“Don’t burn yourself,” Curufinwë muttered to himself as he filled ten moulds with molten silver. “Just do as father instructed.”

The ring moulds were laid out before him on a table next to his small forge. He filled them carefully and quickly to make sure the silver remained hot. He laid the ladle back down and sat at his desk to let the moulds cool.

A single blueprint sat there, illuminated by a half dozen candles and the burning glow of the forge behind him. On top of the blueprint sat ten sapphires, a few cut, most still rough. He loved sapphires; they were his favorite gemstone.

The young elf was just learning the tricks of the trade his father so skillfully participated in. Mahtan and Aulë both helped prune the young Curufinwë, guiding him in the craft of jewel-smithing. But it was his father, Fëanáro, who most ardently pushed Curufinwë.

He looked at the blueprint on his desk tapping the pencil in his hand back and forth on the desk. He slouched in his chair, watching the flickering flame of one of the candles dance back and forth. Impatient as ever, all he wanted was for his rings to be cool so he could begin the process of attaching the sapphires.

“Curvo!” A shout came from up the stairs in the main floor of the mansion they lived in.

Curufinwë rolled his eyes and shouted back, not moving. “What do you want, Nelyo?!”

His brother Nelyafinwë walked down the stairs carefully. The redheaded elf had a look of annoyance on his face as he saw his younger brother sitting at a desk in a slouch, looking bored.

“What are you doing, Curvo? Staring at the wall?” Nelyafinwë folded his arms as he leaned against a support beam.

Curufinwë turned around and glared at him. “I don’t have time for this. I’m busy!”

“Busy making jewelry?” Nelyo laughed. “Alright, alright. But mother would like you to come upstairs soon for dinner. It’s not often that I am home and we are all here together.”

Curufinwë’s blood boiled at the way his oldest brother mocked his choice of work. He would show all his brothers that he could do just as many wondrous works and deeds as their father Fëanáro! As Nelyo made his way up the stairs again, Curufinwë turned back to the sapphires and picked up his tools.

One by one he shaped them, molded them into beautiful crystalline entities. Each was unique, yet none less beautiful than any other. He forgot all about dinner, lost in the world of being a jewel smith. Just like his father, he would create such beautiful pieces that he would be the envy of all the Eldar!

Curufinwë began to remove the silver rings from their moulds. He loved ring making. So had his father. Curvo hoped to one day pass on his ring making skills to his own son, if ever he had one. For rings were signs of power. And power was precious in the world.