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Elflings   by Bodkin 6 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/24/2006
I am pleased to report that the parents' curse did work in my daughter's case--indeed the grandsons are JUST like she was! Now she knows indeed what we went through, and more. Heh!

Love the twins' awareness for one another, and that they found Galenthil so easily. Lovely!

Author Reply: It must be fun to sit back and watch! Eleniel and Galenthil aren't going to be quite as close as Elrohir's pair, I think - but that's fraternal as opposed to identical.

I just watched a most fascinating TV programme on the dangers of carrying twins. A good thing that Elrond is such a skilled healer, I reckon!

lwarrenReviewed Chapter: 2 on 12/21/2004
I can't think of anything more frightening than to have your child in danger; worse when that child becomes endangered after you leave him in the care of others! Legolas' reaction to his son's disappearance (and later his daughter not staying put) were right on! It won't take these adas long to realize what the naneths already know...it only takes a split second for catastrophe to strike where kids are concerned, and the younger they are, the more creative the catastrophe!

Elrohir and Elladan can cope with a temper shortened by fear...but poor Elrin...I hope Legolas has a talk and explains things to him. Elrin did a wonderful job of remembering twin connections to each other, and then using that to find the little one.

Yes, indeed, my mother-in-law laughed at her son's reaction to something our oldest boy did and said, "This is just payback for that time you made a playhouse in that refrigerator box in the middle of the street, and I walked out to see that huge truck run over it!" Offspring are NOT for the faint at heart! LOL! Wonderful story! :-)

linda

Author Reply: Terrifying - and they disappear so quickly! E2L are accustomed to protecting things and people - but from outside dangers. I don't think they have quite cottoned on to the fact that they need to watch the children more than the surroundings. Legolas was on watch - but thought, 'Hey, they're asleep, no-one will notice if I go off for a few minutes' - which then turned into half an hour - and by then . . .

Elrin couldn't have done much to keep Eleniel from running off - except, I suppose, sitting on her - and he did try to call his adar, but Legolas was in a state of panic. I'm sure he will appreciate Elrin's efforts once he has had time to calm down a little. And learned that you don't leave a kid in charge of a little kid and expect them to do just as told.

A truck running over the box playhouse! That must have been a real heart-stopping moment. One of those stories that is amusing in retrospect, but at the time . . .

E2L have had quite an easy introduction to Doing Things With The Kids. One little Elrin to three of them - the odds were just about right. Now it's one to one - and you can see the fear in their eyes. Just wait until it's five to three! (Or will they have learned containment techniques by then?)

AliceReviewed Chapter: 2 on 12/19/2004
Elrin is a very good cousin. He deserves brownies for how he deals with his younger friends.

Author Reply: He is an excellent cousin. He is a typical first-born, really - sensible, earnest, hard-working. He's had masses of adult attention and basked in lots of love and approval - and he is growing up to be very responsible. (Which could start to backfire on him as his cousins grow older!)

SharonBReviewed Chapter: 2 on 12/19/2004
Oh the poor adars. LOL, what is that old adage about the revenge of having children of your own? Something about the fact that they somehow manage to top what you were able to do to your own parents.

But Legolas does not do well when one of his little elfings is missing. I'm sure he did not mean to be so sharp anda it was nice that he did apologize to Elrin.

And poor Elrin having to choose the lesser of two evils by letting Eleniel go find her brother rather than waiting for the adas to come back first. I think in the end the adults will agree he did handle everything well. He rememebred to take water and the first aid kit and signal for them when Galenthil was found. Quite level headed for a Peredhil offspring, really. ;-)

Author Reply: Poor lambs. They know their wives keep constant watch on the children, but they haven't quite fathomed why. I think they have a better idea now! The watch is not so much to keep trouble OUT as to confine it.

Legolas was panic-stricken - he was a bit sharp with Elladan, who can cope with it, and then he found that Elrin had taken Eleniel away from camp, where they had been told to remain. It turns out to have been a good thing - but it could have made things worse if they had got lost as well. Legolas will make it up to him and agree that he did the best he could under the circumstances - but I think they will all have to have a serious talk about safety. And, if their wives find out the details, I think there might be some serious talk about what it means to supervise small children.

Elrin is very level-headed. It helps that he is not a twin, I think. And Miriwen is very sensible.

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 2 on 12/19/2004
I love Thranduil. But then, you knew that already. I laughed at his awareness of how horrified the twins and Legolas would be at his coming along, despite the very sweet fact that his grandson wants him. And I also laughed at his explanation of how Legolas would be closer to nature if he didn't brush his hair! LOL

It's amazing how quickly things can go wrong with little kids. I remember how difficult it was even to take a shower without worrying when my son was small. You know they're just going to eat rat poison and play with the knives.

You did a good job of showing how tense Legolas became. He snapped at and blamed others and it was all normal. Elrin is really an admirable little boy.

Author Reply: They would be, wouldn't they! He could have got a great deal of amusement out of pretending that he would come - but then Galenthil would have been disappointed when he didn't. It's quite hard to imagine Legolas dirty and ungroomed - he's the sort of person who would wake up with every hair in place.

Yes - from calm to disaster - and then, often, back to calm - over seconds. I think they will be surprised to find how little time has passed during their moment of crisis. And these adars know they need to watch - they just haven't worked out yet what they are watching FOR. It's not the outside dangers any more - it's the fact that, if they take their eyes off the elflings for a second, someone will climb a cliff, or run off, or decide to do the cooking or light a fire.

Legolas was rather panic-stricken - first Galenthil disappeared and then Eleniel wasn't where he left her. He will let Elrin know that he behaved well. He is a very responsible child. (Must be his mother's influence.)

Jay of LasgalenReviewed Chapter: 2 on 12/19/2004
What a great chapter, and so tense! Poor Galenthil - accidents can happen so easily, even without wargs and spiders. I suppose it's not surprising that they didn't think to ask Eleniel about him - they're not identical, so I wouldn't expect their bond to be so strong.

'I am sure that these little ones will be rather less trouble than we were,’ Elrohir said besottedly, touching the tiny hand of one of his daughters and smiling as her fingers curled around his thumb.' I love besotted Elrohir. Poor elf, he'll soon learn! I liked Celebrían's reaction too - is that the 'second sight' of the chapter title?

I also liked the reference to the raft incident, but didn't Elladan break his arm then as well?

Author Reply: Elladan did break his arm - and the adventure was a lot more frightening than some of the more dangerous activities the twins indulged in later - but the tale was bowdlerised, so as not to scare Elrin. (Although probably a bit of scaring wouldn't do him any harm.) That story started here, actually, but then wanted its own telling. I thought of cutting it, but the balance seemed wrong without it.

I suppose there are touches of second sight all over the place - Eleniel with Galenthil, Celebrian with the little twins, E2L foreseeing trouble, maybe. And the reader - who knows rather more about these elflings than their poor parents at this point.

Eleniel didn't sense Galenthil until after their fathers had gone off in search of him, because it wasn't until he came round that she could feel him that strongly. And this is the first time they have been out with their adas, so maybe they haven't come across this talent before. Although, given their propensity for trouble, I should think they'll be bound to find it useful in the future. It could lessen, I suppose, as they grow up and away from each other.

Poor besotted Elrohir. They are going to wear him down rather before they start to become civilised - but he will still adore them.

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