*chuckles* Poor Mérai. I've got a whole pile of albatrosses, but this is the one that's bugging me at the moment, because it should work, but it doesn't.

The big central characters do most of their development offstage or in little glimpses in other people's stories, which may be why I'm finding it tricky to put them in the foreground. They're usually much more elusive.

I usually start a story with a situation and let the characters drive the process of changing that situation. I think with this one I had such fun coming up with the situation that I overlooked the character aspects a bit.

Hmm. Conversation might work quite nicely *plays with alternative plot ideas* Or describing one of them from the other's point of view. Thanks :)