Ariadne's smile stretched from ear to ear, eyes flashing like coins. "Of course you could have a dog!" she said. "Lots of people have been adopting pets around here. One of the gods--I think it was Honir--started creating domesticated animals for Asgard, a few months ago. Probably just before you got here. I bet, if you asked him, he could give you a dog."

There was a delightful sense of accomplishment in being able to actually facilitate something. Of course, the actual follow-through was up to Connor. But Ariadne suddenly felt a lot better about the world.

"I don't know about basketball," she continued. "But if you can get enough people who want to learn what that is, I'm sure they'd want to play it." In all fairness, between moments of true terror, there was a lot of boredom. "That also seems like something Honir might like.""

Unfortunately, there was no easy fix to the 'with Hank' part. She supposed anyone had the potential to become a Wanderer, but there was no controlling that potential.