cheers Z!
yes, this is set after the mule piece.
as far as Norrow's POV goes, i've already made the decision to write the entire story (aside from the prologue) from Cassia's POV, because there's certain things she won't know until the very end - and i don't want to let the reader in on them either
and thanks for your comments on the descriptions too - i didn't want to disrupt the flow too much by over-describing them.
s