It is too bad they must be leery of everything at this time. Now, to see the bounty properly shared with the neighbors! Love the way they seek to fool most of the ruffians, and appreciate the dream.
Author's reply
I think they are mostly leery when they are not doing things "as usual" or when in the presence of ruffians, for fear of putting a foot wrong or letting on that they are more than the simple, jolly hobbits they appear to be. It's true, they have to disguise important things so that the children don't innocently blurt something incriminating, yet family life when the littlest hobbits are up and about is still fairly simple and jolly, by necessity, I'm thankful to say!
Scar is not kindness personified--there's definite self-interest in his actions, but he is clever and observant, and he not only likes Rosemary's cooking, but he realises the Bolgers will inevitably share what they have with hobbits as well as (or maybe more than) wandering Men.
If not for Rosemary's light hand at baking, he'd probably let the family go hungry without a twinge of conscience. *sigh*
OTOH, maybe he has depths that *I* haven't even seen yet. You never know what a character's going to do, or so it seems sometimes.
Thanks!
Larner
· 18 April 2010
· Chapter 4: An Un-Expected Party
It must have been particularly galling to realize they were benefitting from the misery of their neighbors! At least they do have food and a level of good will at the moment!
Author's reply
Yes, they do have good will from the ruffians, at least. The neighbours are another matter. (Can we say, "collaborators," precious? Or at least the appearance of collaboration, all in the name of gathering information for the free hobbits of the Tookland?)
Thanks!
Dreamflower
· 15 April 2010
· Chapter 4: An Un-Expected Party
A lesson for Estella: that sometimes good things happen for bad reasons. That's a harder one, perhaps, to learn than the more usual one of the other way round-- yet something everyone needs to learn sooner or later.
I loved some of the sly little things you slipped in, like "herbs and stewed rabbit" and the bit about the deer all being Lotho's (shades of Robin Hood!)
I love how Estella is toughening up and managing to keep her head. She's also really getting into her role as Twig-- and *that* might be a lesson hard to *unlearn* when the crisis is over...
Author's reply
Ah, yes, Robin Hood! Funny how he sneaks in here and there, especially when oppression is in the air.
Poor Estella. It's just as well she had a gradual reintroduction to girliness, during Freddy's recovery. I think it would have been an awful shock for her to go right from "Twig" to "Estella" (the gently born young lady), especially under her grandmother's critical eye.
It's fun to contemplate that Hally's family might have been enjoying herbs and stewed rabbit right about the same time as Sam and Frodo...
Poor Rosemary, she could appear to be crying because she was touched by the ruffians' gesture (and wisely blame it on a tearfully grateful reaction to their "generosity") while weeping for the poor hobbits who'd been robbed. *sigh*
Thanks!
Larner
· 8 April 2010
· Chapter 3: Visitors
Seems to me the ones eating them out of smial and home are the ruffians who've come to like her baking! Excellent acting by Rosemary--and by Estella. And so wonderful to see something on this one again!
Author's reply
You're exactly right! The ruffians were the topic of that conversation, not Estella, though Estella didn't overhear enough to know that. The pantry's getting low, and Rosemary knows that it's the ruffians' custom to "drop by" on Baking Day, if not several times a week. The rumour of fever kept them away for a week, but won't last forever.
Rosemary was scared stiff to refuse the ruffians, but she did it so graciously, and with such open honesty and regret, that Scar and Three-fingers were wise enough not to kill the goose laying the golden-brown-and-delicious eggs, but to defer their demands.
Whew, getting too wordy--must be time for readaloud.
Thanks!
Dreamflower
· 8 April 2010
· Chapter 3: Visitors
Ah! Rosemary's so brave and clever and such a good little actress, LOL! You'd think she actually cared about those three Ruffians! She's setting a great example for Estella/Twig!
BTW, I don't think I told you what a perfectly hobbity nickname "Twig" is, not to mention clever! It's the kind of nickname that certainly does not lend itself to thinking the person so named is a lass and not a lad!
So fun to see more of this!
Author's reply
Rosemary's an interesting character. She has a healer's heart, and can honestly feel pity even for a ruffian, even as she's actively working against him and his kind. She can despise his actions and choices, and yet something in her recognises the divine spark, the fact of personhood, that at some past time in some place the Man was very likely a bouncing, fresh-faced babe.
She might wonder what set them on their course, and be honestly bewildered, and even see their behaviour as extreme naughtiness rather than wickedness. (What would make a person behave so?) In her hobbity way, she cannot imagine neglecting or abusing a precious little one, and so she is speaking truth when she imagines them missing their mothers... She may be a little naive, but her ability to discern truth gives her a measure of protection the other hobbits lack.
She has not come face-to-face with evil, yet (and won't, really, until Ferdi is hauled off to be hanged), for Hally shields her from the worst he hears, and the ruffians, though free in their gossip, are somewhat restrained in her sweet and generous presence.
Whew, can you tell I've been having tea with Rosie, the past day or two? I like her better the more I get to know her! (LOL)
Thanks!
Celeritas
· 19 March 2009
· Chapter 2: Into the Darkness
Some beautiful angst here at Fatty's departure. One of the worst things Estella's going to have to go through is what he's been going through since last September: knowing that your loved ones are in danger and being able to do nothing about it.
"I know them. Frodo showed me..." tells you all you need to know.
Very well done.
Author's reply
Thank you! You're right, Freddy *has* been going through it since September, but it really didn't hit home until you voiced the thought just now.
Ah, Frodo. I'm sure a lot of what you taught Freddy will stand him in good stead in the coming months.
Thanks again!
Dreamflower
· 15 March 2009
· Chapter 2: Into the Darkness
Oh yes, her brother is indeed going into danger--not as dire a path as Frodo's, but deadly all the same...
Poor Estella, just beginning to realize the true seriousness of it all!
Author's reply
Poor Estella, she's been rather sheltered all her life, and now all that is about to be stripped away...
...and yet, she'll see another side of life that she might not even have imagined, otherwise. And it'll make her all the more a fit partner for a Master of the Hall in the end, for she'll understand the needs of those who look to the Hall.
What fun! I love watching characters develop.
(Went to that website but couldn't figure out how to vote. I'd vote for Edoras, but the Trotter story sounded so intriguing, and then there was the Cado story, and another one I can't remember but jumped at, when I read the description... sigh... perhaps I'll just have to urge to you work on all of them.)
Larner
· 15 March 2009
· Chapter 2: Into the Darkness
A time to get used to the new order of things in still another way; and the need to accept that Freddy is going to fight the new order as he can.
Excellent!
Author's reply
Yes, it's a time of transition for Estella, and a steep learning curve ahead. But I think she's up to it.
Thanks!
Dinossiel
· 30 November 2008
· Chapter 0: Introduction and Prologue
Oh, my! What a fitting beginning for a story so wrought with peril-for Estella, for the 'Fox', for Fatty, and for Odovacar, of course.
Loved the first chapter, as well, and hope to see more.
Dinny
Author's reply
Thanks!
I'm hoping for more, too, if only I can find some writing time.
Dreamflower
· 25 November 2008
· Chapter 1: So it begins
Freddy is beginning to realize the dangers besetting the Shire. And is, perhaps, getting some inspiration from his cousin Ferdibrand.
I love Rosemary in this--she is such a practical hobbit-mum, making games of cozening the ruffians for her children. On the one hand, it probably helps the children to not be so frightened of the new enemy on their doorstep, and on the other hand it actually gives them a real job to do, and a real purpose. I'm sure they can sense that *this* particular game is more important than most of the others they play.
And I love her explanations to Freddy. He has to understand what he's sending his sister into...
Looking forward to more...
Author's reply
I do love Rosemary. She had to grow up quickly, as it were, for the sake of love, and now for the sake of love she has to play the game and make sure her children get it right. If they become frightened, the game's up, so she must be the consummate actress. And her dear Hally has grown up alongside her; how I love that steady and sensible Hobbit. Not an adventurous bone in his body, but he does what he needs to do. I'm sure he'd be much happier if Ferdi didn't keep coming round, gathering news for the Thain. Then again, maybe not, for Ferdi's visits kept Rosemary from pining for the Green Hills and home, all the long years of her exile.
I'm thinking in the "new version" her father disowned her for her own protection. Perhaps she was implicated in Lalia's death somehow, some carelessness of hers, young as she was, and Pearl took the blame for the accident, and Ferdinand sent her off and publicly disowned her to get her out of the Tookland and away from worse and more malicious gossip than eloping would bring. Don't know, as it's rather fuzzy at the moment. But something like that.
Poor Freddy. He seems the unlikeliest Rebel I can think of. But perhaps that's what makes him so effective in the role.
Thanks!
Larner
· 25 November 2008
· Chapter 1: So it begins
Oh, yes, this is the reality of it for these, who must trick the Ruffians and evade them to merely survive! Yes, Freddy is beginning to understand the harsh reality with which the Tooks now live.
Author's reply
Indeed. As the ruffians' anger at the Tooks grows, Rosemary's only protection (and a thin one it is) is that the Tooks cast her out and disowned her. It also puts her children in danger, for if the ruffians wanted they could burn their home and leave them as homeless wanderers. It's a wonder that Rosemary and Hally are only *pretending* to be collaborators!
Celeritas
· 25 November 2008
· Chapter 1: So it begins
Oh, those children playing such a delightfully dangerous game! I can imagine they'll have tales to tell down the years, probably along the lines of "Yes, but it really wasn't that horrid for us" and ending in reminiscences of dear old Mum and her ability to get them through those days with their innocence mostly in tact.
The contrast of gentry and "honest labour" is really well drawn out and not something that's emphasized as much in a lot of other fan fiction out there. It works particularly well in this tale since Estella has to move from one to the other--both give up and gain.
Rosemary is so very sharp--a number of hobbits already inadvertently owe her their lives, and I imagine that number will get greater as the Troubles increase!
Author's reply
Delightfully dangerous game, yes, it reminds me of some of the stories I've read of the Resistance in WWII, like "Snow Treasure" where the children smuggled Norway's gold to safety on their sleds, right under the noses of the occupying Nazis.
Hally and Rosemary will be shunned by their neighbours for a time, tarred with the label of "collaborator" but there will come a time when their true colours will be known. (Actually, during the desperately reckless rescue of Ferdi, captured at last and doomed to worse than the Lockholes.)
But at the moment, the neighbours have no idea!
Thanks!
Celeritas
· 25 November 2008
· Chapter 1: So it begins
Oh, those children playing such a delightfully dangerous game! I can imagine they'll have tales to tell down the years, probably along the lines of "Yes, but it really wasn't that horrid for us" and ending in reminiscences of dear old Mum and her ability to get them through those days with their innocence mostly in tact.
The contrast of gentry and "honest labour" is really well drawn out and not something that's emphasized as much in a lot of other fan fiction out there. It works particularly well in this tale since Estella has to move from one to the other--both give up and gain.
Rosemary is so very sharp--a number of hobbits already inadvertently owe her their lives, and I imagine that number will get greater as the Troubles increase!
Author's reply
I forgot to respond to the class distinctions you pointed out. You're right, it's not seen in a lot of fanfic. I've even been criticized for it, by those who think that hobbits ought to be egalitarian... but Sam's attitude as JRRT wrote him reminded me so much of Bunter, in the Lord Peter stories, and to a lesser degree Bertie Wooster's Jeeves. Bunter was a batman, and later valet to Lord Peter, though he did much more than a mere valet, as did Jeeves. Both were highly skilled, competent men, who deferred to their "masters" yet also held a certain amount of power over them--in being correct and insisting on correctness they could force the so-called masters into specific ways of bearing themselves or speaking or acting. It's a fascinating relationship to contemplate.
I expect I was influenced by "Upstairs, Downstairs" in which the head butler and head cook were even more strict about maintaining class distinctions than the "Upstairs" people were. I also found the story of "The Duchess of Duke Street" to be fascinating, and the difference "Sara Crewe" found when her status changed from star pupil to orphaned servant, and the stories from the book "Backstairs at the White House". I find it simply fascinating that the servant class put as much or even more emphasis on "place" than their employers, finding some sort of stability, even safety in the concept. Very strange, to my thinking, and so I keep coming back to explore the concept to try and understand it better.
Yikes, you've caught me sleepless with a cough and so I've meandered and practically written you a chapter in reply. Thanks for listening.
cathleen
· 23 November 2008
· Chapter 0: Introduction and Prologue
I'm also looking forward to more of this, Lindelea. I do enjoy your new version of Paladin very much and I also like that they stayed on the farm even after he became Thain. Glad to see you're having some writing time again! And *please, please* more of "The Farmer's Son" very soon, yes??
Author's reply
*smile*
Am hoping for more of "The Farmer's Son" too! It overlaps a little with this one, as a matter of fact.
Thanks!
Dreamflower
· 23 November 2008
· Chapter 0: Introduction and Prologue
Oh! Oh, Fredegar and Estella and Troubles and Tooks! Oh my! I'm loving it...
Author's reply
Hurrah! (Estella's so much fun, but whew. She's a handful.)
FantasyFan
· 23 November 2008
· Chapter 0: Introduction and Prologue
I am absolutely delighted to see this story start. I think of all the characters you have created, the Estella of "A Small and Passing Thing," and "Jewels" is my favorites. She is strong, she is spunky, she is absolutely delightful. Not without her faults, of course, but I do love the way she turns things upside down with regularity. I'm looking forward to seeing her adventures, which I am sure did much to mature her but did not break her spirit. (Rather like Pippin in a way, whose own adventures were much more dire and whose own maturation took a very long time. They would have been totally unsuited to each other.)
Congratulations on getting a new story started. I know better than to expect updates daily as in the old days, but know I am eagerly awaiting new chapters.
Author's reply
Thank you! I wish for daily updates, but know it's not realistic. Time pressure, for one thing, and competition for the computer. But at least the Muse is smiling again, something that hasn't happened much for quite a while.
Hope this finds you well.
(Oh, and you're right about Estella and Pippin. What could their fathers have been thinking? Of course, even the "new" Paladin is going to run into this thorny problem, I think... but totally plausible, as you'll see when Farmer's Son gets to that point.)
Larner
· 23 November 2008
· Chapter 0: Introduction and Prologue
I keep getting booted from reviews! Weird!
I am thrilled to see another story from you, although as you know I so hope to see Thorn and Thain continued, not to mention a few other tales as well, such as The Long Winter and ....
(Not that I'm one to talk with all the stories I have going at the moment that I keep leaving to meet challenges and then come back to months later! Heh!)
Love seeing that we'll have a revisit of this from a different POV this time. I rather like this Paladin Took!
Author's reply
Nassty whatever-it-is that boots Larner from reviews!
Yes, Thorn and Thain are simmering gently, as is Long Winter. It's just that Estella nudged me and made me spill my tea...
Celeritas
· 23 November 2008
· Chapter 0: Introduction and Prologue
Oh, this is exciting! I only just finished A Small And Passing Thing in my latest archive trawl, and the bits about Estella intrigued me (though I have to say I like your "new" Paladin more than the one that featured in that tale). So this is a very pleasant surprise!
I like your Estella--she has a lot of spunk to her!
Author's reply
Thanks!
(I like the "new" Paladin more, too.)
Somehow it seems a spunky Estella fits well with Traveller Merry.
Appreciate your stopping by and taking time to leave a good word.