Humans were strange. Some of those strangenesses were pleasant, such as cheese and bread, but others most certainly weren’t. The clothes Jinn had given Kyla, retrieved from the room of one of the human puppies - puppies! - were among the unpleasant strangenesses. Kyla had liked Lianhua’s robes, which were really only a slightly more cumbersome version of the clothing chiefs wore for ceremonies, but these were ridiculous. And they belonged to a puppy. Kyla was almost certain she didn’t count as a puppy any longer, and wearing puppy-clothes was both demeaning and uncomfortable.

On the other hand, it was better than what they’d done to Mei. The fuergar, after being stuffed with all kinds of treats at the group meal - which was eaten while everyone sat around a single enormous table, which was another oddity - had been subjected to a bath, then had ribbons tied around her neck and ankles. She could barely walk until she managed to bite off the ones on her legs, though so far she was tolerating the one around her neck fairly well.

Kyla, however, was not. Not only did she have five layers of fabric weighing her down, but there were more ribbons around her wrists, ankles, throat, and waist. What were they even for? She might be able to use one to strangle an enemy, but they were so delicate, she doubted it. If they were meant to be decorative, they were failing miserably. They weren’t made of rare metals, gems, teeth, bones, or any of the things a kobold might have admired, and though they were fabric, their greatest advantage was their bright colors, none of which were red.

She sat on a soft piece of furniture Jinn had called a chaise, stroking Mei. She had to admit that her fuergar’s fur was both softer and glossier than ever before, as was her own, so that was pleasant. The overpoweringly sweet stench that had filled the room, wafting away from all of the females except for Lianhua and Yingtao, made Kyla want to rub at her muzzle. Even now that Jinn was the only one left, the smell lingered.

“So they just didn’t take the children for some reason?” Lianhua asked, leaning toward Jinn, who sat on a chair across from her. Yingtao stood behind Lianhua, hands tucked into the sleeves of her simple green robe, expression serene. Whenever one of the other two females needed a fresh cup of ‘tea’, it was Yingtao who brought it, so Kyla assumed she was checking their drinks to make sure they weren’t dangerous in some way.

According to the oldest of the chiefs’ books, it was once common practice to use what was called a ‘poison tester’ in case an enemy attempted to slip something dangerous into food or drink. Once the luegat and vara system was put in place, such an indirect means of killing an opponent was considered a show of weakness, so no one used it any longer. Which was beside the point, because humans were strange. Kyla just wondered who these females thought might try to kill them, and if she and Mei were at risk by being around them.

Jinn’s expression was more relaxed than Kyla had ever seen it; her forehead smooth, and the dark circles beneath her eyes smudges rather than bruises. She wrapped her arms around herself, glancing over at Kyla for some reason.

“Yes. Rissa says that she was told Ma had gone back to sea, Da was working, and the rest of us adults were busy with the tournament or taken ill. She was terribly worried when she couldn’t even visit her mother to bring her some flowers. Apparently we don’t have enough dragon blood to allow the xiyi to copy us, though. We were simply removed when Ma and Da started kicking up a fuss about the King and Queen’s sudden change in political stances.”

Lianhua nodded, though that wasn’t her ‘really interested’ face. Not the one she got when someone mentioned the Diushi or something about runes, anyway. “King Maleim suddenly raised taxes and called all of the diplomats home, correct?”

“Especially the ones closely related to the royal family, yes,” Jinn agreed. “Presumably, those are the ones related to Jianying, or whichever of his offspring pretended to be our first king. I…didn’t really understand that part.”

Indeed, dinner had been an entirely confusing affair, filled with bizarre eating conventions and equally bizarre conversation. Most people seemed almost giddy with relief at simply being home and together again, but Jinn’s parents and a few other adults had held heated conversations across the broad table.

“I’m just glad most of the mages survived,” Jinn said, closing her eyes briefly. “Though they were drained even more than King Maleim, they’ll recover in time. And Reina sent word that her cousin Fabian was among them, so the one Chi Yincang killed was a copy.”

Lianhua glanced at an apparently empty spot next to the broad window, smiling slightly as she nodded. “A fuzhi, I believe Snen called them. Once all of this is over, I hope he’ll show me some xiyi runes. It would be fascinating to see how much their language has drifted from that of the kobolds we know, and again how much that has changed from the original Diushi. I believe I could spend a decade in Shensheng, simply reading the Magmablade books. Now that we know the kobolds are actually the last remnants of the lost Diushi, the etymology of-”

Yingtao leaned in front of her, cutting off the flow of words as the taller female handed Lianhua a cup of gently steaming tea. It was in one of the cracked and repaired cups that Lianhua used, rather than one of the matched set Jinn had offered her, and Lianhua closed her mouth with a soft click as she accepted it.

“Oh,” Jinn said. “Yes. That will be… I’m sure Gil would be fascinated by that as well. He works in Logistics now. He’s always loved reading.” She lifted her brows as she accepted a cup from Yingtao as well. “He’s already thirty-eight, and not married, you know. All the girls find him terribly boring.” Her cheeks darkened. “Not that he is! He just has, um, different interests than most-”

A soft knock came at the door, and Jinn leaped to her feet, almost dropping the cup as her hand moved toward her waist, grasping for a blade that wasn’t there. She managed to hold onto the vessel, but her feet shifted into a battle-ready stance. Kyla nodded approval, but her ears and nose had already told her who was in the hall, so she remained seated.

“Jinn?” Reina’s soft voice came through just before the female did. Her pink hair was as glossy as Kyla’s fur, and for the first time there was something resembling a healthy color to her skin, which had ranged from ashen to feverish in the time Kyla had known her.

“Reina!” Jinn cried, rushing forward, only to stop after a single step and grab hold of her skirts, spreading them wide as she bent both her knees and her head. Kyla had seen a few of the humans do this by now, and it seemed to be a female version of a bow. But Jinn had never bowed to Reina before. In fact, Jinn spent as much time arguing with the other female as she did clinging to her or fighting by her side.

Reina let out a little puff of laughter and crossed to tug Jinn up. Throwing her arms around the taller female, she said, “Let’s not even pretend any longer, Jinn. You’re my sister, as much as Isabel or Anna, and if any of those fussy old women dare claim you’re not, we’ll just glare at them menacingly until they stop.” Stepping back, she drew her brows together, almost managing a credible snarl, though she didn’t show any teeth, so how did she think anyone would take her seriously?

Lianhua was standing, too, and she smiled as she bowed slightly toward the newcomer. It wasn’t quite a bow of equals, but Kyla was willing to admit it was a good effort. She supposed she should probably do something similar, but Mei had fallen asleep in her lap, and she just didn’t feel like disturbing the fuergar. Besides, she was the sister of a chief, and not part of Reina’s tribe.

Reina bowed back to Lianhua, murmuring a greeting, then rather awkwardly did the same for Yingtao, though her bow wasn’t nearly as deep. The humans seemed very confused by Yingtao, which was perhaps due to the fact that she wasn’t officially Lianhua’s mate yet?

“Is everything well in the palace?” Jinn asked, guiding Reina back to an empty seat, then getting the other female a cup of tea herself, rather than allowing Yingtao to do it. Was she making sure Yingtao didn’t poison the princess? Why would she think that was likely?

Reina sighed softly. “As well as can be expected, but I’m very glad you sent me an invitation to stay with you tonight. All of the people who usually ignore me are suddenly very interested in speaking with me, and I’ve been positively inundated with invitations to tea parties and balls. You’d think the xiyi and the dragon were a mere inconvenience, the way people are acting.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Lianhua smiled sadly. “Those parties and balls will be where the real power-mongering and deals are done. At least, that’s how it would be at home, especially after so many people were, ah, removed from the normal power structure.”

The princess’ face fell. “I know, but perhaps that’s why it feels so disrespectful. I know it could have been far worse, but several nobles died during our escape, and we don’t even know yet how many of our citizens were lost before they were able to flee the stadium. It will probably be days before the numbers are finalized, and there will still be visitors and those without family who are never counted. Not to mention the warriors who died holding the xiyi back, and the royal guards who were killed when the xiyi in the palace realized they’d been discovered. Most of them simply ran, but a few fought, and the guards were taken entirely unawares.”

Jinn and Lianhua both looked grim, and Jinn reached out to clutch Reina’s free hand. Kyla understood how they felt. While she and her friends had all survived, allowing her to see what had happened as something like an adventure, she hadn’t been blind to the carnage in the stadium. There hadn’t been as many dead humans as she’d expected - the xiyi really did want them alive - but some people had fallen or been crushed in the panic.

“Father has declared a national day of mourning,” Reina went on, “but even during the short time the xiyi were in power, they changed a remarkable number of things. Father says it may take years to figure everything out.”

She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “They also removed all of the crown jewels from the treasury, as well as most of the magical objects. The jewels have mostly been recovered, but the magical items have vanished. All but a few, like the crown, that we believe the xiyi who replaced Father was wearing, have disappeared completely.”

Jinn looked shocked at this news. “But some of those have belonged to the royal family since-”

“Since the first King,” Reina finished, smiling grimly. “We’re going to have to dig through scrolls and history books that haven’t been touched in hundreds of years, trying to find out if there were any clues that he wasn’t actually human, and what he wanted.”

“He wanted to control everyone,” Kyla said, feeling almost as surprised as everyone else looked when they turned to her. She looked down at Mei, who opened her eyes and yawned, stretching as she rolled over to expose her rounded belly. She really had eaten well at dinner.

“How do you know?” Jinn asked. It could have sounded scornful, as a similar question coming from Kyla’s mother would have been. Instead, she simply sounded curious.

Kyla shrugged. These females hadn’t been in the stadium when Ganring spoke. The xiyi had sounded so much like Vega it had lifted the fur on Kyla’s back. Not the parts where he was wheedling, trying to get the humans to obey him peacefully, but the parts where he talked about how ruling them was his right.

That was exactly how Vega felt, and possibly for much the same reason. The Magmablades’ first chief had been a princess of the Diushi, ranked high above the other humans used in Dongwu’s experiments. According to Vega and many of the books left by long-dead Magmablade chiefs, that meant the rest of the kobolds should follow them, because by blood and by power, they were simply superior.

“It was the way this one talked,” she said vaguely, not looking at them, and an awkward silence fell over the females.

Finally, Reina cleared her throat. When she spoke again, she sounded like she was trying to be more cheerful than she felt, but Kyla appreciated the effort. Then she actually took in what the princess was saying, and felt her ears stand straight up as her tail began to thump.

“So if Mount Scarabus truly is open again, Father wants to restart trade,” Reina said. “He only agreed to speak with the xiyi in the first place because they said they could provide the gold, mithril, and adamantium that we haven’t been able to get since the mountain closed. He was already starting to discuss who should be in the delegation, and Phillip volunteered, of course, but he mentioned that the kobolds used to send a representative of their own here. That stopped a long time ago, apparently after the last one died while she was at court, and none of the other kobolds wanted to do it. So I suggested that Kyla might-”

“Yes,” Kyla said, tail wagging so hard it lifted her skirts behind her. That felt so good that she hauled the layers of fabric away from it, allowing the over-warm air in the room to reach her legs, and she decided in that instant that once she removed this ‘dress’, she would never wear anything like it again.

“I’ll do it,” she said, but Reina blinked, looking taken aback.

“Oh,” she said, her voice small. “I thought you might recommend someone. Because you’re,” she gestured weakly, “small?”

Kyla bared her teeth. “Once I return home, I’ll be an adult,” she declared stiffly. At least, she would be if Ija was willing to accept this as her spirit hunt, and why wouldn’t she? It was true that Kyla hadn’t managed to spend a full week alone, but she’d faced far more danger and trials than any female who simply sat in a cave and ate dried meat while she attempted to communicate with the ancestors.

“I know more about you humans than anyone else of my generation,” Kyla went on. “Those who used to treat with you are old now, and even if some, like Idla of the Goldblades, would welcome you, others won’t. But I know everyone, and I-”

She gritted her teeth. It was true that she knew everyone, and moreover, she knew many of their secrets, thanks to her tendency to skulk around the territory of other tribes when she was trying to avoid Vega. They didn’t actually know or respect her in turn, but if she became the liaison to the humans, that would come in time. More importantly, she would finally be able to help Ija, in a way no one else could. Even if Kyla wasn’t a chief in her own right, she would have power equivalent to a chief, but without having the lives of so many depending on her.

Looking down at the slumbering fuergar, Kyla briefly considered disturbing the creature by standing. Then Mei laid a sleepy pink paw over her nose, and the idea vanished. Looking back up at the human females, Kyla was heartened to see that they, too, seemed entranced by how adorable Mei was. For an instant, she even admired the golden bow around Mei’s throat, which gleamed prettily against the fuergar’s pink-copper-gold fur.

“I can do it,” Kyla said, bolstered by their moment of unity. “My sister is chief of the Magmablades, and she’s going to train the new Woodblade chief. She’s friends with the chief of the Mithrilblades, too.”

Reina’s eyes widened, making Kyla certain that she had recognized the names of three of the Great Tribes. Of course, she couldn’t know how the Magmablades had fallen, nor how weak the Woodblades were at the moment, and most especially that the chiefs of both the Waveblades and the Goldblades wouldn’t like to see a Magmablade in a position of such power, and Kyla certainly didn’t intend to tell her.

A glance at Lianhua said that the other female had no intention of mentioning any of this either, and in fact, Lianhua looked quite pleased. “I think Kyla would be an excellent choice,” Lianhua said. “She’s young and ambitious, but not power-hungry. She’s also very loyal to her people, while being…quite likable. She’d need to learn more about how to conduct herself in court, but so would any other kobold. She’s also intelligent and surprisingly well-read, and Kaz says she’s strong enough that she can stay out of the mountain for quite a while.”

At this, Reina and Jinn exchanged glances. “Philip said the old kobold representative stayed here for one month, then returned home for five.”

Kyla nodded eagerly. “I can do that. And I can learn more about human culture.” Even if you are very strange. “Let me try, and you’ll see I can do it. I already know a few things I’d like to trade for, and I’ll get you a good deal. Much better than you’d get if you went through Idla, and I guarantee she’ll be the only one to volunteer. Not that she’d come to Cliffcross herself. She’d probably send Mila.” And Mila was shaping up to be just as obnoxious as her mother.

Reina glanced at Lianhua, who nodded encouragingly. The princess drew in a deep breath, straightened her shoulders, and nodded firmly in response. “All right,” she said. “I’ll tell Philip you should do it, and I’ll go to all the tea parties and dances, and tell everyone all about how you saved Jinn and me. I hear you helped some people at the stadium and assisted in slaying the first black dragon as well.”

That dragon had been an illusion, and Kyla hadn’t really had anything to do with destroying it, but she wasn’t going to say so. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her tail was beating a matching rhythm on the chaise behind her.

The conversation turned to the xiyi stronghold where the prisoners had been held, which was apparently empty of all but the abandoned human workers by the time the royal guard arrived. Even the Fallen kobolds were gone, vanished into a warren of tunnels the humans hadn’t even begun to explore.

Kyla slowly relaxed, letting the words flow around her. She tried to listen, take in everything the humans were saying. After all, soon all of this would matter to her. She would be in the middle of it, especially if Snen’s group of xiyi won the battle for control of their people. Maybe she could become the liaison to the xiyi as well!

Her eyes slowly drifted closed, however, dragged down by the weight of her exhaustion. Before long, Kyla was fast asleep, dreaming of her triumphant return to the mountain. She would finally be able to truly help Ija, make up in some small way for the years her sister had spent protecting Kyla from their mother’s disapproval. Best of all, she would be able to eat all the cheese she wanted, for the rest of her life.