regshoe | Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapter 5 and Epilogue

Lrf, V nterr gung gur hfr bs gur cebcurpl gb tvir rzbgvbany fgehpgher naq frafr gb gur cybg vf n pragenyyl vzcbegnag cneg bs jung znxrf Syvtug bs gur Ureba fb tbbq naq fbzrguvat Oebfgre'f bgure obbxf qba'g qb arneyl fb jryy, naq gung'f bar ernfba jul gung ovg va Gur Qnex Zvyr qbrfa'g ernyyl jbex.

Yes, I think you're right. (Also, heh, that poem has occurred to me as one that'd make a perfect epigraph for this book/Broster's work in general).

I think if you really wanted to make something like that work, in fix-it fic or otherwise, you'd have to get really into the details of why Keith sees capturing Ewen as his duty and whether that's inevitable and all the messy political details of his allegiance and his status as a soldier, etc. etc., which could be terribly interesting but is not at all what's happening here.

—except, there are those hints which

tgarnsl pointed out last week, that Keith's identity and particularly the part of Keith that has learnt to care about Ewen can be disassociated from military duty, and perhaps that would be a truer and better thing, and perhaps that could be done convincingly and satisfyingly... and so the idea keeps picking at me, as I said. It's good fun...! :D

Ooh, that sounds intriguing!

Aww, you're right about the significance of Keith knowing Ewen won't want to leave Ardroy! I especially like the idea of Keith understanding how important his home is to Ewen, when Keith himself was and largely still is so unenthusiastic about the Highlands in general.

Ewen cursing Lachlan is really a bit much – but it was a murder, after all.

Yes—and it's his reaction in the moment, whereas (according to Gleam in the North) he is much more forgiving of Lachlan once he's had some time to think about it.

And while Ewen and Keith are talking – it’s all at cross-purposes. One is saying ‘go’ and the other is saying ‘stay’. But of course what they’re both saying is, ‘I care about you.’

;_;

Also :_: at the thought of Ewen alone on the journey to France...

This chapter is set during a beautiful evening. Not raining at all. It is, perhaps, a good night for Keith.

;__;

(lovely observations—you're making it worse so beautifully!)

About pictures—that would be lovely! I find Dreamwidth's own image hosting pretty useful for this sort of thing, if that would work?

I do think the way Broster structures the whole thing around the prophecy gives it shape, coherency and meaning in a way that—no matter what issues I may continue to have with the unexplored possibilities—works very, very well. I think when I first read this chapter I did not predict Keith's death exactly as it happens but I was pretty sure something was going to end in tragedy for someone, and it felt both creatively unexpected and elegantly inevitable.

more intellectual thoughts aside: KEITH NOOO.

I agree :D

I hope you enjoy Gleam in the North!

Edited 2022-01-16 13:11 (UTC)

Very good and interesting thoughts! Yes, I think I tend to disregard Lachlan because the Ewen/Keith story is what I care about most of all, but there is a lot there.

Good point about Angus too—he's Neil's son and Lachlan's nephew, so that must have been a bit awful for him, especially so soon after losing his father.

And I like the idea of a parallel between Keith and Lachlan both dying because of their love for Ewen. Oh, it is all so sad...

We're half in the Otherworld, Paradise, wherever, by the descriptions we get here. The ghostly bark, the fantastical peaks of Rum, and Keith's own thoughts of where he's been when Ewen lifts him. I gives a kind of ongoing sense of where he's going to be in a few minutes.

Oh, that's a lovely interpretation.

A question I had: why is Keith so convinced that Ewen is alive and skulking near Ardroy? Didn't his guard officially put it about that Ewen is dead?

Good point! But I think I have the solution:
Keith: He had been hard put to it to conceal his exultation when, just before setting out from Fort Augustus for Moidart, he had heard of Ewen’s escape and disappearance

Archie: I heard how you escaped as you were being carried to Fort William, and I did not believe that it was your body which was found some days after in one of the pools of Spean. (You do not know, perhaps, that that is what has been given out at Fort Augustus.)

So Keith set off before the body was found. But I do wonder who gave out that it was Ewen's body? Did someone actually believe that, or was it a face-saving lie by someone who wanted to stop searching?

Another way to slice it is that for an 18th century gentleman, personal honour was paramount, and more important than military duty. If Keith's honour would be better served by saving Ewen, which it might be, since Ewen let him go in Edinburgh, then he might let Ewen go...of course, Keith would suspect this line of thinking as probably being influenced by his emotions.

Then again, I can't pretend that I understand their sense of honour; it's really very alien to me. I keep coming back to this Duffy quote, which expresses both aspects: Having encountered so much that was bizarre or selfish about the cult of honour, it is impossible for us to withhold our admiration for the importance that the 18th century attached to the primacy of the individual conscience [in potentially refusing to follow orders].

I'm with you re Lachlan! There's so much devotion and love and loyalty in his arc, and he comes to such a tragic, heartbreaking end. He and Ewen were brothers since they were babes in arms! Ewen is the marrow of Lachlan's heart! Lachlan loves Ewen too well to do as he is told, when Ewen's life may be at risk!

...and as near as I can tell, Ewen doesn't love Lachlan with anything like the same intensity as Lachlan loves Ewen. Even before we get to the end, it's heartbreaking.

But they're odd parallels, Keith and Lachlan, both in different ways dying here because of their love for Ewen.

Exactly! This is precisely why I want Keith & Lachlan fic, where they have to team up to save Ewen from something. They're both so hot-headed and passionate, both so devoted to Ewen... They'd be so wonderfully disastrous together, and that's even putting aside whether they can survive each other long enough to pull it off.

Your profanity is justified!

Just re: the photos, you can actually upload photos on Dreamwidth!

Or a career-saving lie from the officer-in-charge of the guard, who didn't want to be on the hook for losing a prisoner, perhaps.

Well, if the news of finding Ewen's alleged body never caught up to him, that's a simple enough solution. (And requires a fic of him hearing of Ewen's death while he patrols the coast!)

Keith and Lachlan working together to save Ewen - OMG! I don't have a strong impulse towards fic for FotH, the book's one of my favourite books ever but I don't really feel that fic urge about it, but for Keith & Lachlan as two points of a triangle with Ewen, I could definitely be persuaded otherwise... thinking about it, that's how you save Keith from his fate at the end of the book, first you have to save Lachlan. Because that's the fundamental tragedy: he worships Ewen, but Ewen takes him for granted. I mean, there's a hierarchical chain of loyalty, Lachlan -> Ewen -> Lochiel, but we see Lochiel reciprocating that affection towards Ewen and looking after him in return in a way that we don't really see Ewen doing for Lachlan.

In other words, yes, I like this idea a lot!

Oh, good points. I think Lachlan is given a bit short shrift by the narrative possibly because he's of a lower social class? He's devoted, but it's his place to be so, because he's a loyal clansman and foster-brother. And then his devotion goes out of bounds, and is punished...

By the way, you might enjoy the first chapter of my fic The Greater Happiness. The fic as a whole isn't Lachlan-centric, but in the first chapter, the canon ending happens a little differently: Ewen thinks Keith died (in fact he didn't), but he and Lachlan both get on the ship and have to deal together with what Lachlan did. So it's kind of a fix-it for Lachlan. (Er, no obligation to read, obviously.)

Edited 2022-01-16 16:13 (UTC)

That is a great fic premise.

Ooh, I'd like to read that fic! I wonder if believing Ewen was dead would change his reaction to seeing him?

If Keith's honour would be better served by saving Ewen, which it might be, since Ewen let him go in Edinburgh, then he might let Ewen go...of course, Keith would suspect this line of thinking as probably being influenced by his emotions.

Heh, very true!

Yes, the 'cult of honour' as Duffy puts it is a fascinating cultural Thing—one that certainly makes for good stories and emotional dynamics, but I don't really understand it either.

Adding my agreement that Keith and Lachlan working together to save Ewen is a great fic idea, and I'd love to read it—however much of a disaster it ends up being...!

Oh God, if Keith heard that Ewen was dead and then saw him alive on the beach! That might be the only way to make the ending even more heart-wrenching than it is already...

I'm sure Lachlan's greatest dream in life is some kind of echo of that scene where Ewen jumps in front of a projectile to save Lochiel (even though it wasn't going to hit him, oh my God Ewen) and then Lochiel cradles an injured Ewen in his arms. Lachlan wishes he could get injured and then Ewen would cradle Lachlan and then INSTEAD Ewen's cradling Keith and cursing Lachlan and it's just TOO MUCH.

Yeah, Ewen pretty much takes Lachlan for granted, even finds him aggravating. It's understandable, given that Lachlan keeps doing things like "killing that heron against Ewen's express orders"; I'd find him aggravating too! But also kind of sad.

Yeah, using the prophecy as the structure is really effective. And hey, at least we have fanfiction to explore the unexplored. :D

I am so far! I'm about seven chapters in and especially enjoying getting to know some of the characters who were more on the side in The Flight of the Heron.

That's all really interesting! I hadn't considered how the prologue sets up the ending for Lachlan.

they're odd parallels, Keith and Lachlan, both in different ways dying here because of their love for Ewen.
:'(

Exactly! And it's so surprising that when Ewen is EXTRA in precisely this way, he still has no insight into the fact that Lachlan wants exactly the same thing from him as he wants from Lochiel.

Flight of the Heron read-along: Part V chapter 5 and Epilogue

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