Drabble - Tower Hills, September 1482
Apr. 25th, 2004 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabidsamfanThat evening Sam stood in their garden listening to something only he could hear, and it seemed to Elanor that light shone out of him like hearthfirelight glinting through the cracks of a poorly repaired chimneystack. His sleep was brief, and broken by the nightmares he'd never had in her mother's arms. She sat by his side through the wee hours and held his hand in the shadowed room, hearing parts of the old story that she had never known. His hand felt as fragile to her touch as he did to her heart.
She knew he would not stay.
Timeline (fiction only, most recent version, includes AU) first previous next last
She knew he would not stay.
Timeline (fiction only, most recent version, includes AU) first previous next last
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-25 07:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-25 07:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-25 08:43 pm (UTC)I so like that description, Elanor's rustic insight into her father. Rather like Sam and others saw that same light in Frodo during the quest.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-25 08:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 12:15 am (UTC)She sat by his side through the wee hours and held his hand in the shadowed room, hearing parts of the old story that she had never known. His hand felt as fragile to her touch as he did to her heart.
Sentences like these are a part of your virtuosity that always makes me hold my breath for a few seconds, when I read something new you have written.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 01:01 am (UTC)*thud*
Gorgeous piece, this. *sighs*
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 02:13 am (UTC)His hand felt as fragile to her touch as he did to her heart.
*sigh*
Such a poignant drabble... I love it!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 05:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 06:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 06:35 am (UTC)Poor Elanor...I always wondered which would have been harder for her and the children; knowing their dad would likely die soon without their mother, or knowing that he was leaving them while he was still alive.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 07:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 08:20 am (UTC):)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 11:33 am (UTC)This seemed to me to be the most poignant line of the whole drabble, bracketed by She knew he would not stay. What does Sam hear? The call of the Sea? The call of those who had gone before? The call of the memories of Frodo? Elanor doesn't know, but she knows enough.
Lovely.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 02:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 02:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 02:59 pm (UTC)Yes. That's the image I started with! I'm glad you liked it.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:09 pm (UTC)I think it would be easier to let him go on the ships, actually -- particularly if Elanor had been with her mother when she died. At least across the sea he has a hope of a kind of healing for a little while.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 03:12 pm (UTC)Thank you.
(no subject)
Re: Tower Hills
Date: 2004-04-26 03:57 pm (UTC)I found the "poorly repaired chimney stack" line quite striking. One doesn't think of Sam that way during his "solid and whole" life in the Shire. He seems to be reverting to wide-eyed starveling now that he is leaving that life behind. Juxtaposing the image to "hearthfirelight" nicely invokes both sides of his dual nature, as he passes between them.
Greatly relieved about your mother.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 04:12 pm (UTC)Re: Tower Hills
Date: 2004-04-26 04:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 04:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 04:24 pm (UTC)The last line just came to be the gist of it and really summed up the drabble up really well:
She knew he would not stay.
Very nice job, rabidsamfan! :thumbsup:
(and i'm glad you're back...
hope your mom is ok and hope you had a nice birthday too =) (sorry i'm late hehe)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 06:12 pm (UTC)Take care...I'mt thinking of you and your mom.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 06:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 06:45 pm (UTC)Mom is in the Transitional Care Unit -- otherwise known as rehab. She said she made it half way to the dining room with her walker at lunchtime, and was going to try to get farther for dinner. Since she couldn't stand to put any weight at all on that leg last week, this is a real accomplishment.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 06:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 07:00 pm (UTC)way moreat least as much about Tolkienthanas I do! I forget sometimes how much like a librarian I can sound!And I was really touched by how you saw the connection between this and the whole situation with mom. She's better today. I talked to her and she said she managed to get halfway down the hall on her walker before she had to switch to a wheelchair. Since she couldn't put weight on the leg for more than a minute or two last week, this is really great.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 07:11 pm (UTC)So glad to hear Mom is doing better...I've prayed for her and for you.
One thing I love about LJ is that no one I've met here is a know it all. I've been on some fanclub boards that had some people who hadn't even cracked the books until they saw FOTR the movie were Tolkien experts a bare six months later. And I didn't think you sounded pompous at all. :-)
many hugs and warm thoughts
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-26 07:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-07 01:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-07 01:30 am (UTC)Thanks!