"We don't have lords. We're part of a representative republic, although people tend to call it a democracy. It means that people vote for people who then vote on things and it gets so big and complex that...a lot of people, mostly human, fall through the cracks. Some of us non-humans get treated as second-class citizens, but that also means that we tend to support each other. The packs, of course, are fiercely family oriented. We've learned to be less territorial so we can live in cities and the like, but mess with one of us and you've got all of the pack on your tail." she said it in easy cadences. Dezzi was a very smart young lady and she liked precision.

She was, after all, an engineer in training. Now a city engineer. Entirely mental whine? Yes.

"There're outreach programs and such, but honestly I don't know much about them. I'm not a bigot!" she hastened to say, "I'm just taking way too many classes to do volunteering right now! I'm in high school and taking some pretty heavy college classes," she held up a backpack that could easily club someone to death with all the books, papers, flash drives, and her computer, that were in it, "so right now my life is school, home, college, home, homework, spend time with dad, sleep, repeat. You can pretty much put food in any of those sections but sleep. I don't sleep-eat. I think."