Reviews (879)

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Thank you so, Linda. I'm so glad you found it both moving and hopeful. Aragorn by this time must have begun feeling a bit eager to get off and see those from whom he'd been separated for so long, or so I'd think.

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Nath had asked for a story dealing with time, and this presented itself. And he would indeed leave things set in order. He was, after all, a most responsible King. Thanks so for the feedback, Dreamflower!

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Every year I see folk my age or younger develop serious conditions. When he was my age my husband was already in his final decline from several competing conditions. I know precisely what you mean, Linda. Like Aragorn, we wish we could share our own good fortune with those we care about and love deeply. Thanks so for the feedback.

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I'm so glad you like it, Linda. It was fun to visit one of the incidents from "Lesser Rings" again, no matter how briefly. Thank you so!

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At least Frodo DID accept it in the end. Thanks for the feedback.

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Thanks, Szepilona. Hasturnerini appears first in my story "Lesser Rings," in which Aragorn makes two trips to Harad. Arwen found the girl in the slave market, where she was being sold to satisfy her late father's debts. Arwen bought her and a black slave with a star carved into his chest, and brought them back to the Farozi's palace. To satisfy both Haradri and Gondorian law, Arwen apprenticed the girl to herself so as to bring her safely out of Harad and back to Gondor. The story was nominated for a MEFA a couple years ago, and is available both here and on FFN. I've considered writing more about Hasturnerini and Benai of Camaloa, but keep getting assaulted by other plotbunnies and nuzguls....

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I'm glad you remember Hasturnerini from Lesser Ring. It was fun to do a story bringing her more out front, instead of being seen as merely one of Arwen's maidens. It's going to be culture shock to an extent, but children are eminently adaptable, I've found, given the right circumstances.

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The challenge was to write a short story of Aragorn's birthday either when he turned forty or the Dunedain equivalent of that age, and his thoughts on that occasion. Originally Aragorn lived to 190, which in later editions was changed to 210, or three times "three score and ten"--the average expected lifespan given in the Bible. I figured eighty would be an adequate equivalent to a normal person's forty years. That would put it during Frodo's last March in the Shire. To remember all the birthdays up to now, the anticipated celebrations as a child, the rarely celebrated ones in between, and now to think of wishing to celebrate THIS birthday in a Hobbit fashion, giving a gift that cannot be accomplished to the one individual to whom he owes everything at the moment, just seemed right. Am so glad SOMEONE felt compelled to respond to this at last, Harrowcat! I now it's not particularly long and was done to meet a birthday challenge, but I've been writing a longer story in response to a challenge I hope to start posting in the next few weeks....

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I hope you remember Hasturnerini from "Lesser Ring." I may indeed write a sequel to that someday, but haven't done so as yet. I did have her appear in "Adolescence," and I think in "Treating with the Enemy." She perhaps needs her own story, though.... This was also written for a birthday challenge to write a story in which we deal with an adoption, preferably of a child from a different culture or race. And as I thought of "Lesser Ring," suddenly Hasturnerini prodded me, indicating she at least meets the criteria!

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So glad you like it so, Grumpy. Yes, Aragorn knows when he's got a good deal, and the other Rangers have learned to let him have his pink squares to his quilt. It probably gives them a fond snicker from time to time, and makes them proud he's not afraid to show he loves those he loves. And I doubt anyone could take the Ranger out of THIS king! Thanks so much!

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I'm not certain just why "The House that Jack Built" was working on me, but it obviously did. And this is what came of imposing its structure on Middle Earth! Heh! Now, to do my own version of "I'll Sing you One-O." You've tried your hand at it, after all; now it's my turn.

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That line from the movie is indeed one of the most moving and heart-warming in spite of the context. And the sons in their way outstripped the troubled father indeed. Thanks so, Antane.

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Yes, a master ranger indeed! For the two boys, they need to feel they are indeed having an adventure, and a young boar just walked into the tale to offer just that. And it was time for the King's quilt to make its presence known once more, I felt. Heh!

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So glad it pleases you so, Linda! Yes, our favorite King and his favorite Steward and their sons--a time to be men among men--and in spite of quilts with pink squares. Heh!

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Oh, I can imagine that the echoes of that attack were as heavy in your email box as they were elsewhere! It was such an unnecessary exercise by some bored unknown guy out to make a name for himself by being most annoying! Am glad you liked this one. It was fun to bring up the King's quilt again, and to add in my own experience and that of many others learning how to travel with a long cane. Oh, how frightening--and yet how grateful we all are that this healed itself in your father. I rejoice with you! And, yes, miracles DO happen.

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Frodo, for all they can see the love others have for him, is yet but a name and the visage of a statue to these, a name to reverence but not yet to know. However, they've seen Sam, I suspect, and have known his generous nature and wise sayings and wholesome cooking, and have seen their fathers deferring to him as well. How can he be any other than "Uncle Sam" to them? As one who taught myself to follow paths by feeling them with my feet when I was a child, then who trained in Orientation and Mobility under blindfold, I can imagine Elladan and Elrohir doing the equivalent of a "drop-off lesson" with Aragorn, taking him blindfolded into a somewhat familiar area and expecting him to find his way home without removing the blindfold. And of course he'll have remembered such lessons! And I still love that quilt. And I suspect you are right that Elboron is but one of many who've wondered about the quilt in the King's bedroll. Yes, Pippin had a way of seeing love expressed in a manner that would cause others to rejoice as they laughed with and at themselves. So glad you enjoyed this!

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I'm so glad you like it, Pearl. Thank you! And I love to see the King comforted.

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Frodo does have the mantle made of memories that Ruvemir gave him, and it serves the same purpose. He's given it at the end of "The King's Commission," and takes it with him when he leaves the Bounds of Arda. It's mentioned in "Reunion" and "The Choice of Healing."

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Indeed, Aragorn is indeed the Ranger King! A marvelous and so apt description! Thanks, Shirebound.

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Yes, boys do grow up, and as they grow they learn how important it is to know they are loved. The most fantastic quilt I ever saw was a crazy quilt constructed of family fabrics similar to this one, the pieces hand stitched together with a variety of fancy stitches such as the feather stitch and others equally beautiful. Somewhere the maker had come across threads with metallic strands through them and used them to accent her needlework. I was told a few of the stories attached to the quilt--wedding dress, bathrobe worn as the mother recovered from the birth of her first child.... We had it for a time in our antique store, back in the days my husband and I had one. This quilt was first mentioned in "The Ties of Family," and was touched on again in "Lesser Rings." I thought it might be fun to see how Faramir's son might react to such a thing. And as times passed I could see Arwen applying other fabrics over those squares made from Hobbit handkerchiefs, marking the increase of those who loved the King of Arnor and Gondor. Thank you!

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In my version of events Elboron is about two years older than Eldarion, so if Eldarion is thirteen Elboron is about fifteen. I based Aragorn's feat partly on how I learned to find my way to the neighbor's house in the dark when I was a kid. I lived in an old farmhouse set in the middle of five acres, and we had to go up the driveway beyond the old drainage ditch to find the actual path. What with scotchbroom, trees, and other brush, seeing where you were walking at night was next to impossible unless there was a full moon overhead. I prefer to wear soft-soled mocassins, and would feel my way through them. And, of course, when I took my orientation and mobility lessons to qualify me to teach cane travel to those who are visually impaired I learned well how to use a long cane. If Aragorn was a good tracker I suspect he had an excellent sense of the land through which he traveled, which would help him in finding his way even blindfolded. And I wanted to revisit the quilt once more. As for how it was put together.... Heh! We MAY see that quilting bee one day!

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No matter how much you think you're ready for such a thing, to feel the actual break in her fea that brings her in line with her beloved and away from them would be a wrench, for certain.

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So glad you approve! Thank you, Linda!

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They've seen so many Men grow old and die; to know this one is definitely a grownup ready to fulfil his responsibilities must make their scalp tighten! And my daughter is a mother, and my older grandson could easily find a love and seek to marry at any time. As for the one who'll be eighteen in a few weeks--I was in the birthing room when he was born! If you don't thin THAT feels odd!

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This is the point at which there is no question he IS mortal, and venerable and competent as a fully mature mortal at that. Here their paths diverge, unless one chooses to follow the mortal path.... Am so glad you had this reaction to this drabble. Thanks so much.