February 22, 1163
"I just--just--it's not fair!" Ailede choked at last, her tiny fists balled as though she desired nothing more than to pick a fight with God Himself. "It's like--just--one day someone's there, and you think they'll be there the next day too, but...""I know," Falidor whispered, trying to assure his wife as best he could.
She paid him no heed; he didn't blame her. If nothing else, she needed the time to set her thoughts straight. "And they didn't even come to tell me themselves! They sent the neighbor with the news! They probably aren't even grieving themselves, and they couldn't have bothered to tell me--his sister! Their sister--their daughter! Did they want me to be as uncomfortable as possible?""I think the discomfort is a given, dear," he muttered under his breath. "It's never easy, losing a loved one. I know--"
"Oh, what do you know?" she wailed snappishly; startled, Falidor began to gradually edge away. "At least all your dead went slowly; it was no surprise to you when they were finally gone! You'd been expecting them to go for months--years! But how could I have seen this coming?""Ailede..."
He stopped speaking, as it dawned on him that she may have had a point there. Maybe he didn't know exactly how she felt. Maybe he couldn't truly empathize... could he? "Maybe you're right. I'm sorry, Ailede--for everything. For your loss. I had no idea you and your brother were so close."
"Oh, don't be sorry!" she scolded him with a sniff, the last of her tears finally streaming from her face. "It's not like it was your fault, stupid. And we weren't really that close, it's just... he was my brother, you know?"Falidor nodded; even if they didn't always agree, he couldn't imagine losing Ceidrid or Rifden. Then again, they had always been fairly close... but maybe that was in part due to the fact that their parents had always been laughing, smiling, loving? Ailede and Senwick's parents could not possibly have been any more different than Falidor's own--and maybe that alone merited even greater sympathy from him.
"I'm going to start cooking supper, all right? Maybe it will help me take my mind off of this."
"Fair enough. Don't strain yourself."
It was a delicate, tragic situation--yet, Falidor could not help but smile as Ailede made her way out of the bedroom. For once, it seemed that his wife actually did have some depth to her, did care about someone other than herself. Maybe it had been in her all along, and it took an unfortunate incident such as thing to bring to light that side of her; that was a shame, but perhaps knowing this, he could now grow to like her. Perhaps he could even grow to love--"Oh, by the way, I'm pregnant again."
NEXT CHAPTER:
13 comments:
Sorry about the wait :(
In other news, the next THIV might not be up tomorrow, since I have a midterm on Tuesday and will probably have to study. Sorry all :(
Also, in case anyone cares, I just modified my blog layout slightly so that things that are technically "Extras" are now separate from "Useful Links". I'm also debating separating the directory links from the "Read from the Beginning" link, but I'm not sure if I'll do that.
Also... I've heard a few people talking about putting together pages for individual storylines. While it's a good idea, I'm not sure I want to jump on that bandwagon just yet, because it doesn't seem entirely necessary for Naroni at this point in time. On the other hand, if I'm going to do it at all, it's probably best to start while I have (relatively) few posts up. Thoughts on this?
Eh, I don't know that that's a necessary feature for Naroni either. But that's up to you, Van! As someone who has been reading from the beginning, it wouldn't really make a difference for my reading experience but it might for someone who is jumping into it for the first time.
So is the father of this new baby the same as the father of the previous one?
Yeah, that sums up sentiments about the whole storyline thing. Plus it'll probably just serve to remind me how storylines can sometimes just fizzle and die. There have been so many times I've introduced someone or something with a whole storyline in mind, and then... eh, it just never happened.
Nope, this baby has a different father than the previous one. However, we can safely assume that once again, the daddy is not Falidor.
*my sentiments
Damn, I wish Blogger allowed for the editing of comments :(
Ha ha!
Poor Falidor! I say "poor" but he's so spineless it's hard to feel sorry for him. Then again, he's just so NICE that you sorta have to.
I was hoping he would get with Danthia too! *pouts* Would serve both their spouses right!
Falidor certainly does inspire conflicting emotions :)
Eheheh... sorry about that. I had no idea that Team Falidor/Danthia would ever spawn. I never even considered the possibility of them having a romantic relationship until someone (Cheri, I think?) mentioned it in the comments.
I do have other plans for Falidor, though, and I'm considering a few ideas for Danthia (after, of course, the passing on of The Chin is ensured).
Wait- Why does the chin have to die for Danthia to get some love'n?
It doesn't. Just saying, it would be nice to get a few little cleft-chinned babies before Danthia meets someone else, regardless of whether Searle lives or not.
OH NO!!!! She did NOT just causally toss that out there like it's okay! That last pose about summed it up Van!
Hmm...I like the layout the way it is. I don't see the need for different pages for different story lines. It would sort of break up the flow I think!
Yeah, that's the other thing about storylines. Might break up the flow somewhat.
Alas, that is how Ailede's mind works. She's a bit twisted like that, unfortunately. She's probably the worst possible match for Falidor, unfortunately :(
Poor Falidor...but damn it he needs to grow a spine! He knows the child isn't his! Argh!
As for the separate blog idea, I think Naroni works as it is. It doesn't really take a hard turn anywhere and you have made it easy to jump in wherever. I would leave it personally.
Yeah, I'm thinking the directory is probably enough if someone wanted to just jump in.
Falidor... yeah, he needs to get working on that spine of his. She wasn't even afraid to tell him because she knew he wouldn't do anything :(
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