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The Choice of Healing by Larner	4 Review(s)
Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 4/7/2006
Oh, Frodo! Yes, indeed he does need supervision. I don't know which I pity more, him or Sam--perhaps both. I've always identified most closely with Sam, feeling the same love and care (to the extent that the reader can) that he does, and if I were in his place, trying to help Frodo when he doesn't know what he wants, just dealing with all of this and trying to be strong enough for both as Frodo's strength begins to wane, would tear my heart out. I can understand the half-crying, but pray what in all the world was there to laugh about? All right, I'm sorry. :) I meant nothing about the rice, truly. Just look at it this way: I suppose not being able to bear it has its disadvantages, but you have that to put into your writing. But it's hard when you can enjoy almost anything as I can (okay, not everything, but only because there are some things I just physically can't accept); and it makes it hard when you have to come up with a food a character absolutely detests. I love rice, myself, enough that I can live on the stuff when I must (and I have, almost entirely, for weeks at a time, and still must occasionally) and still like it afterward. But all the same I love your description. :) God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: I certainly agree with you about Sam and his heart feeling torn. Frodo himself doesn't fully understand what he wants, and Sam doesn't feel free to ask him to cling to life solely for his sake. There were times as my husband was in his final illness he wished the end would just come and be done with it; then he would be defying it with all he had in him just a short time later, insisting he be able to see as much as he could before he went. Had Frodo been accepting the athelas draught during this time he'd probably be nowhere near as confused and in as much discomfort and all as he is; but having become convinced by Budgie that the draught's benefits were psychosomatic, he stopped taking it and found the digestive problems are back at full force. Frodo, of course, isn't certain what it all means, if this weakening is just due to not having been able to keep much of anything down or if he's seriously ill or what; and he's about given up. It takes the night on the hill and a secret visit from Elladan to appreciate that he still holds the choice and can remain if he wishes, and to find a small reason at least to remain, one which will give him time to marshall his slowly returning strength to defy the memories the next time they return. I have seen similar things in birds. Now and then a bird will find its way into my house into the upper story of the sun room wing. Three times I've found a bird only a hair's breadth from dying of frustration, unable to find its way out. Feeling totally trapped it has given up to the point at last I can take it in my hands and bring it to the window. There at last, realizing it is now where it is meant to be, it will manage to find the reserves within it to grasp once more at life and actually fly to freedom again. I see Frodo in that state right at this point in the story. As for half-laughing--even at our weakest there often is a part of us that steps aside and looks down at what we do to ourselves and laughs at our own absurdities, and I see that in Frodo there in the study as he falls against the door--that objective side of himself that wants to take the rest of himself and, as Sam is also tempted to do, wants to whack some sense into the hyper-emotional self that has taken over and gotten the whole self into this situation. I strongly remember one situation when the Kid, then only sixteen, snapped out of an emotional highjacking to look down at me, physically clinging to him to keep him from running off and doing something VERY stupid and dangerous, and laughing at the both of us. It's there in most of us with imagination, I think you'll find. So, there are a few foods even you can't eat. There is such for everyone, you'll find. I just tend to be more verbal about it than many others, but then I do have IBS, acid reflux disease, and a few similar conditions that make it physically more likely that if I defy my own tastes and eat things anyway it will be regretted fairly quickly. And it's fun to figure out what our characters will and won't like. To make them real we have to give them likes and dislikes, after all.

Inkling	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 6/21/2005
heaves a sigh of relief along with Sam Well, I’m glad that’s over! Poor Frodo, and poor Sam! This was just heartbreaking: “You’ve been worried sick the day coming will be your last is what,” Sam finally finished for him. After a time Frodo whispered, “Yes, I suppose so. Or, maybe I’m worried that it won’t.” This night seems to be a turning point in more ways than one--Frodo is beginning to see the path before him, and it lies in the stars... Author Reply: You haven't read the last two chapters as yet, have you? I think you will find them beautiful.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 4/8/2005
I love the sweet image of Frodo and Sam on the Hill, letting the Stars comfort them, Frodo sleeping in Sam's arms much as he must have on their journey. I'm wondering about something: is it your idea that he suffered for seventeen days, only beginning to get better on the date when Elrond removed the Morgul splinter? That again is a new idea to me, and I am not sure if I am guessing right. Intriguing. Author Reply: I have always suspected this was true--that he would basically remain ill or concerned from the anniverary of the bite to the anniversary of the loss of the Ring; from the time he carried the splinter to its removal. How much of that would be due to the effects of the Ring and/or the splinter, and how much would be psychosomatic would be difficult to say. Thanks for the response.

shirebound	Reviewed Chapter: 12 on 4/7/2005
"His eyes devoured the brightness above as if the light of the stars were sustenance, and a smile, for the first time since his return, showed on his face." Oh my. I think Frodo is already needing more 'sustenance' than Middle-earth can provide for him. The Light and peace he'll find in the West will be everything he needs. Author Reply: Yes, it is what he will need--but he still needs to accept it.

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