"These homes all look occupied," Soneya frowned as we slowly drove north past a half dozen properties. "They look like nice places, some of them seem fairly new, but that's a lot of families potentially being kicked out."
Robyn spoke up from the back seat, "We're not actually at the property line yet, so these places aren't part of the package. Keep going north about...two hundred meters? Up ahead there on the right, that line of tall trees? That's the southern boundary of Gaia's land."
It was just past noon and all four of us were in the wolfgirl's Jeep. We were about thirty-five kilometres north-east of the city, eager to get a look at the land the Earth Mother offered us.
I was feeling fairly optimistic about it, and I knew Lia was excited at the possibility of open space and trees and wilderness to run around in. Robyn seemed pretty positive as well, especially considering how well things had been going for her so far today.
And even though Soneya was still acting cautious and hesitant, I was positive I could hear some optimism in her voice. And I could see it in her eyes too. After being in survival-mode for so long, I was positive she really wanted to be able to truly relax and let go. She couldn't do that stuck in my tiny one-bedroom apartment in the city, but out here with land and fresh air and room to move around it felt like there was a lot more potential.
Gaia's answers to all Soneya's questions last night helped a lot too. The teenage avatar of the planet assured us she wasn't going to steal anyone's home. According to her there were only a couple properties here that were owned by individuals or family businesses, and she'd already purchased them all at fair market rates.
As for the land held by either government bodies or corporations, the Earth Mother simply invoked eminent domain and expropriated it. After all, she reminded us, governments and corporations forced people off their land all the time. She was just returning the favour. And it's not like they could do anything about it. The bottom line was when it came to property rights, there was no higher authority than the planet herself.
"Oh look," Robyn commented as we continued driving slowly north along the second concession. "It's an orchard! That'll come in handy."
There were some faded signs at the side of the road advertising a 'pick your own apples' affair, but with 'closed' written overtop of the original signage. Next to the long driveway was a for-sale sign, with a smaller 'sold' sign on the top.
Soneya stopped the jeep at the side of the road so we could all get a look at the place. She didn't seem so impressed though, "Those buildings look pretty run-down. The orchard itself might be good but I have a feeling the buildings need work."
"It's just the first place," I pointed out. "And honestly I get the feeling Gaia maybe did them a favour? If the business wasn't doing great she may have bailed them out by buying it. Anyways let's keep going, ok?"
Robyn agreed, "According to my GPS app's satellite view there's a couple more buildings just up ahead past that row of pine trees."
Sure enough there was another property with a couple buildings just north of the orchard. This looked more like an old farmhouse with a barn, but once again the place had seen better days. There was an older for-sale sign that looked like it had been there a while, with a brand-new 'sold' added across the top.
Our wolfgirl remained unimpressed though, so we moved on. It was only another hundred meters or so to the next line of trees, and when we passed that she brought the jeep to a halt as we all stared.
"Ok this is impressive," Robyn commented.
We were looking at a large modern home at the end of a long paved winding driveway. It was set on what had to be a couple acres of well-manicured lawn, with a nice evenly-spaced row of trees defining the property lines. The home looked modern and spacious, and I was positive it'd be big enough for all four of us to live comfortably. Beyond the house was an equally large and modern outbuilding. It wasn't a barn, but it might have been some modern equivalent. Like the first two places, this one also had a for-sale and sold sign out front.
"I wonder if we can see inside?" Soneya commented.
"Let me check the realtor's website," Robyn responded. "They might have more information, and pictures of the interior."
A half minute later the bunnygirl added, "Oh yeah. I wanna live here. Heck we could all live here. Five bedrooms, home theatre in the basement, open concept ground floor with a huge modern kitchen. And that second building was originally meant to be modern stables for horses but now it's got a workshop and a fully featured home gym, and oh yeah, indoor swimming pool."
I grinned, "I like the sound of all that."
"Those woods behind the property are part of the conservation area," Robyn said as she continued checking details on her phone. "One of the trails goes right past this property all the way to the road just up ahead of us. Honestly this place seems perfect to me?"
"Can we go run around in the woods now?" Lia asked as she stared out the car window.
I looked over my shoulder and gave her a supportive smile, "Soon little sister. We still have a lot to see, we've only just got started here."
"Right," Soneya agreed as we continued making our way north again. "Let's keep driving, we've only just scratched the surface of this property Gaia's promised us."
Sure enough we passed a trail head at the north end of that fancy property, then another fifty meters or so beyond that was a dirt road that went in as far as the big pond or small lake. According to Robyn the dirt road ended at a dock at the south end of the lake.
We got our first look at the water a few moments later as we slowly drove past the west end of it. It looked like a decent size, definitely bigger than I'd expect for a pond while being a bit too small to qualify as a lake. Either way it looked nice, and I couldn't wait to go hiking and get a closer look at it.
Continuing along the second concession to the north-west corner of the land we passed by three more small properties. All of them had for-sale and sold signs, but none were as impressive as that big modern place.
Robyn let us know when we passed the northern edge of the land that might soon be ours, and from there it wasn't far to the next crossroads. Soneya turned east there and we drove about two kilometres to third concession, where we turned south again. Along the way we passed through a small community that wasn't part of the land Gaia offered us. There were a few dozen homes, a gas station and a bakery, and a public school.
The north-east corner of our land was about a quarter kilometer south of the community, and Robyn let us know when we reached it. From there it was all protected woodlands down to the southern border of the property, which meant there wouldn't be any more houses. That didn't mean there weren't any buildings though. There were several which were part of the conservation area, and while most were little more than outbuildings or quonset huts, there was a visitors centre that we decided to investigate.
The building looked fairly modern, and it had a good-sized parking lot next to it. Unfortunately it was closed so we couldn't get inside, but we did get out of the car to walk around and get a better look. Or three of us did, Lia immediately ran off towards a trail head that led into the woods.
"Don't get lost!" I called after her. "And please don't go too far away!"
Our small sister called back as she disappeared into the trees, "Ok Tori!"
While she was off having fun Soneya Robyn and I walked around the building and peered in all the windows. Although a few of them were just a bit too high up for the bunnygirl to see in, so she had to jump or grab hold of the window sill and pull herself up. Fortunately she didn't seem upset or annoyed about dealing with her new small size, which was a relief.
Honestly I thought she looked kind of adorable standing up on her tippy toes or jumping and grabbing the window sill. At the same time her ears would stretch up or tilt forwards as if that'd help her see better.
In fact everything about her looked incredibly cute since we got her some new clothes in the morning. I took her shopping as soon as the stores opened, and while we both attracted plenty of stares nobody gave either of us a hard time. The only real trouble we had was finding clothes in her size, so at least half her new wardrobe came from the children's section.
After making a full lap around the building we ended up by the front doors again. I looked at my two companions and suggested, "I think we just found our embassy building. It's designed for the public which means it's accessable, there's a full parking lot, and offices in the back. Plus it looks like there's a meeting room and a little auditorium or theatre in there. Probably for educational stuff, like school tours or whatever? But I'm sure we can use that."
"There's even a gift shop," Robyn pointed out. "I don't know that we actually need a gift shop, but it's there."
Soneya had a thoughtful look on her face as she stared at the visitors centre for a few seconds. Then she slowly turned on the spot, as if surveying the woods and parking lot and everything around us.
Finally she looked to Robyn and asked, "Since you've been doing all the map work and navigating, do you know where the two extra chunks of land are? Gaia said there was the option to expand if we needed it."
The bunnygirl nodded as she pulled her phone out again and opened up the map app, "The two add-ons are basically east and west? So this first property is between second and third concessions right? The next chunk is east of here, between third and fourth concessions. That's the smallest of the three chunks, and there's no homes on it that I can see? It's basically the rest of this forested conservation land, and a really big golf course."
"The other chunk is to the west between first and second concession," she continued. After glancing at her phone she added, "That's about the same size as this original chunk, and about a third of it is another golf course if you can believe it. Why do they need two golf courses only two kilometres apart? Anyways the rest of it looks like farmland, along with a few more farmhouses."
I looked to our wolfgirl and asked, "What are you thinking?"
She still had that distant look on her face as she replied, "Even if some of the homes on this land aren't in great shape they should still be livable, right? Or maybe they need a bit of work to fix them up but still, they're homes. Plus if we do annex the east and west additions then all the land that's being wasted for golf could be put to better use. Forget about industrial agriculture running on fossil fuel and artificial fertilizer, now that magic's on the table I'll bet Gaia has tricks she can share with the rest of us."
"What are you getting at?" I asked. "It sounds like you've got something big in mind."
Soneya shrugged, "I'm just saying even with the original chunk, thirteen hundred acres is huge and there's more houses on it than we know what to do with. What if we invited other folks to join us? I'm thinking about family and friends to start with, but maybe we can bring in other like-minded folks in the future. People like us, with Gaia's blessing. Or just folks who love nature and want to help out."
The wolfgirl sighed and shook her head, "Gaia's talking about ending civilization as we know it. Our whole economy, our way of life is wrapped up in capitalism and fossil fuel, right? Maybe we can start building something new right here, right now? Instead of waiting until after the old system's collapsed, I mean. Something based on nature and magic, and respect for the land and for each other."
Robyn and I exchanged a glance, and it was clear from her expression she was as surprised by Soneya's idea as me. It was also a sobering reminder that we weren't talking about moving to a nice new home on a nice chunk of land just for fun. If we accepted Gaia's offer we'd basically have front-row seats for the fall of civilization as we knew it. Or worst-case scenario, we might be watching the defacto end of the human race.
What our wolfgirl was suggesting seemed a lot better. Instead of just negotiating and overseeing the destruction of life as we knew it, maybe we could start showing people there was another option or a better way. That by working with Gaia, by respecting nature and the planet we could do just as well, if not better.
"Yeah," I finally nodded. "I like it."
Robyn smiled, "Me too."
"So I guess we should head back home for now, and sign those contracts?" I asked as I looked to our wolfgirl again.
Soneya hesitated for a second or two then smiled, "Yeah. I'm ready to sign on the dotted line."
As the three of us started back towards the parking lot and the Jeep I joked, "I know this is super premature, but I wonder if my folks would be interested in moving out here. Maybe I can interest them in running an apple orchard?"
"I'm not sure how my family would feel about joining our magical demi-human transbian commune," Robyn grimaced. "I still have to finish coming out to them about being a small bunnygirl."
"I have no idea if it's even possible to get my folks here," Soneya sighed. "That's assuming they'd even want to."
She added a moment later, "I should text Shane and Michael though. They might be interested, and if they're still in Amqui then they're already on the right side of the border."
As we reached the car I looked to the woods and shouted, "Lia! C'mon sis, it's time to go!"
A moment later a small red fox came barrelling out of the woods, running towards us at full speed. Her long fluffy red tail was swishing happily behind her and her ears were folded back, and she was making a constant stream of excited yips and barks.
"Eep!" Robyn yelped and jumped up onto the hood of the Jeep as she scrambled to escape the fox charging at us all teeth and claws.
Meanwhile Soneya smiled as I crouched down to greet our sister, "Slow down there Lia! What happened to all your clothes, sis?"
"They're in the woods!" she replied happily as she tackled me with enough momentum to knock me over. I ended up on my back with a very happy little fox sitting ontop of me while her tail wagged up a storm.
"This place is perfect!" she announced excitedly. "I want to stay here and you should come running in the woods with me! I already chased seven squirrels and two bunnies! Three bunnies including Robyn!"
I giggled and Soneya smiled, while the bunnygirl blushed and pouted as she ended up sitting crosslegged on the hood of the car.
Pleasantly surprised to see this update a day or 2 after I finished the rest