Blue Sun Room FICTION - DRAMA

Dagger of the Mind, chapter 11

Monday, April 5, 2010

Mal and Zoe struggle in their different ways to overcome the enemy and their inner demons

CATEGORY: FICTION    TIMES READ: 2487    RATING: 10.0 (PG13)    SERIES: FIREFLY

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Chapter 11: Look to the Lady (part II) *

Author's Note: Spoiler alert! The fight is not important. It's what happens after the fight that counts. Scroll-over titles added for those who want to see the Chinese translations and notes to Shakespeare references.

Shakespeare References: Macbeth, Act II Scene 3; Henry VI (Part I), Act III Scene 2

It was a brutal, ungainly fight. Both men lurched and stumbled, spun, thrust, parried and fell. And fell again. Fists connected with more vulnerable body parts, like chins and stomachs and ribs. The swords did double duty as clubs when necessary. There were oaths and taunts and vainglorious pronouncements. As the fight went on, the crimson on the pommels deepened and the hilts grew wet and slippery. Blows that gradually lost some of their ferocity nonetheless still took their toll on flesh and bone. The operating lights, which had been designed to illuminate a different kind of bloody spectacle, left no dark corner for the audience to hide its eyes from the primal conflict playing out on stage.

At the last, they were just inches apart, each man grappling to bring his sword into position for the ultimate success. Mal got there first. His bruised and bloody face contorted in rage, his whole frame trembling, as he drove the blade deep into Callum's abdomen. And Callum's eyes were wide and wild. An animal cry of wrath and indignation welled up from his chest and echoed nakedly in the vast, empty hall. With a final savage effort, Callum shove

Comments
Monday, 05 April 2010 01:27
I accidentally posted my comments for this chapter on the previous one. Dark comments, mocking Callum for being a dumbass for thinking he, a spoon-fed alliance officer who had a bit of misfortune yet who never turned to crime could beat Mal in a BRAWL of all things. You like darkness, don't you?

Anyway, YES. neat plot development, character development. Like I said, it's about perspective.
ELLAGREGGS
Monday, 05 April 2010 01:53
Bytemite - Just trying to write a story that I think is interesting, in a manner that I think is interesting. Like the love scene, torture scene, fight scene, general take on the characters - if I get bored writing it, I figure it's a pretty safe bet people will get bored reading it.
Monday, 05 April 2010 18:49
I liked the compassion in Zoe that's difficult for her to find or even tolerate, doing the right thing for someone who didn't deserve it. The quality of mercy? It also echoes, for me, Gandalf's conversation with Frodo about the mercy Bilbo showed Gollum, letting him live, and how many deserved to live (maybe like Callum's men) and didn't.

It also resonates well with the tenderness that Mal and Zoe show Tracey when he's dying, although of course he had a relationship with them.
ELLAGREGGS
Monday, 05 April 2010 23:04
Oooh, cool parallel with Bilbo and Gollum. Gollum - Callum, hmm... Not intentional, I assure you, but neat parallel, creatures driven to evil but still with redeeming elements.
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 15:32
Its how you've drawn Zoe's reaction to Callum's death and Mal's more personal inner conflict, over his loss at the end of the war, which is unresolved, by the time of the series that resonates in this chapter. I other words, Zoe finds closure, but Mal doesn’t and I think that’s where we find them at the beginning of the series, until the end of the movie, of course, where things get turned around.

And I like how you’ve written Mal, how important it is to him, for Kaylee, to see him as heroic, his old self, which is slowly fading, and Mal’s unwillingness to give that up for anyone or anything, until he can’t hide there anymore, she calls him out, confronts him, over Simon leaving and his inability to communicate his true feelings for Inara, in the BDM.

Excellent pre series, work, looking forward to the conclusion and a little Zoe and Wash;)
Wednesday, 07 April 2010 22:30
Sorry I'm late. I only watched War Stories once because of the violence and because I hoped it might be the one where Mal and Inara kissed (bitter laugh). In short, I hate that kind of thing, but I can see at the same time that what you've done here is entirely in keeping with the tone of the series and the BDM.

What I've enjoyed most about this is the substance it gives to three characters that aren't usually given that much: Zoe and Wash, but also Kaylee, as the person who Mal wants to continue to think well of him. Really looking forward to the conclusion and how you deal with that point, because I kind of share Wash's feelings about it at the moment.

I LOVED Callum's 'argh, she was supposed to die OFF STAGE'. SOOOOO NUTS!
ELLAGREGGS
Thursday, 08 April 2010 09:11
Aliasse,

Most people who perceive Wash's hostility towards Mal in the series probably attribute it to jealousy over his relationship with Zoe, but I posit a deeper, more fundamental dislike, based upon Wash's perception of who Mal is. I honestly think that Wash in the series does NOT like Mal, sees him as a dictator and a callous person, and as someone who repeatedly puts Wash's beloved wife in danger. That is part of what infuriates him about Zoe's deference to Mal. But Wash puts up with Mal for Zoe's sake. Again, this is my take on Wash's perception, not just in DOTM but in the series as well.

Bytemite,

As you say, it's all about perspective.
ELLAGREGGS
Thursday, 08 April 2010 09:14
Think of the bar fight in 'The Train Job'. Mal deliberately and, frankly, selfishly, starts this fight, without regard to the fact that Zoe (and possibly Jayne) could get seriously hurt. But Mal is determined to start a fight because he wants to, and that's all that matters to him.
Thursday, 08 April 2010 19:10
Well, you've done a great job of putting this idea into fic - I'm convinced! I agree with you about The Train Job fight. Mal acts like that - hm, a lot. So, Wash's decision to follow him after they see the recording on Miranda? - I'd love to see you write that from his point of view, reflecting back to this episode.
ELLAGREGGS
Thursday, 08 April 2010 20:34
I think Wash follows Mal after Miranda because he thinks it's the right thing to do, to get the word out about the terrible thing that happened there.

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