If wherever Sam was leading me to had require me to take the stairs, I do not know if I could have done it.

Thankfully, the big blue cat took me to a set of small double doors in the hall that the bottom entrance to the ballroom stood at the end of.

The doors to the place where I had become a new moon in full were open wide. Two Precepts, I could not tell which but their cloaks were the icy blue that all of them wore, stood at the front and looked like they were giving orders to the dozens of underwitches milling about all around them.

"What are they doing?" I asked aloud.

"Preparing for the dawn ball. Zetta will give you your attire by the end of the week." Alexei said simply.

"Right, the dawn ball. How could I not have known? Everyone knows what the dawn ball is, even a girl like me who spent most of her life locked in one room," I said. I had hurt just a little too much that day to not be ill tempered. "What is the dawn ball, Alexei?"

"I-" My white haired guard started.

I interrupted him. "If you tell me that you cannot tell me, I'm am going to start trying my very best to make you hate being my guard. How would you like it if you had to drag me back to Lun everyday by my ankles?"

"It is one of the celebrations that happens every semester. You wake up early, dress in the clothes they give you, drink, eat, bring dawn, and go back to your quarters." My guard explained.

It was good to know that my threat had some power, no matter how small.

"Why, guard?" Sam demanded without looking at Alexei.

Alexei answered without looking at Sam. "Because it was what is done here. There are six every semester. Seven if someone makes full moon, but that has not happened in a very long time. Most of the moons like them."

"My lady is not, has not, and will never be like most. Do not forget this," Sam growled as he pawed at the doors we stood in front of. "Open this."

Alexei looked to me, but I could give him no help. "My stomach hurts to much."

"I will not be ordered about by an overgrown cat." My guard said and stared at my familiar with his one white eye.

"Please? I'm not interested in seeing which of you can be stubborn longer." I said as I tried the door and failed to make it budge.

I only played up my pain a little. It did hurt, just not quite as much as I made it seem to.

With one hand, he reached past me and sent the door swinging out on its creaking hinges. Wind and snow blew in through the doorway, and I was grateful that I was wearing my full uniform.

Sam led me out into a room made entirely of panel glass that had been obscured by frost and snow that had been piled high outside of it.

Beyond the doorless room, was an open courtyard. Like a smaller version of what lay inside Lun's front gates, the back was walled off by the wall that surrounded the school and the angled sides were built of the hall we had just left and what I thought to be the dining hall.

Everything in the middle was a sea of perfect white snow, without a footprint or track in sight.

"You will stay here, guard. Your presence will disrupt what we are here to do." Sam commanded Alexei as he stepped out of the glass and into the courtyard.

Alexei did not object, but I knew him well enough to know that Sam was annoying him greatly.

"Thank you, Master Alexei." I said to him as politely as I could and followed my familiar into the snow.

I made it halfway before the treacherous ground got the better of me and I fell face first into the white powder. With a pained groan and through my shallow breaths, I rolled onto my back but did not have the strength to sit up yet.

Like the cold floor outside Zetta's classroom, the chill that crept over me brought relieve to my black bruised body and I was warm enough in my uniform that I could stay there for a time.

"Why are we out here?" I asked as I stared up at the grey sky above.

Sam sat down next to me with obvious disappointment in his face. "Will there ever be a day that you do not fall inexplicably? We are here because it is the most private place I have found in Lun."

"Don't count on it," I said with a sigh. "Why do we need to be somewhere private?"

"The one you call warden said that we were young in our bond, yes? If there is power that we have not yet reached, then we must reach for it. I have made an agreement with your mortal that instead of your usual training, you will begin to train with me regularly." My familiar explained. He still spoke with the same contempt I had grown used to, but it felt like he was far more interested in me than usual.

I made a show of laughing to myself. "Sam, if you want to spend time with me, you just have to ask."

A vicious yarl echoed out from his chest. "Do not patronize me, child. This is in pursuit of keeping you alive. It is nothing more."

"Alright, I'm sorry. What do we do?" I apologized and asked as I looked back up to the sky.

Sam growled again. "I do not know. How did you deepen your bond with the mortal?"

That was a strange thought. "Outside all of things that I only want to do with her, I'm not sure. We talked, did things together, she was there for me when I needed her."

"Hmmm, then let us speak. Why did you attack the arrogant child, why did you attack Spring Tana?" Sam asked without a moment passing.

I was taken aback by his willingness, but I found my words before too much time had gone by. "She has been mean to me since I first met her. The assignment that Precept Zetta gave us required her to hit me. She got me right in the middle of my bruises and I lost it."

"No, there is more." My familiar insisted.

"She said something about Arthur. Or, she said the name Arthur. With the pain and all, it was too much." I admitted, feeling ashamed of how quickly I had become violent. The thought of Tana still left a bad taste in my mouth, but the thought of hitting her tasted even worse.

Sam growled some savage sound of agreement. "You are rather protective of those you care about.

"I have to tell Anna. He has to be here. Hinnegan said that they had to use a bunch of beds for a big guest. Tana said she saw a giant, how many people named Arthur are big enough to be called a giant?" I said, truly just thinking out loud.

"If you go to find him. I will accompany you." Sam said.

The snow had made me cold enough that most of me had began to numb enough that I almost felt normal. It would become to cold soon, but I stayed where I was so I would not interrupt the very strange thing that was happening between my familiar and I. "Why do you like him so much?"

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Sam fell silent before answering. "It is not just I, the spirit found him worthy as well. He is good to you without want. The forces that bind me to your service must influence my opinion of him because of that."

"And Anna? You're mean to her because you don't think she is good to me?" I asked and turned my head to look at him.

He needed no time to answer that question. "I think that attaching yourself to a mortal will only bring you pain in the end. She will age quickly. She will die easily. You will not."

"I won't let that happen. There is a way to keep her young and alive.That's how the warden still looks after Silkcradle. I just have to learn how to do it." I said with absolute confidence. Nothing was as important to me as Anna was, I would do anything it took to keep her by my side.

"What else did the one who you call warden say," Sam said as he prowled closer to my side and met my eyes. "I am aware that you have not told me everything you learned from him."

I did not know how he would take what I had kept from him, but I could not risk disturbing the conversation we had fallen into. I had never spoken with Sam so freely before. "I told you about the temple, and the statue of your mother. The warden believes that you were her last creation. He thinks that she has gone somewhere else, and you were the last thing she made."

It struck me in that moment that I did not know Sam enough to be able to guess what his reaction would be. Would that make him sad? Would it make him angry? Would it send him into a spiral of swinging emotions that left him panicked and full of fear?

He did none of those things.

When he spoke, he sounded pleased.

"That would explain why I feel superior to the other familiars I have encountered. They were not made with the same mastery that I was. If I am truly the creation of some all powerful spider, then I suppose I do not mind being favored by her." Sam said, a look in his eyes that almost looked like happiness.

"What do you mean you feel superior?" I continued as I started the long and struggle filled process of sitting up.

Sam's tail swished behind him in what I knew to be frustration. "You must be more observant. The arrogant child's wolf, he is incapable of speaking as I do. When I sent him away, he was missing one of his limbs. It has been restored, but he has not grown. He needed to be called to defend his master. I was on the way to you the moment you focused your aura."

"I saw all that. I observed. All of that is what makes you feel superior?" I grunted as I managed to push myself onto my elbows.

"No. That is what makes me superior." Sam corrected me.

The surety in his voice, how unshakably confident he was, it made me laugh. "Oh, excuse me, my apologies for the disrespect oh mightiest of the familiars."

The big blue cat sat up just a little straighter at my words. "Will you tell the mortal why you have been released by your teacher so early? She knows little of your feud with the arrogant child amongst the new moons."

I shook my head without having to think. "No. She doesn't need to know about Tana."

"So you will lie to her?"

I kept shaking my head. "No. I just won't tell her. It is different."

"It is the same, and it is the same as what she is doing to you. Your mortal does not merely wait for you while you are away."

"I know she goes to the library and to Hymneth to see Ms. Lao, what else is she doing?" I asked, confused.

Sam's tail quirked and swished violently behind him. "I do not know. I have spent much time wandering this place and have seen many things. Perhaps it is true that I have not been watching her as closely as I should."

"What have you seen?"

"A man frozen in ice that can never melt, corridors that feel like they would rend my flesh from my bone if I walked down them, a painting that would have left me weeping if I was able to shed tears. I have heard far more than that-"

I interrupt my familiar. "No, I meant with Anna. Why do you think she is hiding things from me?"

Sam's deep blue eyes flicked over to where Alexei stood in the window before his tail swished in frustration once again. "This is a time where being able to speak silently would be beneficial."

"I know," I said through a heavy sigh. "He can probably hear everything we are saying."

"It is not probable. It is certain. Ask yourself this, have you ever encountered a soul with sharper senses than I?"

I thought about it.

I didn't think I had.

"No, but what does that have to do with Alexei?"

"Nothing. It has to do with me being unable to track your mortal when she is within Lun's library."

My brows furrowed as I sat the rest of the way up. "What?"

"If I follow her inside and keep her in my sight, all is well, but if I turn away from her for even a moment, I am unable to find her again. Her scent, the sound of her breathing, it vanishes like she is not and has never been there." He growled.

"Are you sure that it isn't just the library? Maybe it's like my place in Precept Seram's classroom? There is some kind of charm or working that makes it that way?" I said with my eyes closed as waves of pain and nausea washed through me. If the snow had not numbed me so, I would have stained the perfect white blanket I sat upon.

"Would I speak to you about it if I was not sure? I do not enjoy conversation on the best of days. Would I mention it to you if it was not absolutely necessary?"

I looked away from him and up to the grey sky above. "When Hexis made you, I wish she would have made you just a little nicer."

The happiness that had graced Sam's face died violently. "If you would prefer to speak to Othersam, I will let him out. The two of you could spend the afternoon chasing after one another like kittens instead of growing stronger. Is that what you want, My Lady?"

I sighed and dropped my head. A strange smile touched the corners of my lips and I chuckled. "You really hate me don't you."

"No. I dislike you. The two are not the same." My familiar corrected me.

"Is there anything I can do about that?" I asked honestly, wondering if becoming friends with Sam had been as easy as asking all along.

"No. It is my nature, and I suspect that whoever I was before was much the same." Sam said simply.

I dropped my head in defeat. "I see."

"Do not place that on yourself. I dislike nearly everything. Take heart in the fact that you are one of the things I dislike the least." He said after a quiet moment had passed.

"That was almost nice," I said. Snow had begun to fall, and my willingness to remain cold was quickly dwindling. "If I died, would you morn me?"

Again, he took no time to answer. "No."

"At least you are consistent." I grunted as I rolled onto my hands and kness.

The big blue cat padded over to me and stood with his face very close to mine. "I would not morn you because if you are dead, then I have died before you."

"That was nice. Thank you," I groaned and rose to my feet. "But you've hit me in the face too many times for me to be comfortable with you that close."

Sam's tail swished again. "That is called wisdom, My Lady."

"So is this what we are going to do now? Come out here and talk?" I said as I dusted off my cloak and stockings.

Another swish. "No. I have spoken into your mind once before. We will begin to attempt that."

"You did what? When? I don't remember that." I said, confused once again.

"After the sorcerer betrayed you on the mortal plane. I lay in pieces and had been strown about the grass. I warned you that there was a second creature coming from the forest."

I listened to his words as he spoke, felt them rumble in my chest, and knew that what he was saying was specific enough that it should have brought the memory he was speaking of back.

It did not, not in the slightest.

After it became obvious that I had not been able to recall what he spoke of, he sighed. "I am not surprised you do not remember. Strong emotions are enough to overwhelm you, and your mind has been through more than most experience in a lifetime. You have likely forgotten more about that night than you remember."

I did not enjoy the notion that I had forgotten parts of the small portion of my life that I could remember.

"Come, I believe I know how to pursue our shared goal," Sam said as he started making his way back to the room of paneled glass that Alexei still waited in. "We must replicate the circumstances with which it happened first."

"How are we going to do that?" I asked as I followed after him.

"I must believe that you are in mortal peril." Sam growled back in answer.

My shoulders slumped and I let out a whine that had nothing to do with the pain in my middle. "Can we do this another day?"

Sam answered simply without turning back.

"No."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.