“At first, our forefathers tried to tell their new neighbors that they were plain old humans. But the locals were already pretty suspicious of all the new people suddenly dying to live in the middle of a backwater swamp, and they noticed that there seemed to be a lot of weird creatures running around. It got real clear that the humans weren’t buying our excuses, so our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaddy, the guy who felt he would be able to best fight the humans off if they got pissy, met with the local town fathers to try to explain what was really happening. They didn’t believe him, of course, because despite all the odd happenings, who would actually believe that the supernatural circus had come to town? So my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaddy dropped his drawers, changed his skin. The town fathers collectively lost their shit, one of them literally, because there’s this big brown bear standing on his hind legs, offering to shake hands. Maman says this particular ancestor was known for being a smart ass. The humans are shouting prayers against hoodoo and witchcraft, calling down God and whoever else was listening to save them from the demon bear.”

Dani giggled, tilting her head against her palm like a child being told a story. “I actually feel sort of sorry for the guy who lost his shit.”

“Finally, the one elder who still had some sense in his head told everybody to shut the hell up, handed around glasses of homemade brew and they all sat down and chilled the hell out. Then my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaddy promised them that their new neighbors had no intentions of starting any problems.” Zed chuckled, charmed by her response. “They just wanted to live a quiet life in a quiet, safe place. And if the humans were willing to live in peace with them and keep their secrets, then the magique would share all of their knowledge and magic. I’m sure the town fathers probably didn’t feel like they had much of a choice, given that we had major apex predators on our side, but they agreed. Those that didn’t agree moved out of town or got into ill-advised arguments with the magique, taking care of themselves on their own.”