Her Familiar

Ladine had been living in her little cottage outside the limits of the tiny, growing town for a year or so now. She’d had visitors of course, those seeking out herbal remedies and to have their fortunes told in a teacup or on the lines of their palms. But this visitor was new.

A slim, rumpled, black cat sat on her doorstep, tail wrapped just so around its front paws, staring up at her with golden eyes the precise color of the fall leaves on the surrounding trees. They remained like that for just a bit, studying one another, the cat obviously knowing what it wanted.

“Alright then, come inside.” She said to the little thing, and as soon as she opened the front door, in it slipped. Ladine busied herself with putting away the bits and bobs she’d purchased in town, anything she didn’t grow in her little garden, jars of milk and blocks of butter. She half expected the cat to follow along at her heels, but instead it found its way over to the workbench and chair that were reserved for herbal medicine making. The cat hopped up on the chair, back paws remaining on it while front paws reached up for the workbench to peer over the edge.

“Looking for something?” Ladine asked from across the room, crossing her arms to watch this little shadow explore. The cat mrowp-ed at her, not even looking back and instead hopping up on the workbench fully. It sniffed at the jars lined up on the shelves, before reaching out to tap one with its paw a few times. Ladine walked over to look at the label and laughed.

“Did you smell this all the way outside?” The cat nudged up against her arm as she pulled the jar down, opening it to shake a little catnip on the workbench. Purring heavily and loudly, the cat shoved its face against the herb, rolling to a shoulder and then to its back, then all the way over to its front, covering its body with the herb and scrubbing its face against the workbench. 

“Well you sure have a cute way of asking for a little catnip.” Ladine was chuckling as she put the stopper back in the jar, settling it on the shelf. “And you’re very smart.” She held out her hand, watching as the cat nuzzled into her palm. 

A brief, sudden flash of memory flitted across her mind, of a time not too long ago and yet ages before. A different cat and yet the same one, pressing his nose deeply into the hollow of her palm just as this one was doing now. Ladine blinked away the memory, looking down at the small purring feline, shifting her hand to scratch under its chin.

“Ah, I suppose that makes you mine then.” The cat’s response was to purr and nuzzle even deeper into her palm. 

Later, as the cat was snoozing away in front of the fireplace, Ladine would add a section about familiars to her grimoire, making sure to note that they will follow you from lifetime to lifetime.

The cat would attend every fortune telling with her, sit at her feet or on her shoulder as Ladine prepared remedies, and once, hissed so fiercely at a visiting farmhand he ran away and swore to never come back. Ladine only chuckled and scratched the cat under the chin.

“What a fierce protector you are, my dear.” 

Gladys the Coven Mother’s beloved black lab lay at her side, his head gently resting on her chest. Her hand lifted to scratch gently behind his ears, pulling a soft whine from the gentle beast. She smiled down at him, weakly, only able to look with her eyes since she didn’t have the strength to lift her head. The dog shifted, pressing its wet nose into the hollow of her palm, his bright golden eyes so unusual for black labs, but so perfect on this particular dog. This brought a rush of love and joy to her heart, and she softly folded her fingers over the dog’s muzzle, just briefly. They both knew she wouldn’t be here much longer, it wouldn’t be too much more time before she moved on to her next life.

“You’ll find me, won’t you? I know you will.” The old witch was whispering, just barely above a breath, but she knew her familiar would hear her. He always did, always had. The dog huffed, dropping his head back to her chest, still staring at her as if his gaze was the only thing keeping her tethered to this world. 

“We’ll make sure.” Gladys’ second, her best friend, was in the chair next to her bed, tears in her eyes and a very old book wrapped in her arms. The old witch smiled at her, reaching out a trembling hand. Her friend took it, squeezing gently. “I’ll help, I’ll keep an eye out for both of you and make sure you’re reunited if I can.” Her voice was breaking softly, and she swallowed back her sorrow, trying to force the sincerity and love into her tone instead.

Gladys smiled, nodding gently, knowing she could trust her life and her familiar’s life to this woman. She’d already entrusted the coven to her for the past few years, once the witch had gotten too frail to lead the rituals herself. 

“I believe you. Thank you.” She said, gently releasing her friend’s hand to softly clasp the dog’s face between her palms. The witch found the strength to lift her head, to kiss her dog gently on the nose. “I love you, my steadfast friend. Protect the coven until it’s time for you to reincarnate as well.” 

Dogs aren’t really able to cry, not like humans do, but the familiar would have bent the laws of the animal kingdom if it meant he could mourn his friend as her hands slipped down from his face and landed softly on her own chest, her head falling back, leaning softly to the side as it dropped to her pillow. 

The new Coven Mother clutched her predecessor’s book to her chest, trying desperately to not let her tears fall on the old, delicate papers. The two souls cried together for their companion, despite knowing they’d see her again in the next life, and the next. 

All it would take was a little bit of time.

The old dog laid obediently at his latest companion’s feet, dozing quietly as she sorted out the accounting and taxes for the shop his master had owned. The woman currently taking care of him was his friend, but she wasn’t his in the way his master had been. He and his master belonged together in a way few other pets and owners did. 

He opened his eyes and looked over as the bell on the door sounded, his ears perking up more as he heard a baby laughing. Babies didn’t come into the store often, there were too many ingestible things that shouldn’t be ingested, and too many breakable things that could be easily knocked over by a toddler that didn’t have full control over their limbs yet. 

“Hello! Welcome to Ladine’s Gem!” His friend called to the couple coming in, carefully navigating their stroller into the shop. They greeted her in return, and the dog stood, stretched, and made his way to the newcomers. 

The parents were examining the hanging crystal suncatchers at the end of one of the rows of shelves, and the baby was watching the rainbows they made on the ceiling. The old lab tippy-tapped closer to the stroller, his claws clacking rhythmically against the hardwood of the shop. 

“Oh hello there, old boy.” The father of the baby noticed the dog, crouching to hold his hands out. The dog sniffed at him then bowed his head a little, welcoming the pets and scratches behind his ears. He let out a happy huff, which the father returned with a soft chuckle. “Look at the puppy, Alexis.” The dog lifted his head to the baby in the stroller, who was indeed looking at the old puppy. She reached out her baby-chubby little hand and bapped it directly on the lab’s nose, folding her fingers over his graying muzzle. They didn’t reach very far, but the sentiment was all the same. Two souls recognizing each other, companions across lifetimes greeting each other again. 

The old lab knew this baby wouldn’t grow to be his master in his current form, it was slowing down and wearing out, but at least they had this little moment together. So he closed his eyes, huffed against her palm, and let her hold his muzzle for as long as she liked.

Alexis genuinely wasn’t used to having a pet, this little kitten was the first one she’d had her entire life. But here was the little black fuzzball, her eyes just barely opened as of a few weeks ago, currently making the tiniest biscuits on her duvet. She’d been around other people’s pets, and her father had told her the story of how deeply she’d fallen in love with an old black lab as a baby, but none of them had been her sole responsibility. 

“You are just too tiny, I always feel like I’m going to lose you somewhere. Like I should just keep you in my pocket constantly.” She wiggled her fingers across the bed for the kitten to chase, and it complied, quickly waddling after with her tail pointed straight to the sky. Alexis giggled, allowing the baby to pounce on her palm, curling her fingers just slightly around it, like a protective cage. The kitten squeaked, and lowered her head to sniff at Alexis’ palm. The act triggered the biggest sense of deja vu, Alexis had felt this before, and not from any of her friends’ pets. She laid there, watching both a kitten and a full grown cat press into her palm. Something other than a cat memory tickled at the back of her mind, a passage from a book maybe? Something she had read? It was something to do with familiars, she thought. As a budding witch and beginner Pagan, she’d been trying to read everything she could about any magic path she could get ahold of, and familiars were mentioned in a lot of the most popular books. But a particular one was trying to come to her conscious memory now. 

Scooping up the kitten, giggling softly at her tiny squeak of surprise, Alexis held the baby to her collarbone with one hand and dug out the grimoire she’d been convinced to buy by the lady at the witch shop downtown. It was an ancient tome, all the pages handwritten and older than almost all of the buildings in the city. The kitten climbed up Alexis’ shirt to perch on her shoulder, her whiskers tickling against her master’s cheek gently, the tiny purr little more than a buzz in Alexis’ ear. 

“Where was that page?” Alexis whispered, reaching up to make her hand a platform for a kitten that was clearly trying to get onto the desk. She hand-taxied the baby cat to her desk, and laughed as the tiny thing shoved its paw into the book. “Are you trying to help?” She giggled, and humored the kitten by flipping to the page that was currently “bookmarked” by a tiny paw. Alexis blinked in surprise at the words on the page once she focused on them.

“Oh.. I guess you were. Good job, baby cat.” One hand stroking the now-purring kitten’s back, the other tracing the line of writing, Alexis re-read the portion she’d been trying to remember.

Familiars are companion spirits that can serve as teachers, friends, helpers, nearly anything that a witch will need. They are with you to assist in your goals and your work, and sometimes teach you a lesson that you may have been refusing to learn. It is not uncommon for a familiar to follow a witch throughout all of their lifetimes, and appear to the witch when they’re needed most. Generally, they will keep the same form they had in the previous life, but it is not unheard of for a familiar to take many different forms. It is, however, unusual for them to appear as human. 

The most common forms of familiars - that I have personally seen - are cats, dogs, various birds, and once a porcupine. Other animals aren’t unheard of, but they seem to stick to commonly accepted pets. 

When a familiar chooses you, or re-finds you, it will be blatant, there will be no question. The familiar will make it known that they are here to help you in the most obvious way possible. 

Alexis had stopped petting the kitten as she read, and instead just rested her hand on its back. As soon as the passage was read, the kitten stood and stretched her back up in an arch, moving to sit directly on the final paragraph and look up at Alexis with a mrowp. Alexis giggled softly, reaching to scratch the kitten’s cheeks with both hands.

“Well then, I guess you’re mine.”

Alexis had become the Coven Mother once more, as she had in all her past lives and would in the ones to come. She was bound to the role, bound to this coven of souls that had decided they were family and wanted the universe to know it. 

Her now-geriatric cat, her familiar, her best assistant, still liked to sit on her shoulder as she worked, but now it required a hand to help steady it. Because of this, Alexis had started simply strapping the cat against her chest in a scarf, much like a mother would do with a child. The cat purred as she nestled her head against Alexis’ collarbone, one paw pressed gently against her heart. Alexis laid a hand against the cat’s back, smiling gently to herself as she felt the vibration of her darling friend’s purr.

“You better have at least five more years in you, baby cat.” Alexis whispered, bending her head to kiss the cat’s head softly. Claws poked softly against her skin as the cat kneaded her chest in response, purring louder and more strongly. Alexis chuckled softly, reaching forward for the rest of the labels she had been putting on various tinctures and infusions, preparing them for sale.

She knew her familiar would find her again after its current form had run its course, so it made the thought of losing her briefly a little easier to bear, but that time apart after so long together would still be agonizing. She absentmindedly stroked the cat through the fabric as she sorted and counted bottles, then pulled her ancient grimoire over to add another passage to the page she’d started nearly four hundred years before. 

Familiars can be the greatest thing to ever happen to a witch. Once you know yours has found you, treat them right, take care of them, for they will do everything in their power to take care of you. Nothing is too good for an eternal companion that has nothing but your best interests at heart.