"Nothing would have happened in the first place if they hadn't been provoked," Hazel pointed out. Even now, the herd was mostly calm and quiet, which was pretty much their normal state. When she saw the look on the officer's face, though, she did back off a little. She could tell he wasn't going to give her any leeway. She pressed her lips together for a moment. "I want her back," she said finally.

"That depends on her behavior," the officer said. "This is protocol, ma'am. If you have a problem with it, you'll have to speak to my commanding officer."

That said, he and the other office started to move the gryphon out of the enclosure so they could take her back with them.

Hazel watched as they took the gryphon away, and then went over to Seamus and Brit.

"Be honest with me," she said softly. "How likely is it that they'll bring her back?"

Brit shrugged miserably. She was fairly sure that gryphon wasn't coming back, even though it hadn't been her fault. But the law was not very flexible in these matters.

"If she's not back in a week, like they said, I'll start harassing them about it," Hazel said. "We all know what happens when you set off a gryphon." She glanced at the rest of the herd, but none of them were really upset. Just a little twitchy, but that was normal. "Ugh, if only I didn't have to leave early today... I have some social obligations I couldn't escape from." Which meant she hadn't been able to squirm her way out of a party invitation, and had to go. It would be better if she had an escort, since it was a formal party, but it was understood that, since she was taking care of her inheritance, she might not have one.

"What kind of social obligation?" Kaladin asked, looking over at her. "The kind where you sit around in a garden with other ladies drinking tea?" He'd seen those before and he knew to stay far, far away from those. But just about anything else was fair game. He'd escorted his past employer's wife to a party when the husband had been out of town. It had been rather interesting, actually. Especially since the lady had been very kind.

"Thankfully, no," Hazel replied. Truthfully, while she put up with those kinds of events, she wasn't all that interested in them. "No, this is a more formal party hosted by one of the other families, and I couldn't beg my way out." It wasn't all bad, though; she'd had to have a new gown made, and she was eager to wear it. She enjoyed wearing nicer gowns than normal.

Kaladin nodded. She hadn't said anything about needing an escort, and he didn't want to offer if she already had someone to go with. "Well, that shouldn't be so bad."

"We'll see," Hazel replied. "With everything going on, I never had time to socialize with the others, so I have no escort." She shrugged just a little. "It's not that important... The rest of the families know that Grandpap is gone and that I've assumed control of things."

Kaladin blinked. Just once. "If you like, I can accompany you," he offered cautiously. "I've done so before, and I wouldn't mind. If you would like an escort, that is."

Now it was Hazel's turn to blink. That was unexpected.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I couldn't ask for such a thing." Well, yes, she could, but it would be... unusual. They were of different classes, after all. She paused. "Do you have anything to wear?"

"I can show you what I wore last time. The lady of the house at the time thought it acceptable." He raised an eyebrow at her. "And you're not asking. I'm offering."

"I don't know how to thank you..." Hazel said softly. She hadn't expected him to offer to escort her. "I can tell you if the outfit is acceptable for the party." And if it wasn't, she knew a few tailors in town who would be able to alter something to make it good enough in time.

Kaladin just nodded and glanced back at Brit. "You'll be fine without me?"

Brit rolled her eyes and nodded, shooing him away with her hands. She'd handled every single creature there on her own before Hazel had hired more people. She was more than capable of running things on her own for a day.

Hazel held back a yawn. It was still practically the middle of the night, and she'd hardly gotten any sleep before this while crisis had happened. She needed more sleep than that.

"We can worry about this at a more decent hour," she said. "I think I should head back now."

Kaladin nodded. "Go ahead back. We'll make sure everything here is taken care of."

Brit snorted at that but moved out of the gryphon cage, letting everyone else out so she could close the cage and then double-check everything.

Hazel nodded and left the ranch in their hands. It was past time for her to go back to bed, although she wasn't sure whether or not she would be able to sleep after everything that had happened. But she was going to try.

She still showed up at the ranch again a little while after dawn, maybe an hour or so after. But she was planning on leaving at noon, to make sure everything was in order for her to go to the party that night. She had to leave enough time to potentially get Kaladin something appropriate to wear, after all.

Kaladin had already taken care of the snakes, since they woke up earlier than usual from all the commotion earlier, and so he was ready to go. He headed up to the house, knocking quietly on the doorframe of her office.

"It's open," Hazel called as she gathered up the paperwork and filed it away. She was wearing one of her day dresses, since she was going straight to the seamstress to pick up her gown for that evening, and the delicate floral was just right for the season and made her eyes look greener. She looked over when the door opened.

Kaladin entered with his suit. It was nice and dark, setting off his eyes nicely, and it still fit him. It clearly wasn't as nice as something a higher-class person would wear, but it wasn't crap, either.

"This is what I have."

It wasn't a bad suit, Hazel decided as she looked him over. It looked good on him and made him look good. It could use a bit of sprucing up, of course, but overall it wasn't bad.

"It should work for tonight," she said. "And it's neutral, which means you won't be clashing with my gown." She smiled a bit. "It is always a good thing to at least 'go' with what your escort is wearing, if you don't match."

Kaladin nodded. "Indeed. The lady of the house chose this suit because it could be worn with almost anything." He smiled a little. "Hopefully this is acceptable?"

"For now," Hazel replied, nodding. "Though if I see something better while we're out, I'll get it." There wasn't enough time to have something made, of course, but there was plenty of time for something to be altered. They had a few hours before Hazel even had to start getting ready.

Kaladin nodded. "Alright," he agreed quietly. "Is there anything else I need to know or should I go change again and get back to work?"

"Oh... I thought you were coming with me," Hazel said. She bit her lip slightly. She hadn't meant to assume anything, but she was so used to things going her way that it didn't really occur to her that he would have other things he needed to do. She had been good about not being a spoiled brat lately, but sometimes it still slipped out.