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“First, we’ll find out what’s happening with the cows. Then as soon as we do, we’ll get you your dromedon. You’d be living every little Nova Auroran girl’s dream. And why shouldn’t all your dreams come true?”
Deimos wanted to spend the rest of his life doing just that, making all her dreams … and all her fantasies … come true. He imagined that instead of playing detective in search of a cure for his cows, they were embarking on a new life together.
“So, Miss Hope, our next stop is David. He moved here a few years ago from Earth, one of the first to bring cattle to Nov Aurora. I’ve learned a lot from him,” Deimos said. “He’s a good human.”
They touched down at a ranch with classic Nova Aurora architecture embellished with touches from Earth. It had a swimming pool filled with Nova Aurora’s orange water and a forest of green trees brought in from Earth. He fed his cows a mixture of plants from both worlds, and he had pioneered experiments comparing differences between animals fed exclusively on Earth diets, animals fed Nova Aurora diets exclusively, and animals fed a combination of both.
“Deimos!” David ran up and hugged him.
“Hi, David! Thanks for letting us come over. Sorry for the short notice.”
“No, I’m so glad you’re here. You’ve always helped me with anything I needed. And who is this?”
“This is Hope Oliver, a renowned animal expert. She’s from your neck of the universe. She’s here to help me figure out what’s happening with my poor cows.”
“Oh, good. I hope you both figure that out. How long have you been in town, Hope?”
“Oh, just a few days.”
“Wow, this must be quite a culture shock.”
“Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind. I didn’t even know I was coming here until about a day before I left. I feel like I’m Dorothy flying in straight from Kansas. Except that, instead of a tornado, my force of nature was Gerri Wilder.”
“Oh, Gerri! She’s something. But she does work miracles,” David said. “She’s what got me to move here. Now that it’s my home, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. But it took a little while.”
Deimos knew the feeling.Now that she’s my home, I can’t imagine being anywhere else.The mating pull had grown exponentially stronger each hour he spent with her. He hoped that it was building in her too.
The three of them walked to the cows, who flicked their tails in a labyrinth of green earth-grass and violet Nova Aurora vegetation.
“Over here, Mrs. O’Leary,” David called out to his favorite cow, who plodded over at the sound of his voice.
“Ha! Mrs. O’Leary!” Hope collapsed into laughter. Deimos’s blank expression turned into confusion. Hope tried to explain but kept interrupting herself by laughing.
“Mrs. O’Leary … her cow … started the Great Chicago Fire … and these are cows … that live in the territory of dragon shifters. That’s pretty funny.”
“Ah. Okay.”
“If you know, you know,” David said. “Between the dad jokes and the earth jokes, my daughter pretends she doesn’t know me most of the time.”
“I love it,” Hope said, wiping tears from her eyes. Hope turned to the enormous animal who had sidled up to her.
“Hello, doll,” Hope said, looking into the cow’s massive eyes, then examining her teeth.
“And she’s on a combo diet?”
“Yeah. The Nova Aurora feed is richer, and the Earth feed is leaner. With both of them together, it seems like they get all the vitamins they need and some extra proteins. You can tell that the ones fed both are a little larger with more defined musculature,” David said.
“And it’s funny, you can notice that there’s a slight purple cast to her tongue and gums from the Nova Aurora feed. Say ah! Good girl.” Hope patted Mrs. O’Leary on the rump.
“Temperature is a little elevated,” Hope said.
“The Nova Aurora feed ups their metabolic processes, so we think that could be a reason,” David said.
“We’re also in fire country, being in the dragon shifters’ realm. I wonder if that has any influence.”
“Huh, I’ve never thought of that,” David said.
Seeing Hope in her element, Deimos felt perfectly serene. This was what he wanted his life to be.
