Danika found a quiet rooftop in a small plaza with a fountain and wrote another reply to SaltySiamese: "Sorry, I haven't unlocked screenshots. If I ever turn into a cat again I'll try to let you know so we can meet up. I had no idea it was a messenger quest until it was completed. Have you heard of a city called Windbur?"

She checked the time, and she still had a few minutes before her shift started. She zipped down to the fountain and spent the last of her game session learning to use the Shape ring to mold the water into temporary balls and rolling them around like marbles or throwing them back into the fountain like water balloons. She tried attaching a ball of water to her light the way she could attach her spark, but instead of being able to move the water, the light particles spread themselves out into the same ball shape.

The last thing she tried was targeting her light cantrip directly with the Shape ring. It was kind of a waste because the shape cantrip the ring cast had a 30 second duration, compared to the 6 seconds that her light had, but the light particles did arrange themselves into the shape more easily than if she aligned each particle individually.

--

Danika was kind of glad that she'd taken the evening shift when it started to snow late in the afternoon. The fluffy flakes were a distraction, and her efficiency dropped a little, but seeing the first snow of the year felt worth it.

She decided that after her shift ended, she'd go outside for a bit if it was still snowing. She remembered one of the ingredients from the familiar spell, and grinned. It was too bad that she wouldn't be able to carry a flake from reality into the game.

Danika had two messages when she took a break to eat her supper. SaltySiamese sent: "A cat never accepts excuses! You must endure the weight of my scorn until I see your little furry face for myself! Thinking of that, I haven't even gotten to see your fairy dragon yet! I haven't heard of Windbur, but I'll ask around. Let's meet up soon!"

Danika laughed and said quietly, "The way of the Cat didn't mention anything about scorn or excuses." She replied: "Sure. I'm between quests at the moment, but I told myself I'd maintain a more reasonable schedule so since I'm working an evening shift today, I probably won't play again until tomorrow."

The other message was from Aishin. Danika smiled as she read: "Ok! Send me a list of the ingredients! It's snowing here, if you send me your number or contact name, I'll send you a photo. No pressure if you don't want to."

She wrote back: "It's snowing here too, it's beautiful. Sorry, I'd rather not. I'm on my break and not logged in to the game right now, but I'll try to send the list soon."

A minute later Aishin sent back: "Ok "

--

It had stopped snowing the fat fluffy flakes after only about an hour, but after her shift finished Danika scooted up close to her window and pushed one of her houseplants aside enough that she could see the street below. There was still a layer of snow, and tiny flakes sparkled as they tumbled through the beam of light from the streetlight.

After a minute she moved over to her closet and burrowed into the back of it to get out the storage bag that held her winter clothes. It was probably past time to sort her closet for the seasonal change, but she just left the bag lying beside the closet, pulled on her warmer things, and hurried down to the street.

Danika looked around the deserted street and then laughed and held out her hands to try to catch a snowflake on her palm the way a little kid would. It was like trying to catch mist, her hands got slightly damp without catching anything that stayed long enough to see, and swiftly grew painfully cold. She tucked them under her arms and just watched the snow for awhile.

The tiny sparkling flakes reminded her of the sandman's dreams in "Living Jade Empire". They were also similar to sand in the way they were slowly softening the prints other people had left behind in the deeper snow earlier in the day. The dry little flakes shifted with every little breeze creating soft drifts.

Even though she'd bundled up, she was too cold to stay out very long. Even so, when she looked back from the doorway of her building, the two parallel tracks she'd left on her way back in cut sharply across the soft traces of the tracks she'd left on her way out. The fine snow was building up more quickly than it appeared, and she was kind of glad that she'd restocked her foods. There might not be many places willing to deliver in the morning if the snow continued.

Danika looked at the bag of winter clothing when she returned to her room. She sighed as she stripped out of her outer layers and laid them out to dry. Then she scooted over and started pulling out her lightest clothes and folding them neatly, while hanging her sweaters and heavier clothing in their places.

She was yawning when she pulled herself into the warm confines of the VR-medi pod to sleep. After a moment's thought, she logged into "Living Jade Empire" before she fell asleep. She was still in the little plaza where she'd stopped to write messages and play with the shape cantrip earlier.

The little fairy dragon yawned, and then huffed its breath attack out in a small cloud. She stepped forward into it and the Sandman popped up and said laughingly, "You called?"

Danika nodded and told him, "I'd like to dream about going sledding!"

He twirled his hat and winked. "Certainly my dear, let's have some fun!"

Danika gasped as the ground dropped out from under her and she fell into the sled that whisked her down a glittering slope. She was still grinning when she fell into a real sleep a while later.

--

Danika woke up with a smile and stretched the way she imagined the kitten on the sticker in front of her nose might stretch.

She looked out the window when she climbed out of the VR-medi pod. The sky was bright and clear. She hurriedly scooted over to the window to look down, and saw that the snow had stayed, but it hadn't piled up much deeper and the pavement had already been cleared. After a minute she turned away and began her usual morning routine.

She was brushing her teeth when she realized that she had logged into the game but forgotten to send Aishin the familiar spell's ingredients list. She finished up hurriedly and logged in on her phone as she settled into her usual place in front of her screen. She was only part way through copying the list when she began to wish that she had screenshots unlocked and that she'd accepted Aishin's offer to exchange numbers or messenger contacts so that she didn't have to type them all.

After a minute she pulled up the game's forums on her main screen and did a search. She checked the list someone had posted of the ingredients a witch needed to collect and they were identical. She cancelled out of the message she'd been writing and messaged Aishin the forum link instead.

The forum had notifications waiting for her, and instead of closing it out, she tapped over to them curiously. Her "1000 Karma Character" posts had gathered even more replies. There was one from To-Be-A-Dragon that said: "I was so glad to find this post about your time in your egg! I thought the game had glitched, but found your post and have been spending this time raising my skill levels. My hatching timer as a Salamander feels really long, but this way I'm confident that it will be worth it. Thanks!"