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| Destiny's Child by Mirkwoodmaiden | 3 Review(s) |
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| Fimbrethil | Reviewed Chapter: 41 on 12/3/2025 |
| Eeek! It is over! and that memory of Holdlith's words! I am excited to see if Alyrin and the boys show up in any of your later stories. I don't remember if Alyrin is in Leaving Home or not. Author Reply: Fimbrethil! Thanks for joining me on this journey!!! I wrote "Leaving Home; Coming Home" before "Destiny's Child" so no she isn't but she will be. I am going to add to and revised portions of "Leaving" to add in "Destiny" characters would have been there!! But I have been waylaid by a cold!! Booo!! Thanks! (((hugs))) MM | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 41 on 11/30/2025 |
| MM! Congratulations on finishing this lovely story! I've been down with a bad cold (maybe variation of flu?) for the past week or so, so it's nice to come back and find the new (and final) chapter. I appreciated your "literary analysis" – the Professor's creation is endlessly fascinating to contemplate. *** Alyrin is so perceptive! And yes, this is a plausible explanation of how Éowyn transitioned from Shield Maiden to healer. It took her completely out of herself.... It is what she needs.... Nobody taught her that. Oooo. I love the undercurrents running through the Master Warder's answer to Alyrin's question. As well as the confirmation here that Faramir would have made a fine healer in other circumstances. This observation was shattering in its simplicity and truth: At this point even one heart saved counted as a victory when so much had been lost already in this tragedy writ across countries. a less guarded welcome with each smile... An interesting measure of progress! Ah, yes, those young'uns... It is truly a wonder that any of them live to reach maturity, yet somehow they do. Guardian angels working overtime, perhaps? (Sudden vision of a gathering of guardian angels in the break room, swapping horror stories while their young charges are sleeping...) ...a thunderbolt to his senses. Alas, poor Faramir. Also, ...he told himself to live in the moment, to take what little that joy was offering him. (tempted to sob aloud) I love this point in time in Tolkien's story! So much joy and hope for the future, the darkness rolled away, and so many (if not all) sad things undone! “A boy needs his mother at times of great joy.” How well Faramir would understand this need. ...the cup of spiced wine that always aided in his comprehension of new reading, or so he told himself. Delightful! I'm glad Faramir knows now how his father loved him. And "a brother's last gift" in his friendship with Merry and Pippin – what a lovely perspective to hold! What a terrible thing to be consigned to the office of the steward, where bad memories echo in his thoughts! I'm doubly glad that he will be residing in Ithilien most of the time and building good memories there. (I think I need an Eirik in my life.) I especially love this detail: Close enough to smell her fragrance of flowers and spring but yet, he did not touch her. Faramir's plea almost breaks my heart... a tragedy in the making... but then Éowyn's eyes are opened and she sees the truth in herself as well as in him. And Holdlith's foretelling fits perfectly into the scene. Her eyes shone as if lit from within... Faramir’s heart burst into a thousand little bright stars as he gazed into her eyes hearing the words he never thought he would hear, that he had never thought he was worthy of hearing... Perfect! As is the kiss, in front of the entire City, or something like that. (And hearing of the Warden's healing into the bargain. The cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the sundae.) The last two sentences are exactly right. I already said "Perfect" about that earlier paragraph, but I could say the same about the final paragraph of this story. Well done! Brava! (((hugs))) Lin Author Reply: Lin! Hope you are feeling better!! Whew! I have finished. I was driven to finish this because I wanted Eowyn to be HAPPY! She had gone so much SH!t She and Faramir deserved happy endings. "Alyrin is so perceptive! And yes, this is a plausible explanation of how Éowyn transitioned from Shield Maiden to healer. It took her completely out of herself.... It is what she needs.... Nobody taught her that." I felt it was needed to explain why Eowyn suddenly wants to become a healer! Alyrin is intelligent and perceptive! She and Eowyn will continue to be fast Friends! "Oooo. I love the undercurrents running through the Master Warder's answer to Alyrin's question. As well as the confirmation here that Faramir would have made a fine healer in other circumstances." It made sense that Master Warden is looking at the whole person in terms of healing. And I do think that Faramir would have made a fine healer. He excelled at arms but he saw it as protection of that he loved. "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Númenor; and I would have her loved for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom." I feel that Faramir looked upon his career in arms as only protection. To save. Maybe to lead to healing. It is a stretch but not a long stretch. "This observation was shattering in its simplicity and truth: At this point even one heart saved counted as a victory when so much had been lost already in this tragedy writ across countries." Applies to war but mainly I am thinking natural disasters. In California, mostly earthquakes and how the rescue efforts of getting injured people out of the rubble of a building and then tragically rescue turns to "Recovery" and when someone is found still alive, it is a blissful event. Too many earthquakes in California. "a less guarded welcome with each smile... An interesting measure of progress!" I had to think of gradual ways that Eowyn's heart could be warming to Faramir but not too quickly. It had to fit the story. "(Sudden vision of a gathering of guardian angels in the break room, swapping horror stories while their young charges are sleeping...)" I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this image. ANGEL: Yup! Young Billy went riding at breakneck speed down the road near his house again. You know the one with the turn *Other guardian angel looking aghast* (shakes head, rubs face!) Re-routing traffic that quickly is a real bugger!" "...a thunderbolt to his senses. Alas, poor Faramir. Also, ...he told himself to live in the moment, to take what little that joy was offering him. (tempted to sob aloud)" I think I did when re-reading it. Denethor had so convinced Faramir as a child, through his treatment of him, that he somehow so fault-ridden that how could anyone love him that wasn't family. It may have been that Denethor did not mean to convey that message but kids will draw their own ideas from our treatment. "“A boy needs his mother at times of great joy.” How well Faramir would understand this need." Faramir is a man of great empathy. That he was shown so little growing up I fine amazing that he is a man of great empathy. "...the cup of spiced wine that always aided in his comprehension of new reading, or so he told himself. Delightful!" :-) I thought it was a lovely bit of character depiction! :-) "I'm glad Faramir knows now how his father loved him." Even through the Black Breath he still knows. Very important. It will help him heal...eventually. "And "a brother's last gift" in his friendship with Merry and Pippin – what a lovely perspective to hold!" Again this will help him heal and deal with his brother's death. "What a terrible thing to be consigned to the office of the steward, where bad memories echo in his thoughts! I'm doubly glad that he will be residing in Ithilien most of the time and building good memories there." Yeah. Life deals us cards that not always easy but we are forced to deal with. "I especially love this detail: Close enough to smell her fragrance of flowers and spring but yet, he did not touch her." Thanks! Again trying to keep to the slow pace of Eowyn's acceptance of Faramir's love. It was not easy. "Faramir's plea almost breaks my heart..." those are some of the lines that have lived in my heart since high school and were the driving force to write this story and see it through to the end, though I had to take Eowyn through some very rough patches to get here! "but then Éowyn's eyes are opened and she sees the truth in herself as well as in him. And Holdlith's foretelling fits perfectly into the scene." FINALLY I could write Eowyn happy and accepting of Faramir's love. And I wrote that Holdlith's passage back in Chapter 8 thinking of this point when Eowyn can understand and accept Faramir's love. "(And hearing of the Warden's healing into the bargain. The cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the sundae.)" The Warden deserved a little healing as well! He's been through a lot and has known Faramir since he was a boy. "The last two sentences are exactly right. I already said "Perfect" about that earlier paragraph, but I could say the same about the final paragraph of this story." Sounds strange but I heard singing in my head when I get a passage just right and I definitely heard when I wrote the last lines! Thanks so much for being on this journey with me! I am going to do some revisions to "Leaving Home; Coming Home." to fit in characters I created here that would definitely at Faramir and Eowyn's wedding! But first I'm going to write my Birthday Mathom on December 8th and my Winter Solstice story! Thanks! <3 (((hugs))) MM MM | |
| shirebound | Reviewed Chapter: 41 on 11/28/2025 |
| Your insights, inspiration, and true writing gift have crafted a magnificent story and I'm so glad to have come on this journey. Let the Eagles sing and let all of us rejoice to know that healing -- within and without -- is possible in even the darkest of days. Congratulations! Author Reply: Shirebound! Thank you so much. And thank you for faithfully being on this journey with me! I am going to be revising "Leaving Home; Coming home" which I wrote before this and I want include some of the characters that I create for "Destiny's Child." Gamhelm, Gamwyn, Holdlith etc. I really feel like Eowyn would have had them present for her wedding to Faramir! It will be different sort of journey but I hope you will join on that journey as well. Thanks! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: I felt it was complete after I had written "She was at peace" because at no time during the 41 chapters was she ever at peace! (((hugs))) MM | |