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Hey dear :) Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm starting to realise how much I miss these two now I'm reposting the story. It's not quite SWG's normal fare and I don't expect to get very many readers (Erestor/Glorfindel isn't a staple here, I had to ask for Erestor to be added to the character list, lol), but it's a story very dear to me and it's so lovely to have a comment like this. *hugs you* 

Sorry for the delay, I didn't get a notification. And thank you so much, this is really kind of you. I'm always glad when someone mentions the detail - I did more research for this fic than anything else I've ever written, and about some really unlikely things. Like goats :D

It was the strangest thing, I saw the prompts and the story was right there. I had a line of content written for each prompt before the mod of the challenge com had time to come back to me with my tag :D That has never happened to me before. I figured I'd have maybe three people reading it, was amazed that so many showed an interest.

This is very amusing and excellently written, Keiliss! I just love the following lines:

"... And yes, things were managed in much the same manner in Gondolin. And yes, I argued against it then, too..."

I laugh every time I read it! The same with the 'To-Do' Lists'.

The increasing informality in the letters is brilliant. I'm looking forward to more - I want to see what happens in Rivendell and what happens to Glorfindel and Erestor!

Hey Moreth :) Glad you're enjoying the fic, thanks very much for commenting (I was dead nervous about posting Erestor and Glorfindel here - it's nice to see a few friendly faces, lol) The to-do lists started as a way for me to connect with Erestor's day and were fun to put together. I'm a list person, I understood his 'process' :D

Glorfindel - he has his own way of doing things :)

  

Erestor is a wonderful specimen of a bureaucrat, opposed to spending unnecessary money, yet open to sensible reasons. I wish RL would imitate art more frequently.

Also good to see Glorfindel asserting himself. He's obviously a no-nonsense kind of Elf.

Loved these lines - the understatement still makes me giggle:

>>I undertake to avoid doing anything inconvenient like getting myself killed - Lord Námo might be under-impressed to find me back in his Halls so soon.<< 

*g*

I liked that bit myself, and no one else picked up on it. Thank you *g*. I could just picture the look on his face as he wrote that, eyebrow raised, little smile. I found out very fast that Glorfindel knows his own mind and isn't afraid to speak it, lol. As for Erestor - yes, good at his job but adaptable. Clearly pure fiction :D

 

The site ate my reply *sulks*.

I was all ready to post before I realised no, no Erestor. It was a strange moment, I'm used to him being vastly over-written in the corners of fandom I most often frequent *g*.  

I learned a lot of things while I was writing this that I never imagined I'd have to know about - building techniques, weaving, curing skins, English forests... I'm so glad you've enjoyed the results, thank you very much *hug*

What a pleasant and original story! The letters are a great way to convey the growing relationship between the two characters and the development of Imladris as a community. I read that you had to do a lot of research about goats and building materials and stuff. Well, the effort was well worth it since those details are what make the story so interesting and although nothing terribly dramatic happens to them right now (not the usual Silm stuff of terrible tragedies), I really want to know how everything will unfold. I also liked  very much the references to Gondolin and what life was really like, a city under siege where life was hard and frugal and not a kingdom  out of fairy tales -sounds strange when applied to an Elvish city, doesn't it?. Also Glorfindel's retelling of his death, like he just did what had to be done at that moment and the Balrog speaking Quenya. Great details.

 

Hi Angelica :) Oh dear, if I'd known how much time I would spend on Wiki with this I might have thought twice, lol. But I needed to understand what I was writing about - guessing always shows - and it was really interesting. I learnt a lot about things I never thought I'd have to know, like the climate and crops in the north of England… I was very aware of living on the other side of the world occasionally *smiles*.

 

I'm glad you liked the Gondolin references and the ideas behind them. Glorfindel shares a lot more about that and about the final night in part eight. I've had ideas floating around about the Hidden City for ages, but this was the first time I really had a chance to use them.  His death also - I've read so many different accounts that I was wary about going anywhere near there, but how he died is central to his personality. 

 

*reads back* This was a really inadequate thank you for a lovely review, but I hope you know how much I enjoyed reading it and how thrilled I am that you're enjoying Conversations. Thank you so much.

 

Kei/

 

Aww, this was lovely to find. Thank you, Lissa :) I think this was the chapter where I really became aware of having to be careful with the pacing, not letting them get too close too fast. I'm glad you liked the contrast between old and new, I enjoyed trying to imagine how it must be for Glorfindel, living such a different life now in such a different place. 
*hugs*

Marvelous chapter. Glorfindel's descriptions both of Gondolin and of his death ring totally true. The idea you introduce of Gondolin as a trap, of people going there because they couldn't go back to the West makes so much sense, much more than Gondolin as the ideal city.

The cameos of Fingolfin, Finrod, Fingon and others  are a special treat: you say a lot in few words. And Manwe's eagles as jailors, brilliant. The same for the description of the first rising of the moon. 

 

 

Hi Angelica,
The first moonrise was more complicated than I expected before I read Tolkien's attempts to marry his round and flat world theories. I'm glad you liked the end result - however it all worked, I'm sure it was still eerie and very unnerving.
I'm really delighted the view Glorfindel presented of Gondolin worked for you - I really loved your feedback, thank you :). I've always thought the whole idea of a city looking as much like Tirion as possible spoke less of a pineering people than of exiles longing for their true home. As for the eagles - I have no idea where that came from, I just wrote what he told me :) But I'll admit to a touch of bird phobia :D

This is a really lovely sequence of letters.  The level of detail is so intense and realistic, both for the establishment of 'modern' Imladris and in Glorfindel's recollections of Gondolin.  You must have put an awful lot of research into it.  The growing intimacy is very well done too, neither too swift nor too drawn-out.

This review is really too brief for so much effort on your part, so sorry about that.  But thank you!

It might be short, but you covered a lot of ground and left me smiling. Thank you so much, it's a lovely review.

 

The research was interesting - I never thought I'd need to read up on primitive goats and ancient building methods, lol. I complained a lot and loved every moment of it. The memories of Gondolin are ideas I've played with for a long time, and this was a chance to finally explore them - I'm very glad you enjoyed that.

 

The pace was something I really hoped I'd get right. In real terms - one letter each per month, with luck - this has probably moved faster than it should, but then again I think they had an 'instinct' for one another, perhaps :) Thank you so much for mentioning it

 

 

As has already been commented upon in other reviews, your attention to detail and the sheer amount of it is staggering. And considering the author who's work you are writing from, that's saying something. I think my body would physically revolt before I could write in anywhere near as much detail as you have here. Seriously, well done.

Since you did not list romance as a genre in your summary, I wondered if the story would even take that direction. I am only newly come in to reading Erestor and Glorfindel as a pairing, being much more used to Glorfindel and Ecthelion. However, as the personal and emotional content of the letters increased, I eagerly anticipated these two finally coming together in a romantic sense. Some of the personal details they shared moved me to tears. Even though I am very prone to sentementalism, often against my will, yours was more than well earned and far more than sufficiently developed to achieve such an emotional impact. Excellent, excellent work.

I found a livejournal community called 10_letters where you signed up with your character and wrote a series of letters in response to a list of prompts – and I thought, oh this is cool, this won’t be difficult, no pressure, not like anyone’s going to read it…. And when I got to part two I had a file on my desktop for information, and by the time I got to part four, it was a folder! I learned about things I never imagined I’d have to read about – if I’d known when I started just what writing about an isolated community would involve I’d have run screaming, lol!

When I started this, I left the choice of romance or no romance up to the characters, and it took a while for them to make up their minds and I thought claiming it was a romance might change how people approached the story so I left that off the genre list. Anyhow, it’s a long wait *g* with Glorfindel only realising he’s falling in love in part 8.  

I’m sorry it’s taken me a couple of days to respond to your lovely review. I’m so glad the letters appealed to you – I’m very flattered by your kind words. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment :)

Kei

 

 

I know it's been said already, but the details in this really are amazing. They make the story come alive and feel real. Love the way you handled the progression of their relationship, and all the little digressions and side stories that came up in the letters. I also love that the two of them have strong and yet distinct personalities. That's a hard thing to show through letters rather than through action and dialogue, but they both came through very clearly, to me. Really wonderful work.

This was such a lovely review, thank you so much :) I never imagined people would be interested in this story when I began, and - just makes me really happy to be told someone liked something I really loved writing :)

Trying to keep their voices seperate was what worried me the most. Glorfindel wasn't writing in his mother tongue, so I figured he would be a little more formal (he never uses contractions), and Erestor's to-do lists helped get him in focus, too.  I'm thrilled they come across distinctively for you :) The detail - I've still not gotten over how many things I needed to read up on, lol. I loved the side stories and what they hinted at, so I'm really happy you liked those additions too. 

~Kei

You have no idea how lost I felt when I finished this *g*. I'd actually got used to reseaching a million different things, worrying about stuff like timing and how long the journey from Mithlond would take in midwinter and all the rest. And watching them fill out as people and their (completely unplanned) romance was lovely too. A summer story -- what a lovely way to describe it. Thank you :) And thank you for liking it, writing it was a really special experience for me.

*hugs*