Shelia wasn’t sure which was worse, trying to explain what an Oracle programmer was to someone who’d looked like they’d walked out of a Renaissance Faire, or having to admit that being a stable hand might be her best bet for future employment.

She sighed and fiddled with the Shepherd medallion that hung on a leather cord around her neck. The pleasant hum of the charm kept her from picking up the growing piles of paperwork and throwing it at the clerk. At least it turned out she knew something useful.

The forms were actually rather amusing, having been reduced to simple yes and no boxes with an animal drawn above them. She was buried up to her eyebrows in classes, but she still didn’t have enough of a grasp on the local language to be able to take the written test. Which might be a good thing.

She stared at the picture of large fluffy creature and wondered what world in their right mind used sheep as riding animals. She checked ‘no’.