Celeborn sat down at his desk, twisting a quill between his fingers. "Celebrimbor," he said softly, turning his gaze upon his wife's cousin, his host here in Eregion. The Noldo gave him a sympathetic smile over his glass of wine. 

"Celeborn," he replied. "I want you to know how pleased I am for you." The two ellyn studied each other. "Today is a hard day for me too, though I allow that your loss was the greater," he acknowledged with a nod of his head. "Not all my kindred would say so of course, but I will."

"You surprise me, Curufinwion," Celeborn told Feanor's only living grandson. "But I thank you. You know what loss is." 

"Yes," Celebrimbor said simply. He had lost his father too, after all. "What were you doing before I interrupted you?" he asked curiously, raising an eyebrow. 

"Look and see," Celeborn invited, and the Noldo bent over the desk to read the flowing script...

***

'My dear Naneth,

Today is a momentous day. Your granddaughter has been born! A daughter. I have called her 'Celebrian' for the silver queen she is, though her nursemaid would insist on 'Telpetari'. Yes, I can see you cringe. You would scold and scoff, asking me why I dared take such a lady into my service. Well, she is not in *my* service as she constantly reminds me...'

***

Celebrimbor looked up with a bark of laughter. "Niniel?" he inquired, and Celeborn nodded. "I know how she disparages you, cousin," Celebrimbor said, shaking his head slightly. "If I were to have a word with her..."

"I doubt she would like that," Celeborn said drily, "for if she blames me just for being a 'Moriquendo', how much would she blame you for being a scion of Feanor?" 

Celebrimbor's mien darkened. "Yes. Well." He sighed, shaking his head. "Ellith are contrary creatures, Celeborn. I do not envy you the taming of Lady Alatiriel...forgive me, Galadriel." He smirked wryly.

Celeborn laughed. "Tame Galadriel? That would be an impossibility! Yet I love her with all my heart, and that is all which is necessary."

"Indeed, but I fear my love of jewels outweighs my love for any elleth," Celebrimbor returned. "Still, I wish you joy of my cousin."

Celeborn smiled, and put his quill to parchment again.

***

'...Lady Niniel is as contrary an elleth as I have ever seen, but she is well-meaning and devoted to my wife, so what can I say? After all, she crossed the Ice with my beloved, and has known her since Galadriel was but a tiny child. For this I honour her. The love between them is obvious, though I believe Niniel grows jealous of the love I bear my wife. At any rate, Naneth, I will continue to write to you as Celebrian grows up. Perhaps in some way, you will know these letters are here...perhaps someday I can give them to you, in the West.

I am ever,

Your devoted son and heir,

Celeborn Galadhonion hervenn Galadriel Finarfiniel,

Lord in Eregion, late Ernil-i-Doriath'

***

Letter finished, he blew on the ink to dry it, folded it gently, and stowed the paper away.

"I have written my naneth all number of letters," Celebrimbor confessed, and Celeborn nodded.

"Even a lord needs his naneth," Celeborn agreed. "I am sure they hear us from the West."

Seated together, the unlikely friends sat together and considered past losses and possible futures. Perhaps, they thought, their friendship and partnership as rulers in Eregion would heal the breaches set by their kinsmen. Only time would tell. 

The End