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Brotherhood  by Bodkin 16 Review(s)
Agape4GondorReviewed Chapter: 14 on 12/18/2007
As a mother, I know this has got to be the worse part of mothering... the constant worrying, the constant knowing that you cannot be there at all times, save a child from every hurt, keep them growing strong without hovering...

Gosh - somedays being a mom can be hideous... but being Elrond was probably a lot worse....

Great tale!

Mysterious JediReviewed Chapter: 14 on 11/18/2007
Excellent story! I came here on Thorongirl's recommendation, and sincerely agree with her assessment.

ShimmeringWaterReviewed Chapter: 14 on 6/18/2007
These stories are quite charming and utterly lovely. I hope this is not the end.

Author Reply: Thank you, ShimmeringWater. I might have another one written - I'm not sure - but there will be more of them, as and when they occur to me. I just love writing these really short pieces. And, of course, I'm rather partial to these characters! Glad you are enjoying them.

perellethReviewed Chapter: 14 on 6/7/2007
I was sure that I had read this one, but not had the time to review... and I you have posted so much since this! Yay!!!!

Gilraen was fantastic here, intimidating as any mother when a child is hurt...but I also loved Elladan´s little explosion.. how does it feel to repeat the same over and over and again... A reminder of how hard it must have been as well for the elves to see humans pass away before their eyes!

Author Reply: Elladan does his best to be very calm and elven - but I think he has a fizz of fire to him. He finds it difficult to cope with love and loss. Always did, I think, even before his mother's injury.

And I just love fierce, human, loving, protective Gilraen. Who has learned - almost - to be family to a bunch of powerful elves who possess a bit more of a human side than they want to let on.

Thank you, perelleth.

elliskaReviewed Chapter: 14 on 5/6/2007
Finally getting a chance for reading! Hooray!

I love these because I love the way you have portrayed Gilraen, but she is particularly well done here. Boy I would not have cared to be Elladan! Elrond’s intrepid warrior son took a wary step back as the woman’s hand turned to curl into a practised-looking fist. Hehehe! I loved this! And the comparison of Estel to Arathorn must have been very difficult to hear, especially at that moment. Poor Gilraen--this is a very undeniable reminder of her little boy's fate. You have to feel for her.

Author Reply: Never get between a mother and her child! Orcs bear no comparison to a protective mother!! I do like the whole idea of a strong Gilraen - and hate it when she is completely obliterated from Aragorn's background!

I daresay she has far too much time on her hands to think about her son's fate - all that giving hope to the Dunedain but keeping none for herself.... And yet, what else could she do? There's no way she could wrap him up in cotton and keep him safe. She just knows she's raising a warrior - on half of Middle-earth will be seeking to kill.

It's not surprising she wants to keep him safe while she can.

Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 14 on 5/1/2007
I love the way you portray Gilraen.It is good to see her as strong,as I feel she must have been and a protective and loving mother. At least we know Aragorn will not be arrow fodder for Orcs.

Author Reply: Oh yes - I do love a strong Gilraen. Determined, protective, loving - and self-sacrificing in the way that mothers are when it's a matter of your child and the world. I hope her foresight suggested to her that Aragorn would make it all the way - but fear it didn't, or she might have striven to survive to see it happen. The gathering storm clouds must have made her dread his eventual fate.


LarnerReviewed Chapter: 14 on 5/1/2007
We can't forever protect them; and a wonderful reminder to Gilraen that they have had to do this more times than she can imagine. So many have they seen go where they won't be able to follow unti tne End of Days.

And a suitable consequence for the Elf who did what the child of Men could not before him. Heh!

Educational indeed.

Author Reply: They have had to do it before - but I think this time will be harder on them. Estel has crept beneath the barriers they keep between themselves and men and become a brother. Losing him will be ... tough. And, of course, Gilraen is Estel's mother. He might be the only heir of Isildur she will lose to duty and time and battle (well, second, if you count Arathorn) but he is hers in a way that the twins won't understand until they get to the Blessed Realm and have children of their own.

They all need to make the most of this time while Estel is small. For he is the only one who does not realise how short a respite this will be.

grumpyReviewed Chapter: 14 on 4/29/2007
Estel, as all little boys, have ways of puting gray hairs on thier mother's head. Has to be tough on the twins to see the men they know and love go off and die. Love how Estel wanted to have everything alright with his mother and Elladan.

Author Reply: Oh yes. Estel is a very normal little boy in many ways! Maybe a bit more serious than most, because he's an only child with his nearest age-mate being his mother. And all his other carers can multiply her age by a thousand (at least).

The twins, I should think, tried not to get too close to most of the heirs of Isildur. But some - like Arathorn - became closer to them ... and Estel, of course, has made it all the way through their barriers. But it's tougher on Gilraen, really, to raise this son in safety and know the sort of world he has to take on as an adult.

meckinockReviewed Chapter: 14 on 4/29/2007
I imagine the first time a kid gets seriously hurt is always terrifying for a parent, but how much more so for Gilraen who knows that this incident is literally child's play compared to what he'll face once he's out on his own, and far from her and Elrond. Elladan is very good with her here.

Author Reply: And she can't protect him and hold him back - and keep reminding him that last time he was in the woods with the twins, he got hurt. Estel has to develop these skills - and learning through play with his elven brothers is the best way to get him started. And she knows he will be hurt again - and that magic kisses won't salve many of his injuries and Elrond won't always be there to apply the bandages. It's probably these future echoes - and the knowledge of what happened to Arathorn - that are getting her so worked up.

Elladan likes to seem light-minded ... but it's an act. He is as wise and caring as a 3000 year old son of Elrond would be expected to be. And Estel has worked his way through the barriers to touch the twins' hearts.

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 14 on 4/29/2007
The Twins as mothers is an interesting thought but it is so right and my heart twisted for all of them.

But I also wonder whether Estel decided to follow an experienced half-elf who had already gone across that slippery fallen tree!

Author Reply: Probably! Estel is still small enough to imitate anything the twins do - and they are unpractised enough to feel that he should be able to tell when he shouldn't. (They'll learn!)

It is tough. Estel has to acquire survival skills - and part of learning how far he can go will be getting hurt when he stretches too far. But I wouldn't want to be Gilraen, yearning to protect her only child, but knowing she cannot stop him growing up and away from her.

The loss is more personal for her. The twins' care for the line of Dunedain has, until Estel, been a little more detached, I think. But Estel has broken through that barrier.

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