Saturday, October 6, 2012

Chapter 16: Things Like Fairies and Werewolves


She stirs, rolling toward him as she awakens. Whatever Farrell had expected to find when he travelled to the past, it wasn't this.


"I want to wake with you beside me everyday," he says, pulling her close, "You'll come with me, won't you? To my time? I know I can find a way to do it, I just need to know that you will come."

"I've never felt anything like I feel with you, Farrell," Aouregan says, "I'd go anywhere with you. But, if I am to live with you, I'd like to be married."

"Of course," Farrell says.


They set out together in the morning and the long day's walk across the woods brings them to the little village by the river. 

"I was born here," Aouregan says, "For generations, my family had served the Lady, here, in this sacred grove. Or, it was a sacred grove. When the Landgraabs came, they cut down our trees and built their stone church here."


"For centuries, this image of our Lady stood in the center of the grove, but the Landgraabs took her and enclosed her here in their temple. They say they do her honor, but they've cut her off from the people. And, out here on this arch above us, they placed the image of their Watcher. You cannot see the Lady now without looking past him. You cannot approach Her except through their house."


"And that's why you live so far out from the village, in the woods by yourself?" Farrell asks.

Aouregan nods. "My parents died trying to defend the trees here. I wanted to fight with them, but I was just fifteen then, and my mother sent me and my brother away with Moth to hide in the woods."

"What happened to your brother?"

"Come," Aouregan says sadly, pulling the church doors open, "You shall meet him."


"Kaourentin," she calls gently to the priest praying before a stone altar, "I'd like you to meet someone."


"I'd heard you had a man living with you lately, sister," Kaourentin answers, "Happily, Trifine Brannon's misadventures have been the center of most of the town gossip, and your scandal is just a distraction."


"Farrell and I wish to be married," Aouregan says as her brother turns to face them.

"I'm glad to hear it," Kaourentin answers, "It would be my honor to perform the rites myself."

Uncomfortable with the obvious tension between the siblings, Farrell fidgets and looks away from their conversation. And he notices two round holes inset in the walls of the church, looking very much like the holes he'd found in the Landgraab chateau in Champs les Sims, holes which hid trigger mechanisms to reveal secret doors. What secrets to these holes hide? Farrell wonders.


Farrell's attention turns back to Aouregan as her voice rises.

"I want the old rites," she says, "I will not be married in the sight of your Watcher."


"Sister, you know I cannot do that," Kaourentin protests, "I serve the Watcher."

"You serve the Landgraabs," Aouregan accuses, "And you serve yourself."

"What use it if I die like Mother and Father did?" her brother asks, "I don't want to live hidden out in the forest like you. Here, I can serve our people better, close to their homes. What does it matter if I invoke the Watcher's name instead of the Lady's, when the result is the same?"

"It matters, Kaourentin, because you've become a tool of the Landgraabs, you help subjugate to the people to their will rather than helping them resist."

Kaourentin sighs, "Helping them to die, you mean. The Landgraabs have shown their power over and again. Those who resist, die. Those who accept their rule are allowed to go about their lives in peace. And I am here to heal their bodies and give peace to their souls, while you hide out in the woods, helping no one."

Aoregan glares at her brother.


"And you," Kaourentin turns to Farrell, "You wish to marry my sister. Are you still an adherent o the old ways, as she is? Or would you prefer to be married by the new rites?"

Farrell had been utterly fascinated in watching the religious debate, this piece of history unfolding before his eyes in the form a family argument as one sibling clings to the older beliefs while the other turns to the new. Farrell of course knows hows this fight ends, who is declared the winner, and how meaningless it all becomes once the Age of Reason begins and the world largely gives up on superstition in favor of empirical knowledge. If he were to answer Kaourentin's answer truly, he would say that it was all nonsense. But for Aouregan's sake, he stops short of the truth and just says, "I've never had much use for the Watcher, myself. I don't believe he exists."

Kaourentin's eyes grow as large as saucers and he turns back to his sister, "The Landgraab's eyes are always on me," he hisses, "I've had to work hard to earn their trust. Just having you here in this temple is suspicious enough, I cannot allow this blasphemy on top of that. Go, now, and do not come back until you decide to embrace His teachings."


"I'm sorry," Farrell apologizes once they are out of the church, "I didn't mean to make things worse for you and your brother."

Aouregan shakes her head, "You aren't the cause of this rift in my family, it is the Landgraabs I blame, for everything. I'm the only one left who serves in the name of the Lady, and I cannot officiate at my own wedding. I've heard there is still an old priest in a village some miles from here who still performs the old rites. But the walk is at least a week, and I haven't the money to get a horse..."

"In my time, we don't need anyone to officiate a marriage," Farrell tell her, "You just take vows, and it's done. Well, that and you need to file at City Hall for it to be official. But there are no rites needed at all, Aouregan."


"You told my brother you don't believe in the Watcher," Aouregan says, "The Brannons here still adhere to the old ways, they are one of the only families left who do so, though they are quiet about it so as to not bring the wrath of the Landgraabs down on them. That's why they came to me rather than to my brother to help Trifine. But you also told me on the day we met that you do not know the Lady, either. And now you say you have no rites for marriage. Tell me, who do the priests in your time serve?"

"We have no priests," Farrell says, "We have doctors to heal the sick, and scientists to explain the world, and we have a secular government to make laws."

"And you have no gods at all?" Aouregan asks.

Farrell shakes his head, "And no magic either. Things like fairies and werewolves, and people like you, witches, are just characters in children's stories.'




"And that's the world you wish to take me to?" she asks, pulling away from him.

Farrell reaches across the space between them to caress her cheek, "It's the only world I've ever known, before now. If you don't want to live there, then I will stay here with you."

______________________________
Note: Kaourentin Avendale is made from a clone of Heaven's Xander Avendale from her Avendale Legacy.
Readers of my Summerdream story know that Aouregan is descended from Uvie, and many have assumed she is also the descendant of Auberon, since at the time Aouregan was introduced here, Uvie and Auberon had just had a daughter together. I didn't want to spoiler events in Summerdream here before they happened so I didn't want to come out and deny those rumors. I am now free to inform everyone that Aouregan is descended from Uvie and Ardax.

24 comments:

  1. I can't properly express how much I like your stories. Beautiful writing, engaging scenes, thought provoking ideas, you've created an intermingled universe that just draws a reader in.

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  2. I forsee trouble~ Even though I really really want Farrell and Auregon to live happily ever after now and forever I fear the differences in their worlds might be too much to handle : (

    Kaourentin is kind of a tool, but he's a cutie. I wonder if we're ever going to see him again. My sisters and I have fights, but I'd be lost if they ever just disappeared.

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    1. Ah, I forgot to add a note at the end of this chapter to credit Kaourentin. He's Xander Avendale with a makeover. I'll have to go add that in.

      He is kind of a tool, as the Landgraabs are using their new religion as a way to control the population. But he's genuine in his belief that it doesn't matter who you pray to so long as the peace is maintained.

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  3. FARREL. You need to think a little harder before you go trying to change the timeline. *dopeslap* You don't know what bringing Aouregan to the future might do. Though I assume you'll do your best to find out, once you get back to your own time.

    Anyway, awesome chapter! Super awesome chapter. <3

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    1. It's also possible he could majorly polluted the time stream just by his presence in the past. When he gets back to the present, he might find that Ned Flanders rules the world or that it rains donuts, lol.

      Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked this chapter.

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  4. Uh oh---trouble approaching! Nothing like religion or politics to divide a family, lol. I'm still thinking about that bottle---

    I love Farrell, I sure hope he is able to get things straightened out satisfactorily! Kaourentin is yet another great looking sim! You have so many good looking sims---and while I love their names, I have to keep looking at the name to try to remember how to spell it! lol :D

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    1. Kaourentin is another Breton Celtic name, I chose it because it has the same aou vowel combination as Aouregan. The French spelling is Corentin.

      Aouregan's family has been destroyed by religion and politics, that's for sure.

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  5. Ah religious disagreements...I know them well. Is the Watcher in reference to The Sims Medieval?

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    1. Yes, it is from Sims Medieval, as is a lot of medieval CC. TSM also makes reference to an earlier non-Watcher religion that had been suppressed, and the statue of the 'Lady' is in fact a TSM sculpture of the old harvest goddess from the vanished older religion.

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  6. Fascinating chapter, especially the disagreement between the siblings as to religion and then Farrell's revelation that religion has disappeared in the future.

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    1. Thanks, Ali!
      I'm taking a lot of inspiration from the state of the Sims world. In TSM you have Watcherism, and hints of an older religion that was suppressed. And in the regular Sims game, there is no hint of religion at all, so I went with the idea that in Farrell's time, religion pretty much doesn't exist.

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  7. Oooh, I am now looking forward to seeing what Farrell will be going back to. The whole paradox time thing really screws with my head. As in: his past, Aouregan's future was dependent on him going back to her past but in his time he hadn't actually done it yet. So, it could be that everything will be as he left it because he was supposed to go back in time. But, since he hadn't actually done so, things could be drastically changed. It hurts my head to thing about.

    Also, knowing that Aouregan is a descendant from Uvie and Ardax totally blows my theory about Aourgean/Farell child combining Auberon and the dragon/fairy hybrid lines. Although...knowing what Auberon knows and where Uvie is headed in her people's eyes, is it possible that SHE is the Lady?

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    1. Yeah, I'm having a hard time managing all the time travel paradox stuff. And it's just going to get more complicated. I'm going to have start handing out Tylenol's with each update, lol.

      You my have been wrong about the Auberon and dragon/fairy hybrid lines, but you are on to something with the Lady. =D

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  8. The Landgraabs worship Sauron? I'm not surprised.

    Another great chapter! I feel bad that Aouregan and her brother are divided by the new religion.

    I agree with Heaven, the whole messing with the space-time continuum messes with my mind. I just hope there is a happy ending, but who knows...

    One of these days I will get caught up on Summerdream. One of these days....

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    1. LOL, the Watcher symbols remind me of Sauron, too. And the Landgraabs are representing the Jacoban branch of Watcherism, which was the one that preached more about hellfire and damnation. The Landgraabs really worship power, though, and are using a new religion with a strong authoritarian message to exert control over the populace.

      I'm trying to write this story and Summerdream in a way that if you only read one, you will still be able to understand what's going on. It's hard though because they are so intermingled in my mind.

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  9. I love you using TSM :-). I enjoy being the Watcher and wielding power lol! But I am a kind and benevolent Watcher. I do not choose the quests which end in character death *nodnod* I am seriously enjoying both of those stories, you are so talented! I'm nowhere near this good at coming up with plots and mine are so obvious, lol. I've put up the next chapter of my legacy and I'm sure that if anyone was reading it they could tell where it's going. How do you find the time to write two such amazing stories?

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    1. Thank you so much, Ishi!
      I do have a lot of free time to devote to Sims and stories about them.

      I haven't played TSM in ages, it was fun at first but after awhile having the same buildings that you couldn't add rooms onto got too boring. But I love having the stuff converted to TS3.

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  10. Yeah I have to agree not really being able to alter the buildings gets boring. And TSM is a little Sims1-ish in its approach to children. Except the pregnancy bit lol.

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  11. I'm catching back up again - so fun to read another chapter of your epic story. Farrell...wow - just not sure what to think either way if he stays in the past or brings her forward. Either way could cause a wrinkle in the fabric of time that forever changes their worlds both directions. Or, at the very least, one of them will end up unhappy in the other's time. I sure hope it works out for them both!

    I also enjoy your TSM religious references. I really like the 'watcher' theme as an old religion because of course we, the creators of the sims are in fact the watchers, and would be god-like if the sims knew of our existence. =) I enjoy being a sim goddess but I wouldn't want them worshiping me haha. The old game Black and White was great for that though ;)

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    1. Thanks, Envie. Time travel tories always do create these paradoxes. Even Farrell's visit had the potential to change things in the future, and certainly his staying there or ringing Aouregan to the future would create a disturbance. Unless, since it already happened, he's just doing what was already done to create the present as he knows it.

      EA pushed the 'you are the watcher' thing really hard in TSM, but I never really got into that aspect of it. I understand the comparison of players to gods over Sims because we do control so much of their lives. But the universe is ultimately EA's creation, they define the rules of how that world functions, and even modders have only so much power to change that. We're pretty low in the pantheon, but are being presented as monotheistic creator deities.
      Ea is actually a Babylonian of mischief, crafts and creation. Whenever I think of TSM watcherism, I imagine Ea get a laugh over tricking mere players int0 believing we are godlike, just get us to play his game (and buy his stuff, lol)

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  12. I kind of hope Farrell does stay with her. It'd probably be safer.

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  13. I guess they never realized how differently the way of life was in each time period. Hopefully they can work it out. However if they do end up going back to the future, I hope there isn't a trap waiting for them.

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