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

So everyone else has already said lots and lots about the Ewen/Keith, but I remember reading this for the first time, and what struck me most wasn't the Ewen/Keith story at all, but the Ewen/Lachlan story, and Lachlan's death and the tragedy of his arc. It's all set up in the prologue with Lachlan's desperate, unreasoning love of Ewen and his protectiveness and his willingness to disregard Ewen's wishes to do what he sees is best for Ewen, and Ewen's relative carelessness about the depths of Lachlan's devotion - and here it all come to fulfillment, where Lachlan, believing Ewen dead and Keith his betrayer, finally achieves everything he wants and then some: first he stabs Keith and achieves revenge, and then he finds the Ewen is alive and right beside him. For about ten seconds, all Lachlan's dreams have come true. Then Ewen turns it all on its head, curses Lachlan and is willing to be recaptured or killed rather than leave the dying Keith. And then when Lachlan understands what he's done and goes to Ewen for forgiveness, Ewen can't - and so Lachlan kills himself.

And you have to wonder what Angus Og made of this - is he Lachlan's nephew or his younger brother, I can't remember? We never see any sign of his reaction other than wanting Ewen to escape, even as Lachlan goes to his death.

But they're odd parallels, Keith and Lachlan, both in different ways dying here because of their love for Ewen. In some ways, it's not Keith I want fix-it fic for, but Lachlan.

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...

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.

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!

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.

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.

I think my problem with Lachlan is that his love is so possessive. Ewen acknowledges that Lochiel has other people in his life - Archie for one - but Lachlan is positively jealous. He's just met Alison for the first time, too, surely? So he's already one step away from being Ewen's other half. And then along comes Captain Windham.

He seems less bothered about Alison, maybe because he doesn't see her as usurping HIS particular place? She's Ewen's soon-to-be wife, he (wants to be) Ewen's righthand man. They can coexist.

But yes, he's jealous as hell of Captain Windham! Keith just comes waltzing in and in a matter of days becomes more emotionally important to Ewen than Lachlan ever was, and Lachlan's clearly eating his heart out over it. And of course ultimately it leads him down this bitterly destructive vengeful path.

Re: Ewen and Lochiel, not only does Ewen acknowledge that Lochiel has other people in his life, but he himself also has other people; his loyalty to Lochiel is intense, but it doesn't have the fixed, obsessive quality of Lachlan's loyalty to Ewen. If Lochiel ever cursed Ewen the way Ewen cursed Lachlan (although it's hard to imagine Ewen doing something quite as curse-worthy!), I think the thought of Aunt Margaret, Alison, Keith, all the people who love him, would keep Ewen from running off in a suicidal frenzy like Lachlan.

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That is a great fic premise.

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...!

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.

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)

I might try that first chapter myself. As you know, the general premise is not my cuppa but I'd read E, K and L on the ship together.

To be clear: it's just E and L on the ship! Keith got left behind on the beach and Ewen thinks he died (though he didn't) and is grieving.

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.
:'(

About the prologue setting up the ending—my favourite thing is the foreshadowing of the bloody dirk ('"It is blood! ... No, I am wrong; it was only the early sun on the steel."' / 'The reddened dirk which a year ago he had been moved to fling into the loch...'). That broke my heart when I read the prologue for the second time and realised what was happening!

Ewen's definitely got a touch of the Sight too.

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.

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.

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?

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...

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.

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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.

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

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.