Jân, Elle, and Nika Sketch

Thanks to the amazing Lunarluminesce over at the NaNoWriMo site, I have a wonderful sketch of Jân, Elle, and Nika to share with you all. She was kind enough to make it for me despite having her own story to write and a lot of other requests to take on. Naturally, how I see the three siblings in my head and how she saw them based on the descriptions I provided can never be the exact same image. Still, the difference between our depictions of the characters doesn't matter since she managed to capture beautifully the spirit of Jân, Elle and Nika. That's what is important. Here is her lovely sketch for all of you to enjoy, and I hope it helps you to envision the three siblings and the world of Lerathian just a bit easier.

Click on the picture to see it in its full-sized glory!

Unsupervised

It might have been raining, but I ignored the weather and took Sind with me across the street to Maywood Glen. I had just been in the house for so long that I had to get out despite the water falling from the sky. I have to admit that it isn't for legitimate reasons that I haven't really left the yard, but that I've been hiding myself. I don't want anyone to ask me questions about this pregnancy. It is not as if I can lie. The truth will be revealed when this child is born, but what sane person will not think me crazy when I do tell the truth? I chose to go to the Glen when it was raining to avoid people, and thus avoid the questions.

Thankfully, the rain truly was light. It was also warm and felt good as it dripped onto ours heads. Sind was having the time of his life playing in the small puddles. I picked the wild fruits and vegetables while he was preoccupied. That helped me to spend less time in the grocery store afterwards getting the rest of what our fridge needed. It was very lucky that no one else was at the store save for a grumpy cashier who had no desire to talk. Sind and I returned home without problem.

The Truth

Sind was born very late in the night. It's been a long time since I've had a child come at such an hour. I was naturally tired from the late night and the labor. It was thankfully that the labor itself was relatively short. I was truly ecstatic to see Sind has at least inherited Paul's hair. Hopefully this means he'll have his pretty green eyes as well. Nevertheless, Sind seems so far to be a calm baby. It really is hard to determine his personality just yet though. He fell asleep quickly, and I fell asleep myself minutes after I got him settled.

Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet (Chapter Four Excerpt)

So I really wasn't planning on releasing any more from the novel past the chapter three excerpt. This was because the events that set the main plot of the book into motion happen, and in case this story does ever head towards being published I didn't want to spoil the main twists. After a little debating, I feel it's alright to release this little bit since it only vaguely talks about what happened. This will be the last of Tales of Lerathian I post to the blog though. I hope then that you really enjoy it! In this chapter one of my favorite characters is introduced. It'll be pretty obvious who it is. Enjoy!

Way Off Track

Penn is having quite the influence on Linnatiel and Rorion. It is surprising considering Linnatiel's original fright of him. However, now all three of them love spending time together. Penn came over one time to help with Renia, but he ended up using most of the time painting Linnatiel and Rorion's faces like his and playing with them. It kept them busy so I could focus solely on Renia so Penn was assisting me in a rather backwards way.

However, he got Linnatiel and Rorion incredibly riled up. They were still bursting with energy even when bedtime came around. Elvaran and Analinde came to me to complain that they couldn't sleep because the two children were having a loud pillow fight. I made them wash the cracking and chipping face paint off and get into bed. They were exhausted the next morning so I have a feeling they stayed up late despite this.

Clowning Around

Snowflakes drifted gently down from the sky from morning to sunset. It was very fitting considering that it was Snowflake Day. It had come on a Saturday this year so it was easy to get a large group together for a celebration. Elioviel, Morti, Elediril, Milmarion, Noril, Raradia and her husband, and all the children's fathers save for Christopher were the ones who came. Christopher still had work to do, and didn't have the time to make it over. I cleared out the television area so we could have the space for a proper gift giving party.

The celebration went on for most of the day. We made out well in gifts. Niphredil received three brand new art easels if you can believe it. Three! What are we supposed to do with them all? The other children got some toys, and I ended up with an alarm clock. I suppose it would be useful if Linnatiel and Rorion's crying wasn't already my alarm clock.

Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet (Chapter Three Excerpt)

Time for another dose of Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet! This time you're getting a taste of the third chapter. Things didn't go perfectly when Jân, Elle, and Nika entered the Elvas capital of Marmaírein, but now that three weeks have passed perhaps we'll find the siblings in a happier place. This excerpt chronicles one of the field classes Elle takes with her peers. We meet her first friends, and Elle learns a very important piece of information. As usual, no editing has been done. Please disregard at this time any errors or typos you may come across.

Competition

Rorion was accepted into the household instantly. Elvaran and Delenmir were excited to have another brother since it meant there were three girls and three boys, excluding me naturally. When it comes to these kinds of counts my gender becomes completely irrelevant for whatever reason. Due to Linnatiel and Rorion practically being another set of twins for me to take care of I haven't been able to keep up with Niphredil, Elvaran, Analinde, and Delenmir as much as I would like. They don't mind, because it means they can get away with playing more video games and delaying their homework.

I had hoped to take a little break from having children after Linnatiel was born, but it is alright if things are this way. Chaos is something I'm quite used to.

Doorstep

With the household finally returning to a peaceful state after all the trouble that's been had recently, I decided to allow Elvaran and Analinde to stay in the same class at school. I don't have to worry about their separation anxiety anymore though. The two appear to have peacefully gotten over most of their issues. However, Analinde has become a more attached to Niphredil in the past weeks. Her actions have put me under the impression that Analinde doesn't want her sister to have her birthday. I think she's been playing with her and pulling little pranks on her more often in hopes of keeping her a child. Niphredil has simply been putting up with the clingy attention like a trooper.

Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet (Chapter Two Excerpt)

Here's another little dose of my story Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet for you. This excerpt is the first section in the second chapter. This chapter documents Jân, Elle, and Nika's arrival into the Elvas capital of Marmaírein. They face various struggles, and secret plans start to come to light. This particular section highlights the siblings' last night before they enter the city. As always, there has been no editing or re-working done to the text yet.

Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet (Chapter One) (UPDATED)

After a little bit of thinking, I've decided to go ahead and post the first full chapter of the Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet. Will I do the same with the upcoming chapters? Not sure yet. I'm just playing it by ear. I'm releasing this chapter in the same condition that I released the prologue. This means that I have not edited it at all. I have not re-read it at all. It is coming to you in the rawest state it will ever be in. That being said, I hope you enjoy as you take the full plunge into the story of Jân, Elle, and Nika.

EDIT: This chapter has now been replaced with all the changes I made to either fix mistakes, misspellings, or sections that needed improvement.

Issues

The household saw a good amount of birthdays recently. Firstly, and a bit sadly, it was the important birthday of my beautiful 50th baby. Milmarion truly takes after Clint in terms of appearance. The two get along great as well. That was why Milmarion decided to live with his father for a time while he works on improving his talent in the field of inventing. He says his goal is to build humanoid robots. Honestly, the idea of such things scares me. I wished my son all the best nonetheless.

Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet (Prologue)

It's that time of year again! NaNoWriMo has started, and I've been hard at work on my novel. I'm still unsure whether or not I'll post full chapters as I did last year. However, I won't leave you empty-handed. Today I'll present to you the full ten-page prologue of Tales of Lerathian: The Puppet. In it you'll receive necessary tidbits about the world of Lerathian as well as the even more important introduction to our main characters- Jân, Elle, and Nika. Seeing as how I've only just finished writing this prologue, it does not have any editing done to it whatsoever. I haven't even reread it as I am now about to start working on the first chapter. However, I feel the prologue is of good enough quality to release. I hope you enjoy, and like always, feel free to drop a comment about what you think!