It would’ve been easier if he was the angry type. If her father was the type of person who threw objects against wall and shouted her actions would seem more reasonable. But he wasn’t. Yrsa’s father was a calm man to his core. He had this air about him of silently judging the world around him. Right now he had leveled that gaze on Yrsa’s life style choice. As Yrsa took her grandmother’s seat she felt off, as if she was doing something wrong. “I see you’ve done nothing to the place.” Her father’s tone carried the loathing he felt for the vehicle itself. “Well you know…if it aint broke.” Yrsa gave a chuckle that earned her a piercing look through his wolf skull. Yrsa stopped short fiddling with the map on the table between them. “I did not come here to fight, Baby Girl.” Her father said causing her to flinch . The disappointment was palpable between them. “Yeah?” Yrsa hated how hopeful her voice sounded. Her father made a noise closing the large map between them. “I came here to take you home. We did not mind you going off and ‘finding yourself’ but don’t you think five years is long enough?” Despite it being phrased as a question she knew he really didn’t want an answer. When Yrsa didn’t answer immediately he rapped his knuckles on the table before getting up. “Right. So I’ll hitch up the truck and get going. If we hurry we can get you home before we know it.” As her father made his way to hitch his truck to the back of the RV Yrsa stood up. “Wait.” She called out causing her father to give a start. “What about my jobs?” “Jobs?” “Yes. I deliver mail and as soon as I hear back from Mr. Papadakis I’m going to be delivering packages too.” Feeling excited she pulled the still open map closer to her father showing him where her first delivery will be going. He glanced at the page before looking back up her again. He gave a chuckle before making his way to leave. “Looks like I was worried for nothing.” He gave a mirthless chuckle before stopping suddenly. “Oh there is another reason I came down here for. Mom has a tin lunchbox she keeps her jewelry in, have you seen it?” He asked as Yrsa hurried to retrieve it. Yrsa felt a pang of annoyance when her father opened the tin to look over the contents. He made a noise when he found the billfold packed to capacity with her grandparent’s money. He dropped the money back in to pull out a piece of jewelry with a piece of cowhide rope threaded through it. Yrsa never understood why her grandfather wore that but she did like the tiger’s eye gem in the middle. “I think dad would be happier if you had this.” He held out the jewelry for Yrsa to take in her own claws. Holding the bolo tie she watched her father leave she followed him out to his rusting black truck where he placed the lunchbox in the passenger seat. Her father held out his hand palm up in a familiar fashion. Yrsa approached with her chin tilted up allowing him access to the underside of her skull. Her father skritched the exposed skin underneath. “I worry about you baby girl.” His voice was low as if he was telling her a secret. “You don’t always have the most sense about you.” Yrsa didn’t realize she had closed her eyes to enjoy the affection until they flew open at that statement. “What?” “Well it’s true. You’ve never really done, well, anything for yourself over the years.” Her father stopped skritiching to survey her body language. “That’s not true.” She protested taking a step back. “Really? You never joined a team or a club or anything. I mean you didn’t even choose this life for yourself.” He gestured to the dirty area she lives on. There was no trash around by the rain had left a layer of dirt covering everything. “You’ve have no direction. No drive. You’ve spent your entire life drifting through life as an empty shopping bag. I mean, I came here fully expecting to take you home but then you say you have this job and.” Her father didn’t finish his statement. He merely shook his head as trying to shake his thoughts back into some semblance of order. He got into his truck, turned over the engine and right before he took off he rolled down the window to say one last thing. “You know you can come back at any time right?” Yrsa nodded. He gave a quick ‘kay’ rapped the side of the truck once and drove out onto the road. Yrsa watched as the red tail lights faded away in the distance lost in thought. A soft ‘tsh’ noise coming from around her feet broke her out of thought. Looking down she saw Stewie playing with the tail of the rattlesnake. Bending down she picked up the rattle much to Stewie’s delight. His little nose twitched rapidly rising up on his hind legs. Despite the bitter feeling left from the conversation with her dad she gave a noise of amusement. “Go get it.” She urged as she threw the rattle off into the desert. Stewie took off after it. Yrsa went back inside to think about Mr. Papadakis’s delivery. By the time she reached the door Stewie had returned with the rattle. Not feeling like playing she swooped down to pick up the horned hare. Ignoring her mother’s voice in her head insisting animals are for outside only Yrsa went inside allowing shutting the door for the night.

Goat wool. Velda had returned her truck a week ago with a new radiator and a lovely bill to go with it. When Yrsa balked at the price the Gremlin reminded her she wasn’t charging for labor. “So when are you going to make this thing more official?” Velda asked gesturing towards the truck. She was talking about Yrsa’s supposal company. “I’m telling you,” Al piped up from inside his truck. He made wide gesture with his arm as if he was presenting the name on a billboard. “Night Veil.” “That doesn’t make sense.” Yrsa protested airily as she waved at the couple as she pulled out of their driveway. With a little help from Al they were able to calculate an eleven hour round trip. The sun was creeping into its midday position as she made her way to the freeway. If she went by the plan she would have enough time to get there and back just in time to get some sleep before going to work again the next morning. Settling in she went over a mental checklist of everything. Stewie had been let out to wander the desert. She brought the map now permanently creased to the page showing the way to Sabana Encantada. Al had slipped a CD of Empress in the player for her. Drumming her claws on the steering wheel she noted that she was at three-fourths of a tank. Figuring better to be safe than sorry thought it would also grab some beef jerky. Pulling into the only gas station she got out to pre-pay. With her truck filled up and three bags of pepper jerky ready for her she pulled out onto the open road. 9 hours and 15 minutes until work The trip was uneventful. The desert scenery was not helping her in trying to stay awake. She pulled over at a gas station to refill on ice and stretch her legs. Feeling now was a good time as any she opened one of the bags of jerky. Pulling out a large piece she went to pull it under her skull when a brown blur erupted out from under the blue tarp. It dashed directly onto her chest knocking the air out her causing her to drop the strip of meat. Catching her breath she looked down to see what attacked her. “Stewie?” Yrsa managed to choke out as the horned hare made quick work of the jerky. Looking around she really no idea what to do from here. They were too far away to turn back now. Leaving the hare here was also out of the question. “I don’t have time for this.” Yrsa announced as she picked up the hare by the middle to dump it onto the passenger seat. Stewie gave a chitter of annoyance but he made himself comfortable anyway. “Good. Stay.” Yrsa tried to command sounded more pathetic than authorative. 7 hours and 36 minutes until work Yrsa let out a frustrated noise that made the little family in the mini van next to her’s gave a jump. Two hours. They had been stuck bumper to bumper for almost two hours. According to the billboard there was a famous summer festival happening in Sabana Encantada over the weekend. Looking over she spotted Stewie sleeping peacefully despite her outburst. She had never felt more envious of anyone in her entire life. Even with the air conditioner working at full capacity the hot sun still managed to sap her of all her energy. The car in front of them inched forward. With another frustrated groan and her hitting skull against the steering triggering the horn. Folks around her sent glares, many expressions morphed to terror when they saw what she really looked like. Grateful she couldn’t blush she managed to pull off the back road to a diner nearby. Rolling down her window completely she left Stewie to his nap. There were more families than she was expecting as she found a place to sit. She was happy to have a view of her truck. An older goblin male came by to toss a menu on the table. Yrsa thanked him as he went to tend to a family of Brownies two tables down. Figuring might as well get something to eat while she can she looked for the carnivore section of the two-sided laminated menu. It was nice. There was a loud chatter that blended together with the occasional word rising above the din. Yrsa stared out the window watching a group of teenagers get too close to her truck. She laughed as they ran in terror from Stewie as the hare protected his property like a dog would. One plate of overpriced pig’s entrails later Yrsa was back on her way on a much freer road.