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Repentance

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Laurence stood in the courtyard behind the closing door, rain running down his sleeves and his face like blood; stood and said aloud, "O God, I wish I had not done it."
/Naomi Novik: Victory of Eagles, chapter 12/

Probably the most poignant line in the whole series - at least it grabbed me and held me tight until I drew it. Mind you, this was my first and probably last try at drawing a soaked-through shirt. Bloody difficult!

I got VoE earlier than I expected, and read it quickest of all Temeraire books. It was indeed very dark, and indeed like the "OotP" of the Temeraire series: the fifth book, and the one in which the main character is the most depressed. But while in OotP I didn't feel Harry's depression wholly justified, in VoE I did feel Laurence's justified. The poor guy, he has lost almost everything and everyone he ever loved and has only himself to thank for it. After this, I think book six has to be brighter. It just has to.

Should anyone be interested, I've recently submitted a short post-VoE fanfic to ffnet, a rather light-hearted one. You can read it here: [link] If you do, please be so kind and leave a review. :)

Some more post-VoE Temeraire fics from me:

Consequences of Waterloo: [link]

While You Were Sleeping: [link]

And finally, a very dramatic, (will be) novel-length fanfic, Like Mother, Like Daughter: [link]
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I'm fairly certain he was wearing a jacket in that scene, but nevertheless this work --and the /emotion/ of this work-- were /absolutely/ on my mind while reading it. Especially since I had been foolish enough to see this before reading that book. (Now that I have read it, I'll have to follow the links to your fic.)

Victory of Eagles just about defines the term "heart-wrenching" in the third part, if you ask me.

I'm not sure yet how I picture Laurence's appearance. This is a totally plausible version to my mind, though; he looks great. And by great I mean... well, heart-wrenching.