Voyager - By Diana Gabaldon

Please discuss Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager ONLY in this thread. Thanks!
The SPOILER Thread can be found here.


PART 7 – Home Again
CHAPTER 36 Practical and Applied Witchcraft

It is late when Claire and Young Ian arrive at Lallybroch and Jenny is both angry at Ian for having run off – Again! – and relieved that he is all right. She is stunned to see Claire with him. The two women have a brief awkward discussion about where Jamie and Laoghaire are - the parlor and gone, respectively – before Claire enters the parlor and closes the door behind her.

She finds Jamie asleep and burning with fever, but decides not to wake him immediately. She thinks about how Frank had stayed married to her and raised Brianna because he was an honorable man. And, how honorable Jamie took responsibility for so many people, including Laoghaire and her daughters, Jenny’s family and the Ardsmuir prisoners. She also thinks about how she was able to put things in order from her old life, with Joe Abernathy’s help, but that Jamie had no such luxury when she just showed up unexpectedly. She admits to herself that she had been slow in heading to Craigh na Dun because she hoped Jamie would come after her. Watching him, she “knew that nothing truly mattered between us but the fact that we still lived.”

Not realizing that he had awakened, she hears Jamie speak words of love and how he knew she would return to him since he is dying. When she speaks and puts her hand on his cheek he jerks upright and yells in pain and then curses. When Jenny peeks in, he roars at her to get out. Then, he asks Claire what she is doing there. She discovers that he thought she was a fever dream and that he did not send Young Ian to find her. In fact, he forbade Ian from going because he didn’t want Claire to return out of pity for him.

Claire examines his wounds and he asks her to stay with him for a bit, still thinking he will die. Claire assures him that she will stay and that he will not die. He comments that Claire brought him through one bad fever with what he thinks was witchcraft and Jenny through the next through stubbornness, but he’d rather die than go through such an ordeal again. Claire takes out the one 20th century item she has kept on her person constantly – a case with syringes and penicillin – and prepares to treat him. She takes a moment to admire his bottom and then injects him, which he finds quite painful. She reminds him about germs, which she had told him about before and tells him she will give him shots every 4 hours, and Jamie comments that he should have let them burn her twenty years ago.

- Apparently, the mutual beatings between Ian and Jamie did not stop Ian from running off again. Though, I think he had particularly good reason to do so this time. Interesting that only the young lad recognizes the importance of bringing back the woman Jamie loves as he lays dying.

- Jenny describes Ian as a cuckoo in the nest and says he wasn’t meant to be a son of hers. What do you think of that and of her saying it right to her son? Seems awfully hurtful to me.

- It seemed to me that Jenny was disappointed to see Claire even knowing about Claire’s medical skills. I understand that she preferred to have Jamie married to Laoghaire because of the geographical issues and Claire’s presence is an obstacle, but knowing that Claire might be able to save his life even if Jenny herself could not, I’d think she’d be happy to at least have him live. Though maybe there wasn’t time to think that through, or maybe she thought he was too ill for even Claire to save.

- When Claire thought of Joe Abernathy saying “Who you jiving, L.J.?" my first thought was of Lord John, since I tend to refer to him as LJ.

- It’s nice to see a little humor even in the middle of stressful situations. Like the discussion of how neither of their bottoms had changed in 20 years, and when Jamie says he usually applies the brandy at the other end (when Claire used it as a disinfectant on his bottom before the injection).

- Jamie interprets Claire’s use of an injection into his bottom to treat his arm as witchcraft (and jokes about wishing he let them burn her). But, given his time and education, is witchcraft the only way he could interpret the medicine Claire is using? How else could a man of his time understand germs and antibiotics?

Well, thank goodness Young Ian had the sense to run off again! Where would Jamie be otherwise? Seems like he was the only one in that household actually taking steps that might help.

Yes, what Jenny said to Ian seems very hurtful, but I wonder whether Ian would have taken it that way. In the previous chapter, he'd commented to Claire that Laoghaire doesn't know how to fight properly like his mom and Jamie do. (Laoghaire only snivels!). I thought it was kind of humorous for him to say so, but I'd guess that he's witnessed enough outbursts to have developed a thick enough skin to withstand Jenny's blasts of anger.

Loved the exchange about their bottoms and the brandy!

I was really touched by Claire's coming to terms with seeing Jamie's perspective, and really "getting" for the first time that she did just pop back into his life with no warning, in comparison to the careful preparations she'd made to make her way back to Jamie.

Great chapter, and great summary!

I think that this is an interesting topic. I often wondered about what took place between young Ian and Jamie before Claire came back. Young Ian appears to have the heart of an adventurer and will not be contained at Lallybroch. I wondered if Jamie wanted a son so much that he almost claimed Young Ian as his son, unconsciously. Jamie's character is one that is naturally very good with children. Having children is so important to Jamie. He has two children, one he knows for sure at this point, and another that he is unsure about, and has no hope (as far as he knows) of ever meeting. I think that this led him to bond to young Ian. In a way, it is a way of keeping Lallybroch with him.

Thanks, Lisa. Good point about Ian knowing about Jenny's temper and considering that superior to Laoghaire's sniveling. I assume he has developed a thick skin over the years. But, as a mom myself, when I read that comment, I was sort of brought up short thinking it was a nasty thing to say to one's child.

highlandheather - I hadn't thought about Jamie's relationship with Ian like that - as a way to keep part of Lallybroch with him. I know he's sort of a substitute son to Jamie (and Jamie a substitute father to him) - not that he doesn't have a perfectly good father already - and that he has more of Jamie's adventurous spirit than the others do, but you're right that having him near keeps part of the family and the home with Jamie. Thanks for adding that perspective.

I am in AWE of these chapter discussions!

That was a great summary! I did not understand Jenny's comment about Ian, but maybe she was bitterly asserting that he was more like his uncle given that he has a propensity for not listening to Jenny and doing whatever he thinks is necessary?

Here's a question: WHY does Jamie himself not go after Claire (following the whole Laoghaire drama)? Claire leaves and rightly so - in my angry opinion, but she obviously wants Jamie to follow her and explain himself. She has admitted to herself that she would likely not survive another trip through the stones. I'm stumped as to why he would forbid young Ian to go find her, and then openly ADMIT that he DIDN'T want Ian to go and get her. I was under the impression - based on his actions up to this point - that he'd do whatever he had to do to keep Claire, so why would he not try to prevent her from leaving?

My interpretation of events, Mary_Mac, was that Jamie was going after Claire when Loaghaire shot him. As he lay there thinking he was dying, he forbade YIan to go after Claire probably thinking "why bring her back to watch me die" or "If she doesn't return on her own and actually goes through the stones, then why bother".

I feel much better at the idea that he did intend to go after Claire. I can't imagine he would let her go.

As for why bring Claire back, I started thinking that maybe he was most painfully embarrassed by his situation - a fierce Scottish warrior SHOT by his jealous wife? Maybe he was embarrassed by the whole thing - he'd inadvertently made some awful mistakes and EVERYONE in the entire family had witnessed the entirety of the confrontation. For a strong and stubborn man, it would be hard to admit that he'd behaved like an idiot.

I have a question about this chapter and it might be somewhere else but i could not find it.
I am rereading Voyager and originally thought this was reference to Laoghaire but now I am wondering if it could be about William or something else???

When Claire returns to Lallybroch after Jamie is shot by Laoghaire and Jamie is having what he thinks is a fever dream about Claire he says the following,

"My love," he said almost wispering. "God, we do look so lovely, wi' your great eyes all gold, and your hair so soft and round your face." He brushed his tounge across gry lips. "I knew you must forgive me, Sassenach, once ye knew."

Once I knew? My brows shot up, but I didn't speak; he had more to say.

"Iwas so afraid to lose you again, mo chridhe," he murmured. "So afraid, I havna loved anyone but you, my Sassenach, never since the day i saw ye - but I couldna... I couldna bear....:"

Any ideas?

Harking to Jenny's cuckoo in the nest remark: I thought it was more a comment on Young Ian's loyalties, which very clearly lay with his Uncle Jamie and perhaps even his Auntie Claire rather than with his mother in this instance. And I strongly suspect that his mother's disapproval rolls off him like water off a duck's back It certainly doesn't seem to stop him.

And lana....when Jamie is speaking to Claire, I thought perhaps he was attemting a kind of confession...that she was his only love, but that there had been times he could not bear the loneliness and disconnection....but even more he could not bear to lose her forever. Even gone from him through the stones, he carried her love with him...but what if knowing all that had happened while they were apart, she could not love him anymore? That's the loss that would break him.

Lana, I think Kerry J is on the right track. To me, this is Jamie's last confession. He sees Claire, as if in a dream, and thinks that this is _the_end. He uses what he thinks are his dying breaths--- to tell Claire that he loves her, to try to explain about Laoghaire. He didn't tell her right away because he was afraid he would lose Claire again, and he couldn't live with that. So he didn't say a word, or was trying to find a way to sneak out of the situation. But he has only ever loved her.

So when he thinks he is dying, he tells the "fever dream" Claire his confession. After all, Claire can travel through the stones. She is magical, in a way. Maybe this "dream" Claire is a spirit, that Jamie is talking to. He thinks she is a spirit, or maybe this even this dream is her soul, offering forgiveness. Jamie is very spiritual. So he offers up his confession, so he can die in peace, knowing that she was there with him.

But in fact, she is real. Listens to his confession and still forgives him.

I interpreted it as being about Laoghaire. I find it more likely that he'd want to ask Claire's forgiveness about her than about William. But, I suppose it could be a combination.

Did DG have this scene in mind all along when she let Jamie procrastinate in telling Claire the "whole story"?

I think it wasn't so much what Jamie said, but what Claire's reaction to what he said.

I was wondering if DG was trying to ellude to something else in this secne.
It is kind of hard to explain, if i put myself in Claire shoes and Jamie was confessing/explaining what had just happened, i think i would react with more of a frown or something, but in this paragraph, Claire's eyebrows go up. She seems to be having a curious "what this" reaction.

I am not sure if that makes sense...