APH: Novámbr
Title: Novámbr
Author: grosse_averse, tatterdemalion on ff.net
Rating: T
Characters: Canada, Louis Riel, cameos of America
Pairings: None
Warnings: historical!fail, character death (hopefully you know how this ends)
Author’s Notes: There’s an annual Fringe Festival held in my city every summer, and on Saturday night my family and I went to a little play called “The Seven Lives of Louis Riel”. It was a one man show, which put the story of Louis Riel into seven different genres (crime noir, western, comic book style, etc...) with different people telling the story and portraying Riel as different things (traitor, hero, murderer, madman, etc). I was quite fascinated with the story of Louis Riel when I was in junior high - it was probably one of the few parts of Canadian history I really enjoyed. I always found it so amazing how people’s views on Riel could be on such opposite ends of the spectrum. I’ve always wanted to write a Hetalia story with Louis Riel in it, but I never quite found the courage (just because I’m interested in Riel doesn’t mean I know anything!!) However, seeing that wonderful show convinced me to give it a shot. I apologize for any historical inaccuracies, but when it comes to Riel, one can portray him in several different lights. I tried to give an accurate portrayal, one which I hope offends no one.
1869. Saint Boniface, Manitoba. Matthew Williams has felt this brewing in his gut for quite some time, since the government bought that land out West where Matthew’s old children and new children lived and mingled as one.
Matthew Williams stands in the shadows of the Saint-Boniface Cathedral, straightening his collar nervously in the Manitoba heat. His boss doesn’t know he is here. He has come because he has felt the frustration of his people, however small in the eyes of the government they may be. He watches the man on the steps of the Cathedral wave his arms, bark passionately at the crowd, his dark hair wild on his head, his eyes fevered. Matthew feels out of place in the crowd that hangs on the speaker’s every word - these children are also children of Francis, yes, and Arthur too, but they are darker then Matthew’s European complexion and he tries to keep to the back of the mass, hovering, enraptured.
This man, Louis Riel, “savior of the Métis”, continues. He denounces the surveys, maintains that this land belongs to the Métis, not the government. As Matthew watches, the part of him that is not Arthur’s boils, indignantly, under his skin. This is dangerous, he thinks absently as he watches that same angry agreement surfacing in the eyes of his Métis children. This means trouble, he can feel it coming, and his boss will not be happy to hear about this.
At the end of Riel’s speech the man loiters, shakes hands and exchanges words with friends and supporters alike. Matthew hangs back on the steps, watches this strange, commanding man make rounds and soothe the desperate. Finally Riel is left alone on the steps of the Cathedral, running a hand through his tangled curls. His piercing eyes raise and lock with Matthew’s - Matthew is not sure who steps forward first, only that they come face to face. Riel is taller than Matthew, and the nation unconsciously squares his shoulders.
“Who are you?” Riel asks. His hand tightens on his papers, and Matthew gazes up into the man’s eyes.
“I’m Canada.” he says simply.
Matthew and Louis Riel sit on the steps of the Cathedral. For such an educated and spiritual man, Riel accepts his country’s persona with ease, without blinking an eye. He tells Matthew about the tribulations the Métis face, the anger of the Anglophones and the frustration they have felt over the surveyors, the intruders on their ancestor’s lands. Matthew cannot offer any comfort to this man - he is merely a country, he explains, albeit a country that remembers and feels and cries for its children, and he cannot swing the decisions of his boss anymore than an advisor can. Riel listens to all this and is silent. His great hands smooth and clench at the fabric of his trousers, and Matthew feels a peculiar aching in his heart for this strange man, this man destined somehow for greatness.
“I’m sorry.” Matthew says quietly, and Riel gives a small nod to indicate he has heard. “But I thank you for giving the people a voice.”
Riel smiles, a twitch of lips under a mustache. “I will do what I need to for my people.” he replies, and it is only years later that Matthew realizes how right Louis Riel is.
& & &
By the time Matthew and John A. Macdonald have a discussion about Louis Riel, it is 1870. Matthew has not seen Riel since that speech on the Cathedral stairs, but he has heard Macdonald talk a lot about him - how he is a “dangerous half breed rebel”, how he took Fort Garry for the Métis, how they had made a provisional government, and how just a short time ago they had executed a surveyor named Thomas Scott.
“What are they trying to prove?” Macdonald mutters into his glass of scotch. Matthew debates taking the glass away from his boss - it is too early in the afternoon to be ingesting such large amounts of alcohol. Even if the Prime Minister does feel threatened.
“I think they’re trying to show you they want to be taken seriously.” Matthew suggests delicately, running a thumb over the lip of his glass. Macdonald fixes him with a sharp glance from under his eyebrows.
“You’re not thinking softly towards them, are you boy?” he asks. Matthew shakes his head.
“I agree that they shouldn’t have executed Scott.” he murmurs placidly, and his boss’s face relaxes.
“Maybe they wanted to make a statement.” Macdonald agrees, and settles back in his chair with a tired groan. “But taking another human’s life? So carelessly as if...as if they had real power?”
You keeping running them around in circles, Matthew thinks bitterly, words that are half his own and half the Métis, bitter and tired of being pushed around, rising to his mind. All they want is security for themselves and you deny them this.
Donald Smith has returned from Fort Garry, pale and shaken from witnessing death. He repeats what Riel himself uttered, and Matthew does not know what to feel:
“I have done three good things since I have commenced; I have spared Boulton’s life at your insistence, I pardoned Gaddy, and now I shall shoot Scott.”
& & &
It is May, 1876. Matthew steps into the mental asylum in Montreal, gives the name of the man he has come to visit. He walks down the halls and draws his coat closer to his body. Macdonald has resigned; Alexander Mackenzie and his Liberal party are in power. Men and women shout at him as he passes their cells; Matthew is unused to seeing this sort of madness, this depravity. He has so far been a sheltered country, and he almost turns back.
Louis Riel is in the second to last cell. He sits on his bed when the guard escorts Matthew in; his head, matted and curly, is bowed; his hands are clasped.
Matthew sits in a chair opposite, and asks, hesitantly, “Riel?”
Riel’s head snaps upwards. “Canada.” he answers, tonelessly. “Hello, my country. My betrayer.”
Matthew’s face falls. “No.” he shakes his head. “I have not betrayed you, Riel.”
“I only did...what was best for my people. Don’t you understand? It is God’s will.” Riel straightens up, tries to look fierce - and he does, he always does. He cuts a striking image even in this cell, and Matthew finds himself leaning forward.
“Riel - Louis.” he tries when Riel does not look his way. “What has happened to you?”
Riel suddenly grabs the nation’s face in one large, calloused palm. Matthew refrains from exclaiming, so as not to alert the guard outside. A thumb strokes his cheek; Riel stares directly into Matthew’s eyes, as if searching for Matthew’s approval.
“God spoke to me.” he explains. “God told me that I am the new prophet. I am David, and I will stand against the Goliath. The Métis will rise against this injustice.”
“Louis, you’re very sick.” Matthew says carefully. He places one hand over Riel’s. “You need to focus on getting better.”
“You’re right.” Riel agrees. “I need to focus. I need to put my trust in God and He will show me the way to my destiny. I am the prophet, Matthew, don’t you see?”
I don't, Canada thinks frantically as he sees this man - this man who, years earlier, stood on cathedral steps and rallied his people together - so broken but still so fierce and fiery. He doesn’t know what to say. Riel’s hand seeps warmth into his face and Matthew does not say anything for a while.
“I am the chosen leader.” Riel insists, calmly, with the air of a man who knows a fact no one else does. “I will show you, Canada. I will save you.”
“Please save me.” Matthew murmurs without thinking - his people are fighting, and he is hurting. French against English, why can’t they stop? He thought it was bad enough when Francis and Arthur were here, but now they are back in Europe and they have left children to fight for them. The Québécois favor Riel; the Ontarians want nothing to do with him. The government does not want the provisional government; the Métis still suffer. Matthew feels like he is being pulled in all directions at once. Across his back he feels the slow disagreement over the railway, left by Macdonald’s bribery, and he aches for the prickle of railway spikes to connect himself.
He feels like he is falling apart and he half-wants, in a sick twisted way, for Riel to at least unify some of his people. Riel gives his cheek a pat, in a fatherly way that is absolutely bizarre. Matthew offers a weak smile, and Riel returns it.
“Come,” he says, takes his hand away from Matthew’s face so he can gather the nation’s hands in his own. “Pray with me, my country. Notre Père, qui est aux cieux, Que ton nom soit sanctifié, Que ton règne vienne, Que ta volonté soit faite Sur la terre comme au ciel...”
Matthew bows his head and listens to the rumble of Riel’s voice. And hopes.
& & &
“Look, ‘s’long as he’s in America, your boys can’t touch him!” Alfred says for the second time, hands on hips, looking the epitome of a free farm boy. Matthew crosses his arms over his chest and looks away, can’t bear to see the sunny grin his brother is holding.
It is 1883. Riel is in Montana with his wife and children. Canada’s shoulder aches - the railroad spikes are being slowly driven in, one by one.
“I know.” he mutters, teeth clenched, heart pounding. “But is he all right?”
“Y’know he was naturalized last month, huh?” Alfred remarks casually, flicking a piece of dirt off his sleeve. “Yup, he’s an American now. Look, Matt, why’re you so hung up on this guy? Sure, he caused a stir, but he’s outta your hair now, right? Your boss should be happy.”
Yes, Matthew’s boss is happy; but the Métis are not. Matthew can feel it, and it strikes him as unfair and unsettling that some days he cannot bring himself to care.
“He was an influential man,” Matthew offers, adding, “Riel, I mean.”
Alfred looks at him incredulously, then begins to chuckle. “Matt, you sure do know how to pick ‘em.” he informs his brother. “Heard Riel kept going naked through Keeseville, babbling about him bein’ a prophet or somethin’.”
Matthew doesn’t say anything, just keeps his head turned away.
“Well!” Alfred sighs, and swings himself off the fence. “If you wanna go down and visit him, I sure wouldn’t mind.”
“That’s okay.” Matthew says. “I...I don’t think I will.”
Alfred shrugs, easily, and Matthew can already see the event slipping from the other nation’s memory. “Suit yourself.” he claps a friendly hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “Take it easy, okay? I hear you’re building a railroad - good fer you. It was nice talking to you, bro.”
Matthew does not point out that it is Alfred who usually does all the talking when they meet - instead, he smiles, and says, “You too, Al. Take care.”
With a windmilling wave, Alfred is out of sight, across the border. Matthew decides to take a walk in the grasslands, to clear his head.
He cannot help but feel a bit abandoned.
& & &
Matthew sees Louis Riel in defeat, two years later, in Batoche, Saskatchewan. In the end it is fairly clear who will win - as Matthew (in his soldier colours) approaches Batoche from the north in an attempt to draw the defenders from the town, a nail hits him in the shoulder. It embeds painfully, right above the joint, and the nation winces. He pulls it out with little difficulty - the Métis in front of him are firing nails and rocks from their rifles, faces a picture of despair and lingering determination. Over the crest Matthew can see the second column of Canadians charging into town. Bullets fly; men fall. Matthew’s heart gives a funny leap-jump when he sees the remaining Métis running, escaping from Batoche.
There aren’t very many of them. Not many at all, much less than when they started all this. Matthew searches the retreating backs for that proud frame, that tell-tale mop of hair. He sees nothing.
Beside him, Frederick Middleton grips his shoulder in celebration.
“Well done, lad!” he compliments. “Dumont’s fled, and Riel’s about to surrender.”
Matthew nods weakly, thanks his general. He cannot get out of his mind the image of Gabriel Dumont with blood on his face, rising to stand with Riel as they face down the Canadians. The loss was greater on the Métis side, and he can see the dead from where he stands. He follows Middleton down the hill to where a tired, drained, exhausted looking Louis Riel is surrendering to the Canadian soldiers. They jostle him; interject with cheers and excitement; throughout it all Riel hold his head up with an enigmatic look on his face. Beside Matthew, Middleton sighs.
“Almost feels sorry for the poor bugger.” the general admits. “Had a fine fighting companion - Dumont was really something else.”
Matthew catches Riel’s eyes - then he steps forward, addressing the soldier holding him. “I’ll take him.” he says. The soldier examines him, sees the colours he is wearing, and nods.
Matthew and Riel march side by side where they will meet the rest of the Canadians. Riel does not speak - he watches his feet so he doesn’t trip on rocks and roots. His hands are behind him in manacles.
“You came back.” Matthew says, quietly, without anger or happiness in his tone. Riel looks at him, then back at the ground.
“I had to.” he replies. “My people needed me.”
“And what did you gain from all this?” Matthew asks, voice controlled, forehead creased. “From coming back and, and staging this rebellion?”
There is a smile in Riel’s voice, a note of bitterness when he answers, “The government wants so easily to forget that we exist. It would be much easier for them if the Métis did not live in Canada.”
Matthew does not try to defend his government, because in some cases it is true. And Riel knows this.
“I showed them,” Riel continues, voice rising as he speaks. “I showed them that we are here. And we live on this land and we will not be forgotten.”
Matthew wants to rage at him - he wants to tell him that “There was another way, there had to have been”. But he knows, in that part of him, that there probably wasn’t. The Métis would have continued to ask the government for help and action and the government, maybe, would have helped.
Louis Riel murdered a man and started a rebellion. But it got attention.
It was like when Alfred would throw a temper tantrum until Arthur picked him up, back when they were kids - but on a larger scale, one that left Métis and white men alike dead on Canadian soil.
Matthew wants to believe that what Louis Riel did was right. But he is not so sure anymore.
& & &
“Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having.”
Matthew Williams sits in a stuffy courtroom on a blistering July day, watching Louis Riel deny that he is insane. In some ways he admires Riel; in other ways he wishes the man was actually insane. Matthew shifts in his seat, winces at the loud creaking. Riel is speaking and it is hard to follow him - his accent is awful and when he speaks it is with the flowery metaphors of a preacher.
The only things I would like to call your attention to,” Riel says, “Before you retire to deliberate are: first. That the House of Commons, Senate and Ministers of the Dominion, and who make laws for this land and govern it, are no representation whatever of the people of the North-West. Second. That the North-West Council generated by the Federal Government has the great defect of its parent. Third. The number of members elected for the Council by the people make it only a sham representative legislature and no representative government at all.”
Matthew winces, actually winces. The jury is mostly Anglophone. No, scratch that - the jury is completely Anglophone. The man next to him gives him a sour look for squirming in his seat. Matt wishes fervently for Kumajirou, who is back at home licking his paws.
“Are you done?” the Judge, Hugh Richardson, a rotund, no-nonsense looking man, frowns down at Riel.
“Not yet, if you have the kindness to permit me your attention for a while.” Riel responds, a smile lifting the side of that gaunt face.
“Well, proceed.”
Riel starts off again. Matthew watches the jurors’ faces for something, anything. They watch the man in front of them, faces blank.
The Crown had called up witnesses, many witnesses. They had tried to make Riel seem insane. Was Riel insane? Matthew had seen him in Montreal - he had seemed...broken down. Had they fixed him or had he continued to be like that? Wild-eyed, certain, fantastical?
“What you will do in justice to me, in justice to my family, in justice to my friends, in justice to the North-West,” here Riel’s eyes met Matthew’s, held them. “...will be rendered a hundred times to you in this world, and to use a sacred expression, life everlasting in the other.”
Riel finishes, sits down. His lawyers try not to look unsettled. The jurors file out to deliberate. Matthew clenches and unclenches his fists. He is in the front row of the courtroom and he leans forward. He could brush Riel’s shoulders if he wants to.
“You could be acquitted.” he hisses. “You could save yourself.”
Riel does not turn around. “I have already saved myself.” he responds. His lawyers look back, puzzled.
Thirty minutes later, the jury finds Louis Riel guilty of treason and recommend mercy.
The judge sentences him to death.
& & &
“Louis Riel shall hang...though every dog in Quebec shall bark.”
& & &
Remember, remember, the sixteenth of November, Matthew thinks bitterly. He is standing in the middle of a shifting crowd, waiting to see Louis Riel for the last time. They lead him out of his cell to the back of the building. He is wearing a black coat and his face is pale. Alfred is beside Matthew, and the younger snatches his brother’s sleeve in between his fingers.
“Thank you for coming with me.” he whispers. Alfred gives his trademark grin easily, though his eyes follow Riel to the hangman’s noose.
“He’s my citizen too.” he replies. When he is sure no one is looking at them, Alfred grabs Matthew’s hand reassuringly.
“You know England will tell you this,” the older nation whispers, “But we can’t afford to get hung up on every single person that passes through.”
“I know.” Matthew says, eyes facing front, internally wincing at Alfred’s choice of the words “hung up”. Alfred shakes his head.
“Sure looks like you know.” he comments, and Matthew feels angry. Just because Alfred has a couple years - officially - on him, doesn’t mean he can act like the elder in this situation.
“Look, Matt.” Alfred gives a belabored sigh. “I know what it’s like. I mean, when Washington died?” the other country runs a hand through his hair. “I nearly went mad.”
Up by the window, Riel is reciting the Litany. Matthew shifts uneasily from foot to foot.
“He is called the...“father of you”, after all.” he remarks a little bitterly. “That’s understandable. What is Riel to me? In all honesty, I should regard him as a traitor.”
Alfred smiles. He doesn’t let go of Matthew’s hand, even when a spectator looks over and down in disapproval.
“But he’s not, is he?” Alfred asks softly. “Not just a traitor?”
“No.” Matthew agrees. “He’s much more than that.”
The brothers wait, and watch. Riel descends the steps to the scaffold. His eyes meet Matthew’s in the crowd (or Matthew thinks they do - for all he knows Riel could be merely surveying the people). Eyes still focused on Matthew, he dips his head as if in recognition and proclaims, “I ask the forgiveness of all men, and forgive all my enemies.”
The weight lifts off Matthew’s heart as Riel’s face is masked by a white hood. Behind Riel, the priests are praying. Alfred’s hand grips his so hard that Matthew imagines his knuckles are white.
Matthew only looks away from Riel once, to look at his brother’s face.
“Do you always cry for the heroes, Al?” he teases. Alfred doesn’t bother to wipe his face.
“I certainly don’t cry for the traitors, Matt.” he chuckles in reply.
“...For thine is the kingdom,” Father MacWilliams recites. “the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.”
(Amen)
(The drop falls)
& & &
FIN
& & &
LOTS O’ NOTES:
-“Novámbr” - Michif (the language of the Métis people which combines Cree with Métis French) for “November”, the month Louis Riel was executed.
-the Métis are a group of native people in Canada and parts of the United States. They are the “mixed” descendants of First Nation marriages to Europeans, mainly French.
-In 1869 the Canadian government bought Rupert’s Land (which is now Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec and Minnesota). William McDougall was appointed governor of the new territory. This was regarded as not a good thing, since McDougall was English-speaking and “anti-French”; this was severely opposed by the Métis and French speaking inhabitants of the territory.
-“He denounces the surveys, maintains that this land belongs to the Métis, not the government” - Thing is, the government didn’t exactly ask the Métis if it was cool to use their land. When government surveyors appeared to plot the new land, the Métis, led by Louis Riel, barred McDougall from entering the land. This led to a new provisional government being created, with Riel at its head.
-The Manitoba Act in 1870 created the province of Manitoba in response to the Red River Rebellion led by Louis Riel.
-“I have done three good things since I have commenced; I have spared Boulton’s life at your insistence, I pardoned Gaddy, and now I shall shoot Scott” - Thomas Scott was a surveyor who had been sent to plot Rupert’s Land. When the Red River Rebellion happened, the Métis occupied Upper Fort Garry, a Hudson’s Bay Company Trading Post. A handful of Canadians (Scott included) volunteered to try and rush Fort Garry to take it back, but they were ultimately captured. On January 9th, 1870, Scott and ten others tried to escape from Fort Garry. They were caught, but Riel freed the prisoners. Then Scott and a man named Charles Boulton tried to organize a party to overthrow Riel’s provisional government. Boulton was sentenced to death but pardoned; Scott fought with his guards, which led to him being tried for insubordination, insulting Riel and quarreling with his guards. He was executed on March 4th, 1870.
Donald Smith, a Hudson’s Bay Representative, pleaded for Riel to not kill Thomas Scott, and in return Riel was said to have uttered this quote. (Jesus Christ this was a long explanation, is anyone still reading???)
-Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, was I guess most infamously known for his big nose and his rather, er, unsavory drinking problem. Also for a little thing known as the Pacific Scandal, but that’s neither here nor there :D
-Eventually there was a bounty placed on Louis Riel’s head and he fled to America. During his exile in America, Louis Riel stayed with an Oblate father, Father Barnabé and his sister Evelina Barnabé in Keeseville, New York. It was said that during this time he began to show signs of suffering from a deterioration of mental state, and apparently he went through the streets of Keeseville naked on more than one occasion. It was after this that he was taken to his uncle, who committed him to the Montreal asylum in 1876.
-“God spoke to me” - Riel believed in the years leading to the asylum that God had spoken to him and that he was a prophet and chosen leader of the Métis.
-“Across his back he feels the slow disagreement over the railway, left by Macdonald’s bribery, and he aches for the prickle of railway spikes to connect himself” - Canada didn’t officially start building the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1881. Before that, John A. Macdonald became involved in what is known as the “Pacific Scandal” - Macdonald and other politicians granted federal contracts to the “Canada Pacific Railway Company” under bribes. This caused the Conservative party to be removed from office and Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie to come into power. It took a long time to build the railway, because Canada is hella big, and at one point there were like, little patches of railway in random places. Eventually they got off the ground (hooray!)
-“...in a fatherly way that is absolutely bizarre” - Louis Riel is often called the “Father of Manitoba”, since his Red River Rebellion sparked the Manitoba Act.
-“Notre Père, qui est aux cieux...” - the beginnings of the Lord’s Prayer, in French.
-“Riel is in Montana with his wife and children” - Riel briefly visited his friends and family after his exile in America and subsequent visit to the mental institution, but seeing the hardships that had befallen the Métis (alcoholism, scarcity of buffalo for hunting, the selling of their land), he travelled to Montana, where he became a trader and interpreter, married in 1881 and had two children. He received American citizenship in March of 1883.
-“Batoche, Saskatchewan” - The North-West Rebellion was fought by Riel’s Provisional Government against the Dominion of Canada for control over the Northwest Territories. The Battle of Batoche was a decisive victory for the Canadian government.
-“...a nail hits him in the shoulder” - by the end of the Battle of Batoche, the Métis were low on ammunition and had taken to firing nails and bullets instead of bullets.
-After Frederick Middleton led the Canadians in the North-West Rebellion, he was knighted by Queen Victoria. Then he returned to England and was appointed “Keeper of the Crown Jewels” for a bit. What a man~!
-“...Gabriel Dumont with blood on his face” - Gabriel Dumont was the one who actually helped bring Louis Riel back from Montana to defend the Métis. Apparently during the Battle of Duck Lake, which was an earlier battle in the North-West Rebellion, Dumont was shot in the head but continued fighting. At the end of the Battle of Batoche, Riel was arrested while Dumont fled to Montana. Apparently he joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show for a bit. Who knew.
-“He follows Middleton down the hill to where a tired, drained, exhausted looking Louis Riel is surrendering to the Canadian soldiers” - Okay, I’m lying. The Battle of Batoche ended on May 12, and Riel surrendered on May 15, but I’m taking creative license.
-“Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having” - During Louis Riel’s trial, him having been accused (on six counts) of treason, Riel’s lawyers try to pass off the idea that Riel was insane, so as to try to get him acquitted. Louis Riel refused his lawyers’ attempts, and actually delivered two speeches to the court (this quote being in one of them) despite the fact that his English wasn’t the best. This is actually one of the reasons I, personally, admire Riel.
-Though the jury recommended mercy, Judge Hugh Richardson sentenced him to death. Edwin Brooks, who was one of the jurors in Louis Riel’s trial, famously said later that “Riel was tried for treason, but hanged for the death of Thomas Scott.”
-“Louis Riel shall hang...though every dog in Quebec shall bark.” - John A. Macdonald (hey, remember him?) was returned to power in 1878. He said this quote because after Riel’s sentence, the defense tried to appeal and many Québécois sent Macdonald letters and petitions for Riel’s life. Macdonald was said to be very happy about Riel being hanged.
-Father MacWilliams was one of two priests who were with Riel throughout his last night and the execution.
Author's Note: Whoo-ee! Those were some long notes! Sorry guys, guess I like being thorough! Anyways, I'm sorry if this felt at all rushed or patchy - my thinking is, Matthew wouldn't have a lot of chances to see Riel, what with him being a rebel and then an exile and then crazy and then an enemy and then a dead man. So, yeah. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Author: grosse_averse, tatterdemalion on ff.net
Rating: T
Characters: Canada, Louis Riel, cameos of America
Pairings: None
Warnings: historical!fail, character death (hopefully you know how this ends)
Author’s Notes: There’s an annual Fringe Festival held in my city every summer, and on Saturday night my family and I went to a little play called “The Seven Lives of Louis Riel”. It was a one man show, which put the story of Louis Riel into seven different genres (crime noir, western, comic book style, etc...) with different people telling the story and portraying Riel as different things (traitor, hero, murderer, madman, etc). I was quite fascinated with the story of Louis Riel when I was in junior high - it was probably one of the few parts of Canadian history I really enjoyed. I always found it so amazing how people’s views on Riel could be on such opposite ends of the spectrum. I’ve always wanted to write a Hetalia story with Louis Riel in it, but I never quite found the courage (just because I’m interested in Riel doesn’t mean I know anything!!) However, seeing that wonderful show convinced me to give it a shot. I apologize for any historical inaccuracies, but when it comes to Riel, one can portray him in several different lights. I tried to give an accurate portrayal, one which I hope offends no one.
1869. Saint Boniface, Manitoba. Matthew Williams has felt this brewing in his gut for quite some time, since the government bought that land out West where Matthew’s old children and new children lived and mingled as one.
Matthew Williams stands in the shadows of the Saint-Boniface Cathedral, straightening his collar nervously in the Manitoba heat. His boss doesn’t know he is here. He has come because he has felt the frustration of his people, however small in the eyes of the government they may be. He watches the man on the steps of the Cathedral wave his arms, bark passionately at the crowd, his dark hair wild on his head, his eyes fevered. Matthew feels out of place in the crowd that hangs on the speaker’s every word - these children are also children of Francis, yes, and Arthur too, but they are darker then Matthew’s European complexion and he tries to keep to the back of the mass, hovering, enraptured.
This man, Louis Riel, “savior of the Métis”, continues. He denounces the surveys, maintains that this land belongs to the Métis, not the government. As Matthew watches, the part of him that is not Arthur’s boils, indignantly, under his skin. This is dangerous, he thinks absently as he watches that same angry agreement surfacing in the eyes of his Métis children. This means trouble, he can feel it coming, and his boss will not be happy to hear about this.
At the end of Riel’s speech the man loiters, shakes hands and exchanges words with friends and supporters alike. Matthew hangs back on the steps, watches this strange, commanding man make rounds and soothe the desperate. Finally Riel is left alone on the steps of the Cathedral, running a hand through his tangled curls. His piercing eyes raise and lock with Matthew’s - Matthew is not sure who steps forward first, only that they come face to face. Riel is taller than Matthew, and the nation unconsciously squares his shoulders.
“Who are you?” Riel asks. His hand tightens on his papers, and Matthew gazes up into the man’s eyes.
“I’m Canada.” he says simply.
Matthew and Louis Riel sit on the steps of the Cathedral. For such an educated and spiritual man, Riel accepts his country’s persona with ease, without blinking an eye. He tells Matthew about the tribulations the Métis face, the anger of the Anglophones and the frustration they have felt over the surveyors, the intruders on their ancestor’s lands. Matthew cannot offer any comfort to this man - he is merely a country, he explains, albeit a country that remembers and feels and cries for its children, and he cannot swing the decisions of his boss anymore than an advisor can. Riel listens to all this and is silent. His great hands smooth and clench at the fabric of his trousers, and Matthew feels a peculiar aching in his heart for this strange man, this man destined somehow for greatness.
“I’m sorry.” Matthew says quietly, and Riel gives a small nod to indicate he has heard. “But I thank you for giving the people a voice.”
Riel smiles, a twitch of lips under a mustache. “I will do what I need to for my people.” he replies, and it is only years later that Matthew realizes how right Louis Riel is.
& & &
By the time Matthew and John A. Macdonald have a discussion about Louis Riel, it is 1870. Matthew has not seen Riel since that speech on the Cathedral stairs, but he has heard Macdonald talk a lot about him - how he is a “dangerous half breed rebel”, how he took Fort Garry for the Métis, how they had made a provisional government, and how just a short time ago they had executed a surveyor named Thomas Scott.
“What are they trying to prove?” Macdonald mutters into his glass of scotch. Matthew debates taking the glass away from his boss - it is too early in the afternoon to be ingesting such large amounts of alcohol. Even if the Prime Minister does feel threatened.
“I think they’re trying to show you they want to be taken seriously.” Matthew suggests delicately, running a thumb over the lip of his glass. Macdonald fixes him with a sharp glance from under his eyebrows.
“You’re not thinking softly towards them, are you boy?” he asks. Matthew shakes his head.
“I agree that they shouldn’t have executed Scott.” he murmurs placidly, and his boss’s face relaxes.
“Maybe they wanted to make a statement.” Macdonald agrees, and settles back in his chair with a tired groan. “But taking another human’s life? So carelessly as if...as if they had real power?”
You keeping running them around in circles, Matthew thinks bitterly, words that are half his own and half the Métis, bitter and tired of being pushed around, rising to his mind. All they want is security for themselves and you deny them this.
Donald Smith has returned from Fort Garry, pale and shaken from witnessing death. He repeats what Riel himself uttered, and Matthew does not know what to feel:
“I have done three good things since I have commenced; I have spared Boulton’s life at your insistence, I pardoned Gaddy, and now I shall shoot Scott.”
& & &
It is May, 1876. Matthew steps into the mental asylum in Montreal, gives the name of the man he has come to visit. He walks down the halls and draws his coat closer to his body. Macdonald has resigned; Alexander Mackenzie and his Liberal party are in power. Men and women shout at him as he passes their cells; Matthew is unused to seeing this sort of madness, this depravity. He has so far been a sheltered country, and he almost turns back.
Louis Riel is in the second to last cell. He sits on his bed when the guard escorts Matthew in; his head, matted and curly, is bowed; his hands are clasped.
Matthew sits in a chair opposite, and asks, hesitantly, “Riel?”
Riel’s head snaps upwards. “Canada.” he answers, tonelessly. “Hello, my country. My betrayer.”
Matthew’s face falls. “No.” he shakes his head. “I have not betrayed you, Riel.”
“I only did...what was best for my people. Don’t you understand? It is God’s will.” Riel straightens up, tries to look fierce - and he does, he always does. He cuts a striking image even in this cell, and Matthew finds himself leaning forward.
“Riel - Louis.” he tries when Riel does not look his way. “What has happened to you?”
Riel suddenly grabs the nation’s face in one large, calloused palm. Matthew refrains from exclaiming, so as not to alert the guard outside. A thumb strokes his cheek; Riel stares directly into Matthew’s eyes, as if searching for Matthew’s approval.
“God spoke to me.” he explains. “God told me that I am the new prophet. I am David, and I will stand against the Goliath. The Métis will rise against this injustice.”
“Louis, you’re very sick.” Matthew says carefully. He places one hand over Riel’s. “You need to focus on getting better.”
“You’re right.” Riel agrees. “I need to focus. I need to put my trust in God and He will show me the way to my destiny. I am the prophet, Matthew, don’t you see?”
I don't, Canada thinks frantically as he sees this man - this man who, years earlier, stood on cathedral steps and rallied his people together - so broken but still so fierce and fiery. He doesn’t know what to say. Riel’s hand seeps warmth into his face and Matthew does not say anything for a while.
“I am the chosen leader.” Riel insists, calmly, with the air of a man who knows a fact no one else does. “I will show you, Canada. I will save you.”
“Please save me.” Matthew murmurs without thinking - his people are fighting, and he is hurting. French against English, why can’t they stop? He thought it was bad enough when Francis and Arthur were here, but now they are back in Europe and they have left children to fight for them. The Québécois favor Riel; the Ontarians want nothing to do with him. The government does not want the provisional government; the Métis still suffer. Matthew feels like he is being pulled in all directions at once. Across his back he feels the slow disagreement over the railway, left by Macdonald’s bribery, and he aches for the prickle of railway spikes to connect himself.
He feels like he is falling apart and he half-wants, in a sick twisted way, for Riel to at least unify some of his people. Riel gives his cheek a pat, in a fatherly way that is absolutely bizarre. Matthew offers a weak smile, and Riel returns it.
“Come,” he says, takes his hand away from Matthew’s face so he can gather the nation’s hands in his own. “Pray with me, my country. Notre Père, qui est aux cieux, Que ton nom soit sanctifié, Que ton règne vienne, Que ta volonté soit faite Sur la terre comme au ciel...”
Matthew bows his head and listens to the rumble of Riel’s voice. And hopes.
& & &
“Look, ‘s’long as he’s in America, your boys can’t touch him!” Alfred says for the second time, hands on hips, looking the epitome of a free farm boy. Matthew crosses his arms over his chest and looks away, can’t bear to see the sunny grin his brother is holding.
It is 1883. Riel is in Montana with his wife and children. Canada’s shoulder aches - the railroad spikes are being slowly driven in, one by one.
“I know.” he mutters, teeth clenched, heart pounding. “But is he all right?”
“Y’know he was naturalized last month, huh?” Alfred remarks casually, flicking a piece of dirt off his sleeve. “Yup, he’s an American now. Look, Matt, why’re you so hung up on this guy? Sure, he caused a stir, but he’s outta your hair now, right? Your boss should be happy.”
Yes, Matthew’s boss is happy; but the Métis are not. Matthew can feel it, and it strikes him as unfair and unsettling that some days he cannot bring himself to care.
“He was an influential man,” Matthew offers, adding, “Riel, I mean.”
Alfred looks at him incredulously, then begins to chuckle. “Matt, you sure do know how to pick ‘em.” he informs his brother. “Heard Riel kept going naked through Keeseville, babbling about him bein’ a prophet or somethin’.”
Matthew doesn’t say anything, just keeps his head turned away.
“Well!” Alfred sighs, and swings himself off the fence. “If you wanna go down and visit him, I sure wouldn’t mind.”
“That’s okay.” Matthew says. “I...I don’t think I will.”
Alfred shrugs, easily, and Matthew can already see the event slipping from the other nation’s memory. “Suit yourself.” he claps a friendly hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “Take it easy, okay? I hear you’re building a railroad - good fer you. It was nice talking to you, bro.”
Matthew does not point out that it is Alfred who usually does all the talking when they meet - instead, he smiles, and says, “You too, Al. Take care.”
With a windmilling wave, Alfred is out of sight, across the border. Matthew decides to take a walk in the grasslands, to clear his head.
He cannot help but feel a bit abandoned.
& & &
Matthew sees Louis Riel in defeat, two years later, in Batoche, Saskatchewan. In the end it is fairly clear who will win - as Matthew (in his soldier colours) approaches Batoche from the north in an attempt to draw the defenders from the town, a nail hits him in the shoulder. It embeds painfully, right above the joint, and the nation winces. He pulls it out with little difficulty - the Métis in front of him are firing nails and rocks from their rifles, faces a picture of despair and lingering determination. Over the crest Matthew can see the second column of Canadians charging into town. Bullets fly; men fall. Matthew’s heart gives a funny leap-jump when he sees the remaining Métis running, escaping from Batoche.
There aren’t very many of them. Not many at all, much less than when they started all this. Matthew searches the retreating backs for that proud frame, that tell-tale mop of hair. He sees nothing.
Beside him, Frederick Middleton grips his shoulder in celebration.
“Well done, lad!” he compliments. “Dumont’s fled, and Riel’s about to surrender.”
Matthew nods weakly, thanks his general. He cannot get out of his mind the image of Gabriel Dumont with blood on his face, rising to stand with Riel as they face down the Canadians. The loss was greater on the Métis side, and he can see the dead from where he stands. He follows Middleton down the hill to where a tired, drained, exhausted looking Louis Riel is surrendering to the Canadian soldiers. They jostle him; interject with cheers and excitement; throughout it all Riel hold his head up with an enigmatic look on his face. Beside Matthew, Middleton sighs.
“Almost feels sorry for the poor bugger.” the general admits. “Had a fine fighting companion - Dumont was really something else.”
Matthew catches Riel’s eyes - then he steps forward, addressing the soldier holding him. “I’ll take him.” he says. The soldier examines him, sees the colours he is wearing, and nods.
Matthew and Riel march side by side where they will meet the rest of the Canadians. Riel does not speak - he watches his feet so he doesn’t trip on rocks and roots. His hands are behind him in manacles.
“You came back.” Matthew says, quietly, without anger or happiness in his tone. Riel looks at him, then back at the ground.
“I had to.” he replies. “My people needed me.”
“And what did you gain from all this?” Matthew asks, voice controlled, forehead creased. “From coming back and, and staging this rebellion?”
There is a smile in Riel’s voice, a note of bitterness when he answers, “The government wants so easily to forget that we exist. It would be much easier for them if the Métis did not live in Canada.”
Matthew does not try to defend his government, because in some cases it is true. And Riel knows this.
“I showed them,” Riel continues, voice rising as he speaks. “I showed them that we are here. And we live on this land and we will not be forgotten.”
Matthew wants to rage at him - he wants to tell him that “There was another way, there had to have been”. But he knows, in that part of him, that there probably wasn’t. The Métis would have continued to ask the government for help and action and the government, maybe, would have helped.
Louis Riel murdered a man and started a rebellion. But it got attention.
It was like when Alfred would throw a temper tantrum until Arthur picked him up, back when they were kids - but on a larger scale, one that left Métis and white men alike dead on Canadian soil.
Matthew wants to believe that what Louis Riel did was right. But he is not so sure anymore.
& & &
“Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having.”
Matthew Williams sits in a stuffy courtroom on a blistering July day, watching Louis Riel deny that he is insane. In some ways he admires Riel; in other ways he wishes the man was actually insane. Matthew shifts in his seat, winces at the loud creaking. Riel is speaking and it is hard to follow him - his accent is awful and when he speaks it is with the flowery metaphors of a preacher.
The only things I would like to call your attention to,” Riel says, “Before you retire to deliberate are: first. That the House of Commons, Senate and Ministers of the Dominion, and who make laws for this land and govern it, are no representation whatever of the people of the North-West. Second. That the North-West Council generated by the Federal Government has the great defect of its parent. Third. The number of members elected for the Council by the people make it only a sham representative legislature and no representative government at all.”
Matthew winces, actually winces. The jury is mostly Anglophone. No, scratch that - the jury is completely Anglophone. The man next to him gives him a sour look for squirming in his seat. Matt wishes fervently for Kumajirou, who is back at home licking his paws.
“Are you done?” the Judge, Hugh Richardson, a rotund, no-nonsense looking man, frowns down at Riel.
“Not yet, if you have the kindness to permit me your attention for a while.” Riel responds, a smile lifting the side of that gaunt face.
“Well, proceed.”
Riel starts off again. Matthew watches the jurors’ faces for something, anything. They watch the man in front of them, faces blank.
The Crown had called up witnesses, many witnesses. They had tried to make Riel seem insane. Was Riel insane? Matthew had seen him in Montreal - he had seemed...broken down. Had they fixed him or had he continued to be like that? Wild-eyed, certain, fantastical?
“What you will do in justice to me, in justice to my family, in justice to my friends, in justice to the North-West,” here Riel’s eyes met Matthew’s, held them. “...will be rendered a hundred times to you in this world, and to use a sacred expression, life everlasting in the other.”
Riel finishes, sits down. His lawyers try not to look unsettled. The jurors file out to deliberate. Matthew clenches and unclenches his fists. He is in the front row of the courtroom and he leans forward. He could brush Riel’s shoulders if he wants to.
“You could be acquitted.” he hisses. “You could save yourself.”
Riel does not turn around. “I have already saved myself.” he responds. His lawyers look back, puzzled.
Thirty minutes later, the jury finds Louis Riel guilty of treason and recommend mercy.
The judge sentences him to death.
& & &
“Louis Riel shall hang...though every dog in Quebec shall bark.”
& & &
Remember, remember, the sixteenth of November, Matthew thinks bitterly. He is standing in the middle of a shifting crowd, waiting to see Louis Riel for the last time. They lead him out of his cell to the back of the building. He is wearing a black coat and his face is pale. Alfred is beside Matthew, and the younger snatches his brother’s sleeve in between his fingers.
“Thank you for coming with me.” he whispers. Alfred gives his trademark grin easily, though his eyes follow Riel to the hangman’s noose.
“He’s my citizen too.” he replies. When he is sure no one is looking at them, Alfred grabs Matthew’s hand reassuringly.
“You know England will tell you this,” the older nation whispers, “But we can’t afford to get hung up on every single person that passes through.”
“I know.” Matthew says, eyes facing front, internally wincing at Alfred’s choice of the words “hung up”. Alfred shakes his head.
“Sure looks like you know.” he comments, and Matthew feels angry. Just because Alfred has a couple years - officially - on him, doesn’t mean he can act like the elder in this situation.
“Look, Matt.” Alfred gives a belabored sigh. “I know what it’s like. I mean, when Washington died?” the other country runs a hand through his hair. “I nearly went mad.”
Up by the window, Riel is reciting the Litany. Matthew shifts uneasily from foot to foot.
“He is called the...“father of you”, after all.” he remarks a little bitterly. “That’s understandable. What is Riel to me? In all honesty, I should regard him as a traitor.”
Alfred smiles. He doesn’t let go of Matthew’s hand, even when a spectator looks over and down in disapproval.
“But he’s not, is he?” Alfred asks softly. “Not just a traitor?”
“No.” Matthew agrees. “He’s much more than that.”
The brothers wait, and watch. Riel descends the steps to the scaffold. His eyes meet Matthew’s in the crowd (or Matthew thinks they do - for all he knows Riel could be merely surveying the people). Eyes still focused on Matthew, he dips his head as if in recognition and proclaims, “I ask the forgiveness of all men, and forgive all my enemies.”
The weight lifts off Matthew’s heart as Riel’s face is masked by a white hood. Behind Riel, the priests are praying. Alfred’s hand grips his so hard that Matthew imagines his knuckles are white.
Matthew only looks away from Riel once, to look at his brother’s face.
“Do you always cry for the heroes, Al?” he teases. Alfred doesn’t bother to wipe his face.
“I certainly don’t cry for the traitors, Matt.” he chuckles in reply.
“...For thine is the kingdom,” Father MacWilliams recites. “the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.”
(Amen)
(The drop falls)
& & &
FIN
& & &
LOTS O’ NOTES:
-“Novámbr” - Michif (the language of the Métis people which combines Cree with Métis French) for “November”, the month Louis Riel was executed.
-the Métis are a group of native people in Canada and parts of the United States. They are the “mixed” descendants of First Nation marriages to Europeans, mainly French.
-In 1869 the Canadian government bought Rupert’s Land (which is now Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec and Minnesota). William McDougall was appointed governor of the new territory. This was regarded as not a good thing, since McDougall was English-speaking and “anti-French”; this was severely opposed by the Métis and French speaking inhabitants of the territory.
-“He denounces the surveys, maintains that this land belongs to the Métis, not the government” - Thing is, the government didn’t exactly ask the Métis if it was cool to use their land. When government surveyors appeared to plot the new land, the Métis, led by Louis Riel, barred McDougall from entering the land. This led to a new provisional government being created, with Riel at its head.
-The Manitoba Act in 1870 created the province of Manitoba in response to the Red River Rebellion led by Louis Riel.
-“I have done three good things since I have commenced; I have spared Boulton’s life at your insistence, I pardoned Gaddy, and now I shall shoot Scott” - Thomas Scott was a surveyor who had been sent to plot Rupert’s Land. When the Red River Rebellion happened, the Métis occupied Upper Fort Garry, a Hudson’s Bay Company Trading Post. A handful of Canadians (Scott included) volunteered to try and rush Fort Garry to take it back, but they were ultimately captured. On January 9th, 1870, Scott and ten others tried to escape from Fort Garry. They were caught, but Riel freed the prisoners. Then Scott and a man named Charles Boulton tried to organize a party to overthrow Riel’s provisional government. Boulton was sentenced to death but pardoned; Scott fought with his guards, which led to him being tried for insubordination, insulting Riel and quarreling with his guards. He was executed on March 4th, 1870.
Donald Smith, a Hudson’s Bay Representative, pleaded for Riel to not kill Thomas Scott, and in return Riel was said to have uttered this quote. (Jesus Christ this was a long explanation, is anyone still reading???)
-Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, was I guess most infamously known for his big nose and his rather, er, unsavory drinking problem. Also for a little thing known as the Pacific Scandal, but that’s neither here nor there :D
-Eventually there was a bounty placed on Louis Riel’s head and he fled to America. During his exile in America, Louis Riel stayed with an Oblate father, Father Barnabé and his sister Evelina Barnabé in Keeseville, New York. It was said that during this time he began to show signs of suffering from a deterioration of mental state, and apparently he went through the streets of Keeseville naked on more than one occasion. It was after this that he was taken to his uncle, who committed him to the Montreal asylum in 1876.
-“God spoke to me” - Riel believed in the years leading to the asylum that God had spoken to him and that he was a prophet and chosen leader of the Métis.
-“Across his back he feels the slow disagreement over the railway, left by Macdonald’s bribery, and he aches for the prickle of railway spikes to connect himself” - Canada didn’t officially start building the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1881. Before that, John A. Macdonald became involved in what is known as the “Pacific Scandal” - Macdonald and other politicians granted federal contracts to the “Canada Pacific Railway Company” under bribes. This caused the Conservative party to be removed from office and Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie to come into power. It took a long time to build the railway, because Canada is hella big, and at one point there were like, little patches of railway in random places. Eventually they got off the ground (hooray!)
-“...in a fatherly way that is absolutely bizarre” - Louis Riel is often called the “Father of Manitoba”, since his Red River Rebellion sparked the Manitoba Act.
-“Notre Père, qui est aux cieux...” - the beginnings of the Lord’s Prayer, in French.
-“Riel is in Montana with his wife and children” - Riel briefly visited his friends and family after his exile in America and subsequent visit to the mental institution, but seeing the hardships that had befallen the Métis (alcoholism, scarcity of buffalo for hunting, the selling of their land), he travelled to Montana, where he became a trader and interpreter, married in 1881 and had two children. He received American citizenship in March of 1883.
-“Batoche, Saskatchewan” - The North-West Rebellion was fought by Riel’s Provisional Government against the Dominion of Canada for control over the Northwest Territories. The Battle of Batoche was a decisive victory for the Canadian government.
-“...a nail hits him in the shoulder” - by the end of the Battle of Batoche, the Métis were low on ammunition and had taken to firing nails and bullets instead of bullets.
-After Frederick Middleton led the Canadians in the North-West Rebellion, he was knighted by Queen Victoria. Then he returned to England and was appointed “Keeper of the Crown Jewels” for a bit. What a man~!
-“...Gabriel Dumont with blood on his face” - Gabriel Dumont was the one who actually helped bring Louis Riel back from Montana to defend the Métis. Apparently during the Battle of Duck Lake, which was an earlier battle in the North-West Rebellion, Dumont was shot in the head but continued fighting. At the end of the Battle of Batoche, Riel was arrested while Dumont fled to Montana. Apparently he joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show for a bit. Who knew.
-“He follows Middleton down the hill to where a tired, drained, exhausted looking Louis Riel is surrendering to the Canadian soldiers” - Okay, I’m lying. The Battle of Batoche ended on May 12, and Riel surrendered on May 15, but I’m taking creative license.
-“Life, without the dignity of an intelligent being, is not worth having” - During Louis Riel’s trial, him having been accused (on six counts) of treason, Riel’s lawyers try to pass off the idea that Riel was insane, so as to try to get him acquitted. Louis Riel refused his lawyers’ attempts, and actually delivered two speeches to the court (this quote being in one of them) despite the fact that his English wasn’t the best. This is actually one of the reasons I, personally, admire Riel.
-Though the jury recommended mercy, Judge Hugh Richardson sentenced him to death. Edwin Brooks, who was one of the jurors in Louis Riel’s trial, famously said later that “Riel was tried for treason, but hanged for the death of Thomas Scott.”
-“Louis Riel shall hang...though every dog in Quebec shall bark.” - John A. Macdonald (hey, remember him?) was returned to power in 1878. He said this quote because after Riel’s sentence, the defense tried to appeal and many Québécois sent Macdonald letters and petitions for Riel’s life. Macdonald was said to be very happy about Riel being hanged.
-Father MacWilliams was one of two priests who were with Riel throughout his last night and the execution.
Author's Note: Whoo-ee! Those were some long notes! Sorry guys, guess I like being thorough! Anyways, I'm sorry if this felt at all rushed or patchy - my thinking is, Matthew wouldn't have a lot of chances to see Riel, what with him being a rebel and then an exile and then crazy and then an enemy and then a dead man. So, yeah. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!