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

[regshoe]

Better loved ye cannae be...

The final chapter.

I'm planning to do a sort of wrap-up post in a couple of days' time for any last thoughts, and to recommend some Flight of the Heron fic and some other books that may be of interest. I will say goodbye and thank you properly then!

Comments

[hyarrowen]

Angus is just... too much for me. A 15-year-old, trying to protect his chieftain with his own body. I'm glad Ewen didn't allow it, but it should never have come to that. And then having to witness that terrible crisis and his uncle being rejected by that chieftain. But perhaps he'd seen a bit more of Lachlan that the story tells and knows something of his character orpnhfr va Gur Qnex Zvyr ur'f Rjra'f evtug-unaq zna naq nccneragyl dhvgr pbagrag gb or fb.

[owl]

You reminded me that you can still enlist in the British Army at 16, although they won't put you in combat until you're 18. Ewen's cousin Ian Stewart, who appears briefly just before Culloden, was 16/17 at the time based on his age in The Dark Mile.

V jbaqre jul Oebfgre ergebnpgviryl znqr gung pnzrb gur fheivivat lbhatre oebgure, vafgrnq bs gur bar jub jnf xvyyrq. Vg'f fbeg bs fhecevfvat gung obgu fbaf (bs n snzvyl bs gjb) jbhyq or 'bhg', rfcrpvnyyl jura bar vf fgvyy fb lbhat. Vg jnf dhvgr pbzzba sbe fbzr fba be oebgure gb fgnl ng ubzr fb gur rfgngr jbhyqa'g or ybfg vs nyy znyr zrzoref jrer nggnvagrq.

[hyarrowen]

I've got a friend with a young grandson in the RAAF as an apprentice, though I don't know his exact age. And drummer boys were a thing in the Napoleonic Wars, which just seems wrong to me. 12 year olds? Leading troops into battle? D: But Angus' attempt at self-sacrifice just seems the wrong way round to me - it's Ewen who should be protecting his people's kids (and I'm glad to note that he did just that.)

I hadn't considered that the situation in your ROT'd para is odd, but it really is! A case of Homer nodding, perhaps?

[luzula]

Midshipmen were also very young, of course! And ensigns: I read that holding the colors, which they often did, was dangerous because the enemy aimed their guns there. Apparently at some 18th century battle (can't recall which) 14 ensigns were successively shot down holding the colors of a regiment...

[hyarrowen]

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about midshipmen! The squeakers, poor little things. I suppose it was necessary to get them onto a career path as early as possible. As for those ensigns... well, you can see why taking the colours into battle is no longer a thing. We've come on a little way since then - if only a little way.

[luzula]

Well, the colors did serve a purpose, didn't they? - to show everyone in the regiment where to go if they needed to re-form. But they could've just planted them in the ground.

[hyarrowen]

Much less inspiring, though! And the bagpipes served a similar though not identical purpose in Highland regiments at least until WW2. George MacDonald Fraser describes how the pipers swept everyone up in a charge in an advance on a village occupied by Japanese forces - it's in "The General Danced at Dawn" and it's got the same sort of feel to it. Tradition and pride and all that.

[owl]

The pipes seemed to be considered something of an offensive weapon by themselves (Keith would probably agree...). When the Colonel orders 'young Dand' aka GMF to take his platoon to guard a remote desert fort for a fortnight, he adds, 'And I'll send you with a piper.'

Keith would definitely sympathise with the junior officers of the battalion when the reveille for the battalion consists of the pipe band playing 'Hey Johnny Cope' right outside their windows at 6am....

[hyarrowen]

Being woken up by "Johnny Cope" at a distance of six feet is obviously the sort of experience that stays with you for life... I love those stories; they are of their time, but the family feel of the Regiment is all there, and the Colonel and the sergeants obviously did a wonderful job of keeping things running smoothly.

[regshoe]

Yeah, horrible, isn't it. And an element to consider in Keith's backstory and character too, possibly—he was evidently always intended for the Army, and has had his commission since he was eighteen.

Good point about the Stewarts! I don't know, although va Gur Qnex Zvyr V fhccbfr vg envfrf gur rzbgvbany fgnxrf n ovg gb unir Vna npghnyyl unir orra gurer jura Nyna jnf xvyyrq—ur'q unir snprq gubfr nyy-vzcbegnag Pnzcoryy zvyvgvn nf jryy.

[hyarrowen]

Oebfgre jnf arire bar gb ful njnl sebz envfvat gur zrbgvbany fgnxrf!

[regshoe]

Agh, yes. As for what happens to Lachlan, I assume and hope that Angus (who after all doesn't have much context for any of this) didn't really understand what was happening until afterwards.