Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

In Fraser’s Ridge, Colony of North Carolina, on June 17, 1779, Brianna and Roger MacKenzie have just returned to Jamie and Claire Fraser. Roger tells Claire about William “Buck” Buccleigh MacKenzie, his four-times-removed great-grandfather who traveled with Roger to the past in an attempt to find Roger’s son, Jem, who was kidnapped by treasure seekers.

Brianna and Jamie run into Ian, Jamie’s nephew, while hunting. Brianna shares how Rob Cameron, a coworker, aggressively confronted her in the library of Lallybroch in 1980. She escaped and took the children through the stones to find Roger. Jamie hypothesizes that Rob will read the letters written by himself and Claire and can thus learn to travel through the stones to hunt for the treasure he believes is at Fraser’s Ridge.

Claire reflects on the people living with them, including their grandson, Germaine, and Fanny, the sister of a young sex worker named Jane that William, Jamie’s son, befriended. Claire examines Roger’s throat that was damaged when he was hung for treason, and they discuss the healing power of time travelers that involves a blue light.

On the way home from hunting, Ian takes Brianna to his cabin, where she meets Rachel, Jenny, and baby Oggy. Brianna tells Jenny and Rachel the names she gave her own children, and Rachel explains that Ian’s decision to postpone naming Oggy comes from Mohawk tradition, referring to Ian’s time living with a Mohawk tribe.

Roger says that when Jem went missing, Buck and Roger went through the stones together. Buck had a heart attack, but they continued on, arriving at Lallybroch in 1739, meeting Brian Fraser, Jamie’s father. Roger tells Claire that McEwan said Roger’s hyoid bone was higher than normal as an explanation for surviving the hanging. Roger also demonstrates the treatment McEwan offered with his touch.

Brianna and Jamie return home. Claire dresses Jamie’s wounded leg; Jamie tells Brianna about Fanny. Brianna is surprised to learn William Ransom knows that Jamie is his biological father from a coerced affair with Geneva Dunsany, wife of Ludovic Ransom, Eighth Earl of Ellesmere, when he was a groom in Helwater. Jamie explains that William isn’t happy about his paternity, but Brianna assures him William will come around.

William Ransom is searching for information about his cousin Benjamin. He suspects Benjamin is alive but cannot find proof. While traveling, William is ambushed by a group of patriot militiamen who want his horse. British soldiers intervene, arresting several men, including William. William is identified as a former British officer by a family acquaintance, Denys Randall. After some brief interrogation, William is left in the custody of Denys, who warns William about a turncoat named Ezekiel Richardson. Denys claims this man intends to expose William’s stepfather, Lord John Grey, as a gay man.

Brianna and Roger visit the home of Captain Charles Cunningham and his mother, Elspeth, to share Roger’s plan of resuming his role as a Presbyterian minister. Benjamin Cleveland visits Jamie, warning him of a loyalist living on Fraser’s Ridge and publishing political articles. He says that Jamie should gather a militia to protect the ridge. Roger tells Jamie that he met his father, Brian Fraser, in the past. Roger saw Jonathan Randall became the garrison commander at Fort William, and, knowing Brian would die watching Randall flog Jamie, Buck wanted to kill him. However, Roger stopped him, concerned that changing the past would change the future.

After a celebration for the placing of the house’s hearthstone, Claire, Jamie, Brianna, and Roger sit around the fire, and Brianna presents her parents with some books she brought from the future. She gives Claire a copy of the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy from 1977. Brianna and Roger give Jamie the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Brianna then reveals that she has brought one of Frank Randall’s books, The Soul of a Rebel: The Scottish Roots of the American Revolution—the last book he wrote before his death, which neither Claire nor Brianna have read.

A week later, Brianna and Roger explain their return. They traveled from Scotland to Ocracoke in 1739 to avoid blockades they might experience after 1775. After seven weeks of miserable sea travel, they stepped through the stones but had trouble focusing on Claire and Jamie to guide their travel. Mandy saved them, reciting a story from a book published by Jamie.