You started reading The Flight of the Heron in a TREE by a SCOTTISH CASTLE, that is truly the peak experience and I can only gasp in admiration.

I love how Keith thinks he's being devastatingly sarcastic about Ewan while betraying his crush at every turn. "My own young Achilles" he writes in his diary. KEITH. SIR. And then the bit where he escapes because Ewan forgot the renew his parole... and he leaves Ewan money and Ewan is SO insulted...

Also the hurt/comfort in the shieling is SO perfect. And the way they keep harking back to it after! "That night in the shieling" indeed.