List of Daemons
Thror - Inachis io- peacock- Icarni
Thrain- Picidae- woodpecker- Salix
Gandalf- Diomedeidae- albatross- Radalyn
Thorin- Unsettled- Lifthrasir/ lif
Bilbo- Unsettled- Sting {male}
Oin - Hyla arborea- Tree frog – Duke {male}
Gloin- Canis lupus familiaris- Boxer dog- Gurda
Nori- Pica pica- Magpie – furtum
Dori - Felis catus- Persian cat- Ambrosia
Ori-Vulpes zerda - Fenic fox- Baeflure
Bifur- Pteropodidae- Fruit bat- Stix
Bofur- Sciur vulgaris- red squirrel- Hesselay
Bombur- Anas platyrhynchos- mallard duck – Bek
Balin- Tyto alba- Barn owl- Alvis
Dwalin- Canis lupus familiaris- Tibetan Mastiff- Gemablax/Gem
Dis- Canis Lupus familiaris- Springer spaniel- Orion
Kili- Vulpes vulpes- Black fox- Rafarfrod/Rafa
Fili – Canis Lupus familiaris- Golden retriever- Skianfaxi/skian
A curious coincidence
"Can I...can I help you?" Bilbo stammered his nose still stinging slightly from the sudden inhalation of tobacco smoke.
The tall imposing figure leaned on Bilbo's fence and peered at him from under his bedraggled hat and bushy white eyebrows. "That remains to be seen," the grey man mumbled, chewing the side if his mouth with bemusing contemplation.
Without waiting for an invitation, the old man pushed the gate aside and marched towards Bilbo's door.
"Hey, hello, excuse me-," Bilbo spluttered as he half fell half ran to stop the stranger pushing through his front door. Sting leapt into the form of a Shetland pony and braced himself against the door, blocking the grey man's path and shoot the stranger with a defiantly stubborn glare. "Can I help you?" Bilbo asked indignantly as he skidded to a halt, almost toppling back onto Sting.
"Did you get my package?" the stranger asked brusquely, leaning heavily on his tall wooden staff and arching a grey bushing eyebrow.
"The Alethiometer- OW!" Bilbo gasped before he could stop himself and was rewarded with Sting sinking his horse teeth into Bilbo's calf.
"Bilbo Baggins...," Gandalf, as we know him though at the time Bilbo did not, smirked proudly as a knowing smile pulled his wrinkles into a tight smile.
If you didn't already know, Hobbits were truly amazing creatures, Gandalf certainly thought so. Brave, courageous and thanks to an odd quirk of Elvin blood that ran through their Took heritage, some even had the very rare ability to master the mysterious powers of the alethiometer. A gift that even Gandalf had never truly conquered.
"How do you know my...No, no. No! No package was delivered here, you must be mistaken. Try Bree or better still on the other side of the Water. Yes, right well...Good morning!" Bilbo floundered flustered before all but slamming the door shut with a resounding bang!
It took a good minute of leaning against the back of the door before Sting {now in the form of a terrier} placed a calming paw against Bilbo's leg and tried to reassure his Hobbit.
"Wizards," Sting snorted derisively- for undoubtedly the stranger had been a wizard due to his pointy hat and dirty cloak. "They are odd folk. We shall have nothing to do with them, my love!" the daemon declared boldly, wiggling his nose and wagging his tail in a haughtily manner that remained Bilbo of his Father's daemon.
Trailing his fingers through Sting's soft fur, Bilbo pushed away from the door and gave his daemon his most reassuring smile. It was on odd act to be sure, for daemons have a direct line to their Hobbits {or men or dwarf's} thoughts and feelings, but Bilbo still always tried to protect Sting from the whirl of emotions that were running through him at that moment in time.
Sting shifted from paw to paw as he became agitated by Bilbo's anxious mood. "Bilbo, let us have cake!" Sting barked and began to nudge Bilbo towards the kitchen where a honey cake lay on the counter.
At the promise of food Bilbo perked up instantly, although the dim shadow sat over him slightly for the rest of the day. "Yes, cake indeed, for it is almost time for high tea."
And so they had cake and almost forgot about the mornings strange events, instead taking comfort in the honey cake and the closeness that one another provided. So much so that neither, daemon or Hobbit, heard the distant scratches on the door or the markings being carved into Bilbo's freshly painted woodwork.
But more importantly, it wasn't until six o'clock, just before Bilbo and Sting were about to start cooking supper that Hamfast Gamgee would knock at their door and inform them that there was a giant grey albatross sat napping on his letter box, and that said albatross had stopped and asked Katwiyth {Lobelia Sackville Baggins' daemon} directions to BagEnd.
*0*
"You shouldn't have so many potatoes, you're going to get fat," Sting called from his perch on the sill on the kitchen window. The daemon had officially put himself on Albatross Watch while Bilbo ate his supper.
"Hobbits are supposed to be round and besides-," Bilbo paused to squeeze a lemon over his fried fish, "I don't want to get too good looking." Bilbo quipped and winked at Sting knowingly, before tucking into his supper.
Sting hopped down off his perch and landed on the table as a rabbit, he huddle close to Bilbo's side, his long brown ears tickling under Bilbo's chin and watched his Hobbit sprinkled a little salt on the crinkled skin of the river trout.
It was in those seconds, when Bilbo's first mouthful of juicy fish was inches from his mouth, that there came a low pounding knock at the door which echoed around Bilbo's and Sting's smial.
"I thought you were on Albatross Watch?" Bilbo asked in a frenzied whisper as both he and his daemon peered towards the hallway.
The booming knocks came again, and with a long frustrated sigh, Bilbo gave up the hope of having his supper on time and went to answer the door.
"Do you think its Lobelia again?" Sting asked tentatively, the faint tremor in his voice betraying his fear of the Sackville.
Bilbo raised two fingers and gently brushed the soft fur of Sting's ears to soothe his daemon. "I doubt it," he reassured gently as he pushed back from the table and popped a pair of slippers onto his feet. "More likely this time of night it's Otho."
The pair moved into the hallway and Bilbo began to fumble with his keys.
"Be with you in a second!" he called, searching through the ring of keys until he found the right one.
"I hate Magda, she's so two faced and her eyes give me the willies," Sting grumbled under his breath about Otho's grasshopper daemon. Bilbo smirked as he pulled the front door open and then suddenly let his mouth fall open in horror, a strangled cry escaped Sting's throat.
Bilbo's first thought was WOLF!
Standing on the doormat was the biggest dog that Bilbo had ever seen in his entire life- No, had ever dared imagine. Its shaggy head came to level with Bilbo's face and its drooling jaws could have easily closed around the Hobbit's throat. Dappled black and brown fur stuck up in messy knots but appeared thick and glossy, sticking up in tufts around the beast's great floppy ears. As Bilbo caught a glimpse of shiny white teeth within a the strong pair of powerful jaws encased within a wet red mouth. Bilbo thought the animal was wild and had wondered into Hobbiton from the great wilderness; he started drawing back away from the door in terror, preparing to slam it shut when a grumbling voice came from behind the great dog. With a grunt of effort, the beast was shouldered aside.
This new arrival did not help to settle Bilbo's nerves, not one little bit.
"Dwalin, at your service," the dwarf warrior said in a gruff deep voice that reminded Bilbo rather like a distant rumble of thunder. The dwarf brushed back his travelling cloak and bowed, showing off the two axes strapped to his back as he did so.
Sting wasted no time. Like the true Took that he was, he leaped forwards in the form of a sheepdog, nodded to Bilbo and began to sniff and wag his tail excitedly at the other daemon.
Daemons have a remarkable ability to sense another daemon's aura and as such are very good judges of character; be that as it may, Bilbo still wrapped his rode tighter.
"Bilbo Baggins, at yours," Bilbo began before Sting coughed pointedly, "And this is my daemon Sting."
"An honour to make your fine acquaintance Madam," Sting said delicately, lowering his head and bending down on his knee in a kind of doggy bow. Bilbo was taken aback, he had never seen Sting so...was smitten the right word?
The massive dog actually giggled. A sweet and womanly voice, that happened to remind Bilbo of Belladonna Baggins, came from deep within the great dog's chest as she cocked her head and opened her jaws in a dog's smile. "My pleasure I am sure. My name is Gemablax, at your service young one."
Suddenly, Bilbo was pushed aside and a dusty travelling cape draped over him as Dwalin marched through the door and into the hallway, and without so much as a by your leave, sat down at Bilbo's table and began tucking into his supper!
The Hobbit and his daemon stared in bemusement as the dwarf- Dwalin- sat munching on a fish head and the massive dog resting her head gently on his shoulder.
"Bilbo, have you seen how big she is!? She's the biggest daemon we've ever seen. Not even the men in Bree have dogs as big as her!" Sting exclaimed suddenly, his tail thumping against the wooden doorframe and his claws tapping against the flooring as he skittered about in excitement.
"She is no mere dog, pup! Gem is a Mastiff and a noble member of the Royal Guard of Erebor," Dwalin snapped, skewing the last of Bilbo's roast potatoes off his plate.
The daemon in question made a huffing noise at her Dwarf and padded across the kitchen towards Sting, "and don't you forget it, Master daemon," Gemablax said playfully, snapping at Sting's bushy black tail that swished to and fro. Sting hopped away quickly trying to return the daemon's friendly gesture - it looked something a kin with a squirrel playing with a bear but Sting appeared to be having the time of his life.
Bilbo had had enough. Sting may be having fun with his new fond giant friend but Bilbo wanted his supper, wanted to go to bed and wanted to know what in all Sweet Yvanna this dwarf and his monster were doing in his house!
Just as he was about to open his mouth, there came another knock at the door.
"That'll be the door," Dwalin said gruff, shoving an entire scone in his mouth at once. Bilbo needed no persuading.
It would be Hamfast or Otho, it could even be Lobelia for all Bilbo cared at that moment in time, all come to tell him that this was some bad kind of joke; but pulling open the door, Bilbo found it wasn't.
Another Dwarf.
"Balin, at your service," the grey haired dwarf standing at the top of Bilbo's garden path exclaimed, bowing so low and almost dislodging the snowy barn owl that was perched on the dwarf's shoulder.
Down the hallway, Bilbo heard the great shout of joy, "Alvis!" Deep pounding paws hammered against his wooden flooring, padding and skidding into the hallway, leaving Bilbo barely enough time to flatten himself against the door as Gemablax barrelled passed.
The owl leapt from his dwarf's shoulder only to be caught carefully between Gemablax's paws, the two daemons danced and rolled in Bilbo's front garden, ripping up bits of Bilbo's lawn as they did so.
"Gem! Oh Gem it's been too long!" The owl whooped excitedly and began fluttering about around the dog as Gem jumped on her back legs. It appeared that the Mastiff was mindful of the owl's delicate feathers but not so much about Bilbo's geraniums.
Much like Sting embodied Bilbo's Took side, the two daemons embodied the dwarves more expressive eccentric side, that as Bilbo watched, only showed itself in the dwarves as a rough thwacking head butt.
"Bilbo, remember to breathe," Sting whispered urgently, standing on his hind legs and resting his cold wet nose against Bilbo's neck. Bilbo was on the verge of having a panic attack and Sting knew it. It was brought on when Balin's soaking wet boots left muddy splodges over Bilbo's hallway carpet- the carpet he had spent almost all morning cleaning!
From within the house Bilbo heard a crash and a slosh as ale was splashed over the clean floor tiles of Bilbo's larder. Sting retreated quickly under the kitchen sink as he felt the full surge of Bilbo's temper.
"I am sorry! I am sorry but this will not..." Bilbo began to advance on the pair dwarves, who were eyeing up his prized tomatoes, when a light tickling ringing caught his attention.
Ding-a-ling-a- ling. Ding-a-ling-a- ling. Ding-a-ling-a- ling... Someone was repeatedly tugging his doorbell, it was better than knocking but only just. Bilbo's foot hovered in midair as the doorbell rang again.
We're they trying to pull it off!?
"Don't you dare," Bilbo warned his daemon dangerously as Sting gave him a sheepish smile and dashed to the door. Bilbo was only seconds behind when Sting's teeth closed around the doorknob and dragged it open.
Bilbo nearly skidded into the two dwarves waiting on his doorstep.
"Fili-,"
"Kili-,"
"At your service-," the two dwarves chimed in unison, Bilbo fought not to make a strangled noise of dismay while Sting yipped in merriment.
"No, I'm sorry you can't come in," Bilbo declared, ignoring how Sting whined and made pathetic pleading noises. He was about to shut the door when a strong shoulder shoved the door open and pushed Bilbo backwards into the wall.
Bilbo had to do a double take as at first glance he thought a lion was barging into his house. In actual fact it turned out to be the biggest golden retriever that Bilbo had ever seen, not nearly as big as Gem but certainly massive by Hobbit standards. The retriever held the door open with its broad shoulders and looked up at Bilbo with sparkling black eyes which made her golden coat seem all the brighter, as a small sleek black fox ghosted between its legs and disappeared down the hallway.
"Don't worry, it hasn't been cancelled!" The fox called in a shrill girlish voice, as she peeked her head in the dining room where Bilbo heard the telltale signs of furniture being moved haphazardly.
"Well, thank bloody Aüle for that!" the golden retriever exclaimed, her voice surprisingly hoarse and smoky for a female daemon and she shoved the door fully open, squishing Bilbo flat against the wall.
"Skainfaxi! Look what you have done to , that is no way to treat our host!" The dark dwarf chastised the golden retriever, but as Bilbo was tugged out from behind the door, he noticed a cheeky grin the young dwarf shot his brother.
"Oops! Didn't see you there Halfling!" Skianfaxi called over her shoulder unconvincingly, flicking her tail in the air and swishing it behind her as she followed the black fox towards the noises.
Sting leaped onto Bilbo's shoulder and whispered low in his ear before disappearing into the smial but Bilbo didn't hear what his daemon had said for the blonde dwarf was watching Sting closely, every slight movement followed by those pale furrowed brows. But as quickly as Bilbo noticed, the dwarf's brother marched forward and blocked Bilbo's view.
"Don' pay her any mind. She's not use' to gentle folk. 'Ere grab these would ya'," The dark haired dwarf- Kili- said lightly, dumping his heavy bow and quiver into Bilbo's arms.
"Oi! She's proud, that's all. Nothing wrong with havin' standards! Least Skian talks to people," Fili suddenly snapped at his brother as he too shoved his swords and sword belt into Bilbo's arms which began to sag dangerously under the heavy weight.
"Rafa talks to me," Kili said defensively, wiping his muddy boots on Belladonna's glory box: Bilbo was beginning to feel a little faint.
"Well, she would, she is your daemon after all-," Fili began to say with a smirk playing on his lips when Kili let out a shout that almost burst Bilbo's ear drum.
"Mr. Dwalin!"
"Come here lad! We need to make room if want to fit all the Company in," the warrior dwarf called from the dining room and the two brothers dashed to help leaving Bilbo standing alone by the open door, with a great pile of weapons in his hands and a whole load of mud walked into his carpet.
He had a terrible feeling it was going to be an awful long night.
*0*
Bilbo's whole evening had been very odd, very odd indeed, not only by Hobbit standards but by any normal person's standards.
For not long after the two dwarf brothers had pushed themselves through Bilbo's front door and began dragging his dining table about, had there been another loud knock at the door.
This time the bell was only rung once but once was enough for Bilbo to lose what little remained of his quiet Hobbit temper.
"If this is some idiot's idea of a joke, I find it in very very poor taste!" Bilbo cried as he pulled his front door open for the third time that evening.
In cascaded a pile of wriggling dwarves who shouted and swore and fought with each other as they all tried to get to their feet at once. Their daemons watched from Bilbo's front garden with varying degrees of amusement and embarrassment. But the barked grunts of dwarfish profanity were not what caught Bilbo's attention.
Stood in front of the group of daemons was the albatross that had been asleep on his post box for most of the evening. The giant grey bird stretched out its long neck and ruffled its feathers, shaking out its massive wings and sending a cool gust of wind right into Bilbo's chest.
"Mr Baggins, we meet again," the bird remarked in a low lilting female voice and appeared to smirk- if that's what the slight twist of the albatross' beak could be described as.
"I'm sorry, do we know each other?" Bilbo asked the bird incredously, almost stumbling over as a dwarf with an axe embedded in his skull who used Bilbo's arm to pull himself up. From behind Bilbo there was an excited squeak and Sting hopped to Bilbo's side, in the form of a rabbit, and brushed his soft muzzle against Bilbo's fingers.
Bilbo pulled his hand away and shot his daemon a look of betrayal, Sting could play cute now but when all this...Mess! was cleaned up Bilbo and him would have a serious talk about self control and propriety.
"Do we know each other! Well, cursed dust, to think Belladonna Took's son would ask that of me! I am Radalyn and Radalyn is...well, me," the albatross laughed with mirth, fluttering over to stand in front of Bilbo, her sleek head coming level with Bilbo's shoulders.
"Radalyn? Not Gandalf's Radalyn?" Sting asked excitedly, leaping into the air in the form of a robin and flapping manically around Radalyn's head.
"Gandalf is mine as much as I am his, we are one in the same as much as you and Bilbo are. Though as a Witch daemon I may travel as I wish, we are still one spirit connected," Radalyn explained to the excitable daemon and then turned her beak towards Bilbo, who was still staring dumbstruck as distant long forgotten childhood memories whizzed around his head. "Bilbo, you were a child last I saw you. You have changed and yet-," the bird flicked her dark avian eyes towards Sting who was now looking towards the dozens of daemons who were flying, hopping, waddling and scurrying into the living room. "- and yet much remains the same."
Bilbo almost winced as he knew Radalyn was referring to his daemon not settling yet.
"I...Gandalf was the stranger from this morning? Forgive me, it has been so long that, well, I thought you'd be-," Bilbo stammered, growing uncomfortable under the witch daemons steady stare.
"You thought we'd be dead, oh no, far from it!" Radalyn let out a long loud warming laugh that seemed almost to fill the smial. With one powerful gust of her broad wings the daemon took to the air and glided down Bilbo's hallway and into the dining room where all the dwarves were now sat.
"Bilbo..." Sting whispered tentatively and he landed on Bilbo's shoulder and buried his beak in the Hobbit's curls. "Don't be mad with me. Please don't be mad." Sting breathed in a fragile voice that made all of Bilbo's anger drain away into his feet.
Closing the door, Bilbo absently stroked Sting's soft tail feathers and tried to steady his nerves.
"My love, how could I stay mad at you? Just...Look what they are doing to my pantry!" Bilbo cried in dismay, literally grabbing handfuls of his hair in desperation as he watched an entire menagerie of daemons dragging the entire contents of his larder across the hallway carpet and into the dining room.
At any other moment Bilbo may have even found it amusing to watch a Mallard duck try and single headedly- or beakedly- drag an entire block of cheese, or a fruit bat darting to a fro carrying away Bilbo's tomatoes, followed by a magpie carrying grapes. A red squirrel ran along the walls somehow managing to carry a loaf in its mouth while a fluffy white cat rolled around with a teapot in its paws. The golden retriever and black fox- Skianfaxi and Rafa- darted down the hallway hurrying after a barrel of ale that was rolling away and a fenic fox sat on top Bilbo's grandfather clock nibbling the corner of a cracker.
"Don't! You'll break that!" Bilbo cried suddenly, snapping out of his almost catatonic frame of mind as the red squirrel daemon whipped its bushy tail about and almost knocked Aunt Periwinkle's wedding plate off its shelf.
"Ew, do you hear that Hesselay, we'll break it!" A merry faced dwarf chuckled as his squirrel daemon landed nimbly on the ear flaps of his hat.
"Oh no! A plate! A plate, whatever shall we do Bofur?" Hesseley shrieked melodramatically, pretending to faint and dangled her red tail over the rim of Bofur's hat. The other dwarves laughed heartily as they and their daemons all seated themselves around Bilbo's table and began to scoff the entire contents of Bilbo's pantry.
The Hobbit glanced at the empty shelves of his larder cupboard and them stared into his destroyed dining room, trying to make sense of the impossible set of stupid events that had led up to this moment in time.
For at that point in the evening he had twelve dwarves crammed around his table and lining the walls was; a red boxer grabbing bits of ham from a redheaded dwarf's hand, a tree frog sat on his dwarf's ear horn, a magpie and fruit bat playing "fly through the smoke ring", a white Persian cat lapping red wine from one of his best crystal glasses, a duck sat on the swag of his fat dwarf's beard, a squirrel sat on a hat, a miniature desert fox lapped daintily at a mug of ale and a retriever and fox playing "lets rip holes in Bilbo's carpet"; while above them all sat Radalyn watching the whole damn thing from the chandler.
This must be what going insane is like, Bilbo thought airily as his knees buckled.
"Bilbo...Bilbo!" Bilbo heard Sting shout his name as the dining room floor came up to meet him.
*0*
"Bilbo! Oh Bilbo, Bilbo I was so worried! Don't ever do that to me again, do you hear? Or...Or I don't know what I'll do without you. I was scared and alone, Bilbo Baggins..." Sting repeated over and over again as he licked and sniffed at Bilbo's face with his cold dog nose.
Somehow Bilbo found himself propped up in his father's armchair next to the fire in his living room, his feet were resting on Sting's cat stool and his legs were covered over with one of Belladonna's crotched blankets. Bilbo would have been perfectly happy to stay right where he was and nap for the rest of the evening and he would of too, if it hadn't have been for the albatross that sat watching from mantelpiece.
"Oh my dear boy, what happened to the Hobbit who wanted nothing more than to have a good adventure? Where is the young Hobbit who ran away to join a crew of pirates or the Hobbit who wanted to meet the elf king?" Radalyn mused, digging her sharp talons into Bilbo's mahogany mantelpiece and stretching her elegant neck down towards Bilbo.
"He grew up," Bilbo stated coldly as he gently sat up straighter in the chair and took Sting in his arms, cradling the slightly trembling rabbit- for Sting had changed into something smaller- to his chest.
Radalyn leapt off the mantelpiece and nimbly landed on the overstuffed arm of the chair next to Bilbo. "But he didn't though, did he?" the daemon said coolly, titling her head with a severe and birdlike twitch of her neck so that she caught Bilbo's eyes. "Bilbo Baggins, you are small and still young and are destined to remain so if you don't walk this world."
"You speak in riddles-," Bilbo snapped.
"I always speak in riddles; it's what witches and wizards do!" Radalyn retorted with an angry ruffle of her grey feathers. "Now listen and listen close, for unlike Gandalf, I shall not mince my words. Witches, like daemons, can see aura's but more importantly a person's aura. And yours is pale, almost white in your need-,"
"I don't want for anything, I have my home and my-," Bilbo said, trying to defend himself against the fierce daemon.
"Not you, you are substance and not made of golden particles. Change your ways or you will diminish and all you love most shall disappear in a puff of dust. Heed me Bilbo Baggins, even if it is the last thing you do. Heed me and listen to your heart," Radalyn finished her prophecy with a shake of her head and a vicious snap of her beak. With a powerful beat of her wings, she rose into the air and let out a eerie cry which echoed around Bilbo's head and silencing the rowdy party of dwarves in the others room; she circled the ceiling- once- twice- and then disappeared through an open window and out into the night's sky, morphing into another ghost in the great blackness.
"What in all Middle Earth was that about?" Sting asked shakily, his little nose twitching as he tried to free himself from Bilbo's tight embrace.
"Quick!" Oin bellowed, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and pulling Bilbo to his feet, ignoring Sting's disgruntled grumbled as the daemon tumbled to the floor. The old dwarf threw an amulet over the Hobbit's neck and began humming a thick language that Bilbo didn't understand under his breath while his frog daemon waved his webbed hands to and fro.
"What are they doing?" Bilbo whispered to a dwarf with a magpie daemon resting on his shoulder. Nori, as Bilbo would later discover he name was, watched from afar as Oin gave Bilbo a blessing in Khuzdul to protect him from a Witch's curse.
"It's terrible bad luck Mister Baggins to be on the wrong side of a Witch, old Oin and Duke ere' is just making sure she's sent no ill will down on ya'," Nori explained as he cleaned the end of his pipe and began filling the bowl full of tobacco he'd picked up on the road.
"Oh please...um, Master Oin was it, could you just-," Bilbo stammered awkwardly as he tried to get passed Oin.
"Oin, I think he's blessed enough. Come and sit with me and Gloin," a boxer dog shouted from the hallway at the old dwarf. Oin and Duke looked up from their chanting and nodded.
"Aye' you be right Gurda," Oin replied, signing one more time and moving away down the hall. The healer passed Nori in the doorway and giving the other dwarf a pat on the arm as he passed by.
Cynically eyeing the amulet and placing it down on the stool by his feet, Bilbo glanced up to find both Nori and his magpie daemon watching him closely.
"Oh, don't mind us. Me and Furtum was just thinking about what a nice house you have here," Nori said lightly, shooting Bilbo a dashing smile that would have sent any other Hobbit or dwarf for that matter reeling. But then again Bilbo wasn't just any Hobbit.
I suppose I should take this time to tell you- if you didn't already know or need reminding- that once a daemon settles form, that form represents qualities that their barer upholds. Daemonolgy or the study of daemons had been going on since the days of the Eldar but after the terrible War of the Ring, Daemonolgy had mostly fallen out of common knowledge. Though Bilbo was a very clever Hobbit, his access to books on the subject- a subject in which he was most interested- was very limited. He knew of certain qualities and attributes of some Daemonic forms such as most canine breeds were loyal and brave, but needless to say, magpie's are light feathered and have a certain liking for shiny objects; which was why Bilbo's spine suddenly tensed and he struggled to suppress the urge to look in Nori's pockets.
"But it seems a bit strange for a nice fella' like you not to have found your One Touch-," Nori commented, staring intently down into the bowl of his pipe as he watched the cherry burn. Nori had wandered into very dangerous and very tetchy ground but lucky enough for Nori, it was at that moment, as Bilbo stood on the apex of the hallway, that three loud knocks rang through the house.
This knocking was different, hallowed somehow and sacred; a dozen heads poked out of the kitchen, hair standing up on end and tension palpable in the air. The knocks came again, Nori shoved Bilbo and Sting towards the doorway as the starfish haired dwarf went to stand/ hide behind his brothers.
"I am not opening this door anymore this evening," Bilbo grumbled under his breath as, for the final time that night, the Hobbit's hand closed around the brass doorknob of his smial. He struggled for a moment, juggling Sting in his arms, twisted the brass handle and let the door creak open.