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The Tenth Walker  by Lindelea 7 Review(s)
DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 79 on 1/20/2016
*grin* Methinks Merry doth protest a wee bit too much, LOL!

I love conversations like this, where the hobbits are talking about home and just assuming that everything's going on the same as ever--while we readers sigh and cluck our tongues, knowing Fredegar's not safe a Crickhollow and has already had to flee from Black Riders!

Looking forward to more!

Author Reply: Just a wee bit. :)

I like them imagining everything back home just as they left it -- I might have gotten the idea from the films, when Treebeard has told the hobbits to go home, and Pippin's actually kind of happy at the thought. "We still have the Shire," he says dreamily.

Thanks!

spinsterReviewed Chapter: 79 on 12/28/2015
I really love this story. And I'm so glad it is moving slowly with much detail since I know we will say goodbye to Bill at Moria Gate. Bill's POV is very heartwarming. Have a Merry Yule and a Happy New year. Maybe I am YOUR First Footing?!

Author Reply: You *were* my First Footing! Congratulations! Here is the bottle of spirits I'd saved for you, and some pennies and a loaf of fresh-baked bread, and a warm knitted muffler for your neck.

Thank you!

quodamatReviewed Chapter: 79 on 12/24/2015
Very sweet chapter, as usual. Thanks for the update, and very best wishes for the holidays!

Author Reply: Thank you, and hope your holidays were good ones, too.

TariReviewed Chapter: 79 on 12/23/2015
Bill's back, I'm so glad. SOA is way to quiet. I wish more stories were being posted.

Author Reply: I have really enjoyed catching up, these past couple of days. I haven't started reading any longer stories, just the shorter ones, because it's been so busy IRL, but it's so nice to come back and find good reading!

I'm going to do my best to post more. It all depends on how much RL work I can manage to get after the holidays are over. (More work means more money, of course, which would be a blessing, but the downside is less time to write and read.)

Author Reply: p.s. Thanks! Glad you're still here. Good to hear from you.

earthdragonReviewed Chapter: 79 on 12/23/2015
I have read a lot of really dire tenth walker stories, usually involving a Mary Sue who not only performs all the heroics (making you wonder why they bothered with a Fellowship and didn't just send her to destroy the Ring), but is a shapeshifting elf/maia/fairy and blessed with unbelievable magical powers.

However, your wonderful story shows how ridiculous such stories are. Of course the tenth walker is Bill the Pony, whose courageous contribution to the Fellowship has largely been ignored. I love the way you are telling the story as if he were talking himself and the way he refers to the members of the Fellowship. I'm glad to see the latest update to this long saga and look forward to the next one.

Author Reply: Why thank you! That makes my day.

Dana (an author who befriended me in my early days in fanfic) and I had a running "Tenth Walker" joke for quite awhile before this story came about, LOTR told from the perspective of a flea residing in Gandalf's eyebrow. However, I think Bill is a much better storyteller than a flea would be...

I think I dabbled my foot in one or two tenth walker stories when jodancingtree first introduced me to Tolkien fanfic, but thankfully it was shortly after that I discovered Shirebound, Budgielover, Thundera Tiger, and Baylor (these were the first five authors added to my favorites list)--and from them to discover and devour the works of still more authors, in the wide world of high-quality fanfic, too many to name.

There is actually at least one "girl falls into Middle Earth" story that I've found to be well done. (Well, there's a sequel, so technically it would be two stories.) The author is Boz4pm, if you haven't already made her writing's acquaintance.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 79 on 12/23/2015
Ah, but he IS interested in Estella already in his own way, our Merry is. And good to see Frodo laughing along with Pippin. Certainly Gandalf has reason to be glad to hear that laughter!

I hope to see you between the fourth and the ninth. Take care and love to the Hobbitlings, although they are anything but small now.

Author Reply: LOL! Estella has joined the party in spirit, it seems... She'll make her own journey into the wilder parts of the Shire later in the year, of course, and I'm sure she'll be thinking of the Travellers as she goes.

I do hope to see you then! I could definitely use some of your good sense and knowledge in figuring out the next few "Pippin" chapters of Thain, to get that story rolling once more. Did you get any of that snow? I looked at the weather map last night, and it looked like you were either getting several inches, or all rain, but I couldn't quite make out which it would have been.

shireboundReviewed Chapter: 79 on 12/22/2015
Ah, yes, Estella! What a little midge she was!

I love that so much. What a hoot!

We're getting a rare storm here today -- wild wind and driving rain -- so I empathize with our walkers.

Author Reply: LOL! Having been a formerly pesky little tag-along sister, I can identify with Estella!

Thanks!

(Stay warm and dry... We've had our own wild wind and driving rain, lately. Rainiest December in history, here.)

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