The Hobbit
Seikkailija moves across the piles of gold, following Bilbo in complete silence. The rabbit is big for a hobbit dæmon but hobbit dæmons are so small that each step takes her barely any further into Erebor. She cannot jump across the floor as she normally would, as it might wake the dragon.
'Lija.' Bilbo whispers, just within the stretch of their bond. 'Look at this one.'
He holds up a stone, huge, white and round but it's not the Arkenstone, she knows its not. Zhidao had said there was some kind of draw to the stone for dæmons, some unquestionable tug. It's why it allowed the line of Durin to rule. If you could command dæmons, you could command their people.
She shakes her head, heading towards him as quickly as possible. As she moves, a coin gives way beneath her. She starts to fall and Bilbo let's out a cry as the bond is overworked. She whimpers, bounding into her Hobbit's arms, regardless of the noise she makes.
The two sit there, leaning against a stone wall when they hear doing moving beside them. Bilbo leans forward slightly, spotting the eye buried in gold.
The dragon is waking up.
Nuwang flies over the company, stretching the bond so she can check on the dæmons and dwarves towards the back. Uchawi flies off Gandalf's shoulder to briefly meet her in the sky before taking over the patrol, Nuwang returning to her dwarf. Thorin raises his chin, moving his arm slightly so she can rest on it.
'Anything?'
The eagle's wings flutter once but she shakes her head. 'Just the hobbit struggling to control his horse.'
Thorin snorts, looking back at Bilbo. The hobbit and his rabbit dæmon are continually moving, trying to get comfortable on the horse. Seikkailija is constantly hopping off and back onto the horse, the two unable to stay still. 'I still don't understand why we brought them along.'
Nuwang digs her claws into his arm gently. 'We need a burglar, you know that. I just hope Gandalf hasn't chosen us the wrong hobbit.'
Thorin scowls. 'Any hobbit is the wrong hobbit. They have never seen any war or trouble. He cannot fight.'
Nuwang tilts her head, watching Seikkailija jump upwards, pulling an apple out of a tree. She drops straight into Bilbo's lap offering him the food. 'Maybe not. But I am sure anyone can learn.'
Jiantou flies between the different dæmons, shifting quickly between different shapes. Although not having fully settled, she seems stuck between flying forms. Nuwang and Gongzhi are constantly trying to figure out what form she will take, considering she has been between several bird forms for about four years. It's very annoying for Kili, as the rest of the company delight in teasing him.
Jiantou shifts to an eagle, flying alongside Nuwang for a second before spiralling back to Kili, landing as a finch on his shoulder. Gongzhi, walking next to Fili's horse, glances back to smile at her and she flits about, circling Kili's head twice. He bats her away and she rests next to his reigns, as a bee hummingbird. She tilts her head at him, smiling.
'You alright, Kee?'
Her dwarf smiles, running a finger over her wing. 'Just fine, Jian, how about you?'
'Good.' Jiantou hops onto his arm, shifting into a falcon. 'Just trying out a few forms.'
'Really?' Kili raises an eyebrow. It seems all his dæmon does is try out forms. 'How's this one?'
'Nice.' She ruffles her feathers. 'I really like it. Don't know why, just like it.'
Kili smiles, stroking Jiantou's feathers.
Gongzhi is the first person to see Nuwang fall, first to see the eagle plummet towards her dwarf's chest. The lion roars, running forward, Fili straight behind her. She reaches the eagle at the same time as Jiantou flies down, the falcon fluttering around Thorin, trying to comfort Nuwang but not touch her dwarf.
Fili jumps up instantly, blocking a Goblin trying to attack his uncle. He fights several oncoming goblins, wargs and bats, Kili coming to his side as soon as possible. The goblins and bats are easy to dispatch but the wargs take both of them, swinging in unison, to behead.
'Zhi!'
The lion jumps forward at Fili's call, standing in front of Kili to stop the goblin about to slash his throat. The goblin gets her back instead, causing both lion and prince to yell out in pain. The distraction allows another goblin to jump through, hitting Kili over the head. Jiantou screeches, flying forwards but a bat flies into her, knocking her straight out the air. Gongzhi snarls, pouncing on the bat but leaving herself open for attack.
Fili wraps a hand in his dæmon's mane as the next warg runs forward.
They will die fighting.
Fu runs along next to Dwalin, wolverine head looking from side to side frantically. They are running from a great beast, towards a host that could kill them.
'I hate this.' She snarls as he almost trips. 'I'm gonna kill that wizard.'
'Kill Thorin, he's the one who invited Gandalf.' Dwalin growls back, kicking her to make her speed up.
'That wouldn't go down well.'
The dwarf laughs, making a beeline for the house just ahead. They can still hear the monster behind them and the house doesn't seem to be getting any closer.
Fu is going to kill Nuwang.
'His name is Bilbo.' Balin scowls, watching their 'king'. Zhidao sits beside him, glaring at the eagle on Thorin's shoulder.
'Lija is risking her life to help us, help you. They've already saved you once. Repay the debt.'
Thorin glares down at the greying lynx, who looks defiantly back. They hear another roar from inside, causing Zhidao to shiver, pressing herself against her dwarf. She still remembers the attack on Erebor.
Nuwang tilts her head, watching her old friend shudder. Thorin nods once at his dæmon. 'We'll help the burglar.'
Balin smiles, rubbing Zhidao's back. It's a start, at least.
Yisheng tries to hold Jiantou down as Oin tends to Kili but the younger dæmon is shifting through forms, trying to push her off. The polar bear has a paw on Jiantou's back but cannot push, for fear of hurting the bird.
'Move, please.'
Yisheng lets the falcon past, seeing him hold down Jiantou with ease. Oin joins her to watch the elf healing Kili, dwarf and dæmon marvelling at the elvish medicine.
'We'll never see that again, Yish.'
The bear smiles up at him. As dwarves, they want to fight the elf but, as healers, they're happy to watch.
Fuqin bends her great head to meet Khana's and smiles across at Zarg. Gloin is standing with Gimli and Élana, the boy leaning against his parents. Zarg presses her head against the brown bear's, Khana curling into a ball beneath their heads.
'You stay safe.' Zarg whispers, bobcat head butting against bear skull. 'You come back to me.'
'I won't think of anything else.' Fuqin smiles. 'Wargs, goblins and elves couldn't stop me.'
'Hate elves.' Khana sighs, pressing against Fuqin's leg. 'Can't I come?'
'Not now, later. You can kill elves when you're older.'
The armadillo smiles. 'I can't wait.'
Tou crawls over Bifur's head, resting slightly on the axe imbedded there. Bifur raises a hand to push her off but the mole just climbs further back on his head, away from his reach. He scowls, muttering in Khazdul.
Bofur and Bombur look up, their dæmons looking worriedly at Tou. Bifur waves them off, finally managing to grab the mole and pull her down.
'Mazam.' He says. 'Mazam, marneg.'
Tou stills, whispering back in Khazdul. Their cousins turn away, seeing she has stopped.
'They think we're mad.' She scowls in the dwarven tongue.
'We are mad,' Bifur says back, smiling.
Maozi climbs over Bofur's hat, watching Bilbo sneak towards the exit. The monkey crawls over her dwarf's head, careful not to step on anything important. Bofur wakes, looking up at her before following her gaze.
'Where's he going?' He hisses at Maozi, pulling her closer.
'He's leaving, he wants to go home.' Maozi's small fingers curl around one of Bofur's, watching their friend move. 'We have to stop him.'
Bofur shakes his head, standing slowly to follow the hobbit. 'We can't stop him, that wouldn't be fair.'
'Then where are we going?'
Bofur smiles sadly. 'We're going to say goodbye.'
Shiwu leans over the pot, looking down at the fire and the boiling stew. The lizard crawls back over Bombur's arm, heading towards the dwarf's head. Bombur stops stirring for a few seconds to pat her back, turning back to the food instantly. Shiwu glances over at Bofur, Maozi collapsed on top of his hat.
'Do we have any herbs?' Bombur mutters, tilting his head so Shiwu can run to his pack. She picks up a few leaves, running back and chucking them in the pot.
'Almost done?' She mutters, resting on his head again.
'Almost. It'll taste very nice.'
Zei glares slightly at Seikkalija as the rabbit crawls off to spy on the orcs. The fox finds it insulting that they had to hire a burglar when she and Nori are perfectly good thieves. Nori thinks its Gandalf's influence but Zei thinks Thorin just doesn't like them.
'We could do that.' She mutters. 'We'd never get caught.'
'Bilbo hasn't got caught.' Nori whispers back, jealousy clear in his tone. 'He might be better than us.'
She snarls, orange tail swishing from side to side. Her snarl turns to a growl as Lija hops back.
Li scurries across Ori's hands as he scribbles down an account of that day's adventures. The scribe is shivering, having removed his gloves to hold the stylus properly. Li shifts slightly, going from mouse to ferret, wrapping around Ori's palm. She is not settled but cannot get any bigger than an ermine.
'Can't it wait until tomorrow?' She mutters.
'There will be more to write tomorrow.' He mutters back, running a finger over her back. 'I can't slack.'
'No one will care if you miss one day.' Li curls towards Ori's skin.
'I'll care.' He smiles. 'And so will you, liar.'
Dori watches Zei pulling Li away from the rest of the group, Nori swinging an arm around Ori's shoulders. Lao clucks disapprovingly, glaring across at the fox. Zei stops to glare back before picking the mouse up in her mouth, bounding off.
'She has a bad influence on Li.' The hen says, turning to face Dori.
'So does he on Ori. What are we going to do about it?'
Lao ruffles her feathers, annoyed. 'Something. I don't know, just something.'
'Well, while you're thinking, I'll go see what they're up to and stop it.'
Lao nods. 'That's more like it.'
Sipkus watches the bird flying in and out of the cell, flying back and forth between her friend's cells. The dæmon keeps shifting, having not settled yet. The peregrine falcon shakes his head, flying from his perch towards Tauriel's shoulder.
'Stop staring, we have work.'
Tauriel blushes lightly, pushing her dæmon. They head towards the exit, nodding at the guard taking over their post. Tauriel goes to check on all the border patrols, making sure each one is continuing as normal and that none have any issues to report.
'Why do you think she hasn't settled?' Sipkus says, halfway through.
'Why does it matter?' Tauriel says back, knowing who the falcon is talking about.
'I'm just curious.' Sipkus says, spiralling her head. 'Like you said, he's quite tall but apparently not fully grown.'
Tauriel shrugged. 'You took four hundred years to settle. Dwarves age at different rates, just like elves.'
'Oh, so dwarves are like elves, are they?'
Tauriel flicks her knife at him, just missing his tail feathers. Her dæmon, like many others, had noticed that elves, men, dwarves and hobbits had similar souls. Therefore, they couldn't be that different.
'Just help me. And shut up about the dwarf.'