#jamie beaufort-stuart

[scotianostra]

On 9th April 1747 Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the leading Scottish Jacobite rebel was beheaded on Tower Green.

A longer post than normal from me as in my opinion Simon Fraser was one of the most interesting characters in Jacobite history. A man of contrary, he was known to be very kind to the lesser clansmen taking a paternal interest in their affairs. A quote regarding him says that….“Generally he had a bag of farthings for when he walked abroad the contents of which he distributed among any beggars whom he met. He would stop a man on the road; inquire how many children he had; offer him sound advice; and promise to redress his grievances if he had any”

In his own estimate, he took care his clansmen were ‘always well-clothed and well-armed, after the Highland fashion, and not to suffer them to wear low-country clothes’ Lovat was also a brute of a man forcing a young woman into marriage and raping her in an attempt to legitimise the union. Lovat has become more well know lately thanks to Outlander, where in their world he is grandfather to the main protagonist Jamie Fraser and played brilliantly by the fine Scottish actor Clive Russell. Back in the real world he has been in the news in the recent past, I shall cover that at the end of this post.

Born in 1667 into the ancient clan who fought with distinction in the Wars of Independence – Sir Simon Fraser was one of the co-victors of the Battle of Roslin and his sons were close friends of Robert the Bruce, Alexander marrying Bruce’s sister Mary – Simon was the second son of Thomas Fraser of Beaufort who was closely related to Lord Hugh Fraser of Lovat, chief of clan Fraser.

Simon became his father’s heir when his elder brother was killed fighting alongside Bonnie Dundee against the forces of King William III at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689. He was still nowhere near being clan chief, however, and took himself off to Aberdeen University from which he graduated in 1695. Lord Hugh Fraser, the 9th Lord Lovat, was a weak man who unexpectedly signed over the clan leadership to Simon’s father in 1696.

Lord John Murray, Earl of Tullibardine and the most powerful man in Scotland, disputed the succession and fell out spectacularly with Simon in Edinburgh. The young Fraser hothead duly went north to Castle Dounie to try and persuade Hugh’s widow Amelia to give him the hand of her daughter, also Amelia, in a dynastic marriage that would seal his succession. Tullibardine was having none of it and moved his niece to the Murray stronghold, Blair Castle, where he planned to marry her off to Alexander Fraser, heir to the Lordship of Saltoun.

Simon retaliated by kidnapping Alexander and frightening him away, and to make matters worse in October, 1697, he went back to Castle Dounie and forced the widow Amelia into a sham wedding, raping her to consummate the “marriage”.

Tullibardine ensured Simon and his father were declared outlaws and when old Thomas died in 1699, Simon was unable to legally claim his title as 11th Lord Lovat which later passed to one Alexander Mackenzie who had legally married the younger Amelia.

Simon Fraser somehow managed to persuade King William that he was no threat, despite having his own personal army, and he was pardoned in 1700, only to be declared an outlaw again the following year over the forced marriage and rape.

Simon went off to the court of the Stuarts in France where he devised the plans that were eventually used in the 1715 and 1745 uprisings. Long before the former, however, Simon was double dealing, giving Queen Anne information about the plans of James, the Old Pretender. He was found out and King Louis XIV clapped him in jail for three years.

Even after he was released he was prevented from travelling to Scotland and thus missed the Act of Union which he opposed.

Still desperate to get his Lovat title and the chieftainship of his clan back, Simon sided with the forces of the new King, George I, during the ’15, and was given back his title as a reward, with Alexander Mackenzie imprisoned for being a Jacobite. The two men would fight in the courts for the next 15 years as to who was entitled to the income of the estate. Simon eventually won and spent his time building up the Fraser estates and wealth, even taking command of one of the Independent Companies of Highland soldiers established by the Hanoverian regime – the Fraser Highlanders.

As I said early Fraser was a man of contrary and to me was very like “Bobbing John” The Earl of Mar another Jacobite who a tendency to shift back and forth from faction to faction, no sooner had Fraser built up this “Hanoverian” army that he started openly campaigning for the restoration of the Stuarts. The Government responded by cancelling his military role.

When Bonnie Prince Charles landed in Scotland he was still playing games.

He allowed his sons to fight for the Stuarts, but stayed at home himself “loudly lamenting the wilful disobedience of children,” as Sarah Fraser has put it. Lovat did meet Charles, however, and expressed his anger at the lack of “siller” which he knew would be necessary for a successful campaign. They met again after Culloden, at which Clan Fraser fought bravely and suffered many casualties, and Lovat advised the prince to get away and re-form his forces. Charles fled through the heather, as we know, and made it to France while anyone associated with the Bonnie Prince was hunted down. The Duke of Cumberland’s troops were not taking any more games from Fraser and burned Castle Dounie.

Lovat managed to make it to Loch Morar but was captured there while hiding in a hollow tree. Although approaching his 80th birthday, The Fox was taken south to London.

He pled not guilty but his trial was a formality and he must have know his fate would be the same as previous nobles, the Earls of Kilmarnock, Balmerino and Derwentwater who were executed for treason the previous year.

At his trial, ever the Fox he insisted strongly upon his affection for the reigning family. Such were the characteristics of Simon Fraser, but of course he was found guilty the sentence, hanging, drawing and quartering was commuted later to a mere beheading by the King.

In a way, Lovat had the last laugh. Newspapers and pamphlets of the time recorded that as he was led out to the scaffold on Thursday, April 9, 1947, a wooden stand that had been erected near the Tower to seat crowds eager to see the execution collapsed sending hundreds plunging down. At least nine people died and dozens were injured, which amused Lovat – the phrase ‘laughing your head off’ is said to date from that event.

According to a woodcut print made on that fateful day, Lovat “with some composure laid his head on the block which the executioner took off with a single blow.”

As I mentioned at the top Lovat has been in the news quite recently. Simon had requested burial at the family mausoleum at Wardlaw near Inverness and the government initially agreed but changed its mind thinking his body could become a rallying point for further trouble. He was therefore buried in the floor of the chapel within the Tower of London, St. Peter ad Vincula. The chapel was refurbished in the 19th century and the floor was relaid. One of the coffins uncovered during the works had the nameplate of ‘Lord Lovat’. The names of those found are now recorded on a plaque on the wall of the chapel.

Fraser folklore, and written in several books says that his body was spirited away from London, the stories even go so far as to name the boat ‘The Pledger’ that sailed north to The Beauly Firth, where he was taken to the family mausoleum, there is even a plaque in the crypt that reads “In this coffin are laid the remains of Simon Lord Fraser of Lovat who, after twenty years in His own Land and abroad with the greatest distinction and renown, at the risk of his own life, restored and preserved his race, clan and household from the tyranny of the Athol and the treacherous plotting of the Mackenzies of Tarbat. To preserve an ancient house is not the greatest credit. Nor is there any honour for the enemy who despoiled it. Although that enemy was strong in his plotting and unrelenting warfare, yet Simon who was also skillful and cunning defeated him in war.“

In 2018 the headless skeleton inside the coffin was exhumed to be examined by experts from the University of Dundee in January this year they announced that the bones in the coffin did not belong to Simon Fraser, but to a young woman. So it looks like his body did end up rotting in The Tower’s Chapel, although the Frasers will still tell you otherwise.

Scottish actor Clive Russell played The Old Fox in the television adaptation off Outlander.

[codenameveritydaily]

Characters: Jamie Beaufort-Stuart Julie Beaufort-Stuart Maddie Brodatt Anna Engel Rose Justice Ellen McEwen

Books: Code Name Verity The Enigma Game The Pearl Thief Rose Under Fire

Post Types: Text Image Art

[elliepassmore]

The Enigma Game Review

4.5/4 stars Recommended for people who like: action, WWII, historical fiction, multiple POVs, Code Name Verity

The Pearl Thief review Code Name Verity review

TW: period-typical racism, hinted homophobia (minor) I contacted Wein about a year or two ago asking if she'd ever write something about Jamie before he begins his Moon Squadron work, so I was delighted when this book hit Goodreads and itching to figure out what mischief Jamie had been up to. Ellen was another welcome face, as I had wondered what War Work she might do after I read Pearl Thief. Louisa was more of a wildcard and I was curious how she'd fit into things being only 15 and too young to enlist, but her work as a caretaker for Jane fit perfectly with the events of the book that her involvement made sense. When the book opens Louisa is newly orphaned and desperate to help the War Effort. Coming from a somewhat musical family myself, I can appreciate how attuned she is to it and the connections it helps her make throughout the book. And I love the detail that music helps calm her, it's one of those little things that makes characters more real. Though her actual job is a caretaker to Jane, Louisa has a brave streak a mile wide and gets involved in Ellen's hostage situation, not only keeping Ellen calm, but also calming the German pilot by showing a similar taste in music, eventually leading to the pilot informing her of the location of his Enigma machine. There are times in the book where she gets scared, mostly when there are nearby bombings or the time she's flying with Jamie's crew and a Messerschmidt pounces on them, but the notable thing about her fear is that she's able to work through it. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be historically accurate without period-typical racism, and so we do see Louisa facing some of that, sometimes more subtle than others, but it does occur multiple times throughout the book. Ellen is another narrating character in this book and it's jolly good to see her opinions about things, both about the war, the other characters, and the life of a Traveller in Britain. Ellen is a rather fierce character and is eager to get going with the Enigma once it's found out. She's working in Auxiliary Transport Services (ATS), meaning she gets to shuttle people from the aerodrome to wherever they need to go, and occasionally picks up stray passengers, like Jane and Louisa, if they're on her way. She's also big heart and is free with showing it, worrying over Jamie and some of the other pilots, enjoying time with Jane, and making fast friends with Louisa. Like with Louisa, Ellen also faces some prejudice, though hers is due to being a Traveller, which she takes great pains to hide in order to start fresh. Jane I suppose is technically a side-character, but she plays such an important role that I decided to include here here with the main characters, though she never does get a POV. Despite having a poorly-healed broken hip and needing canes to get around, Jane is an extremely spirited elderly woman who is more than happy to get involved translating German for POWs and the Enigma machine. She's also a huge troublemaker and willing to talk back and sass and get in on the action, even when it involves fires, guns, or exploding bombs (she's actually a bit what I imagine an old!Julie would be like). Jane bonds rather instantly with Louisa over their shared love of music and the two of them come into the habit of performing duets on the piano. Being German, Jane also shares some of Ellen's fear of being discovered, though it hardly comes up in the book. Poor Jane exhibits early signs of Alzheimer's, though they either don't have a word for it or don't recognize the symptoms, because it's largely written off as Jane being a bit of an escape artist or the assumption that she's trying to commit suicide (the people at That Place are the ones to suggest that, and there are times when it seems true, but other times where her actions do come across as just early dementia). And finally Jamie, whose full name we finally discover. He lives up to his characterization in the other three books, encouraging those around him, willing to square up to bullies, and mostly being a rather relaxed person. He's also a complete and utter rule breaker and it's a blooming miracle he didn't end up court-martialed before the events of CNV or Rose Under Fire. While Louisa knows she needs to turn the Enigma in to someone, and Ellen knows that Jamie can handle things w/ the Enigma, and though both of them want to keep a hold on it, it's really Jamie who suggests they keep it as their own private decoding device, using it to tally up wins for Squadron 648, his crew of Bristol Blenheims that's been seeing a bad streak and is rapidly losing pilots. He's still a bit of a loon, and we see that tendency of his to let civilians into operational missions, but we also get to see more of his older brother tendencies, wanting to protect Julie and Louisa even knowing it could blow back on him. Nancy Campbell, Jane's niece and the woman who hired Louisa, is one of the main side-characters and is actually rather rude to Louisa and Jane, but has a soft-sport for the pilots. Despite her tough outer layer, Nan really does have a big heart and is devastated whenever one or more of the pilots don't make it safely back. Phyllis is another side-character, though she works in WAAF like Ellen, only in debriefing. She's a steadying influence and seems to move with Squadron 648, growing as close to them as Nan, though with a far nicer exterior and a rather prim demeanor. And, of course, lovely Julie shows up about two-thirds into the book and my god it's wonderful to see her again. There are a few bits where she seemed unsure of her Intelligence role, which we don't really get to see in CNV, but I thought it was a nice touch for Wein to show us Julie isn't 100% confident all the time, and in a different way than that was showed in Pearl Thief. I really enjoyed the plot of the book, with the balance of keeping the Enigma machine hidden and still using the data received from it. There's a good bit of flying in this one, which is one of my favorite parts of CNV and Rose Under Fire and was unfortunately missing from Pearl Thief, though I suppose it wouldn't've made sense there. After reading this I'm desperate to know what Ellen and Louisa do for the rest of the war. Jamie, we know, goes onto the Moon Squadron per Maddi's recommendation, but since CNV tells a rather limited version of events from 1940-43, and Rose doesn't know Julie, or Jamie really, we don't get a ton of breadcrumbs about the girls. With any luck, Wein's next book will have something to do with one or both of them...or maybe we'll get an eventual reunion after the war. And not anything about the book itself but buckets of blood it took me forever to get my hands on this. It was published in the UK mid-May but doesn't get published in the US till November (thank you Waterstones), and despite the USPS claiming international mail isn't being put through quarantine, it definitely is and I was not notified, and only got the book last week after waiting near over a month for it.

[dontcallmeairconditioner]

I saw Dunkirk the other day and I immediately thought “This is exactly how I pictured Jamie Beaufort-Stuart.” AND he is Scottish on top of it all!

[viscountess-aberowen]

The Honourable Beaufort-Stuart and Lady Julia

[napo-con-fritas]

@drjackandmissjo grazie mille for the tag <3

Tell me your favourite ship from 10 fandoms you are in

Harry Potter: Fred x Hermione

Riordanverse: Carter x Zia

MCU: Steve x Peggy

Star Wars: Obi-Wan x Satine

The Century Trilogy: Ethel x Fitz

Veritiverse: Jamie x Maddie

Derry Girls: James x Orla

LotR/Hobbit: Thorin x Bilbo

Broadway musicals: Anastasia x Dmitry

How to Train Your Dragon: Hiccup x Astrid

Tagging: @heyimboredtalktome @crushing-on-nico-di-angelo @malloryiswlw @spiderintheathenacabin @solace-seekers @makiruz @unionofdreamers and anybody else who wants to do it!!

[tagthescullion]

Thank you @satans-poptarts for tagging me on this post (can’t reblog because my phone’s shit, sorry)

10 fandoms, 10 characters, 10 tags

Tagging (if you want): @ailec-12 @paddooo @where-nothing-is-tagged @red-lint @allthefandomss @hufflepuffclassicsnerd @novemberwasgrey @more-like-reyna @tylersflowerchild @solace-seekers anyone else is also welcome!!

Harry Potter: Minerva McGonagall

Riordanverse: Carter Kane

Star Wars: Obi Wan Kenobi

LotR/the Hobbit: Kili

Century Trilogy: Daisy Peshkov

Narnia: Edmund Pevensie

Code Name Verity: Jamie Beaufort-Stuart

All the Light We Cannot See: Werner Pfennig

Derry Girls: Orla McCool

Pride & Prejudice: Mr Darcy

[wasithard]

elizabeth wein personally owes me emotional compensation every time she writes a single word let alone a book

[jollyreviewcreation]

personal masterlist of every right hand man-boy, or general side character who is queercoded and would make for a great couple if the writer wasn't 1) a coward 2) a bitch

merlin, right hand to arthur, from bbc merlin

newt, with thomas, from the maze runner

simon, to alex, from escape from furnace

lance, right hand to keith, from voltron legendary defender

julien, with jean, from au revoir les enfants

david silvermont, navigator for jamie beaufort-stuart, from the enigma game

tony, cofounder of the jets with riff, from west side story

[earnmysong]

Top 5 underrated ships (any fandom)?

1. melinda gordon/jim clancy | ghost whisperer

okay, listen. i didn’t mean to get hooked on this show but - somehow - i totally did? they were always married and he always knew about her abilities and - sure - he died and came back in someone else’s body. unlike with the trainwreck that was wonder woman 1984 - I WAS SUPER INVESTED because their relationship had been so normal and natural and, frankly, delightful up until that point - the undead notwithstanding, of course! i’ll never listen to the man who can’t be moved the same way again!

2. amy march/theodore laurence | little women

okay, here’s the thing! after the 2019 iteration - as pictured above - a lottttttt more people are on board concerning these lovelies! which is fabulous, but i’ve loved them since i was six and have neverrrrrrr been sorry.

3. maggie murdock/jamie randall | love and other drugs (movie; 2010)

i wasn’t expecting this movie to get as heavy and personally affecting as it did. but, good god, i weep unabashedly everyyyyy time i watch! anne hathaway has parkinson’s and doesn’t want to saddle her hot playboy hook-up with a lifelong issue. BUT he doesn’t care, and i die inside! underrated because maybe three other people have heard of this film ahahaha.

4. maddie brodatt/jamie beaufort-stuart | code name verity (novel; 2012)

this is one of my most favorite books ever! freaking exquisite and gut-wrenching and utterly memorable! this one is underrated because, while they become an item in the novel and i adore that they do, most readers go for the f/f angle available to them - which is great as well!

5. lily james/chris evans | (hollywood? i guess?; july 2020)

yes, yes, i know this essentially never happened, okay? but for the week or so i thought they might go somewhere? i was ecstatically losing my mind!

*all images are borrowed/not mine*

if you too would like to see me struggle to narrow down my seemingly endless affinities, please leave me a starter here!

[scotianostra]

On 9th April 1747 Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the leading Scottish Jacobite rebel was beheaded on Tower Green.

A longer post than normal from me as in my opinion Simon Fraser was one of the most interesting characters in Jacobite history. A man of contrary, he was known to be very kind to the lesser clansmen taking a paternal interest in their affairs. A quote regarding him says that….“Generally he had a bag of farthings for when he walked abroad the contents of which he distributed among any beggars whom he met. He would stop a man on the road; inquire how many children he had; offer him sound advice; and promise to redress his grievances if he had any” 

In his own estimate, he took care his clansmen were ‘always well-clothed and well-armed, after the Highland fashion, and not to suffer them to wear low-country clothes’ Lovat was also a brute of a man forcing a young woman into marriage and raping her in an attempt to legitimise the union. Lovat has become more well know lately thanks to Outlander, where in their world he is grandfather to the main protagonist Jamie Fraser and played brilliantly by the fine Scottish actor Clive Russell. Back in the real world he has been in the news in the recent past, I shall cover that at the end of this post.

Born in 1667 into the ancient clan who fought with distinction in the Wars of Independence – Sir Simon Fraser was one of the co-victors of the Battle of Roslin and his sons were close friends of Robert the Bruce, Alexander marrying Bruce’s sister Mary – Simon was the second son of Thomas Fraser of Beaufort who was closely related to Lord Hugh Fraser of Lovat, chief of clan Fraser.

Simon became his father’s heir when his elder brother was killed fighting alongside Bonnie Dundee against the forces of King William III at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689. He was still nowhere near being clan chief, however, and took himself off to Aberdeen University from which he graduated in 1695. Lord Hugh Fraser, the 9th Lord Lovat, was a weak man who unexpectedly signed over the clan leadership to Simon’s father in 1696.

Lord John Murray, Earl of Tullibardine and the most powerful man in Scotland, disputed the succession and fell out spectacularly with Simon in Edinburgh. The young Fraser hothead duly went north to Castle Dounie to try and persuade Hugh’s widow Amelia to give him the hand of her daughter, also Amelia, in a dynastic marriage that would seal his succession. Tullibardine was having none of it and moved his niece to the Murray stronghold, Blair Castle, where he planned to marry her off to Alexander Fraser, heir to the Lordship of Saltoun.

Simon retaliated by kidnapping Alexander and frightening him away, and to make matters worse in October, 1697, he went back to Castle Dounie and forced the widow Amelia into a sham wedding, raping her to consummate the “marriage”.

Tullibardine ensured Simon and his father were declared outlaws and when old Thomas died in 1699, Simon was unable to legally claim his title as 11th Lord Lovat which later passed to one Alexander Mackenzie who had legally married the younger Amelia.

Simon Fraser somehow managed to persuade King William that he was no threat, despite having his own personal army, and he was pardoned in 1700, only to be declared an outlaw again the following year over the forced marriage and rape.

Simon went off to the court of the Stuarts in France where he devised the plans that were eventually used in the 1715 and 1745 uprisings. Long before the former, however, Simon was double dealing, giving Queen Anne information about the plans of James, the Old Pretender. He was found out and King Louis XIV clapped him in jail for three years.

Even after he was released he was prevented from travelling to Scotland and thus missed the Act of Union which he opposed.

Still desperate to get his Lovat title and the chieftainship of his clan back, Simon sided with the forces of the new King, George I, during the ’15, and was given back his title as a reward, with Alexander Mackenzie imprisoned for being a Jacobite. The two men would fight in the courts for the next 15 years as to who was entitled to the income of the estate. Simon eventually won and spent his time building up the Fraser estates and wealth, even taking command of one of the Independent Companies of Highland soldiers established by the Hanoverian regime – the Fraser Highlanders.

As I said early Fraser was a man of contrary and to me was very like “Bobbing John” The Earl of Mar another Jacobite who a tendency to shift back and forth from faction to faction, no sooner had Fraser built up this “Hanoverian” army that he started openly campaigning for the restoration of the Stuarts. The Government responded by cancelling his military role.

When Bonnie Prince Charles landed in Scotland he was still playing games.

He allowed his sons to fight for the Stuarts, but stayed at home himself “loudly lamenting the wilful disobedience of children,” as Sarah Fraser has put it. Lovat did meet Charles, however, and expressed his anger at the lack of “siller” which he knew would be necessary for a successful campaign. They met again after Culloden, at which Clan Fraser fought bravely and suffered many casualties, and Lovat advised the prince to get away and re-form his forces. Charles fled through the heather, as we know, and made it to France while anyone associated with the Bonnie Prince was hunted down. The Duke of Cumberland’s troops were not taking any more games from Fraser and burned Castle Dounie.

Lovat managed to make it to Loch Morar but was captured there while hiding in a hollow tree. Although approaching his 80th birthday, The Fox was taken south to London.

He pled not guilty but his trial was a formality and he must have know his fate would be the same as previous nobles, the Earls of Kilmarnock, Balmerino and Derwentwater who were executed for treason the previous year.

At his trial, ever the Fox he insisted strongly upon his affection for the reigning family. Such were the characteristics of Simon Fraser, but of course he was found guilty the sentence, hanging, drawing and quartering was commuted later to a mere beheading by the King.

In a way, Lovat had the last laugh. Newspapers and pamphlets of the time recorded that as he was led out to the scaffold on Thursday, April 9, 1947, a wooden stand that had been erected near the Tower to seat crowds eager to see the execution collapsed sending hundreds plunging down. At least nine people died and dozens were injured, which amused Lovat – the phrase ‘laughing your head off’ is said to date from that event.

According to a woodcut print made on that fateful day, Lovat “with some composure laid his head on the block which the executioner took off with a single blow.”

As I mentioned at the top Lovat has been in the news quite recently. Simon had requested burial at the family mausoleum at Wardlaw near Inverness and the government initially agreed but changed its mind thinking his body could become a rallying point for further trouble. He was therefore buried in the floor of the chapel within the Tower of London, St. Peter ad Vincula. The chapel was refurbished in the 19th century and the floor was relaid. One of the coffins uncovered during the works had the nameplate of ‘Lord Lovat’. The names of those found are now recorded on a plaque on the wall of the chapel.

Fraser folklore, and written in several books says that his body was spirited away from London, the stories even go so far as to name the boat ‘The Pledger’ that sailed north to The Beauly Firth, where he was taken to the family mausoleum, there is even a plaque in the crypt that reads “In this coffin are laid the remains of Simon Lord Fraser of Lovat who, after twenty years in His own Land and abroad with the greatest distinction and renown, at the risk of his own life, restored and preserved his race, clan and household from the tyranny of the Athol and the treacherous plotting of the Mackenzies of Tarbat. To preserve an ancient house is not the greatest credit. Nor is there any honour for the enemy who despoiled it. Although that enemy was strong in his plotting and unrelenting warfare, yet Simon who was also skillful and cunning defeated him in war.“

In 2018 the headless skeleton inside the coffin was exhumed to be examined by experts from the University of Dundee in January this year they announced that the bones in the coffin did not belong to Simon Fraser, but to a young woman. So it looks like his body did end up rotting in The Tower’s Chapel, although the Frasers will still tell you otherwise. 

Scottish actor Clive Russell played The Old Fox in the television adaptation off Outlander. 

[fictionkinfessions]

(Please post on the 22nd if you can!)

I find it incredibly funny that I share a birthday in this life with you, Rose Justice. Thanks for looking after Maddie and Jamie for me, and even though we never met in that life, I hope we might be able to meet in this one some day. Happy birthday to both of us 🥂

-Julie Beaufort-Stuart

#🥀🛩

[estellaarts]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Code Name Verity Series - Elizabeth Wein Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death Relationships: Julie Beaufort-Stuart/Maddie Brodatt, Jamie Beaufort-Stuart/Maddie Brodatt Characters: Julie Beaufort-Stuart, Jamie Beaufort-Stuart, Maddie Brodatt, Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Angst, Hadestown References Summary:

Maddie through the years, after the war.

[viscountess-aberowen]

Maddie and Jamie probably tried to spend the anniversaries of Ormaie together

[ospreyarcher]

Whumptober: Nightmare

This is a fic for Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity, and as such it has spoilers for the whole book, so I’m putting it behind a cut.

***

The dream is not a nightmare, exactly. 

Maddie has it every year or so. In the dream, she and Julie are walking among the damask roses in the garden in Ormaie. Julie is not a ghost, nor yet has she been saved from the prisoner transport; instead, Maddie always has the sense that the garden is simply somewhere that they like to walk, that they meet and walk there often, and the roses are always in bloom.

They walk side by side, not touching, and Maddie pours out all her news, although when she wakes she can never remember what she said. And then it occurs to her that Julie is not talking, and then Maddie says, “How are you?” 

And Julie turns to her - and smiles - and then Maddie wakes. 

It doesn’t frighten her, this dream. But it makes her so sad that the feeling seems to sit on her chest like a weight.

But one night, the dream is different. The roses are the same, the garden, the two of them walking side by side, and the sunlight shining on Julie’s hair. But this time, when Julie turns and smiles at her, it’s not Maddie’s friend Julie Beaufort-Stuart - but Maddie’s daughter, Julie’s namesake, whom they call Jules. 

The only reason Maddie doesn’t scream when she wakes is because she can’t catch her breath. She slips out of bed, out of the bedroom, down the stairs to the phone, and it is only when she has put the call through and the phone is ringing that it occurs to her that perhaps she shouldn’t call Jules at 12:32 am. 

But someone picks up on the second ring. “‘Allo?” a cheery girl’s voice says, and Maddie can hear clinking glasses and laughter and the Beatles on the record player. 

“I must have called the wrong number,” Maddie says. “I meant to reach Julie Beaufort-Stuart…”

“Oi! Jules!” the cheery girl calls; and then there’s a rattle as the phone is handed over, and the squeak of a hinge - Maddie has visited Jules’ flat, and knows that she’s shutting herself in the coat closet - and then things are much quieter.

“Is everything all right, Mum?” Jules asks. 

“Oh, yes. I called because… This is going to sound mad. I had a dream and… well, I felt I had to call you.” 

“Probably my ghastly boredom reached all the way to Scotland,” Jules jokes. “They’re all Mona’s friends out there.” Mona is Jules’ flatmate. “Very clever and so forth. You’d think clever people wouldn’t be boring, wouldn’t you?” 

“Yes,” Maddie agrees, although honestly she’s having trouble following the conversation. She’s just so very glad to hear Jules’ voice, cheerful and high-spirited - and it strikes her for the first time that Jules is older, now, than Julie was when she died. 

And Jules still seems so young to her. Julie was so very, very young. 

“Really, Mum, is everything all right?” Jules says, and Maddie realizes that Jules has been talking on and Maddie has said nothing. Jules has always been like this: their sunshine girl, who chatters to cheer everyone up. 

“I’m sorry,” Maddie says again. “The dream just shook me up. Julie was in it - your aunt.”

“Ooooh.” Jules has always enjoyed Julie stories. “Perhaps she’s contacting you from beyond the grave?” 

She makes her voice shivery at the end, as if she’s telling a ghost story. She likes to playact: it’s one of the few qualities she shares with the first Julie. But today Maddie can’t play along. “It was just a dream,” Maddie says, perhaps a little sharply, because Jules lapses into silence. “She was younger than you are when she died,” Maddie says, more gently.

“Was she really?” Jules sounds astonished. There’s a long pause, and then Jules says, “This is going to sound terribly silly, but I never really thought of her as a real person before. I mean I knew she was,” she adds hastily. “But she felt like a character in a story. Even in the stories that were true,” she adds, because somehow Julie had turned into a bedtime story, and her real childhood adventures in Scotland were supplemented with expeditions across Antarctica and a stint on a pirate galleon. Maddie sometimes felt uncomfortable about this, but Jamie said Julie would have loved it, and of course he was right. 

“So brave and dashing and grown up,” Jules muses. “And now I’m as old as she was.” Her voice is more serious than usual, and then she says, “Mum, am I old enough to hear how she died? We always wondered, growing up, because you and Dad always got so quiet whenever that came up...” 

The air leaves Maddie’s lungs. She manages to mumble something about the Official Secrets Act.

“All right, all right,” Jules says hastily: always so quick to smooth over any upset. “I’m sure you prefer to think of her alive, anyway. And she does seem awfully alive,” she adds, “like the characters in the best stories.” 

Maddie nods, as if her daughter can see her over the phone, because she’s too choked up to speak. She knows Jules is trying to be kind, and in one way it’s a very sweet thing to say - but it’s not the same thing as really being alive, as being real. 

“Would you like to go to France?” Maddie asks. 

“To France!” Jules sounds aghast. She speaks beautiful French, but when she has to speak it to a French person she goes stiff and shy. 

“With your father,” Maddie adds. Jamie can do the talking so Jules doesn’t have to. “Next summer. I just thought,” she says, and she hesitates, “perhaps it’s time for you to see Aunt Julie’s grave.” 

“Oh, that’s sounds jolly. Well, not jolly, but…”

“We’ll try not to embarrass you by blubbing the whole time.”

“Oh, I’m too old to be embarrassed by my parents,” Jules says. “Blub all you need. If I get tired of it I shall wander off and buy myself eclairs.”

They chat just a little while longer. Then someone throws open Jules’ coat closet, and Maddie can hear the strains of “Yellow Submarine” through the phone line. “Go have a nice time,” she tells Jules. 

“Bye, Mum!” 

Maddie returns the phone to the cradle only after Jules hangs up. She gazes at the dark window as if she can see outside in the night. 

In her mind’s eye, she sees the garden with the damask roses. Perhaps if she goes back, one more time, she can finally lay Julie to rest. Perhaps that will be the end of the dream.

[tagthescullion]

Top 5 characters 👀👀👀👀

Sorry I didn’t do these yesterday, it was like 3.30 in the morning and I am an old soul who cannot think that late

Riordanverse:

Carter Kane

Thalia Grace

Maria Di Angelo

Clarisse La Rue

Luke Castellan

Reyna A. Ramírez (sorry I really need all six of them here)

In other fandoms:

Ethel Williams

Jamie Beaufort-Stuart

Remus Lupin

Peggy Carter

Harry Potter

Send me “Top 5” to my ask!