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A Healer's Tale  by Lindelea 8 Review(s)
Anso the HobbitReviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/28/2005
Oh no! Poor Mardi an little Violet! You`ve really given a great view of how stressful a healer`s work can be with this story.

Author Reply: Thanks! Our next-door neighbour, when I was little, was a doctor in the days when doctors still made house calls. There was one very busy, very dedicated man, and his wife was a loving, sweet lady, too.

Pearl TookReviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/23/2005
Oh my!!! So exciting. Poor Mardi. I hate to say, but please hurry with more :) :) VWD

Author Reply: Thanks, Pearl. It's always nice to hear that more is wanted!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/23/2005
Somehow missed the notification on this chapter! (I think it must have gone to my husband's computer instead. Happens sometimes!)

I loved the sheer hobbitiness of this whole chapter: the part about food and hospitality, the fact that it all took place in the kitchen, the wee!hobbits. Poor teething baby, and sweet little Violet.

Of course there was far too much chaos in the kitchen with little ones in there, and I was sure *something* was going to happen, but I certainly did *not* expect what did! Poor, poor Mardi! This is going to be very interesting. What a nice bit of h/c this will make!



Author Reply: Well, you ought to have received a second notification on this chapter, because I forgot to change the story summary before I published the next Interval. So don't be fooled... Mardi's story continues, hopefully, on Monday.

Yup, lots of h/c ahead, some of it hopefully surprising, too!

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/22/2005
And now Mardi himself will need Woodruff's skills. Ah, small children and burns--can remember going through a stage when Mom had to ban me from the kitchen because I couldn't seem to come near the stove without burning myself.

Author Reply: Ouch! And burns are so painful, too. I burned myself recently, and it is amazing how long the pain lasted, and how it came back in the shower, days later, for the healing burn couldn't seem to bear the feel of warm water.

What is it about small children? Something about going through a growth spurt and then not knowing where the arms and legs end, if not incredible optimism and poor judgment mixed in.

Mysterious JediReviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/22/2005
Looking forward to more, so I can see how bad the burns were :)

<>< Saved from sin through Christ,
MJ

Author Reply: Just updated the "interlude" part of the story, and you'll know more of Mardi's condition, if all goes well, on Monday.

Thanks!

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/22/2005
Why am I not surprised that Pippin's first sign of recovery was the word 'Griddlecakes'? I suppose the only surprise is that it wasn't 'Seed-cake'!

There certainly seems to be plenty of work here for healers - Woodruff is exhausted, poor lass, and she's just about to be summoned to tend to her own assistant. I was a bit concerned about the gum rub for infants - it sounded as if there was potential for an overdose there, but poor Mardi! I'm glad he leapt in to save the little poppet with the sweet little face - but porridge is nasty. It clings enough to make you think it's got a second career as glue in mind. (And cleaning the kitchen won't be much fun either. Especially after it all gets trampled into the cracks.)

A favourite image? - Beryl 'hesitating between the gooseberry jam and the strawberry preserves. She finally opted for a little of each.' So very hobbity. And Leaf, trying to win Mardi's interest with cakes steaming from the over.


Author Reply: Yes, it would have been fun to have them baking seedcakes. But griddlecakes seemed more breakfasty.

There is a potential for overdose, which is why there were strict instructions: wet finger with the stuff twice, not oftener than every two hours. My m-i-l demonstrated this old "cure" years ago, with whisky and a screaming infant, and amazing how the stuff worked! Though we pretty much stick to Anbesol around here.

You're right about porridge. Got the idea for this, remembering an incident some years ago when a little one was carrying a bowl of the stuff from stove to table, and was careless, and the stuff slopped over onto her hand and clung and kept burning until we could get her hand under running cold water and scrub it away. Makes me shiver to recall it.

Loved reading the favourite images. The way to a hobbit's heart is his stomach, after all.

Connie B.Reviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/22/2005
"Physician heal thyself" somehow seems to fit here.;)

Poor Mardi. First he's going to have to deal with the pain of his injury and then with the possible consequences that such an injury could have on his future as a healer. A healer is only as good as his/her hands, after all.

I know he does just fine, but still knowing what he's going to go through still hurts.

Thanks for the update.

Connie B.

Author Reply: Too true. Somehow it is ironic, having to heal a healer. Good thing it's Woodruff.

You are exactly right about the hands of a healer. Woodruff's care of her hands, wearing gloves for example, was partly an attempt to emphasize that point.

Thanks for the feedback!

ArielReviewed Chapter: 21 on 5/21/2005
Ouch!

I've done that...

Reading on.

Author Reply: Me too, on a much smaller scale. That's how I realised how hot cereal can stick to the skin and keep burning you until you scrape it off...

Yikes!

(Thanks for commenting! Everyone's so silent, this chapter, one wonders what to think...)

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