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31_days2010-04-08 05:08 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2010-04-08 05:08 pm
[April 8] [The Secret of Kells] The Gratitude of Men
Title: The Gratitude of Men
Day/Theme: April 8, 2010 "Too much love will kill you in the end"
Series: "The Secret of Kells"
Character/Pairing: Brendan, Aisling
Rating: PG-13
Ha, I loved this movie and then I have to go and write something depressing about it! (Bad Suzume!)
"Abbot Brendan makes too many exceptions for the pagans," people said. "There is no force behind his pretty words. He lacks the strength of his predecessor," others clucked. "'Twas an act of folly that caused him to succeed Caellach. Nepotism," they tsked. "What fools were we to think an artist could fill the place of abbot. Leave an illuminator to his inks- we should've known this. The monks should've known this. They let them be misled into thinking one talent was the same as many."
No one said these things to Brendan, but he heard them all the same. The people had no fear of him, so their words carried easily upon the Irish breeze. When they chastised Brendan for his weakness, they reflected upon the actions of their entire community as well. Brendan was not alone in making exceptions for the traditions of pagans. Brendan was not alone in accepting into Kells those Norsemen who wished to settle down and take the Word of God into their hearts. But because he was the abbot, the leader, he was judged by the whole for the whole.
Aisling came to Kells only infrequently. Her curiosity to hear more of the things Brendan said- the letters made from ink that were bound up into words and sentences and such to create stories in the book- was not always enough to overcome her general aversion to the places men built. But that did not stop her from hearing the generalities of the complaints as well. They were wrong, she thought, to blame it all on Brendan. He was wrong to bear it. What was it that made men chatter such? Why couldn't they be more like the beasts and birds and fish that filled her forest? They did not speak back against the ones they would have protect them. Only men could summon the nerve it took to live so ungratefully.
"Come away with me," she urged Brendan. Her eyes had never lost the power to capture his like this and hold them in such a state of fantastic enchantment.
She touched his hand. He flushed and turned away. His cheeks grew as fiercely red as his beard whenever they touched in these days since his return. Nothing of Aisling had changed. The transformation had been in Brendan. She could not understand why he always flinched or shrugged away the touch.
"I cannot," he insisted. His voice revealed the difficulty involved in that decision. She knew him as he was- too gentle to handle such criticisms unflinching. Only, Aisling wondered, were they as difficult as her fleeting caress?
"There are monks aplenty. They will certainly continue on will enough without you." She did not mention whether or not he should leave them the book. According to Brendan, the book was not his personal possession, but a communal object of the monks (and through their lips, the knowledge contained within was shared throughout the entire Kells community). However, just because Brendan said something didn't make it so. It didn't even mean he believed it. It was no special fault of Brendan's. That was just the way of men.
"I am their leader, Aisling. They trust in me not to abandon them."
"Why must you lead them anyway, Brendan? I know you would rather be free to put your hand to quill again and-"
"Enough," he stopped her. He looked so weary now. Her words were true and yet they did him pain. "It is because I am a man who honors my vows. This is what my uncle wanted of me all along. It is what the other brothers elected me to do. I owe it to them to continue to stand up in the face of difficulty."
"They do not deserve you." Aisling could see he would not be swayed now. He had dug his heels in, and he was a stubborn man.
"It makes no difference. I will love them all the same. There is no man who is not deserving of the Word of God."
----
Looking down on the funeral of her only human friend in Kells, Aisling wondered if he would have said the same knowing how little time he had before his kindness was betrayed.
Day/Theme: April 8, 2010 "Too much love will kill you in the end"
Series: "The Secret of Kells"
Character/Pairing: Brendan, Aisling
Rating: PG-13
Ha, I loved this movie and then I have to go and write something depressing about it! (Bad Suzume!)
"Abbot Brendan makes too many exceptions for the pagans," people said. "There is no force behind his pretty words. He lacks the strength of his predecessor," others clucked. "'Twas an act of folly that caused him to succeed Caellach. Nepotism," they tsked. "What fools were we to think an artist could fill the place of abbot. Leave an illuminator to his inks- we should've known this. The monks should've known this. They let them be misled into thinking one talent was the same as many."
No one said these things to Brendan, but he heard them all the same. The people had no fear of him, so their words carried easily upon the Irish breeze. When they chastised Brendan for his weakness, they reflected upon the actions of their entire community as well. Brendan was not alone in making exceptions for the traditions of pagans. Brendan was not alone in accepting into Kells those Norsemen who wished to settle down and take the Word of God into their hearts. But because he was the abbot, the leader, he was judged by the whole for the whole.
Aisling came to Kells only infrequently. Her curiosity to hear more of the things Brendan said- the letters made from ink that were bound up into words and sentences and such to create stories in the book- was not always enough to overcome her general aversion to the places men built. But that did not stop her from hearing the generalities of the complaints as well. They were wrong, she thought, to blame it all on Brendan. He was wrong to bear it. What was it that made men chatter such? Why couldn't they be more like the beasts and birds and fish that filled her forest? They did not speak back against the ones they would have protect them. Only men could summon the nerve it took to live so ungratefully.
"Come away with me," she urged Brendan. Her eyes had never lost the power to capture his like this and hold them in such a state of fantastic enchantment.
She touched his hand. He flushed and turned away. His cheeks grew as fiercely red as his beard whenever they touched in these days since his return. Nothing of Aisling had changed. The transformation had been in Brendan. She could not understand why he always flinched or shrugged away the touch.
"I cannot," he insisted. His voice revealed the difficulty involved in that decision. She knew him as he was- too gentle to handle such criticisms unflinching. Only, Aisling wondered, were they as difficult as her fleeting caress?
"There are monks aplenty. They will certainly continue on will enough without you." She did not mention whether or not he should leave them the book. According to Brendan, the book was not his personal possession, but a communal object of the monks (and through their lips, the knowledge contained within was shared throughout the entire Kells community). However, just because Brendan said something didn't make it so. It didn't even mean he believed it. It was no special fault of Brendan's. That was just the way of men.
"I am their leader, Aisling. They trust in me not to abandon them."
"Why must you lead them anyway, Brendan? I know you would rather be free to put your hand to quill again and-"
"Enough," he stopped her. He looked so weary now. Her words were true and yet they did him pain. "It is because I am a man who honors my vows. This is what my uncle wanted of me all along. It is what the other brothers elected me to do. I owe it to them to continue to stand up in the face of difficulty."
"They do not deserve you." Aisling could see he would not be swayed now. He had dug his heels in, and he was a stubborn man.
"It makes no difference. I will love them all the same. There is no man who is not deserving of the Word of God."
----
Looking down on the funeral of her only human friend in Kells, Aisling wondered if he would have said the same knowing how little time he had before his kindness was betrayed.