq, I don't see Xander as a leader.

Valen's identity was revealed in the B5 episode "War Without End", and I am staying faithful to it. In fact, I'm trying very hard not to AU or contradict ANYTHING from B5, but instead, Faith's mission is to make sure things do happen the way they did in the series.

Oh, nice! I can't wait to find out what happens next to Faith, and I'm looking forward to the ending of the story when I will convert it to ebook for addition to my ebook reader/PDA for rereading away from the computer. I hope your muse and schedule will allow you to write and post more chapters sometime soon. Keep up the good work. Zafaran {mailto:} zafaran {at} fastmail {dot} fm