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| Stewards of Arda by perelleth | 42 Review(s) |
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| Redheredh | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/5/2007 |
| What an absolutely wonderful character is Father Nino. Right off, he made me think of Dr. F. and his life's work on behalf of others. What I like best was Father's deep-rooted faith, which I think, gave him the ability to see the supernatural for what it was. But, he certainly had Maglor's number. I really really really like how to the last he performed his role as priest, including giving the elf absolution - which was not a gift but earned by contrition and penance and restitution. Just as it should be... Maglor flew to them, like a moth to a night fire, hoping to drink their strength and find the source of their courage, their invulnerability against despair that he so badly needed. That was an very enlightening paragraph. Maglor fit well as a Bakin. Oddly, I thought of how the elves become pixies in Western culture and wondered if that was the ultimate fate of the Jola's legends - to diminish and become local color. That almost happened to many Native American beliefs. Will the messenger dolls become trinkets and be made for sale one day? I could not help but feel a parallel between the son of the old friend who continued to send wine and Insa, the heir to his family's business, carrying on for the sake of tradition and the honor that commitment represented. I am glad that you did not entirely remove the deadlier conflicts in these people's lives in favor of the dangerous jungle setting alone. For me, the egret that appeared was not just a feathered honor guard for his tomb, but the spirit of Nino allowed to linger for a while and watch over his village. A beautifully written tale - as always! A touching story of young and old, youth and elder, faith and knowing... Man, I love this series. Author Reply: Thank you Redheredh. THere are many eople out there like Dr. Feldman and Father NIno, thankfully, but it is so easy to forget because those who are not make themselves heard more loudly..but there are always stewards around us, I hope, or at least people wh can inspire us to look at life in a different, more conscious way. The fetish dolls are already being sold as souvenirs, yet it is curious to see how despite all, many african cultures are deeply resilient in the face of westernization. YOu can esaily find people like INsa, with a western background and learning and yet a firm belief in otherworldy, supernatural forces. BUt not everywhere, sadly. External pressures and conflicts slowly and unavoidably make themselves felt in thse most fragile cultures as well. I also believe that the egret was the priest's soul. IT came out of nothng and I was not really sure what for, but he seemed intent to stay and there he remained. I am so thanful for your kind support Redhered, and so glad that you continue to enjoy this series, THere is still one more chapter and an Epilogue to go, and at this pace, I fear I might reach your birthday yet again! :-) | |
| meckinock | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/5/2007 |
| Father Nino is truly a steward, isn't he? He loves his adopted people and embraces their culture, even when they don't conform to his own ideology. His faith is utter faith and lack of fear in the face of death is inspiring - exactly what Tolkien would have hoped for. I loved how at home he had become with the Jola, and how death for them is just a part of life - and a welcome part. It was nice to imagine a departing spirit carrying away their messages to their departed loved ones. I absolutely loved how the Jola saw Maglor as a forest spirit, but Father Nino saw him as he truly was. I loved his absolution of Maglor, and the revelation that Maglor has been searching, always searching for answers, and sometimes finding them in these fragile mortals. Your use of language is amazing. What a lonely image of Maglor, "stranded on the shore of hither." This story is truly beautiful, Perelleth. Author Reply: Father Nino is truly a steward, isn't he? That is the premise, yes.. :-) THat there are also many people who are true stewrds, caring for the others and for their environment and seeing beyond self as well as any elf would do. IT was comofrting to Maglor to have a mortal offering forgiveness to him... and that from a man he respected. I was comforted while writing it, and I am glad that you enjoyed it as well, thank you. | |
| The Karenator | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/4/2007 |
| Let me add: I just read Daw's review and I agree you had some outstanding wordsmithing going on here. Hope was unnecessary when confronted with more reassuring certainties, but hope, he reminded himself, was also the truth of youth; and youth was the only disease that was actually cured by time. I also love that line. It was perfect for where Father Nino was at the time, taking pills he knew offered little other than making a young doctor feel as if he were making a difference. I must have read it three or four times when I came to it in the story. However, I would beg to differ with the good priest. He had not been completely cured of hope, just of youth. :>) Author Reply: That sentence has been with me for more than twenty years... yet it came out naturally! :-) This priest was a very humble man, to the point that he insisted on losing the capital F! :-) | |
| The Karenator | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/4/2007 |
| Perelleth, that was beautiful. Even as the priest realized his time had come and he fought to finish a last bit of business, there was a peace about him and a sense that all was as it should be. He had the chance to take one last survey of his life's love, the people and the village, the children, and the opportunities he had been able to help offer them. Maglor was, of course, wonderful. Father Nino didn't know who or what Maglor was, but he did know him well. The priest's words of forgiveness gave me chills. A few simple words went deep, penetrating through several layers. They connected man and elf, creation and destruction, and the hope all things hinge on. I suppose little is more powerful than love and forgiveness, though there are other things that make more noise. I'm glad Insa will go back and complete his degree. There are more ways than one to be a defender of your people. I'm also glad he was granted his mask. He's set now to come fully into his own and help his people. And, much to Maglor's pleasure, I'm sure, he got a good glass of current-age Dorwinion. Author Reply: Thank you KAren. YOu know this was going to be your birthday present, so you can take it as a belated one. A life reaching its end in peace and fulfilment is something that makes me wonder, and one who even had the time and strength left to comfort a hurting one seemed so moving to me. The fact that death was a gift of Eru to the Second Born is something that always strikes a chord within me. I?m glad that you enjoyed i. YOu are mostly to blame for this ongoing, pparently neverending bit of therapy, so I thank you doubly... :-) | |
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 3/4/2007 |
| I am officially blown away. This is just stunning, Perelleth. You weave legends, knowledge of the jungle, Tolkien, and a compassionate sense of character together in a way that I can only envy. I started trying to quote the lines I like best, but I think there might be too many of them. Hope was unnecessary when confronted with more reassuring certainties, but hope, he reminded himself, was also the truth of youth; and youth was the only disease that was actually cured by time. That's a great line, Perelleth. Sometimes I think medicine does so badly in dealing with age because so many of the praticioners are still young. I also really liked the "flighty" autumn sun. Every once in a while, you come out with these terrifically innovative uses of words. keeping the secret of the jungle’s affairs. Wow. Wow throughout. This was wonderful. Author Reply: Thank you Daw! I'm so pleased and proud that you approve of the flighty autimn sun! I borrowed it form another, unfinished story, because it really sounded accurate as well as playful enough to me.. :-) I have found - I knew it but writing I jhave found out- that legends really fit anywhere. The other day I was totally blown away when reading meckinock's chapter and when Denthor compares Aragorn with a changeling left in the place of a child... and i found it so fitting, more than if she had written a cuckoos egg in a robin´s nest. There are all these things that have made humans wonder and reflect cross the world, time, ages and cultures and that are deeply woven in the same feeligns and events. So I think that TOlkine´s depth ad mastery os also proven in the sense that his world does fit in our deep mythical imagination. THanks again. I am glad that you liked it. | |
| The Karenator | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/6/2006 |
| Lovely. Just lovely. I adore Cyrus. He's such a well rounded character, completely believable and wholly sympathetic. He was at a difficult juncture in his life; perhaps, within the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth of nature's own rhythm: The Big Picture. Things seem to be slipping away from him, or, are at least, beyond his ability to understand or control at the moment. Daeron was a wonderful addition to this tale. He certainly knows of loss, and from his own pain and the ages he's had to observe and learn, he has a little magic to share with a grieving scientist who needs a little reminder about why he's needed. The details about the desert, the Bedu, their traditional stories, and the often clashing needs between cultures was delightful. I enjoyed this tremendously. But then, you know I love this creation of yours; this tale of ancient wisdom and current concerns. Thanks. Author Reply: Thank-you Karen! I'm so happy that you had time to read this and that you enjoyed it! The story is waiting to be told since the beginning of the year, but for some reason I find it very difficult to pull it out... It was hard to follow Dr. Feldman at this sad point of his life, and I thought that Daeron could actaully offer the best comfort, and even feel touched and reminded of his own pain. And then, there were songs and musci and old isntruments! ;-) Nomadic peoples depend on the seasonal cycles and thus are truly connected with the lands. Their knowledge is vast, because thy need it to survive, and their harsh life conditions make them a wondrous, entertaining hosts with a very tolerant frame of mind, very different from ours but also very enlightening. Glad you enjoyed! | |
| Redheredh | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/6/2006 |
| Oh, thank you so much for the birthday wishes! And yes, I definitely enjoyed this episode! Heck, I love anything with Dr. F in it! But, this story happens just after the loss of his family and he is so sad. :( Poor guy... at a real low point it seems. Thanks for sending in Daeron. :) The content was truly interesting! You have made me very curious now about the Bedouins and desert ecology. The New Year's celebrations was a nice way of showing that all peoples share this world and have more than a few things culturally in common. Your writing always captures me. Because, it always rings true. The breath of your stories is so deep. And you never forget to include the realistic sort of humor that someone like Asim would perpetrate. lol! I like Asim - reminds me of your Beliond - and admired the sheikh. However, it was Cyrus and Daeron together that was the best part for me. Tea and sympathy - elf-style. Brilliant. I really like the conversation and the consolation they offered each other. That bit where Cyrus shrugs and drinks Daeron's potion anyway was a priceless little detail! Thank you so much, Perelleth! The birthday dedication was sweet of you! Actually, I think you would do very well in the Blessed Realm. However, I fervently hope your mission in Ennor is not yet done. Ah now, don't think I've forgotten them for here they are: Hugs! :) Author Reply: Thanks to you, I'm so glad that you enjoyed this little secret birthday party. This chapter had been waiting to be written since the first one was done (the whole story, actually lies in stand by) and I picked it up back in May but it wouldn't come out... However, it was Cyrus and Daeron together that was the best part for me. Heheh. That was the point of the story, and the part that was clearer since the beginning... but... I got a bit carried away with the details. Yet I am glad that it held your attention. Nomadic peoples are almost extinct presently, and they have such a wholly diffferent frame of mind... And Bedouins are intimately related to the desert. I find them fascinating. Because, it always rings true Why, thanks! Actually I have very little imagination, and a firm belief based on experience that reality almost always surpasses fiction, for good as well as for bad! Yet I'm tickled that you singled out Asim's humour. "My" Beliond would have surely stopped the car and lectured the impudent scientist, but I've met people like Asim... ;-) | |
| daw the minstrel | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/5/2006 |
| Very haunting, Perelleth. In some ways, living through all of time would be an incredible burden. And you have to wonder what Arda Marred comes to mean as these characters struggle with the changes in the earth. Author Reply: Thank-you, Daw. I assume that they learnt to read the pattern in changes and to find stability underneath change, from their longer span. Yet it must have been surely difficult for them to see the lands change. | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/5/2006 |
| Poor Cyrus. It's not surprising that he feels more jaded about fighting the tide than does Daeron who has a whole different length of time for his perspective to represent. And to lose his wife and little George like that - I can see why he wanted to keep this appointment with the desert and the white camels. I love the desert you describe - and the Bedouin. And the rather smug, self-satisfied, patting-themselves-on-the-back, foreign experts come to tell the desert peoples that they don't know what they're doing. And Daeron ... Well. Not a character for whom I've ever had much sympathy really - but all you've got to do is change the prism round and it gives you a whole new look at him. I would like to think that he might be happy one day - but I somehow doubt that Luthien's long-lost twin sister will turn up for him. A gorgeous story, perelleth. I loved it. You are so good at combining real life and the irritations of bureaucracy with magic and the unknown. Brilliant. Author Reply: Thank-you Bodkin! Daeron fell in the club just by chance, because there were four Elves whose fate we are not told about, and throwing the twins into the mix seemed too much to me at the time, so I had Celeborn, Thranduil, Maglor and Daeron. Not that I ever thought much about this one, but he seemed useful here, as one who has also lost a loved one and could understand Cyrus' longing..from a very different span. combining real life and the irritations of bureaucracy with magic and the unknown It surprises me that there can still be found magic and unknown things amidst such confusion and struggle and...loads of paperwork. But it appears, from time to time!And that is what supposedly the Elves did, in human's eyes. Thanks for your help! ;-) | |
| Bodkin | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 1/22/2006 |
| I am in a state of confusion here. I know this was here earlier and I know it appeared again last night. So if you suddenly find it's where it should be and you have an additional, slightly confused, review, that's why. Lindelea's 'Love Light Gleaming' story did the same thing - and has now returned to its original date plus original reviews. Weird. Author Reply: The tale goes like this: Yesterday I tried to look up a book that Fp had recommended in her review and found the story missing. I then told NIlmandra, for the delete function seemed a three-steps-thing , too much for even someone my distracted to do it inadvertently. Nilmandra kindly spent half of her Sunday searching the database. In the meantime, more people reported lost stories. Our genius webmistress found the errant stories and repost them, yet first they came out with yesterday's date... and I could not get to the story to insert a warning, for the edit function for taht story wasn't available... And that's how it went, a bunch of stories decided to go wandering in the night! I wonder if they sat and talked together! :-) SO apologies for the confusion, (poor daw, she couldn't believe it, either...) these things apparently happen even in the most organized cyberspace! :-) And thanks for taking the time of re-reading and re-reviewibng! ;-) | |