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Entry tags:
Salus by Victoria (G)
Fandom: HORNBLOWER
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website:unknown
Why this must be read:
I began with a funny and now I'll leave you with a sad. A missing scene from Retribution, this fic fills in the hour or so before Archie leaves for the trial as, with Bush's help, he struggles to gather and keep his strength. I love it when authors concentrate on senses other than the visual and this fic is saturated with sound, set to the rhythm of laboured breaths. Bush and Archie never really had much opportunity to be on screen alone together, and Victoria takes this time to deepen the relationship and understanding between them to great effect. Just like Retribution it's not exactly light on the angst, but, just like Retribution, it brings the Archie - and Bush - love in spades.
Lieutenant Bush could hear the rhythm of his breathing across the cell, indeed, had listened to it steadily for the better part of a week. It wasn't as though there was much else that he would care to listen to, really. Neither of them felt particularly inclined to speak, for words brought pain, deep and thick and throbbing through the body like cannon fire through the hull of a ship. The heavy tropical air carried other sounds that were strange, almost unreal, like the calling of the vivid nightmare-colored birds and the rustling of unseen animals in the underbrush. The flies buzzed relentlessly, but that was the sound of mortality, of death and decay, and thus the sound he least wanted to hear. So the sound he listened to - the only sound he was willing to acknowledge hearing - was the steady, pained inhalation and exhalation from the other cot.
Salus
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website:unknown
Why this must be read:
I began with a funny and now I'll leave you with a sad. A missing scene from Retribution, this fic fills in the hour or so before Archie leaves for the trial as, with Bush's help, he struggles to gather and keep his strength. I love it when authors concentrate on senses other than the visual and this fic is saturated with sound, set to the rhythm of laboured breaths. Bush and Archie never really had much opportunity to be on screen alone together, and Victoria takes this time to deepen the relationship and understanding between them to great effect. Just like Retribution it's not exactly light on the angst, but, just like Retribution, it brings the Archie - and Bush - love in spades.
Lieutenant Bush could hear the rhythm of his breathing across the cell, indeed, had listened to it steadily for the better part of a week. It wasn't as though there was much else that he would care to listen to, really. Neither of them felt particularly inclined to speak, for words brought pain, deep and thick and throbbing through the body like cannon fire through the hull of a ship. The heavy tropical air carried other sounds that were strange, almost unreal, like the calling of the vivid nightmare-colored birds and the rustling of unseen animals in the underbrush. The flies buzzed relentlessly, but that was the sound of mortality, of death and decay, and thus the sound he least wanted to hear. So the sound he listened to - the only sound he was willing to acknowledge hearing - was the steady, pained inhalation and exhalation from the other cot.
Salus
no subject