Ramneet asked Elizabeth Hunter:

Thank you for writing so many great books! I finished reading "The Staff and the Blade" a while ago, and it was really interesting to get to know about the background of Damien and Sari's relationship. My question is: What made you use Norway as a setting in many parts of "Irin Chronicles"? I recognised so many scenes as I often visit those places. To be honest, I felt a little proud of being Norwegian ;)

Elizabeth Hunter Oh yay! So cool! There were a few reasons, Ramneet. One, medieval Scandinavia is Sari's ancestral homeland, so Norway made sense for her as an escape. The other reason was geography! The coast of Norway has so many small inlets, bays, and fjords that I thought if you wanted to hide away, that would be a pretty good place. I also loved the singing/storytelling saga tradition of the old Norse peoples, which was integral to developing the Irina system of magic. Great question!

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