An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 10/15
Fandom: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Fire Emblem: Thracia 776
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Briggid/Finn (Fire Emblem)
Characters: Finn (Fire Emblem), Briggid (Fire Emblem)
Additional Tags: Memory Magic, Supernatural Elements, Eventual Happy Ending, Family
Summary:
They exist in a space defined by everything she does not remember and everything he cannot allow himself to forget. A late-blooming romance between two old companions in a quiet village by the sea... and yet also the story of an archer-goddess and an ordinary boy who fell in love at first sight, long ago and far away. Bridget, Finn, Bridget's other self, and the fabrication of a heroic age.
[I HEAR SOME OF YOU LIKE FINN/BRIGID. GUESS WHAT I FINALLY UPDATED.]
So....what's the game plan for The Summer Side Of Life?
Awesome question!
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.
But it’s the seventh anniversary of the Dark Lord’s defeat, and that means Eyvel is about to get the surprise of her life…
This is the part where I admit I haven't read much of your stuff sadly. But I especially love The Summer Side Of Life.
!
That’s great to hear. I really love that story, tho it’s been derailed a couple of times because I do have to be in a certain mindset to write it and personal issues impact that mindset. But I was working on the next upcoming chapter this past weekend when I was on a mountaintop and very happy, so…
Yeah, I love the prospect of Eyvel and Finn getting their earned happy ending. Thanks :)
If you don't mind me asking in The Summer Side of Life who is the father of Patty and Febail?
Um…
On the one hand, it’s a surprise for Eyvel when she gets to that point in the story-within-a-story that Finn’s producing. On the other hand…
HERE BE SPOILERS
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.
But yeah, Patty is livin’ it up as a duchess and courting a general’s son while her actual parents are playing out a domestic scene in backwater nowhere. And Febail’s ruling Jungby, of course.
"Summer Side of Life" is told from Eyvel's POV, but how did you get inside Finn's head?
Ooh, neat question.
So, how do you guide someone home when they don’t know they’re lost and would take reasonable offense at the very idea?
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.
It’s an inside-out way of building the story, but it’s actually an inside-out story: the person who thinks they are home and sheltering the other person is the one who is actually not where they’re “supposed” to be.
Given how I finally got to read a part of Project Exile and how you updated Summerside this morning, what are you thinking about the lines in chapter 7 where Eyvel berates Quan on being "rude" and how she tells Finn that the Rivough stuff he relates - through Ayra - isn't the same story she heard from Galzus? And especially, how Finn ends up correcting Quan's image but not the Rivough things? Is it because Finn doesn't care about Isaach ?
It’s a little more complex that that. Finn’s trying to juggle his role as a historian/storyteller as both an eyewitness to what he did see and the definitive researcher of what he didn’t. Given the “holy” nature of the war, I consider the synoptic Gospels kind of an example here. You have the account of St. Matthew which was traditionally considered the most critical because he was supposedly there on the scene as an apostle (note: mainstream view now is that Gospel of Mark came first and Matthew drew from it) whereas with Luke, he admits right off he wasn’t there but he’s done his research and is providing the straight dope… which conflicts with Matthew rather a lot. Actually St. Matthew’s gospel is kind of batshit in a lot of ways if you ask me.
So Finn saw some things first hand, he knew most of the major participants, and he’s poked around for several years doing his research. He’s got his own biases (conscious and otherwise), particularly wrt to the likes of Arvis and Travant (boy howdy). And in cases where there’s multiple versions of the “truth” going around, like St. Luke he’s gonna decide what’s the straight dope and set that down as the record. Is he necessarily correct on that? No. He’s a human being writing stuff down to spread the Good News… or Bad News, as it might be.
#1: If you’re an author, how many WIPs do you currently have? (Be honest!)
About 127.
#16: Describe your WIP that currently has the highest word count.
Shit I ain’t going through 127 WIPs for that. Looks like the Norne-centric FE11 ‘fic “To Freely Serve” is the “winner” with “Blackout” and “The Summer Side of Life” chasing its heels.
Thank you! I’m guessing you mean “Summer Side” specifically… or my ‘fic with that pairing in general? If “Summer Side” I have very much enjoyed writing it over the 2+ years it’s taken and have every intention of finishing it (the remaining chapters are all sketched out at least). I do sincerely believe it’s the A+ Happy Ending pairing for them both and I just love the idea of their kids.
Glad to know another fan of the pairing found it and likes it :)
