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The Farmer's Son  by Lindelea 7 Review(s)
Grey WondererReviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/3/2009
Ah, yes and so Paladin has a bit of warning even if he isn't certain what that warning means yet. Sometimes having that bit of intuition must have been more trouble than help. You were worried but didn't know why.

Author Reply: A general feeling of worry is so... worrying. You try to explain it away, but it nags at you. You feel as if you ought to be doing *something*, but what? So you just keep on going about your usual business, but you keep your eyes open, while that spot between your shoulderblades prickles to let you know that it's not *all* business as usual. Something's up. But what?

SoledadReviewed Chapter: 6 on 6/28/2009
Tookish foresight, huh? Well, I was always wondering what made the Tooks so different from all the other Hobbits. Faerie blood sounds a mite foolish, especially as there aren't any faeries in Middle-earth (not since the Lost Tales, that is), but what was it then? Because whatever it was, it certainly worked.

Author Reply: Yes, hopefully the foresight is not just fanon. The idea, I think, comes from Frodo's dreams, doesn't it? And it was JRRT who mentioned faerie blood, I'm glad to say, so that no one can accuse fanfic writers of making it up! (LOL)

Pearl Took has an interesting take on the Tooks' faerie blood, by the way. I found her story about Esmeralda a thought-provoking read.

Elena TirielReviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/9/2008
Hi Lindelea,

Well, I'm shivering, and it's only 4 pm here. Still broad daylight. Cloudy, but not that cold - almost 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And I'm shivering.

Must have been the ice cream I just ate. Yeah, that must be it.

Couldn't possibly have been because of a story about nice cute fuzzy happy hobbits. Nah, couldn't have been that.

No way.

Nope.

But I keep shivering.....

Lindelea, your characters are three-dimensional and interesting, and the way you describe, for example, Eglantine waking up alone really drew me into the story.... And the subtle ways she tried to draw Paladin out seemed just right for a long-familiar married couple.

Very nicely done, Lindelea!

- Barbara, who shouldn't be shivering... I'm in sunny California!



Author Reply: Very shivery. Need to turn on the heat. We had a warm front come through a day or two ago, but now a cold front is coming through and the temps have dropped. Perhaps that's why I'm shivery.

Need a cup of hot cider, that's the ticket.

Thank you!

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/9/2008
Blasted site dropped me again! Gads!

A wonderful, shivery chapter as we see Eglantine this time not denying the dream, but instead seeking to learn more from her husband's gift of the Took Sight. And was that the dying cry of a rodent or the more potent ululation of a Nazgul heard from a great distance?

So good to see this continuing!

Author Reply: Hate it when that happens.

Y'know, I'm not sure what exactly she heard, Might have been either. After all, four Black Riders crossed into the Shire, and one of them wasn't that far away (only about 14 miles across the fields) just a few hours earlier.

Thanks!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/9/2008
This, this is most excellent and subtle. Of course the Thain of the Shire would sense the approach of evil into his domain, whether he knows what it truly signifies or not.

I loved the beginning part, with Eglantine and just the tick of the clock for her company. I can so identify with that uneasy feeling waking up to a silent house, unable to sleep...

Only a week until the cry is raised...

Author Reply: I know, I was looking at the Tale of Years today and was struck by the fact that Crickhollow wasn't attacked as soon as I thought it had been. A whole week after the Departure!

I think Paladin truly expected Bilbo to come back on the day the S.B.s were to take possession of Bag End. I think he was congratulating Frodo, privately in his mind, on hitting on the right method (finally!) to bring the old hobbit to his senses and back to the Shire. After all, it worked that way, to Paladin's thinking, once before... It's part of what he was telling Eglantine, while her mind was elsewhere, and I don't know if it's going to come out again later, or not.

Yep, that waking feeling, and listening... of course, at our house it's often punctuated by a whuffly nose a few moments later, softly whuffling in my ear to let me know the Giant Schnoz is looking for reassurance, perhaps after a bad dream of her own.

Thanks!

cathleenReviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/9/2008
Oh, Lindelea, I'm so glad to see a new chapter of this story! I love what you're doing with it, and the ominous tone its taken on here, as well as the way you're writing Paladin and Eglantine.

I can't wait to read more!

Author Reply: Thanks. Let's hope the Muse agrees!

CeleritasReviewed Chapter: 6 on 11/9/2008
I do hope Eglantine learns about the dream, and not just so I'll know what it was!

All is not right, clearly, and for a while it's only going to get worse...

I did have to say how much I admire that you're using this fic to take a look at a different Shire from the one you've posited in your other stories. It takes ridiculous amounts of guts and not a little humility to do that!

Author Reply: Hmmm. I think the dream will come out, though not necessarily all at once.

Thanks for the good words!

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