Well, yes, but because you represent an avenue by which we were previously vulnerable and didn't know it, not because they're afraid you'll be seduced by the Enemy and try to destroy us. If they feared that they'd just have killed you.

But birds in particular aren't the only animal I could have turned into. I wanted a swift for specific reasons; if I'd wanted a combat form I'd have been a wyvern or a landwurm or something, if I wanted a stealth form I'd probably be an insect....

We already have defenses against large animals, and it'd take an insect a long time to reach Menegroth from the border, and it'd be easy for them to get lost.

...and when what I want is to get anywhere as quickly as possible I learn to teleport, but perhaps the Enemy genuinely can't do that.

Doriath is protected against materialization, so Maiar can't come in and then take a shape.

I'll want to test that against my teleportation, once I have it, assuming it is not particularly dangerously protected. Gates? Gates!

She's standing outside them, dancing and carpeting the ground in flowers. She stops and waves.

"Hi!"

"You're here!" She races over for a hug. "Everyone's well! Welcome!"

Hug! "Thank you. Where do I put these lobsters?"

"Oooooh! We'll make them up for dinner." She hands them to someone. "Shall we go straight to Mother?"

"First I want to run by you what the newcomers had to say about the fealty... thing." She pulls transcripts; this is not a literate country either, so she osanwës the contents for discretion.

She frowns. "It might be better to phrase it a little less transactionally, but I expect Father'd appreciate their gifts. And it makes sense that they're Finwë's people and will still see themselves as such."

"Can you suggest a phrasing? You know the audience and the art better than I do."

"Finwë is the only King of our people, and he remains our King even as we join your kingdom, but it'd be our great honor to demonstrate our commitment to serving your people with the gifts of ours, or something like that."

"...This may need to go for another round of double-checking but at least nobody involved is very impatient." She writes down the suggestion and tucks it away.

"Not at all. My mother was confused you'd been away."

"I may be able to linger in one place for longer periods in a few weeks or months - Círdan doesn't mind the converted orcs settling near him and another project I was making regular visits for may wrap up soon. It'll help if I get to the point where I can hear the newcomers I've been talking to from here; they're the ones who've been receiving the most regular attention and this is a fairly central and comfortable location. Which is kind of awkward to approach and therefore most efficiently enjoyed at long stretches."

"We'd love to have you all of the time!"

"Well, all of the time is a stretch. I do like flying, or I wouldn't have spent decades learning to turn into a bird and then fallen in a feathery heap on the ground a few hundred times learning to do it. But more of the time, that seems likely."

"Nonetheless. Maybe after they've known you a few centuries my parents will relent on the flying." They enter the throne room. "Queen Mother, Loki's here to see you!"

"Good morning," Loki says to Melian.

"Good morning, child. Lúthien says you've set yourself every task within your power, and a few besides. Are you well?"

"Very. I've been to Brithombar and found it as described, and made some little progress in my spell. Although before getting deeply technical I wanted to ask what you can tell me about the spiders in the neighboring forest? I haven't seen any, since I fly here, but they sound concerning."

"They are persistent, and numerous, but seem to lack their mother's powers, or at least any light that would let them grow as large as she is. The area is best avoided; we lack the strength to clear it without casualties, and if we missed even a few I think they'd all come back in a few years."