Muk waited for her arrival at the eastern ridge of the Yellowrock outer wall. Overlooking the river, the early morning dew gave him the impression that the grass had a shimmer to it. He expected her to come in from the west as that would be the fastest route, so he was thoroughly surprised by her coming around the south bend of the wall.

Well, it wasn’t her that he was surprised by, but rather the four large beasts that accompanied her and the fact that there was another rider along with her. He didn’t recognize the mouse until he got closer, but it was her grandfather, he was certain.

Standing atop the wall, next to the large eastern gate, he waved to them. Freya pointed him out from a distance and they turned ever so slightly to edge closer to the gate, away from the river.

“I see the young miss has been raising chickens,” Crenshaw said from behind him.

The old mouse was wearing his best casual dress but it was apparent that he still carried himself like a campaigner. He wasn’t wearing a uniform, but his trousers were dark navy, under an official looking belt and brown blouse. In trying to fit in, Muk mused, Crenshaw showed how you can’t take the military out of the mouse.

“Yes, but last I heard she’d only raised two,” Muk said. For his part, Muk wore his traveler's cloak on top of his work tunic. Only his epaulets, concealed by the cloak, would give away his rank. Well that and the key dangling from his necklace, the key representing his station as the quartermaster for the coalition.

“Perhaps, she’s grown some more?” Crenshaw said, moving to stand perilously close to the edge of the wall. He drew out a long telescoping spyglass. The single long glass stuck over the wall as he looked closer.

“I don’t think she could have in that time, no. She probably bought more or she caught more,” Muk said. Crenshaw passed the spyglass to him.

Muk focused in on the beasts, but he could make neither ears nor tails of it. She doubled her flock in less than a week?

Muk and Crenshaw descended to the gate to greet them.

“Ah, Lieutenant Muk Chin-Hwa,” the older mouse said from atop the chicken. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Woda, Freya's grandfather. Tell me, do you and your er…bodyguard? Do you both know how to use a lasso?”

Crenshaw chuckled a bit at that. Freya dismounted with two long ropes.

“Thank you, Woda, please you can call me Muk, this is my cousin, retired Master Sergeant Crenshaw Chin-Hwa,” Muk said. “Crenshaw, this is Woda and Miss Uki.”

Freya handed a rope to Crenshaw.

“It’s a pleasure, er… Mister Chin-Hwa?” Freya said.

“The pleasure is all mine, Miss, but please call me Crenshaw,” he said.

“Now let me demonstrate how to get the lasso right so you won’t fall off while riding,” Freya said.

Crenshaw's eyes shot open as he looked to Muk, then to Woda. Resigning himself, he watched as Freya demonstrated an easy maneuver to slip the lasso around the chicken's neck.

“Now, don’t you worry Mister Chin-Hwa—I mean Crenshaw,” Freya said, “the one I’m letting you ride on, she’s been with us from the start.”

“Yes, Miss Uki, I've been meaning to ask about the sudden appearance of the other two chickens,” Muk said, grabbing the whip. They were at least ten paces out from the gate as Freya tried to help Crenshaw onto one of the chickens.

“Ah! Yes, to be frank we didn’t expect this, but one of Grandpaw’s old friends sold them to us for a song,” Freya said.

Crenshaw was in place and seemed to settle.

“It’s true, we expected to raise a few rounds of chickens on our own, but it’s a bit faster to buy them off someone who catches them. Still I think that these two are fast friends with our old ones, right Freya?” Woda said, “Now, Lieutenant Chin-Hwa, do you want to show your cousin how to mount a chicken?”

Muk took it as a challenge and drawing upon his best Freya impression, he climbed up and over the nearest chicken, seemingly without problem. It was only when Freya mounted and said something unintelligible, and the chickens started moving that he realized that he’d forgotten to establish his holds.

Muk grabbed onto the chicken with both arms.

“It won’t do to choke your chicken like that, Lieutenant,” Woda said. “You've got to use the lasso!”

“Come on, Lieutenant,” Freya said in a mocking tone, “I thought you coalition mice were tough!”

Freya and her chicken came up on his left as Woda flanked him on the right. The three of them were walking in a line along the riverbank, right behind Crenshaw and his chicken, which seemed to just take off at top speed.

“We’re going to need to speed up to catch your cousin!” Freya said.

“I would hate for something to happen to him on my account,” Muk said. “He did just retire, although I don’t think he’s enjoying it too much.”

They rode on to catch up to Crenshaw.

“I have to tell you, Miss Uki, that when your letter gave a time and a place, I expected anything but this, but it makes sense to me. I’m glad I got this invitation. I gather that riding a chicken is a quick way to get around but that you’re not just letting anyone ride,” he said.

“You’re one of the few I would even consider,” she said. “I feel like they’re my children. Their speech, their talk, well I don’t want to make them sound like pups, but they don’t have their own written language, they don’t use tools, but they can interact with me… a bit.”

Muk watched with amusement as Freya seemed to want to say both more and less.

“You don’t have to give away your trade secrets, Miss Uki,” he said. “I have no designs on whatever business you’ve established… but since it seems to have doubled in less than a week, may I offer you congratulations? And possibly ask about a contract to use one of your chickens?”

Freya smiled as they passed by the stone bridge crossing the eastern river. Her chicken and Muk’s pulled ahead of the two chaperones.

“I don’t do business transactions, without the obligatory duty mole to attest to the paperwork,” Freya said. “Or at least those were the words my mother told me to say. I’ve got to hire an ODM to make sure that the deal goes through correctly.”

“I’ve got a few obligatory duty moles that I can recommend.”

Muk figured out which direction they were heading when they turned north following the river. He hadn’t spent too much time in the little burg up there. A few buildings dotted the side of the river. As they approached the town, Woda took the lead.

A large ranch directly next to the river was the first building before the town entrance. Woda approached the building and dismounted in front of it. Fields of silty sand were beyond a low wooden fence made of found branches. Little brown beans dotted the silt in ordered rows. Shady trees in rows dominated the area in lines.

Dismounting, Muk saw that the sign above the ranch said “Ka-pi Farum”. Woda took his lasso and tied the chickens off on a strong point of the wall.

“It’s just like you told me, Grandpaw!” Freya said. Her large irises expanded like saucers.

“Yeah, they’re about to do their late harvest here,” he said.

“Pardon me, but what are they harvesting this late in the season?” Muk said, “Every crop I know of has been collected by now…”

Freya and Woda both stared at him for a second.

“Cousin,” Crenshaw said. “Perhaps this is the Ka-pi farm? You’ve heard of these new drinks popular with the youths?”

Muk and Crenshaw fell in line with the fence to look over into the area.

“I’ll admit I was a little skeptical the first time Grandpaw told me,” Freya said. “But it tastes great and the chickens love it. It makes them run extra hard for a bit. But of course they could be just saying that to mess with me.”

Woda led Crenshaw towards the door to the building, leaving space for Freya and Muk to talk.

Freya started talking faster, “They’ve got food and a sampler drink menu and yeah I decided that if I’m going to be going on dates, I at least want to go someplace I’m interested in. So, you got my letter and I knew you were going to be there, and well we wanted to see if we could get four chickens to run in a formation and Grandpaw didn’t think that it was going to happen and…”

Freya trailed off. Muk smiled.

“Go on,” he said, “I’m listening.”

“Well first off thank you for meeting us, and thank you for being flexible,” Freya said, slowing down.

“This isn’t a business meeting Freya, you don’t have to thank me for considering your offer. I came here because I want to be here, because you might be the most interesting mouse I’ve ever met, among other reasons,” he said.

“Oh?” she said as a serving mouse waved her over to a table. “Well don’t leave these reasons with the Raven, tell me what you’re thinking about?” she replied.

Freya watched as the two chaperones took seats at the outdoor bar. Muk held a seat back for her on the decking which overlooked the fields of beans.

“I asked you to speak, you got excited, and now you’re asking me my reasons?” Muk said.

Freya looked a little flustered as she sat down. Muk sat across from her.

“Alright, can I have a do-over?” Freya said.

“If you’re willing to overlook me interjecting, yes. I’ll try not to interject, you tell me what is on your mind,” Muk said, staring intently over to her.

“Well, I got the chickens to listen to me and now they’re being all sorts of reasonable because they know we’re going to get some of this Ka-pi for them.”

Muk didn’t say anything but he tried to raise just one eyebrow at that. He motioned for her to continue.

“It’s just been so interesting, ever since Spring arrived, I just feel like a new mouse.”

“Everytime we come out of a winter, especially a cold one like the last one, I feel quite the same,” Muk said.

The serving mouse came up between the two of them. He cleared his throat.

“The two mice over there”—he indicated Woda and Crenshaw—“have ordered a round of Ka-pi for both of you, said to give yours an extra kick… uh sir.”

Muk realized that he was staring at his golden quartermaster's key, and he hastily tucked it into his tunic.

“But you want to make sure that’s okay with me?” Muk said.

“Of course it’s so you can pretend that I did that… unless you want the dirty chai Ka-pi that we make?” The serving mouse looked expectantly, as if Muk was about to make his day.

“Oh, do it! And if it’s not to your taste, I’ll try it myself Lieutenant,” Freya said, clapping her paws together.

“As the young mouse wishes,” the serving mouse said, disappearing into a side door from the bar. He reappeared next to a large kettle and really seemed to get into his work. Muk snapped out of watching the mouse and turned back to Freya.

A long pause dragged on between the two.

“What do people even talk about on dates?” Freya asked.

“Well in my experience, the weather, court balls and sometimes our families and hobbies,” he said, “but truth be told I’ve only ever done this twice before and I was such a boor back then, even now I cringe at how I was.”

Muk smoothed his whiskers, aiming to get control of his feelings.

“Tell me about… what you do in the coalition,” Freya said, leaning in.

“Well, in any large Army, we travel on our bellies, so the mice, foxes and rabbits need to be fed. I arrange the feedings, paid for of course by the crown. But not only do the coalition Soldiers need to be fed regularly, they also need to be issued things like their uniforms and weapons, and the food needs to get to where they are. So a lot of what I do is figuring out what needs to go where. I have one Master Sergeant, who has been with the quartermasters longer than I’ve been alive, but the other ten Soldiers in my group are all dedicated to running food, water, arrows and anything else our coalition needs out to the far reaches.”

“But we also have moles and voles and birds in the coalition, right?” Freya asked.

The serving mouse stopped in front of them with two mugs.

Muk smiled as he smelled the rich earthy aroma.

“I would say don’t ride a coach after this, but I don’t know anything about these beasts, sir,” the mouse said.

“Ah! That’s the trick. Er…” Freya said.

“Bonchon,” the servingmouse said.

“Bonchon, the chickens actually like the taste of Ka-pi so we came here in part to get more of it. When they drink it they run fast, but we didn’t have that much at home,” she said, “also they kinda ride themselves and they just need to be pointed in a direction and get told that they can let loose.”

Bonchon looked over the four chickens.

“Can I… can I make them something to drink then?” he said, a glimmer of hope in his eye.

“It’ll be on my account,” Muk said, “as I want to see this as much as you do.”