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The Witch’s Familiar

Part two of two

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Cheeseguy3412

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Elanor lived out in the woods, which much better suited her witchy persona, though Sara had just thought, before, she enjoyed the goth aesthetic. Out in the woods, Sara felt like she could finally breathe, many pine trees surrounding the wooden, insulated cabin. It was a modern build but she stopped outside her car to take it all in, right down to the wisp of smoke trailing from the chimney, wafting away as it reached towards the sky.

Some said that breathing in pines was good for the respiratory system, although Sara would merely have answered that being out in nature was good for the soul. It was better than a concrete jungle and the urban environments that her family, back when they had been in closer contact with each other, had enjoyed. They just had not matched up well with each other – and that was okay too, even if they were part of the same family.

“Hey!”

Elanor opened the front door with a flutter of magic, waving to her.

“Come on in!”

Sara wasn’t about to say no, though she’d only brought a bag with her, bringing only the essentials. She wasn’t even sure what she would need before she became the witch’s familiar, but she had made a rather amusing stop at a pet store on the way, buying the biggest cat brush she could. Running it along her arm hadn’t given her much of a sense as to how it would feel pulling through fur, however, but it had been the best she’d managed.

“This is a lovely place out here, Elanor,” Sara said, admiring the wooden walls and the curtains, which were thick and clearly thermal to keep the cabin insulated. “Have you been out here long? Don’t you get lonely all the way out here too?”

Elanor shook her head.

“No, it’s nice out here and I have friends nearby,” she said. “There’s Joan who lives in a small cabin down by the lake that I get to see and I have been away, most of the time, for school. Magic school… We kind of lived in small dorms there, sharing with a few others. There wasn’t all that much privacy there, even if I had a really good bunch of witches in there with me.”

“I wish I’d been there too,” Sara lamented. “That must have been like a whole other life… I’m so glad I get to share in it now with you.”

She meant that sincerely too, although it was not as if she couldn’t see it for herself, once she had magic and was a familiar. Even a little magic would bring her both the joy and changes she’d wanted to see in her life and Sara, admittedly, was keen to get started.

“Yeah!” Elanor said, making them both cups of tea in the kitchen adjoining the living room, though the place was simply furnished. “I have further studies to do, witches can really take on any further education they want. And there’s so much more I want to work on, though there was the chance to take a semester abroad too, studying in Africa… That could be interesting, it’s a completely different way of using magic there.”

Sara nodded along politely, not quite following, although she was interested, yes, very much so. Yet that was all to come as they chatted back and forth a little, twilight and then evening falling beyond the windows.

“So, how does this transformation into your familiar work?” Sara asked at last, although she had been dying to get into those particular details. “Is it going to hurt? No… No, you wouldn’t do anything to me that hurt.”

“No, it won’t hurt, but it might feel a bit weird,” Elanor said, reassuring her with a smile. “Everything’s okay and you don’t have to worry about that side. I know how much you’re giving up here, Sara… I’ve got to ask you again: are you completely sure you want to go through with all of this? I’m sure, but I don’t want you ever to do something that you’re going to regret.”

Sara nodded, though she knew Elanor needed to hear the words aloud.

“Yes, I want to,” she said firmly. “I know it’s a big change. I feel like I’ve said that so much, but I want you to know that I’m taking this seriously. I am a little worried about it, my stomach feels like it’s all twisted up into knots right now. But I just want this next step to begin, you know? I don’t like waiting around.”

Elanor barked a short, sharp laugh.

“Hah! Yes, yes, I know all about that with you.”

She grinned and stood, lightly rubbing her palms together as if she was dusting them off.

“Sara… Are you ready to become my familiar?”

There was only one answer Sara could give.

“Yes. Definitely, yes.”

While Sara rested in the living room, not knowing whether to change into more comfortable clothes or not, Elanor changed into her usual witch garb. The cloth of her long, black dress was imbued with runes and power, so it was intrinsic to the casting of more intensive spells. The same went for the pointed witch’s hat on top of her head too, although that one was passed down through her family. She was fortunate to have it in her possession, though, perhaps one day, Elanor would pass it down to her daughter too.

Only time would tell what would come of that, but they had plenty of time to get there.

Elanor breathed slowly and steadily, conscious that it was the first time she’d done serious magic without supervision, even though she had come out top of her class. It was all her practice and her passion for the natural ways of the world that had given her such a talent for magic, even if she had a healthy caution for all magic could do too. Not everything was easy, after all, and magic in itself was dangerous.

Sara watched as Elanor drew a pentagram on the bare wooden floorboards of the cabin, having rolled up the rug beforehand, so there was plenty of space in which to work. She daubed her fingers in earthblood, which was made from the sap of certain trees, apparently, and mixed with soil. It was hard for Elanor to keep up with everything from that side of things, although she wanted to learn more – and it would all surely become more intuitive to her once she was a familiar.

To think her time as a feline was so close… Sara shivered, shifting her weight anxious from foot to foot, keen to get started. It was a big shift in her life to leave the rest of her life behind – but it was the right move for her. With so much stretching out before her, she was keener than ever to see it all begin.

“Okay, Sara,” Elanor said, lifting her hands comfortably so her elbows were bent, as if she was about to step into something new, though it seemed like a usual position for her. “Step forward. Facing me. I can’t wait to have you as my familiar!”

Sara grinned, already imagining her sharp teeth and how different she was going to look. Of course, she had already told Elanor the feline she wanted to be transformed into and the only thing she lamented, however small, was that she would no longer be able to see the paw print on her arm. That had been a great source of comfort before for her, when times had been tougher mentally, though she would shed one skin for another and find another form of comfort that better suited her.

The pentagram glowed around them as purple, glittering light flowed around Elanor’s hands, dipping and turning between her fingers as if it was water – though water that flowed through the air. There was no frame of reference for her when it came to magic, though Sara, in a small way, appreciated the visual stimulus too.

“Okay… From one form to another, bring the ties that bind,” Elanor began, though she slipped into another tongue that Sara could not understand. “Avast am mieni, tianno visiton havass…”

The rest of the words were not ones that Sara could pick out in the slightest, but she didn’t have to. If there were other languages of magic she had to learn she would do so – all in good time. Elanor concentrated, her brow furrowing, as she focused on the moment, sending a flow of her magic streaming from her fingertips into Sara. Sara froze, tensing, though felt nothing besides a warm tickling sensation, as if something was brushing all over her skin, even under her clothes.

That day, she had a longer pair of leggings on and ballet flats, along with a longer, more flowing blouse that was cut at an angle across her hips. It was not one, most certainly, that could double as a dress, though Sara wouldn’t need to consider things like that in the slightest.

“Ah, that kind of…tickles,” she said, trying to find a way to put it into words. “But it’s okay, I’m not hurt or anything.”

Elanor smiled, stepping back.

“It’s not meant to hurt, silly, I’d never do that to you,” Elanor said reassuringly. “But it’s already beginning, look…”

She pointed Sara to the little mirror that had been set up on the side table near the sofa, for it would not have normally been there. It was a hand mirror that may have been used for simple things like plucking eyebrows and close-up work, but it at least let Sara take a quick look.

She looked like herself, but her eyes had changed. They were no longer green but glowing and yellow, a faint haze emanating from her eyes. As Sara blinked and turned her head back and forth, she tried to see a little more clearly, but Elanor backed her up gently, so she had room.

“You need to be careful, I don’t know how quickly this is all going to happen,” Elanor warned her, briefly nipping at her lower lip as her own concerns caught up with her. “I want to make sure you don’t fall – I mean, I could catch you with telekinesis but I want you to be safe, Elanor. I can look after you better when you’re a tiger.”

Sara’s heart surged. Oh, to hear it said aloud like that was all she needed! Her heart pounded and her breaths came with a jarring, shuddery ache to them, though it was all for good reasons.

She didn’t want to stop anything as her ears tugged at the base, feeling like something was pinching and squeezing them. If someone had been doing that to her ears, however, it most likely would have been near the top, where the lobe folded over into that gentle ridge. Feeling them being pressured at the bottom, where they attached to her head, was a very new sensation entirely to her.

They rounded slowly and Sara shakily brushed her fingers over them, feeling out they grew larger and tucked up to the top of her head. A dull ache at the base of her ears told the tale of more muscles coming into place, but her ears twitched erratically as they changed.

“Oh…”

Sara breathed out, though the beauty of her transformation lay in Elanor’s eyes. Elanor clasped her hands together before her chest and watched, there for her friend if she needed her, although she wanted to give Sara enough space to change too. It was about her and her transformation, the big change in her life sweeping over her. Yet it was glorious too how Sara had so readily stepped into it, taking a breath and taking everything in hand.

It was just as it was meant to be, though Elanor got to see how those ears shaped themselves. The dark lines around the edge of them denoted them easily as tiger ears, though that could have been because Elanor, of course, knew exactly what Sara was turning into. She had a visual in her mind of how Sara was to look – yet all the little nuances of transformation that pulled through her friend would come from Sara’s wants and desires too.

A light, lithe body? Sure, that could be done.

Something heavier and more powerful? Of course.

A pattern of stripes on her face that helped channel her magical powers? Undoubtedly.

Only the transformation itself, however, would reveal just how Sara was truly meant to be.

As Elanor watched, her friend wobbled and shifted her weight back, though it looked like she was trying not to lose her balance.

“Ah… Wait…” Sara laughed, trying to balance with her arm thrown out to the side. “This feels a bit weird… Whoa, are those my paws?”

She bent forward a little and tried to lift one of her feet, though that only made it even more difficult for her to balance. Sara tried to shake off her shoes but her toes were already pushing forward into the toe of the ballet flat, making it more rigid and tighter around her feet. She jerked one foot in the air and managed to flip the shoe off, though the other one lingered on her foot, still transforming into a tiger’s paw.

Sara wobbled and tried to move her feet apart, though that didn’t help her balance all that much. Her toes curled ever so slightly and her nails hardened, condensing and pressing into the shape of claws.

Slowly, they pushed out against the front of the remaining shoe, digging into the toe even as they sharpened. The leather of the shoe, for it was a good quality one, tried to hold out against her growing claws, though they were too sharp and strong to fall prey to the shoe and be trapped inside. The ballet flat itself bowed out against her foot as her toes scrunched and she curled her foot like a paw, the flat of the sole coming away from her paw for a moment.

“Whoa!”

Sara bent her knees, fighting for balance – but how was she supposed to balance when the ground under her no longer even felt stable? It was not an easy thing in the slightest and Elanor rushed in, her hands outstretched for her, magic flittering around her fingers and running up her arms.

“Hold on, hold on,” she said, as if Sara could simply stop herself from falling like that. “I’ve got you!”

But she didn’t and Sara staggered backwards, her arms flailing. Her ears perked up, not quite fully formed, but taking in her surroundings as her vision shot up, head falling back. Her arm crashed into the sofa and she fell against it, not understanding, though it was enough for her to soften her fall somewhat, slumping down against it so she was half leaning up against it and half on the floor.

“Oof, that wasn’t expected,” Sara said with a laugh, sitting with her transforming feet kicked up as they turned orange and striped. “This is quick…”

The tickle of fur sprouting from her feet had her wiggling her toes, more of her feet protruding through the shoe that was still stuck on her paw, although Sara didn’t have the presence of mind to try to wiggle it off in any way. It just wasn’t necessary and she stared, fascinated, as fur fluffed up between her toes. It was that very fur that would help her walk and stalk silently, along with the large pads of her paws.

She tried to twitch her ears again, though it didn’t really feel like she was doing anything at all. The impression of moving her ears as there, but it was strange, as if she was squeezing the muscles in her face instead, like when she was a kid and had made silly faces at friends and the like. Sara frowned, though her lips pulled awkwardly over her lips, losing some mobility there. It was not much of a loss, however, when there was simply so much for her to gain.

Elanor chuckled and readied herself nearby, using a little magic to help keep the transformation going. She didn’t want Sara’s tumble to jostle it in any way, especially when it was a big spell that she had set in motion. It wasn’t one that Elanor needed to do all that much to – as long as everything was going well. If something changed, however, she needed to be tapped into the spell with her awareness intact to correct it instantly. It was a big change to shift a human into a tiger, after all, even if the process of creating a familiar was something she had gone over multiple times already.

She couldn’t risk anything happening to Sara, however, as the fur prickled up her legs and Sara tugged at her leggings, though her fingers felt awkward and clunky. Through the spell, Elanor could feel a little of what Sara was feeling, impressions of her thoughts slipping through the bond of the spell. After all, a familiar was a very special part of a witch, bonded with them for their entire lifetimes.

That would all come in time, however, and Sara tried to stretch out her legs as she sat back against the sofa. It was no longer quite a natural position for her to be in, however, and she felt much too warm as she propped herself up there.

Her bones ached strangely and there was a crickle and a crack as they rearranged themselves in the lower half of her body. Sara grunted and panted, arching her back as if that would help her drag in a bigger breath of air to her lungs, eyes watering. She could not see, of course, that they retained that new, golden glow, though it would become a part of her intrinsically, her toes twitching as she got a little more used to how much more flexibility she had in her new feet.

She worked them back and forth a little, though it was hard to curl the toes and even harder when new ligaments were forming to control the claws that would soon pop into place there. That, however, was not the sort of thing Sara was focusing on right there and then, shifting her weight back and forth, trying to blink away the strain in her eyes too.

“Unff…”

However, there was something pulling down her spine, like a sense of stretching, her top feeling caught under her arms, like it had suddenly shrunk in the wash. There were no further obvious changes there, however, and she rubbed the sides of her head instead, feeling where the fur was tracing down from her ears.

Somehow, her hair felt light and floaty, as if it was bristling out from her head due to static. It didn’t seem quite natural to her and Sara rubbed her face as she wiggled her fingers, eyeing up her hands as something throbbed around her thumb. It would not be needed as a thumb anymore, not how she was used to using it, of course. There was no claw there, not yet

Sara chuckled throatily, her voice appearing lower, almost with a raspy quality to it.

“Oof… All this fur is going to feel very heavy, especially when it’s summer,” she mused, almost to herself, though was aware of Elanor keeping a very close eye on her, which she appreciated. “I can swim in the lake though… Oh, am I going to have to learn to schwim… Schwim… Huh?”

Sara worked her jaw up and down, though it didn’t feel all that different to her. She laughed at herself and licked her lips, though her tongue seemed to come out further than it had before.

Strange… Sara thought. I thought… Well, I didn’t really know what was going to happen, no, did I?

_ _

She tried to smile but there was something slightly different about the muscles in her face, things not quite seeming to match up as closely anymore. She shook that off, however, as she wondered if she should have got out of her leggings, for they were far too tight and clinging to really fit her as her body changed. The fur grew up the entire length of her legs, making them look oddly thick and puffy, though the laughter that bubbled from her lips didn’t quite sound right. It was as if her voice and utterances, any sounds she made, had been slightly changed, just enough for her to notice.

“You’re doing well, Sara,” Elanor praised, appearing as enamoured with the transformation as Sara was. “Just relax, everything’s going well, everything’s okay…”

“Mmph, nah worried…”

The words didn’t work as she wanted them to, however, and Sara curled her toes, the shoe flexing around one paw while the other foot was completely free. She slumped down further as she was no longer able to prop herself up against the sofa in quite the same position, lying on her back and chuffing under her breath.

Her clothes were too tight on her, bones prickling with a thousand pins and needles, as if they were jabbing right into the marrow, though she had never considered how something like that could be dragged into her mind. Sara shook her head, but golden streams of magic flowed into her from Elanor, curling around her head and stroking down her neck.

“Mmph!”

She let out a louder grunt as the bones cracked in her face, her nose suddenly pushing forward. It was not painfully, not technically, but it was highly uncomfortable, Sara’s eyes watering as she tried to blink away the strain. Yet the only way through the transformation was to bear the moments, bit by bit, second by second. And she wanted it too.

That helped.

“So, what…wilth…I beeth… Huh?”

Elanor soothed her, shaking her head.

“That’s your fangs coming in, dear,” she said, as if turning a human into a familiar was something she had done a hundred times before. “Your tongue is probably going to feel a little fuzzy too, as if it’s all covered in fur.”

Elanor giggled but she couldn’t help it when Sara looked as surprised as she had. Sara, however, obligingly kept her mouth open to let her speech fall away, even as something greater slipped into place.

Her teeth ached as they pulled into fangs, drawing themselves from the bone of her jaw. Sara grunted and drooled around the new fangs, though they all grew at the same time, sharpening into brutal points. She opened and closed her mouth to the extent she felt able to, though an eye-watering crunch echoed through her skull as her jaw expanded, needing more room for all those teeth. Even as they grew, they itched fiercely.

“Mmhm…”

She whimpered faintly, though Elanor was still near, ready to support her whenever needed. At least she’d have someone to look to, regardless of how her life had changed. As isolated as she’d been before, she still needed some form of companionship.

How much strength was in that jaw, she wondered? Would she have to eat large prey to sustain herself as a tiger, or would she be better fed on other kinds of sustenance? There was no way to tell and, although she wanted the questions answered too out of curiosity, she didn’t mind if she had to be more feral.

It was the way of it, after all, for a tiger.

“Mmrowl,” Sara groaned, trying to say something and only making a strangled, more cat-like noise. “Mwrawr?”

She didn’t know what she was even trying to say, but it was clear that her ability to speak was taken from her as her tongue flattened out in her mouth. It felt oddly fuzzy, as Elanor had said, though she was more easily able to lap and curl it out from her mouth, flipping it against her lips experimentally only to drag it back inside. That was a part she understood and maybe her time roleplaying as a wild cat in her younger days, mostly online, meant she was a little more in tune with the feline side of her body.

For she’d always been meant to be a feline, never a human. Her transfiguration into a tiger was only the next phase in her life, coming into her life and body as it should always have been.

It was funny how things worked out like that.

Sara gulped hard, trying not to drool, though how her muzzle practically exploded out from her face, her skull aching, was admittedly frightening. Her pulse raced and she heaved for breath, even as her nostrils flattened out and became more hooked in shape: all the better for filtering through the scents in the air as that sense became enhanced.

“It’s okay, Sara, everything’s alright. It’s all happening perfectly, your stripes are amazing!”

She did her best to focus on Elanor’s voice, taking comfort in her friend soothing her. Elanor acted like she had more experience than she did and her confidence, at the very least, in her own abilities made it so Sara trusted her. Even if things went awry, she was sure Elanor could fix it.

So, she tried to relax as the ache faded in her head, though the crunching around the formation of new bone was disconcerting at best. She shook her head slowly from side to side, feeling how she had enough range of motion in her neck to do that, for she hadn’t lost the function of her body.

Fur covered her face and Elanor held up the hand mirror, while she kept a hand in the situation, so Sara could still watch her transformation taking place. Sara grunted, staring wide-eyed at the half-transformed face in the mirror, halfway between human and tiger. Her teeth were more defined, feeling like they overfilled her mouth, though that was something she would grow used to.

There was fur there, though it was still spreading around her cheeks and under her jaw, although most of her snout was already covered in fur. Her nose darkened and she eyed the nostrils dubiously, curling up and forward so she could better see. The position was not a stable one, however, and Sara huffed and puffed, her chest heaving as the line of “breath” in her body seemed to pull further down. Tigers, after all, had more interconnecting lines there that could be seen, the sides of their flanks fluttering with every pull of air into their lungs.

Sara would see that when she was fully in a quadrupedal form and flicked her tongue again against the outside of her muzzle, fascinated by how she could curl it and swipe against her teeth. She tried to be careful of the sharp points as the teeth lined her new, longer jaw nicely, but her tongue already seemed to know exactly what to do as it swept up and down, making sure to move saliva around her mouth.

Sara heaved for breath, ignoring the watering of her eyes and the strain there, something pushing increasingly from the base of her spine. That was not something she could look at, however, not in a position like that, fluff pushing out over the top of her leggings, though they were not going to be needed anymore either. They wouldn’t cover more than her fur as her legs crunched around the hips and she jolted, eyes strained, creasing at the corners.

“Agh!”

“It’s okay, Sara, just relax. It’s all coming well.”

Sara had to believe her, even though the strain of the changes was kind of alarming. Glancing back in the mirror, she saw a mostly formed tiger face staring back at her, the ears slanted back and panting through an open mouth. She closed her lips experimentally, trying to see if that felt any more comfortable in the slightest, though her attention was caught by the smaller muscles coming into place. The corner of her jaw felt powerful, as fi she really could snap it closed just like that, and she worked it experimentally, feeling the pull of something more powerful than, honestly, her human mind could have comprehended.

It was easier once she relaxed into it all, however, her alarm softening as she tried to roll to the side but only ended up flailing awkwardly: not what she’d planned in the slightest.

“Grraaww,” she grunted, trying to work out what sounds she could make, what language she even was using them. “Mrowl?”

“Heh, you sound cute already,” Elanor said, clapping her hands together and taking a step back, allowing Sara a little more space again. “I’m going to wind in telepathy for the moment…but we should be able to do something to your vocal cords too…”

Sara nodded, trying to smile – but she was sure that just made her look scarier, even if her head felt like it was more or less fully formed by that point. She wiggled her fingers but they felt like they were trembling, like strange, subtle vibrations were rolling down her body from the very tips of her fingers.

“Ohhhh…”

It turned out she could still make a groan like that, at the very least, though Sara was not all that sure how pleased she should be with that revelation. It wasn’t anything like talking and she whined, pawing at her throat, even though her fingers no longer wanted to obey her. Her tongue flicked out, partway between feline and human, though it had more flexibility to it than she was used to.

To lose her ability to speak… That one was a little scary and she grunted and yowled, trying to talk but only managing to make even more cat-like noises. She panted heavily, sides shuddering, and half-rolled on to her side, her shoulder pressed into the floorboards, though it looked like the pentagram had been rubbed away, in part, on the floor. At least it didn’t look like Elanor needed it to hold the spell anymore, though she was conscious of how her friend’s eyes lingered on her.

She tried to hiss and Elanor smiled. That was something that soothed her and Sara relaxed a little more, looking back down her body. The leggings were tight and restrictive and she twisted suddenly as her spine elongated, suddenly offering her far more flexibility than before.

“Rrrawwr!”

She growled and shuddered as her tail stretched out, coming from the base of her spine already layered with fur. It started as a nub but pushed over the top of her leggings as the shift in her legs strained the fabric. There was nothing immodest to reveal under her clothes as fur covered her, though she was aware of a sense of loss around her chest.

Her whole body had to become more feline and there were no more breasts to get in her way, her bra obsolete as they softened back into her body. They did allow her to twist freely around herself again and catch her leggings with her teeth, ripping them forcibly from her body. Her sharp teeth made quick work of them, even though she didn’t exactly smoothly tear them from her, leaving thick strips of black fabric still hanging from her body. Her teeth came away with a tuft of orange fur between them and Sara would have laughed aloud if she had the capacity to do so.

It didn’t matter, however, not as she relinquished herself increasingly to the transformation, letting it soften and settle into her. She pulled at her top but she lost the mobility in her arms to bend them that way as they became forelegs. So, for the moment, her top would have to simply stretch around her, even as her shoulders became thicker and bulkier, her neck wider-set. It needed to be with such a large head there to balance – and the weight of her jaw was something that had to be taken into consideration too.

But it was alright, even as the orange hues of her fur took a darker, richer tone, as if more red highlights were being struck through. The black tip of her tail twitched back and forth and she breathed slowly and evenly as her muscles cramped up in her back, layering back down either side of her spine.

Sara groaned and tried to arch her back, though the cramping was too bad, her muscles rebelling against her requested use of them as if she had not tried to move at all. Her tail twitched a little more, gaining control down a foot of the length, and Sara rounded her shoulders, digging her finger-toes into the ground, her jaw hanging open for every raspy breath she could drag into her lungs.

It was easier to see how her body was being formed as she gave a mighty roll to scramble up on to all fours and let her legs fold under her, fingers gone and replaced by toes. She grunted throatily as she wiggled them, the sharp press and pinch of her fingernails becoming claws difficult to bear through. Fur swept over her chest, where her breasts had been, and her chest bulked out with muscle, the pectorals sweeping down between what Sara had to think of as her forelegs.

Sara groaned, straining as weight was added to her body. A tiger was not small, after all, and her tail flicked anxiously, not under her control, while her muscle helped support her. She didn’t have the muscle in her legs to stand up from that position, lying on her front, though feeling all the little bones in her hands merge into those that made up paws, allowing her the stability of using them like feet, made the moment all the more real to her.

This is…real… Sara thought, heart leaping, jaws parted in a panting rasp of joy, eyes shining in that golden sheen. This is…real! My new life – oh! It’s all beginning now!

_ _

The sofa didn’t look quite right out of the corner of her eye, although Sara didn’t realise, at that time, that it was because she was growing larger. All she felt was the strain of her top around her, digging into her flesh even though she had a layer of fur to protect her too.

That too thickened and fluffed up, warm and cloying. It was, quite literally, like wearing a fur coat in the middle of summer, but her body would adjust to running warmer than before and needing to find other ways to cool herself down. Of course, a tiger was built for short, explosive bursts of speed and had the stripes to act as camouflage too, but they would still warm up quickly when moving and exercising.

Her shirt pulled up into her armpits, although she wasn’t in a position to wriggle out of it. Trying to roll her head from one side to the other, Sara took stock of a larger range of motion, new muscles and ligaments making themselves known, though she could not have been completely familiar with the inner workings of her body. Maybe a deeper understanding would be imparted to her in time?

For there were so many things to take note of and Sara swung her tail slowly, trying to get to grips with just how it flowed and moved back and forth, a light curl moving down the length. The more she concentrated on it the easier it was to move, although it certainly did not come naturally to her. After all, she had only ever lived as a human being and didn’t know how extra limbs like that were even supposed to move. All the muscles were new and ligaments were pulled into new alignments, asking her transforming body to do more than, even naturally, it was designed to.

That was okay, however. She parted her jaws and lapped the side of her muzzle, struck by the soft taste of her fur. It had a lightly earthy quality to it, though reminded her of the feeling she’d had when a kitten’s fur had brushed her cheek before.

“Sara, can I help you with your top? I think it’s going to tear,” Elanor said, crouching down near her, eyes shining. “This is amazing – let me show you how you look first!”

She held the mirror up again, using her magic that time so it hovered, and let Sara see how she was mostly transformed, just growing in size. Gorgeous orange fur covered her body, although her underbelly was white with the ends of the black stripes curving down and around her sides to gently cut into it. The tip of her tail was perfectly black and, carefully, Sara turned her head to look at it, trying to control the end.

All she managed to do was to make her tail flop kind of awkwardly to the side and Elanor chuckled.

“Oops. That’ll come. Sara, I can’t believe how big you’ve got!”

Sara grunted and looked in the mirror again, struck by how her top and bra were cutting into her. That restricted her motion more than even the transformation did and her tail flicked, without her even thinking about it, in annoyance.

She’d take care of that.

Twisting around, even while she lay there, for she couldn’t yet clamber up on shaky legs, she caught her shoulder with her teeth.

“Mmph!”

With a mouthful of shirt, she tore and ripped, her teeth slicing through. From that tear, Elanor swiftly jumped in to feed some slicing tendrils of magic, in a blue flicker of power, under her clothes, neatly cutting them from her. There wasn’t any modesty to be concealed anymore, although the fur would have neatly hidden anything Sara wanted to keep private away, if that had been the case.

With her body bare from any clothing, she crouched, forcing her legs to lift her up and up. It was slow, as if she was rising out of a squat in the gym (she hadn’t kept up going there for long, it had to be said) and her legs quivered. She should have been so much stronger than she was – but there was the fact of having to learn how a whole new body worked to be taken into account too.

“Sara, I can feel you worrying, try not to,” Elanor said. “Everything is coming into place. Let it be.”

Let it be.

_ _

The words rebounded in her head as Sara tried her best to embody that, sinking into her body as if it was her and not just a second skin she was temporarily wearing. She had to feel it, every muscle, how everything in her body, right down to the fascia, was completely and utterly interlinked. Like the changing network of her nervous system, her mind had to understand that parts of her body simply were not where they had been before.

With practice would come understanding, she was sure of it.

So, Sara let herself take in the final details of her transformation in the mirror, which had been set back on the side table. It didn’t seem too high for her to look in it anymore, however, sitting up on its little stand, and her point of vision was higher than it had been before. She felt like she should have been an awful lot closer to the ground where she was, lying on her belly, yet Sara had never been able to pull her arms under herself as she was in that moment either.

“You’re a Siberian tiger, Sara,” Elanor breathed, a note of pride in her tone. “I wanted your preferences to come into play here too, so the spell pulled from her memory. I hope you don’t mind.”

Sara blinked, exhaustion starting to claw at her mind.

Why would I mind? She thought, not quite sure what she was doing but sending her thoughts out to Elanor. This is the best thing ever!

_ _

Elanor grinned and, through their growing bond, Sara knew she’d heard her.

Yet Sara was most certainly on the higher end of the scale for her species and their size and she grunted with the strain of filling out a larger body. It was harder still, seemingly, for a form to create something from nothing, rather than rearranging her bones and muscles to suit a new feral form.

She hissed through her parted teeth, surprising herself with the sound, as her vertebrae cracked and popped, enlarging to better fit her form. The cabin seemed a little small around her, though she didn’t want to consider yet just how she was going to be able to move easily between the furnishings.

One way or another, she’d work it out, she was sure of it.

And then it was done, eyelids heavy and body slumping, but right where she needed to be. She exhaled hotly, feeling the rush of air moving over her tongue. As soon as Sara closed her mouth, it moved more easily through her nostrils again, puckering and pulling at them with every single breath.

Her stomach gurgled, her parasympathetic nervous system kicking in. It made her want to eat, her digestive system working – but even that had changed. Her lungs had expanded in her chest and even her heart was larger, her body primed for hunting and conserving energy in a world a lot harsher than the one she’d been used to.

And it was exactly as Sara wanted it to be.

“Oh, Sara!”

With the changes finally complete, the magic fell from Elanor’s fingertips and Sara took a full, deep breath as a tigress for the very first time. Elanor rushed to her, throwing her arms around her neck, and Sara purred throatily, though the sound was raspy and warbled a little unusually in her chest. It was not something she was used to doing, after all.

However, Sara was settled there and she shakily raised a paw, trying to hug her friend back.

I’m glad… She said, sending her thoughts to Elanor who picked up, at least telling her that the telepathic link had been established. I wanted this, want this. Just have to get used to everything.

_ _

“I know, Sara, I know, but you will have so much time to get used to it. And we’re going to learn so much together!”

Although Sara could feel the lines of exhaustion rolling through her thoughts, lacing every inch of her body as if a heavy layer had been draped over her, she was keen. She was oh so very keen, wanting to be something more, to do something more, to step into the new phase of her life as if it had always been there, waiting for her. Her heart pounded, larger and more powerful in the cavity of her chest, and she laid her head tiredly in Elanor’s lap.

The witch hugged Sara softly, settling down on the sofa with the tigress’ head on her legs. Sara needed to rest and she couldn’t drag the poor feline along with her too easily, not too quickly. It was up to her to look after her familiar and, even then, Elanor did not take the weight of the responsibility lightly at all.

The first thing I’ll do is set up magical wards, to protect her, she decided. Sara will have her own magic, in time, as she learns… But I’ll always have more magic.

_ _

She rubbed around the base of Sara’s ears, tickling and scratching, raking lightly with her nails. Sara purred and relaxed, her long tail twitching back and forth as she slipped into a feline cat-nap.

A few days later, the two of them relaxed under a tree in the grounds of the property Elanor owned, isolated enough from the other magical neighbours that it was unlikely they would be unduly disturbed. The tigress rolled over lazily, stretching her paws out before hooking her paws back a little, without retracting her legs all the way back in to her body.

It was such a typically feline position to take, even with that twist in her back, that Sara would have laughed at herself if she could have seen herself right there and then. Yet looking at her reflection would grow old soon when she was experiencing everything as a tiger, feeling the roll and pull of her muscles, how everything moved fluidly together in one, terrifyingly powerful form.

Still, she wasn’t the best at walking yet even if she’d worked out how to use her muscles a little better than before. It was more how she used her vision and her perception of what was around her that was difficult and she often bumped into trees and the like.

Just that morning, wanting to get a better sense of her field of vision and her sense of place amongst the trees, she had walked and walked, weaving in and out of the trees. The fur on her right shoulder was still all ruffled up from where she had walked into a pine particularly hard, though she had honestly thought she was more than slightly clear of the tree when she had passed it.

It was little things like that. Things would need to be learned and the heaviness of her body was something she would have to grow used to, for magic would not make her light.

Learning how to filter through scents in the air was gentler, though Sara suspected she wasn’t going to be much of a tracker, if Elanor wanted her help with anything of that ilk. That was okay, however, for she didn’t have to be good at everything. As keen as she was to get on and learn the magic part of being a witch’s familiar, there were most certainly a lot of things she had to sink her teeth and claws into first.

All would come in time.

“We’re going to have to build the strength up in your legs too, my girl,” Elanor said, referring to her sweetly, further denoting just how the relationship between them both had changed. “I know walking is a challenge but leaping and bounding around a clearing is going to build you up so much more. And I know you’re going to love that.”

Barely awake, Sara let out a sleepy growl and rolled over so her head was in Elanor’s lap again. It was becoming a more and more comfortable place for her to rest those days.

With dappled sunshine marking her striped hide through the trees, she blinked up at the witch with her back leaning against the tree trunk. Her tail swished lazily through the grass and her ear pulled in the direction of a bee buzzing, though it didn’t come close enough for her to feel that stirring of wanting to chase it.

“I heard there was another course for witches who want to learn familiar magic too,” she went on, Sara listening a little more closely. “We’ll definitely go along to that – only, I don’t think it’s being held at the same campus as before. We need to find out about that and make sure there’s enough space for you to exercise, and lodgings for you.”

Things were being taken care of and Sara had nothing to worry about. She exhaled softly, her sides rising and falling gently.

There was no place like stretching out in the sun, the shade keeping her just cool enough, with her fur, to be comfortable.

So, they rested there together, for rest was as important as actually doing things. They needed that recovery, that time together, that space to be themselves, no more than who they were.

Much lay ahead for Sara and Elanor, working together and living together, but only time would tell exactly where it took them, day by day and year by year.

The sparks of magic, after all, ran far deeper than mere transformation…