It was fun with the pics… sort of a montage of the “first season”

But more than anything I loved the pictures. They may be a round-up of pictures from previous chapters, but they were sweet, sweet, sweet all grouped together! Even a last glimpse of Boots. *sniff*

Actually I got the ages a little bit wrong, since I realised some of them have aged since they arrived (funny how that happens . I have put up a page with their ages on it here, because it is going to be a while till I get the family tree thing going.

40s doesn’t seem old at all to me either… I think now about 70-75 is when you start to get old. And I really mean start… I plan on living till 120 . But in those days it was getting pretty old and people would have started to have lots of health problems, especially if they had been out fighting battles… old war wounds start playing up. But that doesn’t mean I think you should start to kill of your characters (please don’t!). Not everything can be totally realistic, otherwise too many of the characters would be dying.

Yeah… poor Harndall. He is in a bit over his head. The other older priests at the monastery who survived, wanted to stay behind and help the people in what is going to be a difficult time for them, under a dictator ruler. They thought Harndall should go (and he wanted to go) because even though he was young, people liked him and felt like they could trust him with their problems (and might I add, they had faith in him). But poor guy, he’s been in a monastery since he was a kid, with no contact with women except for occasionally nuns and now he is thrown into this sort of situation. It’s pretty hard for him.

Ooh I am glad to know everyone’s ages. I did see Garrick as being older than his friends, maybe because his wife is so much younger than he. (Wait, what about Lochan?)

Harndall is only 22? Maybe it’s the Jesus look, but I was thinking in his thirties at least. But being so young, it makes it a little easier to understand his problems. This is kind of his “first assignment”, isn’t it? He hasn’t been tried before. Poor guy.

My main characters are getting well into their forties now. It doesn’t seem so old to me since I am married to a 45-year-old, so I have to remind myself that in 11th century terms they are getting well past their prime. Mel Gibson and other modern actors notwithstanding, many of the big heroes of yore were quite young men, in their early twenties or so. A 45-year-old Sigefrith or a 45-year-old Eallair (or a 45-year-old William Wallace) might not have been able to do what they did.

Mao… sorry… your comments keep going into spam for some reason but I am retrieving them so if you don’t see one straight away up it will be up soon.

It is actually not sooo cold in Stockholm. It doesn’t usually get that cold. It’s probably colder in Northern Ohio.

But yeah… the snot thing is so gross. Especially when you come inside and it all just runs out. It brings a new level of tolerance to relationships… “Hi honey I’m home” *big kiss* “ah sorry, I just got snot on your face”.

Both Harndall and Valeriya were lucky… Merila wasn’t finished with Harndall when Valeriya interrupted them, and she didn’t feed as much on Valeriya as she would have because something about her blood made her feel sick.

Tiana… I love that picture too! I think Cordell is really cute in a clean cut, new guy sort of way. He is a bit younger than some of the rest, so still quite keen (He is 22 whereas Garrick is 27 and Radomir is 28). Steen is only 18 though. And actually Eallair is 23 which is maybe why he is having a bit of trouble with the whole ruling thing. Harndall is young too… 22).

I wonder if they are vampires now…uh oh…a priest vampire? That’s gotta be conflicting for him!

Poor Garrick looks like he is having a rough time lately. I love how he is just bumbling through the snow complaining of snotcicles.

I had to laugh at the snot icicles… I was thinking that was something you probably only learned last winter. I remember the wintertime in northeastern Ohio… I don’t know whether it gets as cold there as it does in Stockholm, but I certainly had the experience of snot freezing in the nose on many occasions. And oh, when you get inside and it starts to melt! And you don’t even feel it because your face is so numb!

As for the story… This was totally a season opener. I can’t believe they are alive! I was so convinced Valeriya was dead. I thought Harndall would live, however, just spacing out until the others found them there.

But I think it is a bad sign if they are alive. If it is snot-icicle cold, then they should have frozen to death.

Also, I am getting more Team Radomir every time I see him. That first picture… he is looking good there. And he does love his wife — in his pitiful, selfish, egotistical way. But he does. And he called her darling! And he called himself her Radomir!

It just sucks that she is so obviously in love with Harndall.

But I think we can forget about all of that until we find out what effect this attack has had on the two of them. She did seem to recognize her husband though.

And one final thought I had… could it be that Cindra’s nightmares are coming from the fact that she is carrying Garrick’s baby? It will be interesting to see whether they stop after it’s born. (And if it’s a girl, and it looks like the mysterious dream woman… creeeeepy…)

Oh, right. Sure. Radomir is all ‘concerned’ now. Pah. The vampire chick didn’t do anything you haven’t done, pal. I love how the first reaction is to blame the priest? The priest? Are you serious. No more medieval crack for you, Radomir.

Yes, I know. All characters have many sides, but for his sudden switch and hypocrisy… he gets no sympathy from me, LOL!