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Someone As You Can Trust by Lindelea	10 Review(s)
Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/28/2006
Very wise, Sam. Let's get back to the more fun parts of what happened! The darker side needs to be known - but, at the moment, the power of Ent-draught seems a lot more the kind of thing they should be pondering over round the fire. Author Reply: I'm in complete agreement. And how about opening another bottle of that reasonably good wine? Sounds like a plan. Thanks!

hobbitelf	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/23/2006
That was Awsome! I laughed, And I cried(sort of).Great story.^_^ or:-) Author Reply: Thanks! (belated. didn't see this until tonight, for some reason.)

TopazTook	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/23/2006
Thanks for a story that gives satisfaction for some of that unfinished business that got left out of the books. (Is that reference to Merry almost letting a childhood Pippin drown from one of your other stories? I don't recall it.) Author Reply: Funny, I was going back through my list of stories to see which were unfinished, and ran across this review that I don't remember seeing before. Could be SoA, or my email... don't know. But yes, I remember reading that bit in the book and being left wanting more, especially of Gimli's finding Pippin! The reference to the childhood peril, where Frodo had a cold, and Merry was supposed to watch Pippin, is an unwritten story somewhere in the back of my mind that seems as if it ought to have been written down somewhere, but I don't think I got around to it yet. Thanks!

Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/21/2006
"Legolas laughed. ‘Look at you! Elves, having all the time in the world, are more straightforward in their discussion than you all are proving to be!" Well done!! How often it really is better to simply say a thing outright than to try to hide it away. Well done, Lin! Author Reply: I am sure I never saw this review before tonight! Wonder if I got sick, or over-busy, or if my email went wonky as it so often does? Thanks! I loved Legolas teasing them about giving yea and nay for an answer, in a manner of speaking.

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/21/2006
Well at least that much is cleared up if not exactly absorbed! No wonder Frodo is going to wake up in the middle of the night! A group effort that has got the general picture put together even if the details like Ent draughts are still a little hazy! :) Author Reply: I've had times like that, when the revelations were flying thick and fast and I thought I had the picture, only to wake up in the middle of the night seeing clearly in the dark stillness...

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/21/2006
None was as he was before; all were scarred. And the enormity of it will indeed hit Frodo eventually, poor lad. Beautiful to bring it back full circle to Sam again. Poor Sam--forget the rest of it for the moment, and wonder once more about the growth! Heh! Author Reply: Poor Sam, to be comic relief. But he carries it off well. (g) Thanks!

shirebound	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/21/2006
Finally Frodo guesses part of the truth, and learns most of the rest. And what fun that Sam is so single-minded in his wonderment about Ents and the height of his companions that, to him, it's the only mystery that really needs solving! Yes, he was shocked that a troll had fallen on Pippin, but no, he really hadn’t had time to absorb the information. Later on that night the realisation would waken him from a sound sleep, and he’d sit bolt upright, exclaiming, “Pippin!” and would have to be soothed back to sleep by a startled Aragorn. Awwww. :D Author Reply: Very belated reply; thought I'd answered the reviews for this chapter already! I love having Frodo work it out himself, it seems like him, somehow. And I can see the realisation hitting him in little bits and stages, over the next few hours or days... Though they likely couldn't credit it, I'll bet he's just as proud of his cousins (prouder, even) as they are of him.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/21/2006
What a delight to find this finished! There is so much to love about this: Frodo in deductive mode; tipsy Sam; Merry and Pippin, still valiantly trying to "protect" Frodo, even though it's clearly a lost cause; Gimli's ham-fisted attempts to help; Legolas' amusement at the efforts; Gandalf's seeming detachment. I think the moment Frodo realizes just what must have happened--that Merry nearly "lost* Pippin, and vice-versa--simply by the looks on their faces, was beautifully done. Except for one another, no one reads these two like Frodo, and he knows now exactly what happened--even if not all the details. Gimli's description of Pippin-- He was buried until I hauled the troll off him, and squashed flatter than a spider after a lass has finished screaming and taken action...’ shows that hobbits are not the only creatures who try to hide their feelings behind light words--I am quite sure he must have been reliving that horrible moment when he was convinced they had "lost" Pippin as well. And Legolas and Gandalf between them brought the most touching moment, the one which finally broke down Merry's defenses--I so dearly loved seeing Frodo taking his cousin in his arms to comfort him! I really liked your little interpolations of his dreams later in the night, and how it is then that he has finally processed the information, to be soothed to sleep again by Aragorn. This has been a delightful story, beginning to end, Lin! Thanks for sharing it with us! Author Reply: Did I answer this before? I thought I answered all the reviews to this story, and some of them do indeed have author replies, but some don't. Thanks so much for your thoughtful feedback! I love the way you hit the highlights; it's a way of re-living the story somehow, to see it through your eyes. And I'm glad you noticed some of the things I put in quite deliberately! (LOL) But I am muddled with Christmas wine (yes, this review reply is way too delayed) and so I'll stop babbling now. Thanks again!

Elemmírë	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/21/2006
Merry and Pippin certainly underestimated their cousin's deductive reasoning when they decided to spare him the details of their adventures. And Legolas and Gimli prodding them along! I love how Sam brings a bit of levity to the conversation. I think once they realize that Frodo is suffering nightmares due to the details and horrors of their own adventures, Merry and Pippin are going to regret in some way sharing with him the danger they were both in. They know that Frodo left the Fellowhip in part because he wanted them all to be safe, but especially the hobbits. Are you going to continue this with a sequel at all, perhaps showing how the cousins learn to deal with what they've been through or Frodo deciding to piece everyone's part together and write it down? Just wondering? Of course, this is a nice bunny to consider elaborating upon also: Just as that day, so long ago, when he was pleading with us to take him fishing, and I had a cold and wanted to curl up with a book, and so I left him in your charge. You took your eyes off him, and... :D Author Reply: Ah, yes, nice bunny! Down! Stop nibbling! I wonder if some other author might consider elaborating on it! I ought to bring it up to Shirebound, for her bunny hutch. Even though it's not an official JRRT bunny. I wonder if she accepts wild bunnies? As to the cousins learning how to deal with what they've been through, there's a conversation between Frodo and Merry in Jewels, and quite a thread running through A Small and Passing Thing, which deals with how all the conspirators, including Fatty Bolger, learning to come to terms in the aftermath. Of course, that is a very long story, because there's lots to deal with... but if you decide to tackle it, I'll welcome your thoughts. Thanks!

storyfish	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 8/20/2006
does a very very happy dance Yaaaaaay, Lin! This couldn't have come at a better time! I should have gone to bed as soon as I finished the assignment that was due at midnight tonight, but instead I stayed up to read this--I consider it my reward for being a very diligent and steadily working hobbit...er, girl...all day. :-) A satisfying end, this was! And although I'd have loved for you to stretch this on and on, as is true with any good tale, and have Frodo freak out about the Orcs and Troll and Witch-King right there on the page, it was much more realistic this way. And a wonderful characterization of Frodo's wisdom. Like any good older-cousin, he had to get to the meat of the matter, and it's no good overreacting, because that'd just make them clam up faster. He's kind enough to save that for later, when they won't feel guilt or be hurt by his fear for them. And the hints you gave about how Frodo will process all this later were really powerful--very small descriptions that are some of the most hard-hitting in the story.... ‘Well I’m glad we’ve cleared all that up,’ Frodo said, dusting his hands of the matter. Yes, he was shocked that a troll had fallen on Pippin, but no, he really hadn’t had time to absorb the information. Later on that night the realisation would waken him from a sound sleep, and he’d sit bolt upright, exclaiming, “Pippin!” and would have to be soothed back to sleep by a startled Aragorn. <---sniff! My favorite part.... hugs Frodo Author Reply: Good storyfish, good lass, finishing your midnight assignment. (My usual midnight assignment, these days, is to rendezvous with my pillow.) Bless you for lingering long enough to drop me a note! I know, I have a tendency to go on, and on, and on (just see A Matter of Appearances--no, don't, it's nasty and gory and if it weren't a birthday present it probably wouldn't have been written at all). But it seemed likely to me that once Frodo had got hold of the main thread he'd pull the tale to pieces pretty quickly, too quickly, even, for it all to sink in until later. Yep. Gotta clamp down on that overreacting, if you want the story to come out. Astute observation.

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