Reviews (456)

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I've noticed that Sam is rather consistant with the hobbits, but with everyone else he tends to drop the 'Mr.' (or Master) when not speaking directly to them. I think there are only two times that he drops the Mr. when speaking to Frodo - when he finds him in the tower at Cirith Ungol and when Frodo puts on the Ring at Mt. Doom. IIRC, he doesn't use either title for Strider, except once early on when he is clearly being sarcastic. Habits are hard to break, but Sam will become accustomed to leaving off the Mr. given enough time. Thanks for reading!

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That's what I thought when I read the bread tips on... forget the name of the website. I sort of imagine it like a needle being threaded through fabric. Maybe it's something only hobbits can really understand. :P I'm so happy you enjoyed this so much!!! *hugs*

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I'm sure there was still a small moment of mourning - like when they disappeared into the study before breakfast. Knowing that Frodo would want them to celebrate the day, as he continued to do all those years after Bilbo left (true it was also Frodo's birthday, but Tolkien seems to indicate that Frodo held them in Bilbo's honor, so much to the point that the neighbors thought it odd) would have helped the lads to keep their grief short and their celebrating long. Sam will mull over the great Mr. controversy and he will have to concede that Merry is indeed right. He's lost the battle - he just hasn't admitted it yet. :D

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Pippin may find it harder to ramble in writing, but he manages it quite well. :P Merry knows that Pippin and Sam would write little of themselves, Pippin because he writes so little to begin with, at least usually, and Sam becuase he's more the type to mention everyone else but himself. Sam just couldn't help be a gardener and include those tips for the slugs, and he and Rose are going to be having some heated discussions over that mathom room, I think. :D I have an idea about the Gaffer's letter. *grins* The gifts, except maybe the stale bread, will be much treasured. ;)

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Bilbo and Frodo are celebrating in their own way, and possibly with those fireworks the others are missing. :D Each year the celebration will be more grand than the last.

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A loaf of stale bread - the precursor to the fruitcake. LOL Only Pippin would think the bread would last that long!

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That's the version that makes most sense to me. If Rose knew without doubt she was pregnant before setting out, I don't know if she still would have gone. I'm glad you liked the idea that Tom was the anniversary gift for the Fellowship leaving Rivendell. The thought struck me as I was writing and it instantly caught my imagination. It's been 11 years since I've lived with a colicky baby - it's not something you ever forget!

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Hello Tigger! My bread always comes out perfect - right from the store-bought bag and onto my plate. ;) I'm not much of a baker, myself. I would have thought all bread would have yeast in it, so I learned something new today. :D Pippin, while vastly matured, still has many childlike qualities. And to be fair, he did warn Merry, though that was most likely after Merry's hand was already halfway into the tin! LOL That drawing of Frodo will be much treasured by all of Middle-earth once it is placed in the museum at Gondor. If there is a portrait of Frodo as he was after the Quest, people will be shocked at the difference. Bittersweet, but I think the sweet outweighs the bitterness by a tad. Thank you for reading!!

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Elanor needs to give her brother a lesson in pouting! LOL Elanor, I'm sure, has heard the word devious many times in her short life, what with Pippin coming to visit so often. ;) And then there's Bell - she can be devious in her own way when she puts her mind to it. LOL People know what a sensible lad Sam is - until he took off with Frodo to parts unknown. And now that Sam's living in Bag End and showing a certain amount of queerness himself, they have to wonder if it was the Bagginses or Bag End itself. A perfectly natural and hobbity reaction to such a strange mystery. ;) I wonder, in some odd way, if such thoughts actually helped Sam to become mayore. Tolkien tells us in the prologue that strong (aka queer) characters are the most likely hobbits to become leaders and people tolerated their oddities because they knew that they could get the job done. Sam knows his Gaffer better than anyone! He knows what his Gaffer would think about signing such a document. I mean, look at his reaction when asked to pose for a family portrait that wasn't going to a family member! LOL Both fics had to end with the toast. It just seemed the right place to end them.

Author's reply

Thank you QG! The letters were a lot of fun to write, and seeing Aragorn's reactions to them was interesting. I was uncertain if I was making this a tad too angsty at the end, but I think there's enough fluff and comfort in the rest of it that it's not too overwhelming. Sounds like I struck just the right note. :) I can take no credit for the bread recipe, or the cook's notes. That's all Llinos! :D

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I would dearly love to see it also! Those guards never fathomed they'd be guarding such a tiny treasure some day. How luck little Tolman - and Rose and Sam! - is to have had them around. :D

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I think at first his moments of joy would have outweighed him moments of detachment, but over time that would have flipped. While they were in Minas Tirith he could at least pretend to ignore the changes in himself. Once they returned to the Shire though and he was again surrounded by everything familiar and comfortable, he would have been immediately accosted by how alien and disquieting it now was, not only because of the Scouring but because he felt scoured within himself. The Shire was able to heal and prosper again but Frodo could not. He sees a glimpse of that in Minas Tirith, he's wise enough to understand what it means. When I intially wrote this, I wasn't sure where to place it, and I was still debating the matter when I posted it here. Now, I think I would place it concurrent with "A Humble Gift" so that this would take the place the same afternoon that Pippin gets his horn. In this way, Frodo can enjoy a little bit of healing, or at least comfort, when Pippin returns that night and blows the horn for them.

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Thank you Mews! Eomer is right - no one is a better teacher in patience than a baby that won't stop crying. Those guards are going to be much better off for their time spent baby-sitting. :D Arwen's gift was truly a surprise, but very appropriate and touching. Sam couldn't have asked for a better.

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Tolman would have made an excellent guard - his wailing alone would scare off most predators and would warn against any movement in the nearby area. :D I do think that of all the Gamgee children, Tom would be the one most likely to journey to Gondor again. He would want to see the place where he was born and had heard so much about during his youth. :)

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Tom in boots would be quite adorable. :D But I don't think Rose would have appreciated it very much, lol! Nothing can bring out the inner softie in every guard as well as a baby can, especially a hobbit baby, which wouldn't be much bigger than a kitten or small cat. They just couldn't get enough of Baby Tolman. Sam will always treasure Arwen's gift. To know once and for all, beyond doubt and hopeful wishes, that Frodo is healed is a big ease off his mind and really all he ever wanted. Thanks for reading!

Author's reply

Frodo may have survived the Quest but not by much. That he remained so long in Middle Earth after the Quest really shows his inner strength, even while his physical strength was diminished. He is feeling detached right now, which is only natural. Unfortunately, those feelings of detachment will continue to linger until he leaves for the Undying Lands. What he says when he returns to the Shire is so telling, that he sees everything around him as happening in a dream. To find the Shire scoured would only compound that feeling. He could never be at home there again.

Author's reply

Being pregnant during the summer is a miserable experience. I don't blame Rose for not wanting to travel, even on ponyback, if she can avoid it. I figure a baby hobbit would be about the size of a kitten at 6-8 weeks. Plenty small enough to fit in a boot, if not the little baby boots that the Big Folk were sending to them. :D Keeping in mind that the dolls are bigger than a hobbit would make them, the harder dolls would serve as pillows or cushions - to keep baby from rolling off the couches or onto his tummy. It's a very handy trick. Only Faramir is named and given a birth year on the family trees. We know Merry had a son only because Merry hands his goods and offices over to his son when he leaves the Shire. Any other kids beyond that is up to the author. :D Athelas seemed an appropriate name for Pippin's daughter, especially since she proves to be the cure for colic. lol

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I can just see the looks of fascination on the faces of the Big Folk when they saw little Tom. A hobbit baby has to be the tiniest little thing ever, far smaller than they imagined a baby could be. Athelas was very appropriately named! How suiting that she's the only 'cure' to Tom's colic. ;) I think Tom just needed another baby to talk to. lol The muses do seem to be leaning toward a Tolman/Athelas union. I'm rather fond of the idea myself. They're certainly off to a favorable start. :D Thanks for reading!

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Tom sure does have all the Big Folk wrapped around his tiny little fingers, doesn't he? For being so small, he makes quite a fuss. I feel for those poor merchants but I'm sure the guards didn't mind having to baby sit for a couple of hours. They at least had more entertainment than the guards who had to watch the perimeters. :D 13 children is quite a lot. I'm sure by the time she had Hamfast, she was saying that each new baby was the last one! I can hear her blaming Sam for all these babies during each delivery. LOL

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Rose grew up with 4 brothers and has raised 12 children (13 now), plus she's been the Mayor's wife for about 15 years now - she's not about to be told no! She knows how to assert herself when she needs to. ;) There's something about babies that make grown ups act like silly infants themselves. I figure that effect would be doubled for a hobbit baby, especially since the Big Folk would never have seen one before this. They just can't get over the fact how tiny Tom is. :D Thanks for reading!

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Hello, speckled_llama! Let's face it - hobbits are small enough. A hobbit baby would be about the size of a kitten or even smaller. Tom would fit, literally, in the palms of their hands - and in their boots, as one soldier clearly discovered. I can just see them sticking Tom in the boot and laughing with him as he squeals with delight, while another guard keeps watch for Rose to return! lol Thanks for reading!

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Thank you Elemmire! This story was a lot of fun to write, though I imagine Sam and Rose didn't have much fun in it. ;) Traveling with a baby in modern days is hard enough. To do so in Middle Earth really would take all the King's soldiers to help! Athelas makes a pretty hobbit name, even if it's not technically hobbity. But since Pippin named his son Faramir, people are probably used to odd names from this particular Thain. The muses gifted me with the name for Pippin's daughter, and it's very suiting that a lass with such a name would be the cure for a constantly crying baby. ;)

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It's fun to roll around in fluff every once in awhile, and there's nothing fluffier that little Baby Tom surrounded by soldiers making goo-goo sounds. :D There are strong similarities to Tom and my niece when she was a baby. I can sympathize with those merchants, and the poor soldiers who were on baby duty. At least they only had to watch Tom in two-hour shifts. :D Thanks for reading!

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It's not surprising, after everything he experienced and his lack of memory about the last days of the Quest, that Frodo would have feelings of detachment. He is removed from everything around him, including himself, and he has difficulty connecting with his friends and the strange City of Men he now finds himself in because of it. By the time he returns to the Shire, he is so lost in his disillusionments that he still cannot reenter the life he had left behind.

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Sam's home life is never boring, that much can be safely assumed! 13 kids is a lot of work, but he and Rose are up to the challenge, even with a colicky baby thrown into the mix. Rose will save her gift for special ocassions, such as Yule, and Sam will carry that image of Frodo with him for the rest of his life. Thanks for reading!