Lady Raina watched- a shrewd calculating expression on her face- as Captain Bell escorted Freya back to their small party, a perfect gentle rabbit well aware of his audience.

"Auntie," he said, "it's been so long."

Her whiskers twitched, amused. “Ah, Captain Bell, you know we were just talking about these beasts that Freya is raising. I’ve seen them. A bit large for my taste, but at least they haven’t eaten anyone yet. That I know of,” Raina replied.

Holly had wandered off to find a drink, while Abigail clutched Freya's arm as if to say, you’re not allowed to leave until I tell you something important.

“They haven’t eaten anyone at all,” Freya said, patting Abigail's paw, trying to reassure her. “Grandpaw is good with them.”

“And what else have they been trained to do, then?” Captain Bell said. His gaze was piercing, reserved entirely for Freya.

“Well they’re tame enough to be fed by hand now, so there’s that—oh, and the other day they did a ceremonial dance when one of them was named, and…” Freya trailed off, wondering if she’d inadvertently given away too much. Had anyone else overheard her? A quick scan of the immediate area suggested that no one was paying particular attention to her at the moment, distracted by the music and their own conversations.

Captain Bell, however, was perfectly attentive – perhaps inconveniently so.

“If I may, Miss Uki, how do you know that they did the dance for that reason?” His eyes burned into her, smoldering.

“I, umm…” Freya stammered. Days of practice with Lady Raina and a mere slip of the tongue lead to this kind of stammering? Freya caught her breath.

“What she means to say, sir, is that she can’t give away trade secrets to just anyone,” Abigail chimed in. “If you want to know more about her family’s business, you’ll have to find the occasion to ask her at her residence. She’d be happy to do some consulting work for you—for a fee.”

Captain Bell looked bemused as he turned between the two of them.

“Truly, you both are quite interesting.” He looked to Lady Raina, who had thus far let the girls handle themselves. “Now if I may, I’d like to have a private discussion with my dear auntie.”

As soon as the two rabbits had retreated to a darkened alcove, Freya threw her arms around her friend’s shoulders. “Abigail! Thank you, and what was that?”

“It’s what all the foxes are talking about. Call whatever you’re doing your business and say that you don’t give away trade secrets when they ask, but that you’d be happy to give them a consultation for a fee.” Abigail considered, and added, “You are going to make a business out of raising and breeding chickens, right?”

“You’re not too far off.”

Holly chose that moment to return to the group. She didn’t seem to be still fuming, but her paw was very tightly clenched around her drink.

“I’m sorry,” Freya said. “I should have consulted you first, but there was no time and now I think that Abigail has Captain Bell coming over to see me so that I can…”

She looked to Abigail.

“...do some consulting work. Captain Bell appears to be far more interested in the chickens in Freya's yard than in Freya herself. He’ll be quite a catch once we get him to woo you, Holly,” Abigail said.

Holly blushed.

“I didn’t even say that I like him!” she said, getting redder with each word.

“You didn’t have to,” Freya said. “He is remarkably fit, he has enough money to fund his scouts and, well, that’s enough to make a girl want to charge exorbitant fees for…”

“Consulting,” Abigail sighed.

“Yeah, consulting,” Freya said.

Freya and Abigail giggled at that. Holly’s laughter came out short and stilted.

“How about this,” Freya said, “we’ll propose that he dances with you during the next number and you’ll get a chance to speak with him one on one. It would be terribly rude of him to refuse.”

“I cannot imagine that he’d say no, but… what if he does?”

Holly slouched over as the chatter of the crowd engulfed them for a few seconds.

“It’s simple,” Freya said, putting a paw on Holly’s shoulder.

“What?” Holly asked.

“I raise my consulting fees if he doesn’t dance with you.”

She got a giggle for that, and turned to speak to Abigail, pausing when she realized the space at her side was empty. Abigail had wandered a few paces away, speaking to another fox Freya didn’t recognize. Whatever she had wanted to share must not have been too urgent, Freya decided, and returned her attention to Holly.