Flames by Lindelea
Eirinn Leigh · 19 November 2015 · Chapter 5: Guilty
Is this the story that tells *How* Ferdi came to be afraid of fire? Or is that an earlier one?
Author's reply
That story is told more fully in Pearl of Great Price. http://storiesofarda.com/chapterlistview.asp?SID=1060 Thanks for stopping by and leaving a note!
Nienor Niniel · 20 August 2006 · Chapter 58: The Beginning
I just finished this fic, and I don't even know what to say. You had me in tears several times: poor Ferdibrand goes through so much! It's really unusual for people to let a character go such a difficult way in fics, at least in those I've read. There may be angst, but it's usually resolved relatively quickly. I like how it is different with Ferdibrand. This way it gains much more significance when his life starts to brighten. The amount of detail you put into the Took's culture and customs is incredible, and I enjoy the many things you invented: the competitions, the little changes Pippin makes to Tookish customs, the hierarchy under the higher-ranking hobbits... the list is endless. I'm going to read the companion pieces next, and then the stories that follow. I desperately hope you'll allow poor Pippin to get fully healthy again in one of them! Thanks for your writing! Nienor
Author's reply
You're welcome! Thanks for sharing it with me. The only reason I can write Pippin so unhealthy without too much of a pang is because I have a timeline, of late Third Age and Fourth Age happenings in the Shire. (I made it up, incorporating every hint I could find of JRRT's). On this timeline is Pippin's healing. You'll find the details of that in two stories: At the End of His Rope, and A Healer's Tale. Hope that's a comfort! The pony races were the seed of the culture that grew itself in these stories; Jodancingtree was writing a pony race (in Sam's Rose) and asked me for suggestions, and after reading her description of the Free Fair at Michel Delving I found my imagination stretching and flowering and hobbits and the Shire becoming more real. So a great deal of credit goes to Jodancingtree! Thanks!
Larner · 3 April 2005 · Chapter 38: Fathers
Very gentle ending, a good one, surrounded by love.
Larner · 10 March 2005 · Chapter 5: Guilty
Excellent and appropriate punishments.
Author's reply
Thanks! I've been told they are too harsh. Either hobbits would never do anything "bad" enough to be banished from the Shire, or... I don't know. I cannot imagine hobbit prison--if there were gaols or prisons, then why would the ruffians have had to make storeholes into Lockholes? I could see banishment as the hobbit form of "capital punishment", ridding their society of a dangerous element. And it seems as if you'd have to have some sort of permanent marking to keep them from walking back in. (Dreamflower, I think, uses a tattoo as her solution.) If they had dangerous elements, that is. Thanks!
Larner · 10 March 2005 · Chapter 4: Co-incidents
Watch all sides indeed.
Author's reply
Yup. It struck me that some might see it as a coincidence that the heirs to the two most influential hobbits and the one who inherited from the reputed richest hobbit in the Shire should all disappear at the same time, followed by the growing troubles under Lotho's influence. And nobody seems to have the power to stop Lotho.
Bodkin · 10 March 2005 · Chapter 58: The Beginning
Ferdi - my favourite hobbit. I'm glad he got his reward in Pimpernel. Not that it stopped his suffering, of course, but at least he could look forward to the nursing!
Author's reply
Y'know, Ferdi's one of my favourite hobbits as well. Merry has always been my favourite, though I find it hard to write him for some reason. (Perhaps I fear I won't do him justice.) Pippin's been an interesting character study. D'y'know, I started writing Ferdi because I'd written so much Pippin-angst I thought I ought to pick on someone else for a change? Poor Ferdi!
Dreamflower · 9 March 2005 · Chapter 58: The Beginning
Well, I've whiled away the afternoon on this, start to finish, and not taking the time to review each chapter as I go--sorry about that, but it's just been too absorbing, and I'm still a bit brain dead from too little sleep last night. It's been lovely to see the story from Ferdi's POV--I like to see the same thing from different points of view. It's very satisfying to see how all the events hang together. You are an expert on that, and I take my hat off to you. Ferdi is so well-depicted, I tend to forget that he is an OC! His pride, his stubborness, his gradual overcoming of all the obstacles, his growing friendship with his cousin and Thain are so very well done. I loved it. Congratulations on another wonderful addition to your epic. (For to me, all your stories are like one long story.)
Author's reply
So glad you took the time to leave a word! I'm not going to burden people with reviewing every single chapter, for nobody would likely read my stories if that were the case! (Even though I love reviews, some are crunchy and some smooth and creamy and all are delicious with chocolate sauce.) Y'know, I've had that feeling before, that it's all one long story and I'm just taking snapshots (or in some cases something much bigger) at certain points along the way. Thanks! Author Reply: p.s. There's just one little detail (that I've noticed so far) that doesn't quite "hang together". In "Flames" Farry is four, turning five when his father becomes Thain, but when I calculated it later he ought to have turned four that year. Also, in "Jewels" (actually, "Seeing the Forest" which spun off from "Jewels" and was written concurrently) Farry's birthday is in the Spring, and in "Flames" it is in the Autumn. So one of these days I need to go back and figure out how to adjust that and reconcile the two. But happily it doesn't seem to have bothered the readers any.
Larner · 8 March 2005 · Chapter 3: News
Good advice to those who would stand against Lotho and the Big Men. Am going to enjoy this one.
Author's reply
Great! Will look forward to hearing from you as you have time, then. Thanks!
Larner · 8 March 2005 · Chapter 2: Heir
Lovely intrigue here. Love how Lotho got to measure his length there--very appropriate; and very perceptive of all as to what's going on here. Well written as usual.
Author's reply
I know, it just seemed logical to me, from the little bit we hear about Paladin's reaction to Lotho in "Scouring of the Shire". Thanks!
Larner · 8 March 2005 · Chapter 0: Prologue
Ah, am just getting started with this one. Hope you don't mind some late feedback. Excellent beginning. Probably won't review every chapter, but am certain you understand.
Author's reply
Me? Mind feedback, late or any other kind? Never! And I understand. The feedback you leave certainly is heartening. But you probably know that, from getting reviews on your own story. (Which is still at the top of my list to read when I get some "uninterrupted time". Right now all I seem to be able to manage is short things like drabbles...)
FantasyFan · 8 March 2005 · Chapter 37: Gossip
There are golden treasures hidden on your hard disk. What a treat! I've just spent a very enjoyable day re-reading this story. It's made me laugh and made me cry in a few places. It's nice to see Chapter 37 at last - though I didn't know I was missing it until now. I'm glad Pippin addressed his regret and offered his apologies soon after he'd found out what happened to Ferdi. That seems quite fitting, more so than just having him do it while in delerium later. To know that he's done it once, and that it still bothers him later so much that he feels he must try again to apologize before he dies, puts quite a different spin on the emotions involved.
Author's reply
I love it when I unearth a treasure. I do "keep" nearly everything up on the web on several sites, as a sort of "backup", and also on two different computers (only one of which has a working word processor, but at least it'll store files that I email to myself) and an external drive and a CD. Having lost significant hours (read "months") of work, I'm a little paranoid. Thanks!
Beruthiel · 8 March 2005 · Chapter 37: Gossip
Liked this chapter. Everard was certainly pleased. Nothing quite like annoying people when you're in a much better mood than they are. Perhaps no one noticed the missing chapter because the chapter texts aren't numbered. Unless you keep going back to the chapter list, there's no way to keep track of which one you're on.
Author's reply
Yes, I noticed that when I went back to add in the "missing" chapter, but when I'll have time to correct that little oversight... who knows? Thanks! (Nothing quite like annoying people... you sound as if you speak from personal experience. Annoyer, or annoyee? Or both?! I used to be quite a smart aleck, which is why my hobbits are so often smarting off at one another, I think.)
Chibi_kaz · 13 October 2004 · Chapter 38: Fathers
The depiction of little Farry in this chapter gave me a shudder. It seemed -- uncannily like his namesake. I certainly hope that Pip is a better father than that. --Chibi-Kaz
Author's reply
Well, Farry is very small, and bright and precocious. Pippin doesn't tolerate baby talk, but that doesn't mean that he slights his little son; no, he gives him lots of attention at this point on the timeline. After a loss in "FirstBorn" their relationship will change for a time, but by the beginning of "At the End of His Rope" (or even before that, in "Down and Out"--but they make their peace and restore their relationship in "Runaway") they're back on track. Hope this makes sense--I'm in haste, as so often happens. Thanks!
Chibi_kaz · 13 October 2004 · Chapter 26: Ruin
*wince* Ferdi might as well take that knife and ride to Gondor himself! I know that this passes (having read StarFire and All That Glisters) but Oy vey! someone needs to smack Pippin. --Cheers, --Chibi-kaz
Author's reply
It was so nice to get your review! I know, I wrote Pippin as something of a spoiled youngest and only son in the years before he became Thain, but it does make for some satisfying character growth. Thanks! Hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
Beruthiel · 13 June 2004 · Chapter 1: Reclamation
Off to an interesting start. I'd have liked to see Ferdi's reaction when he first heard that Pippin was missing and presumed dead. What was Ferdi doing out in the woods, anyway?
Author's reply
Y'know, I've been thinking on Ferdi's reaction to the news of Pippin for quite awhile now, and am pondering how I might incorporate it into the "Paladin becomes Thain" story. If I can get it to come out right, that story would end just as "Flames" is beginning. That would be a neat trick. Why is Ferdi in the woods? Could be he's following Pippin, though he won't admit it, having been laughed to scorn for suggesting that Pippin's not dead... Don't know yet, as the Thain story is not outlined to the end. I had a "final" chapter written, but it is no longer the final chapter if I extend it to meet up with "Flames". Originally as written, Ferdi was in the woods because he was running away from his troubles. You can see hints of that in this chapter (his thoughts on everyone telling him he's useless) Thanks for reviewing!
Grey Wonderer · 28 April 2004 · Chapter 0: Prologue
This was very interesting. It will, I'm sure, help me a great deal with the current one. (Thank you for the emails btw) In my mind, I kept seeing the story as you wrote it from the other side in the one of FF.net and they fit together quite nicely. I was relieved that Pippin hadn't known about the ban because I didn't like to think that even in his own troubles he would have allowed anyone to go through that sort of trouble for his actions. Your Paladin is every bit as nice as the one I have written in the past! LOL All of the stories about Pippin as Thain always make me a bit sad because he never seems to be happy in any of it, even the one time I tried to write him as Thain, I didn't have him enjoy it either. LOL You have invested quite a bit in your history and it is very detailed. I may need to back up and read some of the others. Oh, I read the entire story, I just decided to put the reiview here as prologues seldom get reviews.
Author's reply
You're right, prologues almost never get reviews, it seems! Glad it helped, and yes, this story was carefully written so that it would fit nicely with the one on ff.net. I'm with you. I think that if Pippin had learned of the Ban on Ferdi he would have returned to Tookland, no matter the cost to himself. A happy Thain? Now that would be a story challenge! I wonder why we think hobbits aren't happy to be Thain? I'd love to hear your comments on the other stories, especially if you notice any inconsistencies that need tweaking, or if there's a part you find rings particularly true (for the sake of consistency). Wonder when I'll run out of stories to tell?
Inquisitive Hobbit · 12 January 2004 · Chapter 33: Pardon
Just out of curiosity, what was Paladin trying to say when he died?
Author's reply
Could have been several things: Nothing I did was ever good enough for my father (in my history, Paladin's father was overbearing and unreasonable). Nothing I did was ever good enough as a father to you, Pippin. Nothing I did was ever good enough... but don't you fall into the same trap, Pippin (trying to warn against perfectionism that destroys relationships). All in all, it was apology to Pippin for insisting on Pippin always doing everything Paladin's way, and acknowledging that the estrangement was more his fault than his son's. Author Reply: P.s. Thanks for the review!
Salsify · 7 September 2003 · Chapter 58: The Beginning
I finally got time to read some long stories and this was high on my list. I really enjoyed the way you expanded on the society of the Shire. The way of life you showed was believable, and the Shire managed to be a good place without being sticky-sweet. Not to mention that I really liked Ferdi and the other hobbits - you did a good job with the character development. You asked elsewhere if this could stand on its own. This is the first of your stories that I read, and I didn't feel lost in it. The only thing that gave me some trouble was that I didn't realize how badly Ferdi's father was injured until pretty far into the story. On possibly a related issue, I was pushing a little to finish this before the kids got up, and blew right past a couple of places where several years passed in the story. A little more transition when a long time has passed would be appreciated, since I don't think I'll have time for leisurely reading anytime soon!
Author's reply
Goodness, don't even know if you'll get this. I think, when I posted this, that I didn't know about the review reply feature at SoA. In any event I see I didn't reply to any of the reviews posted around the time you wrote yours. I suspect I emailed a response to you, for I seem to have a dim memory of discussing that "passage of time" you mentioned. But if I didn't... Deepest apologies. And thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.
Miriel · 7 August 2003 · Chapter 58: The Beginning
Wow. that was terrific.
Author's reply
Thanks, Miriel. I don't know if you're still reading fanfic or if this is a current address, but I just wanted to let you know I appreciated all of your encouraging and helpful reviews.
Miriel · 6 August 2003 · Chapter 12: Shadows
I love it! Must...read...more....
eiluj · 5 August 2003 · Chapter 58: The Beginning
I have very much enjoyed this whole story, as I have all of your stories. [It feels a bit like cheating to have read all the last several chapters here, all at once instead of every other day, when they haven't been posted on ff.net yet!] I continue to find your hobbits, and their society and customs, entirely realistic and true to canon. It is always a shock to realize how very much you have simply intuited.... Thanks again.
Author's reply
A very belated thanks! (Just stopped by to respond to a review left this week and saw this unanswered one.)