Gohaldinest is my city in Tangled Magic and Walk the Path. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently.

In Arlyn’s time, Gohaldinest is supposed to be a myth, and yet I find myself making coy references to it in Arlyn’s story. In a way, it’s frustrating me. I feel like there’s more to this story than I currently know. Okay, well, there is. There’s parts of Arlyn’s story that I just don’t know yet. I have these gaps, like missing puzzle pieces. I can see the picture that’s there… almost. It’s not quite clear.

Yes, I admit, that is a bit exciting because I realize there’s more for me to uncover. It’s also scary if I crack the door for my critical voice to come in and say, “Don’t screw it up. You’re going to say something and then it will forever mess up the rest of the story.”

But there’s another problem too.

I love Gohaldinest. Yes, at first it started as a myth. “The streets of Gohaldinest are paved with gold, but I seek a richer treasure.” It was part of an oath in my Sacred Knight series as a mention of a fabled city meant to terrify the people of New Lilinar. And, it was supposed to only be a fable. Then I ventured to Gohaldinest in To Birth a Destiny and it was wondrously creepy. A whole new character and lineage, one I have just barely started to dive into, came out of that.

Tangled Magic and Walk the Path both ended up being darker than the Sacred Knight series. Rightly so too since it was Gohaldinest.

The circus scene still gets me too. So, I was reading part of Quest for the Three Books for the Sacred Knight ceremony and all of a sudden the line that Greytas says about the ceremony being a circus show made me stop and wonder if they had circuses on Steigan’s world. And my creative voice went to work in Tangled Magic to answer that question. That scene worked out so well, being delightfully fun and bone-chilling at the same time.

But as much as I want to go back to Gohaldinest, I can’t do it in Arlyn’s book. It will have to wait. Good thing that I still don’t have the whole puzzle laid out before me. That means there’s still many adventures I have yet to enjoy.

Cheers.