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| Keep Alive the Memory by Celeritas | 6 Review(s) |
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| Virtuella | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 12/6/2008 |
| This is my favourite chapter yet. It's so charming to have the dwarves there and it's a great idea about the "arrangement" they ahve with teh hobbits. Yes, the beards would be quite a novelty to Kira! I wonder why she didn't pick up the mention of Gimli? Too nervous, maybe. Taking the money is just the kind of thing that would really upset a child, you've handled that theme very well. Author Reply: Happy to have pleased! I like trying to take concepts that were existent or came about during the Ring War and then extend them down a couple of generations; that those races that still came into contact with the Shire would have some hidden way of honoring them seemed to be quite logical! Too nervous; too caught up in other things--those are the best explanations I have. Kira's gotten to the point that she's no longer trying to actively reassure herself that everything's fictional, too, so the mention of his name isn't going to jar her as much. If the book hadn't gotten taken away from her she probably would have thought about it more and would have remembered two days later. As it is she's too distraught that something as good as her reading is starting to turn out bad. | |
| Agape4Gondor | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/18/2008 |
| Oh my! This is an excellent chapter. It seems difficult to think that Dwarves are looked upon in this light - yet, years pass and people forget, I suppose. Poor Frodo was never honestly shone the honor due him for his part in the War - and so, I suppose, it would be foolish to hope for better treatment of the Dwarves. As for Kira and the heavy heart - I'd wake with one too after reading of Boromir's death *sobs* The ending was very sad. I'm sorry she missed the last day of the fair - but most especially that her mother left the book in town... Very sad indeed. Author Reply: Glad you liked this installment! Thanks for the feedback; I'm always a bit worried that I'm taking the Shire a bit too far through this reactionary phase. Yes, I wouldn't be surprised if the downturn events took in the books helped influence Kira's sad mood there. Unfortunately Kira is learning that not all the consequences of her actions, no matter how well-intentioned, are good. One of the sadder parts of growing up if you ask me. | |
| Raksha The Demon | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/11/2008 |
| Kira's become a dwarf-friend, how wonderful! If she's not careful, I bet she'll end up an Elf-friend at some point. Good chapter, as usual. Author Reply: Thanks so much, Raksha--I'm glad you enjoyed it! Kira is not being very careful right now, but since the number of Elves going through the Shire has gone down I can't make any promises. | |
| Dreamflower | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/10/2008 |
| Ah, Kira! She really is a wonderful character, with her blend of curiousity and fear, honesty and stubbornness, and her efforts to refuse to believe in the things that she's beginning to realize could be true. She's a very realistic blend of contradictions! For example, the idea that an Elf is imaginary--when all of the other evidence is piling up...*shakes head* I loved her confrontation with the Dwarf, and their conversation. I like Firin, as well, and the way he turned the penny into a ring for Kira. I do wish I could figure out why the hobbits are being this way about Dwarves--who have been trading with them for many years before any of the Adventures, and are certainly profitable! And her mother is really very unreasonable--far more unreasonable than normal parental protectiveness would account for! Author Reply: *grins* And you know that years later she's going to look back on this and think, "How could I have been so stupid?" because that's the exact sort of thing that goes through our heads every day. Firin really is a nice fellow--a lot more forgiving and accepting than your storied Dwarf, I think. My best guess is that it has something to do with his being under Gimli for so long. For both hobbits in general and Kira's mother in particular, the general motivator at hand is fear, specifically fear of change. Even though the Shire is much the same as it was in the Third Age, hobbits have cottoned on that the outside world is different, and they still have the cultural memory of what exactly happened when Outside came in, which hasn't, I'm afraid, been counteracted by pleasanter memories of Men since Elessar has placed down the Ban. So it doesn't take much to extend suspicion of Big Folk to outsiders in general, because they have this perception of a dangerous world increasingly pressing in on them as the wild lands of Arnor get settled. Trade with the Dwarves will continue, because it's profitable, but relationships are seen as strictly professional and anything approaching friendship is considered dangerous. Mother, on the other hand, is starting to realize that her daughter is changing in ways completely unanticipated and out of her element, and since Kira is her only child (and she's a widow) she is especially dear to her. She's put up with her reading so far because it makes Kira happy (and healthy), but the girl's behavior is really starting to frighten her and she doesn't want to take the chance that anything will take her away from her. | |
| Larner | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/10/2008 |
| How very sad! Poor lass--all she wants to do is what's right, and she's punished for it, and must wait that much longer to understand what Firin means by their debt! She is so fortunate and blessed to be who she is, and doesn't betin to understand why! Oh, Aragorn, if only you could meet this lass and let her know what kind of person your friend truly was! Author Reply: Somewhere from the depths of my memory I recall the phrase, "No good deed goes unpunished" and I think it's applicable here. Fear for Kira--after all she is still quite young and impressionable--wins out over any good intentions she may have, and if the only thing to make her behave is to take the book that makes her so happy from her, then so be it. I don't necessarily agree with where Kira's mother is coming from, but I understand why she's doing what she's doing, especially since she's faced with something that's increasingly out of her own control. She does not understand yet, but she will. I don't know if Aragorn's caught sight of her in his Palantir or not, but if he has I am sure he is content to let history take its course and teach her in its own way. | |
| Kara's Aunty | Reviewed Chapter: 8 on 11/10/2008 |
| Hello Celeritas!! I'm so happy! The Dwarves have come! Oh! I'm so shocked! That idiot Mayor has inexcusable manners to shove them out of the way. How inhospitable. I'm going over to keep them company... (They've just called the Mayor's an orc and I agree!). May I timidly suggest that 'moneybox' may have sounded more hobbity than 'cashbox'? Oh bless her! Kira's trying to assuage their disappointment by sending them to her Buckland relatives. She's a good wee soul! Oh dear! She's made a little faux pas by asking for payment! I didn't realise that at the time... Ooh, is the hobbit-sword Sting? “And… may your beard always get longer, or something to that effect, sir!” - so sweet! That made me smile a mile. What a shame to see her mother's reaction to Kira's adventure. And to take her ring and her book. A very sad chapter. Poor Kira! Poor Dwarves! Great read, though :) Maureen :) Author Reply: Duly noted and edited; thanks. I'm pretty sure that Sting's awesome enough it wouldn't rust even if it did get neglected (and it hasn't, nor any of the other Traveller artifacts). I have no clue whose it was and whether it saw any use in Bywater or not... it just seemed like a fun detail. The Dwarves could care less about how they actually get treated--it's more that the norms of hospitality are being slighted and this implies something rather saddening about the state of the Shire, which they can see so much more clearly because they remember. I'm afraid you're going to have to buckle yourself in for the next few chapters; things are going to get worse for Kira before they get better. ~Celeritas | |