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> A12: Wind and Fire by Adi

Oh, this was a nice story. I'm not normally a "horse" person, but this
is one of those that manages to make the horses into vibrant
characters without humanizing them. In fact, Adi makes the point
explicitly: these are not like Men. As she says, "We do not love
battle, my brothers and I, not as Men seem to". Throughout "Wind and
Fire" the point is made that horses, and particularly the Mearas, are
different from Men; they may serve Men but do so out of their own
sense of honour and what is right.

I also loved how you captured the relationship between the Mearas and
their riders: it is the Mearas who choose the human, not the other way
around. And the fact that Shadowfax chose Gandalf instead of, say,
Théoden really struck me. I also liked the horses' version of
something akin to pacifism:

"Will it [war] make the grass grow any greener, or the foals any
faster, or the wind any sweeter, or the fire any brighter?"

Perhaps not strict pacifism, but I thought it was a neat look at
someone questioning the value of war -- of all characters, a warhorse!
Very nice story.

Marta