Introduction
Over the last few years, Pandëmonium and I have struck up the sort of friendship often found between fanwriters who admire one another's work. She likes my hobbits, especially my OC Trotter, and my version of Bilbo. I admire her skillful handling of a very difficult character: Sauron.
She's written many stories featuring him, giving him a backstory and motivations and even a few admirable qualities without ever once trying to whitewash or excuse his evil actions-- and in fact, it sometimes makes his evil actions even more chilling. Her work can be found here at The Silmarillion Writers Guild Archive.
So I was both flattered and intrigued when she asked me to co-write a story with her. Her Sauron managed to create a "fail-safe" that would preserve his fëa in the event the One Ring was destroyed, a small mithril ring. It came into the keeping of Gandalf after the War of the Ring, and Gandalf/Olórin presented it to the Valar for judgement when he returned across the Sea.
The Valar decided to re-embody Sauron and imprison him, and asked Gandalf/Olórin to take charge of his rehabilitation. The story that follows is a result of that decision and Tookish curiosity.
I consider this somewhat AU to my own personal "universe", but I have incorporated bits and pieces from it anyway into the story; Pandëmonium has done the same from her end.
I hope that you will all enjoy this very unconventional sort of story.
Thanks!
Dreamflower