Gwynn learns the facts
“No, no, no!” Gwynn cried. “We’ve not even done dressing for bed yet!”
“What’s the matter?” Emma asked breezily as she strolled in after Margaret. “Afraid someone will see you in your nightgown?”
Margaret shot her a warning glare. She steadfastly refused to admit that Gwynn had sat down in her nightgown to sup with Young Aed, and if presented with proof, she intended to claim that any garment worn at table became, by definition, a dress.
“No!” Gwynn replied with an unusual, shaky shrillness. “Connie and I have not been thirty seconds alone together all evening, and now you show up!”
As she spoke, her outrage veered back to Margaret’s direction, and Margaret shrugged it off with a wave.
“You shall have to make an appointment with her, then, for I mean to see her first.”
She walked around the foot of the bed to find Condal cowering by the far window.
“So what’s this I hear about you and Finn?”
Gwynn gasped, “Margaret!”
“What?” Margaret demanded. “Connie is already dressed for bed.”
Gwynn hesitated a moment between the opposing problems of the attentively listening maid and the girls who were closing in on her friend. Finally she ordered, “Leofgyth, you may go!” and bustled off without a backwards glance to waylay Emma.
Emma bolted and squealed triumphantly as she swung herself around the bedpost ahead of Gwynn. “So?” she asked Condal as she landed.
Condal turned slowly away from the window, as she likely felt obliged to do upon being addressed by a Princess, but Gwynn hastened to speak for her before she could so much as open her mouth.
“It does not mean anything if a boy puts up his cousin’s hair!” she warned. “They’re practically brother and sister! And he’s not truly an elf.” She pointed imperiously at the door as the maid pulled it shut. “That is how rumors get started, Meg!”
“We’re not talking about her hair, ninny-nanny!” Margaret groaned.
Emma said, “We are talking about the kiss.”
Gwynn made a quavering wail behind her hands. Margaret endeavored to ignore her.
“Isn’t it true?” she asked Condal.
“Connie, darling!” Gwynn sobbed. “That knave! How dare he! Wait until my father hears of this!” she threatened.
Margaret smacked the bedpost in exasperation. Next Gwynn would be in hysterics or having the vapors or whatever she supposed fashionable maidens were supposed to do when scandalized. Margaret had no patience tonight for her sister’s theatrics – she was there to get the facts.
“Quit your squawking and let her talk!” she commanded. “Connie?”
At last Condal spoke, though her creaking voice was scarcely more than a whisper. “Was he telling you about it?”
“Conrad told me,” Margaret said. “Was it supposed to be a secret? I thought you two were to be sweethearts now.”
“You see? The kiss was mutual,” Emma said smugly to Gwynn.
Gwynn still held her hands theatrically over her mouth, but in spite of her panting, no further sounds came out. More strangely still, when Condal took a few halting steps towards her, shying between Emma and Margaret, Gwynn visibly backed away.
“What’s the matter?” Margaret asked. “Did he force you?”
A troubling image of Egelric forcing himself on Maire resurfaced in her mind – this time overlaid by the image of Condal being forced by Finn.
But Condal roused herself at last to defend her cousin. “No, never! We were deciding to do it together. Cousin Finn was very polite and… very good…”
She looked pleadingly at Gwynn, but Gwynn was still trying to catch her breath behind her hands. Margaret thought it a little unfair, considering how Gwynn had been kissed by Cearball – and how often Gwynn had reminded everyone of the fact, in spite of growing evidence that Cearball was in fact in love with her friend.
“Just how good was he?” Emma purred.
Before Condal could begin to reply, Gwynn protested, “But you said he only fixed your hair!”
Condal whimpered, “I never said only!”
“And just how did it get messed up?” Emma asked.
“Not like that!” Condal sobbed. “We never did that!”
Emma stepped back, startled. “Did what?”
“No lying down things…”
Gwynn croaked, and Emma lifted her head and smiled vaguely, as though the idea had given her another idea. Margaret decided the situation was getting out of hand.
“Listen, everyone,” she commanded. “Stop fooling around. Let’s simply have the facts. What happened, Connie?”
Condal sucked on her bottom lip for a moment, until Gwynn finally lowered her hands and looked her stonily in the face.
“I… don’t know…” she admitted. “We were talking… I was waiting for you, like I promised,” she told Gwynn, “and I was worrying about the mistletoe, and how… some boys might try to kiss me tonight…” she whispered.
Margaret rolled her eyes and sighed. She herself had tired of dodging mistletoe this year long before even the season of Advent had ended.
“And so Cousin Finn was kind enough to kiss me before they could do it,” Condal concluded shakily. “So I could be having my first kiss with a boy I didn’t not like… and he could be having his first kiss with a girl he didn’t not like…”
“His first kiss?” Gwynn squeaked in a voice one octave higher than her normal tone. “He said it was his first kiss? I do not believe that for one second! Connie, you were tricked!”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Margaret said.
Emma waved a dismissive hand at Gwynn. “Boys always pretend to have more experience than they truly do,” she said. “If he admitted it was his first kiss, it probably was. So how was it?” she begged Condal.
“It was very well done,” Condal said, for flustered as she obviously was, she simply could not fail to give anyone his due. “I was gawky at the first, but he… he helped me.”
For the first time the corners of her mouth turned up in a hesitant smile, and her glances darted between the faces of Margaret and Emma.
Emma was grinning eagerly, but Margaret felt strangely hot, strangely dizzy, strangely queasy. Her appetite for simple facts notwithstanding, she was briefly overwhelmed by memories of Conrad “helping her” when she had been clumsy – by echoes of the queerly mingled feelings of relief and fright at his mastery, even when she had been certain that they were learning together.
For a moment she had the sense that she knew exactly what Condal had felt and was feeling, and that smirking Emma and white-faced Gwynn did not.
“Sounds like he knew what he was doing after all,” Emma said approvingly.
“No no,” Condal protested. “He wouldn’t be lying to me. And the second one was better, quite as if he had learned from the first.”
“The second!” Emma crowed. “How many were there?”
Condal recoiled as though she thought she had said too much.
“Connie, how could you?” Gwynn squeaked.
“Oh, let her be!” Margaret groaned. “She never had a chance at the sort of kiss you and I had last week, so let her have one now! Goodness knows you’ve been holding it over us ever since!”
“Yes, but that was mistletoe,” Emma pointed out.
“I am not speaking of the kiss,” Gwynn insisted. Her weepy, squeaky voice had suddenly gone deep as a woman’s. Margaret sighed. It appeared the Second Act was beginning.
“Am I, Connie?” Gwynn whispered.
Condal sucked on her upper lip, but there was no hiding the quivering of the corners of her mouth, nor the squinting of her eyes, nor the crumpling of her chin. Margaret snorted in frustration. She did not think poor sensitive Condal had learned not to take Gwynn’s theatrics to heart.
“You do not care for him – do you, Connie?”
Condal shook her head, but she protested weakly, “I do like him…”
“But you do not love him, do you?” Gwynn murmured. The phrase had none of the intonation of a question.
“Oh, lay off her!” Margaret cried. “What do you know about it? It’s plain to everyone they’ve always been fond of one another. He even calls her henny!”
“I know all about it!” Gwynn said. “I know whom she does love. Don’t I, Connie?”
“But he isn’t loving me!” Condal sobbed.
“Who is it?” Emma begged, apparently no more affected by Condal’s distress than by Gwynn’s dramatics. “Cearball?”
Margaret groaned.
At last distracted from staring at Condal, Gwynn turned to Emma and snapped, “Certainly not!”
“Who then? Lugaid or Ferdie?”
“Neither!”
“Uh… the Captain!”
“No!”
“Don’t be telling them who it isn’t,” Condal whimpered, “or what will you be saying when they’re guessing who it is?”
“Is it a married man?” Emma asked.
Gwynn clapped her hands to her temples in outrage. “No!”
“It doesn’t matter who it is!” Condal sobbed. “He isn’t loving me! He isn’t looking to love any girl!”
Emma cried triumphantly, “Saeward!”
Margaret smacked her arm to warn her, but fortunately Gwynn chose that moment to turn up her nose and scorn anything else the Princess had to say.
Unfortunately the nose was turned back to Condal.
“There you may err,” Gwynn said darkly. “How little faith in love you must have, Connie: to believe that if a man fails to kiss you once, it proves he does not love you at all. Didn’t I tell you it might have been only his great delicacy? Didn’t I tell you he might have had a more romantic first kiss already planned?”
Condal sniffed and wiped her hands over her cheeks. Margaret had not seen the tears, but she saw the brief sparkle of their dampness beneath her eyes.
“Perhaps he ate some garlic just before?” Emma suggested.
Gwynn could not reply to so unromantic an idea, but her scornful pause gave Margaret a chance to speak.
“Connie, do you like someone better than Finn?”
“Of course she does!” Gwynn said. “How could she love that abominable boy! The man she loves is a gracious, gentle – ”
“Will you please be quiet and let her talk?” Margaret shouted over her sister. “Connie?”
“But I don’t want to talk,” Condal whimpered. “Begging your pardon, my lady…” She made a little curtsey – quite as if her nightgown were a dress.
“You can talk to us, though, Connie,” Margaret assured her. “Did he – ”
Margaret shuddered again at her own thoughts. Of course the Finn she knew could not do such a thing… but a week before she would have said the same of the Egelric she thought she had known…
“Did he force you?” she asked softly.
“No, no!” Condal protested. Once again she seemed to find her strength in defending another. “He was very gentle and kind, and we had our first kisses together, just as we wanted.”
Gwynn took a deep breath to prepare for the Third Act’s outrage, and Margaret hastened to stifle her drama her with bare facts.
“But didn’t he ask you to be his sweetheart?”
“Aye…” Condal admitted, somewhat regretfully it seemed.
“Then why did you say you would be? You needn’t be sweethearts simply because you practiced a kiss or two together.”
“That’s what mistletoe’s for!” Emma laughed.
“‘Twasn’t a mistletoe kiss,” Condal mumbled. “‘Twas a real kiss. I didn’t think how it would be.”
“So how was it?” Emma begged.
“Just like lovers,” Condal whispered, looking as miserable as Margaret had ever seen her. “I had to be his sweetheart. A girl can only kiss her lover like that, or else she’s a bad sort of girl.”
“That depends…” Margaret said uneasily.
Gwynn gasped, “Margaret!”
“On what sort of kiss it was, I mean. If it isn’t a real kiss – I mean, for instance, I don’t have to be Blocky’s sweetheart because of the way I kissed him one time.”
“But that was mistletoe,” Emma pointed out.
Condal shook her head sadly. “This was a real kiss.”
“What kind of kiss, then?” Emma asked, with a brisk matter-of-factness of which Margaret could at last approve. “Did you have to take a breath in the middle?”
Condal’s eyes went wide.
“Uh… more than ten seconds?” Emma asked.
Condal’s eyes did not narrow, but at least she nodded.
“More than thirty seconds?”
Condal nodded again.
“How many seconds?” Emma laughed.
“I wasn’t counting…” Condal admitted.
“Sounds real to me!” Emma giggled. “Did he put his tongue in your mouth?”
Gwynn squeaked, “Emma!”
“What? That’s how it’s done. Did he?”
“That is revolting!” Gwynn cried. “That is – very much like him!” she gasped. “Oh, Connie darling, did he?”
Condal shook her head firmly, her lips clamped tightly together as if to prevent any such intrusions in the future.
“Did he put his hand on your breast?” Emma asked.
“Emma!”
Emma laughed wickedly at Gwynn’s shock. “What now, ninny-nanny? I hear some men are very interested in ladies’ breasts – or at least some ladies believe they are!”
Margaret was too flustered in the first seconds to come up with a distraction to save her sister. Was it so matter-of-fact as that? Was this what Conrad would want to try next?
“No, he never even tried!” Condal said.
“Listen!” Margaret blurted before Emma could come up with any more terrifying prospects. “It sounds like it was simply an ordinary kiss that went on for a little too long. I don’t think you have to be his sweetheart for that.”
“But I already did say I was…” Condal said. Still, she looked hopefully from face to face.
“You certainly owe nothing to him,” Gwynn said stiffly. “I am certain he took advantage of your situation.”
“What situation?” Emma asked.
“Since he knew nobody else would kiss her.”
“I know lots of boys who would kiss her!” Emma protested. “Malcolm had to practically tie Cearball down to his chair! And you saw how early they had to leave!”
Gwynn sucked in her breath.
Margaret knew that Emma’s claws were henceforth bared: she had already twisted her friend’s fingers almost backwards to get her to swear she would not taunt Gwynn about Cearball.
“Well, don’t you like Finn, Connie?” Margaret begged, forgetting in her haste that she had been attempting to extricate Condal from this new relationship.
“I do like him,” Condal admitted. “He’s the boy I don’t love whom I don’t not like the most.”
Margaret did not attempt to decipher this riddle and only hastened to assure her, “Anyway, everyone always said you were bound to marry him someday. It’s what your father would have wanted.”
“Yes, but that was before Egelric blackened the family name,” Emma pointed out.
Margaret turned to her in a silent snarl, but it was too late. Behind her Gwynn quavered, “What about Egelric?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you haven’t heard,” Emma smirked.
“Will you shut up?” Margaret growled.
“Why should I?” Emma asked. “Do you honestly think she isn’t going to find out?”
“Find out what?” Gwynn asked.
“It is just rumors,” Margaret snapped at Emma.
“Just rumors, eh?” Emma laughed. “I shall tell Saeward you called him a gossip! Egelric raped Maire,” she announced to Gwynn. “Why do you think they’re simply leaving her to stew in her room? They’re waiting to find out what Aengus is going to do about Egelric before they decide what to do about her.”
“Egelric did not rape anyone!” Margaret said.
“He admitted it!”
“He did not admit to rape! He only admitted he lay with her! She came to his rooms!”
“Then how do you explain the bruises? Perhaps she was simply looking for the cat, and he grabbed her in the dark or something.”
“That is just rumor! That is just idle speculation!”
“Then precisely why did your father uninvite him for Christmas, if he’s so harmless and innocent?”
Margaret did not know precisely why. She only knew that when Saeward and Dunstan had gone to question him on the night of the murder, Egelric had said something to Dunstan that was likely to make him unwelcome at Nothelm for some time to come. Conrad refused to tell her what.
“But don’t worry, Connie,” Emma said, all gentleness and comfort now that she was satisfied she had bested Margaret. “Her father still likes Finn. Everyone likes Finn except for Gwynn, and now probably all the fellows who are in love with you. Egelric didn’t even raise him, so it’s not likely he’ll take after him.”
Margaret, meanwhile, realized she had lost track of the sister she had been trying to protect.
Gwynn had wandered halfway across the room by this time, shuffling silently on her bare feet, her parted hair hanging like dark curtains on either side of her face. Margaret squeezed past Condal and followed.
As she walked she tried to imagine what Hetty would have said to Gwynn in this situation – but she could not even guess which situation Gwynn was in. Was it about Condal and Finn? Was it about Cearball? Was it about tongues and breasts and bruises and rape?
She laid a tentative hand on Gwynn’s shoulder and whispered, “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t feel very good,” Gwynn mumbled. “I think I had too much wine.”
Margaret let her head fall against Gwynn’s softly-flanneled shoulder and sighed in relief. “You and the Old Man are getting to be two of a kind.”
“And too much cake,” Gwynn added.
Margaret giggled. “You have a ways to go before you catch up to the Old Man with the cake.”
Gwynn did not laugh. “And too much pork,” she muttered. Her pretty lip curled slightly in disgust. “I am such a pig.”
“You are not!” Margaret gasped. She tried to hug her sister’s shoulders, but Gwynn squirmed away.
“Can’t we go home, Meg?” she whined. “I don’t feel good.”
Margaret sighed. “I don’t think you ought to ride if you’re sick, though.”
“I don’t care. I simply want to go home. Can’t we send for Father?”
Margaret was about to protest that Dunstan was in the castle and could have escorted them instead, but Gwynn added in a mumble, “Dunstan could go for him.”
Then she understood that their father was what Gwynn truly wanted.
For a moment their father was all Margaret wanted too. She wanted to be tucked in by her Papa again, and have her little song, and go to sleep safe from even the knowledge of such things as kisses and tongues and roving hands; and of strange, drunken men who leered at her sister’s body and perhaps at hers; and of adultery, and of bruises, and of rape.
But she did not want to see the look in her father’s eyes when he learned he had failed to keep her safe from all that knowledge. Margaret intended to pretend for as long as she could. Now she would have to help Gwynn pretend.
“Suppose I slept here with you instead?” she suggested. “We can send for Father if you get very very sick. And if you can’t sleep, we can talk if you like.”
“What about Connie?” Gwynn mumbled.
“Connie can sleep with Em. You wouldn’t want to ask Connie to hold the basin for you if you get sick. There are some things even bosom friends can’t do.”
She gave Gwynn’s shoulder a companionable pat, but Gwynn turned towards her while her arm was raised, and before she knew it, Margaret was clenched in a hug.
“Would you do that?” Gwynn squeaked.
She squeezed so tightly at first that Margaret could only answer with a grunt. She found her sister’s body disturbingly womanlike even in this flannel gown. Margaret could feel Gwynn’s breasts pressed softly flat between them, as a number of young men must already have imagined them.
She whispered, “That’s what sisters are for.”
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Emma was kind of shallow in this post... Just like her mother, I love her!!
I actually felt bad for Gwynn.
OH-MY-GOD AIAAAAA!!!!! She looks so cute and is she making fun of that turd serves him right.
it off -x-
You put it twice.
What a...chapter! I am not sure what adjectives to use, because while sweet is one of the first that comes to mind there is also so much bittersweet sentiment in it that I feel affects the growth of all these girls. Bitterbildungsromansweet? And wow, Emma, she reminds me of a cat, effectively hunting until at last she jumps when she knows she'll land safely and victoriously. Actually, I usually like cats quite a bit so I may have to find a different way to describe her (EDIT: I'll give Emma more time, of course...that sounded a bit too passive aggressive). I think it is funny that Gwynn is more covered in her actual nightgown than in her day dress, and I hope that a sense of foreboding that poor, brave Margaret gets may just be a sense. I also feel that Connie has the strength to remedy the current sweetheart and best friend situation if she just gets momentarily plucky enough to face both -- it seems there are long lasting effects of Malo's actions.
Maybe I'm just terribly over-tired from my exams this week, but that last bit actually got me teary-eyed. Oh, sweet little Gwynn and Meggie!
"For a moment their father was all Margaret wanted too. She wanted to be tucked in by her Papa again, and have her little song, and go to sleep safe from even the knowledge of such things as kisses and tongues and roving hands; and of strange, drunken men who leered at her sister's body and perhaps at hers; and of adultery, and of bruises, and of rape."
That reminded me of just how young these girls really are, and of how fast they've been having to grow up with everything that's been happening around them lately. That was a really beautiful and sobering reminder...all the girlish silliness and then that moment.
And poor Connie too, with the way Emmie was pushing her (although I was happy to see Emmie. That girl is going to be FUN!), and with no sister of her own with her...ach, now I'm getting all teary again!
I think her sickness is a combo of Connie-Finn-Egelric-Maire drama coupled with ale and pork.
But mostly the former.
Poor Gwynn. Shame on you Emma!
Margaret just scored some huge points in my book. She was always a little in the middle in terms of characters for me, but she just jumped a few dozen places with this post and now she's sitting right near the top. It's chapters like these that make me wish I had a sister
Poor Gwynn! Would you believe the song I happened to be listening to when I read this? "Somebody to Love" by Queen. That's all Gwynn wants, and she's frustrated because she went through all the trouble of getting herself all gorgeous and sexy and Matilda-esque, and Connie's the one who ends up with a kiss. Granted, not always the best way to go about trying to get guys, but it's the whole effort factor. Plus secretly the thought of Finn with anyone else makes her sick, so she just doesn't want to talk about it.
Emma's not the most intuitive or sensitive of people, is she? Oh well, she's still quite young, and a bit of a mystery, since we haven't seen too much of her. I'd be interested to see more of her, maybe interacting with Baldwin the Boring or whoever she happens to be crushing on at any given time.
I love the sisterly love in this post :O All the posts where Meg gets all protective of Gwynn bring a smile to my face
(and a tear to my eye, haha)
Also, EMMA :O Oh man does she have a big mouth! And so sassy! Where does she get her.. er.. "information"? First that whole masturbation gesture and then this whole conversation :O She and Baldwin will be a crazy pair. I can't even imagine. But she also looks really pretty in this post too. A little bit like Brit but not quite. How similar are their faces, actually?
Is that Aia in the banner...?
Quick, badly-timed afterthought: does anyone intend to tell Alred about Gwynn's little escapade?
The end made me get all teary-eyed too! It was so sweet and it made me miss my sister so much
I feel a bit bad for Connie, getting left with Emma's questioning but I don't blame poor Gwynn for wanting to get out of there. Meggie was being such a good sister. I find it sort of interesting though, Alred tries so desperately hard to protect his children, particularly his daughters from everything bad in the world. But by his actions he has somehow installed this weighty feeling of responsibility on Meggie and the old man, where they either feel as though they must protect him or Gwynn. They both seem older than their years somehow, as though they never had a chance to be carefree children. I wonder how much that is to do with their age when Matilda died. Gwynn had some years of seeing her father and mother happy as did Dunstan (although Dunstan is a worried little soul too). I wonder, in a sad way, if it has actually been a good thing for Yware to be away from his dad... how has it effected his growing up. What sort of man is he growing into?
And I am also wondering who it is in the banner!
Poor Gwynn. In this case the answer really was "all of the above." True, she was a little catty with Connie -- the way she tormented her about "I know whom you truly love", and the way she talked about her "situation" as if Finn only felt sorry for her because no other boy would kiss her...
But poor Gwynn's little heart is breaking. Connie doesn't want Gwynn's violet-eyed knight, but he's in love with Connie anyway. Connie doesn't even truly love the boy Gwynn secretly, unconsciously loves, and she scarfed him up anyway.
If Gwynn had been having any feelings of triumph after deflecting Young Aed's attention from Connie onto herself, it must feel like a hollow victory now. Plus, how good can it make her feel, if she thinks she only got his attention because she waved her bosom in his face? This way lies premarital sex.
The last conversation between Gwynn and Margaret went through many drafts where a whole different "situation" was addressed each time. Cearball, Connie and Finn, Egelric, Young Aed and the nightgown and how Margaret hated to cheer her up by pointing out how well that had worked, etc. Each time I decided to edit that whole bit out, but I do find it interesting that the only remaining sign of what Gwynn's thinking is when she blurts "I am such a pig." Poor thing, she is really working up such a lot of self-loathing to explain why "the boys" don't like her.
Oh and in one draft I had her point out that "Finn says I oink when I laugh" so even in those thoughts Finn is front-and-center... I wonder what he would do if he knew he was actually damaging her. Lately it seems like he is trying to make friends with her, but it's too late, he already teased her too much. Heheh, that sounds familiar actually. The difference is that Anne was self-conscious about her hair, and Gwynn is about her weight.
Anyway, enough Poor Gwynn. I feel a little bit sorry for Connie too, it seems like her usual scruples have gotten her stuck in a situation she doesn't want to be in, where a more carefree girl (e.g. Margaret) would just kiss the boy and be done with it. (And I feel A LOT sorry for Connie being stuck all night in bed with Emma.)
As for Emma, she does seem quite unfeeling, but she is also still pretty young, and may not actually have done any of the things she pretends to know so much about. (OMG I just noticed how this chapter went down like the other... Margaret = Conrad, Gwynn = Cedric, Connie = Finn, Emma = Cubby) As Margaret noted, she and Condal seemed to understand things that smirking Emma and white-faced Gwynn didn't yet.
I do think there is a certain amount of cattishness in her though. She isn't a gentle soul like an Eadie or a Dunstan. And today she just got fed up with the way Margaret is always trying to cover Gwynn's ears anytime something unsavory is mentioned. She mostly wanted to annoy Margaret, but I am sure she got some satisfaction from peeling back some of Gwynn's innocence.
I think she gets most of her information from her maid, by the way. Margaret gets a lot of her information (sexual anyway) from Emma -- perhaps not realizing that Emma knows less than she -- but then she does try to fact-check it with Conrad to the extent that she dares. (She doesn't want to give him ideas, after all.)
I like your take on the family dynamics, Verity. Margaret does seem to have taken on a parenting role -- not at Alred's side, but on the sly, with Gwynn. She's trying to raise Gwynn the way Alred wants her raised, while perhaps being too young to remember that it's not how their mother would have wanted her raised. The Old Man's role is a little different: he has just charged himself with the full-time job of keeping his father laughing, since a laughing father is a non-suicidal father.
Altogether there is a lot of unhappiness and unhealthiness in that house, so it should be quite interesting to see how Yware has grown up without that ugly influence. I am afraid he will be unable to sense the eggshells everyone is tiptoeing over, and will seem very callous to us. (And to them.) But maybe it will be a good thing though in the end.
Poor Connie. But she really should just lock herself in a tower and whatever guy comes to save her first gets her love.
Who is the random maid?
That would be an interesting storyline, Tiffany.
Alred would like the idea too... he could personally guard the tower. (Thanks for the typo correction BTW, I forgot to give you your karma earlier *clink*)
I just added the maid to the character list. (Which feature I just noticed I accidentally broke with my recent changes... sorry, whoever added the girls.
)
The maid is Leofgyth, Gwynn & Margaret's personal lady's maid of sorts. She is the daughter of the reeve of Bernwald. We haven't seen the reeve yet, but we saw his son Leofsy in a couple of chapters, including the one where some mean boys chased little Iylaine into the pond.
I don't know how special or important Leofgyth is, but she was the one who helped Gwynn convert her nightgown into a dress (of sorts). So it may be, once Alred finds out about this little escapade, that she won't be maid to the girls for much longer.
Now, if only Sigefrith knew what sort of mouth is on Emma's maid...
She's just a wee bit unfortunate looking.
And thanks for the karma. It's going to the Help Gwynn Get Better (and Finn!) Fund.
I was looking at his dad's page and some awkward betrothal thing is there.
Betrothed
December 0, 0
Going for the bug-finding karma too?
*clink*
Maybe...
Just going over the Gwynn=Anne Shirley comparisons... if I remember correctly, doesn't Gwynn fit Anne's ideal standard of beauty? Sorry about the comment spam and awkward wording (and I might have totally gotten that wrong, I only ever read the first book, and it was more than a decade ago. I've been meaning to reread it for years, but just never got around to it).
Yes! That's one of the thing that amuses me about my little Anne/Gwynn thing I have going on. She doesn't have violet eyes, of course, but otherwise she fits the bill. Raven hair... alabaster skin... In fact (unless I am getting my movies mixed up with my books) she is very much like Diana Barry whom Anne found so pretty... dark hair and eyes, fair skin, somewhat smallish and plump. Quite the opposite of tall, gawky Anne with her flaming hair. (Though Anne did have nice skin as I recall.)
I guess it's one of the points I'm trying to make... practically all girls feel insecure about their looks -- even the pretty ones. Practically all girls think the "other" girls are prettier... the girls with curly hair wish their hair was straight and vice versa, the girls with red hair wish it was black or blonde and vice versa, the tall skinny ones wish they had curves and the small curvy ones wish they were willowy... throughout all ages, world without end.
Probably if Connie wasn't so obsessively obsessed with Eithne's supposed beauty, she would say "Gosh I wish I were as pretty as Gwynn."
Gwynn is RAVISHING though, when she isn't paying so much attention to how she looks and stops her simpering and all that. She just needs the self-confidence her mother had, and another year or two of mental and physical maturity, and she will OWN every room she walks into. Finn will be beside himself by this time of course. "Why oh why did I ever call her a cockaninny and make fun of her laugh?"
Please don't make us wait so long for that moment!
But take your time writing at your own pace.
I think Anne had rather freckly skin when she was younger, but she managed to get rid of all of them but six on her nose. Her hair also became more "auburn" as she aged.
I'm glad that Gwynn was able to face reality in this chapter, because Alred's attempts to shield her are ridiculous. It's better to find out about these things from a safe source than to suddenly be confronted with them first-hand. Alred would be one of those parents who refuse to sign the consent form for sex-ed. I really hope that Gwynn can develop into a better woman than her mother, who was rather annoying and frustrating much of the time. She shows promise so far.
Your second generation Lotherians are really blossoming. 
This chapter almost made me cry towards the end. It was sweet. Sisters are always the ones you can count on the most. ;o;
Oh yes, wasn't there a catastrophic freckle-removing scheme, along the lines of her catastrophic hair-dyeing scheme?
Where Anne dyed her nose blue or something? I should really reread those books someday.
Alred would totally be the dad who would refuse to let his daughters take sex-ed. It might be less eccentric in the Middle Ages though. Hetty did give her "The Talk" when she had her first period, but apparently this talk was so abridged that Gwynn isn't actually aware that something has to be inserted somewhere to make babies. Hetty is saving that talk for her wedding night. (When it will be too late for her to back out, I guess.
)
Everything would have been so different if Matilda had been there at that time.
Hetty is a wee bit innocent herself. The best she could do was tell Gwynn "she would like it if she let herself" -- probably blushing profusely -- but I doubt she would defy Alred and tell her everything even if she thought it was important for her to know.
Worse than that, though, may be the way Alred is trying to shield her (and Margaret too) from all ugly external realities. There is no way he could have kept her from finding out about Egelric. Even if it is officially determined that it was not rape, she's bound to find out that there was adultery of a particularly ugly kind. And knowing poor Gwynn -- just like her embarrassing meeting with K -- she is so outgoing and just the type to blurt something totally AWKWARD for no reason other than her own ignorance of the facts.
I do wonder what Alred is going to do about Egelric though. I mean, I know what's going to happen to Egelric in the near term... but even aside from what Egelric said or supposedly said to Dunstan, when is Alred ever going to let him be around Margaret and Gwynn again? He already was hesitant to leave them alone with him... Egelric will probably be completely excluded from their company now. I doubt Alred would even leave him alone with Hetty at this point, Baby-Flann notwithstanding. Ugly, ugly...
Oh, as for Gwynn/Matilda comparisons, I think Gwynn stands to be a better, sweeter woman than Matilda. Gwynn doesn't have the same aggressive temper, and in fact she really is quite sweet and loving, and the LAST THING she wants to be is a man. As Connie once said, Finn truly does have to labor mightily to win an angry reaction out of Gwynn.
But on the other hand, she has lately shown an alarming tendency to meddle...
How is this going to affect Wulf and Gils? When they get older will they also be excluded from Nothelm because of their father?
It's too early to say, Devin.
It's things like this that I wish Matilda was here. Gwynn would have more sense and Meg wouldn't have to be protective. Poor children. Emma is traveling downwards in my list. Childish victories. Very typical.
When it was said that at-least Finn wasn't raised by Egelric this worries me. The boys already have to suffer from the scorn of people being half-elves they don't need to suffer because of Egelric's actions. I just wish Egelric would go to Scotland and levae the children in Aia's care, he's such a train wreck. If only Sela didn't die......
Gwynn would turned out a lot tougher if Matilda was alive.
Uh, Scotland? That doesn't sound like the safest place for Egelric to be right now.
Don't take too much to heart something 11-year-old Emma said in a moment of cattiness, Devin. A lot can happen by the time they're old enough to molest women. And anyway, Egelric might not have the chance to raise the boys at all, depending on what happens.
"Uh, Scotland? That doesn't sound like the safest place for Egelric to be right now."
Exactly.
Ouch.
Seeing the Egelric of Old renewed is looking increasingly doubtful with each post that mentions him
Same goes for Alred
EDIT: Are we going to see Gwynn and Meggie's little talk? Also, how do you think Dunstan, Cynewulf and Brit felt about Gwynn's stunt? Sorry, I'm in kind of an annoying mood.
Silly wabbit, I love questions.
To tell the truth, I didn't even plan on there being a Gwynn + Meggie talk when I took the pictures for this chapter. I didn't really know how it was going to end. I'm sure it will be all squishy and weepy and sisterly, and Gwynn will be a little sadder and a little wiser than before, and the sisters will be closer than ever... but we won't get to see it. I really want to get the story moving again. We'll just have to guess about it in the things that happen afterwards.
As for Gwynn's stunt, I expect everyone other than Sigefrith and the young gentlemen was pretty shocked by the dress. (Even they were probably shocked, but in a HELLO THERE! way) But I think that the fact that Matilda used to dress that way has thrown everyone for a loop. Eadie and Edris were unsure... because of Matilda, whom they both knew well and found rather intimidating and brash, and because they thought Hetty must have approved of the dress, since Waerburh supposedly made it. Gwynn can't just go to the mall and pick out her own clothes. (Which is why she had to improvise with a nightgown that laced down the front.)
What I think is going to happen is that everyone is going to be all awkward and hem and haw and go to Alred and be all "So, uh, that was, uh, some dress Gwynn had the other night" and see what he says -- just in case he approved. Or go to Hetty rather, in the case of the ladies.
I am really tempted to do a chapter with Alred asking Gwynn herself about the dress, and getting her to admit why it's inappropriate, and telling her she's beautiful just as she is, etc., but like I said... Story. Moving. We will just have to imagine that or hear about it second-hand. Anyway, Alred and everyone will have other things to worry about the next day besides what Gwynn was wearing to a party.
As for Egelric and Alred... heh, I probably do talk about them too much in the comments. Egelric especially... in part because I don't know myself where this is going to take him, and talking about him is one way of working the question over in my mind. I'm just trying to keep him alive right now, and I'll have to make the best of him whatever happens.
On the one hand, I just think it so unlikely that I would actually kill Egelric... he's the cornerstone of this whole story. On the other hand, this story is about a lot of other people as well, and some of them may want him dead, and I don't want to cop out and have them just forgive him if that wouldn't be in their characters. So I'm really trying to work through the people that don't want to see him die, and saving him that way.
Alred on the other hand...
Well, I don't think we'll ever get The Old anybody back. Both Egelric and Alred have been through so much tragedy and grief (some of it of their own making), there's no way they could go back to their carefree natures of before. (Not that I found either man carefree, really.) They are fundamentally changed.
I think there's still a chance for Egelric to redeem himself though. He's a fighter, and he has a real bedrock of nobility when he's not acting like a dick. He'll never again be anybody's hero, but he could still be some people's strength.
Alred on the other hand seems to be shriveling up with the passing months and years. He seems to have lost his will to live. He's just hanging on for his children right now. I doubt he'll attempt suicide again any time soon, but on the other hand he's barely living as it is, and that's not so pleasant to see either.
I'm not sure whether he'll ever be redeemed. I suppose he's mentally ill, so it's not really fair, but there isn't any Prozac in the 11th century.
Oh yeah, it's almost certain that we'll never see Alred as he was in those happiest days of his life again, but my optimistic side is hoping that maybe with the birth of his next child, or the birth of Dunstan and Brit's baby, he'll at least make an effort to patch up his family as well as he possibly can.
I am wondering a bit where Hetty's head is currently. Is she falling in love with Leofric and while trying to still be a good wife to Alred? Or has some time passed to change things? I could see her, given some time in Leof's absence, willing herself to do what is right in her marriage because that is her place as Duchess, and because of her family. And, she might actually still love Alred? I think it would be so sweet to see her try to woo him back through little gestures, if only he is willing to see her effort and be wooed.
My sense is that she still loves Alred, but Leof is so very tempting. Alred could still win in a battle of love letters and thoughtful gestures... but it doesn't seem like Alred is even competing in that contest. If Leof were home right now, he could win by default.
Fortunately, he is not. Who knows -- perhaps that is what he had in mind. Maybe he wanted to give Alred one last chance, since he knows he'll never be able to give Hetty 100% happiness himself. (They're both already married, there's the kids, etc.) Maybe he has that much generosity and self-sacrifice in him after all.
But if that's the case, and he comes home and finds Hetty still pining and Alred with his head still ensconced in his nether regions, then I expect it will be all-out love letter and thoughtful gesture war.
I'm still 100% clueless about what to do with Alred and Hetty.
I don't know what Leof will find when he gets back or where that will lead.
I don't think Hetty would take the initiative, though, unless someone very sensitive and very gentle put her up to it. (Dunstan?) Hetty never puts herself forward as it is, and plus now she has all that self-reproach.
She doesn't expect Alred to try to win her back -- she doesn't think she has to be won at all. He just has to show her he cares a little. Instead, it almost seems like he's trying to chip away at her, or at least deliberately neglect her. Whenever he does lighten up a bit, and laugh and tell jokes and so on, it seems like Hetty is completely shut out of that bright little world. She's left out in the cold, standing at the window looking in. I wouldn't blame her for loving Leof if that keeps up.
Or Irene could put her up to it! That would be something. Blind little Irene coming in and seeing straight to the problem. Or slightly socially inept Irene coming in and not realizing all the skeletons she's dragging out of the closets.
Heheh, your avatar just reminded me that she's leaving in the morning for Nothelm...
Oooooh, that would be so cute! Sweet little Irene, who still doesn't know too many people and has been isolated for a while, coming to Nothelm and, whether wittingly or unwittingly, being the catalyst for the repair of Hetty's marriage. That would be an awesome way for Irene to establish herself in Lothere.
I forgot to mention that this part cracked me up so hard:
"It doesn't matter who it is!" Condal sobbed. "He isn't loving me! He isn't looking to love any girl!"
Emma cried triumphantly, "Saeward!"
I think a storyline with Saeward would be interesting... someday.
Aia looks very calm in the bannar. I thought Llen was going to try and rape her and she would be saved by Young Aed.
That is a fantastic idea! I should have thought of it myself.
I knew the avatar idea would come in handy some day! I could also see Dunstan befriending Irene...there is strength in numbers! 
I've been reading your blog for awhile now... well done! A tremendous source of inspiration!
Thanks!
Oh.
*sob sob*
And what I'm supposed to do now? Go out?
You're here!
Honorary word count?
Welcome to the present Ermine!! Now you can join in on the anticipation..
And, judging by the appearance of the draft post, just in time for the next chapter, it seems
Welcome to the end stretch of 1085, Ermine
*SQUAWK*
You can only see the link, can't you??
Oh yeah, I can only see the link, and it just goes to a "You don't have permission to view this page" message.
Not as if I tried clicking it or anything... *whistles innocently*
Heh heh.
I didn't try to click it either, of coooooooourse....
Heheh, the navigation link is a new bug, but I added the "you don't have permission to view draft chapters" a long time ago, when I figured out someone would try to edit the URL in their address bar from "1666" to "1667" just to see what would happen...
Edit: *Confetti* for ermine by the way... I was saving that till I got home from work but then Van freaked me out there. 
Sorry
Better late than never(*eats confettis*). Weeeird, I have wait so much to catch this story, and now - BANG! I suddenly want, still, just go on. And I already wondered what that "Llen"-link was.
Btw, why preview banners doesn't work? Have I missed something? ;3
Oh boy, I hope the next chapter isn't difficult for you to write Meryt.
Interestingly enough, this chapter has been easy to write so far. It's just that I have hardly had a chance to write all week, with various computer-related catastrophes going on at home and at work. The chapter above was much more difficult to write -- one of those chapters I felt I had to write -- but this next one is one I've been planning for months. Now it's just a matter of writing it down.
Except for the Young Aed chapter I haven't been this excited for a post in a while.
Why were you so excited about Young Aed? *type type type*
Because he's a new character and as you say he will be a catalyst in what's going to happen to that swine Egelric.
I know that it doesn't lead anywhere so why do I keep clicking the "Llen" link?
I'm doing the same thing Penelope. This song so defines my mood right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlqOv-9qgLw
Dangit this chapter is LONG. *cracks knuckles*
Egelric had said something to Dunstan that was likely to make him unwelcome at Nothelm for some time to come. Conrad refused to tell her what.
Did he tell them about the flirting incident with Gwynn? Because that's the only thing that really comes to my mind that would have upset Alred so much.
*sigh* As if Egelric and Alred's relationship wasn't complicated enough as it is!
But anyway, this chapter was awesome. And long is good, especially since it didn't feel long at all.
Connie comes off a lot better in this chapter, as you can see how troubled she is about what others might think of her, and how she feels forced to be Finn's sweetheart now because they shared an 'inappropiate' kiss, which is basically the medieval equivalent of 'you can only have sex with your boyfriend.' You can also tell here that she's sort of trying to please everyone, especially Gwynn, which is completely understandable in her situation, as their relationship continues to get more and more competitive, even if that isn't their intention at all. I feel so sad for both of them.
And extra hugs to Gwynn and Meggie. Their interactions here reminded me so much of my own relationship with my little sister that it brought tears to my eyes. Definitely one of your most touching chapters, Lothere.
I have two ideas about what Egelric might have said, and you're on the right track for one of them. I'm going to hold off deciding until absolutely necessary. I may not want Egelric to be perceived as a danger to Gwynn. OR I may really want just that. Haven't decided.
Thanks for the compliments.
Writing sisters is a real stab in the dark for me. Well, a lot of stuff I write is... but I don't have any drug-addled elven warlords or fallen angels reading this story to spot my mistakes. Young ladies with sisters, I have quite a few. 
I'm with Maruutsu here. I have a little sister, too, and we are just like Gwynn and Margaret. So, no worries, Lothere. You are doing more than fine in the sisterly department. ^^
Agreed. I think I've said this before, but you handle family dynamics very well (particularly the Sebright's, but maybe that's just me because I relate to them the most).
And what you said about Egelric disturbs me. If he so much as touches Gwynn... but then, Finn could come to the rescue... Or could he? ARGH I'M TORN HERE.
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