Gandalf told her to meet him there. He said that clear enough for her to listen. Hearing the howls behind her, her wings gave in, and took her through the mountain. The howling of the warg was close, and she had to dodge trees to escape them. Almost there, she told herself, exhausted from her long flapping journey. She was lucky to wear the leather black catsuit, which helped her breath during the long travel, and her sight was to be blessed when she noticed the house before her, just standing there in the plain.

Still going through her flight, she was certain that Gandalf was there. He told her to meet him there, and she wasn't sure if the wizard ever told his Dwarven comrades about her. There are a lot of things that Gandalf the Grey can't say, and he was fixated on keeping things to himself before letting them unfold. Unpredictable. As she landed, her feathered wings folded behind her and miraculously shifted into a light-weight black cloak, which would drape over her catsuit. Releasing her horned headress, she let her hair down as she unlocked the hatch and walked in, quietly.

Today had been an interesting mixture of events: his client had been an orc, and rather than straightforward grumble that was usually provided for who the target was, Tajjus had received a riddle. A sarcastic, long, and bitter riddle that had clever rhymes within it about who the person eh was hunting would be, how much money he would receive for capturing his target, and how much he’d regret it if he didn’t. Evidently, stepping out of the deal wasn’t an option…however, the amount of coin that had been offered was motivating enough. Tajjus had not been supplied with a job for a few dry months.

Tajjus was capable of fending for himself without a bounty, but, the job had sounded intriguing enough—a hunt for a creature that was said to be the most elusive specimen to date. The job offer was one no one had taken in the whole land, and now Tajjus knew why. If a curious bounty hunter such as himself did recon on the topic, the door would be locked behind him. So here he was. With an annoying riddle, and an army ready to hunt him down and kill him brutally.

Tajuus had yet to solve this riddle entirely, but had made haste to dash ahead of the orc army. It was then he’d seen a shadow flicker through the trees…having caught a trail of a winged creature, Tajjus had decided he would try his luck. Soundlessly, he had navigated through the forest, to find the creature land near a house. He would narrow his eyes behind his helmet, as his body would be swallowed by shadows, encasing him in superb cover good meters away. The female would walk in…Tajjus just slid through the darkness, his ears keened to the conversation within, his hands ready to apply any weaponry on hand if necessary.

Quietly, she walked further. Further she went, quietly with her light footing. Typical for an elf to possess, and it became good use during hunts with the advancement of stealth. With the area being nearly dark, and moon being the only light source, the Elven being nearly stumbled over a few objects until a bowl fell onto the ground. She had to wince at the small sound and she quickly put it back where it was before. Her eyes luminesed in the moonlight while putting it back.

From outside, in the forests, Tajjus would hear the distinct clang of a bowl after a few minutes of silence, and he would give a small grin behind his mask. He would lurk closer to the house, towards one of its windows. He would still be a few yards away, wordlessly kneeling down in the greenery, looking right through a window.

His pale armor coloring would make it difficult for anyone to see him, and since the majority of his boyd was enshrouded by the blackness of the night, he would have the perfect camouflage as he stood stone still. He would be able to spectate the creature from a closer distance, able to see the outline of her figure more closely. According to the riddle, his target had wings, horns, and was quite dangerous when it came to fighting. Tajjus had to notice how remarkably tall his target was, assuming she was the target in the first place. Though the circumstance seemed to be perfect, Tajjus decided he would have to wait for a few seconds more before deeming this creature worth his effort. Until then---

Tajjus slowly stood up from his perch, allowing the small ruffles of leave to be audible. He would test this target, see if what she knew or said was compatible with his riddle. To someone looking to the source of the noise, it would be as if a pale armored wraith had just made its appearance in the window.

“Greetings.” Tajjus said in a slightly hollow voice, which echoed a calm and emotionless feeling.

As an only elf of Fangorn, Maleficent was of warrior material: agile and quick. Her elvish hearing and sight gave her the advantage to have a better chance at surviving battle with her choice of weaponry. So, hearing the rustling and the voice come in, she was quick to sheath one of her long combat daggers.

"I could hear you", she responded in her soft, distinct voice which had a small accent to it. She was at a ready stance while she twirled the blade in her hand at the source.

Unknowingly to her, the sheath and the drop of the bowl woke Fili. For him to be a light sleeper, he was on guard whenever his younger brother was near him. Protection was what his instinct was when it comes to his sibling. Lightly shaking Kili's shoulder, he had to cover the archer's mouth in order to silently tell him to keep quiet and listen. Voices...

Kili’s eyes would snap open upon the shake his brother gave him, his body already becoming fully aware of its surroundings. He too would soon hear the voices. Kili would give Fili a glance, before reaching for his bow, his other hand readied to grab an arrow at a moments notice. Throughout their quest for getting to their mountain full of gold, they had encountered many things, all of which only solidified an uneasiness when hearing unrecognizable voices. He would look to his brother before slowly making his way to the door, so he might get a better view of the hallways from which the voices ever so quietly emitted. None of the two figures seemed to register as recognizable. Another glance at Fili. He gestured to the other dozing dwarves. Would it be best to wake them?
-
‘I could hear you.’

“I know.” Tajjus answered, without much difference in his voice. He looked with slightly amused eyes behind his mask at her blade. She was no doubt some sort of elf, though Tajjus hadn’t ever laid his eyes on a variation that had horns and some sort of flight capability.
“Never seen something like you before,” Tajjus remarked, without drawing his own blade. Perhaps she would say the same. “To business. I was sent here looking for someone. ‘A winged one who was cursed by the one who is concealed inside, given crown and cloak to distance her past pride.’ Person who told me this wasn’t one for clarity. I was wondering if you could verify my already formed theory of who I seek.” Tajjus said a verse of his riddle. Yes, he suspected her to be this ‘winged one’. The ‘crown’ in the riddle could have very well meant the horns, since they were not just any ordinary horns. Rather, they had their own slight majesty.

Like a crown. Where these 'wings' in the riddle may have gone added to variables, but, he knew she flew. This land was full of strange arts, and on the chance she perhaps knew some herself being an elf, he would keep his guard up to see any sort of signs for these wings. Perhaps a glance at the back would do---He knew nothing of this elf’s past, but be some of the description, he could take a wild guess. He’d never seen a winged king before. It would also be how she reacted. And if she didn’t react how Tajjus might predict should she be his target, he would still remain, and question her further regardless.

Fili had his large blade within his hand as he stayed where he was near the sleeping dwarves, while watching his younger brother approach the source of the noise. He could hear the chatter, but he didn't want to alert Thorin and the others with something that was a small problem. It would be best for them to keep quiet and listen, just to make sure that it was a threat or not. He shook his head to Kili as a message to not worry about the others, and keep going.

----

"A cursed one would stick to the shadows and not some bounty to those of greed", the she-elf told him in a calm, but strong voice that didn't condescend. Her yellow-green eyes luminesced in glimmer within the moonlight as her dagger was kept in place towards him. "Verify and confirm that you will know your place, and leave me", she told him in defense, clearly telling him that she prefers to be left alone. "A beast guards this place, and he has a foul taste in trespassers like yourself", Maleficent warned him after a growl was heard nearby. It was definitely that beast. He was indeed nearby...

Kili would nod in return to his brother’s evident disagreement, and would draw an arrow from his quiver, preparing his bow for use. He fixed his eyes upon the cloaked tall-elf looking woman, though he would aim more to the strange figure, the armored man in the window. He readied his string when he would hear the growl of something near by. It would only alert his senses more, and the dwarf would prepare for combat.
-
Tajjus remained stone still, like a statue, as he would listen to the elf’s reply.
“Why is it that greed is stereotyped as a man’s cause for hunt?” Tajjus asked in return to her question, without a yielding voice either. Tajjus’s hollow helmet eye pieces would only provide the emptiness of their miniature abysses, as he continued to stand his ground. His eyes would flicker from location to location as he saw movement out of the corner of his eye—two small ones were kneeling, seeming to ready themselves for the coming conflict. His and this she-elf’s words were but the calm before the storm. It was a quietness that was filled with both warning and knowledge. A fight would transpire, and both sides were wise enough to be prepared for it.
Tajjus’s head had remained locked in its forward position. Until he heard a deep growl behind him. Tajjus would mentally prepare himself for very quick movement on a milli-seconds notice, a knife slipping it’s way from his gauntlet into his hand ever so subtly.
“I lost my place a while ago, similar to the person I am looking for. It is not a question of where my place is, it is a question of who is the beast in this scenario; an elf with horns, or the creature who growls behind me.” Tajjus answered with a small coldness added into his voice. The knife in his servo was coated with a poison that was capable of knocking dizzying its victims. Lethally poisoned weaponry had yet to be equipped. He had been holding still, and was a fast thinker on his feet. Already, if a fight were to occur, Tajjus had one advantage: this elf was providing him plenty of time to think and notice things.

“I am a seeker as of now though. I do not leave until I know what I look for is not here.” His quiet voice would hold no mockery or resentment, yet, some how it challenged those who kept their weapons trained on him, though some might receive these words as a warning as well.

"Fixation is what drives men into the mind of greed. Wouldn't that be you if you are the one hunting me?", Maleficent asked him before she heard a small creak behind her. Looking behind at the corner of her eye, she saw what she didn't think she would see. They were here...with her. Gandalf was right when he said so. Her guardian instincts were kicking in, now that protection was needed of her at the moment. Putting her eyes back on the figure, she relaxed her stature by the arm. "Leave us", she told him once more. "The beast that you look for, is neither in your sight. Try Dunland, I saw it there", she added with a calm tone in her voice without letting her weapon give up its place.

Tajjus exhaled a light huff, though it would be left unclear if it was one of frustration or dissatisfaction. The she-elf was not going to fight, she was making it rather clear.
“Is that not, again, assuming I am driven entirely by greed, rather than elements of determination or necessity?” Tajjus returned to her without further a due. Then there was something. An admittance. She was saying he was hunting her, when he hadn’t officially confirmed it. It was something that told him there was a chance that either she was admitting he was hunting her. Meaning that she had a chance of knowing that she was his target after all. Or, she was wrapping up some of her own quip. The latter seemed less likely, given his circumstances. The woman would go on to look at the two shadowed figures. There was a muttering of how she wanted him to leave, and where to look. Tajjus counted her advice null-void, but would back off nonetheless. He would depart, turning around, wordlessly leaving this she-elf to her doings.

This conversation hadn’t been only to exchange philosophies or warnings…but as Tajjus had originally set as his objective, he was the calm before the storm. He would seem to dissipate into the forest without effort, as he distanced himself from the house, returning up the mountain. But he would not leave, rather he would turn around, and watch. The Orc army who had been chasing someone or the other was on the move. Tajjus caught a glimpse of moving shadows, slowly coming in the direction of the house. Whether they had followed him or not, they were locking onto the house. Slowly spreading out, planting their archers strategically, no doubt. And so, now that the wind had whistled against this house, and left, they would be subject to enduring the full might of the coming Orcs. Why he stood and watched? He still had questions to be answered.

The orc army was specifically out of ear shot, and some distance, but definitely gradually closing in from the latter end of the house, forming a growing semi-circle as they went.
-

Kili would move from the shadows, though not entirely from his overall advantage point. This woman, this man, this creature were all still possible enemies. Until the strange man left after the elf muttered to him, and she seemed to ease herself. Kili still had his bow ready, though it wasn’t aimed specifically for anyone.
“Alright then. Who are you?” Kili interrupted the looming quietness, by jutting a question out at the tall, elegant being.

Maleficent watched the figure leave from the window with a relieving sigh before swiftly sheathing her dagger back into place at the back of her waist. She didn't face the two dwarves behind, and the last thing she wanted was to show them fear. She did communicate with them through gifts and letters, and she did visit them at night while they slept in their beds in the Blue Mountains. But to turn and face them, she was worried.

"Once you learn about my name, believe it", she answered in a soft voice as her eyes luminesced in the moonlight a little bit when slightly moved her to the side to gaze at the young dwarf. "Do you remember when you first found that bow?", she asked without moving. "In the woods? At a stream? Once you found it, you thanked me, although you couldn't see me", she finally turned to gaze at him. "It was your birthday"

Kili’s gaze seemed to intensify as he heard the elf’s soft voice speak to him and his brother. His grip on his bow would loosen without him knowing. What was being said here…Kili would pause for a few moments, blinking twice, hardly believing his eyes. He was looking at his old care taker. The memories of the letters flashed through his brain.

“D-Delva?”

Kili took a few steps forward, before looking to his brother. He would nod a quiet ‘you win’ to his brother. Fili had, afterall, claimed that she had truly exhisted. Kili had figured someone was doing something with all the letters, and he had agreed to name his invisible guardian ‘Delva’ but it had been Fili who had been believing their guardian existed in the first place. Over the years, Kili’s doubt had gradually increased. It was a bit humbling to see the person he thought hadn’t really been around right in front of his face. For one of the few times in his life, Kili was speechless.

The she-elf blinked once when she saw him approach her a little, but they were only just a few feet apart. She didn't move, so she let Kili come to her, like a child approaching a wonderous thing. She felt light and hope when he didn't cower, and she kneeled herself down gracefully on her knees to reach his dwarven height.

"Yes, Kili. I'm your Delva", Maleficent confirmed with a reassuring smile like a mother thrilled see her child, and her smile turned sad. Tears of joy threatened to spill over from her eyes and she let Kili approach her. Fili watched on as he gave his brother an approving nod.

Kili was still astonished to see his god mother before him. So this was what Delva had really looked like? He would look into the elves eyes, and see the pure joy within. She had missed him. His eyes had a small split-second interest in his boots as he realized he had missed her some. She symbolized his younger child hood days, when things were much, much more simple. Now here she was. But what had brought her here? More than a hanful of questions boiled in Kili’s mind. He at last collected himself to face Delva again.
“What is your real name? We called you Delva, but who were you really, since you exist after all.” Kili said with some uncertainty. He didn’t know how to act as of now. He wasn’t embarrassed, or full of hatred to see her, but it was just an indescribable odd experience for him. He was frankly surprised his brother didn’t have much input other than a nod.
The dwarf had grown, and just like a man who saw an old play thing, or maybe was sifting through childhood memories, Kili was slow to express himself in the face of nostalgia.

Maleficent looked at her dwarven godson with such reassurance, she didn't move from her spot when she heard him speak to her. She gave a chuckling smile as the she-elf looked to the floor for a moment, looking like she was giving herself a moment of thought. "Saeril", she finally spoke to answer his question while looking back to him. "My name is Saeril", she said it again. "I have come out of the shadows to see you. In person. Since you've grown", the she-elf stood back up to her full height before turning to face him fully.

Kili tilted his head to the side at the name, as he nodded. It was a beautiful name. His eyes would follow her as she backed away and stood to full height.
“You spend a lot of your time in those, don’t you Saeril?” Kili asked, after she told him where she’d come out of. “You’re moving like you’re already going to leave. If you’re really Delva, then I trust you. I could get the other dwarves to trust you as well. There is room for you on our quest.” Kili said, his thoughts seemed to be fractured some. “Or even if you’re not leaving, you could help us.” Kili went on. To have an old family-like member leave the same day she came would definitely be something he would frown upon…though meeting her, for the first time was an experience he already had deemed to be amazing.

--
Tajjus watched from afar, still from his perch in the shadows. He had not moved, not shifted focus off of the arriving Orc army, nor the house with the she-efl in it. He watched, seeing the small bits and pieces of what they were doing through the window in the side of the house. From his vantage point, the window was a much smaller thing to look through, but he peered past it nonetheless, watching and waiting.

He never got the conversation, not the voices, but the gestures and faces he could make out somewhat. He would now see that how peculiar his target was: an elf liking a dwarf. Most often, he noticed those species didn’t co-exist well. So she has a heart. Tajjus mused. He would take a glimpse at the advancing Orc forces. They were a numerous force, and if something was not said or done soon, these Orcs would surely ravage the house. They were gaining, planting more archers, and their inhumanly giant wolves were joining in the joining in on the progressive stalk. More and more Orc archers were surrounding the perimeter of the house. They were all just meters away from the house, within all the forest growth, hiding, assembling, and awaiting the command from their leader.

Tajjus would sit, his bowstring idle, as he decided what to do. Anyone who exited the hous would be walking into a death trap. He was outside, and behind and above their lines. Tajjus gave a muffled grunt to himself. His conscience was tugging at him, but he had his own job.

Maleficent didn't move any further as she was about to move away into her domain of shadows, but she absolutely regretted doing so when he asked her. "Yes", she admitted with honestly as she looked at him with slight guilt upon her elvish facial features. When he began to tell her that she have a spot in their quest, she looked at the floor to her left, as if she was having a moment of thought. Gandalf would be dissapointed if she didn't, and her role as a guardian would be twice unfolded. Leaving him and his brother alone with no extra shield would plague Saeril if she failed her task. She would consider it for this quest if they needed her badly. She exhaled before looking back at Kili. "I will join you on this task. Never again will you be alone", the she-elf finally spoke as she stepped out of the darkness to approach them.

Kili smiled at the good news, and how his old guardian was making up her mind to stay with. She sounded slightly uncertain as well as duty-bound, though Kili believed she would be a great addition to the twelve homeless dwarves. Thorin would most likely be reluctant to have yet another non-dwarf aboard his mission, but, in time, he would see what she was worth.
“I’m very glad to hear that.” Kili would begin, before he would hear an all-too familiar whistle, then a small ‘thok’ sound. An arrow had landed right inside the house, it’s opposite end pointing towards the open window which the stranger had peeked out of moments before. Kili would widen his brow.
“Fili, quietly wake the others.” Kili would say, as he himself would turn to do so. Then a small grumble could be heard outside—before countless more arrow-sounds against the house could be heard. Only these arrows were fire-tipped.
“Wake them now!”

-

Tajjus lowered his bow. He’d just forced the hand of the orcs. He had sent an arrow of his own directly into the window, close to the two individuals; the elf and the dwarf. His warning shot was something to get them alert. Now the Orcs were beginning to set fire to the house, but soon, the others would be awake. Tajjus was providing them all a small chance, though he counted it as almost null void anyways. The sheer number of the Orcs was going to be these dwarves downfall.

He still had his target…and his life depended on it. If Tajjus didn’t turn the elf in the orcs would hunt him ruthlessly to the end of his days. Tajjus knew they were strong, and though he was no coward, he was in little mood to have his days numbered. So he loaded a poison arrow that was capable of drugging the victim into a temporary daze, which would evolve into a sleep within the span of ten seconds. He would keep his sights on the elf~

Kili smiled at the good news, and how his old guardian was making up her mind to stay with. She sounded slightly uncertain as well as duty-bound, though Kili believed she would be a great addition to the twelve homeless dwarves. Thorin would most likely be reluctant to have yet another non-dwarf aboard his mission, but, in time, he would see what she was worth.
“I’m very glad to hear that.” Kili said. “there should be plenty of room in here for you to bunk down for the night. We’re moving on through the Mirkwood forest tomorrow, maybe you know of that place a bit better than we do and could help us navigate?”

-

Tajjus lowered his bow. He still had his target, but tonight, much like the orcs, he would recline. He was not yet about to attack, for the creature who’d growled behind him may be of some threat. He would nonetheless have appreciated to see this creature, to see what he would be up against. He would thus quietly start to identify the trees of the area, and gradually, he would slit into each one’s bark, identifying what tree smelled like what, and which was more distinguished, as well as testing what other kinds of tree sap mixed with others, testing the pungency. His task was a tedious one, but Tajjus was making the most of his time without being seen. As far as others were concerned, he was but a shadow, moving through the trees as a fish swims through water.

Later that night, Maleficent laid on her side on top of a patch of hay while her godsons were not that far away; Fili had his back turned towards the she-elf, and Kili was snuggled in next to her.

Outside, the skinchanger, Beorn, was in his bear form as he roamed outside the house while scouting his territory. Eventually, he changes back to his strong manly form before beginning to go back to the house and nobody notices him entering, except for Bilbo.