Reviews (129)

Author's reply

Belated thanks for stopping and leaving a word of encouragement. I am back to writing and working at finishing the WIPs one at a time. (A stay-at-home order is quite helpful, at that.) At the moment, it's Bill's story, but this one is high on the list. I hope this finds you and yours well. (((hugs)))

Author's reply

Belatedly replying to say: Actually, in this version, Paladin is Thain, but the social structure of the Tookland is much different than in the other stories I've written. It still falls well within the framework JRRT left us, since he was focusing on the larger story and only gave hints as to what the Travellers had left behind. And so Paladin is "Thain", but the Thain is almost an honorary title these days. Considering the state of the Stock Road that JRRT reported early on in LOTR, he's not doing a whole lot to keep the roads for some mythical King. He's been head of the family since Ferubras's death (so Tooks will bring family matters to him), and he has the power to call a Muster if needed, but it's been a long time since a Muster was needed in the sleepy, peaceful Shire. Instead of having to remove to the Great Smials to oversee the Tookland, he is still a farmer, first and foremost, and only a sort of part-time Thain. But yes. This timeline is significantly different. Ferdinand and Ferdibrand's lives were not shattered by a stable fire, and there is no official Thain-imposed Ban in this story (though he still has the power to do so, and I imagine he exercises it in the case of some of the hobbits who collaborated with Sharkey and the ruffians, though I haven't got that far in fleshing out the draft). So yes, quite a few bad things have come undone, though times will still be hard, as JRRT intimated, necessitating leadership and the formation of a Resistance and Defence of the Tookland and all that. Thanks for listening. Hope this finds you well.

Author's reply

Belated thanks for the encouragement! We've been dealing with illness at our house for more than a week now, but I'm hoping that things will get back to normal (or what passes for normal) soon. I hope to have a new chapter in this one before the end of the month. Author Reply: Sigh. Life has a way of happening. I got pulled away from fanfic for a long time, but oddly enough, life kept happening and pulled me back to fanfic recently. In any event, thanks and apologies, and I am working on WIPs again. This one is high on the list. I hope this finds you and yours well.

Author's reply

I'm sure it must have been terrifying. I think JRRT said you could feel them coming, in growing fear -- he said their greatest weapon was fear, if I'm remembering right.

Author's reply

It must have been awful -- not knowing is awful. There was a little boy in the news here a few years back, who disappeared from his school. His parents kept the case before the public for months... but to this day, no one (except his abductor) knows what happened to him. How terrible, to know that something has happened, but not to know a loved one's fate.

Author's reply

So it begins, indeed. My goodness, I just realised I have three separate stories set in the Shire at the time of the Troubles. I guess it would have been too cumbersome to wrap them all in one package. Rose and Hally's story started as mere background for "Flames" and "Rescue" and "Pearl of Great Price" and "Small and Passing Thing" and grew into a tale of its own, and still growing! Whew. And yet, I still haven't figured out how to reconcile this story with Rosemary's exile... or if the two must remain mutually exclusive. Still, it would be wise for Paladin to arrange to have spies outside of the Tookland, once he closes the borders. Ah well, that is some way off, yet. For Paladin, in this story, the Troubles are just beginning.

Author's reply

There are conflicting accounts in the original. One says that something came out of the Old Forest and carried them off (if I'm remembering right), and another says they went into the Old Forest and died there (though we know they didn't). You're right, it's not the Forest itself, as in the time when the Forest attacked the Hedge. And apparently Freddy did not tell anyone that they went into the Old Forest willingly, on their way to Rivendell... So one of my stories, where I have him sweating under the questioning of Saradoc and Paladin about an apparent "prank", is off the mark, and I didn't realise it until I was working on just what the families left behind thought of the disappearance. Poor Paladin, and poor Eglantine! When someone walks out the door, we just assume they'll be back as planned... I keep reminding myself not to take my loved ones for granted.

Author's reply

You're right about the earthquake behaviour, I hadn't thought of that! I was remembering the reaction of Farmer Maggot's dog(s) to the Black Rider who came inquiring about Frodo, and the horses in the stable at Bree, and thinking that it was plausible that the little dog would be able to sense evil passing by on the way to Crickhollow... Poor Freddy. Scared almost out of his wits. Thanks!

Author's reply

Awww, "best of buds"! You're right, they'll work it out eventually. In the next chapter it'll become clearer. Thanks!

Author's reply

I think you're right. I'm amazed he's even able to form a few words, and very grateful that JRRT told us exactly what he said. Word will come to Paladin soon. I'm not sure if it's in the next chapter, or the one after -- it depends on how long the chapter goes, and if I have to break it off halfway to keep it from going too long. (My chapters have been getting longer lately, in several stories, whew, but thankfully Bill the Pony is still pretty concise.) We'll see! Thanks! Author Reply: (and I'm glad you like the little dog. In my mind he resembles a Jack Russell terrier, but he could be just about any breed of little yappy dog -- and aren't most little dogs yappy?)

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Yes, he's got to! Merimac's pretty sharp, and so is Berilac (even though he's not yet married and still living at home), but they've been wakened from a sound sleep and Fatty's pretty incoherent at this point. JRRT said it took some time for them to make out what he was going on about, and they got the idea that there was some kind of attack from the Old Forest, so even when they did get the gist, it wasn't terribly accurate, even so... Thanks! (hope to have a new chapter of Proposition finished tomorrow and ready for you to look at when you get the chance!)

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And Happy Easter back at you! The little bit of description JRRT wrote, of Freddy waiting for the Black Riders to come (though he might not have realised it so clearly at the time), reads like the finest suspense. I'm glad it doesn't cross the line into horror. Imagination is bad enough! Thanks!

Author's reply

It would be worrisome, although these hobbits tend to look on the bright side, and so they've found logical explanations for things. Of course, we know what's what, but they don't -- and won't really know what's happened until the Travellers return a little more than a year later! All they can do is piece together the information they do have. Poor Freddy... I think he's about to get more than he bargained for. Thanks! (Did you say you're coming down Easter week?)

Author's reply

You are an astute reader! I had to smile, reading your review. It's funny, but as I was writing this chapter (and a couple that follow), combing LOTR for clues, I learned something new about the whole Conspiracy-Crickhollow angle of the story. This turned out to be an important point, but it was something that had never struck me before! (And thankfully I so completely missed it when writing earlier stories, that they didn't turn out to be accidentally AU to JRRT's work, and I'm not going to be contradicting my own previous writing by noting it in this story, which makes the OCD part of myself much happier.) So, amazingly, the story remains new and fresh even as I re-read it for the umpteenth time. Tolkien was amazing. Thanks!

Author's reply

Poor Paladin. I don't think things are going to clear up anytime soon, either... And poor Freddy, indeed! JRRT gives us just enough detail to be able to imagine what things were like in the little house at Crickhollow, the 29th through 30th. It sounds like something out of a horror movie. Good thing there doesn't seem to have been a cellar. ("Freddy! Don't go in the basement!" -- How many times have we said that to people on the big screen, who ignore our warnings and proceed to do just that! ...not that I've seen many horror movies, but I've heard many such plots recounted by siblings and friends... "Freddy! Don't open that door!") ...and now I'm reminded of those Angel creatures that my Whovian children tell me about. I was a Whovian when Tom Baker was the Doctor, but haven't seen much of the show since.

Author's reply

Alas, poor Paladin... Still, must stick within the constraints of canon, which implies that nobody found out until after the attack on Crickhollow on the 30th. Thankfully, the Quick Post eats up some time -- it's still going to take the better part of a day, and maybe two, to take a message from Tookland to Buckland. A super-urgent message might travel a bit faster, but Paladin didn't give the rider any reason to "kill the horses" so while he's riding faster than a mail-carrier on foot, or a wagon, he's still going to take some time to cover 50 miles without straining his pony. The Pony Post relays in my stories are set up much later on the timeline, when Pippin becomes Thain. (I love thinking this stuff through. Now if I could just attack housekeeping with the same thorough mindset...)

Author's reply

I pondered for a while while writing this part of the story. Freddy stayed behind to make it look as if Frodo were still living at Crickhollow. There's no indication how long he expected to keep it up. (Pippin and Merry's parents would eventually be expecting their sons back home, after all, so that would be a dead giveaway in the end.) However, he had to be prepared to accept and answer messages, and once I realised that, I decided he'd better do a bit of forgery practice. Seems to fit with his later lawbreaking activities as well. Thanks!

Author's reply

Paladin might be perceptive enough, but Freddy is quite a skilled forger (or at least I'm imagining him as one). Now it makes me want to write (or preferably read!) a story about an earlier forgery -- maybe a childish prank, writing a note purporting to be someone wanting to meet up with someone else... What fun!

Author's reply

You're right! If Freddy hadn't sent the answer, the game would have been up much sooner. As it is, they won't have an inkling until after the attack on Crickhollow on the 30th. Paladin might see through the forgery, but he's got no reason to be suspicious at this point, and so he might only see through it in hindsight. Thanks!

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It would be a hard blow, especially when he'd been working with them since the spring, would have gotten to know their little quirks and foibles, befriended them, taught them, etc. I know when we raised a guide dog puppy, even though we knew the whole time he lived with us that we were raising him in order to let him go to a new owner, it was still hard when he left us. Thanks!

Author's reply

Yes, I understand it! So true, the Ring offered the danger. Amazing how it languished for so many years in the Shire without apparent effect. I was also thinking when I read your comment that "within" could include hobbits like Lotho and Ted Sandyman.

Author's reply

Thank you! I figure he would have had to be level-headed and clear-thinking to keep the Tookland free in the face of what the rest of the Shire experienced.

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True, though I wonder if it would have made any difference if it had... Tooks and Tooklanders are still no match for Black Riders, after all. Whew.

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When I was working this out, I decided that any difference from Merry's experience could be explained by the fact that the Healing Hands worked on Merry... in addition to his experience in Bree, where I think he said it was like falling into deep water, and he didn't remember much else about the encounter with the Black Rider. He remembered being drawn against his will, I think, and Ferdi will likely remember that much, eventually. Thanks!

Author's reply

Good call! That would be very similar to what's affecting Ferdi (and Tolly, if we were to catch a glimpse of that hobbit). Thanks!