Just a normal village girl?

This is a bit different than other portraits I've done of my characters. It started out as one, but then evolved not only into another, but into both of them. Initially this should be another portrait of Shanouna, just for practice. But though there was something in her that was undoubtably Shanni (short for Shanouna ), there was something that was not. What both of them have in common, is that they're both village girls, with pale, long hair, often worn in a braid (well, at that time). At a certain point both had blue/grey eyes, but while one stayed unchanged, the other changed into something of another nature, something unnatural that caused her to be chased away from her home village. The other, however, had a completely different nature. She was well-loved in her village, and though she was shy, she took care of those around her. She was not chased away from her village, but shared some of Shanouna's fate in that her own village was burnt to the ground (the night Shanouna was chased away, there had been a fire she was blamed for) and the people taken as slaves. She herself escaped and met Shanouna.

At least in the earlier drafts of my stories. The girl I am talking about is Ciuva, the character I took the name of, because while I had to remove her from the stories, I had problems letting her go. Perhaps because she is such a strong link between Shanouna and me - bearing resemblances to both of us. Also she is a symbol of what Shanouna's life in the village could have been like if she had been more "normal".

I must say I miss her.

I'm coming slightly more back to pencil drawing again, as I have been without my computer for a while, and have lost a bit of inspiration for CG-ing. Isn't it typical... And for your information, this is the last time I make such a dark background. I don't really feel it's good enough, as it's smudgy and sketchy and not the way I planned it, but nonetheless I feel the picture is finished beyond doubt, so I am not going to change it. And if I suddenly got a bit poetic and old-fashioned in my language, it's just because I've started writing again, plus that this picture makes me really, really sentimental. I just hope i can find a place for Ciuva in a later story, where she'll fit more in.