Reviews (176)

Author's reply

Considering what we know of how he first saw the woman he truly loves, this was not the best of comparisons for her to make, Yep, and they were doing so well up to that point. :(

Author's reply

Love the interactions here. Thanks Larner! I'm glad you enjoyed them! Sorry to take so long between readings, but life is often too full. Oh, please don't feel like you need to apologize. I completely understand!

Author's reply

Well, now he's got a much better idea about just what goes into it, doesn't hem. :)

Author's reply

A weaving prodigy he is not! Yes, I'd imagine he'd have a very specific set of skills that were very useful in very specific circumstances - but outside of that it would be pretty hit or miss. He is like 70 years old and so has been around a lot, but he can't have done everything. Will Aragorn's arm ever regain full function? Yes, but not tooooo soon. Congratulations on reaching this milestone! I am looking forward to the next chapter. Thanks Raksha! It's a little scary, to be honest. I've been living with the dread that I would never finish this thing for a very long time.

Author's reply

Why is Aragorn in no danger from the coughing plague? Has he had it already and lived through it, or did they have some remedies in Imladris that already cured him of it? In my head, he had come down with it and lived through it. That would work better for the story than there being a remedy in Imladris, which would complicate his staying away from there. Good chapter, as usual. Thanks Raksha!

Author's reply

At least the winter chill gave them an excuse to share a bed. Hmmmm. *squints* It is clear they share a bed whenever he's at home, right? No? It did give them an excuse to get a bit more physically close. I think her next purchase is going to be a fur blanket, either that or her poor geese aren't going to survive to the next winter. Nice to see Aragorn and Nienelen becoming perhaps a little more comfortable with each other; but they really need to communicate better. Maybe I should put some warnings on this thing. One being 'really really really really really slow burn' XD The last paragraph implies that several years pass? Yes, yes it does. It doesn't help any of the above that Aragorn is constantly out rangering. Thanks for your comments, Raksha!

Author's reply

At least Nienelen is respected, and does seem to derive some satisfaction from her work in keeping the chieftain's house. Yep, good! I'm glad that that is coming across as an aspect of her personality. But there isn't much real communication going on between them; and I hope that Nienelen will eventually think of her husband by his name rather than "My lord" all the time. Yeah, that power differential between them is pretty messed up, in its way. I couldn't think that there would be anything but a pretty big gap in power between 70-something year old Aragorn and a woman of the Angle, daughter of one of his men or not. He wouldn't want to abuse it, but would be pretty comfortable with it otherwise. She's stuck with "how the heck can I question him?" And there we have it. Everything flows from Aragorn to Nienelen, and he's not ready to talk about much of anything with her..... yet.

Author's reply

Yep. That boy is pretty ambivalent. Now that the initial crisis has passed, I'm sure he's feeling it more intensely. And it will increase their trust and understanding of one another. Yep, you put your finger on it. THAT is exactly what I think he would be afraid of. He already knows she's falling for him and he's not free to return that kind of affection. I think he's terrified of hurting Nienelen the way his mother was hurt. He saw what it did to his mother, and, at this point in the timeline, he just recently lost her after learning just what despair and loneliness did to her. Author Reply: Dagnabit! Did it again! XD Too quick on the reply button. Thanks for reading and commenting, Larner. Always a treat to wake up and see you've made it through more chapters.

Author's reply

Too bad his answer appears to be equivocal. Yeah, I'm not sure he has much that he could give. He strikes me as a person who is very careful not to promise more than he can deliver. I hope he realizes she loves him, and appreciates how she displays it by seeing to his comforts as she does. I would think he does, but is pretty ambivalent about it - and, like above, very worried about promising more than he can deliver about that, too.

Author's reply

May she know the joy of his return! It maaaaay get a little awkward. XD I think Aragorn would be a little shocked at having someone do those kinds of things for him. He had Arwen, and I'm sure she was very active in making sure he had things that he needed - hence his warhorse Roheryn. But, she wasn't part of his everyday life and caring for his physical needs - that was yet to come.

Author's reply

Pelara's advice is good. Some will never give honor fairly earned. Very true. Such are the lessons to be learned with power, I would think.

Author's reply

At least she has some advice to give the bride! lol Took her a moment. But there might have been a few things that took her by surprise that she thought it helpful to share. Yes! I modeled Mistress Pelara after a case-manager I worked with for nearly a decade. She was older by a good 20 some years. At first she put me through my paces, but once it became clear to her that I accepted that she had the right to and she was satisfied with what she saw, she became my strongest ally. It was wonderful! I could never have been as successful in that job as I was if it hadn't been for her. Now that I am her age, I can only hope to aspire to pass on that experience to the younger women that I work with. Author Reply: At least she has some advice to give the bride! lol Took her a moment. But there might have been a few things that took her by surprise that she thought it helpful to share. Yes! I modeled Mistress Pelara after a case-manager I worked with for nearly a decade. She was older by a good 20 some years. At first she put me through my paces, but once it became clear to her that I accepted that she had the right to and she was satisfied with what she saw, she became my strongest ally. It was wonderful! I could never have been as successful in that job as I was if it hadn't been for her. Now that I am her age, I can only hope to aspire to pass on that experience to the younger women that I work with.

Author's reply

The gift and blessing are both well thought out, and each will do its work. I kept think about Tolkien's quote about Arwen watching over Aragorn from afar in thought, and wondering about how much he was aware of her presence as he went about his lonely work. And I wanted to give the Dunedain a ritual for parting that touched on that. Thanks Larner!

Author's reply

Yes, that was a tricky transition for both of them. Nienelen is going to need all the allies she can get her hands on. Thanks for reading, Larner!

Author's reply

I'm happy that things are now better for you. Thanks. :) So am I, as you can imagine. It seems that many chapters have now even more details as they had. Oh dear. XD I actually weeded out a fair amount of detail and internal reactions in these earlier chapters. I had written then early on when I hadn't quite settled into my writing style. lol Nienelen didn't have a sister in your first version, did she? Will we discover what happened to her? That is correct. Good catch! And yes, we'll learn more about her as it becomes relevant to the events in the story. After having left the story for as long as I did, when I picked it back up again I became uncomfortable with how much the story was driven by men, and wanted to achieve a better balance. So giving Nienelen a sister was one of the first changes I made - and then used her to help repair that plot hole that had been bothering me. I'm kinda excited to see if you'll catch it. Hmmm... :D Thanks for reading and commenting Blueberry!

Author's reply

So, Aragorn will soon head off on the search for Gollum, which will keep him from home for quite some time. Will he see about the task of preparing for an heir ere he goes, I wonder? Again, he seems in little hurry to consummate the marriage. All very good questions! *g* I'd imagine that now the immediate threat is over, Aragorn is much more free to feel the other side of his ambivalence, and so keeps putting it off, and putting it off. Thanks for reading and commenting, Larner. :)

Author's reply

Hi Blueberry! I’m so glad you’re still here and still interested in reading this story. I feel bad that I didn’t reply to your reviews and I know it’s been a long time since you wrote them. I’m afraid I was in a not so great place at the time. But! Things have improved and the bug bit me again. I had essentially written myself into a plot hole that has sapped all my joy of the piece for a long time. I have since figured my way out of the hole. So, yes I’ve made some substantial revisions to some of the characters and plot points. You probably won’t notice the changes until a few more chapters in, but I’ve tweaked things enough that you may want to skim these first chapters again or the later major changes may not make very much sense. I’m so tickled that you’re reading. Thanks so much for reaching out.

Author's reply

But at least he has set things in motion for her to care for herself should he not return from one of his forays against the many enemies facing their people. Yep, Aragorn Elessar "Duty and Honor" Telcontare, that's his name. :) Well, I hope it's coming across that these are two honorable people just trying to do the best that they can. Author Reply: Oops. Too quick on that submit button. Thanks for reading and commenting Larner. I woke up this morning to all of your reviews. What a nice treat.

Author's reply

Oh, but one must be careful when changing current arrangements. Yep! Very astute observation. *whips out box of old-fashioned gold stars - pick - lick - poke - sticks one on Larner's forehead* :D

Author's reply

My thoughts are that Aragorn is a man who is drawn to an elf-maiden of about the highest status able to be reached by one of her kind in this age and who outstrips him in thousands of years of experience. I gotta think that, at the very least, he's very comfortable with women with comparable or greater levels of power, if not frankly attracted to it. I gotta think, too, that Nienelen's deference and how closed down she is around him has got to be freaking him out, at least a little. So, seeing that yes, she can assert herself, albeit in the mildest form of teasing, has got to be reassuring to him. Imagine being married to someone who can't or won't say "no" to you, and you might be rather reluctant to take them to bed.

Author's reply

Now, can she appreciate what that name presages? I think she's got a vague idea. Though I think, even if she doesn't, it's very clear that he had someone to whom he was very attached. So Nienelen has got to wonder why she's here, and not that someone. What she concludes about that is going to be heavily circumscribed by what she knows of him, and that's not much.

Author's reply

Yes, I would think so. Both Aragorn and Nienelen are kinda picking themselves up from the ashes, as it were. There's a lot of work to do, on all kinds of levels.

Author's reply

:) We shall see, shan't we.

Author's reply

Yes, yes it was. I think the Elders and Rangers caught him at a very vulnerable moment, but I can't imagine he's anything other than highly highly ambivalent. I feel sorry for Nienelen. Cold bed, wounded bridegroom, no one really to care about her. lol. Yep. I had a reader comment during my first draft stage that she had the touch of a Jane Eyre about her. All I'm missing here is the windswept moors. :P Author Reply: Oops. Missed that this was the last of your reviews of the bunch and wanted to add: Thanks for reading and commenting Raksha! I'm all kinds of thrilled that you're still around. We kinda ran in overlapping circles way back when and we'd bump into each other occasionally. You knew me then as Sillimarilli.

Author's reply

Also, you have the wrong millennium in the date; it should be 3008, not 2008. *snort* Okay. That's kinda funny that I did that. Thanks For the catch! Nice touch that the wedding vows are in "Elvish" (presumably Sindarin). Thanks! I'm trying to capture different levels of formality and class with language use. We'll see how successful I am at it. And I presume you've found the answer to your first question in your comment to the next chapter.