Rings of Pride; Rings of Ruin by Aiwen

On to Lorinand

Celebrimbor spent the rest of the journey through Khazad-dum in a foul mood, barely exchanging a word with his escort except over essentials. Everything was going wrong and there seemed little he could do to fix it other than what he was already doing - which wasn't working. He was glad when he got into the open air even if it meant he had to carry his own pack through the rain. At least he could be surly without causing a diplomatic incident.

Down Dimril dale he trudged and on into the forests of Lorinand. He made no effort to be quiet - in fact he made certain to be as noisily conspicuous as possible. The elves of this land never made their borders very obvious to outsiders and he didn't want to be mistaken for an enemy or a spy. There was still no one he could see by the time he got to the river Celebrant, but after living in Nargothrond he knew better than to assume that meant no one had seen him.

He sat down by the river to wait. He waited for two hours. Maybe they hadn't seen him after all. He got up, picked up his pack and began to wade across the river.

Everything happened at once. Ahead, a guard appeared with a drawn bow, while someone yelled something he didn't understand from behind and he lost his footing in the stream. Splash. The guard fished him out and watched him cough and splutter.

"Thank you, I think," said Celebrimbor when he had his breath back. "I'm a friend, Celebrimbor of Eregion, and I'm here to talk to Galadriel." This didn't go down well.

"Lord Celebrimbor!" The guard said in heavily accented Sindarin. "What are you doing here alone and unescorted? Why haven't we received a message that you would be coming?"

"It is a matter of some urgency and I felt it more useful to come myself lest the matter should be misunderstood."

"If it is a matter of that much urgency, you must speak to king Amdir. He is our king, not the lady Galadriel, glad as we may be to have her living here. She may also not wish to speak to you after what happened in Ost-in-Edhil."

"It is partly about that I must speak to her. I owe her an apology, but she should hear that from me and not from anyone else."

"I see," said the guard. "You really must speak to king Amdir first. I will take you to him, but first you must give up your sword."

Celebrimbor blinked. "Why?" he asked.

"You come bearing an unresolved grudge against one of our citizens, and your family has a reputation for violence."

Not that old thing again, groaned Celebrimbor inwardly. Will I never be free of it? "I was never involved in any of the incidents to which you refer - to the point of being outcast by my own family. I am also the leader of a powerful city, and your behavior is insulting."

"If you want to be treated like a statesman, you need to act like one. Turning up alone and armed at the border with no warning of your presence and then trying to cross..."

"Fine, take my sword!" Celebrimbor undid his sword belt and handed it and the sword to the guard. He followed the guard into Lorinand through the pouring rain.

_________

Celebrimbor had never actually met Amdir before. He was different from the Noldorin lords that Celebrimbor was more used to. He received Celebrimbor in an open-sided pavilion lit with oil lamps. There were several of his counsel present, but they were otherwise alone. Celebrimbor bowed politely and was relieved to see that Amdir returned the gesture.

"What brings you here alone and with such haste?" Amdir asked without preamble. "The lady Galadriel has been requested to join us, but that will not happen until my people find her. I understand you wish to apologize. Why the change of heart?"

"The two are very much related..." said Celebrimbor before once again explaining the situation with the Rings.

Amdir frowned. "I find your tale most alarming," he said. "I will see to it that any Rings of Power that have made their way into my kingdom are retrieved and returned to you. I suspect there are few of them; most silvan elves have little interest in or use for magical baubles. But wouldn't it be better to simply destroy the Rings rather than attempting to fix them?"

"It isn't that simple, unfortunately. Many things in Ost-in-Edhil involve the Rings in one way or another, and some normal city functions would cease to work without them. In other places also..." Celebrimbor stopped, remembering that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to spread knowledge of Khazad-dum's weakness any further than necessary.

Out of the corner of his eye, Celebrimbor saw a gleam of silver-gold undulled even by the grayness of the day: Galadriel.

Amdir followed Celebrimbor's gaze and called her forward. "I need your advice," he said. He then attempted to explain the situation with the Rings. Celebrimbor couldn't help but wince at some of it. It sounded even worse when someone else explained it, and Amdir hadn't quite gotten all the details right.

Galadriel looked from Amdir to Celebrimbor and back again during the explanation, frowning. "What do you think?" Amdir finally asked. "I know little of Rings of Power."

"Do you have any speculations on whom Annatar really is?" Galadriel asked Celebrimbor.

"An escaped Umaiar of Morgoth's," Celebrimbor said. "I have no idea which one... except that he is obviously not stuck in a single horrifying form, and is quite capable of masking his true nature. He is a brilliant artificer, and loves solving problems and building things. He can't possibly be feigning that. Judging by this Master Ring he has a desire for power over others."

"Let me think for a moment," Galadriel said. A few seconds later, she continued. "I know the army of Aman missed some of Morgoth's Umaiar. Annatar is powerful, intelligent and very good at deception. I certainly hope this is not the case, but I am not sure what happened to Sauron after the War of Wrath. I know he surrendered to Eonwe, but I did not see them taking him away in chains. Did you see that?" She asked Celebrimbor.

"No, I did not, but surely they would not have let him run loose after all the damage he had done. Gil-galad might know more or there might be something in the archives at Mithlond."

"He would have the ability to do what you've just described," she said, "especially if he managed to charm Eonwe it into letting him go."

Sauron. Valar preserve us. That can't be right; I would've noticed I was working with Morgoth's lieutenant, wouldn't I? "Surely Sauron couldn't keep up an act of being a good Maia for hundreds of years. It wasn't just me he was fooling; it was the entire Gwaith-i-Mirdain as well as most of the people of Ost-in-Edhil and the rest of Eregion."

"I always knew he there was something wrong with him," Galadriel said.

"Then why didn't you tell me what it was?" Celebrimbor demanded.

"I didn't know what was wrong; I just knew that something was! I tried to tell you what I had sensed but you did not listen."

"I believe you were intending to apologize, Celebrimbor," Amdir interjected. "This is an argument."

Celebrimbor took a deep breath before speaking to Galadrial: "I owe you an apology for not believing you when this could have been prevented. You were right, I was wrong and I very much wish I had listened to you. As for the expulsion the of you and your daughter from Ost-in-Edhil, it was one of the stupidest things I have ever done."

"One of?" said Galadriel, raising an eyebrow, then shaking her head and sighing softly. "Enough of this. I accept your apology. I also overstepped my boundaries that day. I should have realized that you would never do anything in your laboratory so counter to basic ethics. Shall we get back to the discussion?"

"Yes please," said Celebrimbor. The discussion continued for a while before Amdir called a halt, saying they would continue the next morning. Celebrimbor would have liked to continue now so that he could get back to Ost-in-edhil as soon as possible, but he had to admit he was both hungry and exhausted. The delay might also give him time to talk to Galadriel alone without anyone noticing...