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Dreamflower's Mathoms I by Dreamflower	10 Review(s)
Frodo Baggins	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 12/25/2005
Oh Dreamflower!! THis was so touching and sweet!! In that little ficlet was said so much and contained so much feeling. I loved it!! You are a wonderful author. I am so happy to find yet another Christian author. Hannon le, mell min! God Bless, Frodo Baggins Author Reply: This particular vignette just came to me, in Merry's voice. I have felt for a long time that he would be especially hurt by Frodo's final departure, for he knew his cousin so well from the time he was a baby.

Lindelea	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/8/2005
Hadn't read this one before. Very powerfully written. You have left me with an ache in my throat. Finally, I understand. Beautifully balanced between love and sorrow. Author Reply: Thank you very much. I have a hard time sometimes taking credit for this one. It just presented itself to me in my head, almost as though Merry himself was dictating it to me. And at the same time, in the background, I could hear the strains of "The Water is Wide..." I think of this particular fic as a gift.

elwing	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 9/2/2005
beautiful. i like the imagery...i also appreciate the fact that you actually understand how to use grammar. although this review may not reflect the fact, good grammar makes a story much more enjoyable for me. like i said, beautiful story.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/10/2005
It's been so long since I read this one, and it is one of my favorites you've written. Yes, I feel with Merry, understand the grief for the grief perceived. And understand the grief for the one who had to leave at last to survive the losses he's known. Author Reply: Thank you. Ever since I have ever heard that old folk song "The Water is Wide", I always thought of the ones Frodo left behind. The Elves called it The Sundering Sea for a very good reason. And though I do not necessarily think Merry's love was any greater or deeper than Sam's or Pippin's, it was the oldest--reaching back as it did to his very infancy, and I think, due to his protective and possessive nature, his grief may have been the sharpest.

PIppinfan1988	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 4/20/2005
This waa powerful--especially that last line of how the sea will forever affect Merry. Beautifully written....you almost had me in tears! What I should like to know is--who is your favorite? You write each hobbit with equal joy and love...but you can tell me. I promise not to tell! :-) Pippinfan Author Reply: The truth? All four of them. What I love is their relationships to one another and their interactions, the way they show their love and protectiveness to each other, the ways in which they are alike and are different. I love the hobbitiness of them, and how they tease each other, and support each other. I love the way they seem to be so connected, such a vital part of one another's lives. That said, there are some differences. I find Merry's POV comes very easily to me. I love to write Pippin as a child or young tween. I enjoy Sam's POV often, though it does not come to me as easily as Merry's. I do find that it is sometimes difficult to write Frodo--he is a very private person, and does not like to let others in on what he's thinking. In very short stories or drabbles, I have no trouble in writing just one or two hobbits, but in anything longer, it is impossible not to somehow get them all in. When I wrote "The Brandy Hall Incident" I fully intended, for plot reasons, to leave Frodo out. I literally could not do it. He butted in, and insisted on being in it. The only reason Sam was not, is because JRRT said he never went to Buckland before the Quest. And "It Takes a Took" was supposed to be about Pippin/Diamond, and ended up being almost as much Merry/Estella, with a good deal of Frodo and Sam thrown in as well. What can I say? I'm just not a one-hobbit person.

esamen	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 12/23/2004
He takes me in a hug, and I can feel his pain draining away, and he puts his brow against mine. “I love you, too, my Merry.” Oh! Oh! This, to me, is the very best thing about Tolkien and fanfic: the love. It's so wonderful. So few works really go there anymore. Thanks for taking us to the heart of the matter . . . beautiful writing. Very brave. Author Reply: I think the love is at the heart of JRRT's work. And I have very strong feelings about the deep love between the cousins and what it meant to them. There is a bond there that runs deep in the blood, and is part and parcel of who they are, and why Merry and Pippin cared enough to follow Frodo across Middle-earth.

pipspebble	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 12/4/2004
Oh, oh, oh! This is so hauntingly beautiful, it just tears me up! I can feel the cords of my heartstrings stretching and breaking with every moment. Yes, that's exactly what it feels like! When we finally turn away, I know that for me, the sight of the sea will always do to me what the sight of the Brandywine did to him. Finally, I understand. This is so powerful, to wrenching and so achingly lovely I just may cry again. Wonderful job! Author Reply: I am glad that this touched you so; it is very different from most of my fics, a lot more angsty. But it just seemed to come out that way--sometimes I'm not sure I should take credit for some of these pieces when they seem to write themselves.

GamgeeFest	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/29/2004
That was just beautiful! A wonderful, touching connection between Frodo's loss, and now Merry's. Author Reply: You know by now that those connections between them are my obsession. I've thought for some time how the grief of the ones left behind was in a way taking the grief that Frodo was also leaving.

Lindelea	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/29/2004
Perfect. The weaving of the theme of pain and leavetaking, and the final statement. Very well done. Author Reply: I am so glad that you caught what I was aiming for. The intertwining of love between the cousins captivates me; Merry's pain must have been so deep, to lose the one who had been like an older brother to him.

eiluj	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 11/28/2004
Great, poignant title. [Not that the rest of the story doesn't suit those adjectives too, but the title just hit me.] Author Reply: The title comes from a traditional Celtic song, that is one of my favorites, and that (naturally) makes me think of Frodo when I hear it: "The water is wide, I cannot pass o'er Neither have I wings to fly, Build me a boat that will carry two, And we will cross, my love and I."

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