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The Choice of Healing by Larner	7 Review(s)
Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 3/31/2006
It's good that you're posting "Reconciliation" right now, because if I wasn't reading about Pippin's and his parents' reconciliation, I wouldn't even try not to be frustrated with those two. I know, they just don't understand and can't make sense of it all, and I pity them for it, but goodness, they surely don't know how to handle themselves properly. And I can't say I envy those working away at those documents. Just imagining the mounds and mounds of papers makes me shudder. This perioud of slow acceptance that the travellers have come back changed, especially Frodo, I think is the hardest time for everyone; and it's hard for me to just watch them go through it again, wanting to ask questions but not knowing how, and not getting satisfactory answers when they do. Not that I blame the four for not wanting to talk about it; I wouldn't either. And I like the argument/conversation over the tea. I can guess that Frodo's murmured words were something like, "I know. But it's hard, Sam, to feel that it's truly over." Yes, Sam indeed shows more confidence. I'll be gone till next Wednesday and will take the rest of this with me to finish (and hopefully have no more unpleasant surprises from the Pac-mate this time) and review the rest when I get back. God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: Yes, it probably is just as well you're reading "Reconciliation" as well so you don't get tempted to go give Paladin and Eglantine a swift boot to the behind. I've wanted to do so myself a few times. In reading about the verbosity of Hobbit legal papers, it was fun to imagine what kind of backlog would build up in the Mayor's office during Will's imprisonment. That Frodo would think of the nearest possible haven of lawyers sufficiently related to him he could call on them to aid him in sorting this mess out and understanding it all seemed logical; and so the Tooks get called upon to bring in the aid he needs. People will see Merry and Pippin out there in their mail and with shields and swords and helms and ponies gathering more ruffians and escorting them out of the Shire; they'll see Sam in their villages indicating how the Shiriff houses are to be dismantled and the bricks saved, seeing to the rebuilding of homes and inns and mills; they'll see Sam replanting trees and gardens and seeing to the preparation of ruined fields and orchards and all. But how many will realize that Frodo's part in this is also vital--that the cleaning up of the backlog and review of the contracts, sales agreements, deeds, and so on is necessary both to the well-being of the Shire and to finding out how things got into the state they did? Frodo's part in this is important, but most folk in the Shire will never appreciate that, again giving the greater of their admiration to what the other three are doing. Frodo needs Sam's confidence and optimism--and mothering. Your supposition on what was said certainly fits. Sam no longer questions that he is capable of exercising authority at need; and having been accepted as he's been by the King himself as well as the worthies of Gondor and Rohan, he's not going to slip back into hiding in the background and appearing to be the unimportant gardener at Bag End any more. He's finished one job, and now faces another, and will see it done, and well done at that. Have a good trip, and we'll hear from you when you return.

Inkling	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 5/4/2005
Loved the King’s dispatches…very well thought out, and I got a kick out of “an official declaration that the King has come again”…playing, as it does, off the old Shire saying. Paladin’s cluelessness is so frustrating, yet so understandable…and this is an educated hobbit, too! No wonder the average hobbit will never really get it... Author Reply: Yes, I can see it, too. The world has been turned upside down, and so far, those within the Shire have no idea what they've just been through is NOTHING compared to what these four have experienced. Even repetition isn't going to convince folk easily.

Andrea	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 4/1/2005
I really like your characterization of Paladin in this chapter (and in the review comments). His whole world has been turned upside down! But he must understand, that this is also true for the four travellers, who have just returned. They relied on the Shire to be save and unchanged. They were looking forward to come home, but what did they find? It will take time for them to speak and Paladin should be patient. But I'm not sure, he's able to do so. So, I'm very curious, what will happen next! Author Reply: No, I doubt he'll be too patient, either. Sorry it took so long to get chapter six uploaded today--it's been full of coughing and fighting the lingering effects of the flu.

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 4/1/2005
That isn't going to be easy for the Thain and the others to face all the changes they don't truly understand, and then the travellers won't talk about their experiences. It is a difficult situation - the travellers aren't able to talk, and the others aren't able to understand without knowing everything. Very interesting chapter, Larner! Author Reply: Does make it a vicious circle here, with the family left up in the air not knowing what to make of everything. Glad you find it interesting.

shirebound	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 3/31/2005
How fascinating to see how the hobbits can -- and still cannot -- speak of what happened, and how the story is only coming out in bits and pieces. Paladin and Saradoc and marvelously perceptive and persistent, and doing their very best to discover the truth without causing too much pain. Amazing story. Author Reply: I think Saradoc is as you describe, but suspect Paladin is facing major confusion as he tries to accept and yet reject the truth at the same time. It's not going to be easy for any of them. This is a sort of accompaniment to the last few chapters of For Eyes to See as Can--there is a dinner detailed there in the chapters Family Problems and the Cost of Victory that describes the final acceptance of what happened by Tooks and Brandybucks; it is less fully described in The King's Commission during the first evening Ruvemir spends at the Great Smial.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 3/31/2005
You do such a wonderful job of showing the consternation and confusion of our lads' loved ones, as they try to understand what happened while they were gone! The reactions of bafflement and anger ring so true. Author Reply: I found myself sitting in Paladin's chair. Here he is, in a country just barely freed from occupation by a group of strange Men, he and his folk have struggled mightily to keep these Men out of Tookland for months--and in walks Pippin, demands and gets archers with no time for explanations, and he finds himself absolutely flabbergasted. What is going on here? Then in less than a day the Shire is free of the Men, and Merry and Pippin led the freeing as if it were nothing. He wants to blame Frodo, but in his heart can't--he knows the younger Hobbit's nature far too well, knows he's THE most decent Hobbit around. He's then presented with a world turned on its head--his Shire isn't just his any more--all of a sudden it's part of a greater realm called Arnor and Gondor combined, and the one bringing him the King's Dispatches isn't a great warrior--it's his own son, who isn't even of age yet! Then he's asked to believe Frodo went to Mordor, that his cousin Bilbo's stories are really true, that his darling Pip-Lad is now a soldier--and he can't bring himself to accept it all, for to do so means he has to let go of the images he's held for this past year of his son coming home as he left, and the same for the others; but instead he finds himself faming adults who have changed priorities over the past year, and whom he hasn't been able to protect. That must hurt most--that he couldn't have protected them.

Ariel	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 3/31/2005
Oh, how heartbreaking! And so terribly believable. I can see my Frodo, who is very book, (while movie!Fro is darling to look at, he is no match for the book Frodo) coming out in your tale. He's the one I have always loved. Oh, thank you for this! Author Reply: I can almost see movie-Frodo here, too; but you are right--this is more book Frodo. Glad you find it believable.

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