A joy to read, especially with it being about Bilbo. Thanks!

Culture clash in middle-earth! It's a nice glimpse into Aragorn's travels. It's a good example how different backgrounds give totally different perceptions of the same situation. 'They had a ball game' - seems Aragorn has yet to learn a bit about the women of the desert.
Tinara

Author's Response: Thanks. I've wanted to delve into Harad ever since reading Nieriel Raina's "A Torturous Predicament Called 'Entertainment'," which I recommend highly.

Oh, what a neat account of Aragorn's and Bilbo's first meeting!  To have them meet before Bilbo left the Shire never occurred to me!  And I loved the encounter with Lobelia.

Delightful!

Very Enjoyable! I like the POV from Bilbo, very hobbitish!

Author's Response: Thank you. I identify very much with a hero who stops to think about food in the midst of his adventures.

I enjoyed this very much. It has a real Rohirric/Anglo Saxon flavour about it. Do you know Beowulf as I loved your use of Beowulf type language?

Author's Response: Tragically, I really don't know Beowulf -- I guess I'd better read it before I see the movie. I mostly followed Tolkien's language in this story. One of the things I love about his writing is that he uses a different register of language for each culture, so the Rohirrim have a very distinct voice.

--…some towards THE crowd around the courier, others into the recesses of the hall.--

Add that THE in there.

--Theobrand of the Westfold is slain--

Later he is Theobald...misspelling.

--Elrohir had given him the beast already laden with the perverse name of Alqua--

Why does she have a Quenya name?

The horse info is great! Loved the story! Very well done.

NiRi

Author's Response: Thanks for the corrections . . . I can't believe that I let the corpse change his name. I'm guessing that she has an elegant Quenya name because Elrohir is expressing his sense of humor.

This is a lovely tale of Aragorn's and Bilbo's first meeting...Lobelia included.

I especially like the poem. This is a keeper.

Author's Response: Thank you very much. I've always loved that poem in the Fellowship and am glad to get to borrow it here.

What a delightful story.I loved this especially the ending !

Author's Response: Thanks. I wanted to focus on a non-martial skill. I really loved the warm family scene you wrote for the Skills prompt too.

Cheers! Ha, I like the contrast between wine and ale here. You always have those pretentious wine drinkers that try stuff and gurgle and spit it out and tell sagas about the taste and the colour and whatever. And then you have ale which you simply drink. Basta. Yes, I can definitely see Aragorn as more of the beer type. Short and to the point!

Author's Response: I was thinking about the lore-master guy from "In the Houses of Healing". I thought Gondor might have a lot of fantastically learned, not very down-to-earth types: exactly the kind to swish and spit rather than just hoisting a tankard.

Amazing. First - I never saw the connection before, but the beginning sounds a lot like Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt. That thought never occured to me while reading the Silmarillion (okay, I'm excused since I'm an atheist, but still), so your story helped me see a new aspect of Tolkien's writing. If that isn't what fanfic is for, then I don't know:)

Then, having grown up with fantasy, esoterics and fortunetelling, I liked the twisted way the palantir worked. Elendil wasn't quite accurate enough in his command to the seeing stone, so the palantir showed him what he wanted to know - but by taking a few turns and bends. Exactly how I would imagine seeing the future works - if it works at all:)

Author's Response: Thanks, Michelle. You know, I didn't think of that connection explicitly while I was writing the story, but Tolkien must have. On my most recent rereading of the Silmarillion, I was really struck by how little encouragement the Faithful must have had.