Now that Artanis wanted to find him, Celebrimbor failed to be anywhere convenient. Celeborn, most of his men, and some of their families had been packed onto a pair of huge white swan-ships within a week of Artanis' arrival and sent into the East. Much to her relief, her mother decided to return to Tirion the following day.
Artanis felt weary enough to wait until after dinner to seek Celebrimbor. But the servants at Finw's house said that he was not there, that they did not know when he would return, or where he was at the moment. Dejected, she returned home.
There was a seagull in her room, sitting on her dresser and looking at itself suspiciously in her mirror. Artanis stared at it for a moment in exhausted stupefaction.
"I'm sorry I didn't come contact you in Aqualondë," said the seagull, turning to face her, "but you had already left when I went to find you."
"Hello, Olórin," Artanis said weakly, sitting down on her bed. He must be here, she realized, to summon her back to her studies. "I'm sorry, I can't come back just yet; I have to take care something..."
Olórin twisted his head sideways to look at her. "Perhaps the same project I have come to tell you about? I have a friend who's very interested in recent doings in Alqualondë. And that seems to be the only place in Valinor where the right gossip is hard to come by nowadays. So he asked me to ask you about Celeborn, who was the son of Galadhon and then the lord of Ringlin, but is neither of these things any longer."
"I-I think... my father's the one for the good gossip, if you can get him to tell you anything. He seems to figure out what's happening without going anywhere near the problem, which is more than I can manage when I'm right in the middle of one. Or ask Celeborn. You're probably just about the only person that can talk to him right now, since King Olwë exiled him to the Skerries."
"I will, in due time," Olórin assured her, his beady eyes twinkling. "But there is someone who would like to talk to you. Meet him at the mouth of the Ringnen, which is no longer such a little river, a week from now."
The Ringnen... that had been the river that had run through Celeborn's land, beside the road, that had been a modest river until Fëanor's dam was destroyed. The river down which Celeborn had floated his precious timber, that he wanted Artanis to somehow carry across the sea to the Skerries, where he would make a ship from it. Olórin and his friends knew about it, she realized, horrified.
Artanis choked back the retort that came to her lips, and forced something milder out instead: "Why do you care about Celeborn?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Olórin spread his wings and flew in a lazy circle around the room. "Decisions of kings and princes notwithstanding, he's a very clever and determined young fellow, and he is bound to affect the course of events. So are you, you know. I'd rather see things come out for the best. And even if I can't manage that, I would like to be able to prepare for the worst." With that, he sailed out of the window.
The next morning, rather than wait for anything more to happen, Artanis announced that she wanted to ride up to Formenos to see Celebrimbor. Finarfin looked at her skeptically, then decided, "Finrod, you had best go with her."
Finrod spluttered for a moment, then sighed and said, "At least wait 'til tomorrow. Fingon and Aredhel are riding up that way to go hunting. I don't suppose that you want to go hunting..."
"I just need to talk to Celebrimbor." Artanis finished her tea and fled back upstairs before Finrod could continue grilling her. Artanis paced her room and looked out at the garden. She had a week to get the lumber away from the mouth of the Ringnen before Olórin's friend came to meet her. But if they had already found it, what was she going to do? Celebrimbor would be able to think of something, wouldn't he? He'd figured out how to get rid of the dam... But on the other hand, they hadn't actually needed to be rid of it and that dam had made all the trouble in the first place...
She sat down, suddenly tired, and wished herself as far from Valinor and its problems, as she could be. Why not Middle Earth? No Fëanor, no Melkor, not even prying brothers or crazy cousins. With Celeborn's twenty- three outlaws and their families, she, Celeborn, and Celebrimbor would be able to do all kinds of things. For that matter, the elves who had been left behind might be quite glad to see them. Elwë, their king, had been a kinsman of her mother's. She thought back on the crafts she had learned from the Valar and the Maiar, things that the elves in Middle Earth might not know. For once, she could be someone important, not just the youngest of the house of Finwë, and just a girl at that.
She managed to take the whole morning packing things for the short trip north, but could not think of a good enough excuse to miss lunch. Besides, she was hungry. Finrod and the twins were waiting, of course. The moment their parents left the table, they were on her like hounds on a helpless rabbit. "Why do you want to go to Formenos? You aren't going to pick a fight with Uncle Fëanor, are you? Celebrimbor went with you to Ringlin, didn't he? Did he rat Celeborn out?" Artanis continued eating, stolidly, and pretended not to hear them.
Finarfin wandered back into the dining room and smiled at the sight of Artanis and her frustrated brothers. "Why is your sister giving you the silent treatment?"
"Father, why does Artanis want to go to Formenos?" demanded Finrod.
"To talk to your cousin, Celebrimbor. She said so at breakfast." Finarfin spooned the last of the dessert out of the bottom of a dish. Artanis spared him a small glare.
"You'd better not be planning to make any trouble!" Finrod told her firmly, then strode out of the room. Finarfin ruined the effect by trying not to laugh and failing. To his credit, Finrod didn't even look back.
Much to Artanis's dismay, Finrod was not ready to go until well after breakfast. "I've got to run some errands," he informed her brusquely at breakfast. Of course, he didn't want her to come with him.
Fingon and his sister Aredhel arrived before Finrod returned. "Off to see Amarie, is he?" Fingon chuckled. Artanis nodded mutely, although she had no idea where Finrod was.
Aredhel paced across the drawing room and sighed. She was, if anything, more athletic than Artanis, always out riding or hunting, but somehow, she managed to do all of it in a perfectly ladylike way, in a smart white gown that was invariably still spotless at the end of her ride. Artanis was too intimidated by Aredhel to despise her.
Eventually, Finrod returned and they were able to leave. Fingon chattered jovially as they rode. "Damned inconvenient that the lads had to go with Fëanor, isn't it? I asked Maedhros why he just didn't stay behind at Grandfather's, and he just shrugged at me, the great dolt."
Artanis bit her lip and remained quiet. The tangled lives of her Fëanorian cousins were a problem that she saw too much of and understood far too little of. Fëanor himself... bothered her. The way he could smile at people while his spirit boiled with frustration within him... it had taken her a long time to realize that the rest of her family couldn't see inside people the way that she could. It was a knack, but a far less useful one than she would have liked. What was the point of seeing what people really thought and wanted if you couldn't understand it?
It took most of an interminable day to reach Formenos, Fëanor's new mansion. Artanis was shocked at how ugly it was. There were no windows at the ground level, only a huge iron-bound door set into the side of a mountain.
Fingon went up and knocked. The door boomed heavily, despite its huge size. Under different circumstances, Artanis would have found it amusing. A few minutes later, the door swung open and her cousin Maedhros, his red curls unbraided, beckoned them inside.
"Celegorm and the twins are getting ready still. We've been busy all day. Dad had some things he wanted finished before we went out..." Artanis tuned him out and made sure that she memorized the doorways and turns as they went deeper into the house... fortress, actually, she realized.
When Maedhros finally settled them in a sitting room (two levels down, very nearly under the front door by Artanis' estimates), she asked for Celebrimbor.
"I didn't think he was going." Maedhros began.
"He's not, and I just came to talk to him."
Maedhros looked at Finrod, then shrugged and had a servant bring her to Celebrimbor. They went back up a level, and further into the mountain. Artanis could smell the forges even before the hot air struck her. Celebrimbor tossed his gloves and apron aside and rushed to greet her.
"What have you heard?" Celebrimbor demanded as soon as Maedhros left them.
"He, he's gone." Artanis felt suddenly frightened and tired. "Listen, Celebrimbor we've got a problem. The lumber..."
"What do you mean, he?" Celebrimbor snapped. "And I don't see that you've got a problem, I'm the one..."
A surge of anger cleared Artanis' mind. She glared at Celebrimbor, and as she did, his thoughts and his fears filled her mind. "You prat!" she snarled, "You think Celeborn told them that you blew up the dam. That's all you care about!"
"Well, did he?" Celebrimbor asked. "If Grandfather hears..."
"He hasn't told anyone!" Artanis barely remembered to keep her voice down. "And now he's been shipped off to the Skerries! And this is all your fault!"
"It is not! You were the ones who wanted the dam gone!" Celebrimbor was becoming as angry as she was. "And I'm the one who has to deal with Grandfather!"
Artanis looked away and forced her frustration back under control. "Celebrimbor, no one knows. And no one's going to tell anyone anything."
"Good!" Celebrimbor recovered. "Look, it's not that bad. It's not like anyone lives at Ringlin anymore, nor along the river, as I remember. No harm done, right?"
"Except for Celeborn being exiled, and our ship not getting built..."
"Look," Celebrimbor interrupted, "Celeborn's got this feud with his father, right? I bet that's the real reason he got exiled. Olwë just wants to keep him out of the way for a little while. He keeps getting into trouble! He'll be allowed back eventually. The Valar won't let Olwë leave him out there."
Artanis shut her eyes and listened to him prattle on. He just wanted things to go back the way they were, she realized miserably. He didn't like Celeborn, and she wasn't sure why. Jealousy, she sensed, but of what? The two of them were just so different!
"Are you two coming with us?" Maedhros and Finrod came into the forge, dressed in hunting leathers. Celebrimbor protested, but Artanis nodded meekly and went with them.
Artanis returned home alone after the first night, and much to her surprise, Finrod accompanied her home.
"You and Celebrimbor had a fight," he observed, as they rode back toward the light of the Trees.
Artanis nodded and hoped that would satisfy him. It didn't.
"You and he visited Celeborn a few times. Did that have something to do with it?" Finrod continued.
Artanis hunched her shoulders. "It's none of your business!" she protested.
Finrod scowled at her. "Aside from you being my little sister, whom I should worry about just a little, Celeborn got into a lot of trouble recently. No one seems to be worried about him. Was that your and Celebrimbor's doing?"
Artanis said nothing, but her eyes stung with tears.
"Celeborn is certainly paying the price for it, whatever it was." Finrod observed coldly.
Artanis gritted her teeth. "It was... an accident. Things just went faster than we expected. And I'm going to help him..."
"What things?" Finrod pulled his horse alongside hers. He was clearly not going to leave her alone.
"With the dam. We didn't really need to... But... I can't talk about it. I promised I wouldn't." Artanis shut her eyes tightly to keep the tears back. "Finrod, really, there's nothing you can do."
"I'd prefer to be the judge of that." Finrod said. "Dad's doing what he can for Celeborn. But it's going to take awhile, and I'm not sure that I want you and Celebrimbor getting him mixed up in your activities again. There can't be a next time."
"Our activities?" Artanis asked sharply.
"Yes. Like the time you two built that contraption to fling stuff across the main courtyard and splattered Grandfather with stew? Or the time that you sent a carriage down the hill to see how far it would go?"
"We were kids, Finrod! I don't do that kind of stuff anymore!"
"No," snapped Finrod, "You've moved up in the world. Now you blow up dams!"
"That wasn't me," muttered Artanis, looking down at the road.
"You were there, as you have been at the scene of other Celebrimbor-induced disasters. That boy is great at making messes and getting other people blamed for them. And Celeborn really doesn't need to be blamed for other people's problems anymore. He's not like you two. He'd work really hard at something useful if he got a chance."
Artanis swung back to Finrod. "So would I, if I had a chance. But there's nothing to do here, except to study, and engage in contests, and do all kinds of practice for responsibilities we'll never get to have! The Valar take such good care of us, there's no need to work at anything!"
"You sound like Fëanor."
"I... I don't! He doesn't know what he wants; he's just angry,and he doesn't even know why, so that's what he says!" Artanis was angry too, as much at herself as at Finrod or Fëanor. "I'm not planning to stay here and fester, that's all!"
"Where are you going to go? Away from the trees, Valinor is dark and no one lives out there. At least, no one normal."
"Finrod, what would you say if you could go to Middle Earth?"
"Well, I'd go in a heartbeat if I could, and so would everyone I know. They don't even have Melkor anymore." He eyed her suspiciously. "But we can't. You know it. There's the Sea to get across."
Artanis weighed her words carefully. "Promise not to tell anyone or interfere if I can get past the Sea?"
Finrod stared at her. "Fine, on one condition. If I think you're going to get yourself hurt, or anyone else, I'm putting a stop to your scheme. Understand?" Artanis nodded. "It's a deal."