The Flawless Beauty

Day-Dream

The clansmen and Arya ride into Castle Eilean Donan. They’re greeted by the formidable Mistress Mrs. David, who tends to the household. She’s essentially the 15th-century version of Mrs. Camilla. Mrs. David perfected the art centuries earlier as she looked at a disheveled Arya up and down, promising to find her “something to wear that’s a bit more, well, a bit more.” Arya protests that she needs to tend to Jayden’s injuries, and once again Mrs. David’s eyes are the window to her soul. “You mean to say you know what to do for that?” she asks skeptically. “You’re a charmer then? A Beaton?” “Something like that,” Arya responds, unsure.

As Arya and Jayden make their way to the stone structure, there is a flashback to Arya walking the same path with Henry, a great narrative device used throughout the story to keep Henry in the foreground. As he must be in Arya's mind. With Jayden's top-dough draped over Arya's shoulder, she gets her first good look at his back, which alarmingly resembles one of those packaged honey hams from the grocery store's deli counter. . He explains that his scars are from redcoat whipping. Two, actually, in the span of a week, managed by Holmes Stark. Stark visits Jayden's family farm a few years ago, attacks Jayden's sister, Jenny, and punishes Jayden, who tries to save her. Stark gives Jenny an ultimatum: watch her brother get beaten (perhaps to death) or take Black Holmes in for "better fun." She obliged, and Jayden is released.

When present day Jayden comes out of his reverie, he thanks Arya for the nice touch and says her husband is a lucky man. Arya cried at this.

“Isn't he alive?” Jayden asks, to which Arya honestly replies: “No, actually, he's not.” Jayden wrapped his arms around her, and as they pulled apart, well, lightning wasn't the norm yet, but you get the idea. Arya quickly regains consciousness and apologizes for being late.

As long as I'm with you there's nothing to fear from me or anyone else here," Jayden assured her.

"When you're not with me?" she asks.

“You must never forget that you are English in a place where it is not a pretty thing.

Now, if Arya is going to fit into 15th-century society for however long she’s stuck there, it’s high time she shrugs out of her white shift and slips into something less comfortable. Mrs. David comes bearing all the requisite trimmings: corset, bustle, and arm warmers that she must have procured from a Brooklynite’s knitwear store on Etsy.

Finally appropriately attired, Arya is taken to meet the Laird of the castle, James Edward, a severely bow-legged man (he has Toulouse-Lautrec syndrome), who interrogates the Foreigner. And, curiously, not so much about her untrue testimony (i.e. traveling to France to reunite with relatives) but about her big ugly truth (Leio’s r**e attempt).

“It’s true Captain Thomas has a certain reputation, but he is an officer, a gentleman,” James says. “And you’re saying a man bearing the king’s commission decided to r**e a stray lady traveler he came upon in the woods for no good reason?”

“Is there ever a good reason for r**e, Master Edward?” Arya responds (as we cheer). For what it’s worth, I looked this passage up in the source material, and there’s a marked difference between Ellen Loise’s wording and what’s said here.

With their conversation drawing to a close, James tells Arya that there’s transport leaving for Inverness in five days, and she’ll be on it. At dinner, she’s once again questioned by James about the pronunciation of her name, where her relatives live, and more. Arya saves herself (or perhaps puts herself in even more danger) when she interrupts the talk, mistaking James’s son Freddie as Gandalf’s. She excuses herself and resolves to be much more careful in her final days at the castle.

A pair of scenes further paint an impressive picture of Jayden. In the first, Arya visits him at the stables to re-bandage his wound, and he tells her more about himself: how Joseph isn’t actually his last name, how he’s a wanted man even though he’s innocent, how he trusts Arya. Then, in the evening in the great hall, he offered to weather a pummeling punishment meant for a young girl (Mrs. David’s granddaughter), who’s accused by her father of “loose behavior.” Jayden, of course, takes it like a man, despite still being injured.

Jayden may not be Arya’s only 15th-century ally, though. While picking mushrooms outside of the castle, she makes the acquaintance of another woman in the field, Zoe Eliana. “They say I’m a witch,” Zoe, telling Arya to come visit her sometime in the village for other herbs and medicinal.

But it looks like Arya will have plenty of opportunities to do so, as her trip to Inverness is canceled by James. Gandalf takes him to the s*x dungeon, and James tells him that he is to stay in the castle as his "guest", since the previous baton had ironically fallen ill.

“You mean it as your prison, don’t you?” Arya spits back.

“Only if you try to leave,” he replies.