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Droplets  by perelleth 12 Review(s)
LarnerReviewed Chapter: 7 on 3/28/2007
Very nice to see this first meeting between the two.

Author Reply: Thank you...they did have things to sort out!

RedheredhReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/26/2006
What a great moment you have depicted here! I love that you used Elfhelm in it as a member in good stead with her family! You captured Eowyn actual youth, yet showed her real courage. You created a tender and stern story, just like they themselves would have to be.

But ah! There is also that lovely sense of humor you never fail to tap. Extra food for Merry! :D

Wonderful little filler scene, this.


Author Reply: Thank-you Redheredh!

I am quite fond of Elfhelm. He comes across as a very competent, agreeable and brave officer of quite high rank. He was the Captain of the muster of Edoras, so he, and Theodred and Hama must have felt the full weight of Theoden's decline. And I suppose that he must have known Eomer and Eowyn since they wre born, and more closely since they moved to Edoras...Eowyn placed him in a difficult position and I was sure he had something to tell her...

And he was not very kind to Merry, so he had to make up for that as well, and what better present fo a hobit than food? ;-)

I'm glad to hear form you. I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving.

harrowcatReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/25/2006
This is brilliant Perelleth! I haven't read too many fics where Eowym is taken to task for her decision and this mixture of censure and forgiving comradship is great. And not enough food for Merry! *g*

Author Reply: Thank-you, Harrowcat!
Elfhelm was relieved that it was not his task to judge Eowyn's deeds, but still he had some *words* to exchange with her as a friend. I'm glad that it came out believably. And he was kind to think of the poor Merry starving in the Houses;-)

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/23/2006
To see the healing begun is itself a blessing, for healing begins when one can first begin seeking it for others.

Author Reply: Yes, it was a first step for Eowyn, first meeting the steward and then confronting the consequences of her deeds. Glad that you liked this, Larner, and thank-you for your kind words.

Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/23/2006
Very well written about a part of Eowyn's story that tends to be overlooked.

Author Reply: Thank-you, Linda. Glad that you liked it.

BodkinReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/22/2006
I'm glad that Elfhelm came to bring Eowyn to some realisation that things were going on beyond her own personal angst. And that not everyone can be one of the Death-or-Glory boys - there is great worth in other forms of service. Elhelm seems a source of strength in her life, too - one to whom she looks for approval, whether she knows it or not. She could do with a bit of an ... uncle-figure at the moment. I daresay those tears were very therapeutic! And now she can shrug on the role of the last of her House working with the residual Rohirrim to prepare a last defence.

And get to know a certain Steward. (Which has always been one of my favourite parts of the book.)

A great encounter. I love Elfhelm here.

Author Reply: Thank-you, Bodkin.
I think I have given Eowyn a hard day. First she encounters the Steward and complains because of her chambers and then confronts the marshall and sees the whole extent of her "deed"...

Elfhelm was for long the Captain of Edoras muster. I really like that character, who comes out, if briefly, as an efficient and practical man, who must have stood very hard times seeing his lord under Grima's will, and seeing Theodred being displaced, then killed, and seeing Eowyn going through all that... so I assumed that he had a certain moral authority over her, and thus he had to help her see all that was involved in her rash decision.

Glad that you enjoyed it.

The KarenatorReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/22/2006
Perelleth, this is wonderful. Eowyn was in a such a difficult time and place. Here was a woman of strength and intelligence who saw her people struggling under the burdens of war. She felt driven to 'do something'. And she did, but along the way, she disobeyed Theoden, put her own needs above the charge she had been given, then in the end, accomplished the great deeds of valor she craved. Complex woman. You captured that complexity well here. And so beautifully written.

Elfhelm was wonderful. Even in his rebuke of her, his affection and respect for her was there. He only needed to give her a little nudge in the right direction.

Lovely story. Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness. You're a good egg. :>)

Karen

Author Reply: I had a ghost story half way, but was not fast enough. I am tickled that you liked this one! I seldom write other than Elves, but this conflict intriged me, since Eowyn had not obly disobeyed, but involved others in disobedience -poor Elfhelm, who must have known her since she was a baby, and what could he do, the poor man?

I hope that you had a great birthday and can recover now with a long weekend.


elliskaReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/22/2006
Eowyn is a character I so never understood. I really like the way you show her here. And I never thought about it, but what what Elfhelm said is true. She did desert her duty, given to her by the King. I like how Elfhelm turns her around to see her duty and helps her find purpose. This was a great--fascinating, really--conversation. Thanks so much, Perelleth!

Author Reply: Thank-you elliska! I am glad that you have some time for yourself... and for this teribly belated birthday present...

Poor Elfhelm was in a very difficult position, I think, and I would not have liked to be in his place when he had to anseer before Eomer about Eowyn's prsence there... But he owned to his decisions and then had to make her see the *whole* impact of her actions. I never quite understood Eowyn myself, but I've come to think tht she was too young at the time and so too impulsive..

NilmandraReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/22/2006
This was lovely, Perelleth. Eowyn was indeed both a heroine and a deserter, her motives wrong and yet good came of them. You showed the dichotomy that is Eowyn here - the opposites existing within one person, a confused young woman who did both wrong and great deeds and will learn from all of it. Elfhelm is wonderful here - I have wondered how he might react to the final outcome, since he knew of her presence and allowed it. She did put him in a terrible position.

Author Reply: I'm glad that you liked it. Elfhelm's position has intrigued me as well. IT was blatant desertion what Eowyn had done, yet a great good had come from it, but he had allowed her disobedience...a tangled situation, in which friendship and duty were tested.

I hope my reasoning in his name makes some sense... ;-)

daw the minstrelReviewed Chapter: 7 on 11/22/2006
What a great meeting. I like the battle imagery you use for their encounter. Elfhelm comes across as stern and strong, someone who demands the best from the woman he's known from her childhood. And yet he also understands her. And you give a real sense of the sadness of the Men of Mark who lie buried far from home.

Author Reply: Thank-you Daw, I'm glad that you picked the battle imaginery. It took...some effort.

Elfhelm had been the captain of Edoras'muster for long years, he surely knew Eowyn and Eomer since their childhood and had lived the worst days of Gríma from within, so he knew what Eowyn had gone through, but yet he also knew that she had to answer for *all* her deeds. It was a sad moment for him, I bet, but neccesary.

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