"Six months later, our stock had soared to almost double what Craig had initially paid. He could have made a killing in the market; but instead, Craig...insisted on selling it all back to us—for the same price he had paid." So Julie," she said, "the short version is—I would do just about anything for Craig Lane. I'm still able to afford all of this because of that guy you'll be getting married to in a few weeks." I know... ," Julie said. "Truthfully, Claire I've never been able to figure out why. We got home, and got out to see our sisters, waiting for us.Sam had taken the drive home to put her hair back in pigtails, which make her look twelve.I got out and opened the door for her, and we hugged our sisters, not having seen them for almost a month.“Is this our little brother?” Tiff said to Em.“It’s only been a month,” I said. “However, all of my sisters, even Mom are very pretty. I guess it took me becoming sixteen to realize how beautiful you all are.”I walked into the house with Sammi. He was the seventh alchemist I had visited. Beyond restocking my alchemical bombs—and picking up a new type that promised to make a screen of smoke—I hadn’t found anything useful.“Negate magic,” snorted the man. “Preposterous.”“A gnome alchemist named Fredagest did it,” I said. “I saw her use it.”“I know that name. You say a bounty hunter knows more of alchemy than me?” he grunted. “I’ve been studying the art since your grandmother was merely a seed in her father’s loins waiting to be. Maybe start off with a good Charlais or Simmental bull. We could sell the offsprings for beef and maybe we could breed and sell choice bulls."Claude thought for a while then said, "I've been doing a little thinking along those lines myself. Not to go completely to beef production, but as a supplement to my regular farming. My biggest problem and it would be yours too, is that I just don't have enough land to support a herd big enough to support the farm." It sounds like an awful lot of work..