Chapter 17 - We Meet a Beggar

As we continue to move beyond the wedding, I'm beginning to feel some of the depth of the story that is obvious and necessary (since the story covers monumental ground over the course of the series). Between familial intrigue and clan politics lies the heart of wisdom, and Jamie appears to navigate these waters skillfully, as if he is a master diplomat.

Plover's nest with neatly arranged eggs

I really do enjoy what I am coming to call within my head the "extras" that Diana just plops down in the middle of the ongoing action. The little side-note regarding the behavior of the plovers is one of those "extras". I love learning these little tidbits of natural history, and then she takes that little bit of information, even about how all the "narrow ends of the eggs" should be toward the center of the nest, and turns it into a major back-story piece about Jamie's past and his mom. Amazing.

I did make myself laugh when I ran some of the narrative together that was supposed be separated. This is how I read it:

I thought of telling him that his own touch seared my skin and filled my veins with fire. But I was already alight and glowing like a brand. I closed my eyes and felt the kindling touch move to cheek and temple, ear and neck, and shuddered as his hands dropped to my waist and drew me close. Jamie seemed to have a definite idea where we were going.

Ha, I thought we were headed into another part of the story I would have to "skim", but then I kept reading:

At length he stopped at the foot of a huge rock, some twenty feet high, warty with lumps and jagged cracks. Tansy and eglantine had taken root in the cracks, and waved in precarious yellow flags against the stone. He took my hand and nodded at the rock face before us.

Okay, so the they really were going somewhere else, not just, um, somewhere.

Beggars and merchants carried news from town to town

Then we meet with Hugh Munro as Claire and Jamie are lunching on top of the cleft of rock. What a wonderful post-medieval character: a mute beggar with information; an early version of the internet! Surely this is one of the classic ways information was shared throughout history: travelers would move from town to town, picking up tidbits of news here and there, and disseminating it wherever they would roam, kind of like birds scattering seeds, or weed spores carried on the wind.


Munro's loyalty is captured in the story of his suffering at the hands of the "Musselmans" (the Muslims). Even though he suffered greatly, he is allowed to beg in the various parishes of the countryside due to his torturous experiences in the Middle East. Unfortunately, people of all various religions have been able to justify horrendous practices, all in the name of "truth" or their own version of God.

And then, of course, what would an Outlander chapter be without Jamie and Claire, yet again, getting after it.  Skim, skim, skim. Ladies, I gotta tell ya (once again), from my perspective, these sex interludes do not enhance the story at all. Yes, we know Jamie and Claire are in love. Yes, we know they yearn for each other dearly. Yes, we know I'm a prude. :)

But it's still a good story....