April 18, 1165
As though the very sight of him could dry her tears, Alina's eyes remained fixated on her husband from the time he strode through the door to the second he lowered himself on the couch beside her. He drummed his fingers against his thigh; she added to the percussive distraction by lifting her heel from her slipper and strumming it against the frame of the couch. Seeking further sanctuary in their makeshift music, Alina began to whistle a tune to the beat, which Severin was quick to accompany with a hummed harmony. In a few minutes, they had a chorus, three distinct verses, and even an interlude--when they finished with those, they cycled through them once again. And again. And again.Then, Severin stopped, leaving Alina to continue on her own for a few painful seconds. Embarrassed, she shied into the corner of the couch, the flush of her cheeks uncomfortably warm. Her husband pulled her from her cowering position with a gentle nudge of his hand to her chin, then frowned. "We should write to your sister."
It was an unconventional way of starting a conversation about such topics, but it seemed that family deaths had grown so common in recent years that many more typical means of talking about them had already been tried and failed. "Yes, and to Tarien as well. His poor little boys--Haldred will never know his mother, and Primus likely won't remember her either."Severin rested his head against the windowsill behind him. "Indeed. To think, she was here not much longer than three years ago now. A smiling, youthful thing she was; I would have thought she had decades ahead of her."
"My heart aches for Meraleene," Alina sighed. "She's been going through such a difficult time. She and Oswald still haven't adjusted to life with each other, and now her eldest is dead. I mean... can you even imagine the death of your own child?"
His lip curling inward, Severin leaned forward. "No--nor would I particularly care to do so.""Neither. Tarien must be thankful that the baby survived, even though he's doubtlessly devastated over the loss of his wife."
"Another incidence for which I am grateful that I can only sympathize, and not empathize."
Alina picked at a loose thread from her sleeve. "One life ends and another begins. Tragically poetic."
"You remind me why I can't stomach poetry."
She allowed herself a stiff breath of a laugh, then twisted her lip into a frown. "I wonder, though... would she have chosen otherwise, had she been given a choice? If it had meant that she would live, would she have had her son die? I don't think she would have. No mother would--I certainly wouldn't."
He met her comment with a quizzical glance that lingered a few seconds too long for her personal taste; he made up for it with a quick kiss, then shifted his gaze to the bed, a suspiciously grimace-like smile seizing control of his mouth.
"That's enough talk of death for now, I think," he muttered, as though he only half-intended for her to hear him. "Why don't we go for a ride, just the two of us? Falidor's here, and so is Searle, so it isn't as if we would be leaving the children alone. It won't bring your niece back, but it might help clear our heads."Alina raised an eyebrow. "What do you imagine I would be riding, exactly? My horse, or you?"
"I was thinking one first, then the other," Severin answered promptly, "but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's just leave before it gets dark."
NEXT CHAPTER:
8 comments:
Sorry this wasn't up earlier :(
Hmm... sometimes I worry that my narrative is too forced. I'm usually satisfied with my dialogue... but I do wish I was better with the narrative.
Ah... I have to be up early. Family trees will be updated tomorrow. Somebody please remind me at some point. Thanks :)
Canada won I see!!:P Was it a good match?
And that's horrible. I can't imagine that there's anything worse for a parent than losing a child. My gram's done it several times over unfortunately!:(
What family tree are you talking about?:P
It was a pretty good game. Much better than the one against the States, at any rate. Luongo was in net, which was a good coaching decision, I think--Brodeur's a legend, but I think age is catching up with him ("age" for a hockey player being like, late thirties :P)
*wonders whether hockey fans everywhere will now stumble across Naroni through the wonders of Google*
Yeah, that's every parent's worst nightmare, I'm sure. Your poor grandma :( That's terrible.
Family trees. Thanks for the reminder, Phoenix :) *runs off to update*
I am finding myself really uneasy about this ride of theirs, particularly after the conversation they just had. And I must say that Alina is one of the loveliest female sims I have seen. She really is beautiful.
Yeah, it's probably just something he suggested as a means of changing the subject. Plus I get the sense that Alina clears her head most effectively by getting out of the house (which it might be important to note that she rarely does just that), while Severin achieves the same means through sex.
Thank you :) Alina's face is mainly a mixture of features from Templates 1 and 2, but I guess I hit the jackpot with the combination. Plus that skin really does wonders on her, I find--I try not to use the Enayla skins too often, because I find they make Sims either too beautiful or too weird-in-a-not-so-good-way, but this one really works on Alina, I find.
I only wish her daughters looked more like her. Raia is pretty much exactly what Severin would look like if he was a woman. This is the case with Riona too, only she did get Alina's blue eyes and red hair. Vera also resembles her father more, though not to the same extent as Raia or Riona. Viridis probably got the most of her mother's features, and she's really cute as a child and a toddler... but as a teen and adult, the blend of the particular features she got from each parent doesn't really work all that well. The main problem seems to be Alina's nose, which is evidently too small for some of Severin's features.
I don't have any problems with her sons, though. Lonriad grows up to be very attractive, and Jadin's not too bad either. Searle's a little more bland, but not to the point of being homely.
Maybe it's just me, but this entry seems to have the gloomy air of foreshadowing about it.
I suppose anything is possible at this point.
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