Hazel knew she wouldn't miss the simple dress she'd loaned to Brit, and wouldn't mind if her friend kept it.

"Things have been running smoothly enough," she commented as the carriage took them back to the ranch. "There are a bunch of colored pygmies now, and each of the herds have some new additions."

Brit nodded, pleased to hear that. She'd have to take her time getting all the little ones used to people.

And the ceryneians? she wrote. Hazel had loaned her some paper for the trip over.

Hazel smiled slightly.

"We have enough newborns that you can work on your little project," she said. "You've got my permission for it."

Brit grinned, very pleased with that. How many will be going away? That was always a good thing to know, so she'd be able to pick which ones she wanted to work with. She was fairly sure Hazel wouldn't mind giving her first pick of the newborns, anyway.

"Of that herd?" Hazel asked. "Just one, and we got three newborns." She looked a bit apologetic. "But the one we are selling was specifically requested, so it has to be that one."

Brit shrugged. That was okay. That left her with two others. That would be a good start, although she'd have to think about moving those two to a different corral once they were old enough, and possibly adding to the new herd next year.

But first she'd have to see how these two did.

Finally, the carriage stopped so they could get out. Hazel let Brit get out first, and followed after her once her friend was safely back on solid ground.

Brit smiled when she saw the ranch, tempted to go straight out and check on things. But that probably wouldn't be a good idea with the dress, so instead she motioned to her phoenixes and headed towards her room to get changed.

Kaladin nudged Seamus and nodded over in the direction of the girls. "Look who's wearing a dress again."

"Really?" Seamus blinked and looked up. When he spotted Brit, his face split into a grin and he got up to go meet her.

Kaladin snickered and let him go, feeding the rest of the animals himself so Seamus could have some time with Brit.

Brit smiled when she saw him, stopping in the doorway to the dorm building.

Seamus grinned and went to pull her into a hug.

"You look beautiful," he murmured to her as he did.

Brit smiled and snuggled close to him again, hugging him back. She'd missed this while she was gone. After a moment, she rested her head against his shoulder.

Seamus just stood there, holding her close. He rested his cheek against her hair gently, and one hand rubbed small circles on her back.

Brit stayed there for a few minutes, until she decided she wanted out of the dress more than she wanted cuddle time with Seamus. So she pulled back a bit and smiled.

I'm going to go get this thing off, if I can manage.

Seamus reluctantly let her go, and leaned in to give her a small, chaste kiss before he released her completely.

"Alright," he said softly.

Brit smiled and kissed him briefly before she went back to her room. It took her a few minutes to wrestle the dress off and get into her normal clothes, but she managed, and then she went straight back to Seamus.

Seamus grinned when she came back.

"You still look beautiful," he said softly as he wound his arms around her waist again.

Brit smiled and blushed, leaning against him anyway. She was very happy right then, now that she was home again. After a moment she kissed him hesitantly.

That surprised him, but he took it in stride and returned the kiss. Oh yes, right now Seamus was very pleased with life.

Brit pulled back after a bit, still red but smiling. Life was good.

Except now she needed to go check on the animals before she died of curiosity.

Once again, Seamus was reluctant to let her go. But eventually he did.

"I think we both need to get back to work," he said softly. He grinned. "The sheep missed you, I think."

Brit smiled and nodded, anxious to go see them all. she let go of all of him but a hand, towing him along as she headed for the sheep first.

Seamus grinned when she kept hold of his hand, and walked with her to the sheep corral. There were plenty more colors now than when Brit had left, and most of them already had their feet under them.

"There are still three females that have yet to drop lambs," he said to Brit. "And colors seem to be random, as long as one of the parents was a color. The greyscale ones only keep giving us greyscale."

Brit nodded, thinking that over. She was sure there had to be some sort of pattern to the colors, she just had to figure it out. But if only one parent had to be color rather than greyscale, that made things much more interesting, and opened up many more breeding possibilities. She clambered over into the corral and was immediately surrounded by sheep.

Seamus couldn't help but chuckle when she was immediately piled on by rainbow-colored cotton balls.

"They've been doing that," he commented as he sat on the fence and swung his feet over to the inside.