"Oh wow!" I exclaimed when Stef and I got our first look in the back of the large wagon. "You weren't kidding when you said you hit the jackpot!"

My enbyfriend agreed, "We definitely need to hear about this adventure of yours!"

The wagon was a good five or six meters long by about two and a half meters wide, and all-told it stood almost two meters tall. About half that height came from its four sturdy rubber wheels, with the front pair on a pivoting axle that connected to the tractor via a tow-bar. The rest was thanks to its short wooden walls that protected all the goods that were loaded inside.

Flora undid a pair of rusty iron latches then carefully folded the back wall down, so she and Charlotte could hop out. Theo looked quite happy to stay where he was though, curled up asleep ontop of a stack of three queen-size mattresses.

Next to those were a trio of large transparent plastic bags which appeared to be full of bedding, like sheets and blankets and pillows and duvets. And beyond that were stacked at least a dozen cardboard boxes full of wine.

"So what happened?" I finally asked as I looked at Flora and Charlotte. "You obviously found a winery, but where'd the beds come from?"

Stef interjected, "Never mind the beds, how'd you get a working tractor and trailer?!"

"It was just after we passed the border," Silvia replied as she hopped down from the driver's seat.

Our mink friend blurted out, "That was really creepy by the way! Like it was one thing visiting the abandoned winery in Mitterretzbach? That was just an empty business though. Going through an abandoned border crossing made it feel way more post-apocalyptic."

Flora and Silvia nodded in agreement, then the ponygirl continued her story.

"So there's a petrol station just past the border," she explained, "And parked right there in front of the pumps was this big orange tractor! At first we assumed someone drove it there before the mountain happened, like some farmer needed to top up the tank or something? Except then we noticed there was somebody actually there working on it! They were even dressed like a mechanic and everything!"

The deer girl took over the story, "Theo hadn't said anything about humans in the area, so we were all a little freaked out. Except then we realized the mechanic had fuzzy ears and a tail -"

"She was an adorable little badger girl!" Charlotte interrupted with a wide smile. "She was even shorter than me! And she was decked out in some cute blue cover-alls, she even had her name written on her chest."

Silvia took over again, "Apparently Gaia sent Bettina the badger to fix up a ride for us!"

Both Stef and I were surprised to hear that. Then the catkin asked, "You're sure her name wasn't Bettany? Gaia told us she had a badger named Bettany working in her R&D group."

The ponygirl shook her head, "Bettina said she's part of Gaia's mechanics team, she basically runs Mother Earth's motor pool? She takes care of vehicles and transportation for all Gaia's representatives. She was really friendly too, after she introduced herself she even apologized for not having the tractor ready in time."

"Check it out!" Flora added as she held out her magic phone. "I got a picture!"

Sure enough there was an image of the badger-girl mechanic on the screen. And I had to agree with Charlotte, she looked pretty cute.

Bettina was short and chunky, with an adorable rounded face and messy sandy-blonde hair. Her badger-ears were just visible, poking up out of her hair on either side of her head. She had a pair of thick round glasses that almost seemed cliché, and even had some stereotypical engine grime smeared on her chin. She wore some grubby wrinkled dark blue overalls, with her name embroidered in off-white thread over her left chest. She also had a leather tool belt hanging around her waist, and finally a pair of beat-up old beige work boots completed the look.

Meanwhile Silvia continued, "Despite the apology she had the tractor ready in barely two minutes. Then she turned it over to me, since I practically grew up driving tractors on my parents' farm. Finally she told us to check around back of the petrol station, then she waved and vanished right before our eyes!"

"There was a little shop there," Flora explained, "And behind that we found this big old wagon! Except we didn't know how to hook it up to the tractor, because the connector thingy was broken -"

The pony girl had an even bigger smile on her face as she announced, "And that's when I got my magic! I knew how to fix the coupler, but without any tools it seemed impossible? Then it's like I could feel the metal with my mind, and presto! No need for an angle grinder and a welding torch, or even a hammer or hacksaw!"

My tails started wagging and I grinned, "That's amazing! So Bettina gave you the tractor, and you fixed the trailer. Then what?"

Before any of them could continue the story Flora suggested, "Why don't we start moving some of this stuff stuff back to the house? We can keep talking while we're working, or pick up the story again between trips?"

The rest of us agreed, so Stef and Charlotte and I each took a case of wine while Flora and Silvia took either end of the first mattress. That finally got Theo up, he hopped clear of it as soon as it started moving.

Then the little wildcat had a big stretch and yawn before finally greeting us, "Hello Stef, Stella, how was your day?"

I smiled, "It was good. But not quite as productive as yours, it seems."

"We'll get to our day later," Stef stated. "For now we're still eager to hear the rest of the story!"

"Ok," Theo said as he hopped up onto the next mattress in the pile. Then as he curled up and closed his eyes he added, "I'll stay here and guard the comfy."

Stef and I just rolled our eyes and grinned. Before he could fall asleep again the catkin asked him, "What did you think of your adventure? Did you like visiting Mitterretzbach and Hnanice?"

"Not really," he sighed. "It was farther away than I realized, and when we got there all the trails were covered in pavement. Everything looked and smelled the same, and apart from meeting Bettina it all got very boring."

Silvia sounded sympathetic as she added, "I'm pretty sure the little guy was tired of walking before we'd even reached the border. Unfortunately he didn't really trust the tractor either, or not at first anyways. He didn't seem happy about riding in the wagon until after we got the mattresses."

"Then as soon as he figured out what they were for and how comfy they were he was all over them," Flora smirked.

Theo's ears flicked once or twice at that point, but he didn't bother responding. So we left him to his guard-nap, while the rest of us set out to haul our first load the rest of the way home.

That turned out to be a bigger challenge than we'd expected, and we ended up focusing on the task rather than carrying on our conversation. Charlotte and Stef and I all struggled a bit under the weight of a dozen bottles of wine each, while Flora and Silvia were focused on manoeuvring the queen-size mattress through the woods. The trek took us a good half hour or so, and when we finally got there we just left the cases of wine stacked out front and the mattress propped up against the stone wall next to the doorway.

The deer girl sighed as the five of us all slumped onto the benches next to the fire pit for a breather, "So... do you think Gaia would be unhappy with us if we extended that trail right up to our front door?"

"I'll use my magic to clear the trees if you use yours Stella to smooth out the ground," she added.

I grimaced then shrugged, "I have no idea? I guess Gaia wouldn't mind? I mean, if she wanted us to have a vehicle she must have known we'd need a way to get it here."

"It might not be practical getting it right to our front door," Stef pointed out. "Not without making some significant changes to the landscape, to get it part-way down the cliff."

Silvia suggested, "Bringing the trail as far as the top of the cliff should be good enough, I think? Even if we have to carry things the last forty or fifty meters, that still beats hauling the heavy stuff half a kilometer. Especially over that really rough ground south of the mountain."

I looked over at Stef and found them looking back at me, as we gave each other a questioning look. The catkin shrugged then nodded, "Sounds ok to me. Like you said, Gaia probably knew we'd need to do something like that."

"Alright," I nodded to Flora. "I guess we'll head back to the tractor, then you and I can walk ahead of it and clear a path so Silvia can drive it home?"

The deer girl agreed, but the five of us ended up relaxing for another five or ten minutes before we finally got moving again. Then as we made our way back to where Theo and the vehicle were waiting our friends resumed their story.

"Like I figured there were two wineries in Hnanice," Charlotte began.

Flora clarified, "She means winery stores, not actual wine-making facilities."

"There's one of those there too!" the mink girl insisted. "But yeah, I mean retail stores. There wasn't much stock on the shelves, but the one we visited had a full load of inventory in the back. So we loaded up! I'm positive there was enough there to fill the whole wagon, but -"

"But I only let her take fifteen cases," Flora stated. "We can always go back and get the rest afterwards."

Charlotte pouted and grumbled, "It better all still be there when we go back tomorrow."

Her girlfriend just rolled her eyes, then got on with the next part of the story. "While we were in the winery I had a look at some touristy pamphlets they had by the door. I figured there might be more wineries or other businesses in the area that could have useful stuff. And sure enough I found out there's a spa-type hotel right there in town!"

"Flora asked me to take us over that way," Silvia took over the tale, "It was barely a quarter kilometer away so no big deal. Then we let ourselves in, and loaded up on some bedding."

The deer girl's ears drooped as she grimaced, "No offence Stella and Stef, and to be clear your stone-built beds with the pine-bough mattresses are a pretty good solution for what you had to work with? But I need a proper soft comfy mattress. And naturally we got one for Silvia since she's moving in, and the last one for you two if you want it."

"The hotel also has plenty of sofas and chairs and tables and all that good stuff," she added. "That's why we need to go back tomorrow. And maybe the day after, too? Even with the big trailer it's going to take us a few days to move everything we need."

Charlotte insisted, "And we need to get the rest of the wine! Before some humans decide to help themselves to it!"

Stef and I were both smiling by that point. I shook my head as I responded, "Don't worry Flora, no offence taken. You're right, our beds were very much a makeshift solution. Same with the stone chairs and tables and everything."

"Raiding an abandoned hotel for furnishings was a great idea," my enbyfriend added. "So it seems like we have our plans laid out for the next couple days? Tractor ride to Hnanice in the mornings, load up the wagon with furniture and other supplies, then ride back home in the afternoons, spend the rest of the day unloading the wagon."

I nodded, "Works for me. It's not that hard for me to get rid of the stone furniture, especially if I'm doing it one thing at a time when we bring in the replacements."

"One thing I'm curious about," I commented after a brief pause, "Did you encounter any humans at all? From what Gaia said the other day I figured there might be a few farmers sticking around, even without phones or electricity."

Silvia shook her head, "If there was anyone around I didn't see them. It was just the four of us, and our brief encounter with Bettina."

"Same," Flora agreed. Then she admitted, "We passed a lot of houses in Mitterretzbach, and even more in Hnanice. They all looked abandoned, but I didn't feel right about going into any of them. That's why I wanted to find a hotel? Raiding an abandoned business for wine or furniture feels less icky than going into somebody's private home. Even if Gaia did say it all belongs to us now."

Both Stef and I nodded slowly while I agreed, "Yeah that makes sense. I think I'd feel the same way."

"Maybe we'll feel differently in a few months," my enbyfriend added, "Or a year or something? Right now it feels too soon."

Silvia grimaced, "Right now I can't imagine ever needing to go into private homes. I mean, we've only really visited three businesses in two villages, and that's already provided more than enough of what we need."

"Even if a hundred more people joined you here we could still get everything we needed just hitting a dozen abandoned businesses in Retz," she continued. "And that's just looking at Austria. You also have all those villages on the Czech side, plus half of Znojmo."

Finally she stated, "Maybe if you brought a thousand friends here we'd need to look at the private homes, but then it'd be easier to just have people move in and live in them, rather than raiding them for furniture and stuff."

We ended up walking the rest of the way in a sort of thoughtful silence after that, as we all contemplated our new friend's comments. I couldn't help weighing the ponygirl's observations against some of the stuff Gaia said the other day, about wanting us to start building a new civilization. And to be honest it felt more than a little daunting.

By the time we reached Theo and the tractor I'd decided it was easier to just focus on the here and now. There was more work we had to do for our home, and winter wasn't that far away. We needed to get through the next few days, weeks, and months. In the meantime I was sure we'd all be inviting more friends to join us, but I doubted that number would reach a hundred, let alone a thousand.

It seemed like the others had all come to the same conclusion, as we all immediately got to work on the task at hand. Silvia climbed up into the driver's seat and used her magic to start the engine, while Charlotte and Stef joined Theo in the trailer. Flora and I remained on foot in front of the vehicle, and I let the deer girl take the lead.

Using her plant magic she was able to pick a route that would cause the least disruption and damage to the forest. She also relied on her magic to bring down the trees that had to be cleared. They were positioned to either side of the new trail, so we could come and collect them later. And I followed her lead, using my earth magic to flatten out and firm up the ground into a solid path after she'd cleared it of vegetation.

"Do you think you could use those to make doors later?" Charlotte asked after watching her girlfriend bring down the first couple trees.

Flora paused from her magic to reply, "Maybe? I think it'd be easier to just yoink a bunch of doors from that hotel, rather than make them from scratch. We'd probably have to do some measurements first though, to make sure they'll fit the doorways Stella made."

My tails swished as I grinned, "I think it'd be easier for me to just reshape the doorways to fit the doors. Although I'm not sure how we'd handle the hinges?"

"I can take care of that," Silvia chimed in with a wide smile. "Metal doorframes and hinges should be fairly easy for me."

Stef smiled as their ears perked up, "Do you think we could do something similar with windows? I'll bet that hotel has some quality glazing we could use."

Both Silvia and I agreed, between her metal-magic and my stone-bending we could shape our window holes to match whatever glass we found, and have proper metal window-frames to fit them perfectly.

By that point it felt like everyone's mood had picked up again. Sure enough Charlotte giggled a moment later.

"This is going to be awesome!" she announced happily. "We're going to have the best cave house ever!"

PurpleCatGirl

This is a commissioned story, so updates only happen when patrons commission a new chapter. Patrons always get chapters one or two weeks before anyone else, so if you're eager to get caught-up join are Patreon and you'll get all the latest chapters and new stories! And if you'd like to help move this story along, think about sponsoring a chapter!
Today's chapter was courtesy of Lucy who commissioned it!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl