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Just Desserts by Lindelea	6 Review(s)
Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 11/7/2005
These are such powerful chapters!!! I'm glad I read them together. Very intense and very acurate responses on the part of the hobbits. shudders Powerful work!! Author Reply: Thank you! It was rough going, and I'm not quite sure how the next couple of chapters go, to hook up this part to the last part, so your encouragement was very welcome tonight.

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 11/7/2005
Sorry, yet again, Lindelea. I realised as soon as I had posted my review that you hadn't specified the number of lashes. Too keen to read it when I spotted that you had updated to read it properly. And I was at work and wasn't supposed to be reading at all. Can't wait for the next but I promise to read just a bit more slowly. Good food should be tasted on the way down as my Mum used to tell me! Author Reply: No problem, I just didn't know quite how many the Steward had taken, myself, and after doing research on flogging I knew not much more than I'd started out with (except that British naval floggings were many more lashes than I'd imagined, but then I was thinking of Roman floggings where forty lashes could kill someone because of the kind of whip used). Too true, I tend to gulp my fiction. But that's mostly because of my interruption-prone life. I'd really rather savour it slowly.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 11/7/2005
Oh my. And yet, such a very public - and self-imposed - penalty for Haldoron will probably go a long way to reinstating him in the respect of the citizens of Annuminas. Good, too, that those who saw this were reminded of the toll taken on those who fought against the forces of the Dark Lord for so long. Haleth must respect the Steward - which seems a funny thing to say of someone who has condemned you to fifty lashes - because I cannot see any other reason why he would wish to intervene and demand that he take his part of the punishment. But then he probably knows more about Haldoron than most. I'm glad the sympathy of the hobbits has been aroused - their presence will do a lot for Haldoron. And I'm very glad that Aragorn intervened while the punishment was still punishment rather than torture. (I would rather like him to rein in the justice system a little more, too. Not just from lopping off hands - but I suppose in this pseudo-medieval world that would be a bit too much to expect.) What consequences! I look forward to finding out where this goes now. Forgiveness, I hope. Restitution? Recovery? Respect? I can't wait to see. Author Reply: Well, considering Haldoron has been Steward for at least ten years, maybe more (while Annuminas was being rebuilt, before Aragorn returned to the North-land and met the hobbits at the Bridge), and Haleth has likely served under him for much if not all of that time, I'd say he probably knew Haldoron in the early days, after Aragorn had chosen "the best of the Northern Rangers" for his steward. I do think that Haldoron has paid his dues. And now a nice long sabbatical, while someone else drives the wain for awhile, and perhaps he might even be able to return to being Steward some day, with new eyes and a renewed heart. I have to grin, thinking of what is in his future. (The Epilogue is written, and what fun!)

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 11/7/2005
The healing began with the first word of the Steward. This is a 'wow' of a chapter Lindelea! I am proud of myself for guessing it. I, too, was a little surprised that the King let it get to fifty lashes but you had everyone's reactions perfect for me. I want to hear The King and his steward in conversation over this. Will he let him resign or will he help him take the harder path? Author Reply: Well, I deliberately did not specify how many lashes the Steward took. Something less than one hundred, for certain. I don't know if it was as many as fifty, though it might have been. The number "fifty" was stated as Haleth's sentence. There is a very interesting conversation coming up between Steward and King... Good job on guessing!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 11/7/2005
I am proud--more than proud--of every single one of them, from Aragorn to Haladorn to Haleth to Merry, Pippin, and Sam. Yes, let the healing begin now in earnest. And Haladorn himself has been taken by orcs in the past? A mighty oak he has finally become indeed, now that his grief is in its place. And the Valar will, I think, bless him while Eru will honor him mightily. Author Reply: Yes, Haldoron was taken by Orcs in the past, and Aragorn led the rescue party. Quite an exciting and desperate story, and one that cemented the trust and friendship between the cousins, as well as made Haldoron Aragorn's man forever after. Complete and utter loyalty--and devastating shame when he realised he had failed his cousin and his King.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 11/7/2005
whoosh Now that was something. I was surprised at Aragorn letting him take the lashes, though I knew he would stop it before it went too far. The hobbits' reactions were perfect. Haldoron has publicly made sure those whom he condemned are now received as the heroes they are--his gesture will ensure that, if nothing else. Yet his self-flagellation (and though he was not the one wielding the whip, it most certainly was that, as those who were could not gainsay him) was also in a way a gesture of pride. Not content to merely announce that he was in the wrong, he had to make his penance public. (I am reminded of what JRRT said of Frodo, about his feelings of guilt for not destroying the Ring being in a way the last vestiges of his pride.) Hopefully, however, the physical suffering will help him to gain a bit of perspective; perhaps that was the reason Aragorn let it go as far as he did. For the healing will have to be more than physical, yet the comfort can begin there, on the simpler level. Author Reply: Well, it was the only penance that Haldoron could understand at that time. He had not yet been "hobbitized", you see... You know, I had originally written this as him remitting all penalty, for I find the idea of flogging repugnant, but thinking it over after Larner's remarks, I thought perhaps it would fit into Tolkien's Roman Catholic understanding, the Steward's taking the punishment on himself. (If I am misinterpreting and have caused offence to someone of that church, I apologise.) You are spot on about gaining perspective, that is very likely why Aragorn let it go as far as it did. But after his cousin broke down under the flogging, he stopped everything. Perhaps he was watching the sergeant, too, and understood Haleth's intention to interfere... er, intervene.

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