"And you don't want to risk hearing a no."

"That. And..."

"Then we'd just both be tethered."

"That's just the easiest solution," she says, mind already whirring. "But perhaps - " Designs click into place before she can get them to her tongue, and dwarves can't be touched through osanwe like all other peoples so she can't share them directly, but she has paper and pen and her words - 

And Domhildr's good at inferences. 

Another brilliant mind, and a helpful one here - 

But creating a Ring of Power to anchor Domhildr to this world shouldn't be impossible, and it could have other benefits besides...

It would allow her to go anywhere, no matter how far from the mountains that bore her kind. 

It would. 

It'd be freedom. 

"You know how to sell a girl on an idea."

"One of my specialties."

"And I'm sure Celebrimbor will want to be interrupted for this."

- She hesitates. 

Then: 

"You go talk to her. I'll - read the notes. Get caught up."

"Alright." Another hug, and then she fetches her work journals, and then she goes to find Celebrimbor. 

(And Domhildr settles in to read, and to think.)

"Back already?"

"Domhildr had good timing with her arrival - she's currently reading through my notes for what we've worked on lately. So, I wanted to update you."

"Oh? I was not expecting her."

"I got the feeling she'd set out on a 'as soon as an opportunity appeared' schedule."

"I'll have to be sure to greet her later."

" - I took the opportunity to ask her why she isn't around, and I got an answer. We've started working on it, and..."

"I think you should go see her sooner rather than later."

Slight frown. "Why?"

She summarizes - and lays out in a blunt way Celebrimbor will hopefully understand - what Domhildr told her, of the mechanics of the 'itch' Domhildr feels. 

"And... She said you feel cold to her sometimes, moreso when she's struggling. And she didn't tell you because she doesn't want to risk being rejected, or to ask you to follow her to Khazad-dum - because she doesn't want to hear a no."

"You don't always act like you care about her, Celebrimbor. Especially not in a way a mortal will see and understand."

"If you keep turning away from her - "

"Someday she won't return, and it won't be because she'll love you any less."

"...I had thought to-" Deep breath. "I don't know. Free her from the weight of expectation. Give her space to choose her own path."

"Coming to greet her first when she travels to see you isn't creating expectations, Celebrimbor. It's following the ones she already set."

Sigh. And hug? 

Sure.

"We'll make a ring that will fix the 'itch' problem. But... It might take a while, and she'll get less able to help the longer she's on the surface."

"And - unless we upend all understandings of mortality and the body and soul and the original Creation's supremacy while we're at it - "

"She won't live forever."

"Then we have work to do."