Some thoughts for Day 4 of Silvergifting Week 2026 (@silvergiftingweek), for the prompt “Living in Ost-in-Edhil”:
You know that stage of love, where even someone's foibles make you feel affectionate and fond? Imagine Celebrimbor experiencing that for Annatar. Imagine him biting his lip to keep from smiling at Annatar's flashes of haughtiness, his obsessive perfectionism, his poorly-concealed smugness whenever he gets his own way. Imagine Celebrimbor seeing through the remote, benevolent "Emissary of the Valar" persona, to someone he likes far more: a mind that’s passionate, complex, idiosyncratic, with a dark sense of humour and a million plans and calculations ticking away under the surface. Imagine Celebrimbor realizing that Annatar has probably concealed much of his past - and treasuring every slip of the tongue and chink in the armour, as signs of their growing intimacy.
"One day," Celebrimbor thinks to himself, "Annatar won't feel like he has to edit himself down for me. One day he'll realize that I won't judge him, and he’ll feel safe enough to be who he really is.” Celebrimbor can't wait.
