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A Matter of Appearances  by Lindelea 8 Review(s)
MaidenofValinorReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
who’d sent his mustered hobbits
Mmmm, hobbits are much better with mustard.

YAY. The King, the King, the King!!
Haha. Oh, so mysterious.

Your plots twists confuzzle me.
It's like YAY THEY FOUND FARRY....
oh, wait...he's like....mysteriously unconcious?

I am glad to see they decided to give the ruffian a proper burial.
xD

Author Reply: Mustard, now why didn't I think of that?

Too many plot twists in this one, definitively.

But thanks!

Pearl TookReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
Marvelous!! All Right!! WOO HOO!!! Strider knows!! The hands of the King are the hands of a healer!! Most excellent!!

(is that enough exclamation points? LOL!)

Author Reply: Very nice distribution of exclamation points. Quite encouraging!

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
Duh! Come on Pippin! You at least should know how the King get to know what is happening! I did wonder if the healing hands of the King were somehow going to be involved. And the Kings' justice to I trust. I am glad that our favourite ruffian gets an honourable burial. But what is Diamond going to say when she eventually finds out!!!

Author Reply: Well, remember that he's been under a lot of stress and up all night.

Hmm. Sounds familiar.

I too am wondering about Diamond... If she finds out before Pippin tells her, he'll be in deep water. But if he's the one to tell her...

FantasyFanReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
Elessar is at the bridge. I wonder if he saw Farry's spirit beginning to wander? If so, it really is a matter of life or death, if they arrive in time for the healing hands of the King to call him back. Or was he watching in the Palantir? Can a hobbit die of grief, I wonder, like an elf? Farry has been through shock after trauma, but the last one, seeing his rescuer cut down because of him, might have just been too much.

The height of irony, that the dead young ruffian is to be buried in Ferdi's unneeded grave. Pippin will have some words to say, indeed, and I wonder if the hobbits can be made to understand? They don't understand the magnitude of the crime to start with, so how can they understand the enormity of what the youngling had to go through to reject the course the other ruffians had set for him? Maybe they can understand the simple truth of putting your own life in the way of danger to another, and that is all they need. Regi, though might get the whole story out of him - he's already suspicious. Pippin's clever plans though, might be thrown into disarray for the need to get Farry to Aragorn. And Diamond's no fool - she'll figure out something is amiss pretty soon too.

Those Quick Post ponies have certainly proved their worth over the years, haven't they?


Author Reply: Elessar will tell why he came to the Bridge, and very soon. I think the post ponies ought to make the trip in about four or five hours at the most, if I'm remembering right from my study of the Pony Express, while writing "Down and Out".

Why, it's even possible that Pippin, Farry and Merry will be back in Tuckborough by the dawning...

I know that a hobbit can die of grief, because that's the solution I came up with, to JRRT's assertion that hobbits seldom marry twice. But dying of grief at loss of one's other half is different from Farry seeing his one protector among the ruffians gasp his last. No, I think that Farry's grief is just part of a whole picture, a lot of which has to do with the way Red keeps coming back like a bad nickel. But can I make that clear in the story, without tromping all over the plot like an elephant?

Feeling very dull and tired today, and have no coffee in the house. (By choice. But at the moment, it seems rather like the King's Edict. Very annoying, when you get right down to it.)

UnicornsTearsReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
I did a little judicious editing because I knew you were on vacation - are you back? I wasn't sure how much web access you have. We can talk about it on Weds. Same time, same Starbucks?

This has been *such* a birthday present! Better than Smeagol's any day.

Author Reply: Thanks, I am back.

(You thought I posted from a campground? Yes, a lot of them do have electric hookups. No, this one did not. We even had to feed coins into the shower to get water. Ai!)

Same time, same Starbucks. (And I'm hooked on coffee again, after four days of cadging coffee from fellow campers. We offered to share our PG Tips in exchange but for some reason they preferred their coffee.)

Need chocolate. You got any?

And I'm really not sure this Strider-at-the-Bridge works. Can't he pretty-please step into the Shire? I know, I've been stubborn about the Edict in past stories, but really, I'm tired. And I have four more loads of laundry to do.

And twelve chickens to cut up for the freezer. Why don't you come and help?

Bring coffee.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
It is a Good Thing, I think, that the young ruffian who saved Farry should be honoured by the Tooks. Not that it makes much difference to him now - but because it'll do the Tooks good to know that there is good in men. And that it's not all in noble men of high descent, but that there are ruffians and ruffians.

And I'm not surprised that Farry has gone into shock now that the pressure's off. Another good thing that the King has ridden to the bridge, too - and I just hope that getting Farry there (instead of the King meeting them halfway) will be enough. (Otherwise the old men-banned-from-the-Shire edict will take on a rather bitter irony.)

Next chapter, please.

Author Reply: Y'know, I think that Edict business is really a bother. But I have decided to write as if it really matters that Elessar honour his own Edict, and that somehow fate or Providence or whatever you want to call it honours him for his, um, honorableness?

I had thought of him showing up at Hoard Hill, and really, it would have been easier, but EF challenged me to make it work this way. I surely hope it does. I do not want to rewrite this story. (Actually, I hate rewriting in general, anyhow.)

OTOH, if I lose patience, there just might be a notice in the story summary that the story's been rewritten.

I mean, is it stupid for Elessar to observe his Edict in life-or-death situations?

Or is it opening a can of worms for him to step over the border every time there's an emergency?

(Considering these hobbits and all their fans, who keep writing angst for them, there'd be an awful lot of emergencies.)

Am weary. Can you tell? Holidays take a lot out of one.

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
Poor Farry, in serious shock, is in need of the hands of the King! How fortunate that Aragorn was in the north! I'm guessing he made use of the Orthanc stone--I'm surprised Pip didn't think of that, or Merry--but they are rather distraught at the moment.

I'm glad Pippin left instructions to give the youngster a decent burial, and once they know the explanation, the Tooks will understand.

This was a wonderful twist I wasn't expecting--but I'm very glad to see it, as it means the story will be longer...

Author Reply: Poor Farry. I suppose if serious shock isn't believable we could throw in a little slow poison for the king to have to deal with. But really, shock ought to do it, don't you think? Don't need any more plot twists. Need to get this story finished so I can go on to more belated birthday gifts.

But I think that Farry is going to be severely traumatized by this evil, considering his tender years, and the King might as well nip it in the bud, as not.

I wonder if shock could be deadly to a 10yo hobbit child? After all, hobbits live a pretty sheltered life, when not being wooed away on adventures or such.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 33 on 8/28/2006
Well, how would he THINK Strider would know? Between Palantiri and his foresight, I truly think Aragorn would be aware when Faramir Took needed his presence and aid as the King Returned.

Really, Pippin, sometimes you babble!

Glad that they are going to honor the boy, for he deserves it.

Author Reply: Um. I bet Strider doesn't flaunt the Palantir in front of his guests, especially Pippin, so that they don't think of it all that often. That's just a guess, though.

But you're right, Pippin does sometimes babble. It seems to fit. *g*

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