Reviews (429)

Bodkin · 26 October 2004 · Chapter 30: Hidden Treasure

LISTEN TO THE HOBBIT, WHY DON'T YOU!! He's the one who was there. And what harm can it do at this point anyway? Make them try it, Nell! What have you got to lose? Ferdi (MFH) needs more than Fennel can do at this point. (Ach, hobbits! They're just too obstinate for their own good.)

Connie B. · 26 October 2004 · Chapter 30: Hidden Treasure

If they're smart, they'll listen to Hilly. I know he's right on this one. I agree with what you said in your reply to my last review: Aragorn should consider a summer home on the Brandywine. He would have a full-time medical practice. Of course, he might have little time for kingly duties. The Tooks alone could keep him quite busy. They seem to have more than their share of medical mishaps. Connie B.

Grey Wonderer · 25 October 2004 · Chapter 29: Leave-taking

Seems as if they could use the hands of the king at the Great Smials now too. I hope nothing happens to poor Nell. She's been through more than enough. I suppose that Reginald is right and they could never reach Pippin before he makes it to the Lake. I love when you post this quickly by the way. Cuts down on the anxiety a bit. (hint)

Beruthiel · 25 October 2004 · Chapter 29: Leave-taking

Tsk, tsk. A certain muse is a little too addicted to Ferdi-torture. Nasty dreams, trouble breathing, pneumonia. Looks like Ferdi's getting a taste of what Pippin has to put up with! At least he doesn't end up with permanent lung damage, like poor Pip. Now what is Hilly supposed to do about all this? Can the king be fetched in time by the outpost at the bridge? Can Pippin do something about Nell? I'd better shut up now. Very good angst, my dear.

Connie B. · 25 October 2004 · Chapter 29: Leave-taking

Oh, this is a sad one. Even though I know that Ferdi is going to be okay, it's still hard to deal with this, especially right now. Life is coming a little too close to imitating art. I feel a little like Hilly right now with a dear friend in a medical crises. Hope for both the characters' and my own sakes that things soon improve. Thanks again for a good chapter. Connie.

Bodkin · 25 October 2004 · Chapter 29: Leave-taking

No! Not the Old Gaffer's Friend! Not Ferdi (MFH) and Nell (MFHW)! How are you going to get them out of this? If he is at the leave-taking stage, it's a bit late to pack him into a coach and rush him to the King - there's not enough time for anyone to pop down to the Lake and bring him back. Oh, calamity, calamity. Ferdi (MFH) is just too much of an idiot for his own good, really. Life (and the author) make him suffer, but, if he were to see two doors before him, one marked 'sweetness and light' and another marked 'torment and suffering', he would dive through the second door without any thought at all. Think of something, Hilly. You are the last hope. Something to do with bridges and detachments of guards and cousins and kings. Or reincarnation - oops, sorry, hobbits don't do that.

Hai Took · 24 October 2004 · Chapter 28: News to Keep

Oh no! What is wrong with Ferdi!? I hate it when this happens ;) Hm, maybe there will be more than one hobbit going to the Lake in search of healing? Oh, dear I hope all is well or at least turns out well. Looking forward to finding out more!

Beruthiel · 24 October 2004 · Chapter 28: News to Keep

Oh dear, what have you done to Ferdi this time? I suppose I should've seen this coming. What's a good Lindelea story without some Ferdi-torture, after all? At least I already know he'll be all right eventually. I look forward to plenty of angst in the next update.

Bodkin · 24 October 2004 · Chapter 28: News to Keep

So maybe Ferdi does cross the Brandywine - he just hasn't seen it because he was unconscious on the way to the Lake and then in a healing sleep on his way back. I love the Hilly / Posey development - so sad. I hope Aragorn can help, but I don't know how good he is on gynecology. Sword wounds, arrow wounds - spot on, but uterine matters might be less up his street. Well, at least Ferdi (MFH) is going to survive this one. It would require far too much re-writing to kill him off.

Connie B. · 24 October 2004 · Chapter 28: News to Keep

Aaarrgh! I knew you had to do it at least once; leave us stranded on a cliff. Please write more soon. This was, for the most part, a sweet chapter. It's sad about Hilly and Posey. I hope they can get the help they need, but it looks like Ferdi's need more urgent need at the moment. Why do I have the feeling that the king is going to have his hands seriously full of hobbits in need of his services. First Merry, then Posey and now Ferdi. It's a good thing Aragorn has little or no idea about Pippin's ills, or there'd be another one. Great job. Connie B.

Grey Wonderer · 24 October 2004 · Chapter 28: News to Keep

Uh-oh, this is not good news whatever it is. Do not even tell me that this is how you are ending this chapter unless there is more pretty quickly. I was so happy for Hilly and Posey and now.....now, I don't even know if they will get to go. Seems that Aragorn could make a living in the Greeat Smials as a healer if he is ever over-thrown as King. Pippin can afford to pay him well. I loved how they teased Pip about his treasure. Too funny and so very like Merry. Well, I hope you are writing even now because this one will be very hard to wait for.

Hai Took · 22 October 2004 · Chapter 27: Not So Bad, Really

Poor Ferdi, stuck with only a healer for company at least he is back at the smials now with hiw own family! I loved the greeting between Aragorn and the hobbits! I bet it would be a bit intimidating for them but Pippin seemed the hable things aright. Oh dear the idea of MErry having to have this kind of surgery on his arm is frightening but I am sure the King's hands will be nothing but healing! Hilly getting to know Bergil is quite fun I am glad to see his opinion of men changing some! Maybe there is even a friendship in the making here. I like that Pippin and Hilly are able to speak to each other as cousins not Thain and Escort! As always looking forward to more, thank you!

Grey Wonderer · 22 October 2004 · Chapter 27: Not So Bad, Really

Another good one. Glad you had a Thursday that you were able to post on for a change. Loved Hilly in this chapter and Bergil is always welcome. Can't wait to find out if Hilly goes to the lake or home to the Smials. I enjoyed Pippin teasing about his various titles too. Hope you have a posting kind of Friday! LOL

Connie B. · 21 October 2004 · Chapter 27: Not So Bad, Really

Geese, was Hilly rude at first to Bergil, or what? I'm glad, for his sake, that Pippin didn't hear the early part of that conversation. He might have thought that Hilly hadn't learned a thing about the difference between King's Men and ruffians. At least Bergil is well versed in dealing with hobbits as well as young and adaptable. I bet Hilly goes to the Lake with them. It may be the only way to sate most of the sea-longing that awoken in him. A man-disliking hobbit who wants to see the sea; what a mix. You know that one would have to be a Took.:) Looking forward to more. Connie B.

Bodkin · 21 October 2004 · Chapter 27: Not So Bad, Really

Fill a hobbit's hands with food, adding a few bowls extra to spare and they become much more amenable to new ideas. Bergil should be made official ambassador to the Shire - he takes his boots off, displays his naked toes, visits the cooks and adopts hobbity names. And he's perceptive enough to notice that Pippin needs a bit of looking after. It's no surprise he became an honorary hobbit. Hilly's fascination with the River and the Sea is interesting - does he ever get to see the sea? I can't remember if he travels to Gondor, but I hope he goes to the Lake. I love the idea of the Ernil i Periannath title sounding like an insult learned from a travelling dwarf - and being the reason the hobbits laughed their way round Minas Tirith. (And Bergil tucking the knowledge away for future reference.) Most enjoyable chapter.

Chibi-Kaz · 20 October 2004 · Chapter 26: In the Hands of a Healer

Ha! Another Bergil cameo at the end there.... --Cheers, --Chibi-Kaz

FantasyFan · 20 October 2004 · Chapter 26: In the Hands of a Healer

I remember one of the Star Trek movies, where the crew of the Enterprise had gone back to current-day San Diego. The doctor, hearing a description of neurosurgery in an elevator, called the doctors "Barbarians" for their cutting. And modern surgery can seem that way. The cautery sizzles and tendrils of smoke rise that smell like seared flesh: a very disquieting smell. To do blunt dissection, tools or even fingers pry down into the body and forcefully separate the layers of structures. Things creak and pop. Blood sprays or fountains, and bloody bits of gauze drop on the floor. It takes a long time, and intense concentration. Things go wrong sometimes, or unexpectedly, and then everyone moves very fast. It's always cold in surgery, and the music they play echoes hollowly. It's not a NATURAL environment at all, though often the results turn out much better than anyone could have expected. I can see why the hobbits would be uneasy. Merry is more accepting than Pip, which isn't surprising. He's making a decision for himself, probably feeling that he doesn't have much to lose. Pippin's more likely remembering a few other times when Merry's arm was dead, and thinking he has everything to lose. But Merry trusts the healing hands of the king. I wonder that this experience didn't make the hobbits trust Strider's medical skills more later on in As the Gentle Rain, when Pippin's head injury required such drastic measures.

Grey Wonderer · 19 October 2004 · Chapter 26: In the Hands of a Healer

I was behind and so I read two chapters at once. I love this tory! Pippin is so very blunt and so very Pippin with his cutting to the chase on all things. I also loved how he gave Hilly and Freddy the tribute they deserved. Merry's mater-of-fact reaction to Pippin's chatter and to his own up-coming surgery struck the right note too. Strider is very in charater and his concern for Merry's injuries is wonderful. Love this bit of Pippin-speak: ‘Or he’d be too busy healing folk to be King,’ Pippin said, ‘in which case his hands wouldn’t be healing hands because he wouldn’t be King anymore.’ Keep it coming!

Beruthiel · 19 October 2004 · Chapter 26: In the Hands of a Healer

". . . likely to be receipts for evil tasting concoctions . . ." Receipts? Wouldn't "recipes" make more sense? Poor Ferdi, stuck with a healer all the way back to the Smials. Healers certainly *can* be quite a nuisance at times, can't they? Hopefully Merry's arm will be all right, although the sick, demented, angst-seeking creature in the darker areas of my brain is wondering if problems might come up. They didn't have antibiotics in Middle-earth, after all. The creature requests that if health-related problems *do* appear, give them to Pippin. We like Pip-angst, yes, precious, we do . . .

Connie B. · 19 October 2004 · Chapter 26: In the Hands of a Healer

Wonderful chapter. Poor Ferdi; stuck with a healer, and in a carriage to boot. At least he's very aware that he wasn't being punished for falling asleep. Wait, maybe he was.:) After all, Pippin knows how much Ferdi hates riding inside and keeping company with healers. That sneaky Took. I wondered what Strider would do to help Merry. Poor Merry. That's gonna hurt. I just hope it works. I can especially sympathize with him in this situation. When I broke my leg, the first operation didn't work to fix it so they went back a year later and did it all over again. I had to consciously decide to let them mess with it a second time. But, like Merry, I was out of options so I too submitted to the necessary torture. Are you going to go into their trip to the lake in this story, or are you going to put it in another one? Please tell it. I can't stand leaving that untold. Plus, there's the chance for some great hobbit-healing scenes. Ooo, I love the thought. Thanks. Connie B.

Bodkin · 19 October 2004 · Chapter 26: In the Hands of a Healer

I hope Ferdi (MFH) isn't about to be seriously ill. The only times when Ferdi (MFH) isn't fighting are when he is at death's door. He complied with a healer's wishes? He went in a coach? He slept - with a blanket round him and a foot warmer? That hobbit is dangerously ill. So the story of Merry's and Estella's attacker has managed to convince Hilly that Jack and the lads were well-meaning. No downs without some ups, then. I wonder when it will really hit Hilly that to be so familiar with Aragorn's medical procedures, Merry and Pippin must have been on the receiving end of them before. His horror at the idea of Frodo's shoulder being opened up is beautifully done - as is the quietly delivered message that Merry would trust Aragorn with more than his life. Mind you, I would have thought that after the images the conversation has put in Hilly's mind, restorative food would have been the last thing he would have required. But then - he is a hobbit.

chibi_kaz · 18 October 2004 · Chapter 25: Conversation, Polite and Otherwise

In a review response, you mentioned two of your fics -- "Firstborn" and "Down And Out". Where can I find those? Thanks! Chibi-Kaz

Connie B. · 18 October 2004 · Chapter 25: Conversation, Polite and Otherwise

Nice chapter. Once again you manage nicely to tie all the stories in you version of this universe together. I love the conhesiveness of it all. I hope the hobbits have changed the perceptions of some of the nobles by their words at this feast. Hopefully, Hilly is also getting an education on the behavior of civilized men. The story of the star was great. I really liked the image of Aragorn telling Pippin the story on the road to the Black Gate to help Pippin get to sleep dispite his uneasieness. I hope you plan to tell the story of Merry's healing. I love the King as Healer story, especially when he's helping the hobbits. Thanks again. Connie B.

Bodkin · 18 October 2004 · Chapter 25: Conversation, Polite and Otherwise

I have a moment of foresight - you're looking at your future son-in-law Pippin! It's rather fun, jumping backwards and forwards in time - though it must be incredibly complicated keeping track. I like the very hobbity feast - and it is entertaining to see all those stiff nobles of Gondor sitting on the ground while the hobbits get the chairs - but 'turn about is fair play' as they say. Sam seems to be growing into a greater acceptance of his place in society, which is a good thing, even if he generally seems to look on it as a tribute to the unavailable Frodo. Shame Ferdi couldn't get there, it would do him good, but at least Hilly seems to be benefiting from the experience. I hope all three of them head down to the lake for a summer of partying with the king. Aragorn and Arwen could probably do with some exposure to hobbit cheer as a bit of a change from serious kinging.

Anso the Hobbit · 15 October 2004 · Chapter 24: When in Rohan...

Oh! This was so poignant, and you had me all teary when Sam got that star. This was such an excellent chapter! More soon? I´m addicted to your stoires, lol, so I`m praying for your muse to behave. :)