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The Brandy Hall Incident  by Dreamflower 4 Review(s)
GryffinjackReviewed Chapter: 4 on 10/17/2005
I'm so glad Frodo and Merry's grandfather are keeping Merry from falling apart. It's like Frodo was meant to be there to help his Merry and to help in the search for little Pippin.

It makes sense that Frodo and Merry would go not to Merry's room, but to Frodo's at a time like this. Merry is feeling awfully frightened, as is Frodo, and so they go back to what they knew best when both of them were living at Brandy Hall. This was the room that kept Frodo safe and where Merry would go almost every night for the comfort of his Frodo. So Frodo's room is where they belong now. Even though Merry is able to get to sleep, poor Frodo will find no solace anywhere now. Here he is back at Brandy Hall, in his old room, worried that the very river that claimed the lives of his parents will also claim the life of one of his two favourite cousins. I'm sure he is thinking about how those rooms have been known to flood or cave in due to the Brandywine. It's no wonder he cannot get any rest.

I like how all of the relatives are helping in whatever way they can. Really, it's at times like this that a family pulls together.

Chalk this one up as another one of my favourite stories.

Author Reply: I think you are right that Frodo was *meant* to be there, and not by the author either, LOL! I truly had intended to write this without Frodo in it, yet when I got to the part of the visitors coming, there he was. I tried to talk him out of it, as it was the wrong time of year for him to be there (since he usually visits in the fall) but that stubborn Baggins just would not listen to me, and insisted on being in the story, LOL! I'm glad now. I can't even recall how it was to go originally, but I can't imagine it without him any more.

That was defintiely my reasoning for the way it fell out. Both of them seeking comfort in the familiar.

And of course, it is the hobbit way. Family first and foremost.

LindeleaReviewed Chapter: 4 on 1/15/2005
You gave me a shiver when Merry was looking at the un-searched area, because you mentioned earlier that Pippin didn't see the glimmer of lantern go by... which means he's in an area that was *already* searched!

I like the resemblance you imagine between Esmeralda and her nephew.

Author Reply: Fortunately, of course, they *are* planning to go over the already searched area as well. But it certainly shows the extent of the abandoned area, and why they were not completely filled in.

I've always thought that Esmeralda was very Tookish in her looks, and so Pippin who is the ultimate Took's Took, as it were, would resemble her a great deal. These things do happen. I know that as a young child, my sister resembled one of our aunts far more than she did either of our parents.

SharonBReviewed Chapter: 4 on 1/13/2005
Oh dear, you've gotten 3 more chapters up since I've had a chance to read. WWell, I am certainly glad that Frodo has arrived, he seems to be putting Merry in right order. LOL, why can no one reason with him that way except Frodo. Well, Grandda did a good job though.

Poor Pip is not doing well at all. That poor thing should have shouted a bit more when he woke up. Hopefully there is not too much more angst left with this story, just mostly a happy reunion. ;-)

Author Reply: Frodo decided he had to be there. And Merry will listen to him better than to anyone else, although Rory was doing fairly well.

Pippin was feeling too weak to yell, and he doesn't have any way to know he's being looked for--he didn't tell anyone where he was going. He's just lucky that Merry knows him so well that he figured it out.

Couple more chapters left is all. And there will be a bit of angst before the ending.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 4 on 1/13/2005
Thank goodness for Frodo - or Esmeralda and Saradoc would have another problem on their hands as well as the young Took. And (probably most infuriatingly for his parents) Merry takes so much more notice of Frodo's analysis.

Author Reply: Yes, Frodo is Merry's anchor, just as Merry is Pippin's. I don't think it infuriates Esme and Sara that much. They are rather resigned to it by now--after all, my Merry's first word was "Fwo"--and not above making use of their cousin to keep Merry in line. ("What do you think Frodo would say to that, son?") And it helps that Frodo was their foster son for several years as well.

As I've said, this was originally going to be a Frodo-less story. Couldn't do it.

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