User blog comment:Doctor Ibrahim/Ask the Doc and his Family!/@comment-27950421-20170302224659/@comment-28358106-20170413222013

"Legislation, schmegislation," Leontyne says, waving her hand dismissively, "I'll leave the details up to Addie's wind-up yes-girl. I don't bother with that stuff myself."

As Asja silently fumes at the comment, Leontyne continues. "We got a little problem in Iveria. We got a deal with the fishermen of the south cliffs to help' em carry their catch to the mainland markets, and in turn, they let us sell our own catches without undercutting us.  Problem is, this works so well, our Harpies sell ALL of their haul, and use the money to buy foods they love, but shouldn't be eating, like beef and cake and cordials and crap like that.  They're skipping out on eating fish, which is bad.  Really, really bad."

She puts the empty bowl back on Adelaide's desk. "Harpies need a lot of calcium intake to make their eggs. They used to get that from fish and rabbits in olden times, because they ate 'em bones and all.  But they're not.  Because of that we're seeing a huge spike in egg periontitis cases, more than two hundred percent since five years ago when we started this fish selling deal.  Periontitis is lethal to Harpies because when the symptoms show themselves, it's almost too late.  Even knowing this, we can't slow down our fish selling because the refugees have come to depend on it."

"So this is where you scratch my back. Harpies are picky 'cause they're carnivores, and they won't eat what's good for them if they don't like it.  We tried importing Holstaur milk, but pure dairy is a bitch to digest for an avian.  But they will eat fruit, and lots of it.  Problem is, Whitemarch is great for growing fruit, but not the tropical kind with lots of calcium and potassium.  But, I'm willing to bet that the Reptile Kingdom is the perfect climate for growing something like that."

She picks her teeth with a talon. "This is where you can help me out. You get me a fruit like that so I can import and distribute ot to my aviaries, and I'll set up some no-fly zones outside my sky-shipping lanes where you can breed your Halks.  What do you think of that, Your Highness?  Sound like a deal?" She places her crown on her head and begins preening a pinion with her talons.