I'm sorry to anyone following this for the wait and the shortness. But it's raining and that tends to make me write faster.
The next day found Mari sitting at the edge of the forest overlooking the children playing in their new tree house.
Marigold was content enough to sit and make sure they were safe while sewing the tears in the skirt she had worn the day before. She didn't particularly dislike wearing skirts but it was fair to say that they had a habit of getting snagged up in things.
Soon her work skirt had another patch, this time a cheerful blue. Bilbo was beginning to take whatever opportunity presented itself to destroy the skirt.
"A Baggins!" he would shriek. "You are a Baggins! You cannot be seen with tattered skirts when we have the wealth to buy you new ones." Then he would huff and walk off with his hat and walking stick to who knows where.
The day passed easily, it was overwhelmingly bright and cheerful, it practically hurt your eyes.
By the time night was falling Marigold and Bilbo were hauled up in Bag End settled around the fire; Bilbo reading one of his many books out loud and Marigold re-stitching the hems of her blankets. Both had forgotten about the panic caused by Gandalf's arrival in Hobbiton the day before.
This of course was ruined by a resounding knock on the door.
"The Elves then migrated to… Oh! Oh dear, I forgot about Gandalf. Oh dear, oh dear," he fussed, roused from his reading.
Marigold raised an eyebrow. "Gandalf?"
"Yes Gandalf. I invited him over and then forgot! Go get some firewood and a larger chair," he ordered already skittering off to gather cakes and teacups.
"Sure, sure. I thought girls were meant to get the easy jobs," Mari grumbled as she trudged out towards the storeroom where the wood was stacked and the spare things kept.
For the exact purpose of irritating her brother she took her sweet time getting there, first stopping at her room to pull on her coat. She had been expecting a quiet night in and had therefore worn a shirt which allowed her wings freedom. She dawdled around the store room, picking the wood from the bottom of the pile and the very best chair from behind the garden supplies.
She hummed to herself happily to ignore the noise from the dining room. Bilbo was likely yelling at Gandalf or himself. Either way quite amusing. With the chair scraping the polished floorboards behind her and the firewood piled high in her arms she made her way down the hall to where the noise was loudest. As she neared the dining hall she thought that it was rather a lot of noise for a nervous Hobbit and sly Wizard to be making.
Cautiously Marigold placed the wood down on the chair and poked her head around the corner of the round doorframe. Merry looking stout men were crowded in the kitchen she had spent the day cooking in and cleaning mercilessly. Laughing and drinking an outrageous amount of coffee and tea they ate the seedcakes, scones, pies and tarts she had spent hours making. And there was her brother, cowering against the heath, a biscuit clutched between his fingers.
She stepped into the room in an anger filled haze. Her wings launched from her shoulders, getting caught on her coat and hitching it painfully.
"Would someone care to explain why there are Dwarves in my house?" she screeched at an unnaturally high pitch.
Gandalf and Bilbo seemed to notice first. Gandalf with a look of glee and enthusiasm while Bilbo looked mildly traumatised.
"Ah Marigold my dear! I was wondering where you had gotten to," Gandalf exclaimed, gaining himself and Marigold the Dwarves attention and silence. They each elbowed their kin towards the latest development.
At the same time Bilbo had launched from his stool and made his way to his sister. He took off her straining jacket, knowing full well that she would be in a foul mood if it were torn. Well more of a foul mood.
Into the overstuffed room came a set of large, dull coloured wings. Slightly furred instead of feathered but nothing extraordinarily beautiful. This set Bilbo into even more of a panic for an argument was sure to come when wings were brought into play.
The Dwarves all became a little stunned at the new addition to the gathering. One particularly dumb looking blonde seemed to be mouthing, 'it's a girl with wings,' over and over to the young Dwarf beside him who was nodding cautiously.
Mari picked up on this and snapped, "Yes I am a girl, if that weren't obvious enough already. And before any questions are asked, yes those are wings and yes I am not afraid to hit you with them. Now, good, we got that settled. Would someone like to answer my question? I'll take that silence as a yes. What are you doing in my house, eating the food I took the time to bake?"
She said all this rather quickly, giving the Dwarves no time to defend themselves or answer.
"Mari…" Gandalf began tiredly. Bilbo was backing away to the relative safety of the hallway. He had experienced Mari's rage on far too many occasions to stick around.
"I was not talking to you Wizard," she spat. The glare sent his way was enough for any Hobbit or Dwarf run back to their mother's skirts.
It simply enraged the Wizard though who had stared straight back.
Most of the Dwarves had gathered what food they could and retreated to the lounge. Even the mighty warriors of The Lonely Mountain would run from an irritated Hobbit.
Thorin Oakenshield however remained out of honour and hidden curiosity. He cast a few quizzical and almost exasperated glance towards his company.
"Marigold!" Gandalf boomed. "Where have your manners gone? Belladonna would be disgusted with you."
That hit a nerve, her wings flinched along with the rest of her face. Instead of backing down she continued with more gusto.
"Belladonna would not want her possessions misused and trodden on by uninvited Dwarves! And she would certainly not want me or Bilbo to be taken advantage of," the girl yelled back.
At this point Thorin decided to intervene. "Now, I believe you are mistaken, we were invited. We are not 'taking advantage-'" the king said calmly before being hit in the head with a strong furry limb.
"Shut up," both Mari and Gandalf had yelled at him at the same time. Mari had just taken it a step further and possibly knocked out the future King under the Mountain.