Over the mountains

At the end of a month in the Peninsula, Strange had quite lost any fondness he had ever entertained for marching songs; at the end of two, he earnestly wished the authors of Over The Hills And Far Away, The Girl I Left Behind Me and Lilli Burlero at the devil.

Apart from these military airs, the music most often heard in the army was the men’s extremely bawdy songs, which Strange found depressing not because of their indecency, but because of the determined and (it seemed to him) hollow cheerfulness with which they were invariably sung.

Strange had almost forgotten what it was like to hear any other music. He was therefore agreeably surprised, when sitting on a hillside one morning, to hear a pleasant baritone voice singing Robin Adair, a song which he had always liked in the days when music seemed to be everywhere. He did not remember to have heard it sung by a man before, but his chief thought was how well this man’s voice suited with the wistfulness of the words and the tune.

Title: Over the mountains

Author: fengirl88

Characters: Colquhoun Grant & Jonathan Strange

Author’s Notes: Written for this prompt at jsmn_kinkmeme: “Merlin discovers the softer side of Major Rod-up-his-capable-arse-snarkmeister Grant when he hears him singing an English folk song that Merlin knows.”

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Chapter 1: Over the Mountains:  Strange discovers a softer side to Major Grant.

Chapter 2: True Hearted: Strange continues to enjoy Grant’s singing, and makes a further discovery.

Chapter 3: The Water is Wide: Strange continues to make discoveries, not all of them about Major Grant.

Chapter 4: If Love Be Not His Guide: Strange receives an unexpected gift, which gives him plenty to think about during Grant’s absence.

Chapter 5: The Seeds of Love: Strange and Grant go on their mission, and spend the night together.