News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
| About Us News Resources
Login
Become a member
Help
Search
|
|
|
| A Spring of Joy by daw the minstrel | 270 Review(s) |
|---|---|
| The Karenator | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| Daw, I love this! What a wonderful opening. Eilian an ada! He and Celuwen are great parents. I bet little Flower Face has stolen the hearts of all the males in her family...both sides. I can imagine how taken Thranduil is since she's a little Lorellin. She's absolutely adorable. Full of life and mischievous by default. I think Eilian and Solith will finally bond over seeing that this one stays out of trouble and away from 'those' kinds of boys. And there's no one who can spot 'those' boys faster than Flower Face's dad. The forest is trying to tell Eilian something. And apparently Loriel too. She seems to have inherited the sense of the forest that runs in Thranduil's line. I was trying to figure out what about Loriel drew Gollum's attention. Why would he be interested in her? Well, I really don't know, but I've been speculating. I imagine that the number of 'small elves--his size--are still not terribly numerous. I can see that he would be fascinated with her simply based on that. I also remember in one of your older stories where Ithilden wanted to summon Mithrandir and Thranduil said no, that magic draws magic. While Gollum might not exactly 'have magic' he does have the ring. Perhaps the ring recognizes the blood of the woodland king in this child--and Eilian too? So..the ring is drawn to power? Maybe that's farfetched and Gollum is just skulking about and happened onto this cottage. Still, Eilian's dream is disturbing. Apparently Loriel also had a bad dream. Something is definitely up. Meanwhile...back at the palace....:>) I'm looking forward to finding out what's going on at home next. If nothing else, I can't wait to see Thranduil with Loriel! Wonderful beginning. Calm, peaceful and very exciting. Karen Author Reply: I think Eilian and Solith will finally bond over seeing that this one stays out of trouble and away from 'those' kinds of boys. And there's no one who can spot 'those' boys faster than Flower Face's dad. Oh I think you are so right about that. All of it! And sadly, the peace doesn't last. We're only 60 or so years away from the Quest and the Battle under the Trees. Much of this forest will burn. I think they're all going to want to keep anything evil from even breathing the same air as Flower Face, and they're just not going to be able to make it happen. For more information on Gollum, you can look at Gandalf's account in Chapter 2 of FOTR. Next chapter, Legolas and the life of the Home Guard during a time of relative peace. | |
| elliska | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| I am so glad to see Eilian leading a simple settler's life and so glad to see he has a daughter! Thranduil so needs little grandaughters! And a daughter will just wrap Eilian around her little finger. She seemed like a little darling, with her worm, the song she made for it and her confounding love for her grandparents. :) “Hold still,” Celuwen commanded exasperatedly. Eilian laughed as he carried the tub past them toward his and Celuwen’s sleeping chamber. “If you can make that happen by command, I hope you will start ordering the weather next.” Great line and too true. Children are constant motion when they want to be. That is one of the things I love to see. Solith was just himself, starting in on Eilian from the moment he opened his mouth. Those two kill me. “Your ada is already married to your nana,” That must have been a difficult thing for Solith to own up to! :) And a very cute line on Loriel's part. Of course the thing in the forest frightening the trees frightened me very nicely as well. Poor Eilian. Loriel is lucky she didn't give her father a heart attack. And this: Loriel’s eyes widened, and she backed up a step. Eilian did not blame her. He backed away when Celuwen looked at him that way too. That cracked me up! It took me a few minutes thinking on it to figure out what web-footed creature would be eating crunchy birds in the forest and scaring the trees and Eilian, but I think I got it. Ooo, this one looks like another really good one. I love to see Eilian with a daughter and I love the idea of seeing Legolas so close to the Quest as captain of the Home Guard. I hope he spent the last ten years getting used to being captain because I suspect he's about to be tested. Glad to see a new one up, daw! Very perceptive of her to notice the trees--runs in the family. Author Reply: I think Loriel is a little Wood-elf, which isn't surprising given who her parents are. And Eilian too is enjoying living a Wood-elf life, far from the palace or his life as a warrior. This is a different kind of challenge and he's surprising himself by finding it rewarding. Solith hasn't yet forgiven Eilian for bedding and wedding his daughter, but maybe the little girl will eventually make a difference. It will if Solith is smart. Loriel will eventually notice if her grandfather is rude to her father, and I suspect she won't like it. We're only 60 or so years from the Quest now, which is hard to believe. None of them knows it's coming, so it's so odd to know it as a reader. I saw your name mentioned on another board a couple of days ago. Someone was moaning about Evil!Thranduil stories and someone else said that Elliska had a very good series of stories up here and at OSA. | |
| sofia | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| I now understand your choice on Tuilinn dying and I find that I agree. Anyway, I'm so happy you have another story out. Have I told you recently how much I love Eilian? Did I miss something? Since when did Eilian become a father? I am so curious now! Exactly how old is little Loriel? Is the webbed footed creature a frog? I myself don't believe its a frog but that's all I can come up with. More soon please. -sofia Author Reply: I really missed writing from Eilian's POV in "Creature of Fire," so I was glad to be back to it here. Eilian became a father in 2953 TA. (How's that for precise? LOL) That's two years after the Battle of Five Armies, which I wrote about in "Tangled Web." I wrote that year or so ago, so it's been a while. At the end of it, Thranduil urges Eilian to have elflings. I figure it took a year for Eilian to be sure that there was going to be peace for a while, and then the pregnancy would have lasted a year. And then, there she was. She's about 8 in human years, so 3-ish in elf years. | |
| TNT2B2 | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| I was so excited to see a new story. I enjoy reading your creations. I always pictured Eilian having a daughter and here she is! Author Reply: I was excited to be back writing again too. I enjoyed the little vacation from it, but then I really enjoyed doing this chapter too. It was easy! I sweat bullets over Legolas, but Eilian is always easy. I think it's because Legolas is a canon character and that intimidates me. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it. | |
| Ana | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| »…As Eilian emerged from the trees into the clearing, a small figure who had been squatting next to her gave a cry, jumped up, and came running toward him with arms outstretched. “Ada! Ada!”… My jaw literally hit the floor when I read that. Oh, Boy… Eilian has a little elfling! I'm soooo happy for him. »…He squeezed Loriel, who was playing with one of his braids. He tried not to think about the dirt and worm slime on her hands…« And I always thought he'd be the one playing with the worms in the garden and leaving them around as little surprise presents for Nana. How come they aren’t living with the King? Or will they now, that something strange is happening in the settlement? I really liked the middle of the chapter. It pictured perfect little family. Peaceful, happy, with annoying in-laws... »…Sometimes it seemed to him that he would never sleep peacefully again; even in a time a peace, too many dangers lurked in Middle-earth, ready to waylay his unsuspecting child. …« I suppose Ada King finds it amusing that Eilian is now in his shoes, though I know no one wishes to anyone to know how it is to fear for his/her child's life. But it must be amusing or it will be, when Loriel grows a bit, to see her getting into the same kind of trouble Eilianddid when he was an elfling… And the last part gave me the creeps. Loriel is really sweet. I like the fact that she can sense the trees. ~Ana Author Reply: I glad I surprised you with the little girl! I think Eilian will be a very loving parent, just as he was a loving big brother with Legolas. I suspect Celuwen will have to be the disciplinarian in this family though, at least with a daughter. Eilian might have been more willing to be firm with a son. As a child, I'll bet Eilian did play with worms. I know he played with mud. :-) They're not living with Thranduil because it seemed to me that Eilian would have trouble just living at the palace during a time of peace. He needs something to occupy him and life in the settlement does that. Thranduil was wise enough to see that. Besides, Celuwen loves living like this, and in truth, so does Eilian, at least for now. If Loriel does even half the things that Legolas did, let along Eilian, he'll be having a fit! | |
| Socket | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| Eilian is a FATHER?!?!?!?! *thud* Oh, now he gets his! Thranduil must be getting the amusement of his life watching his middle son cope with fatherhood. Anyway, this is an intriguing and every entertaining beginning. Can't wait to read more. PS: The line about Solith preferring to think his grandchild was dropped down the chimney by an eagle was hysterical. Author Reply: LOL. You're enjoying this much too much, Socket. In truth, I think that Eilian won't really "get his" for another thirty or forty years when the young Elves start coming around and asking Loriel to go for a "walk" with them. I suspect she's not going to be very tractable when he tries to remind her that her heart belongs to Ada. You don't believe in eagle delivery? LOL. | |
| Alison H | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| Okay, Daw, you have just scared me half to death!! WHAT is the webbed creature that prowls the settlement and why? Oh---and Eilian has a daughter as you promised and I love her already!! I can imagine that she has everybody wrapped around her little finger, especially her grandfather Thranduil.She's so sweet and so is Eilian as an Ada. Your OC characters are so well written, and so loved, that I don't mind in the slightest that they were the focus at the beginning of this story--and what a great story this is already :D I had to laugh when you wrote the dinner with Celuwen's parents.Loriel was dropped down the chimney by an eagle? I love that! Eilain will always be at odds with his father-in-law, I think. If I was Eilian I would be moving my family back to the stroghold as quickly has elvenly possible--my heart was racing at the end of this first chapter!!Well done! Can't wait for an update. Take care. Ali. Author Reply: This chapter was fun to write. I've had a daughter in mind for him for some time now. I look forward to being able to write about her romances some day! She'll only be 70 or so when the Quest takes place though. We're getting very late in my cycle of stories. I don't like to start a story with OCs because I'm afraid new readers will just ignore it, but this chapter seemed right for this story. I needed to show where the characters were at this point in the history of Mirkwood before it dawns on them that Bad Things are afoot again. I don't imagine that Solith likes to think much about his little girl with her rogue of a husband, but if he has enough time with his granddaughter, he may soften a little. :-) | |
| Jay of Lasgalen | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| Eilian the ada! I love it, Daw. He was made to be a father. And Thranduil did tell him to have elflings. BTW, how long after the Battle of Five Armies is this set? This is a gem: 'She loved visiting Celuwen’s parents, a flaw that always puzzled Eilian, given that he found Loriel to be unusually bright'. Oh, my Lord, then I came across this!: 'he worked rapidly with a skill whose origin he had decided it was better not to explain to his wife. Eilian the flirt is never far away, is he? But Gollum sneaking about under Loriel's bedroom window? Eilian, move back to the stronghold NOW! Author Reply: Isn't it odd that wild Eilian was indeed born to be a father? I think it's because he gives his heart so completely. He was good for Legolas as a child, and he adores his own daughter. This story is set about 10 years after the Battle of Five Armies. I figured it took Eilian and Celuwen a year to realize there might be peace and then there would have been a year of pregnancy. Eilian is always fun to write about. I read somewhere that a reader should be able to tell whose POV you're using, even if you don't say. Eilian is a character for whom that's easy to do. | |
| nessie | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| Yay! Another story! Don't worry about chapters being entirely made up of OC's, your characters are practically canon anyway ;-) And I see Gollum (and I'm pretty sure it's Gollum) has entered Mirkwood. And you gave Eilian a daughter! Aww! And she looks like his mother! Or at least has her eyes...I bet Thranduil loves her to death. Now, was she born before or after the battle? I want to say after, but I think I should go check your profile to see how many years after this takes place. Anyways, this is great so far! You always write such interesting stories and the plots are always original! I love it! Update asap! ~nessie~ Author Reply: I kind of was worried about the all OC chapter. I'm afraid new readers won't read it. But I couldn't resist. This seemed the best way to open this particular story. Loriel was born two years after the Battle of Five Armies. It took Eilian and Celuwen a year to believe that there would be peace and then there was a year of pregnancy. Thranduil is SO sorry she lives in the settlement rather than the palace, but Eilian and Celuwen needed to be away, and the little girl is a true wood elf. | |
| esamen | Reviewed Chapter: 1 on 5/8/2005 |
| Oh, I'm so happy to see a new story begin. I was about to email you and ask what was cooking, and if it was soup yet. This is neat! so new and different! When Eilian's daughter came on scene, I felt like I was watching a movie and seeing a major character introduced. And this mysterious predator (I'm betting it's Gollum) is terrifying. The whole chapter seems very cinematic to me. Very visual, with a kind of action beat going through it. I enjoyed all the homey details of settlement life, especially as compared with life in Thranduil's stronghold. It reminded me a little bit of my beloved 1930's, but with a far more elegantly rendered, magical air about it :-) "Loriel flung herself at her grandfather, whose face softened as he picked her up. “You are silly, Grandfather. I will not have suitors. I am going to marry Ada.” This one took me by surprise. LOL! It was a stroke of genius to give Eilian a daughter. Now we'll see a whole new side of his personality. Eilian must have been quite dismayed to find himself on Solith's side of the world for a moment. I look forward to seeing Legolas back on the scene, and finding out how all my . . . excuse me, YOUR Elven family is doing. Happy typing! Author Reply: I've had this chapter done for several days, but I wasn't certain that I wanted to start with an all OC chapter, so I drafted most of a Legolas one too. But I think this is best. I loved writing about their life in the settlement and introducing Loriel. One of these days, Eilian is really going to understand Soliths' POV. And what a blow that will be! | |