Things like this make me so glad I'm reading Livejournal again.

One of the things I liked was Lennier's emphasised permenance, and his talk in terms of never and always, which is straight canon. Which makes the sort of tiny-scale vanishes (the dropped smiles you mention, disappearing brace of muscle) all the better. And on a worldbuilding note, the heavily guarded library was perfect.

Without rushing you, I'm glad there's not much of a wait until chapter two.