Sigurd hears hollow crys in the night
Sigurd came into the room quite late. He had been drinking with the King and some of the other men and the time had passed more quickly than he had realised. He had planned to come earlier, but each time he rose to leave, someone had suggested he stay for one last drink. He had not drunk overly much, but he was definitely feeling the effects. He crept into the room, towards the set of drawers as quietly as he could manage in his partially inebriated state. He paused to gaze down at his sleeping wife.
He thought she was most beautiful at these times when he looked upon her silent figure. It was really the only time he was truly allowed to look at her. If he tried to gaze at her during the day as lovers were supposed, she only asked him to stop staring at her like a ninny. At the thought of this he turned away and began to undress himself quietly.
It took him a lot longer than he thought it would as he fumbled with his tunic and underclothes. He nearly tripped and fell as he pulled them over his leg and he had to stifle a laugh that almost crept out of his mouth. Yes, he had definitely drunk a bit more than was necessary.
He stumbled over to a chair and sat down heavily. From here he watched as Varda’s chest silently rose and fell with each breath.
Her face looked luminous in the candlelight, her long dark hair falling softly against the curves of her neck. It was only when she was asleep that she was soft, during the day he could never describe her as such. But at night, when she was somewhere deep within her dreams, her body began soft and supple and he could put his arms around her and hold her close to him. At the thought of her body he had to stifle a sob, that rose unbidden in his throat. By now she should have been heavily with child, her body round in places that it was angular.
He covered his face with his hands as more sobs racked through his body, fueled by the wine that was coursing through his veins.
In a few months, their child should have been born. Perhaps it would have been a son, whom he could have taught to fight and proudly passed his name to. Or a beautiful daughter with luscious, black hair like Varda’s and his own blue-green eyes. But now it would forever remain unknown to them, a bodyless soul floating there in the dark, just out of reach. He trembled with emotion as the tears poured down his face and dripped onto his shaking knees.
He heard Varda stir and desperately tried to bring his emotions under control. With a quiet sniffle he wiped the tears away with a force that made his eyes sting.
He stood up soundlessly and moved over to the bed, where he pulled the covers up and settled in next to Varda.
He lay for a long time, struggling at the edges of sleep, but it would not come to him. His ears rang with the sounds of a hollow infants cry, a cry that had been with him since they came to this place. He shivered with horror. He needed a distraction.
“Varda”, he whispered softly turning his body to hers, “Varda, are you awake?”.
She did not reply so he carefully wrapped his arms around her unresisting body. He did not feel so bad with her warmth against the length of his body, and the gentle sound of breathing could almost make him forget the other far less pleasant sound that accompanied him everywhere he went.
He slowly drifted off to sleep, as Varda lay beside him, wide awake her body rigid at his touch.
Awww, poor Sigurd… I don’t know what to think about Varda yet, so I really can’t say much about her. I really love how each entry is a deep look at a character or a situation. Very nice and a good way of getting the reader involved.
Poor Sigurd, such a sensitive guy. But I guess that’s type of man was not so much appreciated in that world, and apparently even less so by that particular wife.
And so he’s being haunted by something from his own past? Interesting, interesting…
Wow, I just discovered this blog and I’m hooked! I love that last picture. Time to go through the archives!
Poor poor Sigurd. Did his wife perhaps have a miscarrage?
Hi guys…
Mao… I’m glad your getting involved… I really like developing the characters this way so everyone gets to know them better.
Lothere… I agree… poor Sigurd is definitely in the wrong time… a sensitive guy like him would probably be just what everyone wanted now but back then only strong men were appreciated… and Varda is such a strong woman that it is hard for both of them
Devilfish… welcome! I’m glad you’re liking it so far =). I hope the archives aren’t too confusing… there is something a bit wrong with the page at the mo in that when you go to previous page it doesn’t actually go back. I don’t know why this is (going to have to ask programmer boyf how to fix it =).
Carrie… yes Varda was actually pregnant when they fled from the invading forces but she lost the baby on the ship… I talked about it here.
Poor Sigurd indeed! I feel so bad for the man! All he wants is a baby! I just want to give him a big hug!
Is the last picture a result of the Sims writing the story? Sometimes my Sims blink awake when I watch them, waiting for a good photo op, and it scares me to see them sleep wide-eyed like that.
It took me so long to get that pic Aithne! But it is sort of not that hard to do it if I remember rightly once you get the hang of it. If one sim is alseep and then the second one comes to bed they will snuggle up and spoon them and there is a brief moment were the first sim will open their eyes and move a bit. I took the pic just at the moment, you can sort of see that Sigurd isn’t exactly asleep… he’s eyes are a bit half shut but it was the best I could do.
It is creepy when they open their eyes. The creepiest of all though is when they are awake and standing and suddenly they look right up at you as though they could see out of the screen *shudder*. Or maybe I have just been playing too much
The thing that really annoys me is the snores!!! Does anyone know how to get rid of those little zzzzs. I hate them passionately… arg!
Why does she not like his touch? Sad
I think there is a mod on mod the sims that lets you get rid of the zzzzz’s. I remember seeing it…I need help getting rid of thought bubbles, any thoughts? LOL….didn’t actually mean to write that like that…. 
Hehe… unfortunately I don’t have any thoughts
on the matter Tiana. I have just been taking photos at angles to try and avoid them. It would be awesome if there was something to get rid of them… but I would only want it for my Mhalwae neighbourhood coz I still like to play with my normal sims sometimes. Thanks for the advice about those dreadful zzzzs. I will check it out when I get back home next week.
Haha, my sister gets annoyed when I start angling the camera in all directiions to escape signs of Simmishness. It gets annoying when I change the view to walls up and I am blasted out the house. It’s insanely hard to zoom in to get the perfect angle in small rooms!
Don’t you wish Sims would pose by themselves? But then you wouldn’t get some of the interesting plot changing interactions.
You mentioned that Sims make awful faces when the room’s environment is slow? Is it possible to make an object have negative environment? If I could figure out an easy way to make a tiny object like that, I would use it all the time for storytelling purposes. Of course, it’d have to be medievally looking or invisible.
I hate trying to take pics in small rooms!!! Arg, the annoyance of it.
You are going to think this is a bit strange but I actually found out about the environment thing when taking the pics for Mella’s dream about the convent. I had some puddles of blood on the floor and all of a sudden my sims started going crazy and making the most insane and evil looking faces. If you put enough on the floor it makes the environment level go down. And the good thing about floor puddles is that you can’t see them in most pics you will take. So if you want them they are here. They also come in green goo and oil slick
.