Aww thank you Hmm, I think you might be right about the light sources. I didn't really notice that until you mentioned it. I will take a couple of pics with the lights off and see if it makes a difference

Aww thanks, hon. ..I think what I did was zoomed in on Ann's face real close, just after I created her. That's one of my favorite pics, too. Everytime I look at it, I catch a different emotion from her. It's weird.

YES! I totally see what you mean! There is definatly something on Ann's mind in that picture. To me it's almost as if she's just woken up from one of her dreams about Kvatch, recoiling from the horror she experienced all over again... but that's just me

For me, my favourite pic of Jessika is the first one. The way she just looks at me, it's beautiful. Her eyes look so deep. Truly beautiful in my eyes

Don't worry about the cellphone pic. I have that too -_-. Many of us aren't given the opportunity to take high quality pictures. I myself can't do it from a console.

Oops! By 'next friday' I actually meant this friday!

Andrea, those are great shots of Jessika. She's beautiful, regal and best of all, a BLONDE!

Ha ha. Don't make me tell another "blonde Bosmer" joke!

Here it is! The next instalment of the story.

First of all I want to that you all on your kind and heartwarming comments on the introduction! I didn't ever thing it would garner such incredible Critique, so thank you!!

Anywho, on with Jessika's tale...






It was night time. The stars shone their almighty glow and the two moons stared at us with their enormity. Mya and I were laying on the grass, the gentle breeze sweeping over us with its silent song whistling through the trees.

We’d always had such shelter in our lives, such protection; it was easy to forget that we were actually rather small, miniscule, even. We really are nothing but the size of insects. But that was what made the world beautiful. The simple fact that we were so insignificant was amazing to me.

I turned my head and looked at my sister. As I looked at her gazing at the sky in awe I remembered that the world was still too big for her. There were things outside our secured lives before that I didn’t want her to see just yet. The world may be beautiful, but it’s also violent, cruel and unforgiving. She didn’t know how to take care of herself in a world like that.

I pondered that thought, frowning to myself - What had I done to her? So young and precious. She’s lost so much- too much. We may have both lost the same things, but it was different when it came to Mya. She was five when our parents died and I was 16. I had my chance to get to know them, laugh with them and love them. Mya didn’t… and she never will.

I stared at Mya for longer. A small smile formed on my lips as I saw her beam a toothy grin.

“WOW! A shooting star!” She cried with glee. She then closed her eyes tightly.

I looked where she was looking and laughed.

“Hon, that’s not a shooting star, that’s a firefly.”

“Oh…” She sighed, opening her eyes. “Does that mean my wish won’t come true?”

“Wish?” I wondered.

“Yeah… I guess I can tell you, it’s not going to come true anyway…” She said.

“What did you wish for?” I asked. I thought it might have been something silly like a new pony or an amazing birthday present.

“I wished that we could be together forever and ever. Never leave each others side. That means that when I get married and you’re old, you can come and live with me.”

I laughed at her remark and then smiled at her wish. I grabbed her hand and held it softly, looking back up at the sky. I closed my eyes, memories of the day swamping my thoughts and I struggled to drift off to sleep.

Then I felt Mya come closer to me as she snuggled in my arms as she began to fall asleep. I smiled, slowly kissed her head and then tried to drift off again, the memories suddenly starting to melt away.

*

“….mmr…. ummm….”

I could hear someone speaking as I tried to open my eyes. The words were indecipherable. I sat up and rubbed them, looking toward the direction of the sound as my eyes began to adjust to the sunlight.

“We’ve been here all night, sir.” I heard Mya speak.

“And why is that, little girl?” I heard a man reply.

I immediately shot up, my vision hastily returning to normal as I subtly charged over to my sister. She was sat on a bench just outside the Roxey Inn of which we slept on the grass opposite.

I approached Mya and the man, a Redguard and smiled at my sister.

“I didn’t hear you wake up?” I said to her, standing close and looking closely at the man. He looked harmless, but I couldn’t be sure.

“Pranal was just telling me about his days as an adventurer. Did you know that there are actually REAL trolls in some Ayleid ruins?” Mya informed me with such amazement.

“No, I didn’t.” I lied, smiling again.

“I’m sorry.” Pranal started before standing and offering his hand to a handshake, of which I obliged. “I came outside for some fresh air and your daughter was stroking that there horse and-“

“She’s my sister.” I corrected him, slightly insulted. He looked horrified at his mistake.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean… I mean you look great, not old! Oh no…um…”

I scowled playfully at him whilst Mya laughed.

“It’s fine,” I assured him. “Simple mistake to make.”- Not really.

“I’m so sorry.” He blushed with embarrassment. At least I assumed it was with embarrassment.

“Let’s start over. I’m Jessika, and this is my little sister, Mya.”

“Pranal. Good to meet you.” He nodded, before offering me a seat.

We all sat on the bench, although Mya sat on my lap.

“So you slept outside last night?”

“Um… yes. We did.”

“Jessika wanted to show me what it was like to sleep under the stars.” Mya stated.

That was another lie I had told her. The truth was that I had gone into the Roxey Inn and tried begging for some kind of deal on a room, but I was refused. I could have tried harder, but I wasn’t willing to beg any more than necessary.

Pranal looked at me with concern in his eyes. He then looked at Mya.

“Mya, why don’t you go and play with the horse? I think he misses you.”

Mya looked at Pranal, then me and then back at Pranal.

“Okay…” She sighed, before jumping off my lap and trotting off toward the horse. Once Mya was out of earshot, Pranal turned back to speak with me, edging closer.

“I think you need to go to the Imperial City.”

I looked at him with confusion at the random demand, “Why?”

“The waterfront district. It’s where all the homeless people go. It might provide a roof over yours and little Mya’s head.”

I took immediate offence to his offer, horrified that he would just assume that we were homeless. Although we were, that was besides the point.

Who did he think he was? Sitting there all high and mighty, passing judgement on other people who he has only just met. It wasn’t like his opinion mattered, anyway. I mean, he lived in a shabby little in for the love of Arkay!

“How dare you assume such things about me? You know nothing about me!” I scolded.

Pranal put in hands up in apology, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”

I stood up and headed toward Mya, who was open armed hugging the side of the horse. I grabbed her hand and led her back to the road.

“Jessika, where are we going?”

I ignored her. I didn’t mean to, but I was furious as Pranal’s comment and I didn’t want to take the chance of accidentally letting my anger out on Mya.

“Bye Pranal! I’ll see you soon!” Mya waved as I led her to the road.

*

We continued to walk along the road, crossing a surprisingly empty looking village as we walked. Empty, eh? If it’s abandoned maybe we can stay there the night? Maybe for a while…

I knocked the ridiculously idiotic thought out of my head almost immediately. It was one thing that I was homeless, but now I was willing to turn into a criminal? Breaking and entering wasn’t my thing.

No, I was going to find something and I was adamant about that. Looking at Mya as she walked by my side, singing, I realised what I had to do.

I thought that maybe I should have heeded Pranal’s words. If there is free accommodation in The Imperial City then I needed to think about making that my next stop.

However, once again, my pride wouldn’t let me. That annoying, vicious thing that refused to allow any kind of common sense sinks in due to the fact that it might make me appear weak and petty. But If I didn’t have my pride, what would I have? I could have easily given up by now, easily could have taken Shelley up on her offer and easily could have broken into the abandoned inn in the village for a place to stay. But that just wasn’t me.

I knew what I had to do. This wasn’t just my decision anymore and I needed to accept that.

I stopped. Mya continued walking a few paces ahead not realising. Once she did, she turned and walked over to me.

“Are you okay, Jessika? Did you step on something?”

I chuckled to myself.

“No,” I started before kneeling down to be at her level. “Look…”

I looked at her face. Her angelic features made it almost impossible for me to want to tell her the truth. Almost.

“There’s something I haven’t been completely honest with you about…” I began, still wondering if telling Mya the truth was the right thing to do.

This post has been edited by Andrea: Apr 21 2012, 12:56 AM

...wow....that's deep.



another wow...



heh heh heh heh...clever!

This post has been edited by Lady Saga: Apr 20 2012, 03:52 PM

A beautiful night under the stars.

What a masterful job you do hear of showing us poor Jessika thrust into the role of ‘mother’ – even as she resents Pranal assuming that to be the case. In her own way Jessika is struggling to grow up as well, and you portray that with a subtle grace in your style.

These are clearly two sisters who adore each other and, even though we are still getting to know them, I can already see why.

An abandoned village? Not too far a walk from the Roxey Inn? Why am I thinking Aleswell and that all may not be as it appears?


I hope you don’t mind if I mention some minor objective ‘nits’. The quality of your writing is so good that I assume you are striving for perfection -

‘Mya and I led on the grass,’
I think perhaps you meant ‘lay’?

‘Once Mya was out of earshot, Pranal back to speak with me, edging closer.’
There seems to be a word missing between Pranal and back – perhaps ‘turned’?

‘If there is free accommodation in the imperial city then I needed to think about making that my next stop.’
I would capitalize the name of a city – the way you did when Pranal first mentioned it. Your call of course whether you like 'the Imperial City' or the game's convention of 'The Imperial City'.

There were things outside our secured lives before that I didn’t want her to see just yet. The world may be beautiful, but it’s also violent, cruel and unforgiving. She didn’t know how to take care of herself in a world like that.

There lies the unfortunte truth. The world is a wilderness of horrors masked by beauty and splendor. This part intrigued me because one again her inexperience and dependence. Makes for an enjoyable character.

“Hon, that’s not a shooting star, that’s a firefly.”


“I wished that we could be together forever and ever. Never leave each others side. That means that when I get married and you’re old, you can come and live with me.”
Aww. That is touching! . Jessika's maternal role is truly playing out in this chapter, it seems. The more I think of it, the more I find this to be true in many cases where the mother dies and the older sister is left to take care of the younger sibling.

"Pranal was just telling me about his days as an adventurer. Did you know that there are actually REAL trolls in some Ayleid ruins?”

She's so naive! And later on, Jessika had her button pushed when she was mistaken for homeless! Ahhaha. Not the forgiving type, is she? And the abandoned village is...creepy! Very creepy! And you left us with a nice cliffhanger on Jessikas possible reveal! Good chapter. And I curse myself for not being as enlightened as Acadian when it comes to grammar. I never pay attention to the details unless a large word is spelled incorrectly. Acadian notices everything

Oh WOW! Thanks guys!

I was a little bit terrified of releasing this chapter so early after the introduction as i wanted to wait a while to give it more time to flourish, but Jessika was proud of what we had written so she urged me to release it I'm glad you liked it

I'm looking forward to the next chapter. The fact that you've noted the Waterfront is a good place for "homeless" hits home with Ann's story, too.

write! write! write! write! write!

Another wonderful addition to the story of Jessika and Mya. You do a wonderful job of juxtaposing Jess' pride against her growing desperation, and her need to shelter her daughter younger sister from what is often a cruel world. I am looking forward to the next installment.

Moar, I say. Moar.

This is such a powerful passage!



Loved how awkward the meeting with Pranal was, you knocked that out of the park!

Jessika's inner thoughts and emotions are so real throughout both of your chapters, I am loving this story!

... ... GAAAAH! A cliffhanger !!! LOVED this chapter, LOVE this story! MORE !!!

My fave is the top screen, Jessika is beautiful! Sorry I was so late getting to these, my internet was down for weeks!

Thank you everyone so much for your kind words! Each and every one of you have made me so happy by the simple action on giving Jessika's humble story minutes of your time! Acadian, thank you for the nits! Sometimes my computer doesn't recognise things that should be spell checked. Lady Saga, as always your comments are always very welcome






Mya looked at me, awaiting some form of revelation from me. I could feel the words wanting to leave my mouth, but they wouldn’t. Every time I tried to speak my mouth refused to open.

Mya looked at me with that expectant look still on her face. I knew it wasn’t fair to keep her waiting, guessing, running all these thought’s through her head about what it was that I had to tell her. Would it be serious, she’d wonder? Was she in trouble? She could have thought all these terrible things, but I knew that it was only me that could tell-

“I know what it is anyway; you don’t have to be so nervous.”

My jaw hit the ground. I certainly wasn’t expecting her to know anything, but I wasn’t surprised. Mya wasn’t an idiot. I was constantly undermining her in my head about what she knew about the realities of life, but this had just proved that-

“You’ve left my birthday present at home, haven’t you?” She asked.

Thank Arkay! She doesn’t know the truth.

But just because she didn’t know the truth, didn’t mean she wouldn’t have to be told. For some bizarre reason what she had said urged me more towards not telling her the truth. It was strange.

“Yes… yes I have,” I told her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” She said, smiling. “We can just get me another one later on!”

I laughed, looking at her. I stared for a moment. This little girl had such a graceful aura about her. I wasn’t willing to ruin that with the truth. Not just yet, anyway.

I grabbed her hand and hoisted myself up onto my feet. Suddenly, almost instantaneously, we heard the bleating of a sheep. It was silent, but it came from the direction of the abandoned village. I noticed a grim beam across Mya’s face as she looked at me. I knew what she wanted.

“Go on then!” I said before Mya ran toward the village, giggling. I slowly followed behind her. Mya had always loved sheep, any animal really; but sheep were defiantly her forte. She’d constantly remind me of her love for their fluffiness when we had our pet sheep Woolson –what were we thinking.

I approached Mya who was stood on the wooden fence of the sheep pen in the village. There was nothing inside. There was no one around the village at all. It was eerie. It was like even though the village was empty, it felt like we were being watched.

“Jessika, where are all the sheep?” Mya asked me.

A look of ponder grew on my face as I wondered the same question. But again, we heard another bleat from the non-existent sheep.

“Did you hear that!?” Mya asked me. “There is a sheep in there! It’s probably hiding! I’ll find it!”

Before I could stop her Mya leapt over the fence and ran to the back of the pen into the little huts at the back.

“Mya, come back here now!” I ordered with a hushed tone; which was odd considering there was no one around that my whisper would benefit.

“I can’t see it Jessika!” Mya said, ignoring my demand and looking around some more.

I looked behind me and to my sides in a panic, which again I had no idea why. I then looked at Mya. She was running around the pen, franticly looking for the source of the bleating.

“JESSIKA! WHERE IS THE- OW!”

Mya screamed, falling to the ground after colliding with something. But the strange thing was she didn’t actually collide with anything. Nothing I could see anyway. It was almost like someone had placed a glass wall in from of Mya at the wrong moment. I opened the gate and ran to Mya’s aid, kneeling beside her.

“Are you okay, hon?” I asked her. She nodded her head.

“Yeah, I’m fine. That was weird.” She said. I chuckled. She was a brave one my sister.

“Come on, we have to go.” I said, holding Mya’s hands and pulling her up.

“Okay, I wonder where-“

“HEY YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE!” Bellowed an unseen voice.

Without looking or even thinking Mya and I sprinted out of the pen, out of the village and down the road we were previously walking. We ran as far as Mya’s legs could carry her, laughing the whole way. It was exciting. The thrill of danger.

Once Mya needed to stop we sat by the roadside, resting on the grass against a large tree. It took us a little while to stop laughing. Once we did stop, Mya turned to me.

“Jessika…” She started.

“Hmm?” I looked at her. She looked serious, which made me rather worried. I don’t know why.

“Do you actually know where we are going?”

Her question baffled me. She obviously knew that I had no idea what our next move was, but whether or not she knew everything was the real question. The truth was I still had no idea where we were going. So that’s exactly what I told her.

“If I’m honest hon, no. I don’t,” I revealed, a small weight being lifted. “But I promise you we will find somewhere before the sun goes down, okay?”

Mya turned silent. Her eyes suggested she was angry about something.

“You’re always lying to me.” She stated.

I was too shocked for words. I had no idea whatsoever how to respond to that. So I decided to ask her what she meant, even though deep down I knew.

“Lying? About what?”

“You lied about the mudcrabs in the basement! And about why we didn't stay in the inn last night!”

Again, I was shocked. How was I supposed to react to her revelations? Instead of retaliate with more lies, I decided to let her continue.

“I’m not a kid anymore, Jessika. I know we’ve been thrown out of our house and that we have no money. I’ve seen all the letters that you’ve been burning!”

She stunned me. She knew everything. She knew everything and I was too warped into thinking she was an idiot to realise.

I didn’t argue. I didn’t lie. I didn’t try to untangle my way out of the confrontation. Instead I cried. I cried with shame about the fact the my little sister had known all along and not said anything. She was trying to protect me by acting as if she knew nothing – NO! no, don’t do that again. Don’t assume what she’s feeling. Talk to her about it.

“I’m sorry,” I said, collecting my tears. “I’m so sorry, Mya…”

I tried to say more but my sobs wouldn’t let me. But Mya knew this. I think she knew how sorry I was as she cradled her arms around me in an embrace. She wasn’t a child anymore, or rather she didn’t act like one. She comforted me. She knew more than I ever could realise.

After a moment she eased her embrace.

“Can I ask you a question?” She said.

“Of course you can, what is it?” I responded. A rare response which didn’t leave me with any form of fear.

“What did Pranal say to you earlier? You know, when you shoo-ed me away?”

I knew my response would come easily. There was no reason to lie or shelter her anymore, however much I hated that fact.

“He told me that there was a place for the homeless to go in The Imperial City.”

“And that made you angry?”

“No,” I corrected her. “The fact that he assumed we were homeless made me angry.”

A look of cheeky guilt appeared on Mya’s face. I knew exactly why.

“Did you tell him we were homeless?”

“…Yes.” She admitted, immediately covering her tracks afterward. “But I told him to promise me that he wouldn’t tell you that I said anything. But he did.”

I smiled, looked at her guilty little face for a moment before putting her in a playful headlock. She laughed as she tried to escape. She grabbed my hair, forcing me to release her before she jumped on my stomach. We wrestled for a while before an Imperial Soldier rode by on his horse, forcing us to stop. He stared at us as he rode past, a childish snigger on our lips. Once he was away from us Mya laid on her back with her head on my lap. I began to play with her hair.

“I’m really sorry I lied to you…” I said.

“I know you are. I understand. I just wish you didn’t”

“I know hon…”

She was so grown up, and I couldn’t see it. Or maybe I didn’t want to see it. But this made me realise something. Something I really should have figured out a while ago.

Pride isn’t always a good thing. And it was pride that stopped me from going straight to The Imperial City, where it would be safe, secure and sensible to go.

Well not anymore.

This post has been edited by Andrea: May 4 2012, 01:15 AM

What a wonderful understanding is growing between Jessika and Mya - changing over from being big sister to parent is a huge step, and Jessika just had her first lesson in it, lol. AWESOME Chapter !!!

A simply beautiful episode of great revelation and transition, told with great skill.

We open with Jessika viewing Mya as a helpless little girl – a protective love almost like mother for young daughter:
’I laughed, looking at her. I stared for a moment. This little girl had such a graceful aura about her. I wasn’t willing to ruin that with the truth. Not just yet, anyway.’

Then, through the revelations of how much Mya knows, Jessika allows her ‘baby’ sister to become a friend and even source of comfort. But it gets better still. . .

As each revealed the folly resulting from trying to ‘protect’ each other via their selfless actions, I was reminded of ‘The Gift of the Magi’. Each of the two so willing to sacrifice and try to provide for the perceived needs of the other, yet thwarted by a lack of communication. This whole episode was a joy of rich interaction to read.

I love the backdrop of Aleswell and its 'unseen' problems.

I must ask your indulgence again as I note a couple tiny nits:

'We ran as far ad {as} Mya’s legs could carry her, laughing the whole way. It was exciting. The trhill {thrill} of danger.'

'She knew everything and I was to {too} warped into thinking she was an idiot to realise.'