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| Jewels by Lindelea | 226 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 33 on 6/11/2025 |
| Lin! "She looked searchingly into his eyes. 'Don't you understand?' she said urgently. 'You're free. Your father has no hold over you now.' Tears filled her eyes. 'I could never stand to see a wild creature caged,' she added." I've said before but I will say it again! Estella's got style, kindness of heart AND brains!! I love your take on the Hobbit legal system!! Quite simple but efficient! Chapter 27 of "Destiny's Child" is almost ready. I have been working on it unfortunately to the exclusion of reading. I read when I have time to revive as well, which does curtail my reading a bit, but I know how much reviews mean to me so I want to give back!! Hope you are well! (40 weeks to retirement :-) ...not that I'm counting or anything... ) LOL! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: MM! Ooo! I'm looking forward to Chapter 27! (I cannot wait until you get to the part where she wakes up in the Houses of Healing and going forward... How far will "Destiny's Child" go? Do you plan to write Éowyn's story all the way to her wedding or beyond, or refer readers to one of your other stories? Just curious. I don't mind reading the same scenes from a slightly different angle, for I can't seem to get my fill of these wonderful characters...) Y'know, since Merry's always been my favorite hobbit, ever since the first time I read the scene where he and Éowyn faced the Witch King – I was only a young teen at the time! – when I began to imagine the hobbit he'd marry, I wanted to make him a good – no, excellent! – match. So Estella is written to be the other half of his soul, providing exactly what he needs (while he does the same for her). I'm so glad you see her the way I do. So far as Hobbits and legalities go, I started from JRRT's brief mention of witnesses and red ink, possibly absorbed some influence from Dreamflower's writings, and went from there, though I diverged slightly when I began exploring the Tooks in more depth. As a result, the Tooks are something of a law unto themselves. But then, they were able to resist Lotho's influence and Saruman's malice, so I'm not too bothered by the difference between Tookland and what they regard as the Outer Shire. Thank you for your encouragement! This may sound odd, but I appreciate your appreciation of reviews. I find reviews so heartening; they reassure me that I'm not just talking to myself (or, alternatively, I'm not distorting Tolkien's world into something unrecognizable or unrelatable). These days, I'm trying to answer every review to show my appreciation. For years, I've tried to review every chapter I read, even if I don't have much to say, though I haven't always succeeded. (Sometimes I read on my phone, and for whatever reason, when I get back to the laptop, I forget to go back and leave reviews on those chapters.) In no way do I expect others to do the same, but I sure do bless those who do. How well I remember that countdown to retirement! I had to restart mine a couple times (put off retirement a little longer, I mean), and so I'm wishing you better luck in that respect, and that those 40 weeks will fly by. I have to tell you, I'm never bored, and over the past few months I've really enjoyed being able to explore pursuits I had put on hold due to a lack of time and energy while working. Fanfiction included. Oops. I may have descended into rambling. I'd better get off the laptop and brew a cup of tea before diving back into your young Aragorn story... (((hugs))) Lin | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 32 on 6/3/2025 |
| Lin! I may have said it before, but I will say it again! I just love Estella, so bouncy and lively and well meaning. You did have me going for a second but then Estella says she will jilt Pippin. I think because like Merry says that he would fought his father, it might humilate Estella and that he would never do. Estella sees this and the good hearted lass knows what she must do. Jilt Pippin, for his own good and hers...and Diamond's she suspects... Thanks! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: MM! So good to hear from you! I hope you are keeping well and thinking about your stories... Estella has an interesting sense of humor, and her anger at the situation is showing here. She's also sort of making a preemptive strike here, deliberately fanning the flames of gossip by casting herself as heartless and selfish and cruel – as if Pippin actually wanted to marry her, and she threw him off. (Well, she did throw him off, in point of fact.) For everyone's good, as you said – Merry's, too, if only because a miserable Pippin will make him equally miserable. (((hugs))) Lin | |
| Reviewed Chapter: 50 on 6/2/2025 | |
| Did you read Yew by Pearl Took? Do you have any ideas for it? Are you going to write the drabble, actually, a story, that I asked about? I love how Sam and Merry and Estella and Diamond all trick Pippin in going to Gondor. Poor Pippin is left delightfully confounded! He never stood a chance against all of them banded together! In the story "All that Glisters", in chapter 53, Hilly says, "And you know what they say about Brandybucks!" I've been wondering and wondering. What do they say about Brandybucks? I keep on reading that phrase and I still can't figure out what they say about Brandybucks. Author Reply: I did! I even saw from the reviews that I started reading the story years ago (before the need to go back to the workplace pulled me away from fanfic), and I revisited it after your earlier request. It is a clever, creative story! That said, no ideas have arisen in my brain for a related story, at least not yet. Sometimes the ideas flow, and sometimes they refuse to budge. (For example, it took me about 15 years to come up with the epilogue to Pearl of Great Price after a reader asked me if there might be any way to save Lop the sheepdog instead of him dying to save Pippin's life. And though I asked Marigold many times for a story prompt for one of her challenges in the old days, not all of them resulted in a story, much as I wished to come up with something.) I will keep your request in mind, but I cannot make any promises. Hobbit conspiracies can be very effective! The joke about the Brandybucks is one of those things that is so old and so generally well-known in the Shire as to go without saying (and so rude, apparently, that people don't say it in polite company) that many of the people who bring up the "old saying" have actually forgotten what it is. Sort of like forgetting the punch line to an iconic joke. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts! | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 31 on 5/21/2025 |
| Lin! Estella Bolger?...Doesn't she marry Merry...Wait a minute here I sense an interesting storyline coming! I like it. "Estella asked to meet Merry and Pippin's ponies. 'You can tell so much about a hobbit from his pony,' she teased. Meeting each pony in turn, she ran her hand down the shining neck, took a carrot from her pocket to offer on her flat hand, and murmured an endearment in words that only she and the pony understood." Hmmm...I'm liking Estella...as Esmeralda says. This situation isn't her fault. "The north-Tooks arrived with a little less than their usual jollity. Farmer Took looked quizzically at Pippin, standing beside Estella as they waited to greet the arrivals with all the rest in the welcoming party. Pippin turned his eyes away from the hurt in Diamond's." Yes that is all Pippin needs right now, seeing Diamond's hurt along with his own troubles. *sigh* "'I must go and explain to Pearl and to Diamond. I'm afraid they've had reason to think hard thoughts about the lad since the invitation for the handfasting arrived, though they didn't want to believe it of him.' He sighed. 'Well, it's not the lad's fault, nor the lass's, either.' He shook his head. 'It's a bad business.' Saradoc could only agree." Paladin can be so unreasonable!!!! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: A long time ago, when I was fairly new to fanfic, I had a friend who was constantly wanting me to throw Pippin and Estella together, in part because the two of them are so similar in terms of their inclination to mischief. (I don't remember if her fascination with the topic came about because she read this story, or if this story came about because of her hints! She certainly cheered me on as I was twisting canon relationships all out of whack before working out the tangles I'd introduced and putting them back together the way the family trees say they should be.) Unfortunately, I lost contact with a lot of people when I went back to work, and she was one of them. How I miss our conversations! I hope she is well but I have no way of knowing. Estella is supposed to be one of those frankly exasperating (and even exhausting) people who, nonetheless, you can't seem to help liking. She has a lot of energy, so I take her in small doses. For someone like Merry, who can be Entirely Too Serious sometimes, she's probably the perfect match (he can tone down her impulsivity, and she can distract him from his worries). Alas, poor Paladin. He's dragging a heavy load – facing all the demands of overseeing Tookland while lacking most of the necessary resources. Gaining access to Estella's fortune wouldn't solve his problems, but it could help, at least in the short term. He should just come out and admit to everyone that Tookland's treasury disappeared under the previous Thain. The volatile Tooks would probably not blame him and banish him for making such an admission because of all he did in keeping Tookland free from Lotho and his ruffians. But he can't trust that. In my early stories, I didn't do a good job of portraying him as someone saddled with unexpected responsibility who is trying to do his best while blindfolded and with his shoelaces figuratively tied together and one hand tied behind his back. So he comes off as unreasonable and tyrannical for no reason. I did better at revealing the underlying circumstances in the stories that came later. I think I came to understand Paladin better along the same timeline as Pippin coming to understand him better, if that makes sense? It's like this whole timeline of the Fourth Age Shire in the back of my head was spontaneously generated in one piece and has been slowly revealed bit by bit as the Muse (that creative impulse I can't explain) has spun these interlocking stories one or two at a time. I think I can pinpoint the ignition point as Chapter 25 of this story, when the person who was answering my medical questions told me that such severe symptoms as I was describing while writing the aftermath of the ice storm would result in permanent lung damage (and they went on to describe what life with such damage would look like for Pippin). At the same time I was pondering their feedback and trying to decide what to do next, I was idly reading through the Tale of Years and was reminded of Sam's trip to Gondor. As the idea of him bringing back the "cure" occurred to me, everything fell into place, including the impact of Pippin's chronic illness on character development for Pippin and all the people around him. I suddenly had a timeline stretching from Merry's birth until he and Pippin rode South! Later, the timeline kept extending further and further back until it reached all the way to the Fallohides in the Vales of the Anduin. (The Muse has remained fixed on Hobbits, however, and has not strayed into stories about Elves and Men and Dwarves except as they relate to Hobbits. I'm not sure why my brain has been oriented that way. It may have something to do with Hobbits' innate nature, as opposed to the kinslayings and rebellion and corruption that form such a large part of the histories of other races in Tolkien's creation. While Hobbits have plenty of conflict to deal with, for the most part, it seems to come from outside forces.) Sorry, I'm rambling again. I had better go in search of some protein to clear the fog from my head. | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 30 on 5/21/2025 |
| Lin! "Though he had less time for riding these days, yet daily he took Jewel out for a long ride--where, he never said, but sometimes the pony was muddy and sometimes he was lathered, or dried sweat clotted his coat.Merry would bring the pony back cool and breathing easy, the ostler was glad to see. If the pony had run hard, he'd been properly cooled out before returning. There would be another long grooming session, a last treat from the young master's hand, a pat and a wordless farewell." At least Merry had Jewel, time alone with one's horse is very important and he knows how to treat her. Did he have knowledge all along or was this also from his time spent with the Rohirrim. "'He hasn't lost himself, Nob. He's only lost his way.' 'Can he find it again, ye think?' 'I hope so.' Merry repeated the thought to himself, and to Socks, in that wordless language that only he and the ponies understood. I hope so." *Heart pang* I hope so too. Both Merry and Pippin have been through so much! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: MM! I've found a lot of solace in alone-time with a horse or dog or cat over the years. Though I must admit, I never practiced night riding, and I don't know how doable or advisable Merry's habit of riding after dark might be. (Is this a time to say, "Do not try this at home?") Merry will do everything in his power to help his cousin, and for those things that are beyond his power, he'll stand staunch at Pippin's side. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts. It's so heartening to hear from you! (((hugs))) Lin Author Reply: I forgot to answer your question: Did [Merry] have knowledge all along or was this also from his time spent with the Rohirrim? I started out with the detail about how he met the others as Farmer Maggot was driving them to the Ferry. Merry was riding in dark, foggy conditions, carrying (but not using) a dark-lantern. (The text says he uncovered the lantern to shine it on Farmer Maggot's face when the farmer challenged him in the dark.) I think those conditions would be quite risky for a casual rider or someone unfamiliar with ponies. He also had procured ponies before they set out from Crickhollow, implying he was somewhat knowledgeable about what to look for in ponies intended for a long-distance venture. I'd imagine he added to his knowledge of equines when he was among the Rohirrim. Perhaps part of their embracing him had to do with a shared interest or even passion for ponies/horses? The thought brings me a smile, anyhow. I have Ferdibrand Took similarly discovering common ground with the Rohirrim in general (on his trip south with Farry) and with Éowyn (because of horses) and Faramir (because of archery and the M-e equivalent of guerrilla warfare, I think?) in particular. What fun it is to discover kindred spirits! (((hugs))) Lin Author Reply: Shoot, and now I want to write a short story where Merry shows one of the Rohirrim some practical solution that Shire-folk use with their ponies. But I can't think of anything off the top of my head that a hobbit would know (in terms of equines) and that would be a new idea for the Rohirrim who are practically horses themselves... (Like coal to Newcastle, as they say?) | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 29 on 5/20/2025 |
| Lin! So sad that Pippin has been brought so low. Not eating!!! *sigh* (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: You know a hobbit's in trouble when he stops eating. But things will get better, I promise. (((hugs back))) Lin | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 28 on 5/19/2025 |
| Lin! Poor Pippin! He really is struggling! " 'If my brother has done my nephew some mischief, they will indeed have to find someone to be Thain after him because I will wring his neck myself!'" Go Esmeralda, Give Paladin what for!!! (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: Esmeralda may seem like a mild-mannered gentlelady, but she has a Tookish heart and temper... (((hugs))) Hope your day goes well. I'm struggling a bit today with energy levels, so I may not get another chapter of Heir Apparent in until tomorrow. It's something to look forward to! | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 27 on 5/19/2025 |
| Lin! Ahh! Poppy syrup! It is a fine thing! And finally the Took has arrived. (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: On the cutting edge of medical science and research, I should think! At least as far as the Shire goes. Thanks so much for reading and pausing to share your thoughts and hugs! (((hugs))) | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 26 on 5/16/2025 |
| Lindelea! Hello! "'Fear unspoken grows.' --old Shire proverb" Is this Tolkien or you. If it is you it really sounds it could be Tolkien! Pippin ill, the Old Took called for! Eeek!! And Yes I have posted a new chapter in the Heir Apparent. I'm working on Chapter 26 of "Destiny's Child" but it is hard going. *sigh* (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: MM! Most of the Shire proverbs I include in my stories either came out of my head (especially the ones that use food as a metaphor) or are adapted from sayings I heard from older generations. While I might claim that such ideas as "Fear unspoken grows" and "Troubles shared are divided" and "Joys shared are multiplied" are my own inventions, it's all too possible that someone said the same thing before I did, for (as they say) "great minds think alike". (Disclaimer: I am by no means describing my mind as great, LOL. Sometimes it seems to work quite well, but all too often, it doesn't. Such is life.) I SAW THE NEW CHAPTER when I fired up the laptop today!!! I don't remember if I've read any of that story in the past or not... I see you originally began publishing it here around the time JoDancingTree first introduced me to the wonderful world of online fanfic, and I was pretty early on taken captive by hobbits and carried away to the Shire (with a few detours involving Beregond and Bergil), so I might not have seen it. I will start reading from the beginning and work my way through, enjoying the promise of a new chapter (since I think the whole story is new to me) every day for the next few weeks as I work my way to the newest chapter. Anyhow, it's the first thing on my to-do list for today once I finish editing and posting the chapters I had scheduled for today. I look forward to the reading! (((hugs))) Lin (p.s. I hope this reply makes sense as written. My brain is on the mushy side today.) Author Reply: (p.p.s. I came up with my "Laugh, Live, Love" wedding toast about six months or so before "Live Laugh Love" started appearing in stores, or at least that's how I remember the timing... Someone asked me if I'd copied it from the kitsch that was popping up all over, but really, I didn't.) Author Reply: (p.p.p.s. I started by glancing at the reviews for Heir Apparent and see I did read the first few chapters. I probably got slammed by work then, and the story moved off the home page as other authors updated their stories, and I lost track. At least, that's the explanation that makes the most sense to me. So I'll be starting over once again and hoping to get all the way to the latest chapter this time!) (((hugs))) Lin | |
| Mirkwoodmaiden | Reviewed Chapter: 25 on 5/12/2025 |
| Lindelea! Oh no! This is where some of Pippin's health problems begin. Well sometimes we are forced to re-evaluate our life choices. Dear Pippin. (((hugs))) MM Author Reply: MM! You are exactly right. A long time ago, when I was still fairly new at fanfic-writing, this was known as "the infamous chapter 25". Arising almost by accident out of a discussion with someone who advised me on medical issues in my stories, it ended up shaping Pippin's character arc on my timeline of the Fourth Age Shire, all the way up to the year Sam travelled to Gondor and back, when the Mayor brought back a miraculous cure from Treebeard. (Whew. That was a long run-on sentence. I hope it's intelligible.) Thus, for a long stretch of years, Pippin has a built-in reminder of the consequences of leaping before he looks. He probably needs it though, for he's impulsive enough even when hampered by ill health that it takes him from this point until a few years after he becomes Thain for the lesson to sink in. All that said, he really is an engaging character... Again, thanks so much for reading and generously sharing your impressions. I appreciate your thoughtfulness! (((hugs))) Lin | |