Drabblet - When You Smile - Celebrimbor

[keiliss]

Not been in a good space for writing these past few weeks, but I found this last night, or rather it found me. I've been doing a series of writing exercises over on DW, and this is number 4, 'smile'. I was thinking of maybe tidying a few up when I'm done and posting them here and on my website, but I was asked to post this one now, so... okay. Very, very short and not someone I've written before... though that seems to be the tendancy with these little snapshots.

ETA - looks very strange with half the comments apparently unanswered. LJ needs not to do strange things like eat replies again, it's not right :}

Title: When You Smile
Character: Celebrimbor
Prompt: smile
Word count: 336 (or thereabouts - MS Word is a notorious liar)


When You Smile
When you smile, it's that moment of stillness just before the sun rises and the world seems to hold its breath, that hushed quiet before the birds offer their greeting. When you smile, soft rain kisses the earth, sea birds call tales of the deep, spring blooms lift their heads to the warmth. When you smile, the whole world pauses to smile with you, knowing the pleasure that comes from being at one with all nature.

You do not smile for me, though. How I wish you did. How I wish something of the way your eyes light and your face warms was meant for me, but I am an irrelevance, my presence bypassed by your gaze. Despite my high birth - a prince, my lady, I am a prince, I want to shout some days - I fear in your eyes I will ever be a mere craftsman tainted by my grandfather's machinations. Not his politics; you would never be so crass as to tar me with that brush, you know how and where I was raised. Just - I make things. As he made things.

And you see no poetry in me, no adventure, no flash, no glory. And my hair is not star-silver.

But I can create things, beautiful things, powerful things. And create I have. Not world-shaping as were the Silmarils, the product of my grandfather's final great making, but artifacts of power and wonder nonetheless. In the absence of he whose eyes have watched and whose elegant fingers have touched and prodded and ordered every other innovation in these last years, I have made something uniquely my own. Three rings, objects of great beauty and even greater cunning, all but sentient in their potency.

Air, fire and water, making and rending, holding and shaping; Nenya will most meetly grace your perfect hand. Then perhaps I will be something more than an artisan in your eyes, the tiresome cousin always tongue-tied in your presence. Then perhaps I, too, will know your smile.

Comments

[chaotic-binky.livejournal.com]

A lovely piece - made me smile :D

Hugs Binky xxx

[phyncke.livejournal.com]

There is such longing in this piece that it makes me very sad for him. Really nice and so well written but it does make me sad.

Thank you for posting it. It does achieve its aim, I think and one can see why he might feel that way.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Kay, I am doing a test reply here to see if it stays put once I post it.

Thanks again dear, I'm never sure if the mood I sense from something I've written affects anyone reading the same - this was good to read.

[nienna-weeper.livejournal.com]

Aw. This is beautiful! <333

[aglarien1.livejournal.com]

Wow. The last paragraph was such a surprise - didn't see who she was coming. Excellent, Kei.

*hugs*

[rhapsody11.livejournal.com]

Oh gorgeous Kei, he just comes across as a humble, yet energetic person, perhaps held back by his people's past and not willing to see what he creates will have a huge impact :) And ah, unrequited love, poor guy. :)

[ex-fimbreth.livejournal.com]

Very nice! A brevity of words is sometimes more effective than the most elaborate prose. I feel for poor lovesick Celebrimbor. He knows, I think, that even such a gift as Nenya is an exercise in futility, but such is the desperation of love sometimes.

I hope there is more where this one came from, sweetie. Liked it v. much!

[red-lasbelin.livejournal.com]

Loved this so much. Celebrimbor, Galadriel - Celeborn and most definitely Sauron slipped in there. It is just so beautiful and sad. Thank you for posting it, baby.

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Yes, Annatar had to have his moment :| And I know you love a Celebrimbor/Galadriel dynamic, even if it's a hopeless cause in this case.

Thank you so much for the nom, dear. I'm touched that you enjoyed this enough to do that.

[kitty279.livejournal.com]

That's a character we don't hear much from, so it was nice to have something from Celebrimbor's POV.

Now I feel a bit sorry for the poor guy. He seems to feel quite inferior; and the one thing he could be so proud of, the three Elven rings, backfired on him.

Anyway, I hope he got at least a smile for his gift of Nenya from Galadriel!

**hugs**

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I hope he got a smile at least too, though she was probably too busy fussing about working out Annatar's identity. I admit the closest I've come to him was in a RPG where I had Galadriel, but this made me curious.

And I do hope you had a safe journey, dear. The promised email never made it - there was a huge thunderstorm and I was too nervous to leave my computer on. Still, you'll be having too much of a lovely time to worry about missing an email :D Enjoy.

[weepingnaiad.livejournal.com]

Lovely, melancholy glimpse into Celebrimbor's head. You really conveyed his longing and it made him such a sympathetic character as I had not considered him before. Very interesting motivation for creating the other rings behind Annatar's back.

Wonderful!
*hugs*
WN

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Hi sweetie :) Me as well - I've never seen him as a sympathetic character before, and I'm not sure where this came from either, but it's a different slant on him for me. It's probably Red's influence - she's RPed him ages back, and while he wasn't around long enough to get to know well, I found him interesting. Must have stuck. Glad you liked this and thanks so much for the feedback.

(and if I did not have a decent cellphone I would not be answering this - having to use it as a modem briefly as my phone line seems to have been taken out by the storm we're having... my computer had a bit of a nervous fit about that, lol!)

[minuial_nuwing]

**sniffle** This broke my heart, Kei. The yearning in it is palpable - and knowing how he ends... **sobs in earnest**

I find myself hoping he at least got the smile he wanted so badly, before it all came unwound.

Beautifully done.

**hugs**

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

I really would love for him to feel she noticed him and liked him in the end, even if love wasn't possible, but - I have an idea she would have been more focused on other things, taken her ring to safeguard it, muttered about dangerous gifts... Now I'm really depressing myself, lol. But - thank you. That was lovely, lovely feedback.

*hugs*

[ford-of-bruinen.livejournal.com]

Absolutely gorgous, dear. Every word is just..right. LOVE it

[keiliss.livejournal.com]

Thank you, sweetie *hugs you* I'm so glad you liked it. My very first Celebrimbor.