Reviews (114)

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The Mayor is as stubbornly xenophobic as hobbits get, unfortunately--and there has been less Dwarf-traffic through the Shire as of late which does not help. Still, we do have this nice tradition, of which we will see more on Monday. I imagine Tom's parents confronting him over his scampishness would go something along these lines: Mother: Tom! How dare you... Father: Ah, there's a good lad! Ah, but Merina's a Brandybuck, which allows me to get away with unusual names... (Okay, not really; but the name's been there for Ages and I'm quite fond of it). She is a very nice lass, but her sociability can rather exhaust Kira. At any rate due to geographical constraints we won't get to hear from her in a while. Goodness, Kerry's already of courting age and you want him to wait for someone almost half as old as he is? Scandalous! : )

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Kira's father is and remains a mysterious figure, since she never knew him, so the shock was pretty immense. Later on she's going to regret having broken the plate, though. I'm not sure about what Kira's punishment was, but I imagine it was more token than anything else because she got hurt so badly as a direct consequence. Whenever Kira gets into scrapes they seem to work out quite nicely like that, actually... O_O

Author's reply

Thanks for the review, Maureen! Your reasoning behind Kira's change in health is spot on. I'm always pleasantly not-surprised surprised whenever some Great New Study comes out that tells us that our mood affects our health. Kira's wistful contemplation of parchment and ink She is turning into a bit of a dreamer, isn't she? Glad you liked this mostly domestic chapter! ~Celeritas

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Good to know--I was a bit unsure how the quilt idea would go over, because while on the one hand that's a very hobbity thing to do, on the other hand cutting into something like a Lorien cloak feels almost sacrilegious! Thanks for reading and the review!

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Honestly, I think Kira's mother was so relieved that she wasn't more seriously hurt that she didn't want to punish her too much. Plus shutting off that room from Kira's life and then letting her see it just briefly was asking for trouble. Daffodil managed to get off the hook because she was able to handle the situation so well, and I think Roly got some of the windfall of that. Tom, on the other hand... I apologize most sincerely for the weeping, though a part of me is gratified that my own writing produced such an emotional attachment. *hands tissues* The incident was directly inspired by real instances of prisoner graffiti where you can find names, family crests, religious symbols, etc. Some of them can be real works of art! But I figured that Fatty, knowing his friends who were Outside so well and knowing the real danger beyond anyone else in the Shire, would try his best to comfort himself with images of hope.

Author's reply

The new(er; he's on his second term after all) Mayor would like to extend the ban, but he really can't do anything about it except prevent the Dwarves from coming to the Free Fair. As for the slight rift, I certainly didn't intend to show that there was one--the Thain and Master are, as stated in the fic, in agreement on this particular matter. But a divide does become apparent near the end of the story, though it exists more between family heads than actual families. The Brandybucks Kira is associating with are closely related to that side of the family, which is bound to make Mother a little wary. Plus when she was over in Buckland associating with those Brandybucks, she learned how to read, which isn't bad in and of itself except that Kira's starting to act a little odd... So I don't find it surprising at all that Mother's trying to keep Kira reined in. Tom has yet to grasp the notion that the world is not centered on him. Of this matter, no more can be said. And I'm glad you thought the Fair descriptions hit home--I've had a lot of U.S. rural fairs to compare it to, but that doesn't necessarily make it hobbity!

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I do need to write an explanation/apology fic for Sam's cloak getting torn up and put into quilts, but it hasn't quite happened yet. Kira is really starting to catch on that there's a lot more out there, isn't she?

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It should indeed--not only because she would get a breather but because it'd show that her daughter's infirmity wasn't preventing her from leading a normal life!

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I'm burning with jealousy now, having never made it to that library (and touch is such a rare experience in museums and/or rare books & ms libraries these days!). There's just something incredibly intimate about being able to read something and know exactly who put pen to paper and wrote it, who must have touched it and gotten fingerprints and oil and other bits of biological residue on it. Kira's incredibly lucky, though she doesn't realize it at the moment. And you're right; she ain't seen nuthin' yet!

Author's reply

Glad you liked it! I personally love this stage in Kira's relationship with the book because she can be so mercurial--that exchange ending with "Stupid book" pretty much sums it up for me and is one of my favorite moments (and it's been so long since I wrote that bit that I can honestly say that). At the very least (and even I'm not very sure) she's entered that stage where, within the contexts of the story, one can legitimately say, "But that's not what really happened," even if you're convinced none of it ever happened. That's happened to me on more than one occasion when talking book vs. movies with people. But how convinced Kira is is another story entirely, and one that she herself does not know. I've been intrigued by prisoner graffiti ever since my first visit to the Tower of London years ago. Such vivid testaments of the past practically screamed to be used in an adventure at the Lockholes, and Fatty (whether in my tales he kept this name up after his rescue is irrelevant; he goes down in Shire history as Fatty and so is remembered as such) seemed like the kind of person to not only do that, but make it something constructive. As for the other things... *coughs and walks away before she can say anything of significance*

Author's reply

It meant a good deal to her mum and would have meant a good deal to her, since she has next to nothing to remember her father by. But this sort of thing (by which I mean Kira's injury, etc.) is something that's going to happen when you close the past off. I'm not sure when exactly Kira fully realizes that she's related to Frodo and Pippin as well--sometime after the conclusion of this tale, I'm sure--but I imagine her spending half the afternoon working out exactly how and through what lines and getting ridiculously excited about the whole thing until she realizes that no one else around her cares that much, or if they do care actually have more cause to get worried about her!

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Reading is currently doing wonders for all of Kira's life--including physically--except possibly for what her friends and family think of her! Thanks for reading and reviewing; I hope you'll like what's coming up.

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Someone's caught the reading bug BAD! Oh, it gets better--or worse, if you're Kira's mother or friends! XD In case you're wondering, the Oak Barrel's rule exists solely to keep curious young lads like Tom out--once you're well into your tweens they could care less (as I'm sure Tom will find out in several years!).

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Might be... that qualifier is always necessary for the skeptic-turning-believer. That coat has certainly gotten Kira's curiosity up!

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I can't say how much of a change Kira's literacy will bring in total just yet, but I do like the idea of small things building on one another and having greater effects (which is something I really like in LotR--the most seemingly insignificant things can have large ramifications). So far that's already become apparent in the circumstances of how Kira learned to read: some sort of disease coming through not only Kira's home but also her mother's family's, Kerry happening to take notice of her and then favoring her with a visit a few weeks later on, the winter coming in and getting Kira stuck in Buckland for the winter... Yes, you've got the whole concept spot-on.

Author's reply

I have to admit, Tom is one of my favorite characters to write, largely because of his pig-headed obstinacy and his mischievous streak. The other three, do, however, help keep him in check, and when they can't, at least he proves to be entertaining. I'm glad you liked the market descriptions--I usually feel a lot more at home when I'm doing dialogue than extended description, so it's good that it went over well--for you, at least! Since we know that hobbits had coffee and tea, even though these could have been "translations" for locally grown drinks, I like to think that they've historically had a considerable trade relationship with a lot of the foreign lands. But you can have a necessary bit of trade and still be suspicious of those who actually conduct the business with Outsiders--somewhere else in the story I posit a number of travelling hobbits whose job it is to transport goods for Men across the Shire where the Big Folk aren't allowed. It's a good way to make money, but it's not highly esteemed! The Red Book will offer Kira all of the answers to her questions--as long as she accepts that it's true!

Author's reply

Thanks, Linda! Unfortunately with so many of them gone over Sea there are fewer and fewer elves wandering through the Shire, and that makes them harder to find, even for those who still believe in them. But this is still the early 4th Age, so there is hope yet.

Author's reply

Does a week sound fine? : ) I'd like to go sooner but I'm actually still on my last layer of revision (the only reason I'm able to promise regular updates at all, actually) and what with Reality getting in the way and all my buffer's starting to get thin! Thanks for reading and reviewing!

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The Family Tree Sancho got to some good-intentioned shenanigans during the Troubles (I'm not entirely sure what, but I currently imagine it involved tunnelling extra food into the Lockholes) and the name has stayed in the family ever since. (Thanks for asking; I've wanted to explain that!) As far as the Proudfoots removing to the Westmarch, I imagine that after the postwar baby boom a lot of hobbit towns (especially Michel Delving, where I've historically based the Proudfoots) got a bit crowded. So receiving Westmarch helped with a lot of that strain and maybe the family felt it signified a move up in the world--Kira and her mother live in one of the early family homes with a lot of history to them but few amenities. Since then Michel Delving (I imagine that the western bits of Westfarthing were most affected by the new territory) and its population have been eased, but it's also left a bit of an odd feel, like the abandoned house whose thatch collapsed over the winter. I'm afraid that's due to personal preference more than anything--I grew up in a dying town and couldn't write a similar experience anywhere else. The other questions either will be explained in time (however, a lot of time--Kira's too young to understand some of the goings on) or never get answered because they're not that important to the story. Sorry. : )

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She definitely will learn! As someone who's dabbled (only dabbled, mind--none of this psychoanalysis stuff for me!) in graphology for literary purposes, I think that a work as powerful as LotR would only be intensified when written in the hand of one who'd experienced it. Kira is going to find it increasingly difficult to stop now.

Author's reply

Glad you approve, Maureen. Now that she's hooked, Kira's going to find it very hard to stop. :-) ~Celeritas

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Wow, that's a lot of questions. Tolkien never gave us any maps of the Shire beyond the one at the beginning of FotR, so "on the White Downs south of Michel Delving" is about as specific as I get. I do have a bit of a map crudely sketched out that shows exactly where she lives in relation to the town and her friends. The Burrowses farm the field directly behind Kira's home; Tom lives on a farm that's quite close to town and Kira is a bit south of him. Other than those nuggets of information I don't really have anything, though some of the history of the house gets revealed over time. I haven't given too much detail on the foot both because I want to mask my own ignorance of such matters and because I don't know how easily recognizable things like a club foot (as opposed to other foot defects) would be in the Shire. I dislike it when in stories authors use knowledge from their own times to explain or even identify problems that the characters would not have been able to. (I am a huge fan of the Mysterious Victorian Illness and lament its demise.) What you need to know about the foot is 1). it's crooked, 2). Kira cannot walk on it, and 3). touching it hurts her, a lot. Modern me would say that this is because since it came together wrong (the bone placement is off, for instance), this left some really exposed nerves, but I'm sure you'd be able to come up with a better explanation. If this fits with club foot, feel free to read it that way; if it doesn't it's something else. How Kira can get around with one foot and one crutch beats me, but she did start out early and hobbits are remarkable. Any other medical-type questions I must profess complete ignorance at and hope that it doesn't throw you out of the story at all. The other questions will, of course, be answered in the course of the story.

Author's reply

Yup. Kira is extremely bright, although only people like Kerry (certainly not her!) have noticed so far. I've often wondered how in less mobile societies those of the lower classes who were very intelligent managed to cope with their limited means, and if the spark in them was or could ever be thoroughly repressed by society and circumstances. But at least Kira has her chance, especially living in a society that's much more flexible than your average fantasy's. The age comment is quite amusing, because I let out some of the earliest incarnations of this story to some real-life friends who did not quite grasp how hobbit ages worked. There's a bit of a nod to their reaction to Kerry and Kira's relationship in the next chapter. As the summary says, updates occur every Monday. I do this (with great willpower--just about this time every week I tend to get too anxious and want to post the next chapter anyway) for the purposes of prolonging the agony, and also because I would rather update regularly than not at all. Though the story is finished, it's still undergoing a final phase of stylistic revision, and even when that's done I want to get some more work done on its sequel (which will feature romance, btw) so that there won't be a year-long wait between the two, or worse yet highly irregular updates between that story's chapters.

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Yup--it's hard to see something that awesome, especially when you've read about it, and just dismiss it. "Where" Kira's curiosity will take her is handled in the next chapter. "How far" for me is the real question. Thanks for reading! ~Celeritas

Author's reply

"Trying desperately not to mind" pretty much sums up the hobbit's (by which I mean hobbitkind, not just Kira) reaction to any sort of trouble which can't be helped. An amazing coping mechanism, but also limited. Most of the 4th Age stories that I've come across are all very questy, action/adventure "oh noes an evil remnant from the Third Age!" type stories, which while great fun often fall flat because they're trying to be sequels to something that just can't be sequelled (Tolkien abandoned his own attempt for that very reason). Which is why I wanted to focus on everyday characters and their relationship to the (true) Myth they've inherited. Thanks for the read and review; I hope you enjoy the next chapter!