I have thoroughly enjoyed this entire series, and should have left you a comment along with each chapter, but have been bad lately about leaving feedback to the many stories/authors that I keep up with. I did, however, recommend this series to my Live Journal friends in hopes that they would drop by and leave you some positive comments. They may not have said anything, but I do hope that some of them, at least, read these wonderful and poignant stories.

Mirasaui's manips of SC were brilliant, btw. That man is like a fine wine and only gets *better* with age. I hope that you persuade her to do Stuart as well.

respectfully, Patricia aka slayer9649

I am falling in love with these people and this town.

The last line draws my eyes like a lodestone, will she nil she, I can't look away from their final fate no matter how I want to.

/Galhir refused to hide and fought the Orcs as well as he could ‘til he was slain/

Such a wonderful fellow. I am glad he was able to die with the strength of a soldier.

You write words into the real. I adore this so.

Reading your stories here is always a kick in the teeth, such hope coupled with such grim finality.

Are you going to address what happen to the girls in town? I am quite curicious about that.

"Mistress Dorlas, the midwife of Halabor, pulled the heavy, hooded woollen cloak tighter around herself as she hurried down the Street of the Jewellers, towards the warehouse clerk Jutus’ house." - probably would have been better off split into two or more sentences. It works grammatically, and is easily followed, but it does seem unnecessarily long.

"who could never forgave Old Craban that he had moved into his late brother’s abandoned cottage" - grammatical errors in that section. "who could never forgive Old Craban for moving into his late brother's abandoned cottage" or something to that effect.

"Cithruadh husband" - you need the possessive form...

There are a few more grammatical and spelling errors, so I guess this is where your beta left you. It was still an interesting addition, and again, well-researched.

Ah, finally a chance to get caught up with these. :)

"the get of her second daughter-in-law, that unworthy wretch." - I'm assuming that's supposed to be "git"?

"That faithless person!" - Er, not quite sure what you mean by that line.

Again, a few comma splices.

I really hate Rhybwrast. Well done! Focusing on an unlikeable character whose motives are understandable, but who still lacks any redeeming characteristics is laudable. Changing the point-of-view to Ogarmach at the end was a nice (if painful) touch.

Hm, in a way, Rhybwrast got her come-uppance in the raid. Age was the only thing she had left and had some degree of control over, but she didn't outlive everyone even though she had advantages like a connection to a fighting blood.

I wouldn't mind hearing more about Ogarmach and Miorog.

Not a disappointing chapter, though it was hard to keep track of the many characters' names at times.

These are addictive indeed.

Aha. Someone actually paying attention to the limits of medicine and the likelihood of infection. And the fact that death is not always the worst end (though Belegorn has it relatively well, seeing as he ended up with Lothhael).

Balg? Interesting term.

Again, another excellent chapter. These stories are addicting.

These fates were the most depressing ones so far. I'm not entirely sure why. Just "being gentle people" wouldn't do an explanation justice...

That is a thorough summary of the herbs. I love these little nuggets of history are parallel folklore.

And with a complementary social history lesson! I like this chapter, especially with the eel-spearing. It sounds... vicious. Again, good use of details and attention to the minor points of life.

I especially liked the descriptions of characters in this chapter. You paid more attention to their appearances and quirks, and since this story is so different from the previous ones (distance, poverty, and less semblence of family), it really helped to establish their situation. Ironically, I found Nista's character to be rather flat. Being a poor cook is good, but she seemed almost *too* perfect compared to the others. If her devotion to her father were spurred by desperation or a desire to have a normal family or a role reversal with her mother, it might be more understandable.

I love the little notes at the end of each chapter where you get to hear about the fates. It makes the actual action more poignant.

Oh, yet another trade and culture involved. This is my favourite piece so far. I would have liked to see a more detailed explanation of why Zaira refused a presumed life of luxury, however. (Was she already in love? Was there a stigma connected to the parda? Did she not like the man or find him dishonourable?)

A few wording errors (I can barely believe English is your third language! My grammar would be laughable if I tried to write in French, and that's only a second.): "to watch off the traces" should be "to wash off the traces", "leaving the sunlight into the workroom" should be either "leading" or "letting". Again, wonderful original characters and yet another fresh perspective on the mix of cultures within Middle-earth.

A few paragraphs were worded rather awkwardly, and there's that comma thing again, but the story is an excellent blend of Westernesse ways fighting with the old traditions. To be honest, I think I liked the starting section with the drying sheets best. Few people seem to notice how long it takes for things to dry in the cold. Everything just freezes into a crunchy board overnight, and as soon as it warms up, it's damp again...

I have had these stories bookmarked for ages, and I finally have a chance to read through them! I love seeing original characters act like real people - it's so refreshing. There are several punctuation and grammatical errors in this chapter (commas tend to be the culprit), but they're not really detracting from the writing.