"Hey, Reg! Regolith! Get over here!" Wendy Testaburger's shout echoed off the white-and-green, snow-scoured peaks.

The dæmon leapt from the prickly boughs of an evergreen, a black squirrel. In midair he became a dark eagle, slicing the air with his black wings as he wheeled, and flew towards her. Wendy grinned as he settled on her shoulder, a grackle now. His black plumage glinted with an almost oily luster. He had been changing frenetically for days now...he was getting ready to settle, Wendy was sure of it.

It was a Saturday, a carefree Saturday. The day was frigid, the snow was deep, and there was no school. And she had a date with Stan in half an hour. She smiled wistfully as she ran a quick hand through her shimmering blue-black hair, checking to see if it had become tangled. Nope, still the same black waterfall as ever, so straight you could put a spirit level to it.

It started to snow, large white flakes wafting down through the air. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled on her dark violet mittens. Her fingers had begun to turn pink from the biting cold. She sighed as Regolith took flight with a whir, swooping in circles among the snowflakes. He dove to the ground, turning into a schipperke dog the second his sticklike sepia claws touched the snow. The dæmon bounced about, a dusting of snow settling on his luxuriant inky fur.

At first Wendy had enjoyed the rapid changing, but now it was beginning to wear her down. Regolith seemed very excited, too. Inordinately so.

"Reg, this has got to be a record!" she said irritably. "You've changed, what, ten times in the past minute?"

"No!" he replied animatedly, pausing for a moment before leaping up to snap at a snowflake. "I've only changed three times in the past fifteen minutes!"

"Yes, but at a constant rate!" Wendy said impatiently. "What's up with this? You're exhausting me. Keep this form for a while now, okay? Or pick another one. I don't want to be all shook up when I see Stan."

"Fine." Regolith gave a resentful sigh and became a brown mastiff.

"Damn it, Reg! You know as well as I do that's Geotaka's form! It'll make Stan uncomfortable."

"Very well, very well," the dæmon conceded, regretfully. "I will not give in to the changing urge coursing through me, which does not affect you, lucky Wendy." With that, he transformed into a grackle once more and flew to her shoulder.

She stroked one of his wings with her fingertip. "Oh, I don't like being angry with you, not even the least bit mad."

"I know," he said happily. "You can't be mad at your dæmon for long."

Together, they set off for Stark's Pond.

---------

Stan waited by the placid pond, watching the slate-grey water shudder beneath the cold wind. At his side was Geotaka, his brown Great Pyrenees dog dæmon.

"Is she coming?" Stan watched a flock of geese go honking off into the clouds. Late-November, and they still hadn't all migrated yet.

"Of course she's coming," Geotaka responded in her patient voice.

Stan nodded and wrapped his arms around himself with a shiver. The red mittens were too thin; the cold air went right through them. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his brown jacket and waited for them to warm.

His head itched. He reached up and tugged off the blue winter hat by its red pom-pom, but winced as his ears became exposed. He quickly satisfied the itch, then flattened his now-tousled dark brown hair and pulled the hat back down over his ears.

"Jeez, I look like crap," he complained to his dæmon.

"You do not look like crap, Stan!" Geotaka responded. "Stop being nervous! You know, I can't wait to see Regolith, but I don't worry about how I look..."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, butterflies in his stomach.

Geotaka looked mournfully across Stark's Pond. If not for being settled, she would have turned into an armadillo. For some reason that had always been good for diverting Stan's attention from a stressful situation. Maybe it was the effect of looking at a small mammal clad in a shell not unlike samurai armour...Geotaka shook herself. Do something.

"Wanna skip stones?" A cold nose nudged the wet pebbles at the water's edge, where the snow turned to gravel.

Stan shook his head. "Nah..."

"Fine." Geotaka sighed. She winced as the wind picked up again, sending a chill through her despite the thickness of her dun-brown fur.

"Brrr!" Stan looked at his dæmon. "Cold! Do I have to get you a doggie sweater or something?"

Geotaka gave a sigh of resignation. Suddenly Stan perked up his head.
"Ahh! Wendy!"
He gave a twitch. "She's coming, I can see her!"

"Well, don't go jumping out of your skin," Geotaka said calmly. Her tail started wagging of its own volition.

The dark shape that was Wendy came closer. She waved as she approached, and Stan waved back.

Wendy was short for a girl her age, and Stan was tall; but when they were together, she was formidable. Her hair swung with the rhythm of her hips as she walked towards him, Regolith a jet-feathered grackle on her shoulder. Regolith gave a few bright, quick motions with his head before taking flight and perching on Stan's dæmon. Geotaka jumped about on soft padded paws, pretending to be averse to the dark bird on her head, her movements remarkably graceful for such a large creature.

"Agh-" Stan felt the familiar floating-stomach sensation he had tried for so long to subdue...

Geotaka sensed it and barked, "Armadillo, Stan! Armadillo!"

Stan snapped to attention and gulped. He looked pale. He swallowed hard to govern his nausea and recited squeakily, "Armadillo, armadillo, scrub it well with lots of Brillo..." The color returned to his cheeks and he smiled wearily.

Regolith induced a flurry of black flight feathers and gave a call that sounded like a laugh.

"Nice going, Stan," Wendy said drily.

"Wendy!" said Stan, his happiness marred only by his unpleasant habit. He looked gloomy. "Uh, sorry about that."

Wendy giggled and punched him playfully with her mittened fist. "Shut up and give me a proper hello. Wait, that didn't come out quite right." She squinched an eye shut and looked skywards. "What I meant was..." she leaned in and pecked him on the cheek.

Geotaka's dark amber eyes closed and she went limp, wriggling with pleasure as Regolith sat between her shoulder blades and covered her fur with the down of his body.

Wendy drew back slightly and clasped one of his mittened hands. "It's been so long since we've been to Stark's Pond," she breathed, smiling, in her dulcet voice. Her voice had changed much since she had been in the third grade; it was no longer so high-pitched, more euphonious and at the same time more powerful.

Stan smiled widely. He could feel his heart beating in his chest. It felt very small, like a pulsating flower bud. He reached out in one fluid motion and gently brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear. She wrapped her arms around his neck and felt Stan's dæmon nuzzling Regolith.

"Mmm, you're so warm, Stan," Wendy mumbled. She let her head rest on his shoulder and closed her eyes. It felt very natural to Stan at that moment to twine his arms gently around her waist. Wendy embraced him more tightly, and Stan responded in kind. He craned his neck to the left and let his lips brush her hair, the strands cool to the touch.

Wendy lifted her head from his shoulder and kissed him once again on the cheek, but this time pressed her lips more firmly against his skin, feeling the softness and the warmth radiating sensually, a shared experience of tenderness. Stan closed his eyes for a moment and received a thought of contentment from Geotaka, along with a mental picture of the dog snuggled against the small black bird.

Wendy unconsciously drew her lips closer to his and then suddenly he, Stan, was participating in the kiss too.