I'm undecided about just what Sariel's daemon would be. She did get turned into a tropical bird during the critterplot, but it was never specified just which bird she was. Bad Chanter! Plus the whole pilot thing... but is that too cliche? Part of me also says cat, though whether that's a domestic breed or a smaller wild variety, I'm not sure. I know in HDM dogs are the stereotypical form for loyal folks, but that doesn't really work for her. I wrote a ficlet about this at one point, and named Sariel's daemon Alexandre in it, but that's not a complete certainty. Darn close to one, though, which I didn't realize until now. Also, even though she's Millicanonically homosexual, her daemon is male.

As for the shapeshifty thing... again, part of me says bird, though not a bird of prey, and part of me says some variety of cat. Could this be where the wildcat aspect comes in? Hmm.