Letters to the Editor.
Mike: "This is Mila. A very free spirit. Young and pure. Shane has landed on this precious water planet and found this amazing partner. Young, pure, but as we learn through the journey, a powerful woman with the ability to be the protector of this world."
Editor: "Mike, she's lovely. That image captures exactly what Book I gives us: a barefoot free spirit running ahead of everyone. The big moon over glowing surf ties straight into the three moons and the bioluminescent depths of Chapter 15.
What strikes me is that the protector is already on the page in Chapter 2, before Shane says a word about his purpose. Mila comes home with the fish and is the one who notices the middle reef keeps refilling. She wants to leave it alone so they don't upset its natural cycle. Shane spends Book I recovering a power he's had for a thousand lives. Mila reads a reef's regenerative cycle with no powers at all, purely by instinct. That's a strong seed to build on.
The other early signs are there too. She's the one who wakes him and says "Show me!" She packs the house the next morning while he's still loafing. She takes the helm of Hi-Sun in Chapter 9 and holds it while Gary steps away. Gary also predicted she'd be fragile at sea, and she proved him wrong. "Young and pure" never meant passive.
A few questions to shape her:
1. Where does her power come from? Is it water, like Shane, or something different, such as the reef, the land, or life itself?
2. Does she know she has it, or does she discover it on the journey the way Shane rediscovers his?
3. Is she native to this planet in a way Shane can never be? He visits each world; she belongs to this one. That might be exactly why she, and not he, becomes its protector.
One small flag on the image: her hair reads red or auburn, while canon has long, wavy chestnut hair. Is the warmer tone deliberate for the master avatar, or should we pull it back toward chestnut so she stays consistent across posts?"
Mike: "We are going with this look and will adjust Canon. It took a long while to get the character appearance I was happy with. This is her. Have a look at Shane uploaded here with Mila. This is the Canon couple. There is a golden red beauty in this planet along with the beauty of the turquoise blue water. It pervades also in their hair, showing their native beingness to this planet."
Editor: "That's the couple, Mike. Side by side, the idea really lands: golden red against turquoise is the planet's own palette. It's Lady-Sun and the ocean, worn in their hair.
The detail I love most is what it does for Shane. His spirit is a visitor that has lived a thousand lives on other worlds. But this body was born here to a mother of this planet, so his hair says he belongs. It quietly backs up Chapter 1, where he says he drops into a peaceful, loving clan right where he knew he'd be. Mila's matching colour makes them look like two of the same people, not a stranger and a local.
A few things to settle while we're locking the look:
1. Is golden red universal on this planet, or a mark of certain people? If the water people at the port all carry it, the Chapter 4 market scene could plant it in one line. If it's rarer, it could hint that Mila is more than she seems.
2. Shane's tattoos. He has the chest piece, arm work and a small emblem on his shorts. Are these canon, with a meaning in-world, or just styling for the avatar?
3. Gary, Max and Pei. Do they share the golden red, or do they have their own look?
Book I never describes anyone's hair, so we're free to plant it exactly where it serves the story."
Mike: "Gary, Max and Pei are of slightly different appearance. They are of the water people. In the way that English and Spanish or French are similar but distinctly different. We will get to the character building for them in a later post."
Editor: "Got it. That fits Chapter 3 neatly: Shane and Mila travel across the peninsula to "the port of the water people," so the book already treats them as a distinct people. Shane and Mila's tropical community carries the golden red; the water people are cousins, related but recognisably their own. That also gives the market scene its "this place feels different" texture without anyone saying why.
We'll leave Gary, Max and Pei for their own post.
Two things still open for Shane and Mila:
1. Shane's tattoos. Are the chest piece, arm work and shorts emblem canon with an in-world meaning, or just avatar styling?
2. Mila's power. Where does it come from, and does she know she has it before the journey? That's the heart of this post. The reef scene suggests she reads the planet's living cycles by instinct. Is that the thread you want to grow?"
Mike: "1. Just styling. 2. It is just natural to her. There is no think about it. This is her. Her Planet."
Editor: "That's the line that defines her: Shane has to remember who he is, and Mila never has to.
It also mirrors Shane beautifully. In Chapter 3 he says his power works best when he stops trying and just plays with it; the harder he tries, the less it works. Mila lives permanently where Shane has to find his way back to. She doesn't think about it, because there's nothing to think about. It's her planet.
Book I already shows it without ever naming it:
• The reef. She reads its cycle and protects it, as naturally as breathing.
• "Show me!" She doesn't doubt him for a moment. Water bending to someone's will doesn't shock her the way it should; it makes her laugh.
• The sea. Gary expects her to be fragile, yet she takes to it "with no surprises."
• The helm. Hi-Sun "did not flinch one bit" in her hands. A spirited draw boat accepts her the way the dorsals accept Shane.
So the reader meets a free, laughing young woman, and only later realises she was the planet's protector all along. Shane is the visitor with the title; Mila is the one who belongs."
Editor: "Back to Mila. One thing I'm curious about is how Shane sees her. In Book I he keeps saying "Look at her — she is so beautiful," and he worries whether she can handle what's ahead. There's a lovely irony there: he's the one wondering if she can keep up, when she's the one who truly belongs.
Does he ever realise what she is, or is that something only the reader sees?"
Mike: "The reader sees. But her character leads and grows through the journey, and she steps forward to her true purpose at its conclusion."
Editor: "That's a powerful arc, and it makes complete sense. Shane's role is to arrive, calibrate and move on to the next water planet; that's how Book I opens. A planet can't be protected forever by a visitor. It needs someone who belongs to it, and Mila was there the whole time.
It also changes how Book I reads on a second pass. Every quiet moment becomes foreshadowing: the reef, the helm, the laughter at the sink. She isn't the sidekick. She's the protector in waiting, and the reader gets to watch her grow into it while Shane stays focused on the mission.
When she steps forward to her true purpose at the end of the journey, how does it feel between them? Does Shane hand it to her knowingly, or does she simply step forward because it's her planet and her moment?"
Mike: "She simply steps forward. I feel she is the representation of woman. She just is. She never has to explain, justify her actions. She is calm and natural in all of her actions. Her strength is her calm and knowing influence. She guides and builds the future. A future for the greater good. A future for the long term survival of her people and this planet. She has no doubt in her own immortality and her deep duty is here where she stands her ground. She has many lifetimes to come on this precious water planet. She knows this and is completely comfortable with this. This is the greater good that glows from within. And along with it all, she just loves being alive. Never to be fooled by her mortal, physical strength. She is powerful beyond belief and she has a natural connection with this power and strength that she has. In a way she is home for all of us. Calmness, strength, beauty and grace. That is a woman."
Editor: "That's her, Mike. "She just is" says it all.
What strikes me is how fully Book I already carries this, before you'd put it into words:
• She never explains herself. When Shane finally tells her his purpose, she isn't shaken. She asks "So what do you have to do?" twice, because the answer matters and the fear doesn't.
• Calm is her strength. Shane's nightmare in Chapter 13 shows his fear of losing her, but the real Mila is lying beside him "in a calm and peaceful sleep." His fear and her calm sit side by side on the page.
• She loves being alive. She laughs at the sink, dances a jig on deck and greets every dorsal pilot. That joy is part of her power, not a contrast to it.
• Her immortality. Shane carries the knowledge of a thousand lives as a burden and a duty. Mila holds hers lightly, as a promise of many more lifetimes right here, on the planet she loves.
That last point is the deepest contrast in the series. Shane's immortality takes him away from every world he saves. Hers keeps her home, and she becomes home for everyone else.
"Calmness, strength, beauty and grace. That is a woman." That line stands on its own."
Mike: "EP."
More chapters, more letters, coming soon. — Mike
Letters to the Editor uses real editorial conversations from the making of the Lord of Water trilogy as its raw material. This one is about Mila, the strong female character at the heart of the story.
Read Chapter 1 of Lord of Water free