Eowyn! She cannot help but tease him about Rohhiric! Eomer’s reaction to his scholarly attempts to speak it made me laugh, too.

Faramir as seen through Eowyn’s eyes is a treat, and you’ve made her very perceptive, how she picks up on and speculates about his little foibles and mannerisms, and notes how other people respond to him. It’s one thing to write a romance and expect the readers to believe there is attraction there; far more effective are these little details of a woman watching closely and with great curiosity the man she is now married to.

The newlywed’s eagerness to be gone from everyone is something I remember well myself, and this whole day recounted made me smile. Emyn Arnen is beautifully described, filed with air and growing things.

Adore the line about Faramir’s gift for making all about him peaceful, and adore that she is able here to see that for the gift it is.

My going through this will be slow, I fear, but hopefully steady, because I have no doubt it will be worth every minute of reading.

I’m a sap for good first-person POV so you had me right out of the gate. He is a droll one, this Faramir you wield, even when he’s wracked with nerves or dredging up hard memories.

I adore the way you present his relationship with Imrahil and it gladdens my heart to know here was a good father to one who possibly had something less than that at home.

Eorling culture is fun to speculate about because there’s much room to smouch from old customs and traditions without worrying overmuch about adhering perfectly to them. I enjoyed immensely the wedding-meld of cultures and I agree with you about Rohirric sensibilities when it comes to a good party.

Eowyn merry and laughing is a welcome thing when some write her still wallowing around in angst years after. She wore the same colors from The Day! What a fantastic detail.

I’ve read only your shorter pieces thus far and this I believe is the first in in first-person. I am fascinated by style in all its magic and when I find an author who can put on vastly different faces, stylistically speaking, I get all lit up with wanting to pay attention to what they’re up to and why.

Very excited to continue this fine story.

I can't see the review I left yet, but I think I may have written "Captain of Mordor" where I meant to write "Captain My Captain." Two *very* different stories. Not especially expecting a connection between "A Game of Chess" and "Captain of Mordor."

Finished reading this satisfyingly long story this morning and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I started writing on this site not long after you and Isabeau did, and have read a number of pieces by you and her and Soledad and Dwimordene over the years, but in a here-and-there fashion. I didn't know about the Unabeauverse until a chance conversation some weeks ago, so the discovery of a large body of connected stories, many of them OC-driven and/or novel-length and/or completed, has been very exciting.

I came to this off of Captain of Mordor and wondered how much of a connection I would see, but "A Game of Chess" feels very much its own thing to me. It was pleasing to read a story focusing on Eowyn and Faramir, and fascinating to read about these early years of their marriage. I was sad to see it encumbered and nearly broken by the baggage of the past, but happy to see them come through it, with some small help from family and friends. The prose style you elected to use for this story was nicely maintained: elevated but never obscuring the humanity of the characters. You also did an excellent job of conveying the emotions involved: Eowyn's chafing, Faramir's distress and despair - and the shock of his Denethor persona came across to me just as it did to Eowyn and Imrahil, breathing a real chill into the proceedings.

I noticed your note about "something about the kids" at the bottom of this last chapter. I think that was an excellent choice. It shows how some things persist or repeat themselves: over ten years later Faramir still will not touch a sword (although the scene in which he holds Bron's fist around the handle is a lovely moment), members of the same loving family can still misunderstand one another, and a much loved son can manage to grow up insecure or doubtful despite the best of parental intentions. Still, as Bron learns something more about his father, I am left with the feeling that all can be well, as long as Everyone Keeps Talking To Each Other.

Thank you for writing this.

So glad I found this story and all your others! Beautiful!

You know, about halfway through each chapter the italics just throw everything off. I don't know if it's posted without the italics somewhere, but I'd love, love love love to read a version without the italics.

A good epilogue, very fitting.

I'm extremely pleased by the way you let them mend slowly and how you give the impression very clearly that they have both changed for the better and are currently both consciously trying to act better.

A kiss! Is this a good sign? Please!

A quiet time for friendship seems very appropriate.

She just said that everything was best when they were honest and in the next sentence she decides to not tell him that she still has high regard for him.

I'm glad you have a zero tolerance of domestic violence.

2years of emotional seperation is a loooong time. I hope you give them time to get to know each other.

I'm glad Eowyn is not in ignorance anymore, but to be the last to know of your husband's illness is such a slight, that I do not think a marriage can survive it. Angry words are a different thing all together.

:( I agree that all the things that trouble Faramir are complex and it takes a lifetime to heal from a lifetime of abuse, but.. I hate when people who love each other are estranged for years and years. When in a story there is war and strife and quarreling for 1000 pages and then a reconciliation in the last 5 pages, I'm always left feeling like there was nothing good between the quarreling parties. After 1000 pages of grief I need at least 30 pages of joy ;)