June 29, 1176
"Still awake?" It must have been past midnight by now. Aspen's thick lashes drooped over her bright green eyes, and yet here she stood. She must have gotten up for something and noticed the light from under Rona's door. Rona might have been annoyed, but she wasn't feeling it. It was just almost nice to think anyone had noticed her at all. "You should really try to get some rest. You don't want to be falling asleep at the wedding, do you?"Damn Lonriad. How was it that some big-nosed farm girl who'd gotten caught in the act was rewarded with a big fancy wedding--with a knight for a groom, no less! Lonriad hadn't even been obliged to marry her had he not wanted to.
But obviously, he did. "I'm not going."Sighing, Aspen pushed the door back into place and shook her head. "You could do much better, you know."
"Not here." Not unless she wanted to wait for Nythran or Farilon or one of those dimwitted princes to grow up--which she most certainly did not. Not when Riona had a baby and Hilla was getting married in a few weeks and her sister Xeta was looking a little large around the waistline again. Her own mother hadn't wed until twenty-two and that in itself was a frightening prospect. Rona would be fifteen in August, and if no one presented himself soon, she knew Lorn wouldn't hesitate to look outside the kingdom. "Thanks for caring enough to lie, though. Sit with me? I don't want to be alone tonight."
Maybe she was asking too much; Aspen did look tired. But as always, she did as requested. "I wasn't lying, you know."Rona shrugged. "I guess it's not a lie if you believe it, then."
"Maybe--but I wish you'd believe it too." No sooner had the words left her mouth than her eyes bulged, as if she'd spoken horribly out of turn. She hadn't. Or maybe she had, but Rona didn't care. "I mean... well, your brother is planning on doing another call for knights next spring, isn't he? You should have a few to choose from then."She didn't sound quite optimistic, but she was trying--not that there was much point in it, but it was nice to see that someone thought her worth the effort. "I suppose, if he doesn't decide to ship me off before then."
"Couldn't you just ask him to wait?"
"He said he'd wait as long as we could, but I don't know how much longer that will be." Not long, at any rate. Knowing Lorn, he was trying to gauge the opportune time based on the women of both of their peer groups. Leara had married at fifteen. Xeta had married at fifteen, and so had Riona. Raia and Viridis and Lettie had been sixteen, Jeda and Camaline had been fourteen... And as if that was the only problem. "That and he probably wants an alliance. He'd rather have a man with connections than some nobody chasing a knighthood.""I see." Aspen slumped downward along the mattress, stopping herself when her head rested against the board. Rona's bedframe was a rich mahogany that lacked no hint of burgundy or auburn, but the red of Aspen's hair rendered it a dull brown indeed. Why couldn't Rona have had red hair, or maybe raven black or a rich chestnut like her mother and sister? Her own color was so dull. Maybe that was why she didn't have a man. That or her weight--which clearly had never been a problem for her maid.
"I envy you, you know." She laced her thumb under the ribbon around her waist and tried to pull. She doubted it could stretch further. "No one's ever going to make you marry anyone you don't want, or say you can't marry anyone you do. You can be with anybody.""Uh... well, maybe not quite anybody." Maybe it was the light, but her face looked a little red. Or maybe Rona was starting to get a little tired and the line between hair and skin was a bit of a blur. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'm not planning on that any time soon."
"That's what Hilla said--and guess whose wedding is coming up right after Lonriad and Beaky's?" Oh, Hilla. Fun, funny, unconventionally pretty Hilla. Like all the handsome Bernardos of the world would ever settle for less. "Maybe I should just face the facts. No one is ever going to love me."
Aspen shot her a funny sort of look, but it was late and she was tired and emotional and couldn't really read it. Knowing Aspen, she guessed it for sympathy. "Don't say that."NEXT CHAPTER:
13 comments:
I really need to get that lighting mod installed again... but the updated version looks so complicated! And the old one might not be compatible past a certain EP! Aaaaahhhh! :(
Oh for Pete's sake Rona, you're stunning.
Is she in denial about Aspen's not-so-subtle hints or is she genuinely not noticing?
Pooor Rona :(
All this stress on such a young girl (mind you I'm only two years older) I would have hated the very thought of marriage, still kinda do.
And she is beautiful, but doubting herself like this makes me feel all sad for her, come on Van you gotta make this pretty girl smile, I think she deserves it!
And Aspen, she's also very pretty, they're quite a pair :P
Off to work now, but I shall return to stalk Naroni once again, I promise :P
Pen: Rona's that one girl in every high school who never has a date in spite of the fact that she really should.
As for Aspen... well, I don't think the thought has ever occurred to Rona. Plus I don't think anything she said was something you'd never hear from someone who was just a friend? I think dramatic irony may be at work here :P
EkhoGirl: Heheh... I felt a little queasy when I typed that line about Celina having been the ripe old age of twenty-two when she got married. I'm twenty and I don't know if I'll want to get married in ten years, much less two :S
I wouldn't give up hope of Rona having a reason to smile in the next year or so ;)
Aspen was kind of a lightning strike in some ways. She's a repurposed Sim--she used to be a daughter of Sir Searle and Lady Valira who died as a toddler. She lucked out and managed to avoid Valira's chin. She is quite pretty, and in a different way from how Rona is pretty, so that turned well.
Have fun at work :)
I'm back haha :)
I only close up on weekdays so it's only a 2 hour shift :)
It's crazy how quickly they used to marry off/betroth people back in the day, but I am guilty of doing this to my sims as well I guess, I always check over my sim's offspring to make sure everybody has someone to marry, mostly because I don't want anybody to miss out like poor Rona :(
Okaay I'm looking forward to Rona's reason to smile, and I can easily picture Aspen as the freckly red haired girl with pretty eyes, she's a doll.
Only two hours? Nice :D
Yeah, it does seem pretty weird nowadays, or at least in most of the developed world. Then again, they did tend have pretty short lifespans back in the day, so if that's taken into consideration, all the teenage marriages don't seem too unreasonable.
Heheh... pretty much as soon as my Sims are born I start thinking about who they might marry. I'm currently at a crisis with the young ones, though; there seem to be more females in the nobility and more males among the commoners, but I figure I can just make more Sims if the ratio doesn't even out somehow.
We'll definitely be seeing more of these two. Stay tuned ;)
Hey I was looking for the questions and answers page thingie but couldn't locate it, so mind if I just ask here??
Lorn needs a swift kick in the pants. Just because HE lucked out with his betrothed-from-practically-birth doesn't mean everybody is going to be that lucky with an arranged marriage. I really think he needs to slow down and give Rona some more time. She has no problem marrying the guy Lorn wants her to marry, she just doesn't want to leave Naroni. Some guys only WISH they had daughters that calm and relatively reasonable.
Perhaps Raia could give Lorn that swift kick? She and Leara are still besties, right?
And oh, Rona ... I'll just sit here and sigh over the dramatic irony until you figure out what's right under your nose.
(And by the way, have Camaline and Aydelle been up to anything recently? ;))
EkhoGirl: Feel free to ask anywhere :)
Morgaine: For all Lorn is a nice guy, he is a bit overly-hopeful when it comes to such arrangements :S But yeah, Rona could be a lot more demanding.
Raia and Leara are still close. I don't think Raia would object to chewing out Lorn--they were always close too--but I don't know if she's close enough to Rona to know her feelings on it.
Camaline and Aydelle have just been going about their usual routine. Theirs is one of the more stable relationships in Naroni nowadays, even though I'm not sure if either of them would call it a relationship. We'll see them again, though ;)
Rona is gorgeous! How on earth could she think otherwise? Aspen is lovely, too, but she certainly doesn't throw Rona in the shade. Poor girl. What a future to contemplate. There seems to be some flexibility, some consideration for personal preference, but not much.
Your shots are beautiful. I would not have guessed you are working without a lighting mod.
She's certainly lovely. Unfortunately, some people do tend to compare themselves to their friends and they usually come up unfavorably by their own standards. I think everyone falls into that trap every once in a while.
She's not totally trapped... but she does want to stay, and options that allow for that are becoming more and more limited :(
Thanks Beth :)
Okaay :)
How far ahead to you plot your story?
And do you sometimes have things written with the pictures already taken ahead of time, ready to be posted or do you pace yourself?
I'm doing a trilogy and have heaps already done, pictures taken and everything written for them, but sometimes it feels like I'm rushing too much especially since I constricted myself to only 6 posts per month.
Do ever feel like this?
It varies. I usually like to plan (and by planning I mean actually adding to the outline, not just ideas floating around in my head) about one Naroni year in advance, but sometimes I have more and sometimes I have less.
I never have anything done in advance, except in bizarre situations where Blogger or Photobucket is down right before I can post or there's a power outage or something like that. In general, the posts go up as soon as I'm done with them.
So... I probably don't know exactly how you're feeling right now, sorry :S But whatever method you feel is working for you, go ahead and do it :)
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