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"For Want of a Nail" is a sideways attempt at telling a story I've wanted to write for, oh, years now. It's set in Firsthome in the year 1124 FF (from the founding of Estara), which is, if I have done my math correctly, 1598 years before Ekanu is born. The basic idea is that as the Estarin Empire was expanding, the three great kingdoms of southern Estaria (or Shosinqué) made an alliance with each other. Ban Icammeron, the king of Ionniqué (the biggest of the three kingdoms) also made an alliance with some of the Toramen, a nomadic people of the northern and central Kaitaru desert.
Then it all went very wrong. Ammerdan Correntésse, Ban's best friend and lord martial, had an affair with his wife, Efraika el'Vikato; they were discovered and publicly denounced. The alliance with the Toramen fell apart, the alliance among the kingdoms was strained, and a year later, the great battle against the Estarin legions (at Cesvalla) was lost.
But I have never figured out how to write the full story, partly because it's a romance and I suck at romances, and partly because I've never been sure how to mitigate the glaring Arthurian overtones. The following ficlet is still not the full story. It's just a conversation between Efraika and Ammerdan on the first day of their exile.
( For Want of a Nail )
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On a completely different topic, I have been watching episodes of Heroes season 3 here on Hulu. It's odd to jump in without having seen seasons 1 and 2, and oh my gosh, it can be melodramatic and tacky and argh the pacing and the way the jump cuts make it impossible to place various storylines in proper temporal relation to each other! *tears hair out in frustration* But it's addictive nonetheless, and it's not above being knowingly silly, and sometimes it manages real pathos and tension and empathy for the characters and for humanity in general. So on balance, I think I like it. Mostly.
*checks to see if her internet connection is currently stable enough to stream "Dying of the Light"*
Then it all went very wrong. Ammerdan Correntésse, Ban's best friend and lord martial, had an affair with his wife, Efraika el'Vikato; they were discovered and publicly denounced. The alliance with the Toramen fell apart, the alliance among the kingdoms was strained, and a year later, the great battle against the Estarin legions (at Cesvalla) was lost.
But I have never figured out how to write the full story, partly because it's a romance and I suck at romances, and partly because I've never been sure how to mitigate the glaring Arthurian overtones. The following ficlet is still not the full story. It's just a conversation between Efraika and Ammerdan on the first day of their exile.
( For Want of a Nail )
---------------------------------------------
On a completely different topic, I have been watching episodes of Heroes season 3 here on Hulu. It's odd to jump in without having seen seasons 1 and 2, and oh my gosh, it can be melodramatic and tacky and argh the pacing and the way the jump cuts make it impossible to place various storylines in proper temporal relation to each other! *tears hair out in frustration* But it's addictive nonetheless, and it's not above being knowingly silly, and sometimes it manages real pathos and tension and empathy for the characters and for humanity in general. So on balance, I think I like it. Mostly.
*checks to see if her internet connection is currently stable enough to stream "Dying of the Light"*
