Omg I love it its so beatiful, muy inspirador

This is too much. I can't recall the last time a story had me in near tears but this was close to it. Every sentences has me grieving for Helga and I could only imagine what every unrequited love souls must have felt right now. It aches me to be reminded of this but mine was never this deep, yours had me experiencing Helga's deep sorrow. I'm glad it led to any regret. It's a very sad journey for Helga and though I so hope she finds her own happiness, I don't entirely wish for her to do so with Arnold. I guess that is where the sorrow continues, the happiness that ones rely on another.

I really like this story. Thanks for having us experience this and giving us a scope description of North America's desert.

SO. SAD.
Again, not hunky dory, but realistic.
I've gotta learn to appreciate the deeper stuff.
I commend you (greatly) on a moving story.

I love this. It's so sad, so sweet, so realistically portrayed. I really like your writing style-it's melancholy without being too overbearing.
-lostinfantasy1493 (for some reason refuses to log me in :/ )

My heart wrenched for this story. I could literally feel her pained obsession for requited love. Good job.

Poor Helga. If Arnold ever did marry Lila, it would crush her, and I bet it would be VERY hard for her to move on.

I can't believe he didn't recognize her, even after all this time of being apart. Who else would call him football head? So I guess she decides to cover up her name by giving her middle name instead. I guess he's still as dense as ever. Some things never change.

A bit bittersweet, but still wonderfully written. :)

Interesting. I never really liked the desert much. My older brother goes to college near there, in Arizona. When we went to drop him off at school his freshman year, we took the time to drive all the way from ASU to vegas. Maybe it's just because I'm an east-coast girl, but the dry brown land wasn't beautiful to me, it was tired. It seemed lonely and and shriveled up and out of any hope. It seemed like the sort of place a person went to waste their life away. Part of it is probably my own fears that I will one day be the tired old waitress despite my intelligence, but I hate that place. The desert was never beauty to me; only failure, death, and resignation to mediocrity. It's a wonder to me that so many people seem to see it the way that you do.

Okay, so I recall telling you in reply to the PM you sent me that I'd be reading more of your work; so here it goes. You are just too good at this. You have Helga's voice NAILED. You write her perfectly, and should be proud, since her character is so tragic and complex. You did a brilliant job of bringing out that complexity here, espescially in how she feels that Hillwood has nothing to offer her now that Arnold married someone else. I like that she took off from Hillwood and never wanted to be seen again. She cut off all ties with the people there, chopped her hair off, and burned her relics to Arnold. It's the EXACT thing Helga would do. Most people would find it baffling, but having Helga do these things not only brings out her complexity, but it adds to it.

I love this fic. The imagery is beautiful, espescially your description of the American desert. I also love the little details you mentioned, how Helga cut her hair, how Arnold looks after all the years that's passed, your description of Susan Windcatcher and of the diner. They're all brilliant! You have a way of pulling the reader into your writing; you have the ability of letting the reader visualize everything with the imagery you use. That takes A LOT of talent, and you certainly have a lot of it! :)

I like that you portrayed Lila in a different light here. You've made her aware of Helga's love for Arnold and of her knowing that Arnold might've felt something for her as well. I like that she wanted Arnold to find Helga so that he could be happy with her, and so that Helga could be happy too. You've done a great job of redeeming her character here. DId Arnold and Lila ever have children before she died? I know it's not a huge part of the story, but I'm curious. :) Your portrayal and redemption of Lila was great, though. I also like your portrayal of Arnold and the fact that he only appears in the story for a little while, even though he's a huge part of it. It shows that he's still a huge part of Helga's life. It's also ironic that he took up poetry. Interesting, since Helga was a poet herself, but seemed to give that up after she left Hillwood.

Lastly, I love the analogy of a play you presented here. Helga's been an actress her entire life - pretending to hate Arnold when she really loves him, acting like a bully even though she's vulnerable, and in this fic, pretending that everything's okay when it isn't. She had to leave the play and go into the audience when she realized that Arnold would never love her the way she loves him. I like how at the end, she realizes that she might just be ready to be in the scenes again instead of behind them. Sometimes I think everybody needs to take a break from the stage for a while and find themselves before rejoining the play.

So. I find this fic brilliant. I love that there was so much to analyze and disect in it. You've done a brilliant job with Helga's character and examining it. I hope to read more fics from you soon! :)

This story was absolutely amazing! I love how Helga decided to stay, and I love the little details about how Arnold smokes and about how Helga cut off all her hair. And the description of the desert was flawless! I am in love with this story. :D

Thankyou for this poignant, beautiful piece of work. There's nothing to critque, it was perfect. The imagery of the desert and the metaphor of the stage were intensely evocative. Fantastic work! and, of course, keep writing.

Ooh this was excellent and very well written. Plus being from Albuquerque myself, you tugged at my heartstrings with all your descriptions and such. I really did enjoy this! Good job!

I enjoyed it very much. I have seen many good stories lately, but sometimes you need a story not only good, but well written as well. It was like a breath of fresh air.

I don't believe that Helga would remain a waiter on minimal wage job for so long. No matter how much she tries to escape from herself, she's still a Pataki, her father's true daughter, a very ambitious person.

"His future widow"? May this term be applied to a woman who died before her husband?

"Chautauqua"? Interesting word. And interesting phenomenon. If Lila really guides Arnold in his Chautauqua he will be back very soon. Oh, how Lila the Angel must be annoyed by Helga now!

Before visiting this story I was collecting soap opera clichés (I'm writing a kind of a manual for role-playing games, and there will be Clichés section). I guess I should include into it "When a character talks to a person about another person, but does not realize that it's the same person". Thanks!

This was very well written. I was definitely touched and saddened by the ending.

Wonderful job with descriptions, and form, but left me feeling so sad.

I couldn't help but see parallels between Gone With the Wind and this fic.

Helga was Scarlett, and Arnold Ashley.

Masterfully wrtten, as always.

Aw, I liked it even though it didn't have a happily ever after. Halfway through I really wanted the two to get together, but at the end I understood that they both needed to do much more thinking. And I enjoyed your Arnold in this one ;).