Once they were gone, Hazel nodded to herself and then went back inside.

"Now that that's overwith," she said, turning to Brit, "what's on your list?"

Brit handed over the list quietly, standing in front of the desk patiently. There were a few repairs to be made, and she had a few suggestions on there for improving the cages and corrals.

The second piece of paper had a list of every animal on the property, including the hounds, the herders, and the barn cats.

Hazel looked over the lists, impressed. Oh yes, she'd made the right decision.

"Alright," she said, setting down the first list. "I'll see about having these taken care of." She paused for a moment, setting her thoughts in order. "And I have to start looking around for new employees. Any suggestions?"

Brit nodded and pulled out a piece of paper, starting to write swiftly.

There's an expo for ranchers in a few weeks, she wrote. I've never been, but I know your grandfather went. He always said it was the place to go to find new stock or new pet animals and to find new workers and new ideas and things. Maybe you can find some people there?

"That's not a bad idea," Hazel mused as she read the note. She glanced at Brit. "Although I suppose you'd be staying here to look after the menagerie, since everyone else is gone." She would have liked Brit to go with her, since the girl would have a much better idea of what the ranch needed than Hazel would, but she knew that the ranch needed near-constant care.

Brit shrugged. I've never gone before. I am kinda curious. She was quiet for a moment. Maybe we can find a temp to work for the two or three days we'd be gone?

"Also not a bad idea," Hazel replied. She thought about it for a moment. "I'll figure something out, because I'd like it if you went to the expo with me."

Brit nodded, looking pleased, and raised her eyebrows, silently asking if Hazel wanted to know anything else. She didn't have that much work left to do, but she was kind of tired.

Hazel waved a hand, letting her go. It wouldn't occur to her until later that she'd started learning how to decipher Brit's expressions.

It didn't take her long to find a temp to work on the ranch until after the expo. Although, to be fair, she did ask Brit to let her know if the temp was good enough to keep. One less person to hire, if he was.

Brit trailed the temp for a day to make sure he knew how to care for the creatures without pissing them off and, once she was satisfied with his competency, she went back to her rooms to pack for the trip. She had some nicer clothes now so she wouldn't be running around the expo disgracing Hazel by wearing her old work clothes.

Hazel, rather than wearing the dingy things that she usually put on to go to the ranch, was dressed in a pretty daytime gown with her hair braided back, out of her namesake eyes. She was taking care of some last-minute paperwork for the expo, and they would be leaving directly from the ranch. She sighed a bit, indulgently, when her Egyptian Mau nekomata, Lyra, padded across the paperwork.

"Off that, you," she said, petting the cat and moving her aside. The cat wouldn't let Hazel leave home without her, so Hazel was resigned to taking the Mau with her to the expo.

Brit couldn't help but grin when she saw the cat parading across the paperwork. She'd gotten used to having the cat around, since Hazel had started bringing her to the farm. She sat in the chair on the other side of the desk, scrawling a quick note.

How come you don't just move here so you and your kitty don't have to go back and forth every day? she asked. She thought it was a reasonable question.

Hazel blinked.

"Move here?" she asked. The thought had never crossed her mind. "I've got the manor, why would I need to move here?" It wasn't the most tactful thing to say, and it highlighted the fact that she was still a spoiled rich girl, no matter how she'd acted lately. But it was honestly not something she'd ever thought about before.

Brit shrugged. It made sense to her to move to the ranch, since Hazel was there every day anyway, but she didn't say anything. Instead she slipped over another note.

I'm ready to go whenever you are. I'll be out front.

Hazel nodded and gathered up her things and her cat. Lyra climbed up and draped herself across Hazel's shoulders, twin tails swaying a bit. The cat was spoiled rotten, and Hazel doted on her. Once Hazel was sure everything was taken care of, she joined Brit out front where the carriage was waiting for them.

Brit waited for Hazel and the cat to get settled in the cab before she swung herself up onto the front seat, clucking to the horse and driving them to the expo. It took a while to get there, and once they got there a valet took the carriage, and Brit opened the door for Hazel.

The expo consisted of several tents set up, shading areas. Those with large creatures stayed along the outside of the expo, taking up more space, but there were also several creatures like the toy dragons and the fairy dragons that didn't need much space. Breeders had stalls set up all over the place, showing off their animals and their pedigrees. Other stalls had vendors selling accessories for the creatures, such as collars, specially designed harnesses and saddles, things like that. Some of the breeders and other vendors had animals with them for sale, or pre-sales for breedings.

It was all rather loud, but no one seemed to be in a big hurry, and none of the animals were freaked out. Everything was fairly relaxed, except for those people bargaining down prices or discussing breedings and crosses.

Hazel was surprised at how relaxed everything seemed to be. She'd expected it to be a little louder, a little more excited, something. But the relaxed atmosphere was refreshing. She glanced at Brit.

"You're the expert here," she said. "I'm just here because I own the Menagerie." In the weeks since she'd inherited the ranch, she'd given it an official name. Her grandfather had called it his menagerie enough times that that's what Hazel had ended up naming it: Menagerie d'Loncré.

Brit nodded and pulled out a pad of paper. Do you want to look at any new stock or pets, or simply look for potential employees? She could work with either goal.

Although she kind of wanted to look around. There were creatures there she'd never seen before, and she wanted to go investigate.

"Focus on what the Menagerie absolutely needs, for now," Hazel replied. "Everything else can come after that." She reached up absently to pet Lyra when the cat's tails tickled her neck.

Brit nodded. Okay. Well they were good on supplies, and she already had all the information for the supplier they'd been using, so she went straight to the center of the expo, where the potential employees were. Most of them had already been screened, so she let Hazel look around to see if anyone caught her attention.

Hazel took a few cursory glances at the potential employees, but none of them really seemed to stand out to her. After a few moments, she turned back to Brit.

"You're the one who will be working with them most," she said. "Maybe it's best if you choose, and just run the choices by me."

Brit nodded after a moment and started looking through the employee lists, finding potentials that had experience with the animals the Menagerie hosted. She found almost a dozen and got copies of their credentials, handing them all over to Hazel.

Hazel looked over the copies before nodding. To her, at least, they seemed to be good choices. And ten seemed good enough for now, given the size of the Menagerie at the moment. She could always hire more later on.

"Are there any in particular that you noticed, out of these?" she asked Brit.

Brit pointed to two of the applications. They were both young men. They both had more experience than the others, and she'd noticed they both looked relaxed in the middle of the expo.

Although it didn't hurt that they weren't bad-looking, either.

Hazel looked at the applications, and paused. Hey, she was a warm-blooded young woman. She could admit when a guy was good-looking.

Focus, Hazel, focus.

She looked from the applications to the group standing there. Most of them were watching her, since she was clearly the one with the power to hire workers, and many of them looked tentatively hopeful. She managed to spot the two young men. Even if she hadn't seen it on the applications, it was clear by looking at them that the two were brothers; they looked enough alike. She glanced at Brit to see what she thought.