Celebrimbor

Celebrimbor had just started to load his fireplace with wood when Harmon stepped into the workshop.

"Princess Idril is here and requesting to speak with you," Harmon commented flatly.

He turned to face his friend and found the concerned look on Harmon's face. Celebrimbor stiffened as he wiped his hands on a rag. "Oh," he muttered. "And what does the princess want with me?"

He hoped his friend had some inkling or information to give him before he had to meet his family. Unfortunately, Harmon replied dryly, "she did not say."

A loud sigh escaped his lips before he could stop himself. While Idril was the lesser of his family members in the city, he did not like speaking with her. She was spoiled, naive, and arrogant at times. Idril often grated on his nerves, but at least she did not seem to act that way out of malice or spite. Merely that she had been sheltered and hidden in a safe city since they fled Valinor.

Without another word, Celebrimbor left the shop with Harmon falling into step beside him. He was glad for his friends and the new ones he made in the city. While they would never fill the hole in his heart for his family, he was not alone.

The short walk to the house made him tense, and he braced himself mentally for what was to come. Opening the door, he found Echadron sitting at the table with Rhuidhen and Voronwë sitting on either side. Across the table, Idril sat alone with a steaming cup of tea in front of her. Nobody spoke.

When he stepped into the dining room, Idril smiled at him and looked almost relieved to see him. He took his seat while Harmon leaned against the door frame, watching the interaction like a hawk.

Celebrimbor merely nodded at the princess, and she took that as her cue to start talking. "Cousin," she said warmly. "I am in need of your assistance."

"Go on," he replied shortly.

"The lady Kiera is no longer welcome at the palace. Tuor's house is not completed yet, but I am unsure if she will be welcome there any longer. I am wondering if you would consider taking her into your home. If not, I shall have to speak to my father about finding accommodation for her."

Celebrimbor sucked in his breath, but his eyes caught Voronwë stiffen in his chair at Idril's words. He had no idea what Kiera could have possibly done in a few short days since he had last seen her. However, knowing his family, he didn't believe Idril's words at all.

"I see," he commented flatly. "What has happened since last I spoke to Tuor and Kiera that they would no longer consider themselves friends. To the point that Tuor would throw her out of his house, and you would throw her out of the palace. Forgive me if I am wrong, but I thought the bonds Tuor, Kiera, and Voronwë shared were stronger than mere arguments between friends. Explain to me what Kiera did that was so heinous that would cause Tuor to turn from her along with the king and princess as well."

Idril bit her lip awkwardly as she squirmed in her seat. Celebrimbor caught Voronwë's eye and he started to piece together what was happening. "Or," he continued loudly. "You and Kiera have gotten into a disagreement again, and you are speaking for Tuor without his permission."

A faint blush grew on Idril's cheeks, but whatever shame or guilt she had was quickly squashed and the haughty princess returned. "Tuor will agree with me. My father is offering him a house and lordship. Perhaps we will make it a condition on accepting the house and title that Kiera may not join his house."

The room was deathly quiet as all of his friends turned to look at him. They waited, unsure of the direction he was going to go, but without hesitation, he replied, "I see. So it is as I have guessed. You and Kiera have gotten into a disagreement, and now she is banished from the palace and Tuor's house. Color me intrigued as I must know what she said that offended you so."

All of his friends knew then where he stood, but Idril, not knowing him well, took his curiosity as a sign that she found herself another ally against a common enemy. Idril began the long drawn out tale of Ecthelion visiting in the morning and the words spoken between them all, until the fateful midday meal. He caught the stubble glances his friends threw his way, but he remained transfixed on Idril's story as he listened between the lines for the truth.

When Idril was finished, she ended with something he never thought she would do. "I haven't decided on her punishment yet. I was going to speak to father about it, but my main idea was to make her serve as a maid for Salgant's daughters. I wanted to lock her up for a few months, but I believe Salgant's daughters and Amara would serve as a better lesson."

His body turned cold in an instant. Gone was the curious and polite person he was toward his family. Now, he channeled his father's best talent that he impressed upon his only son. The entire air in the room turned cold and dark as his face turned into an ugly sneer.

"You are cruel. Much crueler than my father and uncles," he whispered low to Idril.

Idril shrunk in her chair, but a look of surprise and fear showed on her face. Celebrimbor did not let up one bit as he spat out, "you disgust me. You, the princess of this city, remind me so much of my grandfather at this moment. You are selfish, manipulative, cruel, and uncaring of others. Is that what you wish to be? Has our family not suffered enough from our family's actions that it would not cause you to change your ways? What does it take, Idril? Your mother died on the grinding ice to save her only daughter. Your father turned to madness, greed, and paranoia after. What is wrong with you? Have you grown up so sheltered that you are uncaring for anyone else in the world? Have you no empathy for others?"

He paused in his rant, only for Idril to stare at him with a ghostly pale face. It made him even more furious because he knew that she would never understand until it was literally thrown into her face. "You are no better than the rest of the women on the court. You like to believe you are above it all as the princess of the city, but you are not. Ecthelion is a fine lord. How dare you belittle him and chastise him for his opinion after you asked for it. People like you disgust me. Ecthelion rode to war and fought tooth and nail for weeks so the people of this city would remain safe. Yet here you are, treating him worse than an orc for having a different opinion than your father's. He is a much better person than you will ever hope to be."

His words were like a whip as he lashed out at her. Idril flinched as he spoke, but he didn't let up. "Kiera, though human, is a much better person than you will ever be. You could spend the next thousand years changing your ways and you will never come close to the compassion and empathy that she has for people. You would watch her suffer under the hands of Salgant's daughters and Amara all because she spoke out against you. They would torment her and try to destroy her by any means that they could and they would do so gladly. I dare say they would probably even kill her in the end, because they already threatened her once. Is that what you wanted? You want her tortured for years as a slave and then killed, all because she spoke out against you?" He growled out lowly and hissed, "you make me sick."

The tears were streaming down Idril's face as she tried to control her tears, but he wasn't finished quite yet. He stood, tall and imposing as his hands grasped the end of the table. The room darkened once more as he whispered to her, "you will never threaten her again. If I hear of even any inkling about you telling your father or trying to punish Kiera, I will write to my family. I will tell them how to get into this city and about everyone in it. They will come for me, and I will gladly leave with them, and if we are not allowed to leave, well my family has killed before. However my father and uncle would love nothing more than to rule over Gondolin." He paused and said softly, "you and I both know that my father and uncle hate Turgon with a passion. I cannot control them and if I am being honest, I would turn a blind eye to their cruelty just this once."

Idril gulped down large, heavy sobs as she cried. The entire room was looking at him, just his eyes were fixed on Idril. It was hard to tell if his words made any difference at all and if he was being honest, he didn't really care. Idril was not someone he wanted to make an enemy, but if he had to threaten Idril to protect Kiera, then so be it.

Celebrimbor calmed considerably and retook his seat. Breathing slowly, he said, "have your handmaiden bring over Kiera's belongings. She is welcome here for however long she wishes to stay. You will not speak a word of this to Turgon. However, I want you to tell Tuor what you planned to do and that you spoke for him. He deserves to know the truth and I think you will find that he will not agree with you either. Perhaps," he commented softly, "you should also hear firsthand the horrors Tuor faced as a slave. If that doesn't move you, or make you change your ways, then there is no hope for you. Now, get out of my house."

Without another word, Idril fled the table and the house. She didn't even bother closing the door behind her as it slammed against the frame. Once she was gone, he finally eased down into his chair and breathed out a sigh of relief. Harmon, being closest to the front door, went to close it. After he returned, the others all looked between them before Voronwë coughed.

Celebrimbor arched his brow as Voronwë blushed and said, "thank you. I knew Kiera would be safe here and I was the one to suggest to the princess that we come here. I am sorry to drag you into all of this, but she is a dear friend to me, and I do not wish to see her get hurt."

He nodded and asked, "is she with Ecthelion today?"

"Yes," Voronwë replied. "I believe they plan to spend the afternoon and perhaps the evening together. I do not wish to ruin her day anymore, but I can find her and bring her here later."

Echadron patted Voronwë's arm and smiled at him, "you are a good friend. Kiera will be safe here. I look forward to getting to know her better and hearing all about her world." Echadron's smile dropped as he shivered, "the princess is vile."

Rhuidhen snorted, "well, did you expect any different? Look who her father is."

"Well, I like to believe that children are not the same as their parents," Echadron mused. "We can't have all been locked up here for the past four centuries."

The two friends smirked at one another, and it was a little refreshing to lighten the mood. Harmon offered to cook them a late meal and left for the kitchen. Celebrimbor listened to his friends banter back and forth and he was glad Echadron found himself a good friend in the city. Rhuidhen and Echadron were very similar in personality, and they got on more like twins than friends. Voronwë watched and listened to his uncle with a small smile on his face. Celebrimbor winked at him and knew he was thinking the same.

Harmon finished the stew, and Celebrimbor helped him set the table. While they were in the kitchen alone, Harmon surprised him with a question. "What is Kiera to you?"

While Harmon was usually the quiet and more subdued one, he was very blunt with his words. The question threw Celebrimbor off, and he stumbled with the plates in his hand before he caught himself. Harmon just arched his brow at him and waited with a blank expression on his face.

"A friend," he answered.

Harmon nodded and made his way back into the dining room. As he stood alone with his thoughts, his heart pounded in his chest. It was an odd sort of feeling. One he had not come across in all his long years. His heart beat a little more rapidly in his chest when he thought of her. He knew it wasn't love, as he did not feel that overall flame sensation when he thought of her. But the feeling was comforting and mysterious. As if a part of himself that he didn't know was missing had now been returned. Celebrimbor did not speak to anyone about the feeling, and he didn't even understand it himself. For the moment, he chalked it up to Kiera being from a different world and being brought into this one by the Eru. Perhaps, he was feeling the touch of his grace or the pull that they were always supposed to meet and be friends.

There was no one he could talk to about it either. Kiera had no idea herself, and he knew that she did not feel the same things as him because she wasn't an elf. The few times he spoke to Tuor or Voronwë about it, he was left with more questions than answers. Neither of them felt the pull to her as he did. The three companions bonded so instantly and strongly in the beginning that there was nothing more to it. No warm feeling in their hearts or a small pull towards her.

Celebrimbor was stumped, but he knew that everything must happen for a reason. He shrugged off the feeling of the unknown and headed back to the dining room. During their meal, Narriel brought the first rounds of Kiera's belongings. Harmon showed her the way to the spare room, and throughout the afternoon, the handmaiden brought over everything.

While everyone else went to work on their projects or speak to others, Celebrimbor spent the afternoon putting all of Kiera's things away and cleaning the room. He chuckled at some of the strange things from her world, but he hoped Kiera would show them to him in time. It was a little sad that she did not have much from her world. Celebrimbor knew she had a magic device, but he had yet to see that.

His mind was too tired to work on his crafts, so he enjoyed the rest of the late afternoon knitting by the fire until his friends returned home. The fluid motions calmed his thoughts, and he finally allowed himself to relax. Harmon and Echadron joined him a little later as they waited patiently for Kiera to arrive.

Finally, a knock on the door sounded, and he jumped up with enthusiasm to answer. He opened it to find an anxious waiting Kiera and Voronwë. Celebrimbor grinned happily at her and said, "come in, come in. I'm so happy to have you stay with us. We can talk more about that in a moment, but I want to show you your new room."

Kiera let out a sigh of relief as she stepped into the entrance hall. As Celebrimbor closed the door behind them, Echadron welcomed her, "Kiera, we are so glad to have you join us. Celebrimbor has spent the afternoon getting your room ready. We are happy to have you stay with us, and I hope you will let us know if there is anything that we can do to make you more comfortable."

Harmon just smiled and nodded, but then Kiera replied, "thank you for having me. I am glad to be staying with friends."

"I will give you the grand tour now," Celebrimbor said as he waved his around wide.

Voronwë sat on the couch while he started giving Kiera the tour. She was oddly quiet, but he wondered if everything was just a little overwhelming lately, and he vowed to make sure that she would be happy here. Kiera perked up at seeing the garden, but the dead flower beds made him shrug his shoulders in mock embarrassment. "Echadron is the only one of us who likes to garden, but we have all been busy getting settled to fix it up. Perhaps next spring."

Celebrimbor led her around the downstairs of the house and made sure to show her where everything was. When they reached the second floor, he opened all the doors to show them their bedrooms, but none of them had many personal possessions. At the end of the second floor, he opened the door wide and exclaimed, "and this is your room."

Kiera's face lit up considerably at seeing her own room. Celebrimbor watched as she browsed around the room and let her fingers run across her things. She smiled brightly at having her own bathroom, and he chuckled at that. Just as he was about to turn and head back downstairs, Kiera surprised him with a warm hug.

"I love it," she cried into his chest. "Thank you so much for taking me in. I am incredibly grateful, but I am so confused about what happened."

Celebrimbor, who had missed out on affection for quite some time, squeezed her tightly in a warm hug. The two let each other go as he said, "let's go downstairs. I'll tell you what happened here, but I want to hear what happened from you."

When they made it downstairs, Rhuidhen had joined them, and they all took chairs around the fire. He said, "why don't you start? We all know what happened here today, but we only heard a skewed version this afternoon."

Kiera began and told her a better version than what Idril had told them. Surprisingly, Kiera also spoke to Idril at Tuor's house just a little bit ago, but the princess refused to say anything. Celebrimbor would have liked to have said he was surprised, but he wasn't.

When she was finished, the brothers chuckled to themselves while Rhuidhen shared a glance with him. He decided to tell her everything. "Well, that fills in some of the holes for us, so I will tell you what happened here. Idril arrived early in the afternoon and asked if we would take you into our household because you were no longer welcome at the palace or Tuor's."

Celebrimbor launched into what happened, but he made it perfectly clear that Kiera was always welcome in their home. He looked at her grimly as he told her the next part, "Idril told me she planned on telling her father about the argument between you two. She was thinking of having you thrown into the prison cells for a few months, but her main plan was to make you be a handmaiden in Lord Salgant's house for his daughters and Amara."

The look of horror and sheer terror on Kiera's face made his heart clench in his chest. Her face turned a ghostly white as it lost all color. For someone like Kiera, that was a fate worse than death, and it would have most likely resulted in her death.

With a tremble in her voice, Kiera choked out, "what changed?"

Celebrimbor smiled warmly at her, "me, of course. Do you think I would let anything happen to you? Of course not. I threatened Idril, and I must say she was in over her head. I threatened that I would write to my family if she tried to harm you in any way or punish you by putting you in prison or in Lord Salgant's house. I would tell them how to get into the city and everything about the people and the city. I told her that if they came to this city, we would leave with them, and no one could stop us. However, my father and uncle have always longed to rule Gondolin, and if it came down to killing, well, my family is good at that. I warned her that my father and uncle Celegorm are deranged and hate Turgon passionately. They would be happy to come here to destroy this city and watch it burn."

The seconds crept on as Kiera did not say anything. Then, she quietly got up and made her way over to him. She wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug, which he happily returned. Kiera sniffed, "thank you. For everything. I know you don't want to see your family, and it means the world to me that you would do that for me."

Celebrimbor breathed in deeply as he snuggled into the hug. Kiera was soft, warm, and smelled faintly of flowers. The room chuckled behind them, but he didn't care. They hugged for a few more minutes until Kiera let him go and returned to her chair.

He smiled at her as she dried her eyes, "I would do anything for my friends. I really dislike this side of my family, but it was either coming here or going back home to my family. You won't have to worry about the king or Idril as long as I am around.

His friends glanced at him, but they left the unspoken words between them drop. He promised to keep her safe, no matter the cost, but none of them knew how long his threat would last. The king could change his mind in a second and throw him in prison, or worse. The only saving grace was that his friends had promised to write to his family if that ever happened, just as long as they were not in a cell beside him.

For now, he would use it as much as he could and hoped it would be enough. He did not want to frighten Kiera, so he spoke more about Idril. "I do not think you should forgive her. I know my family well, and unless Idril makes a drastic change, she does not deserve your friendship, nor will she be a good friend to you. I still hope she will change, and maybe Tuor will also speak with her. She is much too old to be acting like a spoiled princess, and her words and actions disgust me."

Kiera nodded solemnly. "I am not going to forgive her unless she really changes. I am not sure if that will cause some issues in the future, but I don't care. I'm just grateful to be surrounded by people who agree with me. Thank you again for letting me stay here. Voronwë said that the money is coming here now to pay for expenses and food, but I would like to help out in any way I can."

He clapped his hands happily, "excellent. We usually keep a pretty clean house, but if you do not mind chipping in as well, we would appreciate it. I'm not sure how good of a cook you are, but Harmon usually cooks all of our meals. Echadron and I do all the dishes, but if you would like to help out, we can all take turns. None of us are good at washing clothes, but if you could do the laundry once a week, we can make that your main task."

All of his friends wait on the edge of their seats for her answer. Having clean clothes was something they all longed for, and it was the one task that they all hated above else. Kiera smiled and chuckled, "I can clean and do the laundry. I am an alright cook, but I have no idea how to make a meal here. I used to clean the house twice a week and do laundry once a week. If you can show me how to do laundry here, I have no problem washing clothes. Can it all be done in one day, or does it need to be split up?"

His eyes gleamed as he shared a glance with his friends. "One day for most of our clothes. Possibly a second if our tunics need to be soaked. I do not mind cleaning the house if you wish to focus solely on the laundry. Harmon will continue to cook, and Echadron will wash the dishes. We can all chip in when we need to. Honestly, we would all just like clean clothes, so we will beg you to do that."

Kiera laughed and nodded. Rhuidhen coughed and jumped in, "I would pay you weekly if you want to wash our laundry as well. I despise washing clothes and always forget that I left them to soak. If you are interested, I will pay you."

"Sure, why not," Kiera shrugged. "I honestly don't mind washing clothes, even if it is by hand. I just need an area to work and be shown how you wash them here."

They all look at her with excitement at the idea of having fresh and clean clothes weekly. He replied, "I can set up an area in the spare bedroom and get you the supplies. This would help us a lot, especially when the parties come up." He winked at her, and she laughed good-natured.

After the house duties were out of the way, Kiera asked about some elven history and how certain people became lords and ladies. Unfortunately, Celebrimbor and the others had to tell her they only began as lords and ladies by family default. Most were given the title sorely based on when the elves first arrived in Valinor and trained under the Valar.

Annoyance flitted across her face as Kiera began to understand the absurdity of the lords and ladies in the city. Yet, she shared some history of her world, where at one point in time, her world had a similar structure. Celebrimbor was eager to hear more and asked questions about her world and history until she struggled to keep her eyes open.

Rhuidhen and Voronwë left soon after as Kiera made her way up the stairs to her room. Celebrimbor forgot to mention something, so he called to her as she made it to the second floor, "I am usually the first one up in the mornings, so I heat the water for baths. We use the fire in the study to heat the water so we don't have to carry it up the stairs. I will wake you up in the mornings if that is alright."

Kiera nodded and said her thanks to him again. Celebrimbor returned to his chair by the fire and resumed his previous knitting. The two brothers whispered quietly to one another, but he paid them no mind as his hands moved on their own accord while his mind wandered.