A very nice ice- (or as Elrond changes it, glass-) breaker. Thanks for a nice read.

Indeed, sometimes in reaching for a simple joy we can lose the pain we thought was holding onto us when in reality we were clinging to it.

A sincere question does have a good chance to be answered, after all. Already a wise one.

Ah--the old "How much should we tell the children?" argument. I have a strong suspicion if anyone will understand, it will be Estel.

An interesting introduction. And he feels responsible for Gil-galad's death, apparently?

I do not know the FFVII stories to which you refer, but it does not matter in the least. This story stands up well without the prior knowledge. Well done.

aragorn remembering? at five, yeah, there's no stretch at all to believe that he'd remember the death of his parents three years before. when i was in kindergarten, i remembered a lot of stuff from when i was really little.

i'm in love with angsty-erestor-brought-out-of-his-self-imposed-shell-by-lovable-estel stories xD

keep writing!

What a sweet ending to a lovely story such as this. I always did love Estel moments but his little conversation with Erestor, eventually opening up the emotionless elf and making him smile again was definitely wonderfully done and made me feel all warm and fuzzy in the inside. And then, with this last chapter, when they both say goodbye, it was a double moment of a tearjerker and heartwarming. Great job!

This is a nice story, and quite believable that Erestor withdrew into himself with guilt. Children do have a way of making us see things more clearly sometimes, since they ignore all the "fluff" that sometimes obscures our view.

I would mention, however, that there are MANY typos throughout this piece, and it would be more effective if you found time to clean it up. An occasional wrong word or typo isn't a problem, but when there are a great many, it distracts the reader from the emotion of the piece.

- Deandra

I really enjoyed this story. It is interesting to see different authors' takes on Erestor's history, since Tolkien never made it explicit. I like the child Estel in this; precocious, but not to an unbelievable extent. It was a little jarring going from the child Estel to the adult Aragorn like that, but then, children do grow up.

I read this story in Teitho, and liked it very much, it got one of my votes. It was a very interesting story around Erestor, and I liked that afer centuries in Rivendell Estel was the first to ask. It reminds me on Amelie from Montmartre for some reason, but don't ask why =) *shrugs*

But my very favourite moment is at the end of the story, the lines:
‘Finding your sense of humour?’
‘Every day.’ I simply love the idea of Erestor finding his sense of humour! =)

I had tears in my eyes this time it is just a brilliant story. I bow to your superior knowledge about a 2 year old remembering.

All the best

HT

I enjoyed reading your story. I thought that you captured the different points of view well and the narrative flowed really smoothly and had a very strong, memorable voice. You brought the feel of Tolkien to the writing, but you also made it your own, and you made me look deeply at the character of Erestor. It's a good story - I like reading your LOTR works.

Aww, this was a nice little piece.
He got Erestor to smile!
*jumps*
~BGE

Wonderful story! I loved reading Estel's thoughts - great job capturing a child's thought process - and such a wonderfully insightful child at that! How ironic that it is a human child has the courage to draw Erestor from his brooding. (Elves with all their years are not as wise as a child.) Funny to picture Elrond listening at keyholes.