Brit nodded and made a plan for renovating the pond to make it big enough for the selkies and to keep them contained. She figured a basic fence would be good enough for that, around the pond giving the selkies some room to sunbathe, and then she gave the plans over to Hazel a few days later for inspection.

Hazel looked over the plans when they were given to her, and she nodded.

"It looks good," she said. "I'll get into contact with the contractors and get it started right away."

Brit nodded and went to go tell Kaladin and Seamus what was going on, since they were the two most likely to end up helping with the selkies once they arrived.

It took days for Hazel to arrange for contractors to come out to inspect the pond, and another week before any sort of construction began. It was a slow process to alter the pond, but she was convinced it would be worth it.

Brit kept track of the people while they were there, making sure they didn't get too close to any of the cages or upset any of the animals. As time passed, her phoenixes got big enough to go out with her, still plumed in dark reds and oranges that would eventually turn into their adult colors. One perched on her shoulder, the other on an arm.

More than a week had passed since the gryphon had been taken away. Hazel had harassed the police station about it until they finally snapped at her that the gryphon hadn't been fit to return to her. Oh, had she raised a ruckus about that one. But she wasn't able to get the animal returned, much to her dissatisfaction.

Brit, of course, had been totally heartbroken at that and had spent a lot of time in the gryphon cage thinking of what to do. In a few months it would be breeding season, and they now had one more male than female, which was never a good thing. The males would fight unless she got Hazel to either lend out one of the males for stud or borrow a female from someone else.

Hazel already had a short list of other ranches that had expressed an interest in having one of her male gryphons act as stud for the breeding season, and she was setting up a rotation schedule for it. There were only three or four, not a lot, so it was easy enough to plan out.

Once Brit was sure that was all figured out, she calmed down some. Not a ton, but still.

And then a bunch of things started happening at once. The renovations on the pond finished about the same time breeding season started, and Brit took a quick swim to make sure the pond was deep enough and wide enough. Since she couldn't even get to the bottom, she deemed it good enough and got out dripping wet with her clothes sticking to her. Her phoenixes both protested the wetness when they went to go perch on her again.

Kaladin snickered when he noticed her slogging back towards the house and nudged Seamus to get his attention. Because he just had to see his brother's reaction to this.

Seamus looked up from what he was doing, and did an immediate doubletake. Brit's clothes were clinging to her in what seemed like all he right places, and he approved very much.

And apparently the water had been very cold.

Kal smirked at his brother's reaction. Yup. Just what he'd thought. Apparently he needed to play matchmaker.

And apparently it wasn't just breeding season for the animals.

Seamus saw the smirk and gave his brother a shove.

"Shut up," he said. "I've seen how you look at Hazel. Those corsets work miracles, huh?"

"Yes, they do. And I've already admitted that. Your turn, little brother." Kaladin smirked. "Why don't you go offer to help her with something?"

"Because you don't offer to help a woman off with her clothes unless you plan on warming her up another way," Seamus promptly replied, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "Isn't that why you have yet to help Hazel off with her corset?"

"She, unfortunately, already has female help, so I don't have that excuse." Kaladin shrugged. "You, however, do. You know you want to, and you'll never find out what she's like if you don't ask and spend time with her."

"I'll also take my time about it," Seamus replied. Fortunately, he had that luxury, where Kaladin likely didn't. After all, Kal was kind of racing against the clock, and he would run out of time when some wealthy young lord decided to offer to marry Hazel.

Kaladin rolled his eyes but stayed quiet for a few moments. "I expect to see some improvement," he said. "Or I'll have to incite some."

"Quiet, you," Seamus replied. "I haven't seen you make a move yet either."

"Yet." Kaladin smirked at Seamus. He planned to do something soon. He wasn't a fool; he knew he had to start showing interest soon or risk losing her entirely.

"So make one," Seamus replied. "And get your nose out of my business." With that, he went and got some towels to go offer to Brit.

Kaladin snickered and shook his head before going to talk to Hazel to tell her that the pond was all finished. He knocked quietly on the doorframe of her office.

Brit blinked when she noticed Seamus, setting the phoenixes off to the side as she wrung out her clothes the best she could while they were still on.

Hazel didn't immediately notice Kaladin in the doorway. She was too focused on the task at hand: finalizing the first exchange of the breeding season. She was trading a gryphon for a unicorn with another ranch, so each one had new blood added to the herds. It was the first exchange of the four or five she had planned for the season.

"I figured you may want these," Seamus said, handing Brit the towels. "It's not good for you to stay like that, you'll get sick."

Kaladin waited a few moments before he knocked again. "Hazel?" he asked quietly. He raised his eyebrows at her.

Brit shot him a quick smile and took one of the towels, starting to dry herself off. Sort of. She still had to go take a bath and change clothes, but she didn't want to just take off for that long while there was still work to do.

Hazel jumped slightly and looked up.

"Oh," she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were there." Quickly, she set the paperwork aside. "Is something the matter?"

"Go get into something warm and dry," Seamus said to Brit. He gestured toward the house. "Go on. I can look after things while you're gone."

"No, everything's fine. I just wanted to let you know that the pond is finished, and apparently Brit is satisfied with it." He grinned briefly as he moved over to her desk.

Brit frowned a little but obeyed after a few moments, heading back towards her area so she could take a quick bath and get dried off. And then she'd have to go adjust the food orders to accomodate selkies, which wouldn't actually take long.