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Reunion by Larner	215 Review(s)
Eordemaeg	Reviewed Chapter: 15 on 6/4/2015
I had been meaning to write a review of the past chapters, but often neglected to do so every time, since my habitual instinct upon reaching the end of one chapter was to get on to the next, particularly when the writing is unusually good. But allow me to say now that more than once have I been reduced to tears by this story, most especially this chapter. More than that I cannot say; if perhaps I can wring words from tears, I would have a decent length written out in praise of this piece. Author Reply: Thank you so very much for such kind words. This is the culmination of my own trilogy that I most wanted to write--The Acceptable Sacrifice, Reconciliation, and Reunion, the latter two being far shorter than the first. To know that I've been able to move people with my writing I find most satisfying. Thank you so for letting me know!

whisperer	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 10/2/2013
I read this story for a forth time.. and i still love this..

Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 999999 on 8/10/2006
Well, I'm back! And glad to be so, though I do feel as if I had three homes now-North Carolina, Colorado, and Heaven. It's just so odd not to rise at six, rush to get ready, and then literally run to catch the seven o'clock bus, and be packed in among people and canes till everyone is careful of their ankles, only the lucky ones get seats (the others have to stand and cling to poles or whatever), and everyone feels like sardines in a can. :) Oh dear, what ridiculous dramas can take place on an overcrowded bus or in a rush to catch a lightrail! We had one student-in the adult program, mind, and not a new one either-who was terrible at keeping a grip on his cane. He was one to whine and groan about every little thing, and he'd always drop the confounded thing on the way to catch the lightrail. And when he did, he'd just stop right in the middle of the sidewalk and yell, "Hey, I need twenty-twenty!" As if we could just give it to him! Honestly! Now that kind of behaviour, to me, might be pardonable if he'd just lost his sight, or if he was new, but neither applied to him, and he didn't have an excuse except what I call just plain being bratty. And at his age, too! I'd stop when I could and try to help him out of human kindness, but it was so hard not to laugh outright or say, "If you've dropped your cane, then stop wailing about it and get down on your own knees and look for it!" Now I can sit here and laugh all I want to without hurting his feelings, and it's such a relief, I must confess. The past eight weeks have been some of the most trying and--educational I've ever known, and also the happiest. It was marvellous. But it was so wonderful to sit down and relax and enjoy an excellent story as I haven't done in for ever. I almost had to bend the rules in order to get any internet time at the CCB. I love the sharing of memories, the loving messages and beautiful pictures and sculptures, the general happiness, the long-awaited revelation to Frodo and Sam of what might have been, and the peaceful depiction of life on the Lonely Isle. Marvellous, as always. And I feel that in this story we've come to know Livwen much better. I just love her. And I also enjoyed your descriptions of Aragorn's children. Each one is so individual, something I very much admire, as it's always been hard for me to achieve. We've had glimpses of Frodo and Sam's daily life on Tol Eressea before, but you've shown it more fully here, and it seems much more real and comprehensible, if you will. I'm still captivated and moved by Frodo's "Elvish mortality" and Sam's irresistible Hobbit sense, humour, and "mother henning". :) I have to agree with Frodo: the Creator does have an interesting sense of humour. I used to doubt it, but learned it the hard way very recently. You led up to the passing in what I thought was a realistic way-Frodo rubbing at his shoulder in the old way, not from pain but because he was being reminded that he was not immortal, and so on. And the end, with them joining the feast, and Saradoc's "Come now, or I'll have Esme and your mother come and have a word with you" left me laughing, just for the sheer joy in it. All the readjusting back to "normal" life, and fighting with "normality" to keep what I learned this summer is rather stressful, and this tale was so refreshing! Thank you for that. Hope you and Tribbals get things worked out, and I can't wait for the next one! :) God bless, Galadriel P.S. Can also say I've heard a computer speech synthasizer sing, beautifully, "A Bicycle Built for Two." :) Author Reply: Tribbals is caught on my Toshiba laptop, whose power intake has decided to go wonky. Am now writing on a Dell laptop, but it doesn't have a 3.5 inch disk drive, and I haven't yet figured out the R-W drive. Then the Dell desktop got hacked, as I indicated in Ernil i Pheriannath. So am borrowing the son-in-law's computer till I find the restore disk for the Dell desktop. For Frodo, Sam's coming must have felt like being allowed a piece of home again, for here is Hobbit love at its basic. The two of them would have so much to share--Sam from the Shire and the united realm; Frodo from Tol Eressea. Frodo has found the true reason for what he knew as the Shadow Realm and is now not trapped but instead fulfilled even more by his visits there (it's always wonderful to speculate on what had been meant by the processes and artifacts Sauron twisted to his own uses). Now we see more of the people who have come to mean the most to Frodo in his new life, and they get fleshed out a bit more. Thank you for your characterization of the realization the end is coming as realistic--as with Aragorn in Light on the Way, Frodo is being told by his body that the time has come and he may go when he wishes. As for the feast--I had to put Lindelea's feast in there, I had to! It begged for inclusion! And I know what you mean about how this reflects your own return to "normal" life. Anyway, again, glad to see you home! Hope to get some more stories posted soon. Have one multi-chapter story going, but it's caught also on the Toshiba. I hate when computers decide to die on one! I have to get these stories off of the hard disk for the laptop if I can.

Laurelin	Reviewed Chapter: 999999 on 8/7/2006
Aha, here you are :) . This would explain why you didn't update at fanfiction.net, I've been missing your writing. Very good story as always, I hope to read more from you soon. L. Author Reply: Curse the hackers! We hates them, we does! Curse them and let them have to deal with one another instead of us poor working writers having always to deal with them! When I can get the problems dealt with in the Dell, I can get back with the email and back on FanFiction.net, which unfortunately is the source of many of the trojans that conflict with my satellite modem system. I live in the back of beyond, and only the satellite system offers me any hope of broadband downloads out here. Am so very glad you like how the story ends. This one was a joy to write.

Linda Hoyland	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/25/2006
This was just so beautiful and moving.Frodo and Sam must have been so delighted to see their loved ones again.A very uplifting chapter. I hope your computer problems are soon solved.You are much missed. Author Reply: No, not solved yet. And am glad you like the epilogue and find it uplifting. If I can ever get anything back on an even keel I think I'll fall over from lack of adrenaline. I've lived through nothing but crises for weeks, it feels like. Never become a landlord--I don't think it's worth it.

Lindelea	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/25/2006
Wonderful! I love the sense of timelessness, and of no need to hurry anywhere, and of course I love the Feast! To answer your previous reply to my review of the Author's notes, I differ slightly in how I see Tol E. (can't remember how to spell it). After all, it has been changed so that there is no more a straight "road" to get there; a regular ship would never find it. I forget what JRRT called it. It is, however, separated from M-e, and Mandos, if I remember right, is on the far side of the Island. And then the land of the Valar beyond? Don't remember, exactly, but that is the dim remembering that I have, without looking it up. And so, with that separation of sorts, it makes sense to me that the same sense of timelessness would be found over the whole island, and not just where the departed spirits were to be found. Not even that time runs differently there, perhaps, but may only be experienced differently. Time is such a strange and fluid concept. Hours can fly by (goodness, years can fly by!), or they can creep, and in a crisis it can seem as if the world is moving in slow motion. But I do appreciate your explanation of how you worked things out, and I like the way you've extrapolated (if that is the right word) from JRRT's beliefs to his writings and the world(s) he created. Author Reply: In choosing to keep a sense of time in the Undying Lands I was following through on the obvious time sense of the stories set there in the Silmarillion. Tol Eressea was also once part of the mortal lands, and so I see it as possibly more tied to the time of Middle Earth than perhaps the rest of Aman, allowing Frodo and later Sam to realize their bodies are yet vulnerable to the effects of a flowing of time they cannot truly appreciate, not having been born among the immortals. But this is only one possibility, while yours is another. None can be considered definitive, as Tolkien never set that out. However, once one has made the transition between the created world of Arda, whether in the mortal or immortal lands, and the realm set aside for the departed spirits of mortals where they hope to meet the Creator face to face, then true timelessness would be, I think, to be expected. And you know how much what you and others have written has managed to inspire me, and how I tend to write elements of other people's stories into my own. So glad you appreciated the inclusion of the Feast here, and hope you appreciated the reference to it in The Acceptable Sacrifice as well. I can't see Hobbits being confined to a feast in what they might see as a stuffy hall when there is a garden to set it in, so I see Frodo and Sam not entering in to leave their memories there, but not being allowed to bypass their own places in the Feast. And am so glad you appreciate my explanations of how I come to write what I do. Thank you so for the feedback, and love to the girls and your spouse.

Radbooks	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/24/2006
Oh, this was a nice ending, to see Frodo and Sam in the Presence like this. I like the idea of Timelessness - it must be like that. I was thrilled at the end to see Elrond there with Elros, that was a wonderful touch. You just know that the One would not keep his children apart forever. I agreed with Frodo, I, too, would want to hurry on into the garden and into the Presence, I think. Glad to see you back online! I've been worried about you. :) Author Reply: Well, am still having to borrow time on the computer at work to get online at all, but that's neither here nor there. I suspect if I ever run out of crises at the moment I'll die of adrenaline deprivation. It's been one problem after another for months until I begin to wonder if I'll ever have time to myself again. Am so very glad you appreciated this epilogue. Decided to put it here rather than in Moments in Time, and am glad I did in the end. Hope to be back online soon, but am uncertain when at this point. Money is a big problem at the moment.

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/24/2006
Oh Larner, that was a wonderful addition to the story! I was a bit surprised to see it pop up here again, but this was exact the chapter that I missed before a bit. To see Merry and Pippin, Rosie, their parents and all the others again is another reunion for Sam and Frodo, after all. The concept of timelessness in the Presence in connection with Tolkien's universe I encountered the first time in one of Bodkin's stories, and I always thought it the perfect solution, as men, hobbits and elves could be together. So I am very happy you saw it the same way. It was so wonderful to see them all happy together again! And of course the hobbits had to sit at a feast table - I always thought it had to be exactly that for them :) Another thing I loved was to have Aragorn there, too - I was never entirely happy with his decision not even himself to enter the Shire, as I'd loved to see such a visit. Thank you for this chapter! And I hope your bad luck with computers and all has finally run out!! Author Reply: Am so glad this was exactly what you wanted to see. It's abstract enough I fear it will put off some, but am glad those whose feedback I appreciate most have appreciated it. I, too, felt that in excluding himself from the Shire Aragorn in a way managed to deprive it and himself of much joy. This chapter has been inspired equally by Bodkin, Lindelea, and C.S. Lewis, and I must give credit to all of them. The Feast was most inspired by Lindelea, and the reunions in the presence of so many different races from Arda was definitely inspired by Bodkin, and I'm grateful to both of them. That each race would develop its own hall within the Halls of Mandos (or in its gardens) is my own idea, and is an extrapolation of ideas written into Light on the Way. No, computer bad luck isn't over yet. Am beginning to wonder if it will ever do so. Am SO tired of computer problems.

	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/24/2006
Oh, lovely! So much joy and just plain gladness. “First time I saw him as King, there at the Brandywine Bridge, I recognized one who’d ridden through the Shire years earlier on his great horse, leading his Men along the Road, seeking out the quickest way to come against enemies to the west to protect us all. Have you written this story? I'd like to read it! Author Reply: I'd begun writing it, but now the Toshiba laptop's internal power supply where power comes from the adaptor is giving fits. Each time I'm reasonably certain perhaps I'll be able to get back online another glitch hits. Am SO tired of glitches! Am so glad you liked this story.

	Reviewed Chapter: 17 on 7/24/2006
They stood at the beginning of the Way. There’d been no need to pause at the Gates, no need to cross even the meadow of flowers both had seen before. Before them stood the wonder of the Halls of Mandos, not that he who’d been Frodo Baggins gave the great edifice more than a cursory look. His attention instead was fixed on the shining path that led through the gardens and beyond to the deeper Gardens--the ones beyond the bounds of Arda. Oh, he was ready now to go there, across the silver bridge. He who’d been Sam looked up at the building, smiling in recognition. We’ve been nearly here before, Master. His fellow turned and looked at him seriously. I’m not your Master, not now, and not here. I’ve not been for decades, even. Let us use the proper term for one another--brother. Brother. Yes, you’re right, as usual. All right, brother it is. Do you wish to go in? Whatever for? Do you feel you need to go in? No, but it might hearten some if they found reminders of us here. He who’d been Frodo gave a snort. Those who know and love us--truly know and love us--will know I, at least, will want to go on. He took a step down the Way through the gardens, and he smiled broadly as the shining form that had awaited them reached out to embrace him at last. Oh, Bilbo, I’m ready to go on--to go on now, and not wait. Of course, my boy. However, you will find that time is an illusion. Nonsense! I’ve waited over sixty years.... Oh, have you, now? But what is sixty years in Arda compared to the eternity you will rejoice in within the Presence? So saying, he who’d been known as Bilbo Baggins but who certainly didn’t look anything like he’d appeared during his lifetime in the Shire and Rivendell and on Tol Eressëa, turned to accompany them along the Way. Such lovely descriptions! I saw in a catalogue once "I've always imagined paradise to be a sort of library" which would fit me very nicely, but a garden would definitely fit hobbits. Love it and of course, the part about brothers and Bilbo being there and Olorin. Very nice! Namarie, God bless, Antane :) Author Reply: Am so very glad, Antane, that you appreciated it. Yes, for Hobbits it would be a delightful feast in a garden! And of course Aragorn and Arwen would be part of it for Frodo's sake. But the greatest gift would be to go further, to find indeed time was an illusion, and that all are reunited as they come together in the presence! And here the brothers and all they love come together at the last!

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