It's getting close to Christmas and pop up Christmas stores are everywhere, it seems. In these stores the Nutcracker toy dolls are popular, but every time I see them, *Exiles / Milieu super fan mode activated* I think of how in the book 'Jack the Bodiless' it's implied that the events from the Saga of the Exiles got passed down through the ages as stories, some of them ending up as the Nutcracker story.

So in this universe Clara, the Mouse King and the Nutcracker were Elizabeth, King Aiken and Marc, respectively. Clara and the transformed prince traveling to the beautiful Land of Sweets is Elizabeth and Marc traveling to the Duat galaxy, the place he eventually says 'where I came from'. In one way it's the truth for him.


'Marc lounged back with an unconcerned smile. He was wearing, with considerable style, the smart plum-and-ochre dress uniform of the King's Own Elite guard, complete with golden torc and commander's insignia.' - The Adversary by Julian May