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Reunion by Larner	10 Review(s)
Andrea	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/24/2006
“It’s time, I think. She didn’t want for me to remain torn in two, you see. She wanted for me to know the healin’ of that wound afore I come after her. I’d best get a move on.” Now, that's good old Sam again! Finally he found a way to please both, Frodo and Rosie, and did the first step to the healing of his torn heart. I'm glad Glorfindel was there to help him decide! Glorfindel has always been my "favourite elf" in LotR. Don't ask me why, I'm not so sure about that myself ;-) Thank you for giving him the attention he deserves! Author Reply: Yes, and in pleasing both those he loved more than himself he pleases himself as well. Yes, Glorfindel's presence aided him to step out of the inertia at the last. So glad you appreciate his presence in this story. I, too, love Glorfindel, whom I find an exceptional representative of his race.

Bodkin	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/24/2006
Glorfindel - he must be quite an unexpected visitor, but who better to understand Elanor's worries and Sam's suffering. A ship sitting in harbour is a jolly good thing, too. Unlike elves, Sam can't wait a century or two for the next one to be ready. His arrival is likely to put an end to Sam's drifting, I would think - and remind him that Rosie wanted him to seek out Frodo. And that the world goes on, too. Even if it might seem otherwise. Author Reply: So often it feels as if the world ought to have stopped when we suffer great loss and grief; but as you note it doesn't, for if it did for each of us it wouldn't have turned for millenia and our life would have burned away long ago. Yes, it's time, and Glorfindel has helped draw Sam out of his inertia into beginning the next steps.

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/24/2006
Celeborn is right, his wife, daughter and law-son will need him more than the elves remaining in Arda. And it would be too hard for him to see his granddaughter fade and die. Though I don’t envy Glorfindel for this job; he knew Arwen so long and must love her nearly as much as a child of his own. I am glad he at least hadn’t to watch the twins die, too. What Glorfindel told Elanor and Mayblossom about his living in both worlds, Aman and Arda, was interesting and, if I think about it, logical. It would not only explain the way Glorfindel seemed to Frodo but why only Frodo noticed it. Glorfindel’s visit was a blessing for all of them, I’d say. Elanor and her daughter were a bit eased about Sam, I think, and for Sam it was the help he needed to decide to accept the grace at last and to sail West. Author Reply: Celeborn would react more strongly, I think, to Arwen's impending death than would Glorfindel, for their blood relationship, the prior loss of Celebrian to the West as she went to seek the healing she needs, and as a backlash to remaining in Arda after his Galadriel left him. Glorfindel, having already gone through the Halls and having been restored and commissioned to return to Middle Earth as he did, is probably able to accept all better, more likely realizing that even with the life of Arda facing him this is still not long in the sight of Eru Himself before they will be reunited with Arwen and many others. Glad you feel Glorfindel's explanation of the border region Sauron sought to corrupt is logical. Thank you. And I do think all concerned are better able to accept the next step in Sam's departure.

Tigger	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/23/2006
Oh...This was so sweet in a solemn way. I'm glad Glorfindel was able to talk to Sam and to help him in making his decision. It tears at my heart to see both conversations touch on what was to come for Arwen and I can't blame Celeborn not wanting to be there to see it happen. I also liked your take on Glorfindel being able to be present, in his way, in both realms. I've never seen anyone take that on before, but it is very believable here. Looking forward to the next chapter. BTW, and I hate to mention this as I know you've been having computer problems, but have you been able to look over my story? It's just the deadline is coming up, so I've got to send it in soon if it's going to be submitted at all. Sorry to bring it up, but...I need to know. Author Reply: Am so glad you found this believable as written, Tigger. I know if I'd have been Celeborn I'd have decided to seek the comfort of my family before Arwen's end came; and I'm certain he'd help comfort them as well. And I'm sorry about having forgotten the story, and hope you found the editing I suggested acceptable. Good luck with it!

Endaewen	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/23/2006
This is a beautiful story. Author Reply: Thank you, Endaewen.

harrowcat	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/23/2006
Oh this is a wonderful chapter. The section about Glorfindel is so informative. I have always liked him but have never done the reading necessary to understand all about his background. Shame on me I know but maybe I will find some time this Summer. Elanor is coming alive as an adult character too. I sense another section of the story, more white space at the margin of the map waiting to burst into life. I am sure that I am not the only one who wants to hear more about her story from you!. Author Reply: I'm expanding a bit on the Appendices and the Silmarillion. Glorfindel fought at Angbar against the forces of Morgoth, and died in the clutches of a Balrog--whom he slew. As with Gandalf later, he was granted renewed life and sent back to Middle Earth, where he became one of the residents of Imladris, aiding in the care offered that land and serving as Elrond's friend, counselor, and assistant in many ways. It's fun to consider what the shadow world was intended to be by Iluvatar, and how Morgoth and Sauron might have sought to skew it to their own purposes. That you are thinking of the white spaces at the margin of the map is interesting, for I was thinking of Frodo using those very words when he is reunited with Sam, for Sam will be bringing with him more than just pictures and locks of hair, you know. I think it was Baylor who wrote a lovely story of Elanor's first meetings with Fastred, an orphan lad who served in the Quick Post and from whom she received many letters for her beloved Sam-Dad.

Linda Hoyland	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/22/2006
I love the idea of Glorfindel and Celeborn sailing with Sam.THe conversation with Elanor was very moving. Author Reply: Again a review I wrote disappeared. Too strange! Tolkien intimated that Celeborn MAY have remained in Middle Earth to take the true Last Ship to Aman; I felt that he would prefer not to see his granddaughter fade, and so took liberties that are still allowed within canon; and so it was the Glorfindel chose to fulfil that office in my universe. To be consistent with canon I imply that the notes Frodo had taken indicating originally Celeborn intended to be the last Elf out were what were referred to in the Tale of Years indicating the disposition of various individuals after the sailing of Elrond and Frodo. And am so glad you find Elanor's conversation moving. That is one of the indications I'm writing right, that I manage to bring such an emotional response.

Armariel	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/22/2006
Yay, he's going...well, of course I knew he would, but I'm glad to see he's not going to drag out his decision over several chapters and is just going to hop to it! Fascinating discussion about the spirit realm; I knew very little about it before, so it was a new thing to me. Always did like Elanor, and thought maybe she'd become someone of importance, maybe a poet or something. Anxiously waiting to read of the reunion.... ~~~{~@ Author Reply: Tolkien indicated she and Fastred were granted leadership in the newly opened Westmarches, and dug their smial under the first of the Elven towers, so I've tried to stay true to that. The leadership of Elanor and Fastred Fairbairn must have been great, I'd think; and I'm certain their smial would have had a lovely garden about it. The decision is made; but the preparation will go on a bit.

Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/22/2006
This will likely be rushed, as I'm not even supposed to be reading right now. Love the way you've characterized Elanor--I can just see her as a little girl, "When you go, Dad, I'm going with you." :) And Mayblossom seems to have that hunger for knowledge present in her grandfather, honorary uncle, and I imagine in her mother. So glad Sam has finally made the decision! Though I know you stay in canon as much as possible, I was afraid he'd be too late. God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: We know that Sam left the Shire, but not for certain what happened after he left Undertowers, for Tolkien left it deliberately vague in the Appendices. I myself prefer to think he did make it and found himself by Frodo's side again, and so that's how I write it, although Vistula the Dunedain wrote a fascinating short story in which he finds Frodo, but NOT on Tol Eressea. Unfortunately, this is in keeping with a genre not accepted on this site; I read it at the Henneth Annun archive site.

shirebound	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 5/22/2006
What a beautiful chapter. I feel I know Glorfindel better, after reading this one chapter, than ever before. And for some reason, this sentence struck me as particularly insightful: Estel, when he goes, will carry with him her heart and her Light, which she after all gifted to him long ago. Author Reply: I wanted to explore a bit on how it was that those who are of the Noldor and came from Aman might have come to straddle the two realms as described by Tolkien, and this is what came out. If it helps you feel you know Glorfindel better, so much the better, of course. What I wrote here was my own feeling for why, when Aragorn died, Arwen behaved as she did. I explored it more deeply in "Light on the Way," in which Faramir Took appears, as well as Hamfast Gardner.

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