It is fascinating, something I can stare at for hours. White on a black background, slowly drifting down. Ine has explained what it is to me. Something about cold water and some other things. It is cold, that's true, and slippery when it's on the ground. It also gets dirty quite fast and doesn't taste like anything. Ine told me 'don't eat the yellow snow', but you'd have to be some kind of moron to do that.

I'm at some other building in the town. Ara is visiting here. I've identified some of her classmates, though a number of the people in the 'house' are unknown to me. Ine is hanging back while Ara is doing her socializing thing and I get to look at the falling snow. I have to share the window with some familiars, which isn't to my taste, but I've learned to tolerate others. Up to a point. They still give me more space and rightly so. Not all the familiars are interested in watching the snow and others are reluctant to come too close to me. The humans seem quite comfortable with me now, but their familiars have more sense.

Ara and her group are talking about familiars, of course, I wouldn't have to be here otherwise. Now and then one of the familiars is called on to do something or show something. It seems to be a social thing in which the status of the mage is connected to the familiar and the status of the familiar connected to the mage. The most amusing thing is the number of people trying to find something to compliment me on, despite the fact that Ara has made me fail most of the tests and hasn't tasked me to do anything except 'don't break anything'. I guess that is yet another thing that shows how highly placed she is.

From what I can sense of Ara, she is desperately bored and the same time she is amused. Most notably, a lot of her anger has simmered down to a level that makes me unaware of it until I focus on the sensation. That's happened over quite some time and I'm curious what caused it. When I send her a mental poke to ask why she is bored and amused at the same time, she sends me a mental image back of a group of chickens pecking one another and making a lot of noise. The noise is annoying, but watching them squabble is funny. I can see how it applies to her current company.

At a small prompt from her, I stretch. Sheathed claws won't leave a mark, but their noise does draw the attention. I now have their attention for my full glory. I've grown again. Not as dramatic as in the first few months, but I do reach above the knee for most people. My length is somewhere between a meter and a meter and a half, not counting my tail. My tail is at least as long as my body now. Ara tried to get me to use it like a scorpion, stinging forward, but I do not have the musculature for that. Not yet at least. My muzzle has lengthened, giving me a more powerful bite. It's the finisher I've been missing for when I latch on to something with my claws. Other than that my head remains recognizably the one of a swarmling. My coloration has remained mostly the same too, as I can see reflected in the window. Black with dark red lengthwise stripes on the back flowing smoothly to a reddish grey on the flank over to dark red with black stripes on my belly. The same reddish grey colors my limbs. The only blemish is the collar. It's actually been made bigger after a man attacked me. He was shouting that I'm a demon, which is true, but shouldn't be a reason to try and kill me. His excuse was that he hadn't seen the house colors on me, so some extra material was added to the collar to make it more obvious.

The most drastic change is in how wide I've become with a broad chest and muscles coating them. It's because of the spikes on my back, though calling them spikes now is an understatement. They can't be missed anymore when folded along my flanks. They make a raised zig-zag of grey-black going back and forth three times. It follows more or less the same pattern as my other limbs with joints at the shoulder, elbow or ankle as Ara calls it, a wrist and what would probably be the 'fingers' or claws. If I stretch them out to the sides I'd estimate either to be three meters in length. Wide enough to become wings? I'll have to see. Ara at least has been drilling me mercilessly any time she summoned me to be able to use them to fight. With a much better result than my own efforts too. I think it's the effect of being summoned. What I do or try to do keeps playing in my thoughts when I return and affects my shape.

It's probably on purpose. Not for the first time I consider asking Ara what she knows about training familiars. Her people have been doing it for ages and the things they may have learned, coupled with what I've learned of my own, could provide me new insights. There has never been a chance to ask lately, with Ara always in a hurry to the next meeting with people or eager to train. Training with Ara. I have only fought humans in other summons and never one on one, so I can't say for sure, but I think she is quite capable. I can't win against her, but at least I'm not being toyed with and she now needs to use her magic to keep up with me. She's shown more of her tricks too, sometimes just so I'd know what to look out for.

I'm still not entirely sold on the whole protecting her thing, but if I am to be guaranteed to see snow again I'll have to keep her alive. Not that I've had to do anything in that direction. If her life truly was in danger before, then her tactic to make herself less of a target is working. She does always let me know if I can relax when we're visiting a place or if I should remain alert. The conversation turns to admiring my muscled shape. I can tell they're not sincere. Even though it's the truth none of them believe I'm of any use.

The most amazing thing is that after the first few testing days, I've only heard Ara passionately deny that I'm useless and tell them about my qualities. It is interesting to see how it only makes them more convinced that their negative view about me is true. The more passionate Ara gets, the more convinced people become of the opposite. Truly, following her around has taught me so much about how people work.

The time to leave arrives suddenly, to me at least. I was so engrossed with watching the falling snow that I completely lost track of the time. A mental poke from Ara breaks me out of my fascination. Ine and Ara are ready to go, all I have to do is fall in beside and slightly behind Ara. As much as people don't believe my strength, everyone honestly compliments Ara on how well I'm trained. I'd be flattered if it was about the battle training she puts me through.

Outside a sled is waiting. With this much snow a carriage doesn't work well, or so I'm told, so they have special snow carriages called sleds. This one has an open top, unlike the carriages. While it lets the snow in, it is less weight, which is important with sleds? I'm not sure how it works and I have seen sleds with covers too. It's not interesting enough to ask questions about. At the front of the sled are two lanterns to light the way and at the back is a small one so people can see us from behind. Other than that, the streets are mostly dark. Some buildings have small lights outside. Those are places where you can eat or drink. Ara and Ine take their seats while I jump up on the slightly raised back of the sled. It gives me an excellent view. With the whirling snow and the darkness, my eyesight is the most reliable. Hanging on to the rear is one of the house guards, though I question how much use he is there.

Ara still insists someone may try to kill her, so I'm the look-out. Since she can sense when I'm distracted I have no choice but to pay attention. Thanks to this I see the men in time. There are two of them, standing on a small wall or something further down the street. They have crossbows and just start to take aim when I spot them. It takes me a fraction of a second to respond. Ara trained me on this too. A special mental poke startles her out of the soft conversation she has with Ine. It takes her another moment to realize the situation, then a shimmering dome spreads around her and Ine.

The first crossbow bolt impacts and shatters the barrier. The second flies true and hits Ara and I can feel the pain and her shock through our connection. I don't wait for any commands and rush the two men. They're not waiting around and have already jumped off behind the little structure they were standing up. With one powerful jump I follow them. I land in a sort of garden. Ine has shown me some of these. Regulated spaces with some trees, bushes and walking paths. Their scent is fresh and easy to follow, but I already can't see or hear them. I want to chase them, but it will have to wait

The scrambled thing in my mind that is Ara demands my attention first. She's badly hurt. I turn around and jump, clearing the little structure again and landing on the street behind. The sled is gone already. The scent of blood is easy enough to follow. Besides, where else would they go but home? Sometime later I arrive at the mansion to find my guess true. The sled is gone already, brought around the back, but a small trail of blood leads inside. The door is closed. With practiced ease, I estimate the height of the nearest window. A short run-up and jump later I am clinging to the wall near the window. It's a matter of a few seconds to claw a hole in the window big enough to let me through. Once inside I belatedly realize I could have made a noise on the door and someone would probably have let me in.

The door to the room flies open as two of the guards burst into the room, weapons at the ready. My entrance must have made some noise. They relax only slightly when they see me. I saunter past them, daring them to attack me, but they back down. In the house proper I just have to follow my nose. Ara is laid on a couch with Ine and another woman fussing over her. A man I recognize but don't know the name of, steps up.

"I've sent for a healer, but with this weather it may take a while. How are you faring at keeping her with us? Will she last that long?"

As I move closer I see the bloody bolt on the floor nearby. Ine is pressing a bandage on Ara's side. If I have to guess the angle, her lung was hit. Not a problem for me, but humans are much more fragile. Ine turns to answer the man and sees me but barely acknowledges me.

"She's holding on. It would be best if we could rouse her enough to do the healing on her own, she is a mage, but," and she lets the rest of the sentence trail away with a vague wave of her hand.

I understand what she means. Ara's mind is in shock. Fear, pain and denial are chasing one another in a circle. If I didn't know different, I'd call her a little girl. If she would rouse enough to respond in this state, I doubt she's be of any use. I hiss a laugh. I know how to bring her back. One by one I recall the insults and humiliations she has made me go through. It's one thing to tell myself I shouldn't care, but it's quite something different to not feel anything. The way I am ignored. Stepped on in a crowd. Someone even almost sat on me! Forced to concede a match against a weaker opponent. A failure in the eyes of not just others, but in mine as well. All that anger I push at Ara and I feel hers flare up in response.

She abruptly turns her head and her eyes focus on me, a wild look in them. She sucks in a deep breath, opens her mouth to speak or possibly shout, and launches into a coughing fit. Blood leaks from her mouth. Ine and the other woman almost panic.

"Ara! Ara, calm down! You have to lay back, you're seriously injured!" Ine shouts. "Garron! Get that demon out of here, I'm sure this is his doing!"

I hiss a laugh. Silly human. I easily dodge the clumsy footman trying to chase me away. I allow him to herd me to a corner of the room, but when he dares to approach closer I flex my claws at him. He isn't stupid and accepts the stalemate.

Already I can feel Ara regaining control of the anger coursing through her. It's what she's done from the moment we first met. Ara always kept such a tight rein on her anger and it was such a beauty to behold when she let it surface. Scary too. She knows how to handle her anger more than anything else. Fully aware now she applies her magic on herself with the help of Ine. I can tell she's not completely effective, but her life is out of danger. For now.