Page 73 of My Orc Has Big Tusks
“With citations.” He leaned forward, tapping the second page. “See here— Human mothers value the steady ground of stability, the coin safety of finances, and proof of care that their offspring are well tended. You should prepare a presentation demonstrating the league’s success, Laina’s salary, and the health coverage we provide.”
Drogar stared at him. “You want Brovish to present financial documents during a claiming?”
“It’s not a claiming,” Traig said.
“It is a claiming,” Drogar said. “He wants her as a mate. She’s accepted his advances. Her mother is arriving and will evaluate his worthiness. This is the claiming structure, just without our traditional formal declaration.”
“Humans don’t have such things,” Krem said, flipping pages and pointing to a notation. “They have something called ‘meeting the parents,’ which serves the same purpose but with less ceremony and more anxiety.”
Greth made a low sound. Not a grunt but something closer to the noise he made when he’d decided something important.
We all turned.
He carefully set his mug on the floor beside his chair. “You can’t control what the mother thinks of you.” He looked at each of us before landing on me. “You can only control what you show her. And what Brovish should show her is that Laina has built something here. That she’s valued. Not just by him, but by all of us. By the creatures.” His scarred knuckles drummed on thewindowsill. “That’s what any mother wants. To know her child has found a place that sees them clearly.”
No one spoke.
Drogar’s grin had disappeared. Krem clutched his impress-a-mother folder. Traig studied his tablet without scrolling.
“That’s…” Krem nodded slowly. “That’s actually perfect.”
“Better than graphs,” Traig said.
“Even better than an appendix,” Drogar said.
Krem scowled. “Nothing is better than an appendix.”
“Greth’s right,” I said. “I can’t make Laina’s mother approve of me, but I can show her what Laina does here. The creatures she’s helped. The difference she’s made.” I paused. “The place where she belongs.”
“There,” Drogar said, his lips curling up at the corners. “That’s the proper claiming approach. Show the mother that her daughter has found her place, and that you’re part of that place.”
“It’s still not a claiming,” Traig said, but he smiled when he said it.
Krem laid his folder on the table with a sigh. “I spent hours on this.”
“I’ll read it,” I said.
“You won’t.”
“I’ll try.”
A mossnibble had somehow gotten into the break room. It climbed into my lap, grabbed Krem’s folder, and scurried under the table.
Leaning back, I watched it rip out a page labeled, Appendix B: Financial Presentations.
“Your research is being stolen,” I told Krem.
He looked under the table and sighed. “They keep getting into my things.”
“Perhaps they’re trying to tell you something,” Traig said.
The mossnibble emerged with Appendix B clutched in its tiny paws, whistled once, and darted into the hallway.
“They’re building a nest of human relationship advice,” Drogar said with a grin. “This is either very wise or very concerning.”
Sofia chirped from the doorway, and I looked up to find Laina standing there, her hair pulled back, five driftwhisps already woven into her hair.
“Morning,” she said, and her eyes found mine across the room before sliding away. Pink crawled up her neck, into her cheeks. She’d heard us.
