For those curious: Yes, I did go back and add a brief appearance of the Sommeil de la Mort potion into the print version of Chapter 13 so there wouldn't be a whole volume between the (extremely brief) setup of the potion and its payoff. Definitely more of a band-aid solution--this definitely isn't my favorite bit of writing in the series, but I hope it's not too distracting!

I'm pretty sure the embalming practice Lanyon is referring to in panel 2 was commonplace in England by the 1880s. Pretty sure. Not 100%. I know the practice became popularized during the Civil War to aid in the transport of dead soldiers back to their families, so it had probably become the industry standard a couple decades later . . . ? Feel free to fact check me on that, though.

Top surgery recovery update: My two-week check-up went well, and I'm back to my regular diet! Had a couple rough nights sleeping on my back, but it's gotten a little easier overall, and I only have  a couple more days to go for that, hopefully. On Tuesday, I should be able to start lifting up to 25 pounds, which isn't nearly enough for me to go back to the gym* but will help me feel a lot less restricted in day-to-day movement. I'm feeling slightly more pain? Nothing terrible, though, not even so great I feel the need to take pain meds. They're mixed in with some . . . funky sensations? Itching and tingling, that sort of thing. I'm hoping that's the first indications of some sensation returning, though it seems early for that.

*Luckily I was able to cancel my gym membership last month. Wasn't planning to do so, but my old gym (Gold's) sold all its old locations to EOS but cheekily kept my membership fee at its old, twice-as-expensive price. When I tried to correct this, uh, "oversight," EOS told me, "Oh no :( It's impossible :( You'd have to cancel your entire membership and lose all your benefits :(" So I was like, "lol fine just cancel it then." Long story short: fuck EOS, and maybe this is my time to finally switch to the YMCA.