Flight of the Heron read-along: Part III chapters 1-2

[regshoe]

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.

Comments

[luzula]

I was left floundering in quite a big hole of bewildered ?????? by the time-and-pov skip of the coming chapter.

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.

[luzula]

Also re: Ewen and Keith's relationships to love, Ewen is actually even more of an orphan than Keith is! Both his parents died when he was young, but with the network of extended family and foster-family, he grows up well loved. While Keith, with his mother still alive, does not...

[sanguinity]

Rot13: Yeah. I have a lot of complicated feelings about Lachlan, howsoever I may laugh now.

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.

[regshoe]

Good thoughts about Ewen's relationship with Lachlan and the difficulties it presents. It is a strange social dynamic, where Ewen is Lachlan's social superior and commands his loyalty etc., but they were also raised as siblings, and so there's that personal aspect to their relationship. I wonder sometimes what Ewen's relationship with Neil is like—Neil is described as also very loyal, but we don't see the sort of intense obsession we get with Lachlan. How much of that is just who Lachlan is an an individual and his particular relationship with Ewen?

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

[hyarrowen]

No one has so far written the fic where Ewen ends up in a relationship with Keith, and Lachlan finds out. OMG, the trainwreck.

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!

[hyarrowen]

...HTML fail, sorry.

[luzula]

I can quite understand that!

[osprey_archer]

Oh my God, if Lachlan found out his reaction would LIGHT THE SKY ON FIRE. The RAGE. The jealousy! Not sexual jealousy, but platonic jealousy can be just as intense, especially given the sibling aspect of their relationship. Lachlan is Ewen's FOSTER BROTHER and he would DIE FOR HIM and instead Ewen is turning to this INCUBUS OF AN INTERLOPER who has clearly SEDUCED him into an improper relationship!!!! Lachlan must break it up. FOR EWEN'S OWN GOOD.

[luzula]

Ha, great summary! I'm almost afraid to consider how he might try to break it up. Clearly if Ewen is not open to persuasion, Lachlan needs to either discredit Keith in Ewen's eyes, or he needs to make sure something befalls Keith that Ewen can't trace back to Lachlan...ack, this could get dark.

[osprey_archer]

Yes, I think the difficulty with any story where Lachlan Finds Out is that Lachlan's attempts to break it up, possibly by killing Keith just like that heron, would take over the whole entire story.

Although... would Ewen be open to persuasion? Probably not from Lachlan, but if Lachlan went to, say, Lochiel...

[luzula]

Although... would Ewen be open to persuasion? Probably not from Lachlan, but if Lachlan went to, say, Lochiel...

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...

[osprey_archer]

A classic Broster conflict-of-loyalties plot!

[regshoe]

would Ewen be open to persuasion? Probably not from Lachlan, but if Lachlan went to, say, Lochiel...

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 luzula pointed out above. Hmmm...

[osprey_archer]

I'm sure Lochiel takes Lachlan's furious account with several grains of salt, but nonetheless he figures he had better have a long serious chat with Ewen to figure out exactly what IS going on... and is perhaps dismayed to discover just how far Ewen has gotten entangled with this English officer. And Ewen of course is DEEPLY distressed by Lochiel's dismay.

[luzula]

I hope someone writes this! : D I have enough writing projects already...