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When Lady Sela was taken to the Khirron was put into the harem or a prison?

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Are the Harem girls allowed to roam outside of the harem or they're just stuck in there?

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What about Nina?

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Do you expect to have those chapters out in a couple of weeks or next month?

And when is Lena's funeral?

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Lena's murder has crushed my optimism at least for awhile.

Oh, and more Gywnn...

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I hope Aia can defend herself.

Yaaaaay, nothing spells "fun times" like O-L-D M-A-N!

With all the sad stuff happening, it'll be great to see the Old Man

I think out of all the original couples, Alred and Matilda managed to produce the most awesome group of offspring. In my opinion, that is

Britamund's pretty cool. I don't quite have an opinion on Emma yet, but she seems okay.

It seems all my favorite characters are the ones you don't like. Sorry, Devin

I do not have any plans to that effect at the present time. Egelric is not the most God-fearing man himself, and anyway who knows where he will be or who will be living there in the future?

It would not be uncommon for old remains to be disinterred and reburied in a churchyard or in a different location in this or some other chapel.

I don't think anyone would do it "just because" though. It would happen if the new owner wanted to use the tomb, or if they wanted to rebuild the chapel. Nobody has any ill-will against Lili and I doubt she would be moved any time soon.

I suppose maybe if Egelric was gone forever, maybe one day Hetty would want Lili's body brought back to Nothelm to be buried near her own, rather than in a chapel filled by the dead of a new family. But that is really far-off speculation right now.

I don't know what was the story about Talana and her husband. It doesn't look like he got killed for it though, since he lived till their kids were adult. Maybe there just weren't enough males to go around? Maybe he got special treatment because he was the Khór's son? It was over 100 years ago, so maybe the rules were just more lax then?

Gosh Devin do you think I document EVERYTHING?

I don't know... I don't think Sigefrith's chapel has space for burials inside, so Hilda is probably buried outside the manor house in some sort of family burial ground. Little Siggy must be there too.

As for Alwy, either outside of Saint Margaret's within the outer walls of the keep, or possibly outside of Saint Kentigern's Chapel below, or at some other place. But knowing Alred I would suppose he got in near Saint Margaret's.

Nobody has been buried outside of the old church since it "erupted", although many of the original graves are still in place. Some notable exceptions are Maud's and Harold's.

Not any time soon -- not according to my current plans anyway.

Indeed. KEEP THEM LOCKED AWAY PLS.
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I'm romantic, literary, cynical, and a diehard Alred Sebright groupie.

I Want Maire Dead before 1086 fund - Please kindly support

With the introductions of these new characters in 1086 will you still show Cecily when its time for her to give birth to her and Caedwulf's child?

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While he is away, who watches over Young Aed's lands?

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He needs a strong woman to give him strong children. If he ends up with Connie it will be an absolute waste.

Well yeah. Just in that I don't know of any way to twist her Sim's back all around and warp her foot. I can make her do the zombie walk and make her slouch when she stands like a lazy Sim, but that's all I can do. So I guess I will have to work extra hard to make you "see" her as crooked even though her Sim appears to be standing straight.

Otherwise I don't think I will have a hard time writing her. She's mentally fit and can see and hear and talk just fine. (At least in her own language). Malo is far more difficult because he can't talk.

Paul wasn't too hard either... the hardest part with Paul wasn't his blindness but rather that annoying rule I had that said he couldn't be called "Kiv" but had to be "the elf" all the time. Holy cow that drove me up the wall after a while.

I hope so too Devin! I half-glimpsed a story on the news last night about a woman who was supposedly told she couldn't have kids because she had scoliosis, but then she went and had twins. So just this morning I looked up "scoliosis and pregnancy" and in a 2-minute google search I decided it would be possible for Aia to have kids. She will probably have a harder time caring for them once they're born than carrying them, just because she has such a hard time getting around.

We will see Egelric on Sunday. I don't know who you mean by "& co." If you mean his younger kids (besides Finn I mean) then I don't know. Maybe Christmas? Will Christmas ever come?

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And if Aia is managing well with Wendle she will do the same with her other children.

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Yes it would be bad for her back.. Maybe she'll give giver birth to two babies like Iylaine.

Didn't you already ask me that, Devin?

I vote for E) All of the above.

There are lots of sites where you can download clothes, but there is only one Devin.

However if I ever did change my answer I doubt it would be to vote for Sela. I think the closest Egelric has ever come to conjugal bliss is his time with Lili.

But if you ask me, the best Egelric of all was the one who lived alone with Iylaine in the time after Elfleda's death -- "just you and I" as Iylaine later lamented -- for such a brief time. I loved the Egelric who used to make her breakfast and give her baths, who used to sit with her by the fire in the evenings, and brush her hair and tell her stories, and tuck her into bed beside him, whereupon she would thrash and kick him all the night through. How different things would have been if Alred and Sigefrith had just let him be that man.

As I wrote in "Egelric has a late visitor":

He had folded a flaxen curl into a piece of soft leather and tucked that into his bag.  He would ride out wearing Matilda's red band, but she little knew that the color of his true lady was pale gold.

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What did Lili have that Sela didn't?

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There should be a pout smiley..

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My lips are sealed on this subject for the time being.

What Malcolm thinks is on my mind a lot these days.

I don't know whether he ever met Sela. Unless someone finds proof to the contrary I'm going to say not. I'm not sure he ever had the chance, considering how rarely he ever came into the valley for a while.

He has met Young Aed. So far I think Young Aed has been more impressed by Malcolm than the contrary.

Young Aed could also be a flash in the pan. Or perhaps Malcolm sees through him to some lack that others don't see, or that doesn't justify the success he's had in his young life.

I wouldn't underestimate Malcolm's abilities to size people up. If he lacked that skill he would be dead by now. But I also won't deny that there could be some element of "Prove it, kid" in his opinion so far. I wouldn't underestimate Malcolm's arrogance either.

Finn doesn't see Wulf and Gils much at all.

He's in a nice situation from the perspective of a 14-year-old boy: he doesn't really have a home -- as long as someone knows where he is, he pretty much comes and goes as he pleases. (Whether that's actually good for a 14-year-old boy is another matter... I suspect it will make him feel lonely after a while.)

And a lot of his coming and going is organized around avoiding the possibility of being obliged to sleep in the same building as his father (and father's family). Finn is still a lot like a feral dog where his father is concerned... he will sometimes creep close to his side, but as soon as a hand is raised to caress him, or -- heaven forbid -- someone makes to lock him inside, he takes off. Figuratively speaking.

Egelric does hold a lot of fascination for him of course. It's always Finn who comes creeping back after a while. But their relationship is both delicate and awkward. And that was before the whole adultery-if-not-rape-if-not-worse situation blew up in the middle of everything.

As for his siblings... a 14-year-old boy who has grown up an only child is going to feel awkward enough around 6-year-olds and 2-year-olds as it is. The fact that they're who they are only makes it worse. Wulf is all hyper and outgoing and proud to be an elf, all of which makes Finn cringe. And Gils is Lar's son, and Finn thinks nobody knows, and he's only a foster child anyway. Out of them all, the one he likes best is probably Jehanne, who is at an age where all she really needs is someone to watch her play and fetch her stuff from on high, and who doesn't ask him questions he's not allowed to answer.

Finn would be a lot happier to be able to get to know Egelric alone without the family. Assuming Egelric lives long enough that Finn won't be stuck with some kind of responsibility for his young siblings, it's quite possible that Finn will never be all that close to them. He's almost a grown man, and already sort of living on his own.

It's not so much because of snobbery and racism though. (Even with Iylaine it isn't... she's jealous that they get the life with their father that she always wished she could have, and she just manifests that with racial snobbery.) With Finn the issue is much more a case of an adopted child finding his birth family, and learning that there are these kids who got love and attention from their father, while Finn spent 14 years thinking he was thrown away like the trash. (He also has loyalty to his mother, and if he had a choice in the matter would have preferred that Egelric simply didn't have another wife ever again.)

Even now that he intellectually knows the truth, he has these ingrained feelings of inferiority and abandonment that aren't going to go away soon. I suppose there's a sort of jealousy in him as well -- he's hungry for his father, but when he finally finds him, he has to share. And Egelric tries to make sure the other kids know that they still matter to him. So that's how that goes.

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Now as much as I dread to see a fourth Mrs. Egelric Wodehead those poor children need a step-mother since Lady Sela was killed in such senseless manner. Oh yeah and since Lili's gone too. Anyway here are my picks.

*Martha ingen Diarmait Ui Cheinnselaigh

Finna Gamlesdottor

Gunnora Aelfdensdottor Hingwar

Stein's SISTER??? *head spins around*

Who else are you thinking of Van?

I think someone has a crush on Egelric already. *sigh*

If I knew, would I ask? It must be so self-evidently impossible that I can't figure it out.

The delicate, silver-haired great-granddaughter of Norse kings and the swarthy, truncheon-fisted son of an English peasant? *rubs chin*

There's nothing particularly wrong with those women, Devin, it's just so RANDOM. The odds of Martha and Egelric even meeting once on this earth is pretty close to 0. Not one of those three women you proposed even speaks English particularly well -- Martha and Finna not at all.

Of course Irene is all those things. But she does have the advantage of BEING THERE.

I do think Egelric + Gunnilda would be quite something. Soooo much ground to go over. It would probably be bittersweet though, in many ways.

True, Martha speaks Gaelic. Egelric speaks Gaelic like a five-year-old, however, at least according to his son-in-law. Unless he's railing at you -- then he's a dictionary.

I still have a hard time imagining Egelric with a truly delicate lady. Remember how brutish and awkward he felt with Irene? Lili was small, but she was a rambunctious little lady.

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Meryt do you think is possible for Sigefrith to win back Hwaelnaess? And if he does what will he do with it?

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Meryt has Ralf ever had relations?

How quaintly put, Devin.

Yes, he has. We had one chapter where Ethelwyn was reminiscing about how he used to help Ralf pick up girls, back in his own bachelor days. It's safe to say Ralf wasn't just taking them out for dinner and a movie.

Nevertheless Ralf is something of a romantic. I don't think he stood much risk of falling in love with That Sort of Girl. He probably has something of his housekeeper's opinion in that regard... it's just that he didn't put Flann into that class, while his housekeeper did.

I have to say, I can't imagine what Ralf is like in bed though...

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Aia could be his magical nymph.

I so agree Tiffany he must be a crier.

At the sheer beauty of love-making, I guess.

I'm still a virgin so I don't exactly know the dynamics and emotional aspects of "relations", but from TV, I gathered that some men are often "moved to tears" after a particularly sweet or passionate love-making session.

Heh, I can definitely see Ralf as a crier. More out of the "awkwardness" of the situation or of fear that he did it wrong, or just being overwhelmed or some such...
Poor Ralf. "I'M NO GOOD AT THIS WHAT IS WRONG WITH MEEEE?"
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I'm romantic, literary, cynical, and a diehard Alred Sebright groupie.

I don't know, I think as a general rule in his life, Ralf is OK once he gets going. He's an introvert, and probably lives too much in his head, but he's not really timid or insecure.

If Ralf cried about anything, I would imagine it more like once he gets home after one of these little escapades... crawling under the covers while trying not to wake any of the cats sleeping on his bed, and then maybe crying a tear or two as he wonders why he still hasn't found and brought home the girl of his dreams, so he can have something REAL.

There are certainly intimations of that in his revelation about his little reveries of Flann sitting quietly in his hall with Liadan toddling around at her feet and a new Ralf-like baby on her lap.

He does want to get married, but he's certainly not going to go for the first girl who comes along. He has very strict and somewhat ridiculously romantic ideals. But he also has a wonderful heart, and he's just silly enough to be utterly endearing. *cuddles Ralf again*

Thank you for your support, Devin. I think I will manage to make you at least a little happy.

But what about Eadred?

Or OOOOH what about Saeward?

Saeward and Aia would be a good couple actually... there's something a bit "off" with both of them. Their kids would probably grow up to be lunatics though, with those parents.

*still waiting to see what is actually up with Saeward...*

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Does Saeward have a nice house? I would rather see her with Eadred than him. But my top choice right now is Ralf.
And I thought Saeward was gay or bisexual. I don't want Aia married to a man who will sometimes crave mangina.