Ficlet: A Walk on the Beach

[dreamflower02]

This little ficlet came to me spontaneously last night. I wasn't much planning on writing such a thing, but Frodo had different ideas...

On the Blessed Isle, Frodo takes another step towards healing...
Rated G

A Walk on the Beach

Comments

[fantasy_fan]

Very interesting little ficlet. The Pity of Frodo is legendary: it is good to see him try to apply it to even Sauron! Forgiveness may never come, but empathy, yes, Frodo can come to that. And to know what is most important, that Bilbo loves and understands him, is the most precious thing.

[dreamflower02]

Thank you! I'm anticipating the next chapter in the main story as soon as Bilbo gets the next letter, so it was on my mind to consider Frodo's reaction to his cousin's correspondence.

And I think that Frodo would finally come to pity Sauron, and I think forgiveness might come as well.

[shirebound]

This is such a gentle and joyous perception. I'm insatiable when it comes to stories about Frodo healing in the West.

[dreamflower02]

I know you are. I'm glad you like it!

"The Prisoner and the Hobbit" is AU for me, but I still think that even in that AU, Frodo would continue to make steady progress in his healing, and part of that would mean coming to terms with his feelings about the one who made the Ring.

[meneleth]

I never thought of Sauron surviving the destruction of the ring. Hmmmm....

[dreamflower02]

I never would have either, until pandemonium_213 asked me to co-write "The Prisoner and the Hobbit" with her. She has an AU in which Sauron's spirit survives through means which I won't spoil, but he ends up before the Valar for judgement. They re-embody him and imprison him in Mandos, and Gandalf/Olorin is assigned to oversee his rehabilitation.

And Gandalf makes a great therapist, LOL!

I love her version of Sauron, even though he doesn't quite fit with my own universe. He's many layered, and yet he is still a villain.

I have been quite surprised really at how Bilbo is holding his own in the correspondence!

[periantari]

I love this fic-- it's so gentle and written with such attention to detail.
But he had traded his innocence for hard-won knowledge, and the sorrow was only the sorrow proper to the ordinary griefs of life. He no longer felt responsible for all the evils the Ring had wrought during his quest, and he could not regret his choices now.

I love how you write this because it's so true.

And so hopeful to see BIlbo again. :)

Great job!

[dreamflower02]

Yes, I think that healing can never mean that everything goes back the way it was-- for him to completely "get over" the sad things that happened would cheapen his sacrifice. I think healing means that he is finally able to put things in their proper perspective.

He and Bilbo are making a nice life for themselves in the West, even though they will always miss the Shire.

[grey_wonderer]

I liked this bit of Frodo trying to complete his own healing process. It was very insightful. I also liked the image of Strawberry the kitten. : )

[dreamflower02]

Frodo's got a lot of thinking to do! I don't think he'd just suddenly be all healed the minute he set foot there, because a lot of his pain was from his own mind and heart, and he'd need to sort through it.

I remembered Strawberry for this story, perhaps because of that phrase (in the first chapter of "The Prisoner and the Hobbit", we learn that Sauron said Frodo bearing the Ring was like "giving a Silmaril to a kitten". It kind of rankled and stuck in Frodo's mind, so this was his coming to terms with that.) As he remembers Strawberry, he realizes the flaw in Sauron's analogy...