Actually, that's a OneShot. And then it got longer and longer and I decided that it would be a bit more conducive to readability if I split it up. This text has its roots in my old songfic "Willst du?", a song by German band Blutengel, from which I also took some passages. I didn't translate that (unles someone really really wants to read it).
I like to show which language is currently spoken by the name form used. Elves did not yet exist at the time of the Two Lamps and therefore none of their languages. If one language was spoken, it was Valarin. In this language Aules name is for example Aʒûlêz. The problem: We know exactly 12 vocabulary words in this language and already Mairon's name is none of them. Therefore I decided to use the Quenya names.

Mairon struck at the metalworks. His face was grim, his thoughts focused. He was determined to create a masterpiece and satisfy his Master Aule. This was difficult, he knew it, but he was the most ambitious and capable of the students. None of Aule's followers was as skilled and clever in the use of materials as Mairon.

Mairon was currently working on a new metal alloy which he wanted to forge into a crown in honour of the masters of the world. He loved everything that had to do with forging, tinkering and planning and trying things out. But most of all, his heart beat for the workmanship itself, the highly inspiring creative process, which was imbued with strength and power.

Above the hissing of the bellows and the heat of the forge he did not notice how time passed. His work took on more and more form under the skill of his hands. Here and there a few refinements, a final touch, a small flaw.

He proudly held up his new masterpiece. The crown was set with jewels and brilliantly broke the light in the workshop. Mairon loved to play with light and shadow. The Two Lamps were a wonderful work and he strove to be able to create something comparable or at least to contribute with his hands work to the glory of his Masters creation.

He had been so engrossed in his work that he had been observed by Master Aule for some time without realizing it. It was only when he slowly emerged from his absorption in contemplation of his work that he noticed the presence of his Master. Hastily he bowed.

"Master."

The Master smiled softly and came closer. Then he reached out his hand. "Show me what you have created," he asked.

Obediently, Mairon presented the crown, though it should have been a surprise. Critically, Aule eyed the piece from all sides and with the help of the various lights of the workshop. He even put it on for a test. Then he handed it back. Mairon gratefully accepted his creation.

"A wonderful piece," praised the Master. "You've done a fine and precise job. Your style is very characteristic and comes across wonderfully here. The way you handled the material is also commendable."

Mairon almost burst with pride at the praise. He didn't expect anything else. He was also proud of what he had created, his best piece in a long time.

"However," Aule dampened his pupil's euphoria, "our primary focus for the moment should be on creating war material. Melkor is still a serious threat and the world is not yet set up for the Children of the One. While our Mistresses and their servants also like to see decorative work, this is not our greatest need at the moment."

He handed the crown back and patted his apprentice on the shoulder. "Still, it's a fine piece of work. Keep it and present it in due course if you wish. But now turn your attention to more practical matters."

Mairon took a stand. "As you wish," he hurried to say, hiding his disappointment. Nothing but perfection was acceptable to him, and this crown was not perfect.

When Aule had left, Mairon held the crown in his hand for a moment and thought about what to do with it. Then he carelessly threw it into a dark corner. Useless gewgaw. He hurried after his master.
"Master Aule," he cried. "Allow me one question."

"Always." Aule smiled graciously.

"Master, why do you think Melkor might be a danger?" Mairon wanted to know. He hurried to keep up with his Master as he walked through the workshop. "Not even King Manwe has such grave concerns as you, and he is Melkor's brother in spirit. Always you urge us, your disciples, to prepare for Melkor and not to hold us back with gewgaw."

Aule paused abruptly and looked sternly at Mairon. "Gewgaw? I never spoke of gewgaw. Mairon, I wish you'd stop using words like that."

Mairon held up his chin. "You haven't answered my question, Master. I want to understand it so I can serve you better."

Aule stayed silent for a while. "I fear the other Aratar will rest upon Tulkas' arrival," he finally said. "But speak no more of this! You know what I expect of you."

He left. Disgruntled, Mairon looked after him. His Master had left him with more questions than answers, and his thirst for knowledge was still not satisfied. He turned away and walked away in the opposite direction.

Aimlessly he roamed the workshop and finally stepped out into the fresh air. These days he was rarely to be found outside, often he stood at his forge. He took a deep breath and felt the smell of herbs and flowers.

How long had it been since he had left the forges? He could not remember when the Mistress Yavanna had added the workshop to the garden. It now stretched as far as the eye could see. Master Aule had his seat in the forges, his palace, in which most of his household lived and worked, but the Mistress loved the open sky and all the things that grew and sprouted under it. She was seldom to be found in the workshops and often ran with her deer across the wide, lush meadows.
Mairon had always wondered how these two had come together.

A deer raised its head when it saw it step into the light. Then it ran to him. With its wet nose it nudged against his hand as if to encourage him to give him some snacks. He scratched the animal's head.

All of a sudden the Mistress Yavanna stood before him and the deer disappeared. Startled, Mairon stumbled back, then he fell to his knees.

"Mistress!"

But Yavana just laughed. "Get up, Mairon. You must have been lost in thought if you didn't see it was me. Speak up, what's troubling you?"

Mairon lowered his eyes. "I don't know how to serve Master Aule. What I create doesn't seem enough for him, but what he asks me to do seems questionable to me again."

Yavanna gently placed a finger under his chin so that he looked up at her again. She brushed one of his blazing red curls from his forehead. "Your ambition is remarkable. It will lead you to great deeds, and only Curumo can match you. But it is this ambition that is holding you back. You don't always have to be perfect, not always the best. Sometimes it's enough just to do what Aule tells you."

"But I feel I could be better than that!" Mairon clenched his hands in fists. "If only he'd give me some insight into his plans."

"Don't burden yourself with such thoughts, Mairon."

Some little birds buzzed by and sat on Yavanna's hair chirping. One of them hopped on her finger as she reached out her hand to them.

"Aren't they wonderful?" she admired the little shuttlecocks. "Melian taught them to sing so beautifully. Mairon, maybe you should talk to my sister's Maia, she can teach you a thing or two about songs of enchantment. Maybe that's something for you and you can get away from your smithy for once."

Mairon wasn't really convinced of that idea. Still he nodded so as not to appear rude.

"Soon we'll have a feast," Yavanna continued. "I suggest you bring a small gift for Melian. She's a great admirer of your art, did you know that?"

Mairon bowed. "I will gladly comply."

At least he was glad to be given a task that didn't worry him. Melian was a flighty thing, easily impressed. It wouldn't be hard to please her with a little something, as Yavanna wished.

In the next time he turned his mind to it. Master Aule was not happy about this, but when Mairon told him that this was Yavanna's wish, he was satisfied. Mairon himself was happy to direct his thoughts to something other than whatever in Eru's name Aule asked him to do. Still he could not help himself and his thoughts kept circling around this question.

Something useful for the war the master had said. But what was useful against such a powerful spirit like Melkor? He stood alone against the Lords of the World and yet he could stand his ground. Mairon could not help but admire him for it. He wondered how he who arises in Might was capable of such deeds. These days, the land was in constant turmoil. The Lords of the World piled up mountains, Melkor overturned them, they filled the seas, he poured them out again. These were troubled times right at the beginning of the face they had seen in the halls of the One.
Seeing stones. A term that suddenly crossed Mairon's mind. Was there a way they could foresee the actions of the Black One? He liked the idea, he should keep pursuing it.

"Mairon."

The voice tore him away from his brooding. He looked up and saw Curumo standing in the doorway of his workshop. Hurriedly, he covered up the notes he'd made.
"What are you doing here?" He didn't bother to sound friendly. Everyone knew he didn't like to be disturbed at work, even Aule respected that most of the time.

"Master Aule sent me," Curumo opened. "He wishes his master students to work together."

"But I don't wish that," Mairon countered. "He knows I am currently working on an assignment from the Mistress Yavanna."

Curumo did not let up and entered the room. "Aule is our Master and we follow him first." Then he saw the small metal figure standing on Mairon's table. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's what Yavanna asked me," Mairon said snappishly.

Curumo grabbed the figurine and looked at it. It was a little nightingale that had been modelled after its living counterpart. There was a small key in its back that could be used to open the mechanism inside it. Curumo operated it. The little metal bird began to beat its wings and croak metallically.
Mairon tore the figure from his hands. "It's not finished!"

"But he looks amazingly good," Curumo said admiringly. "I know what task the Master has given you. He says it will help you if you can hear the thoughts of another Maia."

Mairon stared at him. He didn't need any annoying helper. He needed answers!

"Go ahead, enlighten me," he mocked.

Curumo seemed upset. "Why are you like this, Mairon?"

Mairon raised one eyebrow. "What am I like?"

"Repulsive. Solitary. The master wants us to work together because he thinks it'll do you good to be with the other students, but also because we have much to learn from you. Of all his students, you are the most outstanding, Mairon the Admirable. The Master says that he thinks it is better if we learn from each other and not always under his guidance."

And where was I asked in this matter? But Mairon didn't say it out loud.

"For my sake," he reluctantly admitted. "Sit in the corner over there and don't disturb."

Curumo caught his eyes. "We are suppost to learn from each other," he repeated.

"Then learn by watching."

Curumo sighed and followed suit.

I had the head canon for quite some time that originally Mairon came up with the idea for the Palantíri, but never finished it. His documents about it eventually fell into the hands of Feanor.