Hazel thought for a moment before directing her driver to one of the more popular places in town. It was popular enough that people of different castes all went there, so it wouldn't be all that expenisve. She made a mental note to take Kaladin somewhere upscale eventually, though.

Kaladin sat back and relaxed for the drive over there, watching her discreetly. Now he just had to figure out how to make this work...

Looking back, Hazel would decide that she enjoyed going out with Kaladin very much. As long as he insisted on paying, she would make sure to chose places cheaper than where she would normally go, but even that didn't put a damper on how good of a time she had with him.

Her focus was forced to shift a few days later when she got a letter from the owner of a neighboring ranch. She knew the man; he'd worked with her grandfater many, many times and they'd parted on good terms. So it didn't really surprise her all that much when she read the letter and discovered that the man's ranch was closing down and he wanted to give her some of his stock. There were quite a few familiar creatures on the list of species he needed homes for, and she was sure the menagerie could take some of them (like the toy dragons and the pair of ceryneians), but she was surprised to see pygmy sheep on the list as well. She'd never heard of those before.

Brit went to go check on everything inside and blinked when she saw the letter. Her phoenixes were outside, but they'd managed to find a good perch outside one of the office windows, and were jostling each other to get a better view.

What's that? Brit felt a little nosy asking, but it didn't look official or anything, and Hazel usually kept her personal mail at home. So she figured she was probably justified in asking.

"A friend of my grandfather," Hazel replied as she set the letter and the lists down. "Apparently, he's closing down his ranch and wants to know if I want to take on any of his creatures." She handed the list to Brit. "He's giving me first choice, because of his connection to my grandfather."

Brit blinked and looked the list over. There were a few creatures on the list she was sure they'd have no problem taking, and one or two others caught her eye.

And then she got to the bottom of the list, saw the pygmy sheep, and paused.

What's a pygmy sheep?

"I was hoping you would know," Hazel confessed. "I've never heard of them before."

Brit shook her head slowly. She'd never heard of them either.

Maybe we should go look? And then we can look at the others too if we wanted to take in anything else.

Hazel nodded.

"That would be the best idea, I think," she replied. "Did you want to go with me, or did you want to stay here with Seamus?" Because she didn't miss how Seamus tended to watch Brit, or how Brit watched back.

Brit was quiet for a few moments. I'll go. Kaladin could come along, if you wanted. Because now someone would have to be totally blind to see that Kaladin liked her. Especially since he kept finding excuses to go up to the house while Hazel was there.

Hazel blushed, but managed to keep herself composed.

"It wouldn't be fair to lump all the work on Seamus like that," she protested.

Well we've got the other three hands, and if we go in the afternoon most of the chores will be over with already. Brit shrugged. Otherwise I can go with you to see, and Kaladin can go with you to help finalize everything and transport the animals.

"I just been spending so much time with him lately, I feel like I might be neglecting everything else," Hazel said softly. Not that she didn't like spending time with Kaladin, but she was afraid she might be doing it too much. Just too much too soon.

Brit shrugged again. It's your decision, Hazel. I'm fine either way, really. Brit wasn't going to push. it wasn't actually her business to moniter Hazel's private life. Not as her employee. And she wasn't entirely sure if Hazel felt comfortable enough with her for Brit to take that responsibility as her friend.

Hazel bit her lip, indecisive. Everything got so confused for her lately when Kaladin was involved. She really did like him, but he worked for her. Not only that, but they were two completely different castes, which made things even more convoluted.

"What do you think?" she finally asked Brit. "An honest opinion."

Honestly? I think he's good for you, and he likes you a lot. Clearly you like him as well. But I don't know how well you'd get over the class differences. Because even she wasn't that clueless. She personally didn't think it shouldmatter, but she knew it would end up making a difference.

"I don't know, either," Hazel said softly. "A lady can raise her class through marriage. A man, though..." she trailed off, and then shook her head a bit. "I don't know. It's difficult."

Brit frowned. Is there a way for him to maybe inherit something? How does one normally raise a class?

"He would have to come from an old family to inherit," Hazel replied. "Or be adopted as an heir." She went quiet, thinking. "I've never had to think about such a thing before, so I really don't know."

Brit paused when she heard that, wracking her brain. She knew she'd heard of something before, but she couldn't remember what... Oh now it was going to drive her up the wall.

Her lips moving silently as she started pacing, trying to figure out what she had missed.

Hazel raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask. She knew Brit would tell her if it was important.

I remember there was something about men who went off to search for creatures in the wild and returned with them, Brit wrote. But I can't remember what exactly it was.

Hazel was quiet for a moment, thinking.

"I think I remember something similar," she replied. "Coming back with something rare or new, perhaps?"

Brit nodded. Yeah, that was it. Anyone who returned with something rare or new was sort of promoted, I guess?

Kaladin paused outside when he heard that. Coming back with something rare or new? To what purpose? Hopefully Hazel would expand on that, and he stayed there to listen in.

"It would make sense," Hazel said, thinking aloud for Brit. "Going out, and coming back with something rare or something completely new would bring prestige and likely quite a bit of money." She looked at Brit. "Enough so that it would be plausible for the person to raise a class or two."