The state Leonard used to live in was called Macomica. It was very urbanized. It had a lot of manufacturing, textiles, stuff like that. Coralivia was much more rural. THey grew, sugar, tea, spices, flavourings, herbs, fancy fruits, cotton, silk, fabric dye, stuff like that. They also had ranching and some mining.
RIver stole that helmet she was wearing in that one scene from her father the King. She wore it when meeting Leonard because she couldn't communicate too well at that time, probably because she was too weak, and she thought that wearing the helmet would help Leonard figure out that she was the daughter that he helped save.
Thomas's mother, who liked to wear large dresses made of colourful, textured velvet, particularly red, was the one who pushed him to conform most, and who put the most pressure on him.
In case it wasn't clear, Leonard was a human with a good spirit or some kind of thing (think of it was a mixture between a good spirit and a good force) "living" inside of him. This spirit was kind of similar to the River Maiden in that they were both benevolent and magical but very different in many ways as well.
A corrupted, dark, heavy, and terrifying ambiance could be felt all over Coralivia, which was tied with the Roaring King and his hold over the place. The only places this wasn't present in were as follows: the blue canvas tent by the forest and later the part of town the escapees lived in, the fields in the estates where there were lots of slaves and mostly just them, and parts of nature humans hadn't really built over. As the Roaring King's power slowly faded this ambiance faded too.
Leonard and Thomas both developed short-lived crushes on the River Maiden at one point in their lives, after the main conflict with the Roaring King got resolved. But she, being a benevolent spirit or whatever and all, is asexual and aromantic. Like super asexual and aromantic. She's not going fall in love any more than the river itself is going to fall in love. She's not going to want to kiss someone any more than the river is going to want to kiss someone. But Leo and Thomas both understood that once she explained and weren't creeps about it. Also Leonard is straight and Thomas is either bi or pan, though I don't know which. Which means that while they're best friends and partners in abolition and they stay best friends throughout their life, no romantic stuff happens between them. I don't know if either character gets married in the future of their lives but I'm thinking they probably do. So, yeah.
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