It was a completely uneventful morning walk, for the morning that uprooted Devika's life.

It was about a fifteen minute walk from her woodland cottage to the place where her mail was delivered. That gave the poor mail clerk time to get in and out before the unanchored empath took her walk. In her three years there had been only a few close calls - a lost group of campers once and a very aggravated bear the other time. Mostly, she took her weekly walk unhindered and alone. She liked it that way. 

Today was just another day. She went through the stack of mail, tossing junk and flyers that somehow still reached her out here. There was her stipend check from the government, her reward for living off the map but on record. Then there was another, thicker envelope with the same official seal. More money, perhaps? Maybe her yearly health check was early?

She tore open the letter with a fingernail and read it, dread increasing in her belly and startling off animals for a half-mile radius. After all this time, they found her an Anchor? It seemed like a joke. What wasn't a joke was the date - this letter was almost 2 weeks old! And the date of arrival was... today?!

"Well. Shit." 

She headed back to the house at a jog, desperately trying to remember if she had any spare sheets.