Page 148 of Nine-Tenths

"The dragons know?" Pedra gasps. "And they're not…?"

"Of course they’d hide that they’re the greatest pharmaceutical miracle in existence," I scoff. "Of course they'd make a big conspiracy out of it, make themselves feelimportant."

"Makes sense," Hadi says. "Humans outnumber dragons. It could get ugly if there was a push to justtakeit, to kidnap dragons, strip them down to parts for medicine—"

Onatah makes one of the serpent-noises of disgust I'm used to hearing from Dav. "This wouldn't be a problem if—uhg. European dragons are the speciesist jerks, and Simcoe is one of the worst." She holds up Pedra's paper. "This isn't the way I do it. The way any of the rest of us do it. This knowledge is shared freely everywhere but in the European kingdoms."

"The dragons don't have that much control over our lives," Pedra laughs. "They can’t censor the whole Internet!"

"Yes," I say softly. "They can."

Across from me, Hadi swallows hard. Pedra turns a queasy sort of gray.

"Explain how you do it, then," I say eventually, wheels grinding. "There's seven billion people on Earth, and maybe only about a million of them are dragons. You can't possibly cook for every single person every day."

Onatah rolls her eyes. "It's tune-ups, not daily sessions. It’s touchpoints. It’s barbeques and festivals, and making food that stores. Smoked meats, or dehydrated fruit. My people are getting ready for one right now, which is why Nîcimos isn't here. It's a lot of hot, hard work, but it's worth it."

Ha! Nîcimos!Finally got a name!

"I see," Pedra says slowly. "I assume the efforts are… appreciated?"

"Very much so. My people are happy. And very healthy."

"It must be lovely, to be able to gather everyone together to celebrate," I muse. "Dav must be envious."

Onatah gives me a meaningful look:Of course he is.

"Andnobodyaround here knows about this?" Pedra says.

"Some have to," Hadi says. "Or humans wouldn't join hoards, right?"

"Only Favorites get The Gift," I say, which I probably shouldn't but… fuck it. Let Lt. Gov. Fuckface whip me too, if he wants. I'm not lying to my friends. "Dav doesn't cook the daily breakfast. He just pays for it."

"Then why would any of them stick around this many years later?"

"Their great-grandparents had special skills the dragons wanted, like winemaking, or they needed security, shelter, jobs and they were … annexed, for want of a better term. Then that's it," I say. "For you and for your descendants. You’re set for life, but you’re also Collected for life, too."

"So they'repicked," Hadi clarifies, nose wrinkling in disgust. "It has nothing to do with where you’re born?"

"You can apply, too," Onatah corrects. "But the ones who live and work with Dav now? They’re the children and grandchildren of the ‘right sort of people’ who were hand-picked for him when his territory was established."

"Forhim," I repeat with disgust. I bet I know who by, too.

"And what does that mean, exactly? The right sort of people," Hadi scoffs, looking around at everyone crowded around the coffee table, cataloging each face. "Wait, hold on. How many of Dav's staff are people of color?"

"What?" It takes me a second to figure out what she's driving at. This room, this group, this rainbow of faces… this is what Canada looks like. This is the Canada that Dav fought for, bled for. So why doesn't Dav's hoard reflect that?

"Oh, like maybe a third of them?" I guess. "Um, but, uh, now that I think about it, not many of the legacy families."

"But the settlers in this area, at the time his household was set up—"

"No, of course they weren't all White," Onatah says. "There were my people, before they were driven off by bullshit broken treaties, then a large community of Africans, who had escaped enslavement. Dav was told they weren't respectable."

"Told by who?" Pedra asks.

"Guess," I sneer.

Onatah scoffs. "This is new territory to them, at least. Your boy is the first Marquis, and he'd never established anything before, didn't have the benefit of family close by to help him make his selections. John Simcoe, he… took Dav under his wing. Fatherly. Bossy. Didn't sit well with Frank, when he found out that his dad had given a prime piece of real estate to an unrelated upstart who already had territory to inherit in Wales."