Coatl-ome watched Sai carefully as he ate the food she'd prepared. As usual, Sai had decided to invite himself to her meal. This time, however, she'd been prepared.

  "What kind of meat is this?" the orc asked, poking at his food. Cuatete stared at the steak, her jaws dripping.

  "Do you not like it?" Coatl-ome asked. Nichal frowned at her. Her tone must have tipped him off. The maroon quezpal was too insightful for his own good.

  Sai, however, had not seemed to notice anything amiss. "No, it's fine," he said. "I just don't recognize it."

  Coatl-ome was proud of herself for fighting back a smile. "A pair of shadow cultists made the mistake of wandering inside the hatchery not long ago," she told him. Then she tore off a bite of her own steak since she wasn't going to be able to hold back the smile much longer.

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  Nichal bowed his head and closed his eyes. Sai stared at her in silence for some time. "…what?" the orc asked eventually.

  "Big ones, too," Coatl-ome said, unable to keep the glee from her voice. "I've got orc flank for days." Then she scowled. "If there were days here, at least."

  "You're feeding me orc meat?" Sai asked in a small voice.

  "No," Coatl-ome said, staring into the orc's crimson eyes. "You're stealing my food."

  Sai pushed away from the table and rushed for the door. "I have to go," he said.

  "Skree?" Cuatete asked. She rushed after him without even swiping the food from his plate. From outside, Coatl-ome could hear the orc retching.

  "That wasn't very nice," said Nichal.

  Coatl-ome took another bite of her steak. "You might not have noticed," she said after she swallowed, "but I'm not a nice dragon."

  "You should try being nice to each other," Nichal insisted. "Both of you."

  "Right," laughed Coatl-ome. "We'll both wake up from this nightmare before that happens."

  The red quezpal growled gently, but he let it go.