Page 43 of I Married A Lizardman

It took a bit of time to gather everyone. Then, for nearly an hour, the three of us gave extensive details to the clan of the legal steps we had been taking and why we felt confident they couldn’t harm us. It was incredibly empowering to have answers and to feel competent giving them. Our people felt it, and their worry not only evaporated, but their admiration grew. As much as my clan loved me, my leadership had been increasingly questioned since the beginning of our troubles. But it now felt stronger than ever, thanks to my delicate wisp of a mate.

It didn’t solve our meat problem. The human had struck a nerve with his comment about the scarcity of game and the fact that they could regulate the price of the meat sold on their markets. It had been one of our backup plans, although not the first. Thankfully, we still had more time before that potentially became a problem.

When the meeting ended and the people scattered, we sent messages to the other four clan leaders to warn them of what had happened in case Mr. Lord tried to bully them as well. As a matter of fact, the dirty worm had arrived just moments prior at the Inosh Mountains Clan, making the same threat about the reduced offer for the lands. The Conglomerate had been hammering hard on Surtas. That they knew his clan hurt the most only reinforced my belief that they were somehow involved in the vanishing herds. But we simply couldn’t find proof of their wrongdoing, and especially not how they were doing it.

However, Surtas was in awe of my mate. He believed she’d been personally anointed by the Spirits themselves and then sent to us. As we’d kept the other clan leaders apprised of our legal efforts, he wasn’t taken unawares by Mr. Lord’s comments. Surtas gladly kicked the human out of his lands with the same threat of not coming back.

Now, we only needed to make sure we continued to find ways to thrive. Business at my Susan’s store had exploded in the three weeks after the public market. She was selling out on both days the store was open per week. Some of the Gatherers that mostly took care of cooking were showing growing interest in preparing some of the cooked products my mate had begun selling or was considering to. But we couldn’t depend on my mate’s work to keep us afloat.

“Honey, do you have a minute?”

Susan’s voice pulled me out of my musing. She’d taken to giving me all kinds of strange names. It had thrown me for a loop at first before she explained they were affectionate names humans gave people they loved. It did something funny to me to hear her say that word. My female wasn’t in love with me, but the tenderness, respect, and deep friendship that kept growing between us was undeniably leading us there. It didn’t hurt that we had incredible passion and chemistry on top of it.

Still, honey was a strange name. I liked its sweet and soothing connotation, but it seemed awkwardly mild for an apex Hunter such as I.

“Yes, my mate,” I said, sitting on one of the benches in the Great Hall and pulling her onto my lap. “Before we got interrupted, this afternoon was supposed to be just you and me.”

She smiled and caressed my cheek. “When that idiot was talking shit, I suddenly got an idea that I wanted to run past you.”

“I’m listening,” I replied, my curiosity piqued.

“You know how I feel about all of these great farmlands going to waste,” she said carefully. I nodded. “When I told him that if he’d been genuine about good faith negotiations, he could have offered to rent your lands to farm them. Do you remember that?”

I nodded again, this time with a slight frown.

“Wait! Don’t freak out yet,” she exclaimed preemptively, guessing by my expression that I wasn’t too keen on where I thought this conversation was headed. “I will never be in favor of anything that would make the clans lose control in whole or in part of the lands, even if only for a predefined amount of time. But this is our biggest wealth. And that idiot is right: there are many overpopulated planets out there—or others with difficult climates—that could really use the massive amounts of food we could produce here.”

“We’re not farmers, Susan,” I said, a sliver of anger seeping into my voice. “You will not convert the clans. I thought that matter had been settled, and that you understood that now.”

“I do! I promise you, I do!” she said in an appeasing tone. “I’m not trying to convert them. Please, let me finish.”

Still confused and slightly irritated, I nodded, forcing myself to keep an open mind.

“Based on the way the clan has been reacting to me working the fields, they don’t seem to have a problem with people farming using modern methods that aren’t backbreaking and that are both safe and respectful to the environment. It is just not something that they are personally ready and willing to do. Correct?”

I nodded. “Yes, that is correct.”

“So, why don’t we just hire people to work the farms?” Susan asked. “We pay them respectable wages, provide them with lodging, that will all be covered by the proceeds we will make selling the crops off world. I already know a list of serious buyers that would be all too eager to do business with us. And even better, if we failed to fix the disappearing herd issue, we could negotiate some straight up trades of our products for their meat. These lands are perfect to grow wheat that we can transform into flour. Flour is always in huge demand. We’d have no problem finding people to trade us good quality meat for it.”

I gaped at my mate, a million thoughts running through my mind. Although I hated the possibility that hunting might become obsolete, ensuring the prosperity of our clans had to be my main priority.

“But who would we hire?” I asked, refusing to allow myself to get carried away by enthusiasm. “Xecania is considered far too primitive by most species. The ultra-rich come here as tourists to brag about buying baubles from savages,” I added in self-derision. “No one else will want to come here where everything still needs to be built. And even if we find people, how can we be sure they aren’t going to be a threat to our way of life? Like all of the other natives, we are a peaceful species. We don’t lock our doors. We don’t have defensive walls, or—”

“And we wouldn’t need any,” my mate interrupted, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “There are plenty of people who will want to come here. The right people. People like me, with a passion and expertise in farming, but with nowhere to call home.”

My eyes widened as understanding dawned on me.

“Third daughters of Meterion,” I whispered.

“Yes!” Susan said with a grin. “Most of us never get chosen when we try to get matched through mating agencies because we have nothing but ourselves, our skills, and our passion for working the land. If you hadn’t accepted me, I’d be breaking my back slaving away under terrible conditions in a factory in the city, or as a servant to some asshole. If a chance like this had been offered to me, I would have absolutely taken it over mating a stranger.”

I nodded slowly, my heart soaring at the incredible opportunities this presented. “But you are unique, my Susan,” I argued, still cautious. “Assuming other third daughters are indeed interested in coming here, how do we know their personalities will be compatible with our people and lifestyle?”

“Kayog!” Susan said smugly, as if that was self-evident. “The minute he talked to me, he knew you and I would be a great match. We can retain his services to interview the interested candidates and forward to us the ones that his empathic abilities judge adequate.”

“That is brilliant,” I said, staring at my mate in awe. “You have thought of everything!”

“Hardly,” she said, puffing out her chest. “It’s just been simmering in my mind for the past two hours since shit-face left. I’m sure there’s a bunch of things I haven’t thought of yet, but I think this could be a solid plan.”

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