Naming G

[zeebusbeebus]

Title: Naming
Summary: Jon doesn't like what George is naming his son.
Rating: G
Author's Notes: Also posted on FF.net and my tumblr.

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"So…Alan," Jonathan said quietly once Alanna had ambled a safe distance away. She had Thom awkwardly balanced on her hip, with one of his long legs curved over her very round belly, and was making her way towards Thayet. Roald and Kally were playing with their mother, and Jon smiled at the way Thom excitedly leaned out, reaching for his cousins.

"Yup," George replied in a resigned tone.

"I take it that one is Alanna’s idea? Please tell me it’s just a clever way to name the boy after his mother." Jonathan looked down at the remains of his brandy, then quickly downed it.

A servant ran up, holding a glass bottle on a tray. He silently refilled his king’s glass, then turned to George. George waved the man off, and watched him retreat to a discrete distance before replying.

"No, she wants to name the lad after her father."

"Why?" Jonathan was more vehement than he had realized."That man was a father in name only. I have never, not once heard her tell of a single pleasant memory of him. In fact, he was so disinterested in her life she was able to run off and become a knight without him once checking in to see where she was!" Jonathan had worked himself up now, but he couldn’t stop. “Honestly George, I didn’t think much of it at the time, but can you imagine now not knowing where Thom was for five years? Never writing him, never visiting, never wondering or worrying?"

Further down the garden path he could see Thayet and Alanna laughing about something while the children picked flowers at their feet. The royal gardeners would be livid, but Jon didn’t care. He wanted his children to feel like the palace was their home, to play in its gardens like other children might play in a yard. It was one of the few semblances of normalcy he could offer them.

George shook his head, “Of course not. Lord Alan was a care-for-naught who spent his children’s lives quietly punishing them for being alive, until they were so twisted and defensive neither of them had any conception of love or friendship. I have no lost love for the man." He too watched the children, sipping slowly from his glass. The sun was just beginning to touch the horizon, lending the gardens a beautiful golden glow.

"Then why name your son after him? Tell Alanna you want to think about other options." Jon swirled his brandy agitatedly as he spoke.

"I considered that," George said slowly, “But I’ve come to conclude we’re not naming our lad after Lord Alan, not really. Alanna wants to name him after the idea that she had a good father, who loved her." He shrugged, “She’s not a real introspective lass, she doesn’t spend time thinking about her childhood and what could have been different. She wants to name him Alan because it’s what good daughters do, and she wants to carry on the Trebond line. I’m not naming my son after some wastrel lord, I’m naming him for a thought that makes my wife happy." George smiled at Jon. “That? That I’m more than willing to do."

Jon paused, taking a drink to cover his speechlessness. Not for the first time he marveled at the way George just got Alanna, taking what could have been a moment of contention and turning it into a profound declaration of love. He cared for Alanna deeply, but moments like this reminded him, yet again, that it was a good thing she had the sense to say no to him.

"Besides," George said after a moment, his eyes dancing wickedly, “I’ll just tell everyone it’s your idea, that he’s named after her. That’ll shake the conservatives up. Can’t have them thinking we’ve settled down now, and it does them good to get their feathers ruffled."

Jon chortled, and with a clap on George’s back they set off towards their wives. The scent of flowers filled the air, and the soft breeze made their petals dance. The men quietly sipped their drinks, with nothing but the soft hum of busy honeybees to interrupt the peace.

[mistrali]

This is an interesting idea. It never crossed my mind that Alan might be named after his grandfather, though I can't remember whether canon says explicitly who he was named for. I like George's palming the idea off onto Jon, too!

George's assessment of Alanna's character is spot on and obviously very well thought out. However, although we get so little on the twins pre-series, I don't read Alanna and Thom as being defensive or twisted at the beginning of A:tFA, though they would have been if not for Coram and Maude.

But certainly there is that potential; after all, neglect has its effects. I've read at least one fic which attributes Thom's later obsessiveness/brilliance to a desire to please his father, so it's not inconceivable that Alanna's temper and her stubbornness could also be partly explained by that.

[zeebusbeebus]

I don't know who Alan is named for. I always assumed it was after Alanna, but then I saw Tammy's explanation of Alianne's name:

George who thought the king might like the bit of a salute to his mother, George being canny about these things. He tipped it to combine with the name of a lad he was fond of, once, because Alanna wasn’t too sure she wanted her only daughter named after someone beautiful, but silly, though she herself had liked the queen.

I mean, Alanna is certainly awesome enough to warrant having both her twins named for her, but after seeing that I wondered if Alan was really a tribute to Lord Alan. Being of the Trebond line is certainly something Alanna is really proud of, so I started to see a possibility where Alanna might name her son for her biological father. I agree with George's assessment of her, I don't think she has good feelings about Lord Alan, but I don't think she would ever dwell on why exactly that might be.

However, although we get so little on the twins pre-series, I don't read Alanna and Thom as being defensive or twisted at the beginning of A:tFA, though they would have been if not for Coram and Maude.

But certainly there is that potential; after all, neglect has its effects. I've read at least one fic which attributes Thom's later obsessiveness/brilliance to a desire to please his father, so it's not inconceivable that Alanna's temper and her stubbornness could also be partly explained by that.

See, I have to disagree. I don't think it's a coincidence that they both struggle so much with forming outside relationships. Yes, a lot of Alanna's defensiveness is due to her disguising her gender, but that doesn't explain it all (and it certainly doesn't explain why Thom failed to make any meaningful connections). Coram and Maude may have provided a lot of love and care (let's be real, in many ways Coram was her real father), but they were servants. No matter how much they cared for the twins it's not the same as having a parent who loves you unconditionally, for no other reason than because they do.

When I wrote this I was thinking of that scene when Alanna gets Moonlight and George and Jon have a little discussion wherein they bash Lord Alan for being a neglectful father. Right after, Alanna asks George why he'd help her, and they basically have to explain what friendship is to her (and she's still perplexed afterwards). I just don't think that's normal. Aly mentioned in her books having local friends when she was young, like servant's kids, but Alanna and Thom's life sounded so isolated, I can't picture them having those kinds of friends. Also, as further evidence, the one relationship Thom forms outside of Alanna is deeply messed up (Roger). I 100% think Thom's quest for power was directly related to a desire to earn his father's love, whereas Alanna shut down and rejected any outside help or care, until she was fortunate enough to meet people who were willing to break through to her and teach her how to love and be loved.

I've been thinking of delving more into the twins' past, and my thoughts on it are certainly not very pleasant. I'll be curious about your take when I finally get around to writing some of them down.

And just to be clear, I really appreciate differing opinions. I love discussing this stuff, and I love debates (I'm the offspring of two lawyers, I couldn't be any other way), so what I put above is just meant to more fully explain my thought process. You're free to respond back "NO, I still don't see it"

[housewife]

I like the way you argue I think I can see both your and mistrali's opinions on it, because I feel like the way George said it was a bit strongly-worded, but I definitely see the truth in it. I would love to see you delve into the twins' past, I think you'd have quite an interesting take on it.

I think I love the exploration of everyone's feelings and motives that you have here is great, I love how George understands his wife, and how Jon sees that and respects it, and I love the camaraderie between everyone. It's just such a nice fic, and well-written, and, well, lovely.

[mistrali]

I certainly think that "twisted" is much too harsh a word to pin down on either him or Alanna at such a young age. We see that even early-series Alanna is essentially a person who wants to do the right thing, to be a good person, and I like to think the same was true of Thom. 

However, I think you make a good point when you talk about Alanna being befriended by the boys; she never really took an active part in the friendship until she was helped or prompted. She isolated herself from the others in A:tFA, and I wonder what might have happened if she'd been bullied mercilessly by Ralon *and* rejected by the other pages. Or taken up with a crowd who either bullied her or made other pages' lives miserable.

That, I suspect, was what happened to Thom. Preseries, with Alanna by his side and Maude and Coram at home, at least he had some structure and stability; if not quite friendships, then acquaintances, if not quite parents, then certainly at least one person who cared for him (Alanna, if not Maude). Granted, he may not have had much attention and he was almost certainly allowed too much freedom, but at least there was some routine and order to his days, and Alanna (and/or Maude, whom I like to think he had as close a relationship with as Alanna had to Coram) to check and balance him. 

But at the convent, I suspect he was totally out of his depth, and this is where I think he retreated into himself and his scholarship and his potential brilliance rather than seek out friends. And yeah, part of that was not having the skills to start new relationships and not really having had any guidance in that regard. 

I suppose I can cut Alanna some slack because I have never had close friends like that either, so I never really thought it unusual that Alanna would wonder why George was going completely out of his way to help her; until a few years ago I would've thought the same way. Both she and Jon are only ten at that point and Jon has much better acceptance of people and is much more... aware of those around him and receptive to their needs, as are Gary and Raoul, so I certainly agree that a servant can't take the place of a parent, not fully. There's too much there to teach, implicitly and explicitly; there's a depth and love there that definitely can't be given you by a servant, no matter how much they care about you.

[zeebusbeebus]

Ah I see, ok. I guess twisted probably sounds a lot stronger than I intended. When I was writing this fic I struggled a bit with the words because initially it was too post-Freud, if you know what I mean. I was trying to think of words for Jon and George to use to describe Alanna that would sound time period appropriate (and not like it was written by someone in 2013 who has been to therapy). I'll have to think more on a better way to phrase that (when I said twisted I really just meant unhappy, closed off, defensive, etc. But you're right, it has much more negative connotations).

Thank you so much for the feedback! And I'm sorry it took me so long to reply, my real life has gotten busy. Why oh why won't anyone pay me to write fan fiction??