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Flight of the Heron read-along: Part III chapters 1-2
Charlie chose the place himsel', the graveyard of Culloden...
Well, it looks like Keith's prophecies about the fate of the Jacobites, at least, weren't too inaccurate...
Next week we'll read chapters 3 and 4 of part III.
Well, it looks like Keith's prophecies about the fate of the Jacobites, at least, weren't too inaccurate...
Next week we'll read chapters 3 and 4 of part III.
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I really liked the chapter with Alison. I love how loving and affectionate their relationship is, and for all Ewen's talk in the Prologue of carrying her off, he's ultra-careful to never let himself be intimidating or cruel with her, however desperately he wants them to be married while they still can. (I'm reminded of that description near the beginning of the Gleam in the North: Like many large, strong men, Ewen Cameron was extraordinarily gentle with creatures that were neither. It's something that I love about Ewen.) I'm glad that they had their two days together here, for courage against everything that's coming. And here is the second time a ring is given as a gift! Gurer ner n ahzore bs fznyy zbzragf guebhtubhg gur abiry jurer Xrvgu vf pnfg cnenyyry gb Nyvfba -- gur bofreingvba gung cebcurpvrf bsgra fubj bar'f fcbhfr, gur jnl Rjra guvaxf bs obgu gur fuvryvat naq uvf jrqqvat avtug nf ubyl, gur jnl vg vf Xrvgu jub raqf hc pneelvat arkg gb uvf urneg gur ybpx bs Rjra'f unve zrnag sbe Nyvfba -- naq V guvax guvf tvsg bs n evat nf n jrqqvat cerfrag vf cneg bs gung frevrf jurer Xrvgu'f fvtavsvpnapr vf yvxrarq gb Nyvfba'f.
As for Ewen almost blowing himself up for love of Lochiel, and Lochiel's grief over Ewen nearly having done so, and also the various MacLarens' similar devotion to Ewen caught in glimpses throughout these two chapters... Ewen is so unlike Keith in this respect: he is deeply embedded in a wide circle of people who love deeply, devotedly, and unreservedly. Loving is a thing that you do as a part of living, as natural and necessary as breathing air, and is deeply entangled with duty and honour and loyalty, inseparable from any of them. It is such a marked contrast to Keith's emotional isolation, and I think that contrast is fundamental to several things that are coming.
And I have to say, Lachlan's perversity is growing on me, this read-through. He does what he wants (but only out of devotion to Ewen, of course!), and whenever Ewen tries to rein him in, Lachlan immediately goes for extreme overreaction and threatens suicide, thereby ensuring that he can continue to do what he wants. It's 100% clear that Ewen hasn't the least idea how to manage him. Lrf, V'z jryy njner guvf jvyy nyy raq va grnef, ohg sbe gur zbzrag, uvf novyvgl gb pbzcyrgryl syhzzbk Rjra znxrf zr ynhtu.
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And yes on the contrast between Ewen's loving circle of friends and family versus Keith's emotional isolation! And that ties into the fact that Ewen is more open than Keith (generally speaking; as we saw last week, he can lie quite well when he needs to!): unlike Keith, he doesn't feel the need to be on guard all the time.
How DO you solve a problem like Lachlan? Clearly the problem is quite beyond poor Ewen!
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Although we do see him spoiling for a fight as well, both in Edinburgh and during the war! But of course that's within a context where it's honourable for him to use force.
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It's an interesting contrast to Keith, who is also an honorable gentleman, but hides it somewhat under a screen of irony and cynicism (although I don't think Keith is as cynical as he likes to think he is). Underneath they're alike, but they present differently on the outside and it makes them a bit of a puzzle to each other.
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That's a very insightful comment about the parallels between Keith and Alison—I've noticed some of those details, but I like your way of linking them together. And I think—hmm, going off on a tangent here, spoilers for The Wounded Name and "Mr Rowl" as well as FotH in the rot13:
Oebfgre unf ol abj jevggra guerr obbxf jvgu obgu na vqrnyvfrq urg pbhcyr jub trg n ebznagvp unccl raqvat naq shyy nhgubevny nccebiny, naq n fhogrkghny z/z eryngvbafuvc, naq fur frrzf njner guebhtubhg gung gurfr ner va pbasyvpg, ohg va gur svefg gjb obbxf fur qbrfa'g ernyyl erfbyir vg. Ynherag vf unccl sbe Nlzne naq Niblr, naq jvfgshyyl ohg jvyyvatyl fnpevsvprf uvf bja qrfverf juvyr gurl trg gurve unccl raqvat; Ureirl Oneevatgba fbeg bs vapbapyhfviryl snqrf njnl ng gur raq bs "Ze Ebjy" jvgubhg uvf eryngvbafuvc jvgu Enbhy ernyyl erfbyivat vagb nalguvat. V guvax va Syvtug bs gur Ureba Oebfgre svanyyl npxabjyrqtrf gur vapbzcngvovyvgl naq gnxrf vg gb vgf ybtvpny, gentvp pbapyhfvba va xvyyvat bss Xrvgu rira nf uvf npgvbaf ranoyr Rjra naq Nyvfba'f unccl raqvat. Naq V ernyyl yvxr gur vqrn gung fur qbrf gung ol znxvat Xrvgu na rkcyvpvg grkghny cnenyyry gb Nyvfba—cerfreivat fbzr bs gur fvtavsvpnapr nzvqfg gentrql, be fbzrguvat.
...but that's for my comment on the epilogue! :D
Ewen is so unlike Keith in this respect: he is deeply embedded in a wide circle of people who love deeply, devotedly, and unreservedly.
Very true, and I especially like your observation about love and honour—while honour and duty are important to both Keith and Ewen, for Ewen they go along with love while for Keith they replace them, or at least he tries to make them. That's a central part of what makes their relationship (as it is on the page, and for slash potential) so very interesting and good.
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My impression is that, through the first half of the twentieth century, it's not so much that people necessarily remembered all the details of the actual history, even if they learned them at school, so much as that they became entranced in childhood with the myth of the Jacobite Rebellion.
Tales of Bonnie Prince Charlie (like knights in shining armour, Mary Queen of Scots, and gallant Royalists vs wicked Roundheads) were mainstays in romantical children's historical fiction, at least in Britain. This means that, to contemporary readers, Culloden would indeed be a familiar battle, at least by name, along with the exciting story of the Prince's escape afterwards.
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I was assuming that history education of a century and more back used to put more emphasis on "dates of famous battles" than mine did -- and of course that a British education covers the history of the English and Scottish thrones, which an American education does not at all. But yes, if it was part of the cultural osmosis of a British childhood, then she wouldn't need to summarize it at all.
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I didn't know the history beforehand, either, but I can't remember being confused? I think I just assumed they lost the battle. But then, I was reading mostly for the Keith/Ewen and probably accepted not understanding everything. I do think that Broster, in 1925, assumed everyone would know the history.
Ewen is so unlike Keith in this respect: he is deeply embedded in a wide circle of people who love deeply, devotedly, and unreservedly. Loving is a thing that you do as a part of living, as natural and necessary as breathing air, and is deeply entangled with duty and honour and loyalty, inseparable from any of them.
I have definitely noticed this as well, but you put it beautifully. ♥
Re: Lachlan, it's worth noting that despite all his theatrical threats, ng gur raq, ur qbrfa'g whfg guerngra fhvpvqr ohg nofbyhgryl sbyybjf guebhtu ba vg. But yeah, he's a difficult character. He and Ewen are not just a laird and his gillie, they're like siblings as well, which complicates things. Sibling relationships can have so much baggage to them. I think I've tended to "smooth out" those difficulties a bit while writing fic, partly because I feel bad for him--he's the character whose loyalty gets the least reward, difficult though he is.
No one has so far written the fic where Ewen ends up in a relationship with Keith, and Lachlan finds out. OMG, the trainwreck. I think Lachlan would be incredibly upset and jealous, not least because Keith, unlike Alison, has no proper role in Ewen's life--Keith isn't part of the network of clan connections in which Ewen is embedded. Of course, it's difficult for Lachlan not to notice how important Keith is to Ewen anyway, but he doesn't have to fully face it, if he doesn't know the full extent of it.
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Lachlan finding out: OMG. I mean, obvs a lot will depend on where/how/when the divergence happens, but... Yeah, "upset and jealous" only begins to describe it. And that's an excellent observation about Keith having no place in the social structure of Ewen's life, and how threatening Lachlan might well find that.
Ewen, Keith, and love: Yes, it's very paradoxical! I have to say I was so happy Ewen and Masters got to meet in Gleam in the North: V qnerfnl gung gurl obgu sbhaq vg n pbzsbeg gb gurve tevrs gung fbzrbar ybirq Xrvgu qhevat gur bgure raq bs uvf yvsr.
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No one has so far written the fic where Ewen ends up in a relationship with Keith, and Lachlan finds out.
I had some vague thoughts in that direction a while ago, but never got to the point of figuring out exactly how it would happen. I very much like your thoughts here! Yes, of course, Keith not having a 'proper' role, and in a much broader sense than the general non-approval of relationships between men, would be very important to Lachlan. Ooh, I want to read this fic now. :D
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One of us at least has imagined it but chickened out of writing it. I don't think I can put such drama into words!
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Although... would Ewen be open to persuasion? Probably not from Lachlan, but if Lachlan went to, say, Lochiel...
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OMG. Ewen's loyalty to Lochiel pitted against his love for Keith when they're already in a relationship! Poor Ewen, how torn he would be...
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Aaargh, that is a good idea! I suppose Lochiel wouldn't necessarily agree with Lachlan entirely (I'm sure he'd be less dramatic about it), but he might have his own views on things—and that could be a really good way to bring in the contrast between Ewen's established network of loyalties, as represented by Lochiel, and Keith as an element not fitting into that, as
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