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In the Bleak, Cold Winter by GamgeeFest	8 Review(s)
Grey Wonderer	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 9/10/2006
Lots of very bad news for Sam to take in at once. I was of the same mind as Merry was on that. I guess the healer knows what she should do though and at least Sam will take her seriously about staying in bed and being careful. I wonder who will do the gardening now? I am enjoying this very much by the way. Author Reply: Poor Sam had a bombshell dropped on him. Whatever he was expecting to hear it wasn't that and it was a shock. Willow knew she needed to make Sam fear for his livelihood to keep him from getting too anxious as he begins to heal and to keep him from trying to hurry things up. I tend to agree with Merry also, but Willow knew it would make little difference how she delivered the news, so she might as well be stern and make sure Sam takes her seriously.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 9/4/2006
And will the interim gardener be a Merry one, I wonder? Heh! Having pulled all the ligaments in my left foot, managing to snap the tip off a toe-bone in the process, I certainly appreciate just what Sam is undergoing at the moment. And she's right--Sam and Frodo both need to be frightened into not pushing the situation too early. Alas that this is so. Author Reply: You know, I wouldn't put it past Merry to extend his visits to Frodo this year, to help with Sam of course. ;) I've never been seriously injured, thank goodness, but one of my classmates last year had sprained the ligament of his plantaris muscle over a year before and he was still in a walking brace. So yes, Sam is going to have to be a very good boy, and he's going to need Frodo, Gaffer, Goldie and everyone else to remind him to be a very good boy when he starts to get impatient. :)

Periantari	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/22/2006
Sam would have been hobbling around this smial as soon as he thought he could get away with it, and your cousin is too soft-hearted and too fond of him to tell him no. If he’s had a shock, then all the better for both him and Frodo in the long run. A little bit of fear now is better than a lifetime of regret. Do you agree with that?” lol now i know why the Ms. Willow said it like she did. I look forward to more. And i like Merry in this story a lot--certainly with the way things are going there is much room for Sam and Merry friendship bits to be integrated along with the "c" part of things in the story. :) Yes, i like rereading. :) Author Reply: Willow wouldn't have said what she did just to scare Sam into behaving himself, though that certainly was a very large part of it. Sprains can be very nasty and they can take forever to heal. One of the guys I went to massage school with had sprained his ankle a year earlier and he was still wearing a walking brace. Merry is really showing his true colors here. Without Pippin around, he really can be quite well-behaved! And with Sam down and out, there will be tons of opportunities for them to chat and get familiar with each other's ways.

Periantari	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/22/2006
Omg so love the latest chapter... oh the angst! Poor Sam!!! What a horrible sprain he got. :( I hope the healer is just a bit exaggerating though... oh dear... The part with Sam crying though--aww really got to me. ::goes to comfort him:: =) I love all your details ..Merry helping Willow was funny and i liked the details of Frodo being there for Sam too. And it's great that Merry volunteered to go fetch the healer. But yeah, all i was thinking rereading this, was "poor Sam!" ::goes to hug him and try to heal his ankle quickly:: And eek! casts are no fun to be in...my sister was in one last year and she itched pretty badly in one, so Sam's not going to be that comfortable in one... Also i liked all your details of the healer doing a thorough exam and such--very credible and real and yes, i so snuggle this fic. Thank you so so so so much! Author Reply: Yes, poor Sam! He wasn't expecting to have that bombshell dropped on him and the shock of it put him completely out of his wits. Healers rarely exaggerate in my experience. If anything, they have the tendency to gloss things over so they don't look quite so bad. Thank goodness that Willow isn't prone to such behavior. Sam needed to hear it straight for it to sink in how careful he needs to be. But yes, poor Sam. He very much appreciates your comfort! Merry is such a dope around Willow. snickers But he really was the only one who could have gone for the healer. Had Frodo attempted, it would have taken him even longer, being unfamiliar with those clunky shoes. Sam won't be enjoying the cast. Just having something on his foot, covering it almost entirely, will be enough to irritate him. The itching will only make it that much more unbearable. He'll be glad when those three weeks are over. :) I'm so glad you're enjoying this!! It's growing more with each chapter, so it might wind up being a few chapters more than my last projection, though I'm sure you won't mind. ;) hugs

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/21/2006
I am sure that two to four months sounds like a life-time sentence to poor Sam. But for Frodo to suggest an interim gardener! Not the most diplomatic thing he could do! Author Reply: Well, four to six months really, and for someone whose never been off his feet for more than a week at the most (and then only once at that), it is quite a long time. Frodo's timing could have been better, but he wasn't exactly thinking clearly himself either. He was just answering the question with the first thing that popped into his head. Thanks for reading!!

Andrea	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/20/2006
I know the Gamgee fellows. They’re all stubborn to a fault. Sam would have been hobbling around this smial as soon as he thought he could get away with it, and your cousin is too soft-hearted and too fond of him to tell him no. If he’s had a shock, then all the better for both him and Frodo in the long run. A little bit of fear now is better than a lifetime of regret. Do you agree with that? How very clever of Miss Willow! I'm deeply impressed of that healer! Of course Sam would have tried to get up as soon as possible. But with the prospect of being crippled he will remain in bed, as long as Willow tells him. And Frodo will have an eye (or two) on him all the time ;-) Poor Sam! And Merry? Well, Merry is just wonderful :) Great chapter, GamgeeFest! I'm eagerly awaiting more. Author Reply: Willow has had much experience with the Gamgees, the Gaffer most noteably. As such, she's come to learn that being stern and forthcoming is the best way to deal with them, and she's right. Good thing Frodo hadn't caved and given Sam the crutches! I'd hate to imagine what her reaction to that would be! Sam is too helpful sometimes. He really needs to learn to let others do the work from time to time. He'll still regret that Frodo and Merry are having to do for him, but he won't be attempting to bribe his way out of bed anymore either. Merry really is beginning to shine in this story, even when he's acting like a hormonally-charged tween! Thank you so much for reading and for such a lovely review!

cookiefleck	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/20/2006
Oooh, I love how you ramped up the angst. Glad it's not all resolving too easily. Poor, hurting/frightened Sam! Dear Frodo and Merry! Author Reply: Well, I couldn't let Sam off the hook that easily, otherwise the comfort would have to end. ;) Poor Sam indeed. He's never been so seriously injured before and the thought of possibly being crippled is beyond frightening to him. Thank goodness he has Frodo and Merry there to help distract him from his circumstance.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 5 on 8/20/2006
This was an absolutely marvelous chapter, GF! Merry almost forgot where he was, so transformed was the land around him by the blankets of snow. He looked around and recognized nothing, saw no one, no sign or whisper of life beside himself. Not even a bird call could be heard in the Party Tree. Only the vague, moving plumes of chimney smoke rising from below him in the distance told him where Bagshot Row was. The smoke and the Party Tree reassured him that he was still in his beloved Shire and not somehow magically transported to another land where talking wolves carrying goblins might jump out at him at any moment. What a beautiful piece of prose that was! I could so easily see and feel what Merry was seeing and feeling. Merry was wonderful in this chapter--his tweenaged self-consciousness coming inconveniently to the fore when faced with Marigold, and with the prospect of seeing the Twofoot lads! grin And also when he saw the healer. He's intelligent enough to realize that his crush is just that--a crush, and somewhere safe to put his heart while Estella is seemingly "off-limits". Yet even so, it's still enough to rattle him. I like Miss Willow--a very competent healer indeed. She knows that she has to make Sam fear for his livelihood in order to keep him down. Yet she is observant enough to realize Merry's own concerns. I also appreciated Merry's anger in this--even though he does have a little crush on Miss Willow, Sam comes first--yet once he understands her reasons he realizes she is absolutely right. Although she may have underestimated Frodo. He may be soft-hearted where Sam's concerned, but he's not soft-headed enough to let Sam do anything that will hurt him. You have got a wonderful handle on the relationships here. I am so impressed. Can't wait for more. I dread to see the Gaffer's and Marigold's reactions to this news! Author Reply: That paragraph was a last-minute addition. I just realized as I was getting ready to post it that the Shire would look transformed with that much snow covering it and the familiar landmarks that Merry has come to take advantage of. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Merry develops a little crush on every pretty lass he sees! He just has the good sense to keep the majority of his crushes unknown to his cousins. The lad would never get a moment's rest otherwise. The big crush is Willow though and if there's anyone who can get through his otherwise cool facade, it's her. I wonder though, how 'safe' she really is. grins Willow knows that the only way to make Sam take care of himself is to tell him the point-blank truth. She may have underestimated Frodo, but I can't say she's too far off the mark there either. Frodo would be taking an awful lot of baths, or letting Merry take over the charge, to keep himself from giving in to Sam. Now, he won't have any qualms with telling Sam no, which will be very good practice for him. :) She has quite the handle on Merry too, in more ways than one! She understands why he was angry and she is as observant as all good healers must be. She can see that he's just as much in shock as the others, and that she has more than just one patient at Bag End, for this visit at any rate.

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