#summerside fic

So Eyvel and Finn spend a cozy winter together in Fiana while Finn works on his history book, and then as it turns to spring and the topic of Lady Brigid becomes unavoidable, Finn’s all “By the way…” and Eyvel’s all “Nope, your memory must not be as good as you think! :P” and the issue drops for a little while as they both avoid facing up to unpleasant and complicated things in favor of the rustic idyll. 

Then the topic of Patty comes up and things finally click with Eyvel and she’s all “F*ckdammit, Finn” because the idea that she might’ve forgotten her daughter (and son!) is just too terrible to contemplate, not to mention wholly against everything Eyvel’s experienced of the mother-daughter bond with Mareeta. So Eyvel goes “Look, you can stay here and work on that damn book and by all means tell me anything you want about Brigid or Lachesis or whoever the hell but leave me OUT of your delusions. We ain’t going there ever again.” And Finn accepts these terms (he has zero intention of going back to Leonster alone) and stays with her long enough to get to the end of Sigurd’s tale, complete with the climactic scene of Sigurd confronting an amnesiac Deirdre at Belhalla. And even though the subtext could be cut with a butter knife at that point Eyvel’s all “Cool popcorn story, two thumbs up!” and goes happily to sleep that night.

Chapter 1 indicates Finn is not the biological father of Nanna and therefore not technically related to Leif and Nanna’s daughter and not entitled to claim her as his grandchild. (Eyvel 100% rejects this line of reasoning because of course she would.)

In Chapter 2, Eyvel is surprised by the apparent warm feeling Finn has towards Patty, who is hanging out in Thracia trying to make herself a fine lady and is trying to win over Hannibal’s son.

Chapter 8, the most recent update, says Finn has a daughter who’s looking after his nominal estates in Leonster and has as much experience in governing territory as he does (so, none whatsoever). Eyvel assumes he means Nanna.

He doesn’t, but there’s really no solid protocol for telling your amnesiac wife about the kiddos she’s completely forgotten about, and when that revelation comes it ain’t going over well.

Eyvel processes things in a pretty straightforward manner; she’s insightful about human foibles but generally just takes events around her as they come. Her world is earthy and detailed and grounded. Besides anchoring the overall viewpoint of the post-war life of ordinary folk, she’s being introduced to the weird and improbable greater saga of the holy war in the role of the quasi-“blank slate” character, the sort of who kind of stands in for the audience (think Harry Potter learning about the wizarding world).

And then there’s Finn, who a) is the teller of the story-within-the-story and b) is aware that Eyvel and her little straightforward world is not straightforward at all and c) is using the narrative he’s writing as means of breaking Eyvel out of her world and back into his. He’s working with a fractured reality every waking instant, only everyone around him is 100% OK with things as they are, including Eyvel (this is one reason I think these two are perfect for spy AUs or an X-files sort of AU).

So what’s going on in his head is pretty damn complicated. But I do think Christopher Nolan was mostly right when he said re: the final scene of Inception that ambiguity and puzzles only work when the author knows the actual answer (I’m aware of some counterexamples, especially when it comes to lyrics/poetry), so consequently as the person writing the actual fanfic I pretty much need to know where Finn’s at and what he’s aiming for at all times. So instead of building Eyvel’s world, putting Finn inside it, and figuring out what’s up with him along with Eyvel, I have to determine what’s up with him first and construct Eyvel’s world around that and place her in it as a spectator.