Nana cleaned away the bloodied snow. She would have to ask Arthur to come and get rid of that owl at one point, despite her reluctance to harm wildlife in her part of the woods. The viscera it left behind was starting to get into Rose’s already thinning patience.

Snarl wadded through the layer of snow, jumping and playing. A good thing considering the large belly it was developing lately.

Rose had asked the hunter about Snarl, about the type of creature it was. He said he had never seen something with the same characteristics she described, and that he would come to visit her after he finished his winter fishing trip. His smoked salmon was pretty popular amongst the villagers, so she could not blame him for not rushing over.

She did not intend to keep Snarl as a pet, so she had to keep it healthy so that it wouldn’t die as soon as it went back to the wilderness. Preferably in late spring.

“Less food and more activity,” Sarah had told her. She owned the closest thing there was to Snarl in this community. A cat.

Snarl jumped into the snow with a tiny, wet thud, then vanished into it. She got slightly worried for a moment, until it popped out with a pile of snow laying over its head. Skin having a slight blush from the cold and nose sniffing before turning to her with a sharp fanged grin.

At least It was not as disturbing anymore, she sighed.

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She continued moving the snow off the doorsteps and the pathway to the road. She was too old for this type of work, but it had to be done, lest she trips over something and breaks her bones. That would be much worse than a hurt back. Or pain in the knees. Or-

Rose just… felt old.

A sharp chirp made her look again. Snarl was staring at her. “No, no food. Go and play.”

It tilted its head in response, then started making that silly gurgling noise. “No.” she said, firmly.

Angry grumbles, then it tried to walk back inside. Or waddle.

The door was closed and so it failed to do so.

“We are going to stay outside, and work that fat off your lazy bottom,” she groaned and shoveled another scoop.

She ignored the angry protests behind her and continued, one small scoop at a time. Taking a break between each one. It took a while for the chirps to stop, and for Snarl to walk back into the snow. It took a small scoop of snow and mimicked her, tossing the snow much like she did.

“Oh, you are trying to help me out?”

Snarl grunted as it grabbed another pile, no larger than one of the buttons on her jacket and tossed it into the larger pile. It was a small effort. And it did not make her work any faster. But somehow… She felt it was actually helping.

Rose felt energized, and the pathway was cleared quicker than she’d seen in the past few years.

“Phew,” she huffed as she went back to the door. She waited for Snarl to hop over before opening the door. “Okay, we deserve a tiny treat after that work.”

She closed the door, just in time to hear something crash against it. Rose took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

That darned owl…