Castle S01e01
Ophelia Gurin
Picking up where they left off, the party rides into the courtyard of Castle Leoch and Dougal MacKenzie is confronted by Auld Alec, the castle's master of horse. Alec hadn't expected to see them before the Gathering. Dougal says they've had some good, and some bad, luck along the way. Alec then confronts Rupert MacKenzie about not taking care of his horse's hooves, saying a man as big as he needs to be more careful. The other men then tease Rupert as Claire looks around the courtyard, finally spying a man watching from an upper window.
Mrs. Fitz enters, happy to see the returning party. She hugs Rupert and tells the men to go to the kitchen for food. She insults Murtagh and he playfully grabs her for a kiss and leaves with the other men. Mrs. Fitz then spies Claire and Jamie introduces them and tells her Murtagh found her and Dougal said to bring her along. Knowing Dougal's word is law, she welcomes Claire and tells her they'll find her something to eat and something more suitable to wear than her plain shift. Claire wonders about Jamie who says he can take care of himself, but Claire tells Mrs. Fitz that he's been wounded and needs tending to. Mrs. Fitz asks if Claire is a charmer or a Beaton and Claire, confused, says she's something like that. Mrs. Fitz orders Jamie to follow and he knows better than to argue with her.
Mrs. Fitz leads Claire through torchlit corridors that Claire had walked through two days ago with Frank. She provides Claire with garlic and witch hazel along with boiling water and adds confrey and cherry bark for the pain. Claire is happy with the remedies and thanks the woman who gives her permission to call her Mrs. Fitz.
As Claire tends to his wound, she must remove the blanket and sees Jamie's horribly scarred back. Jamie, embarrassed, tells her four years ago the Redcoats had flogged him twice in the space of a week. He tells her they would have done it in the same day, but there's no joy in flogging a dead man. When Jamie mentions it was Randall who'd had him flogged, she drops the sterile bandage in surprise. She covers by calling herself clumsy and returning the bandage to the boiling solution.
Claire asks Jamie why he had been flogged and he tells her the first time was for escaping Fort William and the second was theft. Claire asks why he tried to escape in the first place and Jamie wryly says they were holding him prisoner. Claire asks on what charge and he says obstruction, a term which meant whatever the English say it means. Jamie tells her it was four years ago. The crown had put a levy on the land-holders of the county and Jonathan Randall led a party of Redcoats to their home to collect food and horses and whatever else they could carry away. Jamie's father was attending a funeral and Jamie had been forking hay when he heard his sister Jenny scream. He rushes to the house to find two soldiers accosting her and he fights them off. Randall stops the fight by placing a gun to Jenny's head and Jamie surrenders. Jamie tells Randall to leave his sister alone and Jack says she's very bonnie and strips her to the waist.
Jamie tells Claire that Randall was sending a message: this is what you get when you fight back against the English. Randall then has Jamie's arms tied up and he proceeds to whip Jamie's back, raising red welts as Jenny cries. Randall then says he's sure that Jenny will be able to offer him more suitable entertainment in the house. Jamie orders her not to go with him even if Randall kills him. Randall then punches Jamie with the handle of his dagger, knocking him unconscious.
Jamie tells Claire that Jenny went with him because she thought Randall would kill him and he figures she was right. He woke up in a cart along with the chickens to Fort William. Claire offers her sympathy and Jamie jokes to shrug off the mood. She then finishes tending to him, binding his arm to his side. Jamie tells her she is a very kind woman with a good touch and her husband is a lucky man.
Reminded of Frank, Claire wonders what he must be going through. His wife disappears without a trace and that his fears would prey on him. Was she abducted? Was she dead? Or, worst of all, had she left him for another man? Heartbroken, Claire breaks down in tears. Jamie asks what's wrong and she says she was thinking of her husband. He asks if Frank is not alive and Claire confirms that he is indeed not. Jamie takes Claire into his good arm and comforts her as she sobs. They share a moment, feeling close until Claire jumps up and apologizes. Jamie tells her she needs not be scare of him nor anyone else there as long as he is with her. She asks when he is not and he warns that being English is not a pretty thing to be in the Highlands. Claire thanks him and he tells her to get some rest because it is most likely someone will want to speak with her before long.
Later that afternoon, Mrs. Fitz wakes Claire and bustles about the room, berating Claire for sleeping so long. She gives Claire a cup of hot broth, then pulls it away from Claire after only a few bites. She then helps Claire disrobe, asking what kind of corset is Claire wearing. Claire explains it's a brassiere from France. Mrs. Fitz helps Claire transform herself into a 18th century woman, dressing her in a shift, a corset, hip pads, and multiple layers of clothing until she declares Claire fit to be taken to himself. Claire looks at herself doubtfully in the mirror.
A man arrives and takes her to the laird's chamber and tells her to wait. Claire realizes she needs to figure out when she is and looks through a book and then finds a letter on the desk dated 1st November 1743. A man with long gray hair and a white beard enters and seeing Claire holding a book, says he sees she has met some of his friends. As Colum walks into the room, she takes note of his disfigured legs and rolling gait. To put Claire at ease, he welcomes her and introduces himself as Colum Ban Campbell MacKenzie, laird of the castle. He invites her to sit.
Claire tries to remember what is happening in this time of history. Colum says he understands his brother and his men found Claire in apparent distress. Claire takes the defense and says she was attacked and nearly raped by one of the soldiers and, feeling proud of herself, adds soldiers of King George II. Colum asks if she suffered any other molestation and Claire says no and to offer her gratitude to his brother for his kind escort. Claire says she needs to arrange transport back to Inverness and Colum says something can be arranged, but wants to know wants to know how a lady such as Claire came to be wandering in the woods dressed in nothing except her shift.
Claire, knowing from Frank that while being interrogated, it's best to keep as close to the truth as possible, tells Colum that she is a widow from Oxfordshire who was travelling with her manservant to relatives in France when they were set upon by highwaymen. She managed to escape, but had to abandon her horse and property. It was while wandering through the woods, that she was suddenly attacked by Captain Jack Randall who she believes Colum knows. After he acknowledges the truth of that, she tells him it was during that encounter when she lost her clothing.
Colum admits that Randall has a bad reputation, but he doubts that an officer and gentleman with a King's commission would decide to rape a stray lady traveller he came upon in the woods for no good reason. Claire tightly asks Master MacKenzie if there is ever a good reason for rape. He begs her forgiveness for his unfortunate turn of phrase. She grants it and asks to get back to the topic of her transport to Inverness. He says there is a tinker named Sean Petrie who will arrive on Saturday as part of his route which will take him to Inverness and usually has room for one or two passengers. Claire claims confusion and asks when Saturday is and Colum says five days from now. The interview over for now, Colum offers her the castle's hospitality.
Claire wanders outside planning her trip back to Inverness and Craigh na Dun and hopefully back home. She acknowledges that she does know something about this era like their customs and dress and colloquialisms, but it was all second hand knowledge acquired from books, museums and paintings. It was as if she had landed on an alien world only glimpsed through a telescope. She observes some playing children in the yard below as Dougal arrives and plays with the children, particularly a red-headed lad named Hamish, who mock-stabs Dougal with his wooden sword. As she watches them play, Claire admits to herself that maybe life on this alien world is not so different after all.
That night, Claire reluctantly enters the hall for dinner, nervously walking the gauntlet of long tables filled with diners who grow silent and stare as she passes. She approaches the head table where Colum sits with Dougal and another woman and curtseys. Dougal offers her a chair next to Colum. Colum cheerfully pours Claire some wine and introduces her to his wife Letitia. Colum asks if Mrs. FitzGibbons gave her comfortable lodgings and Claire says that Mrs. Fitz is a wonder. Letitia says it's a wonder how Mrs. Fitz manages to bake such bannocks with the poor ovens they have at the castle. She then tosses a bannock to Claire who just barely catches it.
Colum refills Claire's wineglass and asks why Claire pronounces her name "Beech-ham" and not the French "Bo-cham" if her family was from France. Claire explains that their ties to France are old, but not close and that perhaps some ancestor decided to Anglicise it. He asks what part of France her folks are from and she answers from the north near Compiegne. To divert the questioning, Claire asks after Mr. Mactavish's health and Letitia asks who? Dougal explains Claire means young Jamie. She asks why Claire is asking and Colum said it was nothing but a scratch then he turns to Dougal and asks where is Jamie by the way. Dougal explains he sent the lad to help Auld Alec in the stables that he didn't want him to be inside the walls, but if Colum didn't agree with his orders... Claire, sitting between the two, nervously drinks from her wineglass. Colum says Jamie is fine where he is and orders a bottle of Rhenish wine. He tells Claire she won't find this wine in Oxfordshire and refills her glass.
ff7609af8f