I love the characters you created with Nora and PJ... the most real and realistic children in any McShep kidfic I've ever read. I appreciate so much that you avoided making them adorable moppets or eccentric prodigies.

\o/ Thank you! I love a good fantasy kidfic as much as the next guy but honestly I prefer realistic kids (of which there is often a dearth in fanfic, I've found) so I'm so happy you appreciated this aspect of the story. Nora and PJ were also probably my favorite part of writing the fic, so I'm especially happy that you liked them too!

It astonished me that John would take them so far away from everything they knew, but it mirrored how John was taking himself away from where he wanted to be.

I think John couldn't surround himself by so many trappings of his own unhappy childhood and knew that he would be making a bad situation worse if he even tried. That's my take, anyway -- but I like your perspective on it as well.

Thank you so much for the great comment!