I love this story! Medieval is one of my favorite eras to write about and roleplay in, so can't wait to read more of this.

Glad to see that you are enjoying the story, Avara! You won't have to wait very long to read more as it will be updated very soon. I haven't had much time lately since school started back :S but things have settled down now, so I have some chapters planned for... tomorrow! :D

Limbs stuck uncomfortably into Nicci’s back as she snuck towards the building. The night sky hung heavy overhead, thick and blue, stretching like a piece of deep blue velvet held taught between each horizon, with little tears letting in the light that was the stars. She was neither warm nor cold as the September night was still clinging to the last shreds of warmth left over from the day.

She crept forward slowly, keeping her eyes before her. She saw that the lights of the building were ablaze, lit from the fires the still blazed in all of its burning hearths. The tall stained glass windows glimmering in the night made Nicci think of the multifaceted eyes of insects and the iridescent shimmer of their wings. Nicci did not like insects and nor did she like cathedrals and the religion that came with them. She hated the curse of Christianity, which had persecuted her mother and her mother’s mother and so on into a steadily disintegrating line deep into the dim recesses of the darkness that had occurred for them since the Christians had blighted the Isles back in those early years.


She was one of the few left of those still observing the old ways, who were now reduced to hiding in secret covens, fearing that any day the multitudes of the Church would find them and burn and torture them for still observing the pagan rituals of the old religion that was their birthright. She glared at the towering monolith in front of her, wishing to send it collapsing block by block into the Earth from whence its stone had came.

She tried to calm the surge of her anger, to concentrate on her mission, but it was like trying to fight the angry tide of a great ocean. She was powerless here and so despised herself for her weakness. Why had she come? Was her curiosity really so great that she must creep unprotected in the night, risking all, for the chance only to see this child?

Mathim would be furious if she found out. The two of them had sought out the answers, traveled deep into the Continent, through the highlands, over the mountains, and deep into the Desert Empire to find the rest of the pieces to the puzzle. Mathim had learned enough to know that it was prudent to send Nicci back to the Isle, to wait in case their fears were realized. Nicci was supposed to lurk patiently, still and calm like a spider in it web and never venturing further, bidding her time until the child came to her.

But Nicci had not the patience to follow these orders. Mathim had stayed behind, trying to pluck out any information she could from Vassago. It might be many years before she returned. She intended to find out all of the old gods and to glean their secrets from them in the same way that hungry men ripped away meat from a bone. With Mathim away, Nicci had decided to satisfy her own curiosity. She had to see the girl that would one day be hers to teach in the old ways, hers to shape and to mold into the warrior that would help them all throw off the shackles of oppression.


A light rain began to fall as the mass ended with a peal of bells and the door of the chapel creaked open. The nuns carefully filed out, while Nicci waited, pushing herself even deeper into the shrubbery of the cloister. They floated like dark angels in their black habits back into the living quarters of the nunnery. They came out of the church in a slower and slower tide, until, at last, Nicci saw her. There was the child, Sibyl, held tightly in the matronly arms of her guardian, a woman Nicci knew to be called Margrite.


The small girl, only a year old today, instinctively felt Nicci presence. She immediately sought her ought in the shrubbery, meeting Nicci’s cold and inquisitive gaze from the protective arms of the nun who held her. She met Nicci’s dark eyes full on with her own startling eyes that blazed a brilliant violet: the mark of her birthright- the power that would lay dormant within her until Nicci could teach her how to awaken it.

“The Queen has given birth,” Aethelis said to Dulnstead, who lounged casually beside her in the grass. “But I supposed that you’ve already heard.”

“Aye,” he muttered. “The King has announced that he will be hosting a very large celebration. Everyone is invited to the palace for the festivities. That’s how I know, love. I’d never ignore talk of free ale!”

Aethelis shrugged. She had been seeing a lot of Dulnstead since their first run in at the market a few months ago. Now, whenever they met in town, they took the time to go have a meal or a drink together. Today, they sat simply having a conversation in the warm grass of the commons.

She had done nothing wrong, but she still hadn’t mentioned to her husband that she had been seeing her old lover. She knew that though Dinovynn was not a possessive or angry man, the idea of his wife cavorting around town with someone of Dulnstead’s reputation would not please him.

“I was thinking,” she said, “of how everyone but me seems to be having another baby.”

He looked up at her. “What do you mean,” he asked gently, knowing that this was a sore subject for her.

“Lady Catherine is expecting very soon,” she sighed. “And the queen just had a child.”

“That’s only two women in the whole village, love,” he said, getting up and pulling himself down onto the log on which she sat so that he could look her in the eyes.

“Well there are plenty more,” she huffed. “Just look around. Everyone is happy but me!”


He laughed bitterly. “Well I’m not!” he said. “Locked away in that rat infested hovel with my cow of a wife!”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “Need I remind you that you choose her,” she hissed, “over me?”

“I did not!” he cried, “her father chose me for her, need I remind you!”

“Only because you got her pregnant, Dulnstead!” she cried. “When you were supposed to be true to me and not sleeping around with that whore!” She could not help it. She felt tears well in her eyes and the memory of the betrayal.

“There were some things that you couldn’t give me, Aethelis,” he growled.

“Yes,” she cried, “I know! That’s why you ran off with that whore! Why was the reward of my virtue to be betrayed?” She glared at him and then collapsed into a feeling of shame and guilt. “What am I even doing with you here?” she sobbed. “I must be so stupid!” She hastily pulled herself up off of the grass to run away. “I have to go,” she said. “My husband is waiting for me.” She made to move away from him, but he stood up beside her and put his arm around her thin shoulder.


“Don’t go,” he said, his voice low and husky. “All those things happened years and years ago. I know that I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but please Aethelis… I’m begging you…”

She looked up at him, eyes watery through her tears… “Why?” she said. “Why do you have to do this to me now?”

He pulled her body close to his. She could feel the warmth of his skin and the coarse cloth of his tunic was rough against her skin. “Because I realized, Aethelis, that after all of these years, I love you. I always have, and I think I probably always will…”

After she had finished crying, Dulnstead pulled his arms off of her. “Sometimes I wonder,” he whispered, “why you are not able to have all of the children you want. You always say that your body is too weak to give life, Aethelis, but sometimes… I think that perhaps there is nothing at all wrong with you, Aethelis, but with him…” he whispered.

He heard her gasp at the suggestion and a thrill ran through his body. “Haven’t you ever wondered?” he continued cruelly. “Why your children can’t survive long enough? Maybe he is too weak to provide you with what you want more than anything.”

She backed away from him, her face contorted with shock at his audacity. “How dare you?” she gasped. “How dare you insult my husband, my loyal, faithful husband after all that you have put me through!”

He was pleased at her reaction, but he did not let his pleasure show. “I only want you to be happy, Aethelis,” he said. “And I don’t think that he can provide you with what you need.”


“Just what are you suggesting to me?” she whispered, her voice soft and harsh with the thickness of her recent tears. “I am no common whore like most of the women with whom you associate!”

He inclined his head in a slight bow. “I am suggesting nothing, Aethelis,” he said. “I just want you to think about everything I have said.”

“I am leaving now,” she said, her voice tapping in a cold staccato rhythm.

“Then good day to you,” he said. This time as she left, he did not try to stop her. He knew how to bide his time. He knew exactly what to say to bring her begging on her knees to him. She should have been his to start with, and it was time that he corrected the matter that had gone so far astray in the years since their youth. She would be back to him, he knew, now that he had planted those seeds of suggestion into her pretty little head.


Smiling faintly, he cheerily made his way back to his home. A high-pitched female voice broke his concentration. “Dulnstead!” she chirped. “I haven’t seen you in a long while!”


He looked over to see a pretty, blonde girl whose name he had long since forgotten. “Well why don’t we take the time to get reacquainted,” he smiled, pulling at her arm to lead her off of the path and into the shrubbery where they would be unnoticed by any passersby.

She giggled but shook her blonde head. “Oh I can’t right now, Dulny,” she laughed. “I’m on my way to the market for mother. But maybe later tonight?” she hinted, batting her lashes at him seductively.

“For you, I’m available anytime,” he winked at her, watching appreciatively as she sashayed down the road, calling out to him that she would meet him at his favorite tavern later that night.

He whistled the rest of the way home.

King Kaiser walked into the bedroom where his wife stood, cuddling their newborn son. She was still weak from giving birth earlier in the week so he wished that she would lie down on the bed and rest with the little fellow that had caused her so much trouble. Kaiser smiled broadly at her “How are you feeling, my dear?” he asked her softly.

She smiled at him, her pretty face full of a tender emotion as he came to stand next to her. “Tired,” she said, “but well. How could I not be with this little angel beside me?” She cooed at their son, whom they had named Edmund.

She graciously handed the infant over to Kaiser so that he could caress the child's soft skin . “He looks like you,” he smiled to his wife. “Only he has my dark eyes.”


“Well, I think he looks like you,” she smiled. “I hope that he grows up to act like you as well,” she said. She was looking down at the baby when she spoke, trying to hide the emotion in her voice.

Kaiser was suddenly overcome with emotion. He tilted his wife’s chin up at his face so that he could look at her. “I love you,” he breathed. He had never before said the words to her. He had never before realized that he did, indeed love this woman whom he had married as a stranger.

He heard a sniffle and saw that she had turned her face away from him again. “I love you, too,” she whispered and then looked up, her face shining like a beacon of light with the joy that she was feeling. She was radiant.

There was a sharp knock on the door and the nursemaid entered. “Time for this wee one to take a nap,” the dark haired maid explained to the king and queen.


Kaiser smiled at his child as the nurse took him off to the nursery. There was an awkward pause while neither the king nor queen looked at one another after the woman had left. Kaiser felt embarrassed by his earlier heartfelt confession, but gathered his courage to look at his wife’s radiant face.


He cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her, and her lips warmed to his. It was a moment of rapture, and ecstasy realizing that he had such a beautiful wife whom he loved and a newborn son and heir to the throne. All of his worries had been momentarily put to rest.


Then a cry cut through the air. Shrill words pierced the air and into his heart like arrows. “The baby!” someone screamed in terror. “The baby!”

Eeek, cliffhanger!

Update soon?

(Also, for completeness sake, Dulnstead amuses me, he seems like the sort that has something coming to him... but Aethelis seems to nice to provide it.... circles in circles in parabolas in text! And I had nearly forgotten about little Sibyl and the nuns... so many witches/magic in this story, was someone salivating over Apartment Life? Lol)

So yep, update soon and happy simsing!

Yeah, I noticed that it had been a while since I had shown what was going on with the witches and Sibyl so I needed to bump the storyline. I totally forgot about Apartment Life coming out. Now that would give some extra dimension to those nasty witches. Buuuuttt I probably won't have that for quite some time so they get no realz magikz...T_T

And thanks as always for the commenting. I'm working on that update right now.

Blood pumped through Kaiser’s heart in a terrifying rhythm. He shared one startled look with his wife before tearing out of the room. His footsteps pounded on the stone floors in a deep and heavy rhythm, echoing out into the corridors like the beating of a demon drum. He flew down the hall with all the speed that his athletic body could produce, and then pushed for more.


He slammed open the nursery door and skidded to a halt in front of the nursemaid, who was keening in horrible and unearthly wails. “The baby!” she cried, “The baby!”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” he wanted to yell. But his voice came out in a strange and deadly whisper, his terror compacting his usual booming bass voice into an even deeper and more potent whisper.

“The baby is dead,” the maid whimpered.


Alverstine flew into the room halting at his back. Instinctively, he wanted to usher her gently back- to protect her from the horrors that the nursery held. His head could not wrap around the words. He could not turn to face his wife. He heard on the stifled gurgle of sorrow bubble up in her throat. She sounded as if she was choking on sorrow.

The maid rushed to his side. “The baby is dead, Sire!” she wailed. “She’s dead!”

She. The word struck him with the force of an entire granite mountain slamming into his chest. She. His child was a son. Edmund. Edmund was not dead. It was another baby who lie still and unmoving in the crib before him, the crib that he had not yet dared to peek into.


Rose and Albert skidded into the room. “What’s wrong?” Albert demanded, not bothering to catch his breath.

The nursemaid ran forward and threw her arms around Rose. “Your daughter is dead!” she wailed. “Little Lilly is dead!”

A bloodcurdling sound rose from Rose as she crumpled to the ground. “My baby,” she muttered, half screaming, half whispering. “My poor little baby!”

Albert threw his arms around her, supporting her sinking weight, trying to comfort her.


Kaiser stood in shock. He was torn between two absolutely conflicting emotions. His heart felt as though it had been brutally ripped into two absolutely equal portions. One half felt lighter than a cloud, floating on the wild and joyous knowledge that his poor son was safe and sound. The other half dully throbbed with excruciating empathy for Rose.

He gathered his sobbing wife into his arms and tried to calm her. He didn’t know what to do. He was nowhere near to calm himself. He yelled at the maid to go get some help and let Alverstine scoop up Edmund, who had begun to wail, into her arms. The room was a mess of chaos: the cries, screams, and wails filled the room, countered by the army of comforting words that Albert and Kaiser were trying to send charging into the gloom. But it was to no avail, as death had snuck its way deep into the castle.

Wow, this is brilliant well done!

*blushes* Brilliant, you say? I don't know about that, but thank you!!! :D

“Well hullo Ethel!” Matthew called warmly as he entered her snug cottage. “Where is everyone?” he asked, looking around him at the empty house.

“Well the older boys are staying the weekend with their friends in the village so that they can go to the Winter Festival, Bertie and Effie are staying with their cousins for the week, and Bertram has gone off to the harbor tonight to see some of his friends who have come into town. And me? Well I’m here alone,” she explained with a smile.

“I just came by to get a pattern from you for Mathilde,” he said. “She would have come herself, but she’s feeling all out of sorts these days…”


“What’s wrong?” Ethel inquired with worry.

“Oh she thinks that she is just expecting again,” he smiled. “I hope that’s the case. I really do want a son to even the odds at home with all of those girls!”

Ethelyn smiled in acknowledgment. “Now what pattern was she wanting?” she asked.

“Uh, something about a petticoat...” He blushed, uncomfortable with the idea of Ethelyn’s underthings.

“Oh,” she said, opening up her sewing trunk awkwardly to fish around for the pattern. She quickly dug it out and handed it over to Matthew. “Is this what she wanted?”

He didn’t dare look at the pattern in his hands. “Yes, I’m sure that’s the right one,” he said uneasily.

He moved towards the door. “Well, I suppose I should get back…”

She looked up. “You don’t want to stay and talk for a bit?” she asked. He could hear the soft disappointment in her voice. He realized that she was, after all, all alone during this time of festivals and holidays.

“Sure,” he smiled. “I could rest here for a bit. The weather is getting a little violent, anyways.” As if to mark his point, a gust of wind blew all about the house in a horrible wail.


They smiled uneasily at each other and then went to sit down on their favorite bench in front of the fire. They talked for hours and Ethelyn found some warm wine for them to sip. They were quite comfortable and toasty inside the cottage, but as the night grew deeper, the storm outside began to crescendo in ferocity. Eventually they found themselves in the midst of a raging blizzard.

By midnight, the snow was swirling so thickly that it was impossible for Matthew to see more than a few inches in front of his face. He habitually checked the outside weather to let Ethelyn know the state of things. Finally, Ethel said, “I don’t think that you should return home tonight, Matthew.”

He squinted his dark eyes, thinking. “I know, Ethel, but what about Mathilde? She might need more wood for the fire or something like that… And I don’t want her thinking that I got lost out in the woods in this howling blizzard…”

“I just don’t think it’s safe, Matthew,” Ethel said, her lower lip trembling slightly as she spoke.


He looked up at her thoughtfully. “But then, of course, your husband won’t be back tonight either, and you’ll be stuck out here completely alone with no one to fetch wood for you, either. And you don’t even any little children to keep you company and cuddle up beside you to keep you warm,” he said, thinking of how, some nights, when it was very cold, he and Mathilde would pile all four of the girls up on the bed with them to tell silly stories and eat pieces of candy until they all fell asleep together.

“Well I just don’t know what to do, Ethel,” he finally said with a sigh.


“It’s not for me that I want you to stay, Matthew,” she said quickly. “I was just thinking about how easy it is sometimes to get lost during a storm like this and freeze to death out wandering in the woods… The path will be filled with snow by now so you won’t be able to see the way and you’d have to navigate through the trees. It’d be so easy to go off course and wander out there in the cold for hours,” she said, looking up at him with her big, worried brown eyes.

Matthew knew that she was right. He had grown up hearing stories about how you could never wonder out on nights like this without risking death. He shivered. “Well, you’re right, Ethel. I’m sure Mathilde will know that I would have to wits to stay put during this storm. I’m sure that she and the girls will be alright…” His voice trailed off near the end of his sentence. He really was worried, but what could he do?

A chill was beginning to permeate the walls of the cottage. He poked at the fire to rouse it, trying to keep the cottage warm. “I don’t know why, Matthew,” Ethel suddenly fretted, “but I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I feel like something bad is going to happen” She looked worriedly up at him.


“You’re just worrying too much, Ethel,” he said, comfortingly as he sat back down beside her. “I feel the same way, worrying about everything that could be happening. But you just have to relax… Everything will be ok.” He leaned in closer to her to look into her frightened eyes, to reassure her that everything was really fine. It was just a storm that would pass like every other storm before it.

Looking into her eyes, a familiar feeling welled up inside of him. Strange and overpowering, it tickled its way through his body, before coming to a fluttering settle in his stomach. He didn’t know what had overcome him, but he was suddenly wrestling with his beating heart. He stared forward, directly into the fire before him, hoping that she did not notice his thundering heart. The desire to touch her skin overwhelmed his mind so thoroughly that he actually gasped.


As the sharp, cold air cut through his lungs, Ethel leaned forward, eyes wide with worry. “Matthew? Matthew what’s wrong?” she whispered.

He took another deep, jagged breath of the cold air. “Nothing, Ethel,” he said, scooting closer to her on the bench. He put his arm around her to pull her closer to him. He didn’t know if he did it to comfort her, to warm her, or to please his own helpless desire.

When Ethelyn awoke, she did not want to open her eyes. If she opened her eyes, she feared that the pleasant feelings she had would all disappear. It was as if one of her dreams had come true, as if the imaginations of her mind had been manifested into the physical world. She was lying in her own home, but Matthew was somehow there, stroking her thick hair as she lie with her head in his lap.


Finally, she made herself awake. “What time is it?” she cautiously asked, rubbing at her drowsy eyelids as she struggled to sit up. She didn’t really care what time it was. Time had no meaning to her anymore- not when she was this close to him…But practical words were the only ones she could trust herself with. If she did anything but focus on the most mundane of subjects, some horrifying confession might fly out of her mouth and once released, she would never be able to remove anything she might say from Matthew’s memory. She would never be able to live down the shame of her unholy secret…


She barely heard Matthew’s reply of “Almost dawn.”

“How is the storm?” she asked.

“Still howling,” he said. “But I think that it has lightened a bit. I can go check now, if you want me to,” he said. “I haven’t looked out in a while since I didn’t want to wake you. I’ve just been listening to the wind.”

“No, don’t get up!” she said a little too quickly. She didn’t want him to leave… His body was warm beside her. It felt too good to sit here beside him while she was still drowsy, living in a moment that felt half like a dream, and half like reality. She wished that the storm would go on forever so that she could just rest here beside Matthew for all of that alternate eternity. She sighed dreamily.


“What is it?” he asked.

She smiled happily at him. “Nothing,” she said. “I just slept well. Did you sleep at all?” she asked, suddenly anxious that spending a whole night sitting up on her hard, wooden bench was not actually an ideal situation for Matthew.

But he smiled warmly at her. “A bit,” he replied.

They smiled stupidly at one another for a few moments, until she averted her eyes. “Can I make you some breakfast?” she asked shyly.

“Sure,” he said. “I’m a little hungry.” His stomach rumbled just then and Ethelyn giggled.


“A little hungry,” she laughed. “You thought I’d never wake up and feed you!” She was surprised at her own boldness in joking with him. As she rustled through the cabinets, looking for pots, she smiled happily to herself.

He offered to help her, so she sent him to the door to gather some snow to melt for water. He cried out when he reached the door. “What is it?” she called.

He laughed. “The snow is piled up to my knees!” he cried merrily.


Their laughter mingled together all through the morning as they cooked and ate together. As the morning progressed, a single thought kept recurring in her mind. “Is this how life would be it I was married to Matthew?” The question burned into her mind, and she was unable to shake it out, even by reminding herself that she was not married to Matthew and could never be married to Matthew at all. The realization would have made her cry, but she could not submit to sorrow- not when he was here beside her.


Eventually their laughter had lapsed into the silence that they both loved so well. The pale light of morning shone in through the windows. They both knew by the sunlight that the blizzard had ended, but Matthew made no move to leave. They simply sat, enjoying each other’s presence in the silence. When they didn’t talk, it was almost easy for Ethel to believe that Matthew was her husband…. That she had never married Bertram…That she was a young bride, newly married to a man that she loved more than anyone else, and that she was alone with him, her husband, for the first time… She wished that- but she dare not complete the thought.


“Matthew,” she whispered. Her voice sounded small and far away- like the tinkling of a bell sounded in some far-away fairy land, whose sound was ripped away from its native home and transported into the here and now.

His eyes were round and sad as he looked at her. Full of emotion and concern, he said, “I know.” He took her hand in his and held it tight. They dared not to move any closer to one another, for if they did, they would surely be overcome.

“We can’t do this, Ethel.” His voice was soft with sorrow and sensuality, but he meant the words. She knew him well enough to know how seriously he took his marriage vows. And she felt the same way. She would never betray her husband, as long as she lived. A sickening pit exploded in her stomach, almost crippling her in misery.

She began to cry. “Matthew,” she sniffled. “Matthew…”

He pulled her close to his chest, close enough that she could feel the beating of his heart. Its rhythm matched the pace of her own. Everything in her own body was aligned to everything in his. They were a perfect match, she thought, in body and in spirit. How had they not seen this before? How many years would they have to bear now going on through their lives as only friends when they longed to be so much more?


“Matthew…” his name was caught in her throat, and it was such a sweet word that she wanted to go on repeating it forever. She said it again. “Matthew…”

He pressed her closer and closer to his body. She felt that her love for him was being living out in this physical expression. As he hugged her tighter and tighter, it felt to her as if the physical weight of her love for him was crashing down upon her chest in a beautiful and painful wave. “I love you, Ethelyn. I love you,” he whispered.

As he spoke, she felt as if her soul had leapt from her body, flying from its cage like a newly freed bird. Her emotions completely overcame her and she sobbed into his shoulder. “What are we going to do, Matthew?” she asked.

She was surprised to feel the slight warmth of moisture fall upon her own head. Matthew was crying, too. He pressed her even closer to him and whispered “There is nothing we can do, my love.”


She knew that, but it hurt to hear him say it aloud. Somehow, she had almost thought that they would find a way to be together. In the back of her mind, she knew that they could have an affair, but the idea felt cold and foreign to her. She could not imagine such a horrible thing, and she knew that Matthew could not fathom such treachery either. She pressed her face closer to his shoulder, breathing in the scent of his clothes and body. She knew that after this moment, she might never again be this close to him.

They regretfully pulled their bodies apart and spent a moment looking into each other’s eyes. “I love you, Ethel,” he said to her softly. “I never knew that I would feel this way… If I could change things, I want you to know that I would have married you to start with… But I never knew…” He closed his eyes tightly, holding back tears. “I never knew…”


She sobbed. “I love you, Matthew,” she said. “I have never loved anyone the way that I love you. I wish that there was a way that we could be together…” She choked on the words. “But since we can’t… always know that I love you… And I always will…”

His eyes were shining, but she knew that his heart was breaking in the same way that hers was. She felt as if they had just said their vows at an altar, and the only thing to do was to kiss each other to seal their union before God. Though she may never touch Matthew again she felt that he was, in a way, her husband now.

Body trembling, she leaned over to him and kissed him with a fire that she had never felt before.


Just after their lips parted, she heard a sound coming from outside. Someone was trudging through the snow up the path to her house. She immediately thought that it was her husband, come home. She and Matthew flew to put some distance in between their bodies. Her heart pounded as the person outside made it to the door.

Then, there was a loud knock. She nervously opened the door. It was not her husband. It was a man from the village whose name she could not remember in her fright. He looked at her with a heart wrenching expression. “Ethelyn,” he said in an unfamiliar voice, “your husband is dead. He got caught in the storm last night,” he said. “We found his body this morning…”

The shock was too much for her and she felt her knees crumple as she fell to the ground.

Aethelis ran into the kitchen, her blue skirt flying out behind her. She had forgotten all about Ellyn’s cake, which was baking in the oven, and hoped that it had not yet burned. She would never forgive herself if she ruined her daughter’s birthday.

Or would Ellyn even notice? She was very busy chatting in her bed chamber with her friends. She spent more time at Iorvain Keep, playing with Perrigwen than she did at her own home. Aethelis blew a sprig of hair out of her face as she bent over to check the baking cake.

It wasn’t that she minded Ellyn having friends. Her daughter was 11 years old now, and it was good to see her growing up with the other little girls. She had watched her learning to crawl, helped her lisp out those first few words, and now there she was, gossiping away about boys and dress patterns like an old maid. No, if she was honest with herself, Aethelis could admit that she was simply lonely when Ellyn was away.

Dinovynn was so frequently gone on his long trade ventures that she rarely saw him. And ever since the last baby had been stillborn, their relationship had deteriorated. She remembered years ago when he would serenade her with silly songs of his own invention, and slip little love letters and poems under her pillow when she slept. That way, even if he was gone the next morning when she awoke, she would have his sweet words to ponder all day long.

The little letters had slowly dwindled in number through the years, though she would occasionally find one on very special occasions, like her birthday. But now, Dinovynn didn’t even bother. She knew that it wasn’t his fault. She was pushing him away.


The real question was why was she doing it? Several answers struggled for dominance in her mind. In some way, she was afraid of him. Not because he was ever rough or even mean with her. He was too generous, in fact. Sometimes, she wished that he would just yell at her when she shoved his arm off of her at night and responded to his passionate kisses with chaste and uninterested pecks. But he never did. He only sighed and looked helplessly at her, as if to ask why? In truth, she was afraid of becoming pregnant again. She could not handle to loss of another child.

And also, in truth, she was afraid of hurting him. She was dangerously close to a border of some sorts. Maybe it was more than a border. Maybe it was a cliff. A decision loomed before her, and if she made that leap, she didn’t want her husband to fall down with her…

The sound of the heavy wooden front door opening startled her in her thoughts. A booming voice echoed through the halls. “Where is my birthday girl?”

Aethelis’s heart skipped as she ran out into the hall. “Dinovynn! You’re home!” she squeaked.


She rushed toward him, but could not before Ellyn had thrown herself at her father in an enormous hug.

“Da! Da! Daaaaaaaa! You’re home,” their daughter squealed. “I thought that you wouldn’t be able to make it on time!”

“Nor did I, my angel,” he smiled at her.


After Ellyn had her fill of hugs and kisses, she fled back to her room to continue talking with her friends. Aethelis finally had her husband to herself. “How were you able to make it home in time?” she asked. Her husband had been gone away into a nearby village carrying a shipment for a fortnight and hadn’t been expected to make it back home for a week yet. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed him until now that she saw him again.

“I sold out early,” he said, “so I was able to leave sooner and make it back here on time.”

She smiled at him, glad that he was able to make it home for their daughter’s birthday, after all. “You won’t like this, though, my dove.” he continued. “I have to leave first thing in the morning to make my next shipment on time.”

“But why?” she pouted. “You just made it home!”

“Well, it is out in the same way of that last village that I was in. I was planning on going straight from one to the other, but since I sold out early, I decided to try to run here for Ellyn’s birthday. Now I have to go all the way back and then some.” He looked at her apologetically, silently begging for her forgiveness.

His pleading eyes were too much for her to take. "It doesn't matter," she said. "I'm just glad that you're finally home!"

She took him into her arms and warmly embraced him, covered him with kisses, and then pulled him roughly upstairs, forgetting entirely about the cake she had baking in the oven.

The pre-dawn light was cold and pale. It bathed Aethelis in its chilly glow, making her want to snuggle further back under the covers with her husband, and to escape into the warm and peaceful world that awaited under the thick wool blankets. She noticed that he was stirring, sitting up and swinging his feet off the edge of the bed.

“Don’t go,” she mumbled, struggling to throw the thick blanket off and sit up.


He sighed, getting up off of the bed. “You know that I must, my dear…”

“Why?” she demanded. “Why must you leave now? I need you here with me, Dinovynn!” she whined.

“You know that I must go,” he repeated. “I have to keep my family feed, do I not?”

“We have enough!” she protested. “Look… I have not felt right at all these past few months,” she said. “Ever since the… ever since the baby something has been wrong with me. I don’t know what to do!” she cried. “I need you here, to help me…”

He looked over at her with concern. “When I am here, you push my away, my lamb,” he said. His voice was soft. She could not even imagine how much she had hurt him, rejecting him time and time again.

“Things are different now,” she said. She was close to tears. “If you’re not here with me, I don’t know what I might do…”


“What do you mean?” he asked.

She sighed. “I just mean that lately, I do things that surprise myself. I just don’t know what is going on…”

He shrugged his tunic on and pulled up his leggings. “I don’t know how you want me to help you with that, dear.”

“I just want you to stay around,” she said. “And make sure that I don’t do anything that isn’t like me…”


He looked over to her and his eyes were sad. “I don’t even know you anymore,” he said. “You haven’t let me. When I’m home, you ignore me. You only want me when I’m not here…”

“Not this time,” she said. “This time, I swear that I’ll not push you away,” she cried.

Tears began flooding down her cheeks. He came over to put his arm around her. “If it means so much to you, darling, then I will stay…”


She suddenly realized that she was lying. He was too good for her and she didn’t want to hurt him. The only way to protect him was to not let him close to her. “Forget it,” she mumbled, wiping the tears away. “I’m just being silly. You can go. You’ll be back soon, and then we’ll work all of this out,” she said.

He pulled his arm off of her. “Are you sure?” he asked. He sounded disappointed. Maybe he just wanted her to need to him. She was just hurting him once again.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “I’ll be ok. I’ll see you when you return.”

“Why did you want to meet me?” Dulnstead asked. “I thought you never wanted to see me again.

“I was lonely,” Aethelis said.

“Look, to be honest,” Dulnstead said, “I shouldn’t even be here right now. I’ve got a wife at home and all my children waiting for me to get there. Why did you really want to see me?”

“I thought you hated your wife?”

“I do,” he said. “But that’s not the point, Aethelis. What’s going on?”

Her heart fluttered. She knew that he knew as well as she did why she had wanted him to meet her here, at the inn where they had first reunited over the summer. But now that she was here, could she go through with it? “My husband is out of town,” she said. “He left yesterday morning on business. My daughter is staying a fortnight with her friends. I’m lonely.”


He looked over at her. “Why should I stay?” he asked. A smile was beginning to play around the corners of his lips. “Tell me why.”

“I’ll give you what you want,” she said. She couldn’t look at him in the eyes as she spoke to him. “What you’ve always wanted from me…” She didn’t know why she was doing this. Some sick and twisted form of revenge against her husband for being too kind to her? Or some sort of revenge against her own self, for not deserving his love? Maybe she was doing this because she could never ever hope to live well enough to deserve the love of that man. Maybe she was tired to trying…

“And what do you want in return?” he asked. “You think that I can give you a child?”

“Maybe,” she said. “It doesn’t matter… I’ve just been thinking that maybe I have deserved you all along. We should have been together all along…”

“That’s right,” he agreed. He smiled at her and she almost shuddered. “I love you, Aethelis…”


She knew that he didn't mean it. She wondered how had she ever been entranced by him... How had she never seen right through him? But it didn’t matter now. She deserved this. She needed to punish herself and he was the best way to do it…

She led him up the stairs to the bedroom she had rented for the night. It was funny. She had always imagined that she would be falling down into a pit when she finally did this. But here she was, climbing up instead of falling down...

Ioreck pulled at Perri’s hair and laughed. “It looks even redder in the daylight, Carrots!” he teased.

She turned around to slap him, but he had already danced off, out of reach of her hands. “Don’t make fun of my hair!” she yelled.

“I wouldn’t normally make fun of it since you’re a girl, but it is just too funny!” he called out, hopping just out of reach of her arms.

“Well your whole face is funny!” She glared at him, wishing that she was bigger than him so she could catch him and punch him in the face.

“Not as funny as your hair!” he laughed.

Her lip quavered and she felt tears spring up in her eyes. “Don’t make fun of my hair!”


He instantly noticed her quivering bottom lip and leaped towards her. “Now, Perri, don’t cry!” he said, suddenly apologetic. “You know I didn’t mean it at all!”

She shoved him away. “I’m not crying!” she pouted.

“What’s this, then,” he said, wiping at a tear that had rolled down her face.

Well, if I am crying, it is because I am so mad at you and not because you hurt my feelings!” she yelled.

“Oh come now, Perri, you don’t have to lie to me,” he said.

His voice was gentle and soft and she didn’t like it. She didn’t know how to act with this soft, nice Ioreck and not the stupid, loud Ioreck that she so loved to hate. “Don’t be stupid!” she yelled. “You’re just a stupid, ugly boy! What do you know about anything?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t be a baby, Pears,” he said, “You’re eleven years old now, almost a grown-lady, so act like it, or I won’t come to see you anymore…”


“I wish you wouldn’t come to see me,” she whined. “I wish that you would just disappear and leave me alone!”

“Now, Perri, you don’t really want that, do you?” he asked, taking a step towards her.

“Yes. Go away!”

He laughed at her, which only made her angrier. “I don’t want to go away, Pears! I like seeing you!”

“Well I don’t like seeing you,” she sniffed.

“Too bad!” he grinned. “You’re stuck with me for the rest of your life. We’re going to get married, you know!”


She howled at him. “I will not marry you ever! You stupid, insolent boy! I hate you!” she screamed.

He laughed at her and then did something neither one of them expected. He threw his arms around her and kissed her full on the lips. “Well I suppose you better learn to like me!” he laughed, “Cause I do like you! Or at least I would if you were acting your age and not like some baby…”


She started howling and he starting running as she chased after him clenching her fists

Awwwww! I just wanna huggle both of the kiddies!

Aethelis... I don't agree with what she did, but I really do get where she's coming from. Also Dulnstead is better looking than her hubby. Hope she doesnt go psycho guilt trippy about it.

I feel really bad for Rose and Matthew and Ethylyn... Dead baby= sad (durr), and ya jsut know that Ethylyn is going to be super guilt trippy about not wanting to keep her hands to herself...

Update soon and happy simsing!

Ya, I just love those two! They are mah favorite people in the whole kingdom, I think. Well, I like Lord Baldwin too cause he is sexy stuff, but he hasn't been in the story yet, soooo....

I have something nice planned for Rose to make up for her recent tragedy... Matthew and Ethel, on the other hand... *winces* I am going to be very cruel to for the sake of plot And as for Aethelis... well, she is going to have some problems pretty soon, too...

The sky was darkening. As the light leaked from the sky, so did the warmth from the air. Rose was shivering, sitting, as she was, uncovered on a fallen log in her favorite garden.

The garden was a place that had been forgotten by many. Sitting away from the beaten and dusty pathways that surrounded the castle, her garden had fallen out of the normal world. Somehow, its presence had long faded from the memory of the castle groundskeeper and it now lay in a wild disarray and mockery of what it once had been.

But Rose loved the wildness that she found there. It was so unlike the prim and proper gardens that Queen Alverstine loved. It was not a place of careful manners and restrained decorum. It was a place where she could escape and be alone. Here in her garden, she could take off the mask of gaiety that she so desperately tried to don in public places.

Since the death of her child, Rose had slipped in and out of restless states. She could not seem to recapture a firm hold on the merry life that she had once possessed. Everyone she knew could not understand this new, sad Rose. They allowed her a time of grief for the passing of her child, but once it had ended, it seemed to her as if everyone had expected her to leap straightaway back into the Rose of jokes and parties and merriment.

That Rose, the Rose of laughter and mischievous strings of profanity was now only a shell into which she stepped each morning until night when she could be alone. If she did not protect her fragile self in this carefully constructed shell, she was not able to survive…

The sound of quiet footfalls on the dewy grass broke the spell of her reverie. “Albert,” she said without turning around. “What are you doing here?”


He paused somewhere behind her. “Only trying to find your hiding place, my lady dear,” he said.

She slowly turned her head to him. “Why are you looking for me?” she asked. “Is something wrong?” She already knew that nothing was. Lately, Albert frequently sought out her company. She didn’t mind his constant presence, and in fact, she quite liked having him around. He leant a sense of security to her. Having him beside her made her feel quite safe, and protected. When he was around, it was easier for her to fall into her older, happier ways.

“No,” he said. “I simply wanted to talk to you…” She didn’t miss the strange pitch of his voice. It was caught, trapped in a tightly wound knot in his throat. If the quiet spell of the garden had been broken for her, the sound of his voice wove a new one around her.


“About what?”

“Rose,” he began, and she already knew the words that were to follow. Instead of the nervous, halting rhythm that she would have expected, his voice was calm and smooth. “We have gotten to know each other very well since you came here. So well, in fact, that I feel I know most things about you. I know how hard it has been for you since Lilly died. I know how sad you are, every day, struggling to go on with your life when everyone around you seems to have forgotten. I want you to know, Rose, that I would do anything to make you happy again. If I knew that I could help you to find peace and joy again… I…” he paused, stopping to judge her thoughts by the look on her face.

She didn’t torture him any longer. “You do make me happy, Albert,” she said slowly. “I feel more myself with you than I do with anyone else…” She paused, sucking in a deep breath of air, and then smiled. “Albert, why don’t you marry me?” she asked.


He sighed, in an imitation of exasperation. “Rose, you know that was supposed to be my line!”

The intense quiet of the mood had been broken. Rose felt something held tense with in her relax and suddenly she giggled. “Albert? Is that an acceptance? Will you take me to be your lawfully wedded husband before all men and before God?”

He sank gracefully to his knees as he said, “Wife, Rose, wife. I shall be the husband, and you shall be my wife.” He smiled fondly at her as she giggled, and then took her hand. “And I swear to you, that I shall love you for always until the day that I die.”


She didn’t like his return to seriousness, but was nonetheless touched. “Then let us get married at once, sir,” she said.

“What?” he asked, hopping back up off the ground. “Right now?”


“Why not?” she laughed. “We want to be married, so married let us be. Hie thee to the chapel, my soon-to-be-husband! We must find a priest!” She yanked at his hand, intending, perhaps, to yank him all the way to the nearest priest before he changed his mind. She felt merrier than she had in months and fully intended to enjoy the moment as much as possible before her depression returned. In a moment of inspiration, she suddenly dropped his hand and turned to him.


“Albert,” she said, biting back a smile. “I love you, too.” Here, she kissed him quite sincerely, before quickly returning to her past-paced trot towards the nearest chapel. “Hurry up!” she yelled behind her at the man she had left happily speechless behind her back.

At the sound of a timid knocking, Rosalyn rose heavily from her rickety chair. It was one of her favorite places to sit and rest, that chair. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, which she loved. It supported her weight easily, but not so comfortably that she might accidentally nod off and waste the hours that she could be spending working.

She pulled open the door with some amount of detached curiosity. “Aethelis Weldhelm?” she exclaimed with surprise. She scampered to cover her slip. “What can I do for you?” she asked, hoping to cover the confusion that her voice betrayed.


“May I come in?” Aethelis asked. She looked wearily around her, as if she did not wish for anyone to see her conversing with the other woman.

“Of course,” Rosalyn replied, moving away from the door to let her enter. She led Aethelis to the sitting room and gave her a moment to settle herself and arrange her skirts neatly. When she did not speak, however, Rosalyn hesitantly broke the silence once more. “What can I do for you, Aethelis?” she repeated.

Aethelis slowly took in a breath of air. “I need to speak to you about something very important,” she reluctantly began. “Something that I would not want to be repeated to anyone…”

Rosalyn nodded, though she was still confused. “I can promise you that much, Aethelis,” she said. “You know that I am no gossip.”

Aethelis bobbed her head in agreement. “That’s why I came to you,” she said. “I know that you ... keep to yourself a lot.” She bit her lip. “And also that you have some knowledge of how to use certain herbs and plants…”


Rosalyn nodded. Most of her social interactions were carried out because of this knowledge. She frequently sold special plants for seasonings to the other villagers and sometimes helped at the apothecary, mixing herbs for remedies. “So what do you need?” she prodded, ready to hop to her feet to search her well-stocked cupboards.

“I’m pregnant,” Aethelis said. She spat the words out as if they were poison.

“I don’t understand,” Rosalyn said. She saw many pregnant women in her work. They often came to her to request simple medicines to help them hold down their food, to give them more energy, to help with swelling, and so on. However, Aethelis’s tone told her that she was searching for something different.

“I don’t… want the baby,” Aethelis whispered. Her face flushed into a flaming red as she uttered her confession.


“Forgive me for prying,” Rosalyn slowly said, “but I thought it was common knowledge that you loved children and wanted some more of your own…”

Aethelis looked up at her sadly. “I don’t know who the father is,” she muttered, clearly ashamed. “I don’t know who else I can turn to for help…

Rosalyn took a deep breath to steady herself. “If you want to carry it to term, there is still a chance that it could be your husband’s.” she said. “Then you would have wasted all this time worrying about it.”

“I don’t think it is,” Aethelis said. “And if it isn’t, I know that I won’t be able to live with myself. He’ll know that I have betrayed him the moment he sets eyes upon this cursed child… I won’t be able to take it…” she said. “I can’t think of anything that could be worse than having him know what a horrible person I am. I don’t want to hurt him like that!”

“How far along are you?” Rosalyn asked with a sigh.

“About three months… I’ve waited and waited, hoping that I was wrong, but now enough time has passed that I’m sure,” she said. She looked up at Rosalyn. “I was hoping that I might have another miscarriage,” she said. Her voice cracked with guilt. She sounded to Rosalyn as if she were making a confession to a priest. “Please help me,” she entreated. “I don’t know what else to do…”

Rosalyn’s heart ached for the other woman. “I'm really no expert, Aethelis, and I don’t know that I can help you,” she said. “I’ve never tried to find something for a woman to help her shed a baby, only things to help her conceive one… And I don’t know that if I did have something, that I would feel right about it…”


“Please,” Aethelis begged. “Please think about it… If this baby turns out to be his, I don’t know how I’ll live…” She wiped at the few tears that were falling from her eyes.

Rosalyn sighed. “Come and see me in about a week,” she said. “I’ll see if I can find out if there’s anything that I can learn to help you. But I have to be honest with you, Aethelis, I don’t think there is.”

There's no nightshade in the isles? Tansy is one of the most common woodland plants there is... is sorta hard to find, but everyone who knows what to look for knows what it looks like... unless her problem is giving a nightshade to a friend? *confused*

And before you ask, I have random knowledge of abortificents from botany classes, not practical knowledge.

And for usual comments.... Wowzers, Dulnstead's been busy, no? And squee, weddingz! Update soon and happy simsing!

Thanks for pointing out to me that it wasn't very clear. I'll try to fix that in text...

Rosalyn really doesn't know all that much about that sort of thing. She's no expert and isn't even the village apothecary. Aethelis came to her instead of a professional because they sort of know each other and Rosalyn is extremely trust worthy. Plus Rosalyn probably wouldn't just hand over some stuff and be like "yay! let's abort a baby!" anyways.

God, it looks bad that I reply 30 secs. after you post. I haaaaaave noooo life!

As Rosalyn expected, Aethelis returned in exactly one week. “I have nothing to give you,” she said simply as soon as the other woman was in the room.

Aethelis nodded as she took a seat on the couch. Before she could say anything, Rosalyn continued. “I tried to research the matter, but it was rather difficult. I couldn’t just go around the village and ask everyone I saw. And anyways, Aethelis, to be quite honest; I don’t know if I could feel right about this even if I did know of something…”

Aethelis nodded. “I understand. I wasn’t sure in the first place if you could help or not…”


“Are you going to be ok?” Rosalyn asked suddenly, out of concern. To her, Aethelis seemed bent to the point of snapping. Her eyes were bleary and red, a sign that she spent most of her time crying. Rosalyn could remember back into the years when they had been young maids. Aethelis had been the merriest of them all, popular with the boys and girls alike for her quick laughter and prism like smiles. She had never been close friends with Aethelis when they were younger, but then, she had never been close friends with anyone.

As she reflected on the days gone by, she suddenly came to a realization. “Dulnstead!” she cried as she remembered the only time she had ever seen Aethelis so prone to tears. It had been when Dulnstead Millhead was courting her.


Aethelis gasped. “How did you know?”

Rosalyn looked over at her warily. “The only time I ever saw you this weepy was when the two of you were betrothed all those years ago.”

Aethelis twiddled with her fingers. “I suppose it’s so,” she said. “But please, Rosalyn, don’t tell anyone.”


“Don’t worry,” she assured Aethelis. “Even if I wanted to, there is no one that I could tell. I’m a bit out outside of most social circles, you know,” she shrugged.

“May I ask why that is?” Aethelis said. “You’re not a disagreeable woman. I don’t understand why you don’t have any friends.” She immediately winced. “I’m sorry, Rosalyn, I didn’t mean for it come out like that,” she stammered.



“Oh, it’s alright,” Rosalyn said. “It’s the truth, plain and simple, so I don’t mind it being spoken aloud. And anyways, I suppose that it’s mostly my fault. I’ve never been very sociable, at all,” she sighed. “And anyways, Cuthbert likes to keep me around the house.”

“Well maybe I could come over sometimes and keep you company,” Aethelis said. “I haven’t been myself lately. It might do me some good to keep out of that big lonely house.”

“I would honestly like that very much,” Rosalyn replied. “I only ever talk to Lady Catherine,” she sighed. “And it is really not very pleasant to talk to that condescending woman. She is not fond of me at all.”

“Well, I’ll do that then,” Aethelis said as she rose from the cushions. “I’ll be by next Monday. Is that ok?”

“That would be wonderful,” Rosalyn replied. “I’ll see you then.”