Tamid's story has a lot to do with his backstory and why he's in Linnondale and not his home country in the first place. In fact, both Eloise and Tamid are hiding parts of their pasts (both of which come up in the next story). I'm really trying to put the groundwork for these backstories to get revealed into this one, as I don't want them to just come out of nowhere. The tricky thing, I'm finding, is to put them in without it seeming too out of place.

I don't know if this story has a particular theme (although a good deal of it hinges on character growth by Samuel). I think it's largely an adventure story within the fantasy genre, although I haven't written the action bits to my satisfaction yet.