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A White Shell by Celeritas	4 Review(s)
Virtuella	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/1/2011
I was thinking of the Red Book. It's not there anymore, but it's left its mark. Author Reply: That makes sense. When you mentioned the idea in the review, I think my mind went off into half a dozen flights of fancy on anything and everything else from the past that isn't here anymore, but you can still see the tangible effects of their impact--Kira's father, the Book, the people who wrote and participated in the plot of the Book, the prisoners in the Lockholes, the old course of the Ash River before the ruffians diverted it, etc.

Virtuella	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 2/1/2011
//a loaf of bread, partly hollowed and filled with soft cheese; summer sausage// Deary me, not a very healthy diet! They should take some fresh vegg from their garden! ;-) The psychology is very good again in this chapter. Great to get a glimpse into the life of Kira's father. And I loved the detail that the pressed flower was not in the book, but the outline could be seen. Very symbolic. :) Author Reply: I was trying to stick to things that would travel well--although they don't have far to go, and (from my vague impressions of seasons, which are completely thrown off because of the different climate) I don't know if apples and the like would be in yet. At any rate, there are 5 other meals in the day for them to get their essentials in. You know, I hadn't consciously intended the flower to be symbolic, but you do have a point there! Thanks for the review!

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 1/29/2011
Oh mercy! So much of this to address! You have really moved the plot along immensely in this chapter. I'm glad Kira got angry enough at her mother to tell her at least some of what her mother needs to hear-- and the idea that her mother needs to "move on" was something that needed to be said. I'm also glad she ran to Kerry, and at least got the chance to farewell him. And whether or not it makes a difference to her behaviour, Kira's mother had to be impressed by his concern and care. The dairy I think will be very important in the long run-- perhaps more important than in just letting Kira see what her father was like. While he might not have shared her interest in scholarly things, I believe he would have understood her feelings of being caged and coddled. And it is quite likely that had he lived, Kira would certainly not have been as caged and coddled as happened without him. Merina's letter was a delight! She does have such a heedless personality-- in some ways she is as oblivious to her effect on other people as Tom is. The difference being that she really does care about Kira's feelings-- she just doesn't know how to express sympathy and empathy without saying all sorts of tactless things at the same time. In some ways she is a more intelligent version of my Folco. At least she can see consequences after the fact! And of course, she is such a passionate advocate of Kira that she has to run down anyone who is standing in Kira's way: Kira's mother, even Kerry and Sandra for going along with it...but she's quite funny. And while I think Kira's answer was a good one (and hope it doesn't hurt or anger Merina) I'm kind of sorry that she was reasonable about it, because that means we don't get to see more of Merina's exuberant correspondence. I loved your version of Eowyn's tale. It looks quite different from the perspective of a young tweenaged female who can see the story from the ending than it did to one male hobbit who had to live through it while carrying on his own part in that portion of the tale. And the end. LOL! That long ride, that lack of suspicion until she began to realize there could only be ONE smial THAT large! grin Looking forward eagerly for more! Author Reply: Yup. No coincidence that I was working on this chapter when I mentioned that I just wanted to get the entire story out of my system! And I think I did mention in response to your last review that there are some things that not even Kira can take, especially when she's been shocked with something like that (expect more of the same next chapter, only hopefully more entertaining!). Anyhow I hope that this is going to lead to some real, lasting change in Rosemary's character. Running into Kerry was important for a lot of reasons--not only to give Kira some closure, but also because if she hadn't, she'd have kept on trying to talk to him anyway, and he wouldn't have been able to explain why he was going along with the decision to cut Kira. This was, essentially, the part in the narrative where you have to remove those people that the protagonist had been relying on too heavily, to get them to grow up a little more. But don't tell Kira that! I think you're right about the diary, and that Kira and her father have a lot more in common in their desire to escape than their different means of escape would suggest. I think I got into that a little bit when I was exploring the AU situation in which he had lived. I love writing Merina, and I loved writing that letter, though at first I was nervous that I was going to make her sound either too mean, or else not flippant enough for Kira to take offense and be justified. And I think Merina sees a number of consequences before the fact as well--she just doesn't care! I do think that Kira's response hurt her (and with Merina, hurt always ends up turning into anger), but how much she'll be able to work through that before the wedding I'm not sure. But even if Merina doesn't show up as often as I'd like, I know that the rumor of her will still manage to get to Kira. She has some pretty good adventures in store! As far as the end... well, Kira really was quite oblivious, wasn't she?

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 9 on 1/29/2011
Poor Kira--Hal HAS set her quite the adventure, hasn't he? Now she has a lot of talking to do! At least she will have some access to bookish people again, though. I'm glad she's learned her dad could read and write, even if he didn't read a lot himself. Author Reply: Yes, he has, and the results should be fairly entertaining when I can manage to put them up. But "literate" does not necessarily mean "bookish," and it remains to be seen how bookish these Tooks are. Kira did know, or at least guess, that her father was literate because of the note that she found from Aunt Foxglove accompanying her wedding gift for him, and the monogrammed silverware. That's not pure proof, obviously, but it's a good indicator. What was a real surprise was that he left anything written behind at all.

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