Robert was waiting anxiously at his house for the goose to return, worried that the Missuccis were so desperate to have the goose back that they were capable of doing anything to get it back. He breathed a sigh of relief when the goose returned without a feather out of place. In the short time that they had been together Robert had grown tremendously fond of the goose. The goose was intelligent and he enjoyed their conversations, certainly the goose made for better company than Peter. Robert was never very interested in people and had spent his entire life retreating into his own company. His solipsism was the reason for his wife leaving him but the collapse of his marriage did nothing to make Robert want to change this about himself. He'd been entirely alone since his divorce with visits from Peter serving as his only social contact. The innumerable mysteries surrounding the goose and Robert's interest in unraveling them meant that he would never find the goose exasperating or tire of its company.

"How did it go?"

"Anthony has been mollified, you need no longer fear being the target of mobsters."

"What's our next step?"

"There are some preparations that I need to make before we can embark on the pilgrimage."

"I still know absolutely nothing about this pilgrimage."

"The egg requires certain forms of nourishment in order for it to hatch healthily, the pilgrimage is how it obtains that nourishment."

"What is this nourishment?"

"Life energy, the egg absorbs the energy of this world and that's what allows it to hatch."

"Is this pilgrimage going to take us to the place where the egg is going to absorb this energy?"

"The egg requires various different forms of energy, so we'll be making various stops along the way."

The rest of Robert's questions the goose answered with 'I don't have that information yet'. Robert grew increasingly curious about the pilgrimage and his curiosity pushed to the back of his mind many of the concerns that he had about the lack of information that he was getting from the goose. He went to bed with the goose next to him still feeling ambivalent about the adventure they were about to set off on but was looking forward to it with more anticipation than apprehension.