The human-turned-Snow and the dog-turned-Alika began to descend down toward the fjord, the sun slowly climbing up the sky.

“This way, Alika,” Snow said. She placed her hands onto the dirt and began crawling down the cliffside. “Just remember: don’t say anything.”

Alika squinted. She didn’t know much about humans, but she was pretty sure that they weren’t supposed to climb like that. Still, she followed after — and immediately stumbled, sliding a few tail-lengths through the dirt before coming to a stop.

“Remember that even though you think you’re a dog, you’re still actually a dragon,” Snow told Alika, continuing to crawl on all fours. “You’re used to using your tail to balance, right? You still have to do that, even if it feels much smaller now.”

“Forget you’re a dragon, remember you’re a dragon,” Alika mumbled. “Which is it?”

“Shh, no speaking,” Snow reminded.

Alika glowered but followed Snow down to the banks of the fjord. Small plates of ice drifted past her as she stared across it. The water was calm, unlike the rushing rivers and bubbling streams that they’d come across on their travels north.

Alika dipped her snout in, letting the water soak her fur. It was cold, but not quite as frigid as she’d been expecting. She lapped up a small sip of it, only to spit it out in disgust.

“Blegh!” The water tingled on her tongue and burned against the back of her throat. She tried spitting more, but couldn’t get the taste out. “What is this? What did you do to my sense of taste?”

Snow yipped in laughter. “I didn’t do anything. It’s salt water, silly! I told you we were almost to the ocean!”

“The whole ocean tastes like this?” Alika asked. “Why! Why would the Dreamer do that to it?”

“Hey, take it up with her,” Snow replied. “Don’t drink too much of it, or you might barf.”

“Ew,” Alika said. She glowered at the water as they walked alongside it. Water she couldn’t drink? It was cruelly deceptive!

The two approached the fishing village — a small cluster of maybe two dozen wooden houses next to the docks. Busy-looking humans walked in and out of them, moving back and forth from the shore. Alika’s hackles raised as she saw a small human cub pointing at her, but Snow just walked onward as if nothing had happened.

The docks themselves were filled with humans, leaping onto the rocking boats and dragging back nets of fresh fish to the shore. A pair of them held false claws in their hands, using them to cleanly slice open each fish one-by-one, before passing the gutted fish onward.

A delicious scent wafting through the air suddenly caused Alika’s tail to wag, and her mouth began to water. The source was easy to find: on the edge of the water, a squatting fisherman was roasting a few of the gutted fish over a contained fire. The winds were blowing the cloud of scent right at Alika. After having nothing but lemmings for so long, it was almost irresistible, and Alika couldn’t help but walk closer. They’d caught more fish than they could ever eat here — it wasn’t like they’d mind sharing, would they?

As Alika approached the fire, the fisherman waved one of the sharp false claws out at her, with bits of cooked fish dangling from its blade.

“Hey, dog, get out of here!” he snapped. “No fish for you!”

Alika bared her teeth and let out a low growl. She was a little surprised that she could understand him, but Snow had mentioned something about translation magic, hadn’t she?

The fisherman tensed a little at that and held the knife a tad more threateningly.

“Alika, heel!” Snow shouted. “Don’t be rude.”

Alika opened her mouth to growl something back at Snow but managed to hold her tongue. Right. She needed to stay quiet and let Snow deal with this.

“This your dog, girl?” The fisherman stood up. “Why isn’t she chained up? Seems like she’s wanting my breakfast.”

“Don’t need to chain her.” Snow lifted the white hood of fur from her head, revealing a smile so unnerving that the fisherman almost dropped his knife. “She’s very well trained. Alika, step away from the fish.”

Alika let out an indignant grunt but did as Snow asked.

“Huh,” the fisherman replied, scratching his head. It seemed to Alika that he was missing a few words in his mouth. “Well, um, I guess she is. I’ve never seen a dog walk away from a meal before. That’s, um, wow.”

“Oh, and that’s not all!” Snow continued. She pointed to a collection of rope, coiled up by the side of the dock next to a pair of three-pronged fishing spears. “Alika, go and fetch that rope there for this kind sir.”

Alika stared at it. Snow was commanding her to do what? She growled at Snow again. The fisherman looked at Alika with suspicion.

“Come on,” Snow grinned. “We wouldn’t want to disappoint him, would we?”

Alika let out an exhale of warm breath. Slowly, she lumbered over to the rope, grabbing a coil of it in her jaws. Another human on the dock shouted at her, but she ignored him, bringing the rope back to Snow and laying it at her feet. She’d make Snow pay for this somehow.

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The fisherman Alika had stolen the rope from followed them over, grabbing it almost as soon as Alika had set it down. Alika resisted the temptation to pull it away from him.

“Well-trained dog,” the newcomer murmured. He looked upward, staggering back as soon as his eyes met Snow’s and almost falling into the water. “You, er, um, do I know you?”

“Nope,” Snow replied without a hint of hesitation, her grin seeming even wider. “I live further inland.”

“Ah, that would explain it. I-I hadn’t realized there were villages inland from here. Thought it was all wild land.”

Alika could see droplets of sweat forming on the man’s brow. Why was he sweating when it was cold out? It was almost winter.

“Not a village,” Snow continued. “It’s just me, my father, and our loyal dog.” She reached down and gave Alika a scritch behind the ear.

Alika struggled to resist biting Snow’s fingers off. Was this just because Alika had pushed her into doing this?

“Ah, I see. Well, if you ever wanted to move somewhere a bit less isolated, a well-trained dog like that could fetch a great price up north.” The man crouched down, examining Alika. “She’d make a great sled dog. Darned, if she can fetch ropes, she might even make a great ship-dog!”

“Or a decent dowry,” the first fisherman said quietly.

Snow laughed — a quiet and very human giggle, nothing like the raucous yipping that Alika was used to. “Oh, Alika? She’s not for sale… although, for a fine canoe like that, I might be willing to trade.” She wiggled a finger at a mastless canoe tied to the dock, with a net full of fish sitting in the center of it.

Alika growled again, only for Snow to go back to petting her.

“My canoe? What would an inland girl want with that?” the second fisherman asked, frowning. “I mean, it’s not for sale either. Or for trade. Not much use for a ship-dog without a ship.”

Alika’s ears perked up as she heard a splash from the water. Her eyes scanned the side of the canoe, watching a dark splotch move beneath the surface. The canoe wobbled, and the fish-filled net rocked from side to side.

“I’ve always wanted to travel,” Snow explained. “It gets a bit dull living so far out south.”

“You can say that again,” the man crouching against the fire grumbled, placing another fish on it. “To say nothing ‘bout the winters. Chills my bones.”

Alika squinted as the canoe rocked again, the net of fish rolling over to its edge. An all-too-familiar white paw broke through the surface, pushing against the side of the canoe.

No. He wouldn’t!

The tip of Tarka’s snout brushed up to the canoe as it rolled from side to side, his greedy little fangs snapping at the net as it approached.

Tarka, no! Alika thought as if she could command him with her mind. Her ears tilted back, and she began to whine. Tarka had to get out of there, now!

Snow hadn’t seemed to notice Tarka yet. “Do you think your canoe could cross the ocean?”

“Cross it?” The fisherman chuckled. “Are you joking? Of course not, unless you’re asking for an early grave. It’s not made for waters like those. You’d need a voyager to cross.”

“Ah, I see,” Snow replied. “Then, in that case, I think we’ll be off. Alika, let’s go.”

Alika whined, watching as the canoe tilted further and further. Tarka was practically leaping out of the water now, snapping at the net as the fish got closer to his jaws with each rock of the boat.

“Alika?” Snow followed Alika’s gaze, and her eyes opened wide.

“What’s she looking at?” the second fisherman asked, turning his head. “What in the —”

Tarka’s jaws grabbed ahold of the net, and he tried to push off the boat and pull it into the water. Unfortunately, he hadn’t counted on it being secured — instead of dragging the fish into the water after him, they dragged him out of it. The dragon, his fur dripping with water, fell onto the boat and right into plain sight.

“Dragon!” the standing fisherman shouted, pointing a quivering finger at Tarka. “Dragon!”

“We don’t have dragons in these parts,” the crouching one replied, turning around to see Tarka. “Dragon!”

As soon as he’d realized that he’d been caught, Tarka twisted around, trying to get back into the water. He let out a grating yelp of pain as he twisted one of his paws, and Alika could see that it had been caught in the net of ropes. The fisherman currently in danger of losing his catch sprinted for the dock, reaching for the fishing spears.

Alika wouldn’t give him the chance. She pounced, opening her jaws and letting out a roar. He screamed as he saw the dog coming down on him, falling onto the dock, and hastily attempting to cover his face with his hands.

“Alika, don’t!” Snow warned.

It was too late, and Alika crashed into him, far larger and heavier than any dog should have been. She raked her talons through his shirt and lunged at his neck.

Alika’s world twisted, and the man was suddenly half the size he’d just been a moment before. Her jaws were powerful once more, the two great fangs at the end sharp and long. Her tail was no longer a flimsy strand of rope, and most importantly, she could feel her wings clearly.

Unfortunately, the sudden disorientation caused her larger head to crash at full speed into the wooden dock above the human’s head. Wood snapped, splintering into her fur. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself staring at the water surface under the dock.

“DRAGON!” the fisherman, still trapped beneath her screamed, even louder this time. “DRAGONS! TWO DRAGONS!”

A loud, metallic gong began to sound. Alika ripped her head out from the dock, wincing as splinters dug into her skin. She could hear the footsteps of more humans as they ran — not away in terror, but towards them.

“Get off him, you beast!” a woman yelled as she sprinted at Alika, the three sharp points of a fishing spear out and ready.

Alika took her paw off the man, lowering her head and letting out a threatening growl, intending to scare the new attacker off. It was unable to dissuade the woman — indeed, she only sped up.

“Stop.” Snow’s voice pierced the air, and for a brief moment, Alika’s attention was entirely consumed by it. The rest of the world faded away, drowned out by the single word that Snow had left hanging in the air. “If we let the dragons leave, no one will get hurt.”

Alika froze, and so did the woman with the spear, stopping in her tracks, her hands quivering.

“The dragon… the dragon was a dog.” The fisherman who Alika had pounced dragged himself away from her, coughing. Alika didn’t dare move to stop him, and he placed a hand on a spear, pointing it at Snow. “You-you’re a demon.”

The spell in the air suddenly broke, and Alika saw that where Snow the golden-eyed human had been moments before, Snow the three-tailed fox was now, not even reaching up to the knees of the very confused fisherman next to her.

“Well, I tried,” Snow sighed, stretching out her tails. “We should run.”