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Just Desserts by Lindelea	7 Review(s)
Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 11/3/2005
Powerful, powerful chapters!! "...and somewhere in the depths of the Citadel, the Steward poured himself another glass of strong spirits, and stared into the candle flame, and wondered how he could have been so cocksure and careless, and condemned innocent men, upright men, who had won the King's favour with their brave and selfless actions." Wonderfully written!!! Author Reply: Oops, missed this one. Well, the Steward has a heart-to-heart talk with the King in the latest chapter published. Hopefully we'll see some progress made.

FantasyFan	Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 10/31/2005
I'm glad of the last little bit. The Steward has been portayed as very hard, inflexible, a 'pharasee' character more concerned with rules and order than mercy and justice, and not sympathetic at all. I'd rather have at least a little sympathy for him, knowing that what has happened has brought him up short, that he's incredulous and remorseful for his actions. I'd want Elessar to have put a good man in place in this important position. The other observation isn't really about your story as much as it is about the times we live in. The good people here are just as afraid of the government as we are today. They hesitate to stand up against injustice, to speak for the accused, because it my have negative consequences that they fear. Everyone is perfectly accepting that innocents have been arrested and taken away. It makes me sad that we don't have a good example of public service any more. Ah, feeling cynical today. Hope the kiddies are having a happy Halloween. Author Reply: Sorry to hear you're feeling cynical today. I have those times, all too often. I try to write "realistic" scenarios and yet hold out hope, knowing that there are a few extra-ordinary characters in play: Elessar, Arwen, Pippin, Merry, Sam, Diamond, just to name a few. Yes, at the time Elessar put him in the position, he was a good man. Things have happened, that will come out in a future chapter if all goes right, and he needs a sabbatical of sorts. Which, knowing Elessar, he'll get, and just the kind he needs. But you're right. The Steward has been portrayed as very hard, inflexible, and rule-bound because, frankly, that is what he's become over the past few years, since the King last left the Lake. To be sure, Elessar might have seen this coming, but either he didn't, or he was giving his cousin the benefit of the doubt. Just as Pippin might have seen this coming, and told Elessar about Jack and the boys just in case they were found out, instead of keeping silent about them, more or less, thinking he was protecting them. People are fallible. Some of us are more fallible than others. Guess I can't afford to be too cynical, too often. Whew. Thanks.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 10/31/2005
He'd blamed well BETTER be wondering that, and perhaps a good deal more. Justice will now be served, but how long the healing might take is, of course, anyone's guess. Author Reply: Truly. One of the things I'm trying to figure out is just how long the effects of the draught would last. I have an idea of what Will's recovery will be. I was throttled upon a time, when my scarf got caught in a rope tow at a ski resort, choked nearly to unconsciousness, and know something of how it feels, and what the recovery involves, though I was not drugged at the time, but fully conscious. A terrible feeling.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 10/31/2005
How rumours spread and grow and change in the telling. Before we know where we are there will be a mob with pitchforks at the palace gate. And yet a gentle bit of protest here is really quite justified. (I say gentle, because anything more tends to lead to repression). Eliniel is so confused - I'll bet Aragorn would be quite disconcerted to know that she feels that the Houses of Healing are really only available to nobles, bureaucrats and the desperate. Getting to know this family might prove to be very good for him. I like her recognition of the King, not just as King, but as the warrior to whom she took water. Interesting link between them - very symbolic. Good to hear the words from the horse's - sorry, King's mouth. Now all they have to worry about is whether Will has been so severely injured that he will a) not survive, b) be brain-damaged, c) not recover fully or d) get better. The Steward has his worries, too, I'm pleased to see. Shame it takes a displeased King to make him look at himself a bit more intently. Author Reply: My one question, at the moment, for I have written this story on the basis of past research and haven't done a lot of delving in the writing (this sort of got dashed off, whereas many of the stories I write get a lot of groundwork laid before the outline ever becomes a draft)... is... Would the King and other healers be able to discern that Will had been drugged, or would they simply attribute his "coma" or similar state to the effects of being hanged? Since I'm in a mode where I can actually write (I regularly go through stretches of weeks where I can't, and I post previously written material, scribbled during a time when I can), I don't want to take time off for research. g So what gets written here might not be quite so "accurate" as in other stories where much more time has gone into the background. Pitchforks! Yikes! The steward is actually a good man. He's just gone off course, and needs a bit of sensitivity training or something of the sort. Middle-earth version. It is interesting, reading comments, to see how modern sensibilities would change the course of events, and how jarring "traditional" justice is to our senses. And medicine as well. It would fit with tradition for commoners to see the Houses of Healing in such a light--a place to get help mostly when the local healer can't. In my great-grandmother's time, and perhaps even my grandmother's, a hospital was a place to be avoided at all costs--and had a reputation as a place that you went to die. As for nobility and bureaucrats and guardsmen, the HoH would be the most convenient place for anyone living or working in the Citadel to find a healer. So it is not so elitist as it sounds on the surface. Note that Turambor tried to get Will and Rob to agree to take Jack there, when he was so badly injured. It was not that the boys feared Jack would be turned away, but that they feared the secret would come out and Will would hang for it. And Jack would be in full agreement--as he was, when he finally "woke up". Thanks, your comments make me think more deeply about what goes into the story.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 10/31/2005
I forgot to say how much I liked Eiliniel's memory of taking Aragorn a cup of water, when he was just one more unknown warrior coming to the City after the battle. Waterbearers are very honored, trust me! Author Reply: I love the image of bringing water to the thirsty. There is nothing that quenches thirst in quite the same way. I remember one group we support telling how they brought ice and bottled water into the hurricane-blasted region, and I think of how thirsty people must have been, in that humid heat. Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink (misquoted paraphrase, at least I think it's a misquote, just the way my dad used to say it). No wonder it is one of the word-pictures Jesus used in the Gospels.

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 10/31/2005
Wonderful! Now the family is beginning to learn that all will soon be well! And the Steward has taken to drink, and is finally beginning to see the light--a bit late in the day. How could he have been so "cocksure and careless"? Good question. Let's hope he thinks a long time about the answers. Author Reply: The Steward has taken to drink... what a way to put it! (Too true) He's not going to have to think about the answers all by himself, either. But Elessar is wise and just, and knows more about the Steward and his motivations, perhaps, than even the Steward himself.

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 20 on 10/31/2005
I'll just bet he is wondering! The phrase, 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions' has just come to mind. I started out really despising the Steward and wondering how the *! Aragorn had thought to appoint him but now I just feel sorry for him - out of his depth and blinded by assumptions and, probably, too much work. But he had better not get too drunk this night! Author Reply: Perfect phrase, fits the Steward's situation very well. And he really does have a prejudiced view of ruffians, and an uninformed one of hobbits.

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