Outlander Book Club: A Breath of Snow and Ashes Chapter 69 breakdown

Just the Outlander chapter

Young Ian and Brianna are heading out on a walk. This isn’t just a short walk, though. Ian is taking Bree on a journey for a few days, which she doesn’t initially realize. She wouldn’t have left had she known how long she would be away.

While on the walk, there is an incident with Rollo in the river. Beavers attack him, and Brianna has to swim out to save him. Ian does find it funny, but he also makes sure Bree is warmed up and dried. Rollo has no shame in anything that happened; not really.

This does open up the opportunity for Young Ian to talk to Brianna about serious matters. When he was with the Mohawk, he felt like something wasn’t quite right. Even now, he gets that feeling. When he would wake up, he wouldn’t immediately know where he was and still doesn’t at times.

Bree notes that she feels like this at times, too. The only times she feels at peace is when alone in the woods or when with Roger. She and Roger can talk about the time before—or ahead.

It’s clear that Ian wants to open up a little about Emily. He notes that he always knew where he was when they were married. However, he’s not quite ready to tell the full story just yet. He does think back to a time when telling stories, though. The Mohawk loved to hear the story of the green-eyed woman. In other words, they liked the story of the witch Geillis. Emily also makes it clear that Ian needs to drink to tell stories. He is a better storyteller when drunk.

I love how it’s Bree who Ian turns to for this. I don’t think it’s just that he trusts Bree to keep his secrets. She understands what it’s like to be out of place, and to have that one person who helps make the world make more sense. They also have a connection from before Ian went off with the Mohawk, which plays a role now.