Introduction
In this story, Eloise awakens after being in suspended animation for almost five years. Now with free will, she resumes her romance with Will.
I don't want to write a story in which an 18-year-old Will has a romance with a 14-year-old Eloise. Even though a pairing at those ages would be acceptable in this fictional society, especially if it was arranged, I feel a true romance is unrealistic because of the different maturity levels. However, I also have a passion for adhering to canon as much as possible.
To make Will and Eloise's romance in this story realistic and palatable, I need to make them as close in age as they can possibly be, while still adhering to canon as much as I can. I believe I found a way to do this.
The plan
Since Will continued aging while Eloise did not, the only way I can accomplish a reasonable age equality is to declare that, during the events of The White Mountains, Will was as young as he could possibly be and Eloise was as old as she could possibly be, while still adhering to most of the canon. Therefore, as Will passes her in age, he gets ahead of her as few years as possible.
In The White Mountains, when the knights draw their swords to vote for Queen of the Tournament, John Christopher states that Eloise is the youngest candidate. Making her as old as I reasonably can doesn't violate this, because the other candidates can still be older.
Time line
To measure the years of the story, I numbered each summer. The summer we meet Will at the beginning of The White Mountains is Summer #1.
The time line is as follows:
| Summer 1 | Jack is capped. Will meets Ozymandias and begins his journey. |
| Summer 2 | Will and Fritz infiltrate the European alien city as spies. |
| Summer 3 | Will and Fritz go on a recruitment campaign through Italy, Greece, and Russia. |
| Autumn / Winter 3 | The resistance captures Ruki and studies him. |
| Summer 4 | The resistance is still preparing its attack on the alien cities. |
| Summer 5 | The resistance destroys the alien cities in Europe and Asia. |
Will's birthday
In Summer 1, Will states he will be capped the following summer, therefore Will is 13 on Jack's Capping Day. To make Will as young as reasonably possible, I declare that his birthday is one week before Jack was capped, so he had just turned 13. The adults in his life are thrilled that he will be capped immediately after he turns 14, because he won't have to wait as long to experience the joy of being capped.
This contradicts the books a tiny bit. At the beginning of The White Mountains, Will says Henry is one month younger than he is. This means that if Will has only been 13 for one week when Jack is capped, then Henry is still 12 and would not be capped the same summer as Will, but Will says they will be capped together. This is a very minor break from canon and I don't worry about it. I can just say that Henry is actually a month older than Will and be done with it.
Eloise's birthday
Eloise had to be 14 on her Capping Day. To make her as old as she can reasonably be, I declare that her birthday is one week after Capping Day. Therefore, she was capped one week before she turned 15. Throughout her childhood, the adults in her life bemoaned the fact that she just barely missed the cutoff date and would have to wait a whole year after turning 14 to experience the joy of capping.
The Chateau de la Tour Rouge may have multiple Capping Days because they have both a spring and summer tournament. That ruins my plan, so I pretend they only have one Capping Day.
Original age difference
When Will sees Eloise's hair in The White Mountains, it had begun growing back but is still short, so it's safe to assume that her Capping Day and Jack's Capping Day were very close. For simplicity's sake, I declare that Jack and Eloise were capped the same day, and that in general, Wherton and the Chateau de la Tour Rouge have equivalent Capping Days. Therefore, Will and Eloise's birthdays are two weeks apart.
This means Eloise is originally 1 year and 50 weeks older than Will, and I round that up. For all practical purposes, we can say that when they meet, Eloise is 2 years older than Will.
Original ages
Just roughly guessing, I declare that when Eloise leaves to serve the Tripods, it is three months after she and Jack were capped. This means that in Summer 1, when they part, Will is 13 years and 3 months old, and Eloise is 15 years and 3 months old.
This makes their initial romance a tad unusual, but John Christopher established that Eloise doesn't have many people her own age she can truly be friends with, and Will is in constant contact only with her. Also, despite his flaws, I feel Will is a bit more mature than other boys his age.
Age progression and math
In an effort to shave as much time as possible off the years Eloise lies dormant, I declare that Fritz, Will, and the rest of the infiltration team enter the European alien city early in Spring 5, two months before Will turns 18.
Therefore, in Spring 5, when they meet again, Will is 17 years and 10 months old, while Eloise is still 15 years and 3 months old. Will is now 2 years and 7 months older than Eloise. Their age difference is only seven months larger than it was when they first met, except now it's in the opposite direction.
Conclusion
By placing their birthdays at the extreme edges of reasonable possibility, I can cut the age difference from 4 years down to 2 years and 7 months. This is an age equality I can work with and feel comfortable with.