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At the Last Minute  by Rhyselle 13 Review(s)
LisaGReviewed Chapter: 1 on 3/1/2010
My heart was breaking for poor Aragorn...how sad he must have been to have just lost his mother and come home to none of the usual Yuletide festivities. He's got a wonderful family and good friends to do all that for him. :) *sniff!*

nautikaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/12/2009
I have a complaint with this fic! It didnt go on and on! I love it and I'd like to know what happens over the next year or two.

*taps foot and waits for sequel*
nautika :D

LevadeReviewed Chapter: 1 on 11/1/2008
What a terrific story! Sad, funny, beautiful (Glorfindel floating in a pool...that hair...), the twins, Legolas, Elrond... I think you hit every lovely thing I adore about Christmas, including easing the grief. My father died right before Christmas four years ago, so it's easy for me to empathize with Estel. To lose the only blood parent you still had, that's tough. Leave it to his elven family to make up for that. :) Also, it was just a wonderfully happy read. Glor and Legolas in the kitchen, getting chewed out by the cook, LOL! Elrond in the attic, looking for a way to ease his "son's" grief. *happy sigh* Thank you for such a lovely tale. I hope you write many more!
Peace,
Levade

GrumpyReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/29/2007
I am glad that Estel got his Yule after all, and that the elves went to the trouble to give it to him. Loved the line about the ginger biscuits only being for good boys and elfings.

RemusCDLupinReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/25/2007
I love it hun. Bauetifully done as usual. And you'd better have some of those cookies left for when I come to visit! :-P

MinnieReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/25/2007
Hi, I so enjoyed this a real treat, full of tears of joy and sadness in equal measure
the elves really did pull out all the stops for Estel this time and no effort was counted too much it seems
I particularly loved Legolas and Glorfindel here (what a surpise)
And for Estel a reminder that although he has lost his mother there are many others who love and care for him

NeiliaReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/25/2007
I enjoyed this Yule tale very much. Thank you.

Ainu LaireReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/25/2007
What an absolutely lovely tale! I enjoyed it quite a bit. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Author Reply: I'm so very pleased you liked the story! Our Christmas is going well and happily. Merry Christmas to you!

KittyReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/25/2007
No wonder Aragorn was so sad and disappointed - he has obviously dragged Legolas back to Imladris only to seek comfort in the Yule rituals he had shared with his mother for so long, and then to realise nobody had done anything ... poor guy. I was so glad all of them understood and acted at once to cheer him up, and that even Elrond realised on his own what was wrong.

Loved Legolas and Glorfindel here. The image of Glorfindel floating nearly asleep in the water and being rudely awakened by the snowball and then going for his sword ... *LOL* But it was so sweet that these two warriors at once went to make the cookies for Estel, even if I got the feeling no one of them had any experience in baking. It's probably a good thing that the cook heard them and took over.

I could see Aragorn brighten up when he entered the Last Homely House after the hunt and saw that they had decorated everything in his absence. It was what he needed, I think - to feel at home, loved by his elven family, to not be left alone to mourn his mother. To know they did this all for him must have made him very happy. And he got to kiss Arwen :-)

Wonderful story, Rhyselle! (Belated) Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year!

Author Reply: Thank you for your review, Kitty. :)

When I started to write this, the only scene I had in mind was the one of Glorfindel in the thermal pool. I thought at first it would be a tale about him, but then I woke up in the middle of the night having dreamed of Aragorn and Legolas rushing to cross the mountains--and the rest of the story began to slowly flow. I did have fun writing it, and I'm so pleased that it has been well received.

It's still Christmas here where I am, and there's the 12 days of Christmas to come still with Twelth Night at the end of it, so I feel justified in wishing you the Merriest Christmas! Happy New Year too!

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 1 on 12/24/2007
Tastefully done. And love how all worked together to ease Aragorn's longings for a Yule at HOME.

As for Arwen's gift----

BTW, Arwen would have been carrying the Ring of Barahir at the time, I think, as he'd given it to her as his pledge to her, IIRC.

Author Reply: I'm so glad that you liked it, Larner.

This is the ninth Christmas since my mother passed away, and as we prepare to celebrate with my own children, I have many annual traditions that remind me of her. I remember how difficult it was that first holiday without her--and seeing and using the very special things that she always put out helped to ease my pain. Once I finally figured out what Glorfindel and Legolas were up to in the kitchens, the rest of the tale fell into place, just in time to post today. :)

In regards to the Ring of Barahir, I went with the idea that Arwen returned it to him when he had to leave Lothlorien, as it was specifically an heirloom of his house and a sign of his identity as Heir of Isildur, and not actually something that he had the right to give away, even to the love of his life. I like to think that, perhaps, he somehow, afterwards, obtained a proper betrothal ring for her, but the Ring of Barahir would always mean something very special to each of them besides it's original representation of the Oath of Finrod to the House of Beor.

Merry Christmas!

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