Caleb didn't know anything about Ministries or Animagi, but he did know what it felt like to be hunted and to grasp desperately for any scrap of safety and comfort while avoiding detection. He still wore the little amulet around his neck that protected him from those things. Mostly. Or at least they once had. It had been so utterly stupid of him to reveal himself to the Academy and to Trent, but he'd let his hubris get the better of him and he'd thought - falsely - that he and his friends would be able to handle anything that was thrown at them. At least he still had some friends among the Volstrucker or they wouldn't have been able to get away at all. And now, somewhere in the multiverse, they were once again running. Caleb felt guilty for the safety this place provided him. Guilty for Yasha being separated from Beau. Guilty that he had put his friends in harms' way to begin with.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
He set the incense and herbs alight with a small flame in the palm of his hand and set them gently on a wheel of charcoal, wafting the smoke towards the forest. He'd done this ritual so many times that the movements were just second-nature now. While he waited for the ten minutes to elapse he tore off another chunk of bread and washed it down with a swig of beer. Definitely beer, not ale. It wasn't heavy enough to be real Zemnian ale. As the ritual went on, a little spot of iridescent shimmer began to appear about ten feet from him, slowly coalescing into a shape. It was about to take form when Caleb was startled by a bark, and then another one as the dachshund-shaped Frumpkin turned and barked back.
"Alright," Caleb sighed. "Go, see." And the dachshund raced off towards the sound of another dog. "One-hundred feet!" Caleb called after him. "Stay within one-hundred feet!" At least then he could see whatever Frumpkin saw.