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The Keys of the Realm  by Larner 13 Review(s)
LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 6 on 5/28/2008
Peregrines! (laughs softly)

I have read in haste, for I will be interrupted at any moment, but just had to take the time to drop a note. This is delightful!

The girls are adorable, the conversations ring true. The uncertainty of the people, and the very rightness of Elessar restoring the rod of the Steward to Faramir... so many little touches, such satisfaction in seeing this day from the POV of Hurin and his loved ones...

This is the first chapter of this I've read, would you believe? I hope for time to go back and read the previous chapters, but not today! We're off to set foot upon a replica of one of Columbus' ships, in a bit...

Author Reply: Well, what other bird WOULD it be, Lindelea? Heh! Of course peregrines! And this is based on a pair that nested repeatedly in downtown Seattle. And am so glad you find the children believable. There would be uncertainty as well as rejoicing, and such a feeling of relief to find out what kind of King they now had!

I'll probably be down next month--after this last week I need a week off, I think. One of my clients has had a tremendous setback, and I'm still shaken at how fast her condition can progress.

And may the children love their visit to the replica of a Spanish exploring ship! Give them and the hubby and Zoe my love!

KittyReviewed Chapter: 6 on 5/28/2008
It must have been a nightmare to clean up the Pelennor after that battle - I don't even dare to guess how many corpses were lying around. A lot of workto do for the ones who stayed behind!

*snicker* You caught Ioreth and her incessant chatter very well; that fits perfectly with canon. No wonder Húrin and his family were hurrying ahead to escape her!

I am glad Húrin has such a nice family; he deserves this happiness. And what a lovely idea to have his daughter near at the coronation! The girl will talk about it forever, of that I am sure. And the King even showed her his ring!

This is such a beautiful chapter, seeing the coronation through the eyes of Húrin. And btw, I was rather amused that *peregrine* falcons, of all birds, decided to nest at this window, just now with Pippin there!


Author Reply: Well, of COURSE it would be peregrine falcons? What else? Although actually a pair of such birds made a repeated point of nesting several years in a row on a ledge of a high-rise in Seattle, as has happened elsewhere. I was to include a nest in the story, so I had to pay tribute to those falcons that love high places and seem to see little difference between a window ledge and a ledge on a cliff or bluff.

Cleaning up the Pelennor must at times have felt like an overwhelming job. Am so glad they appear to have managed by the time the camp for the returning army was set up. And I decided to write Ioreth more in keeping with her endless chatter during the coronation in the book this time, and found it fun.

Our minister's older daughter once talked him into allowing her to stay by him as he celebrated Communion during a small, rather intimate weekday service; she may never forget it--I KNOW I never will, and how her little sister crawled away from their mother and over kneelers and under pews and then under the altar rail to set her older sister off and disrupt the service. I'll never forget Sharon carrying Katie off, once she'd finally been recaptured, explaining, "You don't bug Daddy in the middle of a service!" while Meggie settled down and returned to bouncing from foot to foot and her father resumed the service, almost shaking with mortification and frustration.

For Beruthien, to be able to be by her daddy and see what he does, and to learn first-hand how much her dad honored the new King, and to have the King pay attention to her as if she mattered--which she did, to such as Aragorn--would have been so important after all the changes and uncertainty they've all known.

Am so glad this chapter appears to have delighted you, Kitty.

FiondilReviewed Chapter: 6 on 5/28/2008
And so the King Returned has entered into his city at last and has received the first of many gifts, the first and perhaps the most important: the gift of welcome from one who knew him from before. I wonder who gets the room with the peregrines? *grin*

Author Reply: Do you think, perhaps, he might have assigned that room to the twins? Or if they might have chosen it?

We've had peregrine falcons nest on high-rise buildings in downtown Seattle, and I've heard of them in similar situations elsewhere across the States as well. When I learned I was to include a birds nest in this story, the idea of the falcons nesting on a bank building in Seattle just hit me, and that had to be written in.

And he has found himself welcomed by one who remembers him with gladness, and I myself am glad it wasn't all folk he had to convince.

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