That was so cute. The penny, the penny!

Beautiful. A satisfying epilogue to a brilliant story. Though of course I wish they had found a cure, but I suppose I can't always get what I want, hmm? But I expect that I can in stories... perhaps that is why I write. Ha! Anyway.

Needless to say, I loved the entire thing, right up to this fantastic ending. The way you write is inspiring, and your mind-boggling stunts you pull with the plot were simply dizzying, yet somehow all worked out. I need to know your secret! It's amazing. And your characters - I cannot even begin. All of them were so genuine that I could have touched them. I want to know how much of yourself you put into each one, but I fear that might be borderline stalker material, so I won't ask.

You've done it again, O Captain My Captain. Thank you for introducing me to another wonderful place, and another gaggle of friends. Until next time.

I think I am in love with this story!
I read it from start to finish, I waited countless nights for you to post new chapters, I cried in the sad bits, I laughed in the funny bits. I cried when this fic was finished because it was such a beautiful story! You are an amazing author and this story (although it is no longer the full story) should get more recognition. I am an avid fanfiction reader as well as a book reader of books that have been published, and let me tell you, this story DESERVES to be published!
Please do it! You will not regret it, and I believe that this story will end up famous! It is haunting and beautiful! I was planning on reading this story to my children when I have them. Unfortunately since you took the story (well most of it) down, I won't be able to do that! I think that the world also deserves to read this amazing tale that has been written so well! I cannot stress enough how amazing an author you are! This story will stick to me for the rest of my life! I want to thank you for creating such a beautiful story!
Seriously though, publish this story! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!
I will buy a copy for all of my friends and family if you do!
Please!
Thank you for inspiring me with this beautiful story!

Oh, I love this! It is so very Clara! Especially because of the little detail of her keeping up with the latest fashions! (Clara Clearwater would not be Clara Clearwater without fashionable glorious dresses!) Maybe it is just me, but I am also seeing her commanding the attention of boardrooms and all the businessmen in town. That would very much make it even more Clara, since she was always so very thrilled with being able to dominate and control entire rooms of men.

Simeon...I very much like how he is always leaving town. Fits well with his character of showing up and disappearing. I am not so sure what I think about Simeon being a thief-taker. It does fit with the Simeon we saw before, but it's also rather...settled? I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, I suppose I just can't shake the image of Simeon being a rather sullen rebellious soul. But then again, this depends on what exactly he does as a thief-taker. I can see him being the type of thief-taker who roams the streets and spies and observes and gathers a formidable set of observations that prove someone's guilt conclusively. But I can't see him being the type of thief-taker who sits in offices and combs through bank records in search of fraud, or as the type of thief-taker who simply tracks down people he's told to track down and apprehends them.

In short, this is an absolutely lovely vignette and I do hope you write more! Perhaps Ione, or Isabella? Or Dicky! That would be wonderful!

I daresay that was rather cute. Not quite what I was expecting, but that makes sense that she would throw herself into something like a business and she wouldn't have a family. I like how you didn't make it super mushy either. And Simeon is the same old Simeon. I find it weird yet again that this story is so finalized now. However, someone's always got to start somewhere so why not with a copper penny. :D

As always, you do the unexpected. I'm glad you wrote this, as it's nice to have an idea what happened to her. While it's not exactly a happy ending, it's a lot happier than what one might have expected-and really, you have to think that Clara was ultimately more content and fulfilled than she would have been playing duchess for years. She found a way to use her craftiness and strong personality so that it probably brought a lot of benefit to a lot of people, and she lived purposefully.

I hope you'll write one about Ione too!

That was osm! :D

CLANCY IS THE BEST

I didn't even have to write anything. CLANCY IS THE BEST was already sitting there like ff knows as well as I that Clancy is indeed the bestest.

As much I was looking forward to a happier ending to Clara's story, I think that what you've done is perfect! :) Hope to read more about the other characters lives :)

Perfect. Wonderful. Gorgeous. Where's my thesaurus so I can find better words?

I loved seeing a more mature Clara, and the way she's still Clara Clearwater even if she's not the same Clara Clearwater, if that makes any sense. Now I want tiny oneshot sequels for all the characters! (but I shall not place those demands on you.)

Beauteous.

Mazzie

My dear, I must quote Cacoethes Scribendi - If all the trees in all the woods were men,
and each and every blade of grass a pen, if every leaf on every shrub and tree
turned to a sheet of foolscap; every sea were changed to ink, and all earth’s living tribes had nothing else to do but act as scribes, they would never come up with anything so exquisite as the soft beauty in your writing. I thought these vignettes something very perfect.

Elfine

And lastly, thank you for not calling them "one-shots".

I adore you. I adore you and I adore this story and you are wonderful and fantastic and this story is perfect and seriously if I had a million dollars I would give you most of it. Ugh. Beautiful. Perfect. Wonderful. I cannot even articulate how much I love this. Or how mad I am at myself for not reading it sooner. I suppose now I'll just have to wait until it gets published, yes? Which it will. Because this story is wondrous and if you can't get published what hope is there for the rest of us?

Best of luck to you, and thank you for a perfect fill to my silly prompt.

Mazzie

You know...obviously the ending is never what you expect...but I really wasn't expecting any of that. I'm not sure what I was expecting though. It's so odd finally reading a completed work and the open ending that is usually there. I think I like it though, you give a sense of contentment, and yet hope with each of the characters...that although they went through a lot, and life is definitely different from what they expected/things have been messed up, they still can make do with what they have and move on. Moving on can be so difficult! I think I actually like how each person has their own possiblities and hope for the future, that you left it open for anything to happen instead of just telling us what does. Sometimes we want to know the ending, but life always throws twists so why put a cliche ending in there. Ione's humor and the Chasman humor at the end was also greatly appreciated :) Thanks for writing this story, it was fun to read.

Poor Gideon,
I can imagine the dilemma he is in. Unbearable pain and yet the alternative -to be helpless and unconscious in the enemy's city- was also a vulnerability not to be allowed. I would have thought he would trust Kate, but then again she may be further reason for him to want to stay conscious: They stole her from him once, who is to say they might not do it again. I noticed, with interest, the absence of shame or guilt over his screams and the distress they were causing to others around him. It would be unusual for a man in our society not to feel completely humiliated for a peer to witness his loss of control. But either the Chasman's were beyond that kind of pettiness or his near death experience was enough so it didn't even matter any more.

I am really impressed with Clara in this chapter. He decision to let Augie go was generous and unselfish of her. I am genuinely surprised that she would do this. All the risks she has taken in this plot have been driven by her longing to be a duchess. Something profound must have taken place in her thinking, and you don't really explain what by this little stream of consciousness. I know she is not characterised by self analysis, but to give up her driving ambition so easily is a little OOC...
That's not to say I don't like it mind you... Perhaps I am just being picky.

I am also a bit shocked at Ione for slapping Augie in the face, but that at least is not so OOC. I see a bit of the frustrated maid in that action, impulsively venting an emotion that she previously would have stuffed down, just because she could. Kinda like acting disgusted at the meager offerings for dinner at her first formal meal in the Fiere mansion. Just like that episode, she immediately wishes the action undone, but this time the healing of the pain she caused Augie is more immediate... and one would have to say more satisfying. *winks*
I feel obliged to remind you that I don't approve of passionate kissing between unmarried characters, although one feels inclined to make allowances considering the extreme trauma of the past 24 hours, and I guess the overheard conversation with Clara resulted in a rather clear statement of intentions toward Ione. Still a true gentleman would have shown a bit more propriety I believe...

I am also surprised at Captain Wellwood. He is nothing like his son really. I am very impressed with his integrity in the light of the intrigue manipulating going on all around him and and strongly suspect he might be Christian. I like it that he strongly regrets allowing Fenton to go as far as he did, and his willingness to admit it to Gideon. It was almost like a "Thank you for giving me an opportunity to put right a wrong, by your courageous example."
I love seeing the Chasman's so relaxed and 'normal':
"By early evening, Gideon was sitting upright, resisting the urge to pick at his bandages. Kate sat cross-legged on the foot of the bed, stealing glances at Garrett, who was sprawled in the armchair, stealing glances back at her."
So Cute! *happy sigh*
I only wish Kate could be a bit more gracious to Augie. She actually knows him better than any of them due to the depth of sharing they had in the prison, but she is still holding a grudge against him. It think it might be because she is ashamed of what she might see as a weakness in letting down her guard with him there. Perhaps it is similar to the way someone feels when they have shared all their deepest secrets with a stranger, under the influence of alcohol or some other inhibition reducer, only to kind that that person is the husband or brother of your best friend, and you are forced to see them frequently, not knowing if they will keep confidence or not. And worse in her case because she has had this suppression of her softer side for so many years, that it has become an almost impenetrable wall until now.
I adore the fact that following one of the most profound speeches of this entire story, which completely thrilled me to my very core, you end the chapter with:
"The leader of Chasma was pulled back inside by his irate cousin."

You do it because you are The Captain. (said in the same kind of tone and capitalisation as one would say "He's The Doctor")

Wow,
I had to go back 5 pages to find the review I did one and a half weeks ago!
I gather a couple of those pages were Bingo7 catching up with the rest of us. It is so nice to have her around again. I have to tell you how mean Elvishkiwi's Revered Patriarch was while I was at convention:
He came in on the second night when I was busy learning how to judge art and craft exhibits to tell me you had updated again and it was the most exciting chapter he had read yet. Then about 2 hours after I sent him away, telling him to stop tempting me, he came in again and announced that there was yet another chapter up, and it was in his pocket.
I was in an agony of longing but I knew I needed to concentrate on the judging so I steadfastly refused to be drawn in.
But two or three days later, after extremely full days with an average of 5 hours sleep each night, he told me that the last two chapters were up and his android phone was charging in my room if I wanted to borrow it. I had to judge the preaching first thing in the morning, which was my hardest judging event ever, so again I had to defer my gratification and it took me all day to write up the comments as it was interspersed with some very exciting events that I just HAD to see (many of them from our people).

I was so tired that night at 2 am, but I succumbed to temptation that time and read all four in my bed until 3:30am. I regretted it the next day as I overslept slightly and missed devotions. so I now have 4 reviews to do and I have been procrastinating because Elki is coming home today and my brother-in-law is coming to help on the house and I have so much to do.
So just so you know. I only going to do a very quick comment here, and the rest of Chapter 41 I will have to do anonymously or tack onto Chapter 42.
Well, I was obviously too hasty with my assumption that Gideon had died. Not all of my rhetoric was wasted, as he would have been willing to die even so.
Good ol' Kate! I love her passion and grief in this chapter. There is something very precious about her relationship with Gideon throughout this story. It is like he has become the only one who matters to her. I say 'like' in the dictionary definition, not the colloquial use of the word. She has had detachment syndrome toward everyone else she cares for, even Garrett. It is how she has coped with the horror, the separation, and the constant expectation of death of the last years.
It has only with Gideon she has been able to let her guard down and laugh, cry, rant, and hope. Now it seems he is dead, and she wants to die with him... although she now has Garrett to live for.

I need to go, a very exciting person has just arrived.
More later.
Eva