Completed

Lemerion was glad to be getting out of the house. Spring had decided to go out with all the force of a typhoon. The roaring winds were just as endless as the rain. Flood warnings came almost every day. The farmers were beginning to worry that all of their crops would be absolutely ruined. Thankfully, nature's wrath ended when summer began. The black stormy days gave way to bright blue skies with white, wispy clouds. The heat remained at just the right temperature as well. For someone who loved the heat like Lemerion, the change was a most welcome one.

Moving Forward

I thought it was a rather strange thing for me to do. One would think that after watching my home be consumed by flames that I would shun away from fire. I found myself attracted to the warmth of the one Andethon had made in his fireplace though. I wasn't upset or scared at seeing it, but was simply comforted by it warmth.

The past several weeks had not been kind to me. As if I hadn't already been on edge and hesitant enough, I had lost my place of respite. Then I had had no choice but to scatter the family. None of my older children had the space to take in myself and their younger siblings, and I wasn't about to have us living in hotel for Goddess knows how long. Gellrin had gone to stay with Ranna and Marty, Thoronton was watching over Erumaren, Celendel and Celenia were with Aewen, and Isebrilia and I were at Andethon's. It was certainly a massive change to not be in charge of the house. What was strange still was how quiet things were. Andethon and his wife only had one child, and Lyle was a soft-spoken boy. The calm pace my son's family was used to operating at was unnerving to me as I was accustomed to a much more hectic schedule. I was actually glad when Isebrilia would began crying for it shook things up.

Inferno

In a way, Celendel and Celenia began to remind me of Elrandra and Emethien. My youngest set of twins were getting older, but Celenia insisted on attaching herself to her brother. Their more refined walking and dexterity skills allowed her to climb on him in all sorts of new ways. It was highly amusing to watch. I was certain Celendel would finally tire of his sister's antics, but it seemed he continued to pay them no mind. In fact, I daresay he rather enjoyed being Celenia's climbing toy.

The Introduction

Winter transitioned smoothly into spring. The days steadily got warmer as the snow melted away to reveal the green grass underneath. Then the snowfall disappeared entirely as it was replaced by cold rain. I liked to stay inside when such rain was falling, but Gellrin and Erumaren enjoyed the change. They were outside playing in puddles more often than not. I would have been more annoyed at all the water and mud they would then track inside had it not been for the fact that they were indeed spending so much time outside. I would rather them get a little dirty than waste away their days in front of the television or something.

Delaying

Nana and Abriel began complaining again. At first, the whining I had had to deal with was about the other stealing the other's supplies. Now it was to me and about a lack of available space in the house to hang their paintings. They sold most of them, but the rest they wanted to keep. Of course, the two also wanted them to be on display. However, I had a large portion of works from my previous children that stretched back centuries. It was ridiculous to get a request like the one I got from Abriel. I was not going to put away the creations of my beloved deceased children just so she could hang another dot tree picture. I kept hearing complaints though. I had to threaten to take away one of the easels which would force them to share with the other to get them to stop. It was then decided by nana and Abriel that they would rent a storage shed together so that they could still keep the artwork they wanted to save. I had no idea why nana wanted to hold on to so much. Was she really planning on taking it all back with her when we returned home?

Nine Left

Nana and I were absolutely dumbfounded. We had both expected with complete certainty that Gellrin would take after her father. We were not prepared in the slightest for her to take so much after nana. Andethon had nana's hair and eyes, but Gellrin had the whole package- the hair, eye, and ears. It was also fairly clear Gellrin inherited more of my facial structure than she did Marty's. I was pleased. Nana was beside herself. Andethon, who had always been her not-so-secret secret favorite grandchild, began to get a bit jealous. Nana could hardly be separated from her new adored grandbaby. I, on the other hand, was more than willing to let them be together so much. Of course I did my fair share, but it was also nice to have more time than I had anticipated to do more of the things I actually wanted to do.

The Choice

It was hard to ignore the pressure I felt. Each day I found myself being pulled more and more towards going against what ada wanted. I tried as best as I could to think of every reason and excuse I could use to throw away what my own heart was telling me, but it was one of those things that would not be gotten rid of. It didn't help that I began to see more and more of Marty. Riverview was such a small place. We had kept running into each other and had ultimately become friends. He came around to the house a few times a week. All the children loved having him play video games with them seeing as I still wasn't interested in those things. I had hoped that our growing friendship would change Marty's mind about doing certain activities with me, but it was all too easy for me to catch those glances of desire he sent my way. They didn't disgust me. I was facing a situation similar to the one I faced in Sunset Valley where I had to wait to have children after we were forced into the small house. Though my intention wasn't to have children, I had gone on and slept with other men just because I missed the presence of that kind of intimacy. I was feeling that same kind of frustration now.