It was the middle of the night for all I could tell, when a sound alerted me: the hobbit. He had all his belongings gathered in his arms as he endeavoured to creep and tip toe past the dwarves, not yet realising that I sat silently watching him just in the shadow of the caves mouth. By the time he had reached me still oblivious I thought I had passed the point of polite curiosity. "Where are you going little burglar?" The sound of my voice enough to cause his feet to double his height by leaping straight up. As he came down he made little sound like the brush of feathers upon a stone floor. Hidden talents. He began stuttering out an deformed lie not worth hearing so I stopped him by speaking first.

"I would wager that a burglar such as yourself, sneaking away as you are..." I paused feigning reflection. "I would say that your taste for adventure has grown sour and you are looking to find yourself a new path" his pursed expression told me that I had read him right. This hobbit, though 60, was still trying to find a path in his life as we all were; the dwarves thought to find it on the road to their lost home. And I... well I questioned if I would ever find my true path before I was pushed into some role given by the grace of Elrond's generosity.

"If you would Mr Baggins perhaps you could sit with me a while, at least until the sun begins to dawn. I would not feel right abandoning you to these paths at night nor could I abandon my mission to help your friends"

He sat on the other side of the opening chin resting upon his knees looking out into the dark. We both sat in a contemplative state for some time until Bilbo chose to reveal his thoughts.

"Their not really my friends you know." He spoke this as though it was fact but it still carried a sombre and disappointed note. "I mean I have been traveling with them for some months now and tonight is the first time Thorin has laughed with me around. There's no point in my staying." I didn't bother to interrupt as it seemed more cathartic for him to speak without feeling heard in this blackness. "No, no point at all. I simply get them into trouble just as I did with the trolls." I must remember to ask about that " even Elrond offered me a place in rivendell because he knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with them." The silence returned and with the rain finally pattering to a halt, the last drops falling into the great chasm reminding me of the giant laying in ruins below us drawing me into a faded memory of dappled sunlight. Unbeknownst to me I had begun to hum to the fragments of stone and memory. "That's a pretty tune miss..." "I suppose we weren't properly introduced back in iml- rivendell. My name is Daenal Dwin ' thym, please Mr Baggins call me Daenal." I gave a slight chuckle as he silently practiced my name with the shadows of his face dancing with his lips.

"Well Daenal please do call me Bilbo for what little time we are together"

This pattern of conversation ebbing and flowing continued, and in the the ebb the lonely night brought the same tune from my lips. Eventually Bilbo seemed to be lulled closer and closer to the precipice of sleep. One of his last questions came groggy from his barely parting lips. "It is such a pretty tune... What is it from miss?" As he was drifting from sleep to a cloudy waking state I saw no harm in telling him a truth that would probably be lost to the wind. "It is a lullaby Bilbo, an effective one." I smirked at the evidence of the tunes charm "it is also the only memory I have of my mother, i see no face only her bright starlight hair iridescent in the sunshine flickering through summer forest leaves and the scent of bluebells and copper in the air. And then she sings a song" I closed my eyes and fell into the memory letting the few words that i remembered cascade from my mouth in its undulating tune.

"Now sing child, sing dear maiden

Sing of grief and sorrow

Sing sweet, sing long

And you may yet see tomorrow

Yes you may yet see tomorrow."

By this time all were deep in slumber, even mister Baggins whom I returned to his small space in the cave, soon I joined them but as I gave in my last moments where pestered by chattering echoing from nearby.

Cries and shouts of confusion awoke me. I jumped to my feet with blades in hand ready to lunge into the fray of a battle that was not there. The screams still came. I turned into the cave stopping short as my feet found ledge instead of continued floor. As I looked to my companions I was just quick enough to see an angered Thorin and a bewildered Bilbo slip last into the trap door. I must admit I was startled into a moment of inaction. As the thud and gust of stale air blew upwards I found my wits again, my mind raced with the options that could help them.

Run back to Imladris for back up. No, it would take too long. Search for Gandalf along the path, he should be catching up by now. No, damn it no time. Damn. Damn!

Then there it was the chattering like a drum being tapped. I felt a brush of air sweep across my cheek. A simple thing really but it carried more in its scent; earthy, stagnant and foul. Goblin. I followed the scent further back into the cave to a small crack. A subtle crack in the wall, not seen by the eyes of dwarves, even to the touch of my hand it would have felt so ordinary if not for the fading zephyr that was escaping from it now.

But how- how do I open it ? There's no lever or panel to open it. The only way is to knock it down.

The change came sudden and lasted only a second, but in that second the world was changed. The world was warmer now, buzzing with life, in this new darkness it was easy to see what would have been a faint light now burn through the crack in reds and oranges. My pads felt the cool ground as I pushed against it and rose onto my stout hind legs which shifted slightly to bring my weight crashing down on the hidden entrance. Once, twice and then it gave way to my new enormity.

Goblins scrambled around, disorientated and angry nipping at the air at ghosts of enemies. But these were just sentinel goblins; small and stupid, their screams meant as an early alarm call for those below. One began to whoop softly but building in volume and frequency, he was the first to feel claws hook into skin and drag across its twisted face as I flung him into a wall. The call had been started and carried to the two that were left in the room who too began the slowly rising call like apes in a rain forest, one was delivered the first fate as the first but as the killing blow was dealt the last of the slimy cretins scampered towards a bolt hole that most likely would have deposited it to the nearest company of goblin soldiers. But before the little thing managed to delve too deep my jaws caught on a rag that it would have called clothing and wrenched it out again, flinging it's flailing body into the air and finally closing my great maw around its chest. It died gurgling with bubbles of its own blood erupting from its mouth.

This was nothing new. The first time it came about I was too young too ignorant so much so that I had to be restrained for weeks before the rest of the elves trusted me enough to be released. The damage the blood the power all these things were inevitable when I moved into my other form. A gift from my father. A silver bear.