Page 5 of Emperor of Draconis

“Thank you. We’ll be waiting.” Carla said.

“Is she leaving?” A woman asked as soon as they exited the apartment.

“Yes, her son is entering service at the castle.”

“Is she too good to work here?” Another woman asked.

“Not at all.”

“Are you too good to work here?” Another woman asked. She broke out laughing.

“What’s so damn funny?” The first woman asked.

“You’re drawing conclusions about people you know nothing about. I’m a doctor. I worked my way through the first few years of college at a pork slaughter plant. There’s no part of the process I didn’t work. That place makes this plant look clean. I waded through the muck in the lot where the hogs came in and I had guts and gore all over me inside the plant. There’s few things that upset my stomach anymore and this place isn’t one of them.”

“Okay. Just checking.”

“If you guys aren’t happy here and want to try something else, just say so. There are other places, but this pays better than most and has benefits you might not get elsewhere.”

“No, we’re fine.”

“Alright. No issues?” She asked.

The females just shook their heads. Kitty didn’t think they were troublemakers; they just didn’t want anyone to feel like they were better than them. That was alright and she certainly didn’t feel better than anyone. She wanted all these people she’d brought here to be happy and have the best lives possible.

Everyone here was getting training in other jobs that required education. It was one of their benefits. Some were training to fly ships; others were training to run restaurants. One was learning to be a healer. A few would probably stay until they retired. That was alright too.

“I didn’t realize you’d worked a job like that.” Torr admitted.

“None of us girls were too good for anything. Our mom trained us to do all kinds of things. We can all cut up our kills when we hunt and clean our fish when we catch some. Everyone should be able to do those kinds of tasks.”

“I agree with you, but few people can.”

“Can you?”

“I’ll take you hunting, and you can find out.” Torr grinned giving her the impression that he could. As they flew away, she saw a car heading to the fishery. He must have called for Carla and her son to be picked up.

This pleased her and now they headed on. They stop at a place on the edge of civilization. “We’re at the edge of where you’ll see people living. Unless you are in dragon form, you should stay away from here. Your cousin Davy has helped us find better ways to protect this area, but it is still dangerous. Many large animals, predatory ones, and dangerous rebels hang out here. “

“Okay. I understand.” It was sweet that he wanted to protect her. In this case it was by letting her know a place she should avoid.

Now they went high in the sky where she could see the land, much like deserts, all below her. It was beautiful, but scary. There were few animals or plants below. The sands in many places were black and shiny like glass. Occasionally there were signs of mining. She saw antennas spaced way apart with tiny flashing lights on top. This was probably Davy’s suggestion.

Kitty realized she was hanging tight to Torr. His skin was hot and kept her warm. The wind wasn’t too hard and the way she wrapped herself around him blocked much of it. She was enjoying being with him like this. It wasn’t good for her to get this close to him. There was no way she wanted to mate. Not yet, at any rate. She wasn’t going to keep doing things with him.

He was going in for a landing again. This was a manor house of some kind and she had no idea who lived here. Right after they landed, people came out to greet them. It was Toreen and Cretia. This was a good thing since she could talk to them about Carla and Danny. The males wandered away to let the females talk.

“Your mom mentioned a female who had anxiety issues and a troubled son.” Cretia observed.

“She keeps everyone informed. I thought you might be willing to help her.”

“What skills does she have? We can always use another cook or a housekeeper. We do have a couple extra rooms, but they aren’t anything special.”

“Carla won’t mind. She’s not uppity, she just wants to do better for her son. They’ve not had a good life. I believe they haven’t always had food or even a roof over their head. The boy’s father deserted them, and her other males used her. I imagine she can cook and clean. She may even have other skills. The boy will test for the military program for troubled kids.”

“I hope he gets in. If not, he can work with Dad.”

“Toreen’s dad? I hoped he might take an interest.”

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