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Thank you for writing this. I loved this tender and atmospheric story very much! Mairon's perspective when he realizes that he's unexpectedly falling in love is spot on. So THIS is what there was between Aulë and Yavanna, he thinks, and is shocked because it goes against his plans, but at the same time he can't stop loving his elf.

And because he is Mairon, he tries to overthink it. He's such a worrywort, and I love it how Celebrimbor in this story notices it at once. They know each other so well! And Mairon's answer "Nothing to worry about" is so suspicious, Celebrimbor must know that something IS wrong. I love it how he tries to make Mairon feel better.

He needed the Ring to have a reinsurance, if Celebrimbor took it badly.

Oh no, Mairon! That's where it starts to go wrong. The Ring doesn't help you!

Once he’d finished the ring project, he’d tell him the whole truth. He’d make him understand somehow so they could be together forever.

I love it how sincerely he hopes that he wouldn't need to lie to Celebrimbor anymore. But it's so heartbreaking that he makes that ring project as his insurance against Celebrimbor's rejection, and the project always comes first, even before their love. He has a lot to learn.

I'm so happy you like it!

He did not plan for this, it didn't even occur to him that he might to start having feelings for Celebrimbor, let alone fall in love with him! He knows it's going to complicate his plans. But he can't not love him. He needs to find a way to keep him!

Mairon's biggest problem is his lack of trust (and his wish to rule the world entirely on his own conditions). He doesn't want to lie to Celebrimbor, but he also can't tell him the truth now, because if Celebrimbor takes it badly, he won't have a contingency plan. He tries to convince himself that Celebrimbor will accept him, if he knew the truth, but he doesn't have it in him to trust him. He thinks he needs the Ring to make sure he'll win, whatever Celebrimbor is going to do with the truth (because he still thinks that keeping the upper hand is the most important for him). And, of course, the way Celebrimbor finds out is a catastrophe, Mairon didn't mean it to happen like that! And he can't trust Celebrimbor, either, that he'd take him back, even now, if he doesn't come back at the head of an army...

Celebrimbor knows he's hiding something and wishes he'd convide in him so he can help. But then, he guesses that 'Annatar' has secrets and that him being an ambassador from the Valar might not be the whole truth. So he doesn't pry, because he knows how it is to have a somewhat complicated past.