Disclaimer - all characters and places belong to J. R. R. Tolkien A fic I wrote for Preda (you can find it here: beguilingblackness . tumblr post / 84649229607 / goldstones) *** *** **

The Music was ringing in the Hall; it was not the Great Music, but it was similar to one of the parts of it - the music of hammers hitting the metal and fires burning here. Varda entered the forge of Aulë walking behind Manwë and Aulë. They were talking about the matters of their elements. Varda was a bit bored, they were talking for ages about dust and things like that. The Valar went to the table and sat beside it, still talking. The Valië smiled at them and shook her head. They were lost for the world for the next few hours. Varda looked around the forge; there were three Maiar busy with their duties. The first was fixing some metal object by hammering it. The second was writing down something on a piece of paper, the third one was cleaning the mess in a far corner of the forge. The Valië turned to the empty space in the other corner of the place, not wanting to bother anyone. She walked between all those hammers, anvils and the whole bunch of things she could not name. Aulë's part of creation was really specific and Varda understood it only partially.
She found a small space behind a wooden wall, with a small hearth and a pot above it. In the pot there was a liquid, similar to oil. The Valië leaned forward. "Hm, quartz," she stated. She could recognize atoms of it. It seemed that someone was making glass. The glass is really a fascinating thing, you can use it in many ways. She looked around; on the shelves were samples of minerals and metals - many of them hidden in vessels, pots and boxes. A real treasure for Aulë's follower. Who occupy this place? Varda reached up to the shelf and took a small vessel to peek in it. She frowned, trying to find the name of the substance.
"Cobalt," she nodded to herself. "Yes, it is cobalt, my lady," she heard behind her. The Valië jumped and mewled in surprise when she saw some of the silver metalic substance falling into the pot. She put the vessel on the right place and covered the pot with a piece of metal. After a second she placed the pot away from the fire. All those actions she did with one fast and nervous motion before looking back, her cheeks pink.
Before her stood a Maia; she noticed him earlier, he had always been somewhere around Aulë.
"I… I am afraid I have marred your glass," Varda said, still embaressed. "I will make a new one if you tell me how to," she offered, hoping he would not be angry at her for destroying his work. "Besides… I am afraid I do not know your name…"
The Maia looked at her, then smiled with a sweet, warm smile.
"My name is Mairon, my lady," he said. His voice rang with power and warmth. Varda could not help but smile back at him. "So… May I replace the marred glass with new?"
The next few hours the Starkindler spent learning from Mairon how to kindle glass. After this time a new pot - a twin of the first one - hung over the fire and the new liquid glass was inside. Varda looked into the pot, then at the Maia, her hair glowing lightly with joy and pride - she made the glass. Of course Mairon was helping her and giving her advice, but in the end she made a thing only Aule and his followers could do. The Valië kissed Mairon's cheek making him to blush.
"Thank you, dear Mairon. You let me make something I coudn't do earlier."
"Oh, it is nothing… But glass…" Mairon started to clean the small space of his lab. He picked up the piece of metal and looked into the pot with marred glass. Varda blushed when he froze, looking at it. Oh, she should have thrown it away when he was gone for more quartz…
"My lady… Look…" the Maia put the metal aside and picked the pot to show her the glass, now solid.
Now it was not the glass, but the dark blue sky with silver and golden sparks of stars. Elentari blinked and looked into Mairon's golden eyes. Before Varda could find the words, the Maia used one of those smithy things and cut the pot to pieces, freeing the big dark blue stone shining with distant stars. "It is beautiful." Varda whispered and touched the solid mineral. "And we made it together, dear Mairon."
"But… I… We didn't work at it," Mairon shook his head.
"You made the glass," Varda smiled and gestured at the new pot. "Then I accidentally added some cobalt to it. Then I put it aside and it became solid…"
The Maia and the Valië looked into each other's eyes and then turned their heads in similar manner to look at the wall of shelves, boxes of minerals and metals on each one.
"Are you thinking the same thing I am thinking?" she asked in a silent voice."Maybe we could add some chromium oxide?"