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In the Bleak, Cold Winter by GamgeeFest	11 Review(s)
halifax	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 10/11/2006
I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't exactly a hurt/comfort, as the overview seemed to indicate. I was all ready for angst and anguish and fevers and - well, poor Sam never seems to get the TLC the other characters do. Author Reply: It might not have been a typical h/c story, but Sam was hurt and he did get comfort. ;) I admit it did rather divert onto another path for a while there - Willow took me by surprise - but I did manage to give Sam some comfort, even if it wasn't as much as he truly deserves. But then, that would have made him too uncomfortable. I was originally going to have Sam be really banged up, the fall was going to be much worse, but what can I say - I just don't like to hurt my Sam. Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the story, despite it not being exactly what you expected. :D

Periantari	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 10/7/2006
I really loved this chapter--with the Cottons and Furzy and Marigold coming and especially since Sam had such a relaxing bath with Willow washing his hair! THe Frodo and Sam dialogue in the beginning was pretty necessary too--i mean it does seem a bit awkward in Sam's position to have his master tend to him. And it was a nice scene in the end with the Cottons giving Sam a gift and providing him with some much-needed company among very good friends. :) Author Reply: Having your hair washed is always relaxing. It's one of the things I miss now that my mom no longer works in a salon - no hair washes unless I do it myself, and that's no fun. :P Sam will never be able to accept his master doing for him, even after Goldie and Rosie point out that it is Frodo's duty to do so. Sam understands that as well as they do, which is part of the reason he's kept quiet about how uncomfortable it makes him, but he's just so used to being the one doing the taking care of that he simply cannot get used to it now that the roles are reversed. Sam's friends really know how to make him feel better. Even more than that, they were able to help him laugh at his situation, something that was very much needed. The gift was their way of telling him that they knew he'd be all right without actually having to say it, and it meant more to him than the words alone ever would.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/25/2006
Difficult, isn't it! Childhood friendships - of true equality are just different. Of course Sam won't mind Tom and Jolly helping him - and it'll be a long long time before he feels that comfortable with Merry. Not until the king comes back. Author Reply: There's no way Merry can compete with the friendship Sam shares with Tom and Jolly and the other working lads. He realizes it, and what's more, he accepts it. He really has learned that being competitive about such things is foolish. Now he needs to focus on not being jealous of Willow's patients! :P He clears one hurdle only to be confronted by another.

Althea	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/24/2006
Thanks for another great chapter. It was full of homey comfort and joy. Sam is a lucky hobbit indeed to have such a wonderful sister and such good friends. I very much enjoyed the little story of Bilbo and the bell. I also really loved the way you wrote the bathing scene, including Merry's jealousy, Sam's initial unease, and the joke Jolly and Tom played on him. I'm glad that Sam is finally free of that box. The contrast at the end, though, is quite striking for we see Merry and Frodo dining alone separated from the joy and comradeship in Sam's room. Drat that class distinction. Author Reply: Sam's well admired and loved by those around him, and for good reason. He's so giving of himself and his time, that his friends can only reciprocate. That's one of the many things I love about hobbits - they aren't prone to taking loyalty for granted. The bell story was one of those last-minute additions that come out of nowhere. I'm glad you enjoyed it and took note of it. It seems like something Bilbo would do for Frodo, a small piece of security to keep by him through the night. Merry's a tad possessive and, as we know, competitive. It's only natural he'd be jealous of Sam, even though Sam is clearly uncomfortable, and of Willow's 'examining' her patients. Jolly truly is a terror! He might talk about his younger brothers, but it's cleared they learned everything from him! Sam's heart must have dropped to his knees when he thought it was Rosie about to walk in on him. Merry can fool himself into thinking theirs (his and Sam's) is an equal friendship when there are no others about to prove otherwise. Frodo and Merry could have squeezed into the room to eat with Sam and the others but it would have been more subdued than it was without them being there. This was yet another instance when he had reality smack him in the face, as it were. Frodo had his reality lesson earlier, but Merry is only now coming to realize that as friendly as they might get, as much as they might learn about each other, he and Sam will never be as close as Sam is to his other friends. At least Merry has learned by now that he cannot compete against it.

cookiefleck	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/23/2006
Hi, me again. Your comments were very interesting. I, also, grew up in a home with very little money but never thought less of myself. I don't identify with Sam but I admire him more than any other character because of his selflessness and humility. As an adult, I've enjoyed some measure of financial and career success, but my lifelong priority has been volunteering for various political or other issues that generally benefit the "have nots." (Which is another reason I find those invisible barriers frustrating.) Teaching my children (now grown) to be thankful and never to take their own advantages for granted has also been of paramount importance to me. Isn't it interesting that we all bring different backgrounds and POVs to our appreciation of LOTR's characters? Author Reply: Hello again! One of the best things about LOTR is that we can all bring our own individual experiences to the story, and not only take something from it but apply some of our own knowledge to it. The class distinctions have always fascinated me and I love to explore it when I can. I studied sociology for a short time, though I didn't go so far as to get a degree in it, but I still find it fascinating how society can shape a person or group of people. We shape our society, and it shapes us.

cookiefleck	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/22/2006
Just an additional little comment, to follow up what you said to me re the likelihood that Frodo would not know as much about Sam as Sam knows about him. I think your take on things is very believable. I am a manager at work and there is an invisible barrier based entirely on "position" between the managers/workers that is never entirely bridged. And I have hired, in the past, gardeners (not as dear as Sam, though, awww) and nannies... in all instances there was friendliness and in some cases socializing... but still that sense of separation that you are bringing out with your story. It's a testament to your insight that it all feels very "real" to me when I read of Frodo's frustration. Author Reply: Where I work, the workers and supervisors are mostly on the same playing field, though each sup is different. My current sup is a wonder and I can tell her anything if I was of the mind to. It's the managers that we are distanced from. Even when I was the manager's secretary, there was that distance. They can tell you things as bluntly as they want to, but you better be careful how you talk to them! But it's more than just work for me. It's the way I was raised as well. My mother came from a poor family and my father came from a working-class family. I was raised blue-collar myself and was always aware of how little money we had for the 'luxuries' that my friends had. I was always the kid with no spending money on school trips or who only got one or two presents for Christmas while everyone else got buckets full, or whose friends' parents got me things so I wouldn't feel quite as left out. There are many many reasons why I associate with Sam as much as I do, but I believe this is the biggest one. Like him, my position growing up caused me to believe that I was not worth as much as those around me. Sam, like us all, is very much a product of his society. We are all born with an innate personality, but our society plays a large part in molding it into what it will eventually become. Sam is by nature quiet, and by society unassuming. He can sit back and listen for hours, as he did in "Walking Trip" and so long as his master doesn't mind, as Frodo, Merry and Pippin talk about various ancedotes, but the minute the attention is turned to him, even though he knows they won't think any less of him for relating to them, he can't help but feel put on the spot. He's allowed some of that to shed away, as we saw in an earlier chapter of this story, but it will never be entirely gone. If Frodo and Merry were in doubt of that, then this visit by Sam's friends proved it to them.

Andrea	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/22/2006
“You’ve never seen anything?” Merry asked pointedly. “Well, not when I bathe them,” Willow said. The scowl was instantly back on Merry’s face. ROTFL!!! Merry is great! I've a feeling that Willow will have a lot of explaining to do, and she'll need even more patience. I loved all the fun Sam was having with his friends and the pranks they played. Well, I meet every year at least once with some very good friends from school. And each time, sooner or later we end up recalling the pranks we played on our teachers. Those poor guys ;-) Last but not least, you did it again. You put a word in this story that even my dictionnary doesn't know: cascara. I would really like to understand all parts of Sam's prank :) Author Reply: I see Merry as the possessive type. He's just getting used to the idea of courting Willow and now he discovers this whole other side to her job that he never considered before. He has much to learn, as does Willow. Her frank and forward approach might work with her patients, but Merry should be handled with care. lol Remembering pranks and other fun moments in time is always enjoyable and there's none better to eavesdrop on than this group of hobbits. Merry and Pippin weren't the only terror-makers in the Shire. Some of these 'simple' working lads could give them a run for their money. I did a quick internet search for herbal laxatives. Cascara sagrada, aka sacred bark, was one of the herbs most often mentioned. It's a form of aloe; senna can be used also. I chose cascara because I just loved that it's common name was sacred bark - very hobbity I thought. :D (At least this wordy wasn't completely naughty. ;) )

cookiefleck	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/22/2006
Glad to see Sam's foot out of the box at last, and how nice to see the interaction with his family and friends. I like the way Frodo and Merry continue to learn new things about Sam that they had not known. The last few paragraphs were very, very poignant. Author Reply: He's out of the box, and half a week closer to getting the cast off as well. Just seventeen more days or so to go, and you can bet he's counting every one of them. As much as Sam knows about Frodo, it's not hard to believe that Frodo wouldn't know as much about Sam. Sam is the quiet sort and also a working class hobbit. He wouldn't volunteer information unless he felt it would help his master with something. Merry knows even less about Sam. If he thought he was making headway (and he is) then he realizes now that he still has leaps and bounds to go - and that he'll likely never be as close to Sam as he would like. At least, not until the Quest and then I'm sure he wouldn't rather have things go back to the way they were before if it meant sparing everyone such trauma.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/22/2006
Oh, one day they will be that close, but the circumstances will be pretty remarkable to bring that closeness about. But it's a lovely visit for Sam, and love the dosing of Lotho with the cascara! Heh! Author Reply: There's no room for class differences during a Quest of such magnitude. As the days passed, those distinctions would shed away until they were nearly non-existant, at least until they return to the Shire. Even then, Sam would be much more familiar with them than he was before. Sam can be sly - one reason he served as such a successful spy for the Conspiracy. And he seems to have a penchant for slipping things into people's drinks. He did something similar to Merry and Pippin in "Under the Harvest Moon" though he was kind and only made their drink taste funny. Karma has come back to him for that one, in the form of the healer's medicinal juice! Cascara should happen to Lotho more often. Really, it couldn't have happened to a more deserving hobbit. :P

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 9/22/2006
You've packed so much food for thought into this chapter! Goodness! I really liked Frodo's frankness with Sam about the "trust" issue. Staying in Bag End as he is for now, he's probably going to realize that there are a number of things the gentry look at differently. This will help to keep him from jumping to conclusions. Merry tickled me no end. His jealousy over Willow bathing Sam, and the way he was taken aback at her revelation that she "examined" patients was cute. He's still young enough to let that sort of thing sway him, and his nature is a bit on the possessive side, so I can see already where there are going to be difficulties in his courting a healer. She's going to have to go some to educate him, and to appeal to his also strong practical side. I also thought his chagrin at being left alone in the kitchen very cute. So like a tweenager, to take it a bit personally. But he also shows his sense of humor in the way he dealt with it. I loved Sam's visit with his friends. Around them he can relax a little. The banter and teasing was cute, and I very much liked the prank on Lotho. One of these days you will have to let us in on the full story of that episode! And I found the last line very poignant. In the normal way of things, Frodo and Merry are right--they'd never be able to tear down those barriers completely--but at this point in time, there's no foreseeing the Quest. And I'm not sure any of them would consider the ultimate price of it worth it. Author Reply: Sam doesn't jump to conclusions. He takes one tiny step and there conclusions are. :P Sorry, another Buffy line. I think I read that crossover too. One of the more plausible crossovers, if you ask me, given the nature of the Buffy-verse. But yes, it was weird. :) Anyway, getting back on topic... Sam knows as well as anyone else that gentry do things differently than the working class. Had he not been so wrapped up in his worries about the trust issue, he would have eventually figured that this was simply one of those things. Frodo might be frustrated by Sam at times but he knows there is simply no getting around Sam's sense of propriety. For the most part, he has stopped fighting it, but like Merry every once in awhile he lets himself forget about it and believe that he and Sam are as true friends to each other as he and Merry are. Merry was rather adorably tweenaged in this chapter. :D He is still a kid in some respects and he can prove it even without trying! He would have still been jealous, though not as much, had they not agreed to court each other, but now he doesn't have to hide the fact that he is. Willow is his first official girlfriend and he would be put off by the fact that she has 'examined' more people than he has! Willow will have to be patient and learn that Merry needs to be dealt with more personably than she is used to. And finding himself alone at the table was just the icing on the cake, lol. Sam can relax a lot around his friends and they brought him something that Frodo and Merry couldn't - a way to laugh at his predicament. Had Frodo made a joke about Sam possibly losing his leg or being paralyzed, you know Sam would have taken it far more differently! Laughter is the best medicine and his friends brought it in spades. hehe My subconscious is already working away at uncovering the full story behind that prank. :D Before the Quest, there was never going to be any way for them to get around those social barriers. Even after the Quest, some of those barriers remained, though they no longer mattered as they once did.

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