A Brother's Tale

[LilacMajesty]

This one is my personal favorite short story.  I just love the idea of patient and doctor falling in love.

[Matthew Haldeman-Time]

I intended it to be just a short, quick follow-up to "A Painter's Tale," but then I got all drawn into it and couldn't get out.

And I like that it brings up Jacacean medicine in a positive way.  I wrote it when readers still hadn't really heard much about the Jacacean Empire aside from a few mentions here and there, but I was glad to have the opportunity to include it, to provide another viewpoint.

-Matthew

[JaeFire]

Actually, this is my favorite ITL Short Story, too. 

I loved how LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG it was!  It makes me squee every time I read it!

(By the way, I am determined to one day find all the crazy combinations of Ilaien vowels and make a small, unofficial rule-book so that one day...ONE DAY!...I will finally be able to pronounce Ouneaoaunaeat (okay, I just garbled that and got lost at Ounea...).  Whatever!  That rulebook will one day become reality!  You'll see!  ::runs away:: )

- Jae

[SilverMoon28]

I guess this is going to be my next short story to read   Whee!  I'm looking forward to it!

Vani

[SilverMoon28]

This one is my personal favorite short story.  I just love the idea of patient and doctor falling in love.

Mmm, I can't wait to get to that part...

As of now, I've choked on my Coke and nearly coughed myself to death laughing at Ounea's reaction to his doctor wanting to examine his stool.

Yes yes, I'll keep reading.  Watch me print this out and bring it with me on the plane next week. 

Vani

[SilverMoon28]

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Matthew Haldeman-Time]

Thank you!

-Matthew

[Falconer]

I really like that story as well. My favorite ITL short-story is Days of Endearment , but A Brother's Tale is a close second. They're so different anyways, that it's really a tie. Short/emotionally packed that leaves you wanting for more, DoE. Longer/more detailed so you can really get to know the characters, ABT.

[mc_cart_ny]

Ooooh this is one of my favorite shorts!   I just love it so much.  And it's super long which is really fun!  I've read it a few times    And when I get to someone's name, I usually just say the first couple of syllables and then garble the rest lol  It's too toungue twistery for me! 

Of course, now I'm thinking about which shorts would be my favorites.....that means I'm going to have to re-read them all.....I can happily do that! What a great excuse to re-read them! 

~McCartny~

[Diamond]

[I can't pronounce or spell the main character's name so I will refer to him as he.]

I liked the fact that he became a gardener. Doing something he can plan and direct without a lot of strenuous activity. I loved watching him come back to life throughout the story.

- Diamond

[JaeFire]

I loved watching him come back to life throughout the story.

- Diamond

(I'll just call him Ounea for short--I'm still going to write that rulebook one day!) 

But what I loved about Ounea throughout the story was how alive he was despite being so ill, in terms of his spirit, his complex inner life.  He could have completely given up a long time ago and basically just let himself die, or become a spirally mush of self-pity angst-party, but he didn't. 

I find him so admirable, because of that spirit.  His wisecracking, his sarcasm, his wit, his relationship with Eatoune and Aiae--he hated his illness, but he never lashed out at them for being well when he was so ill, or any number of things that sometimes people do or become when they grow bitter at being just that sick for that long.

Really, I felt like I was falling in love with Ounea right along with Iani, even though Ounea was our POV character.  I adore this story.

- Jae

[Matthew Haldeman-Time]

what I loved about Ounea throughout the story was how alive he was despite being so ill

I think that's what drew me to him, and convinced me to give him his own story.  He's a relatively minor character in "A Painter's Tale," but he clearly has his own story to tell, his own life.  He's obviously very ill, but he just as obviously hasn't given up.  He's determined to go outside to help with the farming and gardening, he and Eatoune have a lot of healthy bickering, he just has a lot of personality.

Edited to add: Thank you!

-Matthew

[JaeFire]

He's determined to go outside to help with the farming and gardening, he and Eatoune have a lot of healthy bickering, he just has a lot of personality.

Edited to add: Thank you!

-Matthew

Yes, there was something about his personality that was just vivid and shining and sharp and funny.  I like him as much as I like, for instance, Selorin or Talin or Desin or Rini.  I got personally invested in him to that extent, to hit the level of the Seven Siblings. 

(Also: you are very )

- Jae

Edited:  Oh God, now I have to go back and re-read "A Brother's Tale."  ::runs off::

[Matthew Haldeman-Time]

He has a lot of personality and some great lines in APT.  And then we get to ABT and Iani asks him:

“Do you garden?”

            Ouneaoaunaeat raised his eyebrows.  “Are you aware that I’m ill?”

And then:

“Your cough, is it always the same?”

            “It’s a cough,” he said.  “If it were different, it would be a sneeze.”

And then:

“What type of illness do you think you have?”

            What?  “If I knew what was wrong with me, I wouldn’t need you here.”

You can't blame him, because the doctors he's experienced have been horrible.  But I like that (aside from the above) he answers Iani's questions honestly.  Doctors have all been terrible and disrespectful and incompetent before, but he's smart enough to see that things are going differently this time, and to give Iani a chance.

His brother’s unending toil on his behalf was a constant display of unconditional and selfless love, unparalleled in Ouneaoaunaeat’s life.  “Too bad you had to write it all down,” he said.  “It’s a shame your memory isn’t as strong as mine is.”

Comments like this give us a glance into his personality.  There's also a moment in "A Painter's Tale":

“Lead me to your weeds.”

            “My weeds,” Eatoune repeated, fetching the shade and walking outside with him.  “Our weeds, brother.  This is your farm, too.”

            “Someday, it’ll be my farm, entirely, and you’ll just be my hired worker,” Ouneaoaunaeat reminded him.

            “I hope that you’ll pay fair wages,” Eatoune said.

            “Not likely,” Ouneaoaunaeat said, with a grin.

Ounea has been a burden on his younger brother for many years, and would be doomed to neglect (and possibly abuse and an early grave) without Eatoune, and he's smart enough to be painfully aware of that, but he has too much pride to wallow and grovel.  So he uses snark.

Yeah, I don't have an actual point, I just want to talk about Ounea.

-Matthew

[Mountie]

I have rea this one twice and I have to say it is my favorite.  As both a former medical professional and a gardener it hits all my awwwww buttons.  It was perfect.  Thanks You! 

[LilacMajesty]

This is one of the stories that just hits me over the head with amazement over the sheer scope of the world that Matthew has created.    The immense depths of his brain continues to astonish me.

[SilverMoon28]

Mmm sometimes people have the creativity to think of such worlds and the patience to write them all down.

Personally I have no such patience at all.  Besides, every time I think of something, I realize later it's already been written, which drives me up the wall.

But yes, I loved this storsy.  May read it again after I'm done with the ITL reread.

Vani

[CourtneyLee]

I reread this last  night and came across a couple lines that I loved:

“You think that we won’t even discuss this again until after I’m well?” he asked.  “You think that it won’t come up until then?  Have you met me?  Do you really think that I’m going to hold my tongue, knowing that my desire for you is requited?”

“I won’t compromise your care,” Iani said, heading for the door.

“I’m not asking you to compromise my care,” Ouneaoaunaeat said.  “I’m asking you to compromise my virtue."

and

He was compelled to say more, to unburden himself of this truth, to share his desire with the object of it.  “When you are in my dreams, my body finds its own release.”

Iani’s voice was low as it shared its secrets.  “I long for the day when you need not seek your own pleasure, isolated and alone.  My own dreams fill themselves with moments when I supply your pleasure myself.  As my flesh fills my hands, I think of no one but you.”

That last one made me a little.

[LilacMajesty]

If that made you blush, perhaps you should stay away from "Living".

[Mountie]

I keep coming back to this story because I enjoy it so much, It is almost like Ouneaoaunaeat to keep his spirit intact had divorced himself from his body.  It was sick, it didn't do what he wanted it to do, so he separated his mind and his mental healthe from his physical self.  I think when he really started to connect with his flesh and bones was when he was beginning to feel better and had the nocturnal wet dream and the spontaneous erection the next day.  I think when the erection came back he started to trust that yes, maybe he was getting better.