Dragon's Heart by Jane Yolen

metal. He could tell the nursery folk where to go to find metal; he could tell Golden. But then the secret about the dragons would be out as well. And the killing of all the dragons would begin. He couldn't hazard that, not till Akki solved the problem with science.
    Kkitakk said, "What have the Feders ever done for us but stop in for a quick bet at the pits and off again. We've never been anything to them but the back end of the world. It's the dragons they like, not us. Dumped our great-grands here and forgot about us."
    "Time to forget about them," agreed the redheaded girl.
    Trikko added, "And if you think being part of the Feders will mean anything good, well, we'd have to use
their
laws, and a Feder governor instead of the senators. We should stay a Protectory."
    "Protectorate," Jakkin corrected.
    "At least the senators know us," Balakk said.
    "And their hands always out for something," put in Kkarina.
    "Like that Golden you love so much, old woman?" Balakk said.
    "Hmmmph!" Kkarina slammed her spoon down again on the table, as if it were an enormous gavel, reminding them that
she
was for the Federation. "Golden and I go further back than senator.
I'll say no more.
"
    "Small chance of that, Kay," Trikko said.
    She tapped the spoon on the top of his head, spun around, and stomped back to the kitchen.
    The young nursery workers were aroar with laughter, only some of it
with
Kkarina but most of them laughing
at
her. They all knew she'd been a bag girl once, but really, it was hard to see a slim alluring girl in that huge shapeless form.
    "That's all very well," Jakkin said, "but what about the Feders bringing in medicines and truck parts and such? What about news of the latest scientific developments? Couldn't we just use what we want and ... and..." Without some of those things, Akki would be seriously handicapped in figuring out how to give the dragon gifts to everyone on Austar.
    But there was another side of the Federation. Jakkin remembered a book of Golden's that he'd worked hard at reading. It said that the Feders—having outlawed violence in their home worlds—encouraged blood sports on non-Feder worlds so that those who still needed a shot of blood-spilling came to Protectorates like Austar IV.
    All of a sudden he knew what to say. "Think of the Federation as a super-big dragon. Dangerous and unpredictable. And didn't Master Sarkkhan always tell us, 'A man should learn from his dragon, just as a dragon should learn from the man.'"
    "Not a dragon," Kkitakk put in. "Saying Feders are like dragons maligns dragons."
    "Well, I have a different question. With all of us free, whose going to deal with the fewmets!" Slakk asked.
    Kkitakk and Balakk laughed and Kkitakk said, "That's easy. You boys will do it!"
    "What about us girls?" asked the redhead. "I'm as strong as all of you boys. Stronger than some." Pointedly, she named no names.
    And then the arguments really began, quickly jumping over to the other tables. Soon the dining room was aboil in loud talk.
    It was suddenly all too much. Weary of the intensity of the talk, battered by the noise, Jakkin stood.
    "Where are
you
going?" Slakk asked. "Start an argument and then duck out? You think you're Errikkin?"
    "I need sleep." In fact, Jakkin's face was gray and he was swaying.
    Slakk and L'Erikk nodded together. "Exhausted."
    Suddenly, it was true. Jakkin needed to lie down, to be alone, and after, to talk with Akki, mind-to-mind.
    Slakk stood, too, slapping Jakkin enthusiastically on the back and nearly knocking him over. "You're bunking in the old room, with me and Errikkin and—"
    "And me!" said Arakk. He seemed genuinely pleased at the idea.
    "So all being masters now doesn't even give us our own rooms?" He'd had one before. That rankled a bit.
    "The older men get the singles now. Seemed fair. We voted on it," Kkitakk said, not adding what everyone knew: that there were more older men than boys voting. "And Kkarina has one, too."
    "What about Sarkkhan's