Story Notes

(All links lead to pages on Stories of Arda and are provided for the sake of convenience. This story is dedicated to all the readers over the years with whom I have enjoyed an ongoing conversation, along with all the fanfic writers over the years whose stories continue to offer hours of delight and comfort. Finally, to Nilmandra and Rorrah, who made all this possible.) 

Thanks go to Dinossiel for pre-reading chapters and helping brainstorm a few inconvenient plot hitches.

Chapter 4. The story of Ferumbras' disastrous and deadly hunt is detailed in Pearl of Great Price and in a nightmare recounted in StarFire.

Chapter 5. Pippin's problems started when a troll fell on him in battle, though Elessar's healing skills and a farewell Ent draught drunk with Treebeard on his way homeward did a great deal to help him going forward. However, a serious bout with pneumonia (The Old Gaffer's Friend) shortly before he came of age caused lasting damage to his lungs, as detailed in Jewels and all stories set after that time in the timeline. He finds healing once again in an Ent draught as told in At the End of His Rope and in more detail in A Healer's Tale. Some details of the Tooks' resistance to Pippin returning to take up the reins can be found in Flames.

Chapter 6. At the time this chapter was written, Influenza B was currently cutting a swath in our area. Symptoms: five days of worryingly high fevers (as much as 104 or 105F in children), chills, and headache. Since then, of course, COVID-19 came into the news.

Chapters 7 through 10. Farry's running away and the events that followed are told in more detail in Runaway, co-authored by JoDancingTree, and its sequel A Matter of Appearances.

The background for elements in Chapters 11 through 29 can be found in tantalising hints in Tolkien's "The Scouring of the Shire" and "The Grey Havens" as well as The Proposition and The Rescue (two WIPs here on SoA that I'll be happy to tackle if there's any interest in them – both are outlined to the end, but need to be written out in final form. If you happen to drop me a line or leave a word to that effect, I'll add them to the list of works to finish sooner than later...hopefully).

Chapters 23 through 27. Many thanks to FantasyFan for beta-reading this section and offering comments, insights and food for thought. 

For various reasons, I have decided to end this story here as "Part 1" and (hopefully) continue in a "Part 2" to be posted later, depending on progress in revising and beta-reading. Time and energy are factoring into this, too.

Parts 2 and 3 "call back" to scenes and themes in Part 1 as this was originally a long and cohesive story. (It still is cohesive, and the "Epilogue" chapter in Part 3 reflects back to all the chapters in this story and not just the second half, but chapter 29 presents a natural break, so I'm going with it. One less WIP. Technically speaking.)

In conclusion, I hope this finds you and yours well. Stay safe.

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(If you do happen to visit an old story, I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially if you can point me to similar stories that I might add to my reading list, or if you notice a glaring mismatch since I'm trying to shoehorn things together into one rather large and elaborate quilt. Okay, so I mixed my metaphors. Such is life.)