In the days following the little festival, I spotted a few more signs that something or someone was skulking around the edges of the property.

  They never came close enough where I could get a look at them, but I knew they were there. They left behind tracks and bits of food near some of the more densely forested spots. Perfect spots to help Zera disappear, if she had any interest in doing so.

  She did not. She just wanted to figure out what was going on and why it kept happening. I shared that curiosity, though I had a few theories as to the who and the why. I just shrugged it off.

  If I didn’t engage, it’d probably go away.

  One morning, I fixed myself a full pot of coffee and a hearty breakfast, saving some bacon and bread for lunch. I had a full day ahead of me and I needed all the fuel I could manage.

  “You are welcome to wander today, Zera. Just stay in listening range in case I need you for something.”

  She bumped my elbow with her snout before leaning down to pick up one of the tarps, taking care not to pierce it with her sharp front teeth. I smiled. Of course she wanted to help, at least for now. She did have a lot of fun helping me spread fabric, and she’d get plenty of fetch time between her bouts of frolicking.

  “We can move it out by the garden, but I don’t want to spread it yet. Let the plants get some more sunshine before we cover them.”

  Zera shook her head up and down, indicating she understood, and together we moved it out into the yard. I’d dug paths in the dirt for the water to travel down, assuring the garden would be properly irrigated while the plants were protected by the tarp.

  I honestly would have skipped the tarp entirely had a few people not warned me about the ferocity of the storms that came just before winter. I preferred to keep my hard work intact.

  Once the tarps was arranged so we could easily secure it over the garden, I turned my attention to the stone walkways. The main one, which lead to the front door of the cottage, had been there long before I arrived, along with a few branches.

  I'd already been working on making sure they were all uncovered, adding more stone to the sides to make it easier to see them. In light of the coming storm, I decided to work ahead, cleaning out the spaces between the stones and replacing it with gravel.

  I used one of the more intact rakes to do this, hoping that the effort would pay off in the long run. I’d still need to do some work once the storm passed, but I could worry about that later.

  “Remember, it doesn't have to be pretty. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to be something I can live with,” I said to myself.

  Zera briefly glanced up at me, then went back to chewing on one of the bones I got from the butchers shop in town. While such things were dangerous for dogs, they were the perfect treat for a drake. Zera took her sweet time with each one, savoring the taste and the crunch.

  I left the rake propped against the side of the cottage and turned my attention to the shed. I couldn’t do much to the loft without disturbing the mauslings, but I had a tarp that would at least cover that part of the roof. Hopefully that would be enough to keep them dry.

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  All else failed, I had a stash of replacement materials I could leave for them to replace their nest with. Of course, I had to get the tarp onto the roof, which was a challenge on its own.

  I started by pulling one of the hooked ends up with me as I climbed the ladder, reaching up to hook it on the edge of the roof. Once that was secured, I faced another challenge. The roof wasn’t as sharply sloped as I expected, which made it a little easier to haul myself up.

  Zera chirped and chittered as I awkwardly pulled myself up enough to swing a leg onto the room, scooting and shifting until I had enough surface under me to start rolling over. It’s actually a miracle I managed to do it in one go, though the process was far from graceful.

  I laid out on the roof, trying to catch my breath as I stared up at the sky. There were no signs yet of the storm, but I knew it would be on the horizon before the day was through.

  “Come on, Mara,” I said, forcing myself to sit up. “Let’s get this done. We’ve still got the rest of the shed to prepare and the garden to cover, and there’s no telling when the storm will get here.”

  In the distance, I heard Zera drinking from one of the buckets I left out for her. That reminded me that I also needed to make sure the rain barrels were properly set up. I took a deep breath and started moving, crawling around on my hands and knees, hooking the other ends of the tarp into place.

  I had no idea if I’d be able to take it down any time soon, but I honestly didn’t care. It could wait until I had a taller ladder.

  “Zera, quit staring at the trees. If anyone’s out there, they’ll come say hi when they’re ready,” I chided. Zera turned towards me and I signaled for her to come over and stand still just beneath where my feet dangled off the edge of the roof.

  She didn’t move a muscle as I slowly slid off the roof, waiting until I felt mostly confident that I wouldn’t break anything on either of us to let go. My legs were on either side of her and I landed awkwardly, but safely. Not a bad landing, but not something I planned to do again any time soon.

  “Good girl, Zera.” I patted her neck.

  She shook her head, looking back at me with a glint of mischief in her eye. While I didnt have the proper tack, I sometimes rode her bareback, and she actually seemed to enjoy it. Most drakes were not the biggest fans of that, but then, they were trained to be ridden with saddles and bridles.

  “Zera dear, do you want to help me arrange the hides and burrows in the shed? You are very good at knowing where to put things so the little critters feel safe.”

  She started prancing slightly underneath me before I finished speaking, needing no encouragement to start walking. Being on her back made it a little challenging to reach all of the boxes and crates, but we made it work. It was an odd assortment that I had been collecting for a while with the sole purpose of turning into something useful.

  Tonight, they would serve as little burrows and hides for any local wildlife needing a safe place to seek shelter from the storm. It was the best way I knew of to contain the coming chaos by keeping the critters in a single space and making it easier for me to eventually relocate them. It also felt nice, knowing that the little guys would be safe and warm.

  When the air finally started to shift, it was unmistakable. I didn’t have to see the sky to know that the clouds were coming our way. I hopped off Zera and rushed around the yard making sure everything was put up properly. She stood by the garden, waiting to help me put the tarp in place.

  “Okay, I think that’s as secure as it's going to get.” I gave it an experimental tug and the ties held strong. “You ready to go back inside?”

  Zera was already heading for the door. I chuckled and followed after her, stepping into the home I had made my own. The kitchen smelled wonderful and my mouth started to water thinking about the stew that I’d left simmering since lunch time.

  “Time for a well-earned dinner.”