Reviews (111)

Wow! What a brilliant story. And i loved how you put that little clue at the start about how Gandalf knew Merry and Pip would probably be coming too. Thank you so much!

Wow! This was impressive! I suspect you had to have this all graphed out or something, to remember who knew what and when... :-P But very nice job! Very enjoyable, thanks for writing!

Fun stories! :-) And the food sounds great -- I've never thought about nutmeg w cauliflower, but it sounds yummy...

Your Folco makes me laugh... :-P

Ha! Of course Gandalf isn't fooled. With as complex as this is getting, I'm not sure how anyone could be -- and I'm sure it will only get worse... :-P

I am having a Dreamflower fest starting with your earliest tales. I loved the way that you interwove the Red Book and filled in the details so faithfully.

The dynamics between the friends, the great affection, concern, banter etc. is depicted fabulously. The characters and their relationships are _so_ true to canon, nuanced, detailed. I also like that you included Fatty Bolger to such an extent (and I have become quite fond of "your" Freddy). All those conspiracies running around, together and separate, are very "complicated" (to quote Pippin), and must have been difficult to keep track of during the writing. But you have pulled it off: every plan is distinct and easy to follow. The passages from FotR you included flow very well with the original narrative, with smooth transitions.

No, I'm not systematically attempting to read all of your fics. Why do you ask? ;-) Very lovely gapfiller. It was great to see how you (seamlessly, I might add) weaved canon through this fic (such as the quotes) while also putting your own stamp on it. Highlights: Frodo's gifts to them all, the stories of each other's young days (I must get a copy of the "Letters" some time! I didn't know that stuff), Merry's and Pippin's individual plotting (again, your hobbits know each other so well - Merry's sharp assessments of his older cousin, as well as Pippin's of both of his, come to mind), the tidbit of Sam/Rosie (hopeless romantic speaking!), Fatty and Folco being the "stay-at-home" equivalent of Merry and Pippin (I wonder, would that have been what they would have been like without their Tookish adventurous side?), and the very last scene with Merry and Pippin, together of course. One thing: the second 'chapter', also entitled "Prologue" - this seems more of an epilogue. Is it supposed to be at the beginning? *scratches head* Anyway, thank you once again for an excellent work! Vinca

This is wonderful! I feel like I've read something that might have been taken right out of the Red Book for the sake of length. I don't know how you do that, but you always, always do, and it never ceases to amaze me! I hope one day I'm that good! :) I really pity the families of our four travellers. What a horrible, horrible shock to find them suddenly gone and shortly after, their lives falling about their ears. And this story really brought home, for some reason, that during the war of the Ring, there were truly no safe places in Middle-earth, nowhere to go to escape the danger; it was everywhere. An excellent story! I look forward to reading many more! :) God bless, Galadriel

LOL! I love this here! Frodo gave a sigh as he took the skillet off the heat, and prepared to grate stale bread into a bowl. “Well, maybe I do, but it shouldn’t make any difference at all. And it *is* my party. I should have whom I like.” Frodo frowned. That last sentence had sounded pouty and childish. If he wasn’t careful, he’d lose this argument. (Oh, no shame! LOL!) Sam shook his head as he lifted the chickens onto the fire. If he weren’t careful, he’d give in. He hated when Mr. Frodo used that sad, forlorn tone of voice. (Ah, who can resist the charm? Must come from the Took side...:))

No, I'm not done with this yet, but I must tell you the cousins' childish amusement made me hysterical! Just the thought of three hobbits their age doing that...LOL! Oh my! But at least it cheered Frodo, and it's cheering to me as well after the last chapter. Merry's sweet, simple way of comforting Frodo brought tears to my eyes. I guess I just thought of that little interlude in "A Place for Gandalf," and that did it. I love this so far! God bless, Galadriel

The Sam and Rosie bit just made me melt. Melt Melt Melt... ::stopped being coherent:: :P

This was one of my favorite chapters because PIppin telling Merry and them reconciliating (sp?) the fact that they both want to go is just key and it's just something i looked forward to the whole time. I loved that paragraph about the instances where Merry was angry at PIppin and i felt so badly for Pippin when he was on his knees begging not to be left behind. Oh the angst that could be written. >=) Poor Merry and his sleepless nights-- but i think it would've been wiser for him to let Pippin in the know and to tell him, convince Pip not to go... now so close to "moving day", it's too late for Pippin knows too much and wouldn't be persuaded otherwise. I am so enjoying this fic. So very much. :) You're a an amazing writer.

How Merry turned away Lotho wasmagnificent! I loved every bit of reading it and was thinking how smart Merry was in doing that. :D And the MErry and Frodo scene... that was so touching. And I love the wee bit of Frodo angst and melancholiness you're writing about as well because it sounds plausible that he would feel out of sorts with selling Bag End and hearing all these rumors about him...

I loved the Rosie introspection at the end. And quite a perspective lass Rosie is to pick up on Frodo's oddity in selling Bag End. Also i like that part about Sam stopping at confiding to Rosie...it seems quite likely indeed.

This was going to get complicated. And he didn’t dare let Merry suspect that he was on to anything. lol this is great. A conspiracy within a conspiracy ...i love it. :D

“Whew! Poor Frodo. And now I understand why Merry doesn’t want me to come along; he‘s got to protect his little Pip, silly goose. But they are going to need me, whether they like it or not.” Fatty shook his head; he was glad he was a Bolger, with no desires to leave his home. Yes, Merry being torn between cousins...sounds likely indeed. And i love the last line of the fic... and i love how PIppin found out from Fatty... and i like your Fatty too. :D and i love this fic so far and cant' wait to read everything. I love hobbit love and loyalty and friendship to one another! :D

This is a wonderful fic so far and i'm glad i have a bit of time to indulge. I love your Merry and love his scheming mind and yes, i'm continuing now. =) :thumbsup:

This was a truly grand story! It's definitely one of those missing moments that I'm glad to see fleshed out with such skill and caring. Your stories are written with such love of canon and detail that they have become like a part of canon to me. Really, it's hard for me to imagine the characters any way other than you have painted them. Of course, you used Tolkien's characterisations as a launching point, but you have expounded upon his characters and added new ones so adroitly, that the two have quite merged in my mind. (Although there are other writers whose fics I also enjoy reading) The part where Lotho writes to "Mr White" about his inquiry into acquiring some pipeweed - what an eerie ending! I'm glad you gave us flashes of what those left back in the Shire were thinking and doing. Thank you for penning this wonderful gift and sharing it with us.

What a lovely ending! Well, ending to the ending before the epilogue and such. "Frodo was trying to think how he was going to tell Merry, Pippin and Fatty that he was leaving. He owed them more of an explanation than “Sorry for all the trouble you went to for me, lads, but it’s all for nothing. I’m leaving in the morning and likely I shan’t return.”" Frodo has the full measure of it. That would have been a horrible thing to say to them and would have made them awfully cross. It would indeed have been a very awkward thing to say. Much better that they are going. "He wondered how many days he and Merry would have to trail Frodo and Sam before they could safely catch them up without the risk of being sent home. " So Pippin had convinced himself that Frodo wasn't going to allow his two younger cousins to go along, eh? My guess is that it was the Black Riders that convinced Pippin of this. He knew how protective Frodo was of them. What's with Pippin and baths? Honestly, I half expect him to break out a squeaky toy and start singing "Rubber Ducky" a la Ernie from Sesame Street. "“It’s coming out in a minute,” whispered Pippin to Merry." Another quote of a quote. This one just seems so Pippin. I'm glad you included it, although it is not the main thrust of the conversation. "“Just this, my dear old Frodo: you are miserable, because you don’t know how to say good-bye. You meant to leave the Shire of course. But danger has come on you sooner than you expected, and now you are making up your mind to go at once. And you don’t want to. We are very sorry for you.”" I also like the way Merry said this. You pick out good quotes to use! "He put a companionable arm around his younger cousin’s shoulders. “Are you all right, Pip?” he asked. Pippin looked at him seriously. “I don’t know. I’m sad, for Frodo. He doesn’t want to do this. And I have to admit, I’m frightened. But it's funny, Merry; in spite of it all, I’m happy.” Now he grinned, that infectious Tookish grin. “We’re going on an adventure. Together.” Merry gave the shoulders a slight squeeze. “Yes. Yes, we are. Together.”" I loved this ending! Onward to the epilogue!

Merry may be a worry-wart, but in this instance, he had every right to be worried, and for precisely the reasons he thought of. The only reason that doesn't make as much sense given the gravity of the situation is for Pippin to have been climbing a tree. But then, if one is truly concerned, one should look at every possibility. "The farmer had come to the end of his tale, and was talking with Mr. Frodo now, guessing about why someone would be looking for him. Those guesses of his were a little too close for comfort, Sam thought. From the look on Mr. Frodo’s face, he thought so too. " Ah, yes. There's more to Farmer Maggot than meets the eye. He is like Barliman Butterbur, seems like he would be uneducated and a bit thick, but is more intelligent than meets the eye. Plus, he is friends with Tom Bombadil. A little ale and a nice dinner goes a long way toward making a hobbit, including our Sam, more trustful of others, eh? lol! I'm glad for all of our hobbits, but especially for Merry's sake that the walking party has at last arrived.

It must have been extremely difficult for Merry and Freddy to wait for Frodo, Sam, and Pippin to arrive at Crickhollow, especially since they were so much later in arriving than expected. I'm amazed Merry waited as patiently as he did, the way he is inclined to worry over Frodo and Pippin. Pippin getting tipsy on the Elven drink - lol! It's a good reminder that he had only recently come to the age where he could have more than a half and was thus more likely to be susceptible to the effects of alcohol than the others. "Wide-eyed he risked a look at Sam, who gave him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder." This is a wonderful moment. Sam demonstrates that warm sense of reassurance that is so comforting to Frodo later on. To see him give this same comfort to Frodo's younger cousin is a chance to see that it is not just with Frodo, but part of Sam's nature to be so comforting and reassuring in his firm but quiet way. We don't often get to see the closeness between Sam and Pippin, which makes this little moment all the more special. One of the things I liked in the book is how Pippin was the one who knew his way around better than Frodo or Sam and how it was Pippin who took control of the situation with Farmer Maggot when Frodo was afraid. As you've pointed out, it's only natural that Pippin would have accompanied Merry on his jaunts hither and yon over the years, including to Farmer Maggot's. I would think that Frodo would have known the land in Buckland pretty well, too, between his having lived there for so many years and his annual trips there to visit. However, since he was such a young lad when he left Buckland to go live with Bilbo, it's doubtful that he would be as knowledgeable about the land as Pippin, who has had more time to visit with Merry than Frodo does. "“Well, it’s time you made it up. Especially if you are coming back to live in Buckland." Hmmm... a quote of a quote. lol! But I'm glad you included this quote from the books. It must have been so difficult for Pippin to keep up the pretense that he thinks Frodo is actually going to live in Buckland again. To turn it here toward an advantage is something I really enjoyed. I like how scholarly you are making Freddy. Death is a very interesting concept for him to be reading about in that history of Numenor. And then to contemplate how the various races consider death, there's a lot of depth to Freddy. His relationship to the Bagginses is very clear. You really are blending FotR and your world together quite seamlessly.

What a dilemma - to leave this review first or skip over to PippinHealers and read part eleven of your new story that just popped up in my e-mail! It's a good thing I *loved* this chapter. What on Middle Earth is Brandy Hall doing with a stockpile of extra bathing tubs? No wonder Pippin likes to visit there so much! "Buckland held so many sad memories for her husband’s cousin. But it was his childhood home, and his closest family were here, now that Bilbo had left. Maybe he had just beome lonely, rattling around that great hole all by himself. He had not always been so much a loner as he later became. When he was a small child, he had been such a delight, open, loving--the pet of the Hall. But after his parents’ death, all that had changed--he was still loving, but he was no longer open, and he did not want to be the pet of anyone except the mother and father he no longer had. It was not until Merry came along that she had again seen any joy on Frodo’s face; but even afterwards, he still had bouts of melancholy that only Merry could erase." That was so touching and sad it almost made me want to cry. How I wish that Frodo were still the open and loving hobbit he had been before his parents' deaths. "Now he felt like blubbering on his own account--this might be the last night he would spend with his family, and he couldn’t even let them know it. He had to stop this. If his parents guessed something was wrong, and pressed him, he was not sure he could lie effectively." I'm so glad Merry had this opportunity for one last night at Buckland with his parents. It must have been so difficult for him to keep it together in front of them, especially since he has always been so open with his parents. "Actually Pippin was more than a bit unsettled, he was scared, and he daren’t show it. He glanced at Sam, who shook his head." I hadn't thought of how difficult it must have been for Sam and Pippin to walk to Buckland with Frodo with all of the scary troubles they had with the Black Riders and *not* talk about what it really meant. For them not to be able to speak openly since Pippin supposedly didn't know what was going on - that must have been difficult for all three of them. However, I'm not so sure they would have wanted to discuss it anyway, since they were so frightened of it. And Pippin had the extra burden of not being able to even show that he *was* frightened for fear that when the time came to tell Frodo the truth, that Frodo would not allow him to come along on the Quest. That's an awful lot for a tweenager to carry inside of him for so long! Celandine - lol! I'm so glad you included that walking song! I couldn't help but hear Billy Boyd sing it as I read the words, even before I came to the lines that Pippin sang later on in the movie. You so nicely brought the two together and explained how there were at least two different tunes. Sung to the slower-Took melody, it really is more poignant, especially when you know what lies ahead for our hobbits on this dangerous mission. Merry's letter - *sniff!* Merry is a gifted writer; that letter was beautiful. His parents must have been so worried! He must have felt wretched, leaving without saying goodbye to his parents and not knowing if he would ever see them again. How horrible! And to leave his parents to explain to Pippin's parents, especially knowing the temper that Paladin has. My heart goes out to Merry. He's a great son. I loved the references to Gandalf, Elrond, Tom Bombadil, and Aragorn here. It's something mentioned in canon but which we do not get to see from Gildor's point of view. I really am enjoying this more the second time around!

You really do a fine job of meshing the story together with the book! I guess they really are on their way finally. "Pippin had to admit to himself he was feeling down. He hated that Frodo was being forced into this danger. He hated that Frodo had to give up everything he loved. He *really* hated the Sackville-Bagginses getting Bag End." It takes a lot to get the usually optimistic Pippin down, but this certainly would do it. This was very succinctly and well said. I expect that worse than an even-keeled individul's being depressed would be someone who is normally quite optimistic. They are not used to being that way and don't know how to handle it as well. I would think that this is precisely what happened to Frodo when his parents died, since Frodo's personality seems to be pretty much like Pippins, except for the tragedy in his life. But even so, as we saw in the earlier chapter, Frodo still had difficulties handling all of the upheaval in his life and found it quite paralysing. Merry has his lists and duties to help not to dwell on things for now. But Pippin, the tweenager is not accustomed to being down or depressed and with his mood swings, I expect he has fantastic highs but that when he is down, he is *really* down, especially since he cannot burden Frodo right now and he does not have his Merry. Now that everything is done, the only thing to do is to wait, which leaves plenty of time to think about how dire the situation really is. This is when Pippin leaves his childhood behind and starts to truly grow up. I cannot say enough about the way you are developing Freddy. He has such depth and character to him and you really lay out a very sound friendship between him and Merry. I am a bit surprised that Freddy had never met Esmerelda before, considering that they are related. I'm sure she must have met his parents, at the very least at the funeral of Drogo and Primula Baggins since they died in Buckland. Perhaps Freddy's parents used to tell him stories of what happened to Frodo's parents and *that* is why Freddy is so afraid of water. Hmmm... Anyway, Esmerelda reminds me of her son with her reliance upon the lists and diagrams for organising Crickhollow. Odd ending of the chapter - it almost looks like there is a part that is missing, the way you have the line under the book quote where Pippin says he is hungry for lunch. However, the last of the line about Sam looking out on lands he has never been to before works very well as the end to the chapter.

So the story is merging together with canon - well done. "“My dear Fredegar Bolger! You are no coward--do you think so little of my judgment that I would have confided in you about the Ring if I thought you a coward.?” “Not everyone’s meant for the same kind of courage. Choosing to sit at Crickhollow like a piece of bait when you know there may be someone looking for Frodo is pretty brave, I’d say.”" Your stories always leave me wishing that we saw more of Freddy in the Trilogy. Merry's right - he does have his own particular type of courage, even though he doesn't recognise it yet. I hope to see a lot more of him in your future stories. It was very thoughtful, and intelligent, of Freddy to think about giving Merry some money to take on the venture. "Outdoors, the tweenager found a few ways to stave off the boredom. He found the empty wine bottles from the day before, and lined them up on the garden wall for targets to throw stones at. Smashing them was very satisfactory, but his speed and accuracy meant they were all broken very quickly, and then he had the tedious task of cleaning up the broken glass. (Hobbits are meticulous in the matter of glass shards.) Then he went and climbed the Party Tree. Though it was not the first time he had climbed it, it was his first chance in a long time. He could not help but think it was also his last chance. He climbed quite high, and was still up there when Folco came looking for him to call him to lunch." Excellent reference to the quick but extremely accurate aim of hobbits. I always liked the references to that hobbity characteristic in the books and am glad to see it included here. Yes, I imagine hobbits would be quite meticulous about glass shards since they go around in bare feet. I guess Frodo told Folco that he should look for Pippin up in the trees as well as in the normal places. Is this the last we will see of Pippin climbing trees? I sure hope not, as I've grown quite fond of this Tookish trait. It's very sad to see Pippin saying "goodbye" to the Party Tree and thinking of the very real and scary prospect that he might never return to the Shire. "When he opened the door, there stood Lobelia and Lotho. “You’re early,” he said rudely, and prepared to slam the door in their faces. But Frodo was behind him, and forestalled him. He did not look happy. ... “You’d be surprised, young Took, at the friends I might have. You’d best learn to keep a civil tongue in your head. Being the son of the Thain might not be protection much longer.” Lotho gave him a nasty sneer, and went out after his mother and Frodo. Pippin wondered what he meant by that. Just bluster, he supposed." I like the way Pippin treats the S.B.'s here and in his "gift" to them. Much kinder than they deserve, actually. It does give me chills though to think of the hidden meaning behind Lotho's words about the friends he has and his irreverance for the Thain. I guess Frodo really is going to leave Bag End. *sigh*