Tuesday 14 January 2014

Chapter 106 - Home Again

The two unicorns, with Elenie and her mother on their backs, materialised in the ruins of a building, high above a valley.  As they were dismounting, they noticed a large shape fly overhead and shortly afterwards Evie and Talfryn walked up to the ruin. 
As Evie came over to her, Elenie asked "So where are we?  I thought we were going home, but this doesn't look familiar in the slightest?"

"We are home; do you remember I told you about the fae realms changing from time to time?  Well, a lot has changed while you've been gone - I don't know if you realised it, but time has passed faster here than it has for you.  Amaethon and Murigen have had a child at last and in honour of her birth they decided to change the entire look of their realm.  Don't worry, your home is still the same, it knew you were coming back, and we'll show you the way."
Elenie stared at her in amazement, but before she could say anything, Talfryn followed Evie over to her and gave her a warm hug.  Releasing her, he took hold of her arms and said "I'm sorry we weren't in time to save Ieaun, but always remember that we're your family and we're here for you whenever you need us."  
After he said this, Evie elbowed him aside, mock-scolding him with the comment "Shoo, we were talking dear"

Turning back to Elenie, she said "We came as quickly as we could when we knew you were in danger, I wish we could have gone with you in the first place, then maybe we'd have been in time to save Ieaun.  If you need anything, we're here for you." 
Elenie embraced her, too choked up with a multitude of emotions to say anything.  Evie held her for a long while, stroking her back and murmuring soothing comments before suggesting that maybe they could set off to take them home.  Elenie pulled away, dried her tears and agreed. 
When they got to the house, Elenie was glad to see little had changed there, despite all the changes in the surroundings.  As they went into the house, everything there reminded her of Ieaun and the fact she'd never see him again.  Making her excuses to her mother, she went up to her bedroom to cry.

Dory wandered round the house for a while, until she found a bedroom which seemed to have designed itself specifically for her.  Looking in the wardrobe, she found some fresh clothes in her favourite colours which looked as though they would fit her and, having had a quick shower she changed into them. 
Walking over to the dressing table, she took a long look in the mirror.  Whilst it felt good to have clean clothes which fitted and weren't rags, she still looked a fright.  "I deserve to look a fright" she muttered to herself in the mirror, "Why did I trust that monster?  How could I let him take over my life like that?  And now my baby's lost her husband in rescuing the fool mother who ignored her all her life". 
Shaking her head at herself, she decided that, even if she thought her current appearance matched her sins, she should probably do something about it anyway.  She didn't want to put anything more on her daughter, not after everything she'd done and allowed to be done. 
Elenie had recovered her composure a little, though she still felt empty inside.  Feeling a little hungry she decided it would be a good idea to eat something and went downstairs to cook a meal. 
When she had finished she called up "food's in the kitchen if you want it".  Feeling somewhat ambivalent about eating with her mother, she began eating her own portion without waiting.  When Dory came downstairs they both ate in an uncomfortable silence, neither quite sure what to say to the other.
Meanwhile, the little fox cub (who had come back with them) had been exploring the house.  Slipping cautiously into the barn, she met Nerys who came over and sniffed at her. 
Nerys decided the new addition to the household was acceptable and had a lengthy conversation with her, explaining the ground rules and enquiring about her likes and dislikes.   
Position and ground rules established, she played a few cat games with the little cub for a while, the two of them playfully chasing each other and generally being a bit silly. 


After another brief conversation, the cub told Nerys about what had happened, both to Ieaun and her own mother and Nerys nuzzled her in sympathy.
After eating, Elenie decided to bury her sorrow by taking a look at the plants in the greenhouse.  Most of them had stood up well to their absence but a few were now dead.  She began to carefully remove those from their planters and to dispose of the dead leaves and branches.

As she was doing this, she felt her stomach lurch; covering her mouth with one hand she looked down as her stomach churned, the meal she had just eaten threatening to come straight back up.

13 comments:

  1. Wow, it does look a lot different! That's got to be a trifle unsettling, to return home but not have it look like home. At least the house is unchanged.

    Oh, Dory! I'm so glad she's been rescued. Now, hopefully, she can stop blaming herself and begin healing. Though Elenie is in need of healing as much as her mother. Bless her.

    D'Aw! The cub and Nerys playing is so cute! You're pets are adorable! Will the cub be getting a name?

    *gasp! Is there a momento of Ieaun on the way?

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    1. It does look a lot different (I've moved them to Dragon Valley along with the other inhabitants of the town I had them in previously because I now have a good enough computer to play large maps!)

      I think it will take a while for Dory to stop blaming herself, she's probably going to spend a lot of time looking back over her life and her decisions and thinking "What if". Yes, Elenie is also in need of a lot of healing right now - she needs to go through the grieving process for Ieaun and also come to terms with her relationship (or lack thereof) with her mother.

      The cub does have a name, and I will (hopefully) include that in the next chapter.

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  2. I can just imagine how uncomfortable it must be between Dory and Elenie. I mean, Elenie was so young when Dory started treating her differently, and even though she should know logically that her mother couldn't help her actions, it must still be awkward to have her back in the house. It's sad that they're basically strangers to each other. :(

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    1. It is going to be quite awkward between them for a while, even though Elenie knows that her mother was under various spells and wasn't in control of her actions she still has all the feelings about it, and knowing something and feeling it are two different things. She's also nice and sweet enough that she doesn't want to confront her mother over it at the moment. On top of all that, they are essentially strangers, neither of them knows the other properly and neither of them is quite ready to make any moves in getting to know the other. Add into the mix the fact that Elenie's grieving for Ieaun.

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  3. The fox cub is SOO CUUTE!!!!!! (I had to get that out first.)

    Ah, poor Dory has a lot of guilt. Thoughits not her fault really, since Nik ensorcelled her, it's not like she had a choice. But till, I can see how that would weigh hard on her, especially with Iean's death. But she did man up, as it were, and put on a brave face so as not to burden her daughter further, so good on her. I hope she and Elenie can heal their relationship...Elenie will need some emotional support going forward.
    But that's going to be hard on Elenie, she was never able to bond with her mother growing up, and now she's grieving for the husband she lost while saving her estranged mother. I wouldn't be surprised if that gets in the way of them coming together. =(

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    1. The cub is very very cute isn't she?

      Dory does have a lot of guilt, I'm hoping to explore thata bit more in future chapters, but it's not only what happened while she was under that spell that she is struggling with, it's also the fact that she trusted him before that. The fact that Elenie came after her despite everything is adding to her feelings of guilt as, in her mind, it is in contrast to her own behaviour, and then for Ieaun to have died as a result magnifies it even more.

      Elenie is going to need emotional support, but I don't think she's going to want it from her mother, they haven't bonded since she was a toddler and in the meantime shrew had found other sources of support who have been there for her more than Dory has (whether she blames her mother for that or not)

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  4. The little fox and the kitten are so cute together! And they grieved for the loss of Ieaun too..oh wow.I haven't played with pets yet so I didn't they grieved too how neat and heartbreaking. Did the fox grieve for his mother too? Just curious.

    I can understand the awkwardness between mother and daughter. Hopefully with in coming baby (I so hope she's pregnant!!) this can pull them closer together and form a bond. :)

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    1. I meant to say I havent played with pets much* I have pets installed.

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    2. The fox cub hasn't grieved for her mother, but that's largely because due to the fact that I forgot to add the mother fox to this save at all, if I had added the mother fox and then killed her off then I think that the cub would have. I haven't actually entirely decided what happened to the mother fox when Nik's spell hit it, nor am I completely certain about whether she was "only" a fox - depending on how various future storylines go I may or may not re-visit that.

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  5. *hopes for a leaun/Elenie baby*

    Poor Elenie, she has a lot to process, and so does her mother. The little fox is so adorable, I love seeing the Pets in other people's games, but I rarely play them myself. =)

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    1. They do both have a lot to process, hopefully I can do that justice. I love having pets in the Sims, but I have to admit, I often have several and leave them to interact with each other rather than have my sims interact with them a lot...

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  6. I just...I'm mad at you. I can't believe Ieaun is really dead!

    I was starting to wonder how you were going to come up with an heir, then, but I'm guessing we have our answer to that, seeing Elenie be sick.

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    1. I'm sorry, but I kind of had to do it to make things work out the way I want them to for the storyline...

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