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Go Out in Joy  by Larner 10 Review(s)
Pearl TookReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/7/2007
Tender and dear.

You make up well for my often forgetting to have Frodo in my stories.

So well done!

Author Reply: So glad you found it tender, which is exactly what I think they would be, his Took and Brandybuck relations, as they gathered to farewell him.

But I LOVE your stories, even if Frodo appears infrequently. Your looks at Merry and Pippin and a certain fairy are among my favorites!

KittyReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/7/2007
You’re absolutely right about investing in Kleenex tissues or the like – you could make a fortune on it *sniff* This time it was the farewell to Gandalf. Well, at least they had enough time to do it properly, other than in canon.

Though it is comforting to see how they all come to say farewell and to be with Frodo on the sixth. Loved the cousins and Sam all snuggled together in Frodo's bed! And after this exchange between Gandalf and Sam I hope fervently Aragorn will arrive this time and have the chance to say farewell, too. Maybe Sam can send word to the bounders to leave him through?

Author Reply: That farewell must have been as difficult for Gandalf as it was for the Hobbits, but the added time with him would indeed help. You are right there.

One last time for the Travellers to comfort one another as one more journey is addressed by Frodo. As for whether or not Aragorn gets there in time--that you'll learn in a few chapters. I can't believe how big this nuzgul has turned out to be, though!

White GullReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
Eeek. I'm covering my eyes now. Your writing is amazing and wonderful, but I can't bear Frodo with a failing heart. (I'll peek between my fingers at the last chapter, when you've posted it.)

WG the faint-hearted
*meep*

Author Reply: I'm sorry. I hope you don't find it all too distressing. I doubt he will find it all great and terrible, though.

Linda HoylandReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
This was very moving,the bonds the hbbbits share with each other and Gandalf

Author Reply: Yes, they do love Gandalf deeply now, and all of honor and goodness in Middle Earth will know him only through memory and perhaps inspiration from now on. And they do their best to take what comfort of one another as they can. Thank you, Linda.

Elanor SilmariënReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
Oh, dear, that chapter made me cry! And that last sentence made my stomach sink, literally! I'm with the Queen, pleeeeeese update soon!!!
God bless,
Ellie

Author Reply: Oh, I'm sorry to cause your stomach to sink! How sad! But the time is not yet, you'll find.

I'll update in a couple days--am still making certain the dialogue in the next chapter is okay before I post it.

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
Okay. My computer is officially weird and annoying and must hate me. I didn't *do* anything, and it still posted a half-finished review! Sometimes I think this particular touch pad thingy likes to control itself, because I don't mess with it and it still does weird things. Oh well, resuming what my piece of technology so rudely interrupted...

The Wizard inclined his white head over that of the Hobbit, and gently,
almost reverently kissed his brow. “Rest well, mellon nín,” he murmured. “And when you do go, go out in joy.”

Frodo smiled up at him, and for a moment both seemed to shine in the dim light of the bedroom. “May your voyage go well.”

This farewell is so beautiful, as are Gandalf's parting words to the others. You used that quote from ROTK very well, and it added still more poignancy to this scene.

Do I think Aragorn should be allowed to come, you ask? Well, of course! I think this is enough of an emergency for a bending of the rules; his brother of the heart and spirit is dying, for goodness' sake! And your hints in other review replies make me almost sure that he *will* come in time :), but one thing makes me worry for that:

Elanor put down the apple slice she’d been gumming. “Fo,” she said, turning to look at the door to the passage outside the dining room. Estella
turned, but noted the doorway remained empty.

Oh, please let him still be sleeping, not...But I suppose if it's come, then he won't have to go on the sixth. Then again, Elanor could have been just putting her two pennies in, but somehow I doubt it...Oh, pleeeeease update again ASAP!!!
God bless,
Galadriel

Author Reply: So glad I could find the proper place to put that line into this story, for it needed to be said. And it was a proper parting, I hope, for Frodo.

As for Aragorn--you'll get a better idea in the next chapter, you'll find.

As to what caused Elanor to utter her "Fo"--well, I'll let you stew on that for a chapter. Heh!

And I certainly understand about the touch pad taking your cursor for a ride around the screen when you don't touch it--the one on the Dell laptop was a horror, and the one on this one, particularly when the computer's been running for a time, gets antsy.

Two days till I update again, kids.

Queen GaladrielReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
Well, now I've had the cry that has been threatening (for no reason--at least no good one--until now) all day.

In moments the shawl and Sam’s cloak from Lorien were draped over the arms of the chair, and all four of them squeezed onto Frodo’s bed, Merry
on the side toward the window, Frodo next, Sam on his other side, and Pippin on the end toward the doorway. “Why all the pillows and cushions, Frodo?”
Pippin asked.

“It’s easier to breathe if I don’t lie flat, or so I’ve found. And Elrond said that it was best I do so, also.”

“They had cushions to ease him the last two nights. Don’t know as where they all come from, but they had ’em when they was needed,” Sam said
softly, sliding his arm between the pillows to have it around Frodo’s shoulder.

“Best not do that,” Frodo cautioned, “or you’ll awake with your arm still asleep. Believe me--after years of having younger cousins slip into
bed with me after bad dreams, I know.”

“Nonsense,” Sam yawned. “As light as you are now, Mr. Frodo, you’re no burden at all.”

Oh, so sweet. And I just love the connection you made with the arm falling asleep! Oh yeah, but hey, that's way better than a foot burrowing in the neck or an unconscious little hand slapping you in the face. :) Anyway. The imagery here is especially beautiful, I think.

Author Reply: So, you've had your cry? I've about had mine, as the well pump decided to die last night and I don't have the money to get it fixed properly. GAACK! Never can get everything working properly all at the same time any more, it seems.

I've read so many Hobbit-sleeping-together stories this one had to be, perhaps mostly to make up for Merry, Pippin, and Sam not sleeping side by side on the way back from the Havens in Reconciliation. And this would be one time when I think they'd want to reassure one another in such a manner.

No hands slapping or feet kicking--just an arm asleep.

AndreaReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
Oh, I agree with the others. Gandalf's original parting words fit well indeed!

But these were even better:

“Rest well, mellon nín,” he murmured. “And when you do go, go out in joy.”

"Go out in joy!" That's how it should be, nothing to be afraid of. And maybe when the time comes we really won't be afraid. But watching someone die and feeling that you can do nothing against it is a different matter, or was for me.

I loved the scene with all four hobbits together in that large bed. Maybe it was the last time.

Elanor put down the apple slice she’d been gumming. “Fo,” she said, turning to look at the door to the passage outside the dining room. Estella turned, but noted the doorway remained empty.

Well, I'm not quite sure what this means. Maybe she just heard the others mention his name. But little Elanor is an extraordinarily perceptive girl...

Please update soon!

Author Reply: Am so glad so many like those words there, as well as Gandalf's farewell to Frodo.

Death shouldn't be frightening, but all too often it is, and often moreso for us who remain than for those who go on. And the image of the four of them with Frodo in the center had to be expressed.

As for Elanor--you get to stew on that for a chapter, too. Heh!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
What a sad gathering--you've captured so well that palpable feeling of combined acceptance and fear when a loved one is known to be passing. However much agreement is that "it's all for the best", the pain and grief at having to part remain.

I was touched by the way the four of them gathered in Frodo's bed to give and receive comfort from one another.

I love the way you used some of Gandalf's original parting words here. And I'm glad that Estella is here to help ease Merry's pain.

Author Reply: Yes, that's what we felt when my husband's mother left us, and certainly how I felt (as well as the shock of, "My--this time he couldn't fight it off like he's done before!) when he died a couple years later.

And that night I think they'd need that reassurance, and certainly the image of the four shapes together, all comfort and guarding, has been shining in my head.

And once again I'm so pleased the transposition of those words to this scene worked so very well. And perhaps the asking will come a bit earlier than I have it happen elsewhere? We'll ssseee, won't we, Precioussss?

EndaewenReviewed Chapter: 4 on 3/6/2007
This is beautifully sad.

I love the way you slipped Gandalf's line into the chapter. It fits as well here as it does in the book.

Author Reply: Thank you, Endaewen. So glad you like how the line was brought into this story, and that it moves you as it obviously does.

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