Chapter 3
Dazi’s heart clenched. “We’re not supposed to be here,” he said. “My tribe…well, to say they don’t like furries is a bit of an understatement. We call them fake-skins because to us it looks like they’re trying to be like us, but without the—” He almost mentioned the spiritual part of the ceremony, where the human soul joined with an animal’s as the animal blessed the person with its skin. “Without the magic powers,” he said.
Mateo didn’t seem as offended as Dazi worried he might be. “If you don’t like them, why attend the convention?”
“Same reason I followed you, I suppose. We wanted to know what the fa—I mean, the furries were like, whether they were a real threat, that sort of thing.”
That stirred a defensive posture in Mateo’s shoulders. “Why would they be a threat?”
Dazi
