Outlander Book Club: Drums of Autumn Chapter 33 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

We start at the stones, with Fiona doing the song to call on the dawn. Is the song needed? Nobody really knows, but it’s best to have it just in case.

Roger also thinks about the clothes he’s had made for the journey and the way he had to bluff that he needed them for part of a play. He also thinks about his mom’s locket, which has gems to help him through the stones.

This is where the problem lies. Roger starts to think of his dad as he goes through the stones the first time, and he ends up kicked back out of the stones. Fiona tells him that there was a fire that she put out, making it clear now why people who have been found dead at the stones were burned. Fiona suggests that the gems in the locket saved Roger from dying because the gems pulled the flames to them.

Roger realizes that thinking of his dad was the flaw. It’s not that the stones don’t work for a man, but Roger was thinking of the dad his mom told him of when he was a boy. A person can’t go back to a time when they’re already around and that’s why the stones kicked him back.

Fiona hands Roger her engagement ring to make sure he has another gem to get through the stones. This time he passes through. Fiona waits until he’s definitely gone and it looks like he’s not coming back. All she can do is hope that he made it all the way through.

We know now that he did, but I like the way the chapter leaves us wondering if he did make it through or not.