[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason was ready to get to work around the farm. He had 39 starting actions]

[Tess’s Almanac: 7th day of Winter! 84 days until the Winter Festival. The snow’s finally stopped, but it’s still going to be awhile before travel gets easier. We won’t see temperatures above freezing for a few more days, though once that happens, expect snowball fights and an influx of snowmen foreigners]

Jason rolled out of bed, hearing the same telltale whimper that he was already growing used to. He quickly dressed, then bolted down the stairs to the kitchen. Chance was already standing and looking up at Jason with his big, brown eyes, and Jason flashed a small smile. He once again led Chance out onto the front porch, waited while the dog relieved himself, and then trotted back inside. Jason pulled the door shut behind the dog, then made his way back to the kitchen where he made them a small breakfast.

“Alright, Chance.” He looked down at the hound. “Let’s think about this for a minute. I don’t suppose you’re ready for a trip into town?”

Wag, wag!

“Hmm.” Jason stroked his chin. “After I say that, though… There’s no way I can take out the carriage in this weather. The snow’s still too deep. Angus might be able to do it, and I’m sure that Daniel’s horse could manage it, but Lady’s not going to be able to pull the carriage through snow this deep, and I’m not going to try to balance you on the back of a horse. You know?”

Whimper.

“I’ll try to bring someone back with me, though.” Jason flashed a small smile. “Theresa can look you over and make sure you’re healthy, or at least figure out how to get you healthy again, and I’m sure that Tess will want to come out for a visit.”

Wag!

Jason chuckled and patted Chance’s head. “You just stay here. Lay down by the fire, and I’ll try to be back to lunchtime. Deal?”

Wag, wag.

I’ll take that as a yes.” Jason nodded firmly, then finished up his breakfast. He cleaned the dishes, then went back upstairs and changed into a warm, insulated tunic. Over top of that, he threw a thick cloak, then made his way downstairs and out into the frigid weather. He locked everything up tightly, then stomped through the snow to Lady’s stable.

Overnight, the snow had drifted in so deeply that the door was hard to get open, but he managed it after a few minutes of digging. Lady nickered happily to see him, and he quickly poured her some oats and fluffed her hay.

“Hey, there.” He whispered softly, patting her neck. “You want to go into town today?”

Lady just snorted and shook her head. Jason flashed a smile and rubbed the bottom of her chin. “Well, I’m just going to assume that that meant yes, since you’re such a good horse.” He pulled a sugar cube out of his inventory, which Lady happily ate, and then he sighed. “I’m becoming one of those crazy people who talk to their animals. Probably a good thing my family isn’t around right at this moment.”

Lady gave no answer. A few minutes later, she finished eating, and Jason mounted up in her saddle. They struck out as quickly as possible, tramping through the thickly-fallen snow. By now, it was so deep that even Lady had problems in some parts, particularly at the bottom of hills where the snow had really had the chance to pile ip. Overall, though, she pushed on just fine, and soon came to the town square.

Here, a few of the men of the town were forging their way back and forth, clearing off the cobblestone for travelers and such. The women of the town seemed to be trying to get water out of the well, though the rope to raise the bucket had frozen into a long strand of ice. Jason waved at a few people he recognized, then paused. He had a handful of places he needed to visit, but decided to head over to the Guild Hall first.

When he poked his head through the door, Tess’s face lit up like a beacon.

“Jason!” She rose from her desk and raced up to him, giving him a quick kiss. “What brings you here?”

He smiled, relishing the warm glow of her office. The far wall of the room shared a wall with the backside of the enormous hearth of the Guild Hall, which, while making the room rather sweltering in the middle of summer, was quite pleasant in winter.

“I just came into town for some supplies.” He shrugged. “And to check with Theresa about some medical care.”

Tess’s eyes immediately snapped open wide. “Are you okay? What’s wrong? Did you fall off the roof?”

“I’m fine!” Jason flashed a reassuring smile. “No, I didn’t… Why would you assume I fell off the roof? When have I ever climbed on the roof? In the three years I’ve been in Summer Shandy now, I have never once climbed on the roof of my house, or any roof, really. I wouldn’t do it right after a storm when there’s ice covering everything!”

Tess shrugged. “I dunno. Jeremiah was in town last night and mentioned that you’d been over to his place, and the two of you can get a little… Ahh… Wild? When you’re around one another. You might have had a race to the top of the chimney or something, I don’t know.”

Jason mock-scowled. “Well, now I know how much confidence you have in me.” After a moment, he flashed a smile at her. “Anyway, no, it’s not for me. I assume Jeremiah didn’t mention why I came by?”

Tess shook her head. “No.”

“Well, then…” Jason bit his lip. “I found a dog the other day.”

“You found a dog?” Tess squealed, her face lighting up. “Are you keeping it?”

“I’m going to put up some posters just to make sure that no one steps forward to claim it, but… That’s my plan.” Jason flashed a crooked smile.

Tess squealed again and began to dance in a circle, then beamed up at him. “Can we go see it?”

“I need to buy some food for it first.” Jason shrugged. “Then yeah, I’d love to have you out.”

“You go buy food, let me finish up some of this paperwork.” Tess glanced back at her desk. “It’s nothing terribly important, but we just got a few underage adventurers come through last night, so I have to process some of their waivers and such before they can enter the dungeon.”

“I’ll catch you on the flip side.” Jason gave a small wave, then left the office and made his way across the town square. He pushed through the door into Paulina’s store, where a small bell jingled throughout the building. Paulina looked up from the counter and flashed a smile at him.

“Hey, Jason! Jeremiah told me you might be coming by today.”

“Jeremiah sure likes poking his nose in everyone’s business.” Jason muttered.

“Not as bad as Constable Hank.”

“That’s a very fair point.” Jason chuckled as he walked up to the counter. The store was largely abandoned, but on such a cold day, he could hardly blame people for staying away and at home. “I actually have two things I need to bounce off you. First, I need some dog food. Second, I need to put up some posters for a lost dog.”

Paulina’s face lit up just like Tess’s had done. “Ooh! Is it cute?”

“Pretty cute, yeah.” Jason chuckled softly. “You know, if I had known how much attention all this got me, I would have tried to find a stray dog three years ago when I first came here. Would have made trying to get a date a lot easier.”

“Now that, I really can’t argue with you about.” Paulina laughed, then pulled out a catalogue and started flipping through it. “Let’s see… What kind of dog is it?”

“Hound of some sort.” Jason did his best to describe the creature. When he finished, Paulina nodded and flipped around the large tome of paper.

“I’d suggest one of these mixes, which are designed for mid-sized dogs.” She paused for a moment as Jason read the descriptions of the different mixes, then put a hand next to her mouth and lowered her voice as if conveying a secret. “Each mix sounds like it does something revolutionary, but they’re all like ninety percent identical.”

Jason nodded, the pointed at the bottom entry. “This one. For the active farm hound.”

“And what’s his name?”

“Chance.”

“Yeah, you’re going to be devastated if anyone turns up.” Paulina made a few marks on the catalogue and tore off an order form. “I don’t have any of this in stock, since no one in Summer Shandy owns a dog, but I’ll have it shipped to your farm as soon as it arrives. Should come by tomorrow, I’d guess. I’ll also get those posters put up, like you asked. I have a few contacts with some other shopkeepers, I can check if anyone else has been purchasing one of these mixes, it might give us an indication of who may have lost it.”

“Much appreciated.” Jason inclined his head.

That done, he marched again out into the cold and forced his way over to Theresa’s healing den. When he knocked, a cheery “Come in!” echoed through the air, and he forced his way into the warm interior.

Theresa sat next to a cauldron, which she was stirring as she added ingredients. The smell was vile, and Jason nearly gagged, but Theresa seemed hardly to notice it.

“What can I do for you?” She looked up at him with a smile.

“You mean Jeremiah didn’t already show up and tell you I’d be along?” Jason raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, he did, but he didn’t say why.”

Jason scowled. “I’m going to go steal one of his cannons and set it off outside his house at midnight.”

“He’d just think it was funny.” Theresa snorted. “Now, what’s up?”

For the third time that morning, Jason explained about the dog. When he finished, Theresa nodded slowly.

“I’ve seen similar sores like that on other strays. Most likely, it’s nothing serious and they’ll clear up on their own, but it’s always possible that they’ve gotten infected on his journey. Wait a week, then come back to me if they’re still there. Until that time, there’s really nothing I can do.” Theresa apologized. “Road sores are just like scrapes or cuts, at least in principle. It sounds like you’re already taking good care of him, and since I can’t really leave my current patients for anything less than an emergency, I think that’s your best course of action.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep an eye on it.” Jason flashed a smile, then left again out into the frigid town square.

As he walked back out into the thick snow, he found a small posse that had formed to accompany him back to his home. Tess sat high on Angus, Daniel sat on his own steed just next to her, and Viola sat on a far smaller mare just to the side. Jason raised an eyebrow as he climbed up onto Lady and they set off back for his farm.

“I knew Chance was making me more popular. I didn’t realize I would get this much attention.”

“I… Need to get out of the inn for awhile.” Viola muttered. “I have a few guests, whose names I won’t mention, that I’m considering kicking out into the snow.”

“If they’re who I think they are, I’ll beg you not to, but only because I don’t want them coming to try to live with me.” Jason laughed slightly. “My apologies.”

“None necessary.” Viola sighed, then glanced at Daniel. “Now him, I’m not sure why he’s along.”

Daniel shrugged his enormous shoulders. “Tess is always really cute to watch when she’s oohing and awing over animals. I personally don’t really see the draw to it, dogs don’t even taste good, but-”

“And how would you know what dogs taste like?” Viola’s head snapped around.

“He’s never eaten real dogs.” Tess held up a hand, cutting off whatever Daniel had been about to say. “The guilds sometimes have dares and challenges to eat monsters, and dire wolves are a common choice.”

Daniel merely nodded, and Jason chuckled softly. The small group of horses plodded through the snow, largely using the same tracks that Jason had made earlier that day. Soon enough, they came riding up to the farm, and all of them hitched up their horses outside the house. Jason made a mental note to install a larger hitching rail once spring came, and the four of them made their way inside.

Chance was already standing by the door, albeit with more than a bit of a wobble in his walk. He looked up and panted at the newcomers, and Tess and Viola both knelt down and began to pet the small creature. Daniel laughed and patted Tess on the head, then strode over to a nearby chair.

“She’s so adorable, isn’t she?” Daniel chuckled, then started to lower himself.

“Inertia.” Jason held up a finger.

“Oh. Right.” Daniel paused for a moment, then nodded. “Done. Your chair should be safe!”

Jason was unsurprised when the chair was subsequently crushed into splinters, and he sighed, making another mental note to build a chair out of solid concrete that could support Daniel’s weight. Tess and Viola continued to pet the creature, and Jason slowly walked over to sit down next to Daniel as the great warrior took his seat on the floor.

“Did you guys ever have any pets growing up?” Jason glanced at Daniel.

“Nah.” Daniel shook his head. “Tess tried to keep a few monsters from time to time, but they’d always get bigger and try to eat us… You remember the story about the dragon egg, right? Yeah, she tried that a few other times, too. Kept thinking that she could tame the instincts of a wild beast. To that, I say ha! As a bit of a wild beast myself, there’s no taming these killer instincts.” He put on a face that Jason supposed was meant to imply power, but he rather thought it made Daniel look as though he had a terrible itch that he couldn’t reach.

“What all did she try to keep?” Jason crossed his arms after awhile. “Did you have to kill any of the others?”

“Almost all of them!” Daniel chuckled. “Oh, I remember this one time…” He doubled over laughing, then straightened up, and then started laughing again.

“Don’t tell this story, please.” Tess glanced at him, though she had a smile on her face.

“Why not?” Daniel howled with laughter. “It’s a good one!”

“That may be, but…” She groaned. “I like Jason thinking of me as a warrior.”

Daniel laughed again, then glanced at Jason. “So anyway, one day, Tess is out in the woods tracking something, I think it was a rabid squirrel, and she came across…” He started laughing again. “She came across a baby phoenix!”

Jason nodded slowly, not really understanding what was so funny.

“Well, she brings this phoenix back home, and starts taking care of it in secret. Both my mother and I knew she had it, phoenixes make a terrible racket when they’re hungry, but Tess thought she was being stealthy and since they’re not horribly dangerous, we decided to let her. After about a month, it gets old and dies, and… Well… You know what happens when phoenixes die, of course.”

Jason gave a small shake of his head.

“Oh! That’s right, you’re a farmer. I suppose it shouldn’t shock me, but sometimes I still get struck by the things you don’t know.” Daniel chuckled softly and crossed his arms. “Well, phoenixes have a lifespan of about a month. When they get old, they turn a deep, dark red, then black, and then they explode! It caught the house on fire and burned down half the nearby forest. Everyone came after us with pitchforks, of course, since they already thought we were a little off our rockers, and but Tess just came out to face them all with a little phoenix chick that had emerged from the ashes.”

Jason chuckled slightly at the image of a young Tess facing down a bunch of angry villagers with nothing but a phoenix chick. “What happened then?”

Daniel started laughing even harder. “Well… You see… They didn’t know what a phoenix was either, so they thought she was threatening them with a bomb of some sort! It scared them all into a retreat, though they did present us with a formal request to leave town. We did, of course, but Tess left an impression on them.”

“And yes, that’s the story of how I scared an entire town speechless with nothing more than a little bird.” Tess rolled her eyes, though she was laughing, too. By now, Jason was beginning to suspect that he just didn’t get the humor of warriors.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” Jason rose from his chair and started walking toward the kitchen. “Anyone else want some food?”

“Me!” Daniel lept to his feet, shaking the house with the impact of his boots. “I mean… If you’re offering. That’s manners, right? Do you have anything that would suit a hungry warrior’s stomach? I like things a bit stronger than most farmers, I suspect. My stomach likes to slay the same monsters that I do, you know?”

“Well, I’ve got plenty of crabgrass meat.” Jason shrugged as he walked into the kitchen. “I personally can’t stand the stuff, but… Maybe my stomach is just too weak.”

“Then I shall take that as a challenge! Bring forth the crabgrass meat, and I will show you the stomach of a warrior!”

Jason rolled his eyes as he entered the kitchen. Tess and Viola were still petting Chance, and he suspected that they would be doing so for quite some time. It was… It was nice to have another creature sharing the house with him. Not quite the same as it would be with Tess, of course, but… It was nice.

And it made him long for when the house would become even more full.