“That sounds both amazing and expensive. It must have taken some backbreaking work to get all that building finished.”
“You are not wrong, my queen. The thing about building your own keep is that it is never really finished. The moment you complete one project, another comes to mind. I do believe that quality matters greatly. Our keep will last the Clade of Borak for many generations.”
“I can’t wait to see what you’ve built. Is it cold in your mountain?”
“We get all the seasons of the year. In the summer we hunt, and our droids tend our crops and process foodstuffs for us throughout the year. Since the city is far away, we welcome other clades and accept invitations to keeps.”
It occurs to me to speak about our hordes. “I do not know if you are aware, but those of us with old blood collect hordes.”
“Excuse me?”
“It is just as it sounds. Our dragon DNA is more pronounced, and we covet treasure and trinkets.” I am proud of my horde, and if this female cannot see the value in such then perhaps we are not meant to be.
My prospective queen bites her bottom lip as if thinking this over. “What do you horde, anything in particular?”
I sigh. “My private quarters aboard this vessel are stuffed full of horde items I have found on the voyage to your world and while I fought on your world. However, the bulk of my horde rests in my keep. Each member of our clade has created a private space where we reside and stash our most precious possessions. Having my horde items close is soothing and enables me to rest easy.”
I can tell by the expression on her face something clicks into place. “We have legends of dragons obsessed with amassing huge stores of gold. They’d curl up on stacks of gold coins and sleep for years on end. It sounds like your behavior is similar to the stories I’ve heard. Humans don’t really horde. You know that, right?”
“Dragon warriors guard our horde very closely. We are a possessive lot. No member of our clade visits another male’s private area, nor do they touch his personal possessions. It is simply not done.”
“Wait, are you saying we can’t visit with each other?”
“Our clade has a spacious common area where we visit with one another, dine and welcome visitors. Our common area includes three sitting rooms, a kitchen, dining area, three walk-in pantries and two sets of cleansing facilities.”
My curious queen asks pertinent questions that let me know she is paying close attention to my words. “Why in the world do you need three walk-in pantries?”
“One is for curing meat. Another is underground and used for storing plant-based nourishment. The third is the space we use for making ale and various kinds of wine. We have droids that do most of our food prep, but we all lend a hand when there is fresh meat to be processed or spirits that need a firm hand and alert mind to ferment properly. I almost forgot. We have storage rooms for extra furnishings, textiles and items we intend to trade.”
“It sounds like your clade has a lot going on. What would I be expected to do?”
I tug her closer and slip my wing around her back. “Besides allowing me to worship your majestic form?”
She squirms closer to me and puts her hands on my chest. I can now see the time to wrap her in my wings is when we are far away from the prying eyes of curious onlookers. “Yes, what would I be responsible for besides sharing your bed?”
“As I am the clade leader, you would be our clade mother. The clan mother speaks for our clade, determines what goods are bought and sold, hires any extra hands that are needed to ensure the smooth operation of our keep and whatever else she prefers to do to fill her day.”
“What kind of items does your clade trade?”
“Our droids mine gemstones and various precious metals from our lands. Much of our keep is gilded, because we have wealth to spare and dragon warriors like the look of burnished metal. We trade for fine linen, which our droids use to make gowns and household linen. The males of our clade have gotten good at programing the droids, but it was a difficult skill to master.”
“So you just dig up gemstones and metals and sell them off world?”