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Via Dolorosa or The Way of Sorrows  by Antane 239 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 66 on 8/12/2007
That day will come indeed.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 65 on 8/5/2007
Yes, the love continues, through the loss and the reconstruction--the reconstruction of the Shire, and the reconstruction of joy.

Author Reply: I love the way you said that - reconstruction of joy - that was a lot more difficult, wasn't it?

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 64 on 7/29/2007
The fire’s very cozy here and the food’s very good and there are Elves when you want them."

The perfect place!

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 64 on 7/28/2007
Yes, that would be a sentence to recall when the longing strikes; and I'm glad that they were given that time together before the end for the two of them. All three Hobbits so needed that healing.

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 63 on 7/26/2007
soon my heart will cry to you and your heart will answer, but you will not be able to pad across the hall and reach me. I will be beyond the reach of your arms, but I don’t believe, or I hope for it not to be true, that I will be beyond the reach of your heart.

I do not think that Sam could have been so happy and whole during his time in the Shire after Frodo had sailed unless there was, indeed, a connection of the heart. Lovely Antane.

Author Reply: Hantanyel, dear harrowcat! Yes, they were undoubtedly connected. Their physically separation would have been very hard to bear, until the storm of grief calmed and they could sense each other still resting comfortably in each other's hearts and knew they really weren't apart.

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 63 on 7/25/2007
I'll have to review this one in parts.


FRODO

Oh my, what a way with words, and words that cut right to the heart!

But the Shadow did not depart or it grew again, there in my heart where it had gnawed for so many months and as ripped apart from the Ring as I felt at
the Fire, all the roots hadn’t been torn away, there were still some left and they grew again in the soil that was left. I wonder that you can hold so
many broken pieces of my heart that you have since the journey began. Piece by piece you gathered them as bit by bit they were torn away and you held each
piece close to you, hiding them in your own heart, the safest place for them, even though their jagged edges cut your heart. Still you would have them
in no other place and nor would I, though I grieve for the pain they cause you, but as long as they remain there and the other pieces in the custody of
my brother-cousins then part of me will always be here, with you, in the Shire we love and labored so long to save. And I will keep the pieces you three
gave to me so very long ago and perhaps then I will be able to repair the damage done and become whole again and so will the three of you.

What imagery! Oh, what beautifully written, painful imagery!

I finger
it for the solace it provides and I try so hard, so very hard not to wish it was the Ring instead that I caress. I cry hard at night because I fail in
that and do so wish. How many times I have lain awake at night with nothing but my tears and longing for company after you leave.

*tears**hugs him*

But most times, I feel I am a terrible burden to you, that you still must come to me nearly every night and more often than not have to listen to my tears.
How many times I have apologized to you as I have held you so tight and sobbed as I haven’t since my parents and your mum have died. And I don’t even know
this time why I am grieving. Why should I mourn the loss of such a despicable thing? Why do you have to see and hear that torment? But you will not stay
away. Your heart cannot.

No, Frodo, never a burden, never! And if I know Sam (and I do), of course he can't stay away. What loving heart would?


SAM
This especially touched me:

I watched you sleep so many times, your fingers wrapped around that gem, just like they used to be wrapped around the Ring. I saw your lips moving soundlessly
and I wondered what you were saying. I came to you then, brushed your curls and kissed your head and told you how much I loved you and you always calmed
then, your grip lessening and your lips falling silent, though at times I heard you murmur that you loved me too. It was that hard in the beginning after
you left, not to be able to still do that each night, to wake you each morning with the same caress and kiss, to have others do the caring for you that
I have since I was nine and, if I am so blessed, will be doing at 109.

Oh, hard indeed.

And even dearer is the gift you have given me of yourself, my love, that most tremendous gift of all.

This needs no extra words; it says it all on its own. It's often said, "What would Frodo do without Sam?" but might we not reverse it and say "What would Sam do without Frodo?" I think so.
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: Frodo does have a way with words, doesn't he? I loved that part myself and there's more to come. :) Of course Sam cannot stay away - how difficult it must have been to him to let his treasure go - to hear that cry and not be able to run to answer it until he realized that he could still, but just not physically be there for a long time. Hantanyel for such a long review, ammelda!

Namarie, God bless, Melinyel, Antane :)

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 63 on 7/24/2007
This gift was one to help ease the longing and shadows--ease, but not heal them. Too long and too deeply were they etched; and now the easing is finally granted.

And Sam is able to see him healing, which is a blessing.

Author Reply: Too true - healing came later from the only One that could give it wholly. A blessing indeed for Sam.

Namarie, God bless, Antane :)

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 62 on 7/21/2007
How bittersweet this is. Dear Frodo...it's so sad to see him so obviously really believing he deserves none of the honors heaped on him. And Sam's words about the song are just so...well, so Sam. :*) (A teary smile, does that work? That's the feeling I was left with.)
Namarie,
God bless,
Galadriel

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 62 on 7/21/2007
Imagine that, a hobbit being asked to help crown the king! I could have burst from happiness.

Ah, Antane - one of my most favourite bits from the tale! And missing so badly from the film excwpt that I liked the not bowingbit too! *g*

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 62 on 7/20/2007
Good memories and memories of horror side by side; and the weakening of the resolve to know joy. I'm just glad that Sam went to be by his Master's side at the end, and that these brothers of the heart knew that fulfillment before the final one.

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