I drew this two years ago, in August 2010. I don’t make a lot of “stand-alone” drawings and illustrations, but I got a sudden inspiration for this one. I saw it before my inner eye and had to draw it.

At that time I had a different plan for how Driftwood was going to end, so I assumed that Aeron’s presence in the image was only symbolic or something - after all, he looked a bit blurry along the edges … 

Gradually I started to realise that this vision was actually telling me exactly what was supposed to happen!

I was a bit reluctant to accept it, because I thought it was a bit sexist that she apparently needed the help of a man to become free from another man.

Then again, it’s technically Samona who is helping them both. And Willie is the one who asks him if they can bring her back to their world. While Aeron’s original intention with the visit was to get some kind of closure for himself if she had moved on, as he assumed. But then I guess he saw how sad and depressed she looked and decided to appear and talk with her. :3 (And he was intentionally waiting for her to ask if they could bring her back, because it needed to be her own idea. … I guess he knows how to handle stubborn women after spending some time with his sister.)

It’s part of her “liberation” to dare to choose to be with people (plural :3) who like and respect her, and also, I guess, to dare to take the risk of loving somebody even though everything she has seen in her own family would suggest that it’s only going to go to hell sooner or later, for no particular reason. 

And, most importantly, the story does not end there, and there’s a lot more to it than might appear at this point …