In That Sleep is a short story published by Seanan McGuire for her Patreon subscribers.
| “ | For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come? | ” |
Author's Summary[]
We've had a few months of pretty short stories. So here is my Hogswatch present to you all, as I return one last time to the well of Titania's shitty version of Faerie, to see how August got on during the enchantment. Warning: quite long.
If you haven't read Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep, this may not make much sense. I recommend picking them up if you can.
Plot[]
The plot of this story follows Sleep No More and The Innocent Sleep almost identically, with additional commentary from August's point of view.
Chapter 1: Amandine is called away from the Tower.
Chapter 2: Simon and August speak.
Chapter 3: October greets Moving Day travelers while August hides.
Chapter 4: The girls encounter Etienne on their way to Shadowed Hills.
Chapter 5: August flirts with Grianne and punches Quentin.
Chapter 6: Sylvester relays Li Qin’s request.
Chapter 7: Tybalt and Ginevra join the remaining Torquills.
Chapter 8: Tybalt shares that their world is a lie. October is arrested by the Queen.
Chapter 9: They visit Golden Shore to get help.
Chapter 10: October is returned to them, and August resists the idea of restoring her memories
Chapter 11: They have dinner with the Golden Shore monarchs.
Chapter 12: August lingers in Golden Shore.
Chapter 13: They drive to Muir Woods and meet the Undersea contingent.
Chapter 14: August restores Simon’s memories. The Queen’s men capture Rand, Garm, August, and Simon.
Chapter 15: They are thrown into the dungeons along with October’s group. August restores October’s memory.
Chapter 16: They escape and travel through the knowe.
Chapter 17: They find Titania and the Ride.
Chapter 18: August sees visions as they break the Ride.
Characters[]
Locations[]
Quotes[]
- “Sometimes the rules of etiquette are contradictory and confusing, and all the more because they're not really rules: no one can enforce them, and there's no penalty for getting them wrong, outside of a hit to the reputation that doesn't really matter, not in any meaningful way. I'd learned not to express such opinions in front of my parents” (Ch. 1)
- "Will your lady mother thank you for turning your lovely white dress as green as grass?" -Simon (Ch. 2)
- “I had no interest in his lady [Eira Rosynhwyer] taking notice of me, and even less in her deciding to turn taking notice into taking an interest.” (Ch. 2)
- “If I was failing in my duties, Mother's answer would always be to limit October in some way, to forbid her the garden or take away her pillows or refuse to let her eat with me even when there was no one else around to see us.” (Ch. 2)
- “Somehow she was always two steps ahead of me. It was as if she wanted to flee the tower as badly as I did. But that wasn't possible.” (Ch. 3)
- “She thought herself slow and clumsy--always had--but when I did the leading, she ran as well as I ever had, fleetly slipping between trees and leaping over roots as she followed in my wake. All she ever needed was permission.” (Ch. 4)
- “I favored [the Merry Dancer] with a warm smile. I've never been sure how aware they are: [...] are they extensions of her self or individuals in their own right? I may never know, and unless I find out for sure one way or the other, it does no harm to show them kindness.” (Ch. 5)
- “Again, I readied myself to object, but stopped when I saw the guarded hope that kindled in her eyes. She was a Torquill. Of course she craved adventure. And what sort of sister would I be if I forbade it?” (Ch. 6)
- “I clutched at Ginevra, unwilling to risk slipping, and tried to trust her. It was hard. She was a new person, and she was claiming the world as I knew it was a lie. More, it was hard to look at Rand and not think he was trying to take October away from me, and I couldn't allow that. She was mine to protect, not his.” (Ch. 9)
- “Arden had already returned to them, and was sitting on the edge of the dais in what felt like a mirror of the way I'd sat in front of Uncle Sylvester not that long ago--maybe all faintly bratty daughters of the house did that when they were trying to make a point about their place.” (Ch. 9)
- “Changelings were happy. They had to be, or we were keeping them against their will, and that...that couldn't be so.” (Ch. 9)
- “The woman he describes is someone I don't know. She's left our mother's halls. She's married. She isn't my October. Why should his October be the one we keep?" (Ch. 10)
- “Was I really being selfish? Was I behaving like my mother, demanding that I get my way no matter who got hurt in the process? The thought ached, but not as much as the idea of losing my sister.” (Ch. 10)
- “She was my sister, my responsibility, and had been since she was still small and screaming and unaware of how hard the world was going to be for her. I was supposed to keep her safe. How could I keep her safe if she was in another kingdom? If I left her alone?” (Ch. 10)
- “I selected a piece of shepherd's pie dripping in cheese and butter, watching Father closely for some sign that he objected. Mother didn't like it when I ate too heavily.” (Ch. 11)
- "You taught me to stand up for people who were worse off than I was, and you made me promise to take care of my sister [...] You told me to be a better woman than my mother, and a better sister to October than you'd been a brother to Uncle Sylvester.” (Ch. 12)
- “I turned my face away, cheeks hot with shame. Something about this woman [Amphitrite]...I didn't want her to judge me. Drown me, drag me to the bottom of the sea, but not judge me.” (Ch. 14)
- “[Eira] says they're holding me back. She says Mother knows I'm meant to be a hero, and won't allow it; she's too determined to protect me, and she means to do it by locking me into a cage. Mother didn't want to do what was asked of her. It falls, instead, to me. The answer is clear. I'll go to the sea witch. I know where to find her; I know where she lays her head. She'll tell me how to find my grandfather, and I'll bring Oberon home. When I do, they'll know me for a hero, and they'll applaud me for what I've done.” (Ch. 15)
- "You gave me a candle," I said. "Oh, yeah," [the Luidaeg] said, voice going distant and a little sad. "I did. I can't say I'm sorry, because you asked for it, but I didn't want to do it. You were one of my favorite nieces." (Ch. 17)
- “My baby sister was married, pregnant, and didn't need me the way I'd assumed she always would. And I just had to live with it.” (Ch. 17)
- “If this was the version of Mother October had known, I could understand why I would choose to leave her. My whole life, I'd wanted her approval more than almost anything else. Anything except for my sister.” (Ch. 17)
Trivia[]
- After several Patreon subscribers commented about POV errors, Seanan released a cleaned-up second version of the story a few days later with this explanation:
- "So "In That Sleep" is very long. As in, 60,000 words, as opposed to the normal 8,000 to 10,000 words we're usually looking at. And because of that length, some errors crept in. Many were introduced by the necessary copy and paste used to clone dialog from Sleep No More, but that doesn't make them less incorrect. We have gone through and corrected them, and converted fresh sets of files. Ta-da!"