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The Rescue  by Lindelea 2 Review(s)
Lady ForlongReviewed Chapter: 26 on 4/19/2025
Hero - Heroine LOL And she never told Merry. What a way for him to find out!

Author Reply: She never told Merry. Somehow this "surprise" revelation, courtesy of Pippin, makes me chuckle. Merry knew about "Twig" since he was part of the search party that restored Estella to her parents, but he didn't know the half of it!

Thanks so much for reading and stopping to send along your impressions. I appreciate it.

Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 4/17/2025
𝘗𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧, 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥, '𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯?'

'𝘌𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱, 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦,' 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. '𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦!'

Why do I feel like Pippin would want to test this someday?

𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘩𝘰𝘸, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰? 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘛𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐'𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘎𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘳 – 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥... 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳?

Ok, so Pippin is not a popular successor at this point. But the Tooks will not depose him, will they?

Pippin's retelling of the story is succinct and to-the-point, as we say here. He's quite a good speaker, and he knows how to attract and then maintain the attention of his audience. It is impressive to see how he has learned.

𝘗𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥, '𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘹 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘳𝘶𝘧𝘧'𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘥!'

Pippin stating the obvious! By the way do the Tooks know that the Fox was Ferdi?

Glad to see Estella finally getting the honours she deserved. She is really a heroine of the Tookland.

Such a great ending to this story. I've really enjoyed this journey with Estella.

Author Reply: I think that if Pippin ever gave in to the temptation to test the Tooks' ingenuity, Diamond would probably grab him by the shirt and yank him down into his seat. Her firm, no-nonsense look would then prompt him to say, 'Please take your seats' almost automatically, simply from the force of her personality. Diamond may laugh at fools when they're not inconveniencing anyone else, but she is not the type of person to suffer a fool lightly when he's being a pain!

Pippin lives with the threat of being deposed for nearly a decade, first because of his reputation and occasional recklessness, and later because of his compromised health. However, once Sam travels to the South-lands and brings back healing for the Thain, the Tooks settle down at last. More or less.

Pippin deliberately states the obvious here in order to redirect his listeners' mood. Although many of the Tooks (and Lotho's Men) did not connect the Fox with Ferdi during the first part of the Troubles, it became general knowledge by the time the Travellers returned. He was originally dubbed "Fox" because of his wily ability to elude capture by Lotho's Men; I don't remember whether it was first a Man or a Hobbit that dubbed him so. So the listeners know that Pippin is talking about Ferdi, and they are also quite familiar with Ferdi's resistance to healers, and quite a few of them have heard Ferdi's grumbles about those "two weeks in bed"! Thus, even though Pippin wasn't anywhere near Tookland at the time he's describing, the joke works as he intends for his listeners at this particular time.

Similarly, Merimac Brandybuck went under the name "Badger" on his forays from Buckland into the occupied Shire so that Lotho and his ruffians couldn't trace him back to the Brandybucks in general and Saradoc in particular. (He may also have been protecting Saradoc from the knowledge that a rogue Brandybuck was taking action against Lotho's ruffians; since Saradoc was, at least on the surface, cooperating with Lotho (to protect his wife Esmeralda, who was a Took), he would have had to forbid any further exploits on his brother's part if he'd become aware of them. Anyhow, that's why you see Ferdi and Merimac calling each other "Fox" and "Badger" in some stories.

It was good to see Estella recognised for her courage and contribution to Tookland's survival. I think Paladin originally passed her over because he didn't want her caught up in the scandal of having lived as a lad, knowing Estella's grandmama Bolger as he did. Old Jessamine (Boffin) Bolger would have made Estella's life miserable once she returned to her former life. Either Paladin had more compassion for the lass than he had for his own son, or Eglantine told him to omit Estella from the list of names he read at the Free Faire commemoration ceremony. I'm not quite sure which it was.

I'm so glad you enjoyed the story! Now that this one's finished, I've started revising the draft chapters of The Proposal. (I can't remember whether this story spun off of that one, or that story spun off of this one. They're related, anyhow.) Eventually, the remaining chapters of that sister-story will also appear here on SoA, if all goes well. That's my aim, anyhow, to finish all the WIPs before I turn my attention to other matters. (If I ever do. Middle-earth remains as fascinating as it ever was.)

Author Reply: p.s. I don't know if it's obvious, but Pippin deliberately avoided all mentions of "Twig" and Estella passing for a lad in his storytelling. Gossip can be so... awful.

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