'To Follow the West Wind'

[ithildin]

What follows is my Queen of Swords fic. The overall title is To Follow the West Wind, and my conception of it is something like a serial, with somewhat self-contained segments. I have approximately ten segments plotted out, though if all those get written, we’ll all be surprised!

'Santa Elena Welcomes You' is the first story in the series, 'To Follow the West Wind'. This first tale is set in the spring of 1818, with the stories that will follow taking place between 1818 and 1821,
when Mexico declares its independence from Spain.

All of the QoS characters will be featured, along with original characters – hey, it’s me, what else did you expect? I’m going to try and stick with the QoS canon as much as possible. The show is really historically inaccurate, so I’m going to try and do my best to blend what the show presented with the reality of Spanish Alta California. Try being the operative word!

One of the things I had to decide when starting this was where exactly the fictional Santa Elena was. My best guess, based on a few tidbits gleaned from the series, is somewhere between Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. Any descriptions of the landscape, flora and fauna, etc., are based on what it actually looks like here, not what it looked like where the show was filmed in Spain posing as California.
As a native of this beautiful part of the state, I hope I'm able to bring a little taste of my home, and Tessa's, to the reader.

A brief synopsis of Queen of Swords can be found here.

I hope you enjoy the story!

Part One of Santa Elena Welcome You

Comments

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why it niggled me so much, but whywhywhy does Tessa sound so completely modern American when every other Spanish/Californian character has a "Spanish" accent? Such a small thing, but it irritated me every time I watched QoS *lol* All the other actors managed it, why couldn't she?

..and now I shall read fic :)

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I always assumed it was because she wasn't that great an actress [g] I do vaguely recall it coming up when the show was on there air. I think the not a good enough actress explanation was popular!

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

Sounds fantastic. I adored QOS - the show - not the queen necessarily. She was pretty enough and really not so bad since this was her first professional acting gig. She does sound very American however, as your other commenter stated. And she simply did not have enough screen presence to hold her own against Val and Peter.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

[nods] agreed. Mentally sorting through the story, and I realize she doesn't figure into it as much as she probably should, so I'm going to make an effort to give her a little more substance. Heck, it seems like Vera gets more page time than she does [g] Will have to work on that!

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

But why? I know the show was about her, but when Montoya, Grisham or Helm was around, she was simply not interesting enough. Vera was more interesting than she was. I would just go with it.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Something of a challenge, to take a character that should have been more interesting, and try and flesh her out a bit, even if she doesn't figure prominently in the story. That kinda sorta make sense? :)

As it is, Montoya is pushing his way into more and more scenes. He's very demanding [g]

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it makes perfect sense. And some of my favorite HL stories flesh Richie out and make him mature much better than Stan did in the show.

I adore Montoya - now *he* was a fascinating character. Robert Helm is a fascinating character.

Now the real question: Does Robert finally get laid?

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

LOL! If I get that far into the story, then yes. I do plan for him to actually have a life. And Isabelle is already thinking matchmaking thoughts [g]

[holde-maid.livejournal.com]

Personally (if I may butt in), I found her fighting style more irritating than her accent (though the latter IS bad). It was just so... involuntarily entertaining. *sigh* :-(

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was, wasn't it?

[holde-maid.livejournal.com]

While I've seen most of the show, I'd have loved to read your synopsis. However, the link lead me to an empty post. Did you delete it, or is it friendslocked or something?

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

I just clicked the link and it worked? Synopsis is still there. Maybe LJ was being wonky?

[holde-maid.livejournal.com]

No, all is well - I just need to scroll down half a mile *LOL* I don't know why, but it does that sometimes.

[dejla.livejournal.com]

I must say that I have no idea at all what Southern California looks like...

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Check out this link: http://www.sanluisobispocounty.com/ My educated guess is that the mythical Santa Elena was somewhere in what is now San Luis Obispo County. They run a nice little photo slide show in their banner :) And the actual photo section (http://www.sanluisobispocounty.com/phototour/photos/index.cfm?cattype=1).