Brit went back to work, checking in on all the animals and making sure they were settling in well enough before she settled in for the night with her phoenixes.

Kaladin returned a month later, before any of the eggs had actually been laid or anything had actually been born, and he was grinning. There was a new scar running from his left cheek down to his jawline, but it was already healed over.

First thing he did was go find Hazel.

Hazel was out by the selkie pond, watching the selkies frolic. The little creatures had to be the happiest things on earth, short of the pygmy sheep who weren't smart enough to know better, and she liked taking breaks from her work to watch them.

Kaladin moved up behind her, watching the selkies for a moment. They weren't full grown yet by any standards, but they were noteably bigger than when he'd left.

"Wow, looks like they actually grew while I was gone. Guess you've been doing something right."

Hazeel jumped and whirled around. She gasped when she saw him.

"Kaladin!"

"I'm back." Kaladin grinned briefly and moved closer, unsure if he was allowed to hug her. "See? Still in one piece, and I found two things to bring back, actually, so I think I'm good."

Hazel rushed forward and hugged him, her arms around his chest and her face buried in his shoulder.

"I was so worried about you," she said, the words muffled a bit by his shoulder. "Please don't leave like that again."

Kaladin hugged her tighter, staying there. "Don't worry, I won't." He grinned briefly. "I won't have to. Not again." He rubbed her back soothingly.

"I missed you so much," Hazel murmured, holding on tight. "And I was so worried about you, finding trips are so dangerous..."

"Really, Hazel. I'm okay." Kaladin smiled at her, though he didn't let go of her yet. "See? I'm back, and I'm in one piece."

"I still worried about you," Hazel said. Her grip loosened slightly, but not by much, and she looked up at him. Her eyes focused on the scar. "What happened?" she asked, reaching up to trace it gently.

Kaladin grimaced, looking almost embarrassed. "Apparently I walk too quietly. I snuck up on my catch and he just grazed me before I managed to knock him out."

"It looks like it must have hurt..." Hazel said softly, tracing the scar again.

"Not too much. Besides, it was worth it." Kaladin smiled at her. "I brought back a new creature, Hazel, and a rare one as well as the new one. I'm now the same social class as you are."

"You..." Hazel trailed off in astonishment. "But... why?" It didn't occur to her that he did it to be with her; at least not at first. "Oh Kaladin..." She hugged him again, trying to blink away the tears that suddenly misted her eyes.

Kaladin grinned and held her close. "Now you don't have to worry about being with me," he said quietly. "And I can court you properly." Because he knew it mattered to her, even if she said it didn't.

Hazel clung to him, happy beyond words. Yes, it had mattered to her, it had mattered quite a bit. She wanted to be with him, but the gap between their classes was too big. Now it was much, much smaller, and that much easier to bridge.

Kaladin didn't let go of her for several minutes, and he did so only reluctantly.

"I should probably go tell Seamus too," he said quietly. "He doesn't even know I'm back yet."

Hazel let go of him reluctantly.

"Right," she said, nodding a bit. "I think he was out working with the shisas, when last I checked."

Kaladin blinked. "Shisas? When did we get shisas?" Then he spotted the sheep. "And why do we have multi-colored bouncing fluff balls in a corral?"

Hazel smiled a bit.

"A partner ranch of ours closed down," she replied. "They let us take what we wanted before they sold the rest. We took on quite a few new creatures. The ones we didn't have already were the cerberi, the shisas, and the pygmy sheep."

Kaladin blinked. "Oh." Then he shook himself a little. "How does everything look? Are you going to be selling a lot of the little ones?"

"Depending on the final numbers, there will be some sales," Hazel replied. "I've gotten a few requests. But the projected numbers this year are much higher than the last few for the ranch. I'm not sure what we should do with the ones I'm not selling already."

Kaladin was quiet for a moment. "Well, you could suggest trades with other places. Help spread the bloodlines around, and all that. Or you could keep some of them. If the ranch already has this many animals, keeping a few more won't make a difference in the workload."

"What do you think would be best?" Hazel asked. "We have breeding pairs of just about everything except the selkies and the cerberi, I think. According to what Brit tells me."

"Probably keep a few of the little ones. I'd trade the gryphon, especially once we know what gender it is, so we can get another female to balance out the group again. And everything else we can decide as we go." He shrugged. He knew that if they had animals to sell, someone would be willing to buy. Especially after the added prestige when his creatures were brought to the ranch.

"Oh, and we're going to need a new pen set up."