Celebrimbor: 30-Day Character Study by cloudyhymns

Day 16: Down Memory Lane, Part Three

A [written] box of mementoes that Celebrimbor carries.

String, to mend his clothes—from an auntie, he assumes, although all their faces begin to blur together now. A lost chunk of Huan’s fur, now threaded into his scarf. It smells of wet dog in the rain. Whistles and tunes and jaunts and the press of petals and leaves alongside the thrum of a bowstring through his body—these are gifts from Celegorm, and they follow Celebrimbor wherever he leads. A plum branch, flowers long since passed, from the King, and bark of a willow from Maedhros. Celebrimbor traces their names, not the ones he says—the ones meant for behind closed doors, amongst friends and family, and remembers how they used to say: Tyelpë.

His father’s ladle, and his father’s awl; two different implements for two different people, or so it always seemed. The spare bow on the wall, gifts from the Hunters, and a stringed instrument made solely of steel, a gift from Maglor. It cries like a living thing would, open and wide and full of a sorrow that is sweet. Jamming recipes and jar-lids squirreled away still from Caranthir—each year, he re-boils them and brings new flavors to life. Caranthir always had new dishes to try from the Men he traveled with. A ribbon for his hair, back when he wore it long, Dwarven-twine from Nargothrond, from the hand of Finrod. A circlet of pearl, once from Círdan but given by Orodreth.

And gifts from no-one, with noone who now remember their names. His first carving knife, whale-sharp and tooth white—oh, how it tangled in the kelp from below. Green leaves for tea, from a traveler; they sheltered side-by-side in the rain, never to again cross paths. His first oar, which he yet uses yearly to paddle down the rivers, afloat on the stream of Song. And what he holds closest—his box of records, of Memory, sharp because he keeps it so, paper and pen-nib and ink over many designs. There is only so much one can hold, so Celebrimbor lets it carry the weight for him.