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Elf Academy 3: The Enemy Within  by Fiondil 18 Review(s)
KittyReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/17/2014
I feel actually better about the youngsters knowing that their friends will look out for them. They may not take their protection too seriously at the moment, but that may change, and in any case, it's the intent that counts.

Have to agree with Dave here; they need to find the one who ordered the attack. I wonder if he has anything to do with the attack on Edhellond now, too? In any case, they need to find them before the Elves do. Elven justice isn't exactly what the laws would suggest, after all.

Nice trick to get the store, from using Sanderson over Glorfindel naming the sum in the bank to the way they handled the auction.

Sounds like our good Jacob did have some rather underhanded and illegal plans and got foiled, giving Glorfindel some more bragging rights in the process. Oh well, he'll probably now have to be careful after his scheme was outed so publicly, and the Elves got what they wanted, so all is good.

Author Reply: Hi Kitty. I'm sure Nell and the Three Amigos appreciate the gesture on the part of their mortal friends. Just goes to show how sneaky Elves truly are the way Glorfindel handled the auction. I doubt Jacob will stick around Wiseman after this.

Thanks for reviewing. I appreciate it.

FV_WhisperReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/17/2014
It's so great seeing the youngster getting so much support from their friends at college. Surely, their friends are very well on their way to seeing the Elves as their palls and equals, now the Elves could take on the attitude a little more, but they have come a long way from their first encounter with mortals already.

Good to see there's some progress on Glorfindel's mugging, and it's clear it's doing more to him than expected. Legolas is uniform must be quite a sight. I think we all would not mind having a police officer in the neighborhood like that lol

Ah, the Valar just keep requiting people don't they? All those capable people who get into trouble one way or another and end up in the middle of nowhere a.k.a. Wiseman, Alaska.

It's good Glorfindel gave the police his warning, so they'll have an extra motivation to keep these guys locked up. Our current justice system may work for our society, but in truth it's too soft for the nature of the Elves, although they abide by it. And Glorfindel revealed in wrath isn't a thing one would want.

I'm pretty sure Dave had another of those 'what have I gotten into?" moments again. He must have been having a lot of those lately

I loved the description of the auction and Jacob is a scumbag for setting this up and I hope someone with the right authority overheard the conversation and is going to prosecute him for fraud anyway.
What the Elves and Sandman did however, was sneaky, but completely within the law (and not even an unheard practice at auctions, reselling it to another interested bidder who missed out, most of the time at a higher price).

But at least Erestor and Linda have their store now and I'm pretty sure if Erestor could have kept Imladris running once, he should do fine with a store as well.

Author Reply: Hi FV_Whisper. Yes, the youngsters have come a long way in their attitudes toward Mortals. I don't think any of their friends back in Valinor will recognize them now.

The Valar are definitely stacking the deck with the people they recruit from unlikely sources and backgrounds. Sneaky Valar. LOL!

I'm glad you liked the auction. The Elves were within the law in how they handled the auction and I've heard from various people how similar ruses have been done in real life when one group fought to prevent another group from acquiring certain property. So I didn't exactly make the scenario up. And in the end, the Elves have a clothing store.

Thanks for reviewing. I appreciate it.

KevanaReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/17/2014
Clever, clever Glorfindel! Jacob shoots himself in the foot and the Elves get the last laugh. Jacob is probably better off moving to Florida after this, yeah. I felt bad for the grandson - he could have gotten in big trouble too and apparently was too young and/or loyal and/or foolish to say no to the plan. But anyway, maybe that's one person who won't go up against the Elves in the future at the least.

"The Sandman cometh" - Metallica, Neil Gaiman, and an O'Neill play in one secret message that is itself a play on Sanderson's name - that is impressive.

Aw, Alex. I doubt he would really want to be a god anyway...taking over the world is the fun part but running it is hard...and his ladyfriend and best friend are hardly what I'd call a consolation prize.

Glorfindel, if you're going to threaten to kill someone, you might not want to do it in front of the DA. :P The line about their wrath was creepy though and, I'm sure, rightly so. I didn't remember that Glorfindel helped execute Eöl, or was that your addition? It was great either way...and Eöl, now there was a piece of work! Definitely a reminder that the Elves certainly weren't all sunshine and roses.

“I agree, but if we want to get these bastards, we may have to let the little fish go. Those two were not the ringleaders. I want the one who gave the order.” And there was a coldness in his eyes that surprised even the Elves.

*rubs hands gleefully* Talbot and I would get along just fine.

It makes me happy that the Amigos' Mortal friends are sticking by them, the Elves might pooh-pooh their contributions but I think that will end precisely as soon as one of their Mortal friends dies to protect them (though that might not ever happen in the story I can only imagine it would have to happen at some point in the War).



Author Reply: Hi Kevana. I think you can tell I had fun with this chapter, especially with Glorfindel putting one over on Jacob.

The Silmarillion doesn't specify who helped threw Eöl over the cliff, so having Glorfindel as a lord of the realm being involved doesn't contradict anything in the Silmarillion.

And you're right that a time will come when the Amigos will have to endure the death of one of their mortal friends who dies to protect them, but hopefully that day will not come soon.

Thanks for reviewing. I appreciate it very much.

SashaHoneypalmReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/9/2014
So what's the advantage to Jacob if he's only unofficially the owner? And the disadvantage to everyone else? Sorry I keep asking questions, I just really don't understand what's going on or why everyone would be mad at him.

Author Reply: I can answer that in one word, Sasha: taxes. Basically, Jacob is attempting tax fraud, a big no-no. Does that clear things up for you or just confuse you more? Sorry, but I can't explain it any better than that. You'll just have to take it on faith that Jacob was attempting a scam on the good people of Wiseman in order to stop the Elves from getting the store. He failed. End of story, as they say, at least for Jacob if not for the Elves. ;-)

SashaHoneypalmReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/9/2014
I still don't understand- what exactly did Jacob try to do?

Author Reply: Hi Sasha. Jacob attempted to swindle everyone. He may or may not have decided to put the store up for auction because of the Elves. That, in and of itself, was not the problem. It was the fact that he got his grandson, who probably was just old enough to be able to participate legally in the auction, to bid against Glorfindel. Glorfindel had already let it be known how high he was willing to go in the bidding and Jacob had his grandson bid higher than that amount. Of course, he could not know if others would also be bidding but his focus was primarily on thwarting Glorfindel's bid. Had the bidding gone in Jacob's grandson's favor then the ownership of the store would have passed to the grandson (on paper) but Jacob would maintain control while pretending to be retired. Sanderson figured that out when he saw how the bidding was going, especially when the two or three other bidders dropped out early on leaving only Glorfindel and the grandson still in the game. Whether the prosecutor attorney could make a case of fraud against Jacob is debatable, but he certainly can't complain about the store going to the Elves since he's now $200,000 richer and everything was done legally.

I hope this makes some sense to you and to anyone else who might be confused as to what exactly the issue here was. The legalities are very subtle here, I admit, but plausible. I'm sure something like this has happened at least once somewhere in the world.

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/8/2014
Jacob got more than he deserved, but not as much as he'd have received had he done it properly. Glad that Sanderson didn't get any more bids to go against, however! Heh!

Glad that at last they have two of the perpetrators behind bars. Now to see what their defense attorney tries.

Author Reply: You're right about Jacob, Larner. I'm sure he's kicking himself for it, too. We won't see anything more about the perpetrators in this story but we will in the next installment. That issue needs to be resolved eventually. Thanks for reviewing. I appreciate it.

EruherdirielReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/8/2014
Edhellond-2, huh? Cute. Maybe they should come up with a name that means Elf-house in a different language.

I enjoyed the description of the bidding war. It was very well done.
~Eruherdiriel

Author Reply: Well Elf-house would be Eldacöa in Quenya and Edhelgardh in Sindarin, but I think most people will just refer to it as Edhellond-two.

I'm glad you enjoyed the bidding war, Eruherdiriel. Thanks for leaving a review and letting me know. I appreciate it.

obsidianjReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/8/2014
That was a fun auction. Jacob used his own grandson as a plant? Did the grandson know he was part of a scam? I didn't feel too comfortable with Glorfindel's gloating in public. Glorfindel was right and I don't grudge him his lecture, but at the present time with emotions running high with the election, some people might turn this into "The elves are going to take over the town! People beware!". This might split the towns people even more. They might not like what Jacob did, but they sure won't like the aliens taking over their town.

Author Reply: I doubt the grandson knew what was really going on or that he was just a plant. I'm sure he took everything at face value. And while Glorfindel might have acted more prudently than he did, I think we can forgive him for gloating. I think most people will admire him for what he did and those who don't are the ones who would never change their minds about him anyway, not matter what he did or said. At any rate, we'll see something of the repercussions from this later. Thanks for reviewing, obsidianj. I appreciate it very much.

LaerReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/8/2014
To quote a cartoon character... "HA! HA!" busted at their (well Jacob's) own game.

I have a feeling that the good people of Wiseman would have started to boycott the store if his grandson had gotten it. Coming from a small town I still remember a new store owner bashing her competition with some very mean gossip. Her competition kept her cool about it all and waited. The new owner lost her business in a little over a years time. For some reason her customer's didn't like the conversations over there. Even after the new store closed, the established owner didn't make comments about it all. So yea for small towns and for the good people you find in them :)

Author Reply: Hi Laer. You may well be right about that. I pity the grandson because he obviously was an unknowing dupe in all this thinking he was helping his grandfather out. He may well had thought it would be cool to be a store owner and having his grandfather around to advise him in his so-called reitrement. At any rate, the deed is done, the Elves have a new store and all is right with the world. *grin*

Thanks for reviewing. I appreciate it very much.

rikkiReviewed Chapter: 90 on 11/7/2014
This was a good chapter for the elves. They have gained some supporters in the students (I have to say aren't they sweet even if they are trying to protect beings who are thousands of years older) and have seen some of their enemies (the ones who attacked Glorfindel) captured. I don't know if you will go into the trial that much but people are going to have to question again whether the actions against the elves have become too violent even if you don't want them living in your town. Some naysayers may become neutral in this conflict which would help the elves in the long run.

I really enjoyed your depiction of the auction. So Jacob was considering a scam on the town by having his grandson buy the store and then still continue to run things in someone else's name. I have a feeling that he did not limit his hatred to just the elves. Other people have suffered and would be glad that Jacob has had his comeuppance. If people don't want to deal with the elves now that they have the store, they can either go to Fairbanks or open a rival store. Though I think most people will just be happy that they don't have to make the trip to Fairbanks to do their shopping.

Hope that you have a wonderful weekend planned. I have baked fresh bread and will be taking some to the Cliff House for those who are gathered there. And it is time to start researching hot drinks for the colder weather - hot chocolate, mulled cider and various teas sound wonderful for the cold weather coming.



Author Reply: Hi Rikki. We won't see a trial of Glorfindel's attackers in this story, though we may see it in EA4. It all depends on what else is going on. Certainly there will be ramifications, both good and bad, with the arrests. We'll have to see.

I'm glad you enjoyed the auction. You may be right about Jacob. He may have made other enemies along the way, and even if those people don't particularly care for the Elves, they would enjoy seeing Jacob getting his.

Hot chocolate (dark chocolate, not milk chocolate) with cinnamon is a favorite winter drink of mine. *grin*

Anyway, thanks for leaving a comment. I appreciate it very much.

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