Wonderful worldbuilding. I really like how you develop the culture and events here.

Since Yahoo seems to continue to eat all my emails lately, I'm going to comment on your wonderful fic here.

This is an excelent and very thought provoking fic! Not to mention that I belive this is the first fanfic ever to deal with Petty Dwarves, Brovo!

Gwystyl was quite an interesting character, an old! Petty Dwarves seem to almost be another species onto themselves, smaller in stature than regulare Dwarves (and probably, thiner, and lighter) no dout evolving out of the need for steath rather then strangth and fighting ability. Perhaps there where some changes in their life span aswell? You really fleshed them out and gave them more depth as one of Tolkien's (forgotten)people, and just how tragic their story really is. It only makes sense that not all of the Petty Dwarves where inclined to couse trouble, but to simply survive. It makes you wonder how many innocent people the Elves hunted down before they realized just what they where really hunting.

Loved your characterization of Finrod, I always knew I liked him ~_. It was nice to see him doing something outside the important roles he plays in the Silmarillion. Loved the scen of him sitting with his harp talking to the hidden and suspicious Gwystyl. Fabulous fic, its going right to my favorite list!

Good example of creating an effect by describing something (or in this case: someone) supposedly familiar from an new and unusual point of view.

The Noegyth Nibin did need a champion of their own, and Gwystyl goes a long way to counter the bad impression left by Mim in Unfinished Tales. Your portrayal of Finrod is very good, too.

What a lovely present! If I'd thought of such an encounter, I'd surely have asked for it... Again, I'm amazed at your ability to create original characters (in more than one sense) and breathe life into them in a few paragraphs - and also at the way you draw attention to the 'other side', the one only hinted at in Tolkien's originals. I'd never given much thought to the Noegyth Nibin before this, but this puts them into a new and better light.

Finrod is wonderful, too - he acts and reacts precisely as I'd have imagined. And for some reason his vow on the life of his unborn son touched me deeply.

Thank you for this beautiful story!

As I already mentioned, I love the description of Finrod from the dwarf's point of view. It's such an unusual viewpoint, and immediately establishes a difference between dwarves and other peoples. It prepares us for Gwystyl's sense that elves are quite alien to his people, and that rather than something beautiful to be envied and admired, they are rather orkish from the point of view of the Petty Dwarves (which presages Mim's curse on the treasure rather nicely).

It also seems to me that it is very much a Finrod story - it's reminiscent of the meeting of Finrod and the Atani, and shows his curiosity and his kindness.

Amazing. It seems fitting that it'd be Finrod who meets and befriends a petty dwarf: after all, he *is* Felagund, and I deem, a pretty gentle and kind-hearted Elf when he has no need for battle.

I twigged pretty quickly that Gwystyl was petty Dwarf, but in the end he proves he's not so petty. A great story, and I know we don't know if Finrod ever met petty Dwarves, but this story makes it so fesible.