Man oh man. I'm speechless (well, not completely! :-D ) That is one damn fine story! I'm all soggy and weepy now. Once again, your Rosie is superb, as is the entire story. What a dilemma Sam has! Oh, my! Please, more! more!

*just barely resists urge to commit suicide* Oh my. I don't know how you're able to make something so gut-wrenching so utterly beautiful at the same time, but you have. Congratulations - you, my dear, are one hell of a writer. I can't think of any other way to say it. Can't wait for more.

Perfect, just perfect!

I love your Frodo and Sam and I think the reason they're so perfect is because I feel they are Tolkien's Frodo and Sam as well. If only his editors and society at his time would have allowed him to publish this very perfect ending to LotR. We are fortunate that you have taken up the task.

Thank you for sharing your talent!

Can you take us right to the Grey Havens? Please?

Heidi, this is very beautiful and desperately sad. You've really got a "Mists of Avalon" thing going here, where the characters' dignity will not permit them to act in any other way but that in which you show them acting - the self denial that is practiced to forestall the self-betrayal that would otherwise occur if impulse were to be acted upon (or so the characters believe). It's almost too painful to read, but I will follow this one to the end. Thanks for sharing this.

I printed your story out and read it last night. And I have to say it is beautiful. There are so many parts I like, I can only mention a few. I love how Sam bursts in Crickhollow, just like Shelob's Lair. I like how Frodo wondered if some of the Ring was in the rock. And Frodo's letter; words cannot describe how lovely it was.

Now Rosie. Like a lot of people, I have never cared much for Rosie, perhaps because she has only a few lines in the book. But now I can understand how she feels. I really think she would feel alienated by Frodo and Sam's bond, and would have difficulty understanding what they have been through.

And lastly, Merry and Pippin. I generally don't like Merry/Pippin, but they are very cute in this story.

That's all from me. I wait with baited breath for the next chapter, though (if you are sticking to canon) I suspect the ending will be quite sad.

oh dear! i stumbled across this story only yesterday on teasel's website and started reading pretty late. so it was around 03:00 a.m. when i broke down over my keyboard and wept my eyes out over frodo's letter... and now you let us hang here in the grey twilight of doubt and fear as we do not know for sure whether you will stay true to canon or not. you are a cruel woman! but i have added you to my author alert anyway...

OK, so I'm guilty of *meaning* to review this fic forever, but apparently I never have. I have recommended it to many people, though. This has got to be one of the best written and most well-constructed fics I have ever read. Your prose flows amazingly. The story is chock full of incredible images and moments (Frodo mesmerized by the volcanic stone of Mount Doom, Frodo confiding to Merry that he fears his love for Sam is tainted, THE LETTER in Chapter 9, just to name a small few).

It's been commented on by several people, but I must add my awe for your handling of Rosie and her situation. It is one of the most even-handed and well-rounded portrayals I've seen. You're right, she can't be ignored.

And your voices are dead-on. Frodo sounds like Frodo, Sam sounds like Sam. I truly believe the actions of these characters, and have been pulled in and enmeshed in their situation. I'm really running out of superlatives here... Please keep writing this story! I am dying to read what comes next and next... And whichever way things turn out for Frodo and Sam... I expect I'll be sobbing my head off just like I was in Chapters 8 and 9...

Kill Rosie! They must have eachother! *sobbing* Oh, comeon, they are in love, let them have their fun ) Oups, I just got a bit carried away, hehe. Have fun!

Wah! :( Oh dear! Whatever is Sam going to do?

Heidi, I adore this story. Thanks to Oselle for reccing it to me. Your Rosie is absolutely the best-the first compelling take on the love triangle that I've read. The whole thing is just gorgeous. And now I know you're just going to kill me with the next chapter. Damn you! I love you. :D

God, you are such a BEAUTIFUL writer. Your writing is pure poetry. Every word you write hits me straight in my core. I can't tell you how much I look forward to this story being updated. I hope even after you finish it you will continue to write others. I love your poetic descriptions like

"how my every breath is indebted to you, and how your sweet devotion ignited in me a flame that shall never burn dark."

You have such a way with words. Please don't stop writing. :-)

Heidi, you are making us run out of superlatives. Each chapter of this has left me feeling it can't possibly get any better; then it does.

Once again you've done an amazing job with each side of the triangle: the scene between Sam and Rosie shows how alienated they have become, without making Rosie unsympathetic (how you achieve that magical balancing act is beyond me, but you do!) The way you choose to have Frodo reveal his love at last is deeply characteristic of him. And the way Sam finds out about it before he is supposed to is deeply characteristic of *him*.

All of these moments were so moving that I simply can't believe the chapter contained anything better, and yet it did. Sam's instinctive action when Frodo was missing the Ring simply blew me away. As I was reading, there were tears in my eyes, because it said so much about how Sam is torn. When I finished reading and looked back at it, my Inner Literary Critic sprang forth, pranced around my study, and screamed, now THAT is story construction! THIS is an author who knows how to take a simple physical detail and get more mileage out of it than a lesser writer would get from an exhaustive inventory of the contents of Bag End! Heidi, you made a single, simple gesture speak worlds. I am in awe of your skill as a writer and of your deep and abiding empathy for these characters. Thank you so much for this.

ok, I'm crying like a baby right now...that letter is really sad, I can't wait for the next chapter

Oh,

that was heart-breaking! What a thing for Sam to do, to give Frodo his wedding ring like that, what careless cruelty in that kind gesture. And the letter... Frodo listening to Sam's lullaby as he writes. It's so hard to write a letter in someone else's hand, but this letter captures Frodo's voice, his sadness and resignation, perfectly. It's like you are there, Heidi, like you are in his *head*. The peace he's hoping for echoes through the sentences like slow waves.

And this: '... as if it were written in the tilled soil of his many years.' That is the most beautiful phrase ever, and just so apt for Sam. Oh, too many lovely moments to count. I still don't know if I want him to go or to stay, or what. More very, very soon, please!

HEIDI!

Your trying to KILL me!

Why can't they stay together? WHY?

Your not letting Frodo go are you? He can't leave now, not now that Sam knows. . .

But Heidi that would kill us, KILL US!

Oh please let all turn out right in the end!

(pretty please)

Merci.

I received an error message when I tried to review this, so I hope my review does not come up twice. Actually, I don't care, because this exquisite fic deserves double the praise it has received!

As I **tried** to say, this is one of the best Frodo/Sam post-quest stories I've ever read. Your depiction of their relationship is very so to the way I've always thought it would be, and your imagery and prose are sublime, and always so memorable and moving. You tell this story with great honesty, and even greater heart.

And I am dying to find out what will happen on their last night together, now that Sam **knows.**