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Truce by meckinock	89 Review(s)
Agape4Gondor	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/20/2008
One can just see Denethor's mind taking in every little nuance of what is happening... The fact that Thorongil was always 'extraordinarily well-equipped.' I really loved Denethor's 'smarts' here - when he wondered what might have happened to Cirion. I loved the surprising levity between T & D when D reveals why he came after T. The 'much to politic' and the 'you disobeyed a direct order.' I wondered why on earth D was so short with himself. When on earth would he have had the time to find a splint! Give yourself some slack, Denethor! I liked the phrases - last shred of self-righteous indignation and the reluctantly resigned himself to a truce. Would that it had lasted longer! Denethor respected a man you knew his strengths and weaknesses... the price of loving me too high... outrageous rumors of marital indiscretions. I particularly liked D telling T that he is not free... I loved his oath and the night he took it! Loved the whole repartee between the two! REALLY upset that D did not own up to having T's ring. Tolkien specifically states that Gondorians do NOT lie... of course, he never said he took it...... Yikes!!! And poor T's reaction to the loss... Very very sad. I found the little sidebar about the puzzles very interesting... and also a welcome break from the night's horrors... all of them! Another great taut incredible chapter. Author Reply: The fact that Thorongil was always 'extraordinarily well-equipped.' LOL, I swear I didn't mean it that way. I'm glad you liked the line where Denethor says he isn't free. I think they shared a sense that their lives were not their own. I wondered why Denethor waited so long to marry, and thought maybe it was because he felt he was already married to Gondor, in a sense. I'm not suprised you were horrified by his lie. I hope the Professor forgives me for pushing Denethor to compromise his principles. I'm glad you enjoyed the humorous bits, too. It was fun to take a moment to explore the friendship that might have been. Thanks so much for reviewing and sharing your impressions with me. I'm so glad you're finding the story enjoyable.

Agape4Gondor	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/20/2008
Well, since I didn't put any notes down when I first read this, I had to re-read it... and marvelled again at the story. It is excellent - all the way around. I've been touched by so many parts that I can't put it all down. First though - is the level of tension - it begins with chapter one and just flows through the rest. Bravo! I loved the opening paragraph - the detail is so vivid. And I like Turgon - a definitely despicable, though lovable character. Here's just some things that took me - Soldiers spreading straw, hiding his amusement, not begrudging the homesickness, welcome... captain's absence, rank has its privileges, begetting brats, manuevering for her attack, not all defeat is bitter, war is much simpler, nearly inconceivable to imagine, threaten his standing with his own father, like mice in a cornfield, steward's favorite captain - all great phrases that tell so much! I loved D's intuitive style of leadership that begins with the paragraph - Denethor sighed and sat back on his heels.... I remember as a child, tucking my hands into my armpits to warm them - in the midst of too much fun to stop and go inside to warm up... shows his determination. Again - incredible good chapter that just nailed me to the wall. I can't stop reading now!!! Congrats! Author Reply: Hi, Agape4Gondor, I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and thanks for reviewing. I meant for this to be a much shorter story than it turned out to be. Once I started writing Denethor he just wouldn't let me go. Such is the power of the character, I think. So much determination, as you noted, so much dignity and force of will, such a keen intellect and such a fierce dedication to Gondor. He's a pleasure to write, as you well know!

obsidianj	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 4/18/2008
What a great chapter. The plot twists and turns. The chapter starts out with some great descriptions like the "flat brown water" and the "A cold mist coated the fine hairs on the hand he extended out the tiny porthole of their cabin." That sets the tone for the uncomfortable trip on the boat. The towel as the banner of the Steward made me laugh. Now I know why the Stewards would use such a banner. It is easy to secure one if you ever need one in a pinch ;-). I love your characterization of all the main characters, especially Denethor. His trying to avoid marrying Finduilas, although he loves her for all the right reasons, only to sacrifice these in the end to outmaneuver Thorongil. The foundation of an unhappy marriage is laid right there. It is tragic that he already foresaw Finduilas unhappiness only to subject her later to it. The moment Denethor and Thorongil were ganging up on Saddlebags(I love that name) was an indication of how good of friends they could have been. Glimpses of that were seen in earlier chapters also. If only Denethor could see Thorongil with an open heart. But Denethor judges Thorongil after himself, and he is partly right, but then Thorongil is not Denethor, and here Denethor's judgment fells too short. The horse from the Second age was a hoot! Finduilas is the tragic character in this piece. In the end she will get what she wants, but the price will be too high. obsidianj Author Reply: Wow, thanks, Obsidianj. It's always great to hear your take on a chapter, thanks so much for reviewing. Now I know why the Stewards would use such a banner. It is easy to secure one if you ever need one in a pinch ;-). LOL. I suppose that's kinder than assuming they were just totally lacking in imagination. I'm glad you enjoyed my little attempts at humor. I think the more twisty and angsty the chapter, the more I feel desperate to lighten it up at least in a small way. I loved your comment about how the moment with Saddlebags was an indication of how Thorongil and Denethor's relationship might have been. I felt the same way writing it. It's sad. And I agree, Finduilas is the most tragic figure. There are echoes of Gilraen there somewhere, I think.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 4/6/2008
Of all the allies in this possible subterfuge of returning the ring to Thorongil, to involve this Turgon! How I hope it doesn't backfire on him! Although the advice to circumvent the imagined plan to supplant Denethor in his father's favor is excellent, and will give him to worthy sons. Alas that he was right as to the long-term effect of life within the city on his beloved Finduilas. Author Reply: I think Denethor's counting on Turgon having all his eggs in one basket. He won't risk his hard-won standing in the current scheme of things. Sadly, Denethor is right. He'll have to live with that.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 3 on 4/6/2008
He'd BEST return that ring, and he has too good an appreciation, I think, for what it stands for. Well, now he knows! As for Turgon--he's a sly one, isn't he? Author Reply: Turgon's a survivor. And Denethor above all wants to prove he's more noble than Thorongil - that alone will keep him fairly honest.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 4/5/2008
Good thing he looked about, then. Probing that Ring right then might have revealed too much, much too early. Author Reply: LOL. Suspense is good!

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 4/5/2008
Our captain lies over that drop, does he? Am glad for twenty/twenty hindsight, knowing he DID survive, at least. But where is he at the moment? Injured, perhaps? Author Reply: Injured, perhaps? Considering how bruised I am from falling over a fence this morning, he should be dead ;-)

phyloxena	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 4/5/2008
Wow! Just... everything. Love the brown river and the half-hearted down. Love the truce against the healer (and the Second-age horse, too), love tactless but politic Ecthelion, Denethor with his wrong reasons and right decisions. Thorongil makes a looming presence just semi-propped with half a line to him. And fealty-swearing in the mud next to the river. And endearingly absent archivist -- Denethor must have cherished the proof that not every single person is so weighed down by their present plights as he himself. Something to fight for. BTW, don't know how intended it was, but rings are remarkably long-lived in Tolkienverse -- after surviving since before Beren's time this ring had zero chance to get thrown away. Dangerous evidence or not, Denethor cannot destroy an object with tradition this long attached. Just not what this eternity-obsessed Egyptized Numenorians do. Is Saerbellas a traditional healer name, or something? I recall some guy in Elrond's household with sorry bedside manners and same name. Author Reply: Hi, Phyloxena, Thanks so much for reviewing. It's really great knowing that you enjoyed the chapter. It's wonderful hearing that you found the same parts fun that I did. You're right about the ring, of course - no eternity-obsessed pseudo-Egyptian Numenorean worth his salt could ever throw something like that away LOL. I love how you put that. Is Saerbellas a traditional healer name, or something? I recall some guy in Elrond's household with sorry bedside manners and same name. Hee. I'm just recycling OCs :-)

perelleth	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 4/4/2008
It is always worth the wait! I really like how you are treating the greyness in Denethor. He is so attached to and respectful of his own honour that he never loses sight of it as a valuable asset, so he will not endanger it, even for the most weighty reasons, such as depriving his foe from its precious tool. ANd then he is capable of depriving himself of the comfort of love for the right reason...until he finds a better reason than Finudilas' happiness, that is, giving Ecthelion a grandchild so he can win him back. I think that all these details clearly allow us to see how once was the bitter man that we get to see later in life. One capable of driving himself so ruthlessly would not expect less from ohters... and worst as the times grew darker... This said, I really enjoyed the joint charge against the healer, while the scene in the river just reminded me of my loocal airport taking off track certain mornings... And Turgon is a very very rounded character, I must say! Very enjoyable all in alll, just waiting for more! Author Reply: That's a really insightful and interesting way of looking at Denethor's relationship to his honor, Perelleth. And I'm glad you enjoyed them ganging up on poor Saerbellas and could relate to the backup on the runway. Thanks for reviewing!

The Karenator	Reviewed Chapter: 4 on 4/2/2008
“You could just come to Minas Tiercake,” Hanger-guy said. “You don’t have to stay way out here in the woods. With all those layers full of people, your Boss would be able to find Paris Hilton’s talent easier than he could you. Besides,” the kid added, “The Wrong Deal is going to be laid out like a rug on sale for a long time.” “I can’t,” the PI said. “Why not? I’m telling you, nobody will know you’re there.” “Let’s just say I’ve got it in writing,” Halbarad said. “Drop it.” The kid shrugged the bony hangers holding his cloak. “Have it your way. It don’t make no sense to me to sail all this way to Minas Tiercake, then not even go close enough to see the White Cupcakes….” Cold air seeped like Coke on carpet down Halbarad’s neck. “Yeah, it’s my business.” Luck, the PI discovered long ago, was a wacky dame with a sense of humor that rivaled Dr. Jekyll’s idea of a fun night out on the town. For kicks, she stuck him with the kid as his only spy, then got the kid a job on the same boat the Boss was on. It also helped the kid’s job prospects when a deckhand decided to take Halbarad up on his offer to let him keep his teeth. When the kid didn’t go on with his story, Halbarad nudged him. “Tell me what happened after you shoved off from Pelagir.” “The trip was as boring as the last episode of the X-Files,” the kid said. “Except for The Perfect Storm, but you already know about that.” Oh, yeah, Halbarad knew about the big blow. When the kid signed on the Boss’s ship, the PI had hopped a dingy with a load of cadets from the Citadel on their way to the big beer bust. When the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost. Only the PI’s dinner got permanently tossed. “Get to the part I don’t know about,” Halbarad said. The kid grinned like he’d just won the lightning round on Jeopardy. “I got more scoop than Baskin and Robbins. Jimmy Olsen is going to want my autograph.” “Terrific,” the PI said. “Give me a hint why.” A few snowflakes drifted in a wind colder than Lassie’s nose, but the kid didn’t seem to mind. He wiggled on the log he copped as a seat as if getting ready to deliver the Gettysburg Address. “Okay,” the kid said. “When we got to Harlot, The Thorn and The Family Guy--his name is really Tarragon--needed somebody to help them get The Wrong Deal up to the Sixth Layer, so I jumped on it like Roy Rogers on Trigger. But the leech guy they brought along from Pelagir pitched a fit bigger than when Russell Crowe slugged some yahoo in a bar fight. So Tarragon got a nag older than Joan Rivers for The Wrong Deal to ride, but the leech got more twisted over that than Anakin Skywalker. Ha!” the kid said. “The Thorn and Tarragon tricked that leech out easier than a ’48 Ford. So, The Thorn got a couple of guys in Gondor’s delivery uniforms to push people out of our way when we wheeled your buddy up all six of those layers. Man, the roads were more crowded than a free Kid Rock concert.” “Yeah, okay, what happened after that?” “So,” the kid said, “when we got The Wrong Deal up to the shoe repair place, this guy named Saddlebags….” “Wait!” the PI said. “The shoe repair place?” “Yeah,” the kid said. “Up on the Sixth Layer. That’s where Minas Tiercake keeps its house of heels.” The kid shook his head. “I don’t know why they’d take The Wrong Deal to a shoe shop, but maybe he’s got a tough hide.” Halbarad scrubbed his hands over his face. A flaming idiot, that’s what the kid was, a flaming idiot. The PI figured he was too for even listening, but times hadn’t been this desperate since Battlestar Galactica got canceled. “Go on.” “Like I was saying, this Saddlebags said The Wrong Deal was doing pretty good for a guy as broken up as Susan Lucci at the Daytime Emmys. The leech that came with us was still moaning that the shoe guy in Pelagir could have sewed The Wrong Deal up and fixed his broke leg better, but by then, The Thorn’s old man, the big guy, Etchasketch, had come.” “Who?” “You know,” the kid said, “the kingpin, the steward.” “Ecthelion.” “That’s what I said.” Leaning in closer to the PI, the kid lowered his voice as if there were people to hear out in the middle of a forest as deserted as Mitt Romney’s campaign. “I think Etchasketch is hiding something.” Halbarad’s heart did a double gainer off the high dive. “Like what?” The kid’s eyes shifted from side to side, then back to Halbarad. “He got to talking about what a good job The Wrong Deal did cleaning out the narcs, then let it slip that The Wrong Deal is his very own son.” A sharp pain stabbed the PI between his eyes. The kid brains were more scrambled than a Waffle House omelet. “Thorongil is not Ecthelion’s kid.” The kid leaned back and crossed his arms. “Oh, yeah? How do you know? You don’t know where old Etchasketch went scribbling in his younger days. He might have been out dropping his p’s and q’s all over the place.” The PI’s face burned hotter than SI’s swimsuit edition. “Forget it! This talk is as worthless as discussing where Lost went wrong in its second season.” The kid’s chin lifted. “Okay then. Your loss.” Halbarad grunted. “Get on with it.” The kid put up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. There’s more.” He paused to pick at a ragged nail. “After The Wrong Deal is all settled in, Etchasketch told The Thorn to come on; they need to have a ten.” “A ten?” “Yeah, you know, a ten. Take a ten minute meeting. A talk.” “Oh,” the PI muttered. “So, it’s not like I can just hang around there like Vanna White with no letters to turn, and I sure wasn’t invited to the ten, so I figured I’d just trail The Thorn to see what he was up to.” “They didn’t see you?” “Oh, no,” the kid said with his lips rounded into a trumpet. “Like I said, the place is packed tighter than Dolly Parton’s bra. I followed them all the way to the Big House and they didn’t turn around once. Not even while Etchasketch was greasing palms. You’d think the guy had to get elected or something.” “What’d you do when they went inside?” “Hung out,” the kid said. “And waited. I figured The Thorn would cruise on back out eventually and I was right. Not long after he’d gone in, he came back out and headed off down to this building where they keep, you know, like books and scrolls and stuff.” “A library? An archive?” “Yeah,” the kid said, “that’s it. A library. I been in one before. Back home. It was an accident, but man, it was worth it. There was this cute girl working there.” He swatted his knee as if the memory was more entertaining than a three-ring circus. “I went back every day for a week trying to get her to go to the boat races with me. She said it was a rule that the people working at the library couldn’t go out with their patsies.” Halbarad groaned. “Patrons.” “Them either,” the kid said. “But I could tell she was real sorry, that she liked me too. When I told her that if she ever quit working there to let me know so I could take her out, she said that would be when Mordor froze over. Poor Spot. That was her name. Spot. I reckon her family needed her to keep the job and she didn’t figure she’d ever get to quit.” The PI made a mental note to look up the librarian in Pelagir and tell her that if the idiot ever showed back up, he would personally take the kid out into the wild and leave him where he’d never find his way back. “Yeah,” the PI said. “What was The Thorn doing at the library?” “Well,” the kid said, “I couldn’t follow him in there because it wasn’t exactly like a hopping joint. I just hung around at a hot dog stand until he came out. And man, let me tell you, he charged outta there like a bull running at Papilloma.” “Pamplona.” “That’s what I said.” The kid’s eyes gleamed like the headlights of a brand new subcompact. “The Thorn shot off down the layers…canon-less…and he didn’t care. I had to run like Hillary’s campaign to catch up with him. He went straight down to the river, near where we parked our boat, right next to that big ship flying the flag with the white ducks on it.” “White ducks?” the PI said. “You mean, the white swan?” “That’s what I said. The boat from Dol Amway.” Halbarad rubbed the sting in his eyes. “Sure, go on.” “So anyway, I hid beside some of those little mini-storage houses where people put their stuff until they can cart it into the city. I could see him plain as day and hear too. He stood around a little while looking at that ring of your boss’s. You know, the one with the two green-eyed snakes curled around a corn dog.” Halbarad nodded. “For a minute, I thought he was going to toss it in the drink, but Tarragon showed up.” The kid shook his head. “That was the weirdest thing I ever seen. The Thorn made Tarragon get on his knee and swear to be felt-up by his steward and his lord if he had to come or stay or die or get a piece of war until the end of the world.” Halbarad’s brows crashed over his nose. “He had him swear his fealty?” “That’s what I said. Right there on the side of the river where anybody could have come along and seen them. But,” the kid said with a smile happier than Kathy Lee Gifford getting a job, “when The Thorn showed the ring to Tarragon he told him it meant the return of Don King. He’s pretty sure that The Wrong Deal is a spy or a scout for King. He said Areindeer had sent The Wrong Deal to put syrup on Minas Tiercake, to act all nice so they can claim Gondor for the next big fight. Tarragon asked if he was sure and The Thorn held out the ring and said it was an Avon ring and he was sure because The Wrong Deal looked like somebody from up North, somebody with good hair.” “What’s he going to do?” the PI asked. “About the ring?” “Tarragon wanted to throw it in the river or tell Etchasketch, but The Thorn said that just because The Wrong Deal was a sneaky liar didn’t mean he had to be one too. So he told Tarragon to tell anybody who asked that some of his scouts found it by the side of the road and since they didn’t come by ship, they’d be late getting there, and they could act like they brought the ring.” The kid made a disgusted noise in his throat. “Yeah, like that’s not lying.” “Then he’s going to give the ring back to Thorongil?” “Oh, yeah,” the kid said. “But he’s got another plan to beat The Wrong Deal at this game. He’s going to marry that girl with duel fenders. That must be a nickname. I ain’t never known any girl named Duel Fenders. Maybe she’s a little broad in the beam or something.” The PI scratched the stubble on his chin. “What’s getting married got to do with the ring?” “It ain’t the ring that’s important,” the kid said like the PI wasn’t keeping up. “It’s having a baby to sit on Etchasketch’s knee. That way, The Thorn’s got a lock on Etchasketch. Family’s what matters. The old man won’t let Don King come in and ruin the family business.” Halbarad worked his jaw while thinking through the kid’s story. “So, The Thorn thinks that giving the steward a grandchild will distract him from Thorongil, turn his favor back to The Thorn….” “Well,” the kid said, “that’s if The Wrong Deal doesn’t up and announce he’s Etchasketch’s son too.” “He’s not!” Halbarad yelled. “Don’t ever say that again!” “Okay, but Etchasketch said it, not me.” “Ecthelion!” the PI shouted. “That’s what I said.” Ray’s Dog Human reviewer: Terrific chapter. The Dog reminded me that he loved it and said so. Since I think he used up our word count, I’ll just agree, “That’s what he said.” Author Reply: Poor Halbarad! He needs a better spy! The poor PI must be ready to put his eye out with a pencil. This was a masterpiece, Karen. Echasketch! I'm still laughing. People have been wondering what's wrong with me all day. But then, that's probably normal...

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