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The Witch’s Familiar

Part one of two

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Cheeseguy3412

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Sara groaned, stretching out on her bed, though it would not be her bed, not for very much longer. That was a shame, for she had enjoyed her engineering degree at the university, as tough as a few of the modules had been. Where she excelled in some parts, others were challenging to her – though that was simply the way of it. She would have been bored if it all had been easy, after all.

She barely fit on the bed at six feet tall, her feet hanging off the edge – just. The campus was not known for its comfortable rooms, after all, but, having graduated, that wasn’t something Sara was going to have to deal with for all that much longer. Still, she’d get to stay for another semester, completing a more relaxing, personal research project while she still had easy access to the university facilities. It would at least be one way to relax after exams, for her, before she got stuck into the work world. That was daunting enough in itself.

One thing Sara did want to do, however, was catch up with one of her friends: Elanor. They’d managed to meet up a couple of times a year and kept in touch by text and DMs on social media, but more than that hadn’t been possible due to their schedules. Even though the two of them had been friends for years, there was a part of Sara that felt like she didn’t really know Elanor at all, for her friend had been evasive about even what she was studying or what her family did. She didn’t want to pry all that much, assuming there was something painful buried there – especially with the family stuff.

In the end, Sara learned, more or less, to keep away from that kind of conversation with Elanor, although that didn’t stop her curiosity in the slightest. However, when it was Elanor who’d broached it the night before by text, saying that she had something important to share with Sara when they met up next, Sara could not help but let her curiosity be piqued once again.

So, she’d wasted no time in inviting Elanor to stay with her for a few days. As she rented a small house on the edge of the university campus, specifically for second-year and third-year students, she at least had the flexibility to do that.

There wasn’t too much to do to prepare for Elanor getting there, though she did make sure the house was clean. As there were only a few rooms – she’d not wanted to splurge too much, despite not coming from a family where she had to worry about money, fortunately – it didn’t take her too long, even when it came to deep cleaning behind the refrigerator-freezer combo. Yet she couldn’t help but wonder just what Elanor wanted to share with her, especially when she’d been so distant before.

Why now? Sara thought, taking a shower the afternoon Elanor was due to be arriving, unable to deny the butterflies jittering and flapping about in her stomach. Why does she have something important now? Is it that she trusts me now? But why would she ever have not trusted me before? I know I’ve never given her a reason to not trust me.

_ _

Trust didn’t work like that, however, and that too was something Sara understood. They came from very different lives, after all, and that was clear despite Elanor not sharing much, if anything at all, of her life with Sara. Sara sighed, sweeping her hands back through her blonde hair, fingers running down to trace the outline of the pawprint tattoo on her neck. Of course, it was designed from a cat’s paw. Anyone who knew her knew they were her favourite animals, although she’d never quite been able to pin down one kind of cat as an all-time favourite above all others.

However, there was only time for her to take a shower more swiftly before Elanor arrived and she rinsed off the soap suds from her body as she readied herself. She already had a nice outfit planned to wear: something that was comfortable but not too restrictive either.

She dressed efficiently in leggings that clung to her legs and only came down to her mid-calf, along with a black top underneath a blue shirt that hung low enough to be considered a dress – even if it would have been a very short dress. Elanor wouldn’t have worn it as a dress on its own but, with the form-fitting leggings, it was perfect.

Sara near enough ran to the door the moment the bell rang, heart pounding. She didn’t need to be as worked up as she was, although she couldn’t help that she was simply excited to see her friend! She whipped open the door to see Elanor standing there, her skin quite a bit paler than Sara’s and her hair dark in contrast to Sara’s.

“Elanor!”

“Sara!”

Fumbling over their words in their haste to greet each other, they clung to one another and hugged tightly. Any doubts and worries Sara had in her mind over what Elanor wanted or had to tell her were swiftly swept from her mind, though Elanor had always had that effect on her. She definitely had a more goth-like appearance, though an easy smile was often found on her lips – at least, when the two of them were together. After so rarely seeing Elanor at any other time, it was hard to say anything about how she was with others.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Elanor managed to get out at last, giving Sara a tight squeeze, though she didn’t release her forearms as she pulled back, as if she was trying to get a good look at her. “How’ve you been? Did you get even taller?”

“What? No!” Sara laughed. “You’re just a bit short!”

That wasn’t true at all, only that Elanor was half a foot shorter than Sara – and had been since they’d known each other. It wasn’t hard for Sara to find herself taller than most women around, in all honesty, but they’d always joked back and forth about that.

“But yeah, things have been good, finished my degree,” Sara continued, answering Elanor’s question. “It’s been a lot, doing all this, you know, but there’s a lot ahead too. Even if I don’t know what I’m going to end up doing yet.”

They headed through to the small kitchen so they could get a drink and a bite to eat, Sara heating some croissants in the oven for them both. They were already cooked so just needed warming enough that the butter melted on them, for they both liked them simple, so the flavours could shine through. A couple of cups of coffee completed their late afternoon snack and they perched in the living room, though they didn’t bother to turn the TV on. Why would they do that when they enjoyed each other’s company so much?

It was hard to not relax around Elanor when conversation flowed as easily between them as it did, Elanor chatting about a recent visit to her local big cat sanctuary (which Sara was exceedingly jealous of!) while they dug into some of the details of Sara’s course that Elanor could follow along with. There was a case for Sara getting too technical at times, though she had particularly enjoyed the electrical engineering part of her course.

“It’s a shame nothing really caught me, you know?” Sara lamented as the day moved into the early evening, bidding them to find something a little more to eat, though there were plenty of takeaway places around. “I thought I’d do the course and things would be okay, I’d find a part that hooked me and I could follow along with that when I went for an apprenticeship, or just straight into usual work. Have you ever found that?”

“Sort of,” Elanor said, though Sara had the sense that her friend was being ever so slightly evasive again, her gaze sliding away. “But I did find something that I want to continue with… One moment. I just need to go to the bathroom.”

Yet she didn’t only go to the bathroom, which was on the upper floor, the smaller downstairs toilet being a lot less comfortable. Such were the perils of student accommodation, although Sara could have gone for something more luxurious if she’d wanted to. She’d wanted to still fit in with other students there, however, and not wanted to go too far into her wealth, for it had not meant all that much to her in life so far besides keeping her comfortable. She was all too aware that not everyone had that luxury.

Sara listened to Elanor’s footsteps moving around above her, but they didn’t line up with her tracking to the bathroom. What was she doing? She didn’t go upstairs to find out, however, for Sara didn’t try to hide anything from Elanor. The worst she was going to find was some adult toys in the bottom drawer of Sara’s bedside table, but Sara doubted her friend was going to go digging through her belongings like that.

Elanor, however, paced around the upstairs first to make sure what she needed was set up, her fingertips glittering faintly with blue and gold, though she had trained for long enough that she kept it discreet. There was no point in being able to do what she did if she was too obvious about it, not able to fly under the radar anymore.

She tamed the sparkle from her fingers, though they tingled and warmed, as she made her way back downstairs, smiling at Sara and then passing through the living room into the kitchen.

“Elanor? What are you doing?”

Elanor, however, didn’t answer, though she seemed to hurry a little more. She seemed to rush, waving her hands back and forth in oddly complicated, apparently deliberate patterns that Sara could not discern. Her brow furrowing, Sara sat back a little on the sofa, keeping an eye on her friend while she headed to the front door and back again, not leaving a corner of the hose, seemingly, untouched.

“Okay, Elanor, you’re starting to look a bit odd now,” Sara finally pressed. “What’s going on? You said you have something to tell me, but I don’t think you’ve got to it yet. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay though.”

“Oh, no, it’s not that,” Elanor said, sitting by her friend and taking her hands. “It’s just… Hm. It’s a lot to say all at once. But that’s the only way to say it too.”

Elanor took a deep breath, her heart pounding in her chest. She had to do it. There was nothing else for it – and she didn’t truly believe Sara was going to shun her for the truth either.

So, she did it.

“I’m a witch!” She said, her words coming out all in a rush. “I hope that’s okay! I wanted to tell you but I wasn’t sure!”

Sara blinked, struggling to keep up with what Elanor was saying.

“Wait… What do you mean you’re a witch? You’re not… Is that code for something?”

Elanor shook her head, biting her lower lip.

“Ah, no, no, it’s not. I was setting up wards against eavesdropping, when I was going all around the house. I really am…a witch.”

Sara blinked and shook her head. Just how could she believe that from her? It had to be a joke, though it was a little funny too. The corner of her lips twitched and she tried not to giggle, though it was difficult not to.

“Ah… Look,” Elanor said, lips twisting as she released her hold on Sara. “I’ll show you.”

She pointed at a coffee mug on the table, which was empty, though didn’t wiggle her fingers, even though she allowed the sparkles of magic to show that time. It made it easier to demonstrate to Sara that what she was telling her really was true, although Elanor didn’t blame her at all for being dubious. She most likely would have been if Sara ever came out with something like that too.

The mug lifted from the table in a feat of telekinesis: it was one of the first things she’d learned. Yet it felt like one of the easiest ways for her to show Sara that she meant it. Sara’s jaw dropped and she made a gargled, strained noise, pushing back a little.

Sara, however, was not trying to reel from the moment. She just had to take it in, looking up and down to make sure her friend wasn’t trying to trick her in any way, though that didn’t make sense in her own home. It was not as if there were hidden wires that could lift a mug like that in her home – and she’d been with Elanor pretty much the whole time.

“I… You…” Sara fought for words, though her lips stretched quickly into a wide grin. “Hell, you weren’t joking there, I’m sorry! I just… Can you do anything else? I can’t believe this, I really can’t…”

But she was just saying that, for the irrefutable evidence was there before her eyes as Elanor smiled and obligingly held her palm out, her fingers curled lightly to cup a growing ball of light. It didn’t look like fire but rather as if it was its own light source, Sara’s eyes widening.

“Ooohhh… Wow…”

They weren’t the most eloquent words, but they were all Sara could get out before Elanor closed her hand, snuffing out the orb.

“You’re not mad?” Elanor said cautiously, her forehead tipped forward a little so she shielded her face with a little of her dark hair. “I’ve been so worried about it… Telling you… It’s a lot, I just couldn’t ease into telling you something like this.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay – I understand,” Sara rushed to reassure her. “I get it, what if things had gone badly? You had to know me and you had to be in a safe place to tell me about it too.”

Elanor leaned into her friend, sitting side by side.

“Yeah,” she said, her voice smaller than it usually was. “I really wanted to keep you as my friend, I didn’t want to lose you. Is that okay?”

“Of course!”

For a moment, they sat there, relaxing into each other, sharing warmth and comfort. Sometimes, no words were needed at all, though that was strange when they most often spent their time together talking online and by text. Maybe that closeness and security was something they needed.

“So, is that where you’ve been?” Sara asked, breaking the quiet. “I guess… Learning about magic?”

“Heh, how did you know?” Elanor said. “Yes, that’s right, I was learning, studying. It’s a lot to do, I guess, like learning about anything but it perhaps was not quite as intuitive as I may have liked it to be. There are a lot of rules and yet practising them means it all becomes easier. Just a lot of practice.”

Sara chuckled.

“I get that, you must have been working hard on it. I wish I could learn magic too! Wait, can you teach me? Can I learn magic? Oh, can I study magic like you?”

She clasped her hands together, eyes shining. However, the answer was to be the expected one.

“No, oh…” Elanor sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. But you have to sort of have magic already, it runs in families. Unless something awakens in you, as that has been known to happen too, there’s no chance of that.”

“Oh…”

Sara could not help but look crestfallen, the wind taken out of her figurative sails. It made sense though, even if she wouldn’t have bothered, ever, with an engineering degree if she had known magic was an option. Surely if there wasn’t a way for her to perform magic, there was something she could do with magic though? Was potion making a thing?

“It’s okay, Sara,” Elanor said, giving her a hug that Sara gratefully leaned into. “You could be my familiar if you want to! I get to pick my own, always, so that would give you some magic.”

Elanor laughed, pulling back with a telltale twinkle in her eye: even though it was a possibility, it was very much a joke.

“I mean, you’d have to be turned into a cat or something to be a familiar, but –”

“Yes!”

Sara practically shouted and surged forward, forcing Elanor to lean back to protect her space, wide-eyed, heart pounding. Yet Sara didn’t give her the chance to ask what was going on as she bounced in her seat, a grin stretching practically from one ear to the other.

“Can I pick the type of cat? Please, oh, please! Can I?”

“Wait, ah – Sara!” Elanor held up her hands, trying to stall her. “It was a joke! I didn’t think… Oh, but it is you…”

“But you can do it, can’t you?” Sara almost demanded, her heart missing a beat as if her dream was about to be snatched away from her the moment it was born. “You can turn me into a feline – a real one! And I’d have magic too! Elanor, this is exactly what I wanted from my life!”

Elanor blinked at her.

“To…be a cat? With fur and having to…wash yourself with your tongue and everything?”

Elanor could not have said she was all that surprised, considering Sara’s lifelong infatuation with felines. Even she, however, could not have anticipated that it would go quite that far. Yet there was nothing else to be taken from the shine in Sara’s eyes and the almost childlike way in which she clasped her hands together, as if she was about to begin praying to a higher power.

“Yes, of course!” Sara scoffed, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Honestly, Elanor, it’s like you don’t even know me.”

If the words had not been shared between such close friends they could have come off as harsh – yet the smile on her lips softened them enough that Elanor laughed, running her fingers back through her hair.

“That… That would be a big change for you though, Sara,” Elanor said at last, doing her best to advise caution. “Is that something you really want? I don’t think there is any possible way to take back a familiar transformation – it’s binding. And you’ve just graduated! You’ve got your whole life ahead of you…”

Elanor rubbed the back of her neck, considering things even more deeply.

“But I would get to practically adopt you, my best friend…and it would be amazing to have you be able to use some magic too. I didn’t want to keep you in the dark about things, not like this, but we could be even closer like this too… And spend more time together!”

Sara grinned.

“See! It’s the perfect solution to, well, everything,” she implored her. “I don’t mean this in a bad way – but you know there’s no one who’s going to miss me here. Sure, there are some friends, but we can find a way to let them know that everything’s okay. Maybe there’s a spell for that too, so they won’t worry about me? But I was never sure what I even wanted to do after studying and this just answers every question for me.”

Elanor shook her head, teeth digging lightly into her lower lip.

“Sara… It’s a huge step, I didn’t think you’d take it seriously, even though…well…” Elanor toyed with her words. “I’d love it, I know I would. You’re just my best friend Sara. And…there’d be a huge power boost for me if a human became my familiar – as an animal, of course.”

“A cat,” Sara rushed to correct her. “Definitely a cat, there’s no question about that.”

“Yes, okay, a cat,” Elanor conceded. “I know how much you like them… Ah.”

Elanor could have pushed back against it – but why should she when she already knew Sara as well as she did? Sara was in it for the long haul and she most certainly didn’t make decisions lightly. Even when things had not been quite right for her, she stuck by her choice and saw things out, resolute in her choices. She was very rarely wrong about her choices either, seeming to have an uncanny knack for seeing straight through the strangest of situations without a single second thought about them.

Kind of like a cat. They didn’t have regrets like that either, even if, occasionally, they got themselves into stickier situations.

Sara waited, holding her breath. She couldn’t force the issue but, oddly enough, she thought things were going to swing her way. She could almost feel her whiskers bristling on her face already, as if they were really there, a soft coat of fur tickling all over her body.

“Okay…” Elanor said, as if she was only just coming to the realisation for herself. “Okay, I can do it. But I want you to be really sure about this first, Sara, because I won’t be able to change you back either.”

She privately knew that was partly because it would take power gained from her away if she even transformed Sara back from feline to human again. There would be few witches who would be willing to give up something like that when they had acquired it. Although it wouldn’t be a bad deal in any way for Sara, of course. For her, it would practically be a life of luxury, taken away from so many human wiles and ways to live out her life in a fantastical manner.

“I am sure, Elanor,” Sara said, trying to put as much sincerity into her voice while remaining level, all to show she was calm and genuine about it. “It’s a huge thing…but this is right for me. My only concern is that I want the people who know me to know I’m okay, that’s all.”

They perhaps shouldn’t have entered into things so swiftly, but Sara didn’t want to hold back. There were very few loose ends for her to tie up and it was easy enough for her to arrange for the apartment ownership, which she had back in her hometown, to be transferred into Elanor’s name. She wasn’t going to need it, after all, when she was a feline.

Although Elanor had been going to stay for a few days, their plans changed quickly and they chatted that evening about everything they would need to get ready for the big transfiguration session. Instead of staying, Elanor headed home the next morning to make her preparations and Sara… Well, she’d be leaving her student house there a lot earlier than expected.

A couple of nights later, alone, she sat cross-legged on her bed, strangely caught by the notion that it would be one of the final times she would be able to sit like that. Cats couldn’t cross their legs, even though they had a much greater degree of flexibility in other ways. Would she gain more than she lost?

Sara rolled on to all fours, stretching out, wiggling her hips back and forth and pushing her forearms down before her. It was hard to mimic a feline’s motions when she was on all fours, but on her hands and knees rather than with legs that matched a quadrupedal form. Still, it helped reassure her ever so slightly that she was doing the right thing – for it felt right, even though she wanted everything to “settle” into place an awful lot more easily than it was in that moment.

Still, that was coming soon and Sara wanted there to be no going back from it as she settled all her affairs for the next day, putting what she couldn’t deal with immediately into trusts to be managed. Everything would be safe, even if it would not be any of her concern, not anymore.

Continued in part two of two.