Reviews (633)

Bodkin · 21 December 2005 · Chapter 5: The 'Dorwinion Barrel' Escapade

I can see the phrase 'bloody elves' getting a lot of use. But at least they understand clean and groomed. Love the anecdotes - and it serves him right for having blond hair! Well obviously! And the image of ellyn rushing to the rescue as Penny suffers - loudly - from the shock of icy water! And as for the Dorwinion Barrel Escapade . . . .

Bodkin · 21 December 2005 · Chapter 4: The Long and Winding Road

You have to take tea, Penny. You're English. And have you found a supply of Marmite and digestive biscuits? Following the Fellowship's footsteps would be awesome, although some of the other aspects of travelling would be less so. I like Lindir. He makes a good replacement friend for Halbarad.

Bodkin · 21 December 2005 · Chapter 3: Under Starter's Orders

I am getting so far behind on this - apologies. The difficulty of trying to come up with a wedding present suitable for Aragorn and Arwen - I can't imagine how hard it would be. And I love the new dress. Bilbo won't travel far again, huh? Nice bit of dramatic irony. Leaving the hygiene standards of Imladris is going to be a bit much - I don't think Penny is equipped for taking up life in human settlements.

Lindelea · 20 December 2005 · Chapter 8: To Orc Or Not To Orc

Written very believably. Did elves get adrenalin rushes? LOL!

Kitty · 20 December 2005 · Chapter 7: She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain

Lindir is quite a pest when it comes to singing, isn't he? Poor Penny, I can understand why she doesn't want to sing! And certainly not our modern type of songs!

phoenix23531 · 19 December 2005 · Chapter 6: Decisions and Canticles

Argh, I've done it again. I read up to chapter 6 before I realised what I was doing. I simply loved your depiction of Halbarad's final end, and was very moved by reading it. I'm glad you included that quote, Halbarad's forshadowing his own death, at the beginning. I had actually forgotten that little bit, and it fit very well here. Poor Halbarad. Sniffle. I'm also glad you added the endnote about blood rusting a sword. I can't tell you how many times I've had to ask members of the public not to touch our swords because even the sweat from one's fingers will leave nasty finger-shaped rust marks (complete with prints, in some cases) that are almost impossible to remove. Cleaning blades and keeping them maintained is an absolute rule that the Dunedain would most certainly adhere to. Bilbo beating Penny at draughts was fun. Why did it not surprise me, though. Riddles, draughts...he really was a competitive old hobbit, wasn't he. :-) The scene at the cold river was a wonderful, divine form of payback for Erestor, Lindir and the others. I was surprised they didn't make more of it. Oh, and my goodness poor Erestor. When you say he was resigned to the fact that he would never live it down, you do mean Never NEVER EVER! live it down, don't you. I was howling with that little tale, what a riot! Please put a few more of these little snippets into Elven gossip chanels. They are such fun. Well, I think that brings me up to date. Sorry again for not reviewing earlier. I was having too much fun!

Lindelea · 19 December 2005 · Chapter 7: She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain

Well! Quite an exciting end to the chapter! I find Lindir's professional interest in Penny's music amusing. (I wonder what Elves would think of the intricacies of Bach? Did he, perhaps, show "promise"?) What a fascinating character you have woven, built out of a small conversation in the Hall of Fire. Have you actually hiked in the mountains? You do a very good job of describing. It is not quite "all uphill" though it can seem that way at times. Because of the terrain, you'll find yourself hiking on the level, and even downhill at times, and you wonder how much progress you're making until you come upon a vista and realise how high you've come. (Or your head begins to pound from altitude sickness... aargh. BTDT. Missed the best vista of our hiking trip by 100 (vertical) feet--my friend had to take my camera with her and take pictures for me while I rested in a meadow a few hours' hike/climb from the summit. Drat. But I assume that Penny will not suffer such a thing, since this story was written and completed some months ago.) I was interrupted and didn't get a chance to comment on the previous chapter, yesterday. The grammar gremlin noticed something, however, and if I get any more "free" time today I'll try to go back and find it. Wonderful story! Well done!

Clever Hobbit · 18 December 2005 · Chapter 6: Decisions and Canticles

Excellent! I love this! The funny thing is, I was listening to Scarbourough Fair as I read this.

Kitty · 18 December 2005 · Chapter 6: Decisions and Canticles

It’s about time Penny tells Lindir the truth about where she comes from. It is too obvious he senses something, and he must be hurt because they are so good friends and still she doesn’t trust him enough to tell him everything. Althoug I have to admit he pays her back with all his pestering about singing

Kitty · 18 December 2005 · Chapter 5: The 'Dorwinion Barrel' Escapade

So Aragorn and Penny have something in common? *grin* I wonder who had the task of waking Aragorn if he had to rise early and how it was done without bodily harm for the unlucky elf! And I can understand why humans aren’t too inclined to wash or bathe on travel if it has to be done with cold water. Of course, it was still funny that the guards came running when Penny shouted so loud! Poor girl! A green-haired, roaring Balrog-slayer: THAT must have been a sight to behold. Oh yes, indeed! *snickers* These elves are hopeless. And the Dorwinion barrel escapade ... *ROFL* Thank you for a wonderful chapter – I’ve laughed myself silly!

Kitty · 18 December 2005 · Chapter 4: The Long and Winding Road

I see Penny is in no doubts over her fighting abilities. Very nice change to all the Mary Sues who can swordfight as good as Aragorn and shoot a bow as good as Legolas! And I love the image of Bilbo in command of the remaining elves of Imladris J What a feeling to travel in the wake of the Fellowship! I’m not sure what I would feel in Penny’s place. It’s exciting and interesting, yes, but unsettling, too.

Lindelea · 18 December 2005 · Chapter 5: The 'Dorwinion Barrel' Escapade

So we continue to see another side of Elves, one seldom seen by humans (except perhaps Aragorn, who lived among them). One might say they are letting their hair down. Some particularly amusing parts: She still did not believe anyone had been quite so bold as to put colouring in Glorfindel’s shampoo, even if it did happen five hundred years ago. A green-haired, roaring Balrog- slayer: THAT must have been a sight to behold. Good old gossipy elves. They just could not help themselves. “I am not sure I want to know,” he said quietly. And the grammar-gremlin raises its warty head to ask whether there ought to be a "not" in the following: These things were hugely important to elves and she would have them think less of her.

Pearl Took · 16 December 2005 · Chapter 1: Dulce Et Decorum Est

As contratictory as it may seem, this was a beautifully written battle and death scene. Very Well Done indeed.

Lindelea · 16 December 2005 · Chapter 4: The Long and Winding Road

One wonders, now, if Penny will need to use that dagger. So many uses for a dagger. Cleaning under your fingernails, for example (though not at table. Our list of rules for behaving at a medieval feast specifically excludes cleaning your nails or picking your teeth with your knife). Following in the footsteps of the Fellowship! How exciting! Hours of research and double-checking, I suspect. Suddenly she realises why humans don't wash *at all* while travelling. What a choice--to avoid offending the sensitive noses of her fellow-travellers, she has to suffer being often naked and freezing. Sheesh. I find that the best time to wash your hair in ice-cold water is when you're still toasty from crawling out of your bedroll. Somehow the water doesn't chill you as much as it might, later on in the day. I don't know why this is. Of course, this presumes you're fully clad while washing your hair, and that you wash your other parts in a sort of sponge-bath, loosening your clothing and reaching under to dab at various parts with your dampened flannel. I think it would be much colder, to strip off completely. However, I've never gone without *bathing* for two months. A week of washing hair in spring water (read "ice-water") and sponge-bathing the rest of me is about as much as I can stand. No, scratch that. I spent a summer where I "bathed" once in three months. We were counsellors at a wilderness camp. There were no showers. We had a sink where we could wash our hair, and an old-fashioned washing machine (with wringer!) for washing our clothes. To keep ourselves clean, we'd go in the sauna several times a week, sweat out the impurities, and jump in the (cold) lake. No soap allowed in the lake! ...but I don't think we stank. The interesting things was that we were not at all bothered by mosquitoes after a week or so of this regime. I had a bit of a holiday in the middle of the summer, where I went back to the "city" and showered--ahhh--with soap. The mosquitoes ate me for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for several days after. So a sauna-regime for keeping clean in the wild is practical in more ways than one. Are you completely bored now? *g*

TithenFeredir · 16 December 2005 · Chapter 3: Under Starter's Orders

I understand Peeny's desire to give an appropriate gift. I wonder if Arwen, (or any of the characters), would find a handmade gift from her to be exotic, considering her story. From their perspective she must seem quite an enigma. And how would they interpret the timing of her appearance? I think she underestimates her significance. ~TF

Gandalfs apprentice · 16 December 2005 · Chapter 4: The Long and Winding Road

Hi, Boz Another great chapter. Bloody elves, indeed! You continue to get the tone just right, between serious and funny, and I feel like I'm there myself--especially wishing for a proper bathroom with hot water!! And what IS going to happen to Penny in the end? I'll read eagerly to find out! G.A.

daw the minstrel · 16 December 2005 · Chapter 4: The Long and Winding Road

I'm with Penny. A bathroom with hot running water and a comfortable bed. I've never understood the charm of camping.

Lindelea · 15 December 2005 · Chapter 3: Under Starter's Orders

Though my heart is in the Shire, I can understand Penny's thoughts of staying at Imladris, and reluctance to consider other possibilities. You have painted a much clearer picture of life in Imladris than I ever before considered, though I had to give it some thought when I wrote about the Elves rescuing the Fallohides after the latter came over the Misty Mountains--what would these early hobbits have seen/experienced, living a winter among the Elves? But of course the Last Homely House will be a very different place when Elrond departs. Though it won't be empty, not for a long time in the reckoning of Men, still, it seems as if its light would be considerably dimmed with the departure of its Lord and so many of his people. (And did Glorfindel sail West or did he bide awhile? I don't know that I've ever heard about such.) Fascinating stuff. I find myself, with Penny, vaguely anxious about the future.

Elvenesse · 15 December 2005 · Chapter 3: Under Starter's Orders

I envy Penny's full Tale of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin, but not her situation really. I hope she's better at using the razor blade now, I've read somewhere that a good way of practising is taking shaving foam off a balloon with out bursting it, not that that would be much use to her. Having the details of Halbarad's death make it seem much less abstract. Horrible.

Kitty · 15 December 2005 · Chapter 3: Under Starter's Orders

Oh, I feel with Penny! I'm not good in thinking of presents, and the idea to find something appropriate for *Arwen and Aragorn* ... *shudders* ... but in the end she found something nice and unique. Very well done. Hm ... I wonder what all these hints mean - will Penny not return to Imladris? Now I am worried! The only mean thing in this story is that I know perfectly well what happens to the others, but not what happens to Penny! Though I fear I will have to wait for many chapters until I know more ...

daw the minstrel · 15 December 2005 · Chapter 3: Under Starter's Orders

I can't imagine what a big project it would be to equip a large group for two months on the road. Penny is in an interesting situation. She's there for the end of the Age of Elves. Imladris will be there for a while yet, but not for long. And it seems as if she's moving from the question of how to adjust to this new place and toward the one of her future. She's over the short term stuff. But is she to be in ME forever? And if so, where and how is she to live?

Bodkin · 15 December 2005 · Chapter 2: Living In The Past

It'll be great to see the road to Minas Tirith through Penny's eyes. And I'll bet she will find three weeks in the saddle hard! The summing up of the Events is very well done - and from an interesting perspective. I liked the post-war party - and Lindir dragging Penny onto the dance floor. This should be a fascinating journey!

Lindelea · 15 December 2005 · Chapter 1: Dulce Et Decorum Est

p.s. It is my understanding that "hamstringing" is not aimed at the artery so much as the tendon behind the leg, between hip and next joint down (in a man, the knee, in a horse, I think it's called the hock but my horse terminology is a little rusty). Cut that tendon and your horse is crippled. When an athlete pulls a hamstring it means a long and painful recovery, from what I hear. I read in an amazing book by Col. S. P. Meek (Frog, the Story of a Horse) about a machete-wielding madman in the Panama jungle who was hamstringing horses to get his jollies. The book was based on the Colonel's remembrances of serving in the Canal Zone at the beginning of the 1900s, I think, and the hamstringing was taken from a real incident, if I remember correctly. To catch the madman, the hero wrapped heavy chain around the rear legs of his horse and used his horse as bait. The madman struck, but only did surface damage. Whew. So yes, hamstringing is an effective battle technique when fighting cavalry... (but I shudder to think of it)

Lindelea · 15 December 2005 · Chapter 1: Dulce Et Decorum Est

Ah. Wonderfully done. Vivid imagery, believable action. I could clearly visualise the scenes you painted. Halbarad's death was as noble as the man deserved, if there was no other choice. (And of course, it being written, there wasn't.) From our studies of the Middle Ages (we have just finished, and are going on to the Renaissance, as a matter of fact), we've learned that the men in warrior cultures did not fear death the way we do now. Thus, Halbarad's peace at the end certainly rang true to historical detail. But I still wish it were not so... Looking forward to more, and to seeing how Halbarad's sons honour his last request. I find myself hoping that at the end of this story, Penny will *not* pop back into the modern world... funny, eh?

Kitty · 14 December 2005 · Chapter 2: Living In The Past

Ah yes, one chapter every day is perfect! Thank you! How awful for Penny to be at Imladris and not to know if it would going to be attacked, although she knows so much other things! But it’s true, as far as I know it is another gap in the story Tolkien left for his readers to fill out. (Of course, that’s mostly an advantage because we can write and read so many fanfics about these gaps!) Surely Tolkien would’ve told us of a big battle in or around Imladris, but it is likely there were some skirmishes in proportion to the great battles not important enough to mention. So Penny finally learned her first elven dance? No chance against a determined Lindir! Truly, I love the both of them together, their gentle teasing is so much fun!