Janet, this must be one of my favorite passages in a story ever, fanfic or original fiction:

How can I explain how beautiful this is? There's Mama who gives Lois her wonderful role model, Princess Elizabeth who fights dragons but doesn't kill them. But when Mama uses that grown-up word, disable, little Lois doesn't understand. She hears a fairy-tale word, stable, appropriate for Princess Elizabeth, who certainly used horses rather than cars or planes to get around. So with her impeccable children's logic, Lois realizes that if you want to fight a dragon without killing it, it's a great idea to stable it, to keep it in its place and prevent it from flying around and causing harm. When Mama understands how Lois has misunderstood her, she feels compelled to explain. But Mama, too, can see the great appeal of the stabled dragons, and so she draws that image that Lois had already pictured in her mind. And not only does Mama draw the stabled dragons, but she makes the dragons smile in their stable, too. And finally, because Mama and Lois both recognize how beautiful the notion of the stabled dragons is, the drawing remains hanging on their refrigerator art gallery longer than any other pictures there.

Toc, this passage is brimming with love, with freely flowing imagination, with nobility and good will, with insight and understanding, and with the kind of poetry that elevates the humdrum ordinary world into the realm of miracles and magic.

Your story is one of my favorite Lois and Clark stories of all time. Although the "stabled dragons" passage stands out to me like a diamond among pretty pebbles, there are so many wonderful pebbles here, too. There's Mama's letter to Lois, Lois's tearful reaction and her overflowing love for and gratitude to her Mama, and the pale blue baby blanket and baby garment with a pale yellow and red crest (don't we all know what that crest looked like!). So, Janet, you are going to give Lois a pale blue supersuit with a pale red and yellow "S"?

And then there are the mysterious intertwined adult-wrist-sized chains. Aren't those chains the most perfect symbol of love, better than wedding rings? Such intertwined chains would resemble a moebius strip, a symbol of, I think, eternity or infinity. I can imagine these chains unchaining themselves, letting go of one another, when Lois finds her soulmate, so that she can wear one chain and he can wear the other. What a marvellous symbol of being apart, and yet longing and needing to be together forever, when you carry a chain that is in itself half and incomplete without its mate. And we know who Lois's soulmate is, who is destined to wear that other half of her chain.

I also loved it that Lois was more scared and upset about her floating than she had been about any of her other super-abilities. It was even better that when she had learnt to control her floating, when she had learnt how to fly, she loved this amazing ability better than any of her other superpowers.

There are so many things I love here. I could just go on listing them. Let me just say that I love - love - this story, and I so, so, so look forward to this Lois's meeting with Clark.

I may have said it before, but thank you for this marvellous story.

Ann

What a wonderfully written, compelling, lovely chapter!

Ann quoted the passage that I loved most, and she's beautifully articulated everything I wanted to say and more.

Just ... *loves* This story is terrific. I can't wait to read the next part — and see the eventual interaction between Lois and Clark!

Hi,

Great part.


She don't have photographic memory?


More ASAP, please.

MAF

I must also echo Ann. This Lois is delicate and fragile, in addition to being invulnerable and incredibly strong. She'll be a wonderful dragon fighter. And the chains, the ones Ann imagines as Mobius strips? (Great idea, too!) Maybe there are two Kryptonians on Earth, and neither one knows anything about the other! Wouldn't that be interesting?

I thought at first that you were taking too long to get all through Lois's childhood, but I was wrong. This is all necessary backstory. We, the readers, must know why Lois will do the things she will do in her adult life. And you've done a wonderful job telling us about little-girl Lois and how hard it was for her to lose her Mama, and how much her Mama loved her to provide for her even after she was gone.

I loved the part about the stable full of dragons, too. It was tender and sweet and full of delight. And I'm glad Lois has the same idea about locking doors that Ms. Boosler does. Hmm. I wonder if she got the idea from Lois?

Just caught on with this story... simply superb !!!

It's been more than a week since you posted last, Janet. Will we be seeing more of this soon?

Ann

Yes, I'll post some more in a few minutes. I intended to do so yesterday, but circumstances conspired against me.

I do want to say - thank you all for your lovely and supportive comments. This particular story has been much harder to write than the little pieces I've posted previously, as it's much more serious. It's got more of... I guess you can say, me invested in it, than the others have - even Cloud Nine, which was my first really serious effort at writing fanfic.

Anyway. So it feels more... exposed, I guess, to post this story. And it's still being written - I've hit another sort of snag with it that will take some fiddling to get around.

Maria - she has pretty much a photographic memory - I don't know if there's such a thing as a "mostly photographic memory"... But you know, this is Lois. She's driven. Determined to succeed, and not getting support on her chosen career. She's determined to get the best grades - and get through with college and on with being a reporter as soon as possible. Almost-photographic-memory or not, she would be the type to study. <g>

And actually, it would be interesting to find out from someone who does have a photographic memory... Are there things that are easier to remember? If you have, say, a class you really dislike - or should I say, a subject you really dislike - are you less likely to really remember that stuff for an exam, and more likely to reread it just before the exam?

~Toc

EDIT - To add - Thank you, in particular, for commenting on what was my own favorite passage, too. The stabled dragons part was actually not in there, originally. When I reworked that section, the pictures just popped into the list of stuff in the box of things Mama left Lois, and then I had to explain them. When I sat and thought about it, that explanation jumped fully formed into my head.