>>2512113In my experience, one of the best ways to make a story's world feel big and complete is to have independent side-stories that we only see snippets of. Lot of ways to handle that sort of thing, but you generally get the privilege of only writing the best parts while leaving the rest of the side-plot for readers to simply infer or guess.
Even apart from the suggestion at hand, it's the sort of addition that can really enhance a story by stimulating the reader's imagination.
Also, happy to see you back with the start of book 2!
