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| A Time For Joy by meckinock | 23 Review(s) |
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| LisaG | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 6/14/2010 |
| This is so heartbreaking, but beautifully written. I would imagine that at some point Aragorn would go back to visit Eirien and the rest of his Dunadain clan. Seems right to have closure for the life and times he and Halbarad spent together. Author Reply: Thank you for the very kind review of A Time for Joy - I'm sorry this is such a belated reply - meckinock | |
| Elena Tiriel | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/20/2008 |
| Heartwrenching! That idea that the Grey Company had had time to mourn somewhat, so the grief wasn't (quite) as fresh for them, was such a perfect, real-life observation. (It reminds me of something that I heard once about the difference between World War II veterans, who came home on slow ships, and Vietnam veterans, who were jetted home in a matter of hours... they didn't have time to spend healing with their comrades -- the only ones who truly understood what they had experienced.) Sorry I can't think of more to say... I'm crying too hard. Very emotional, Meckinock! - Barbara Author Reply: I promise that's it for tear-jerkers. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. I hadn't heard that comparison between WWII and Vietnam vets, but what an interesting and plausible analysis. That time aboard ship with one's buddies would have been very therapeutic, and a healing bridge back to civilian life that the Vietnam vets lacked. Thanks for sharing that. | |
| Denise | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/22/2008 |
| I remembered reading "A Matter of Honor" in the MEFAs, and came over to see if you'd done any further explorations in your particular universe. Among all the many things to enjoy about that story, I loved - absolutely loved - your Halbarad and Eirien. I still recall (in tears!) the poignancy of Eirien hoarding a dirty shirt of her husband's, to have a scent of him in case he never came back alive, and I grieved even then to think of his future death and her reaction to it. And here I find you have explored it in detail! I started in on this story with a definite mixture of trepidation, dread and solemn joy (for it is joyous, even in grief, to have shared such a marvelous love). And damn it, I'm in tears again, sobbing over my keyboard! *spends some time recovering a bit* I love how you begin by showing Halbarad's past near-death and Eirien's previous brush with great grief. The scenes, the descriptions, hers and Alagos' reactions: all are managed perfectly, brilliantly clear. Your writing is wonderful, with so many memorable turns of phrase. (To name only one: Both Halbarad’s grief as a son and his joy as a father required their full due, and should not be mingled in memory lest neither be clearly recalled. Wise woman - she could have written Ecclesiastes.) Eirien's determined bravery in the face of either danger or loss is excellent testimony to both the Northern Dunedain in general and this family in particular. And, oh God - you send Halbarad off to the Pelennor so soon after his firstborn's own death. *sob* This whole passage: “You did right,” I say, sheathing it and handing it back to him. “The time for swords is over.” I look to Brandol and smile. It is indeed, finally over. He has earned the joy of this day and he will have it. We will all have it. I resolve for the sake of my husband’s love of this people that as I once held back my joy to give grief its due, so now I will do the same for joy. ...bringing us full circle in more than one way. At the end of this story, I am somehow left with the image of Eirien holding her first grandchild, and thinking of her beloved and again, all he fought for. This is glorious, meckinock. Thank you for sharing. Author Reply: I don't even know what to say, Denise! Thank you so much, first of all, for reading and reviewing A Matter of Honor for the MEFAs. And second, thank you even more for going to the trouble of looking for other stuff I may have written. That means more to me than you know! And last but certainly not least, thank you so much for letting me know you liked this story and for taking the time to share with me your impressions of it. This story was so dark and emotional that I wasn't sure how it would be received. Eirien was a character who intrigued me long before I ever actually got to write her. When I first started writing Halbarad (back in 2003!) I hadn't really worked out whether he had a wife, and then before I knew it he was telling Gandalf about Eirien. Right then and there, I knew I wanted to write about her, but I had to wait an entire novel to get even a few scenes with her. So this story was my way of giving her, and her marriage, their due, I guess. It makes me feel wonderful to think you found her a worthy partner for Halbarad, and that their relationship and the story worked for you. Thank you so much! Now I've rambled on too long, but if you're still interest in this particular universe, and it's not too presumptuous of me, I might recommend a few stories that other authors have written using my OCs. If you're not familiar with them, one is "The Circle" by the Karenator and another is "The Man in the Woods" by Dot . I confess total prejudice (since I think authors always love getting stories written using their OCs), but they really are great stories. | |
| Dwim | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/2/2007 |
| Meckinock tends to have an eye for the mortal perspective, and her Halbarad has always tended to be the representative who gives it its full due: no longing for what is impossible, nor bitterness that others have what human beings do not, namely immortality. Here, we find that Halbarad is the occasion for another airing of that view, this time from the perspective of his wife. We begin with the call, the arrival home of riders in the present day, after the Ring war, but so quickly enter a flashback that the reader finds herself for a moment out of joint, and then simply moving with the flow of memory: another ride home, Eirien's fears, and the threatened, fragile existence the Dúnedain eke out on their long watch, and which she sums up in the following exchange: 'Pausing only long enough to pull the shutters closed and get a sword in my hand, I ran for the door…. Three of them carried Halbarad into the house, moving in discordant unison like some great, multi-limbed insect. On their heels followed another group carrying my husband’s father. As I turned to follow them, a hand caught my shoulder. It was one of the sons of Elrond; in the dark I could not tell which one. "The time for swords is over," he said, and moved to pry mine from my clenched fingers. "There will be no pursuit." I stared at him. "The time for swords is never over," I replied, and went to help the other women fetch bandages and water. ' There is no reprieve and no time lived outside of watchfulness, of a sort of waiting on death, which in this instance claims Eirien's father-in-law but not her husband, despite his wounds. This lack-of-reprieve, the fact that their time is a time of swords, dictates a certain attitude towards life and death, towards joy and grief. Meckinock paints an adept and sensitive picture of these poles of human life—compassion in mourning, and the refusal to denigrate it, or to repress it, even though life goes on, and in the aftermath of tragedy, there is always much to do. As Eirien puts it, as she sits and watches over her wounded husband: 'Once we were alone his smile faded and he fell into silence for a while, grieving for his father, and I held him quietly, happy for the warmth of his body, the sound of his breathing. I badly wanted to tell him of the baby, to bring joy into this joyless day, but I held my tongue. Both Halbarad’s grief as a son and his joy as a father required their full due, and should not be mingled in memory lest neither be clearly recalled.' One way of approaching this story is to take it up as a sort of meditation on the Biblical phrase, [To everything there is a season], including grief and joy. Paradoxically, though there is a season for all things, Eirien herself, in order to respect the space of death and life, grief and joy, in others, puts herself out of step with the proper time. We get perhaps a hint of this in the blurring of times in the opening of the story, and in the lines quoted above: she takes up the sword when the moment for swords is past; she holds in joy for the sake of grief that should be felt in full; and in the end, when her turn comes to be the widow, she is out of step with the joy of others. 'Truly my grief must be an unwelcome guest at this gathering of joy. Even Brandol looks guilty, and with bitterness I see that he is as exuberant as the rest. Of course he is. For him, Halbarad has been dead for two months or more. The grief of the Grey Company has been steadily fading, while the promise of this joyous reunion has sustained them through the journey home and trials so bitter I can scarce imagine them. They will miss Halbarad, honor him, drink a toast to his courage and get on with the business of living. It is the way of life.' And so, as she has ever done, she puts herself out of step with her own season of grief: 'I resolve for the sake of my husband’s love of this people that as I once held back my joy to give grief its due, so now I will do the same for joy. ' But she does it, strangely enough, in an effort to respect a disruption of the proper order of things. For the king has been crowned, and so she declares that '"The time for swords is over."' In the end, it is perhaps Eirien's place to show us that despite there being a time for all things, it is a human, mortal truth that we are always out of step with this cosmic or 'proper' time, too early or too late in our joys and our griefs, that we are in some way condemned to be untimely creatures. But this untimeliness, which imposes its own trials, is what makes Eirien a humane character, someone who suffers and endures and who knows how to take a wound without bitterness, and so faithful to the essence of a mortal life. Author Reply: Dwim, I'm so sorry I never answered this review. I just noticed when I got another review today. If I recall correctly, I was so blown away by the depth of your analysis that I planned to carefully compose a thoughtful and keenly insightful reply. Which I obviously failed to do in all departments. Anyhow, thanks for the keenly insightful and very kind review. | |
| nautika | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 2/11/2007 |
| You've given Halbarad an entire family and then killed half of them off before I got to know them! Shame on you! Grin. This was excellent. I especially appreciated the grandmother in the story and her grief and the change in her. You brought it full circle when the unborn child returned with his father's sword. Thank you for sharing! I've printed "In the Hands of the Enemy" and will read it next. Author Reply: You've given Halbarad an entire family and then killed half of them off before I got to know them! Shame on you! Grin. LOL. It's probably easier that way than if you had gotten too attached to them :-) This was by far the most emotionally intense story I've written. I'm not quite sure what got into me. If you're reading "Hands" next, I promise it's not as uniformly angsty as what you've read so far! I could never sustain that level of intensity for a chapter story. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. It's wonderful when the older stories get found by new readers. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 8/2/2006 |
| Poor Eirien. Living with the knowledge that your father, brothers, husband, sons - all of them - are unlikely to live long enough to see their children grow up. Every time Halbarad came back to her, it must have been a gift - and every time he left, she must have feared she would never see him again. And then - every return tended to be someone else's tragedy. Oh Meckinock - this is so sad. But at least she can hope for the future - for Hurin and his children. At least Aragorn has achieved the impossible and maybe things will be better in the future. Beautifully written and elegantly woven and so sad. Author Reply: I think the moment Eirien realizees Halbarad is not coming home is a moment she had been preparing for all her life, and yet how can you really prepare? I like to think that she did appreciate every minute with him as a gift. For everyone who came through the war, it must have been difficult to reconcile the gains with the losses. I think Eirien was forced to do it more abruptly than most. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/25/2006 |
| (p.s. and by "last paragraph" I did not, of course, mean the author's note!) Author Reply: LOL. I was pretty proud of the author's note! Thank you. I liked contrasting Hurin's idea of what his father died for with his mother's. Both are correct, of course. | |
| Lindelea | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/25/2006 |
| Powerful, balanced, and well drawn. I like the way you begin and end with "the time of swords is over". Among our people there were many fatherless children, and I had been one of them. This is so telling, and for some reason I think especially of Aragorn here. The last paragraph is so very well crafted, dare I say, even, perfect? Author Reply: Thanks, Lindelea, I'm glad you enjoyed the story. When I wrote this, I wasn't even thinking of Aragorn as yet another fatherless child, but of course he was. I'm sure Gilraen had the same hopes as Eirien that her children would know their father. | |
| lwarren | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/24/2006 |
| What a terrible feeling to know that every time the horses came in, you stood on the edge of grief; if not your own, then someone else's. I remember Eirien in a happier time in another of your stories - up to her elbows delivering a foal in a muddy field and dragged, laughing, off to the bushes by her loving husband for a little "hello, wife - did ya miss me?" time. I think that memory you described so clearly really drives home the 'difficulties' these people faced every day of their lives. Each day was a challenge - and they met them with strength and grace and courage. Halbarad has become one of my favorite characters largely through your writing. Aragorn was fortunate to have him as kinsman and friend. Alagos' reaction to his daddy's injuries was so right on - and that his screams woke his daddy up brought out the tears. Then the scamp asks for a dog - it's amazing how kids, no matter what age, know exactly when a golden opportunity presents itself. (Had to smile at the name 'Spike' - sounds rather spiderish to me! LOL) The end of the story, with the returning Rangers from Gondor, was so sad. I never thought of the fact that they would have already done their grieving for the fallen by the time they returned and would be ready for a celebration with their loved ones, while the wives and family of those just hearing the news...wow! What a picture that brings to mind - and the fact that Eirien resolves to let everyone have their joy, well, that speaks a lot about her strength. So many memorable snippets... "The time for swords is never over." Nelaer sitting beside her dying husband and knowing that no hands in Arda, mortal or immortal, could save him. The funeral for the kitty, Spike, with honors worthy of Elendil (what a good Ada Halbarad was!) "Hoy there, Captain...what's all the yelling about?" *sniff* "Behold your ada, little one." *sniffsniff* '...joy leavened with uncertainty...' '...suddenly I crave him so desperately that I do not think I can take another breath.' Yes, I know that feeling. 'I resolve for the sake of my husband's love of this people that as I once held back my joy to give grief its due, so now I will do the same for joy.' So sad (yet there is hope, too), meckinock, and wonderfully written. Linda Author Reply: Hi, Linda, I'm glad you felt the hope came through. Life is complicated, and mortality is hard. Eirien rose to the occasion. We have to honor the dead but we have to go on living. But I prefer to see her in the pasture on that happier day, too. - up to her elbows delivering a foal in a muddy field and dragged, laughing, off to the bushes by her loving husband for a little "hello, wife - did ya miss me?" time. LOL, yes, exactly. I really enjoyed writing Halbarad with his son, too. Thanks very much, I'm happy you enjoyed the story. | |
| Dot | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 7/24/2006 |
| Oh, Meckinock. Would it be ok to just prostrate myself at your feet in adoration instead of writing a review? This was amazing. Oh alright then, we’ll try the review. From the start Eirien’s voice completely pulled me in. You have such a gift for writing vivid images in a really concise manner that gives them so much more impact than anything flowery. And people’s feelings are so real, that it feels almost like an intrusion sometimes to read. I particularly liked the descriptions of the arrival of the men at the start. There’s a real sense of activity, of disturbance, but it’s all in the background, to the side, as Eirien’s focus is on the two wounded. This is a very powerful line: “The time for swords is never over.” It really sums up their life and there are so many emotions that could be read into that line. The fact that Eirien is pregnant adds such poignancy to the moment. She knows that fatherless children are a part of the life of the Dúnedain and in some ways I suppose there’s a tiny hint of regretful acceptance that such a fate could be in store for her children, but it’s also made her wish even more for them to know their father and grow up with his love and she clings to these images that may not ever occur to most of us. I really felt for Nelaer. She has all the strength of Dúnedain women and is sharp-tongued and stubborn, but even she could not keep death at bay. I thought one of the saddest images is of her sitting by her husband, while all the focus is on Halbarad. It’s so clear that there is no hope for Halbarad’s father. And these people know when to let life take its course and where to focus all their hope and energy. It was such an interesting remark that maybe Meneliel envied Nelaer the last moments with her husband. In a place where so often someone just never returned, it must have been seen as a gift to get the chance to say farewell. Alagos is so adorable. And I laughed at the name Spike! Especially as when I read Karen’s story I immediately thought of your fuzzy kittens. Alagos clearly loves his Ada and Granda. Poor kid. I thought you wrote him really well and his reaction is spot on – he works out what it means and then decides that he doesn’t like it. And he becomes clingy to the father he loves, afraid that he’ll lose him too. I love how Aragorn calls him Ranger and Halbarad calls him Captain. It’s so endearing, and it shows what’s important to this tiny Dúnedan, as well as a glimpse of his future. “Granda is dead,” Alagos announced. Ouch. That’s not exactly the most sensitive way to break the news. I wanted to hug Halbarad (except I know you’d shoo me away with a big stick) when he set his own thoughts aside in favour of comforting and reassuring his son. Ack, it’s heartbreaking to think about what happens to Alagos. So I won’t… “Ada, can I have a puppy?” Halbarad chuckled, an act that he surely regretted. “Yes,” he gasped when he had got his breath again. LOL!! You’re a nice author ;-) I really like the way Eirien recognises the importance of Halbarad’s grief and his joy and of separating the two – she doesn’t want to dampen his joy, but equally she doesn’t want to take away his right to grieve. The last part was so well done. For all the joy in victory and in the return of loved ones, there are always those who are left bereft, with no-one to welcome home. And those returning have had their time to grieve and are ready to move on and start to live again while for those at home the grief is new and overwhelming. It was such a moving moment between Húrin and Eirien. The part that brought the biggest lump to my throat was Eirien looking at the sword and thinking How many times did I scold him for leaving it lying on the bed or the kitchen table? Of everything he owned, the sword was the probably the one thing truly part of Halbarad. It’s been with them for so long that it’s a connection to so many memories as well as to his last moments. And in that one line you bring Halbarad and Eirien’s relationship to life so vividly. But now the time for swords is finally over and she can find a measure of peace in the fact that all her husband fought for and believed in came to pass. I love the link at the end with your other story – but she doesn’t need this drawing. The banners of the king are just a symbol. Eirien, as a woman of the Dúnedain, has learned to see what’s important, to know when to grieve and when to rejoice. What strength and dignity she has to set aside her personal grief and acknowledge with true joy a hope fulfilled and a victory for all their people. A very powerful, moving, wonderfully well-written look at the life the Dúnedain and the courage of their women. Meckinock, you’re incredible. Author Reply: Oh, Dot, you have an amazing gift for making a story sound ever so much better than it actually is! But I thank you - your reviews always make me stop and see the story more clearly than I did before. It's as if you tighten the focus and erase all the fuzzy bits and translate whatever it was I was trying to get across into sense. Have you thought of being a presidential speechmaker? Hmm. On second thought, I suppose clarity is not always a virtue in that field. Let me think of some other use for your talents... But in the meantime, wow, you know I play with these people in my head, and it's the most flattering thing on earth that other people want to play with them along with me. It certainly wasn't hard for me to imagine what Eirien was feeling as she watched her husband lie there near death I'm glad you liked the bit about scolding him for leaving the sword around the house - that was a favorite image of mine, too. And yes, I'm the nice author! | |