“Barony?” She rubbed her face, then slipped into park ranger mode.  She motioned for him to follow her as she got up and walked into the office. “The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest is broken up into several areas in Wyoming and Colorado.” She pulled a large rolled up map from a stand next to her desk and opened it up on the table.  Pointing as she spoke, she continued.  “Totaling roughly 2.9 million acres, it includes open grasslands, old growth forests, three rivers, several mountains, and-” She halted as he held up a hand.

“Did you say a million acres?”

“Yep!  Even after ten years, I don’t think I’ve seen all of it myself.  The best views are from up on the mountains.” She moved her finger to a new spot on the map.

Allistor’s head was spinning.  “That’s… in square miles that has to be…”

She already knew the number.  “Just over four thousand five hundred square miles.”

Allistor sat in one of the chairs.   “Your gift just earned me a title.  Land Baron.  Like in Europe in the middle ages.”  He looked up at her.  “You’re my new favorite person on the whole planet!”

She laughed as he leapt from his chair and hugged her, lifting her off her feet.  “And all you had to do was carry me up a flight of stairs and feed me a candy bar.  I’m a cheap date!”

Setting her back down gently, he stepped back.  “I can’t believe this.  I’ve been losing sleep worrying about securing enough land for our people by the end of the year.  With one wave of your hand, you just guaranteed we’ll have enough land to support us for… generations.  Millions of us could live and thrive on this much land!”

She shook her head, suddenly serious.  “No, not millions.  Thousands, certainly.  But the ecosystem here is delicate.  If you were to kill off all the bison, or the wolves, or alter the path of one of the rivers, it would permanently damage this place.  And there’s no need to do that.  There are enough big cities nearby for people to live in.  You need to promise me you’ll protect this place, not just the people.”  The look on her face was stern and implacable.

“Absolutely.  You have my oath that as long as I live I will protect these lands as well as the people on them.  We may need to hunt the monsters to extinction, but I’ll do my best to preserve the natural inhabitants.  I grew up camping every weekend and summer that we could.  I wouldn’t destroy the beauty of this place.  And you already know I was planning to take Cheyenne as a Stronghold.”