In this Night We Own (The Commander Book 6) by Randall Farmer Page A

heard good things about the rebellion Focuses.  Shadow’s letters had lured him here, the ones giving Gilgamesh credit as the leading Crow supporting the Rizzari rebellion.
    “What is this place you’re leading me to?” Talisman said, when it became apparent where they were going.  They had crossed under the Loop and entered a less populous section of Houston, of empty lots, cheap businesses, and occasional run down homes.
    “A place of excellent dross,” Gilgamesh said.  He rarely had to take dross from Tiamat’s graveyard.  Access to Tiamat’s place of residence gave him far more than he could use.  “You’ll find it spicy, but quite potent.  It’s the source of the advantage Midgard and I have.”  Hephaestus wouldn’t take any; he was more than happy subsisting off the same Houston Focuses he had subsisted off the entire time he had lived here.  Despite the effort Hephaestus had put into becoming a Guru, the good work he was doing experimenting with Crow development and his teaching specialty of ‘interactions with normals’, Gilgamesh found the older Crow too set in his ways for Gilgamesh’s taste.
    They reached the graveyard, an empty lot behind an abandoned discount window distributor.  Gingerly, ever so gingerly, Talisman crouched to the ground and took dross.
    “It burns,” Talisman said.  Gilgamesh squatted next to him and smiled slightly; the dross in Tiamat’s graveyard was well aged and to him almost bland.  “It is potent, though.”
    Try direct from the Arm, Gilgamesh thought.  Far spicier and far more potent.
    If he said his thought aloud, though, Talisman would run.
    “This is Arm dross, isn’t it?” Talisman finally asked, a half hour into taking dross.
    “Yes.  This is her graveyard.”  He went on to explain how Arms lived, who they fed on, and the troubles their hunting caused.  “Tiamat, or if you’re following Sky’s nomenclature, the Commander, is the Arm who lives in Houston.  She considers Arms and Crows to be natural allies.  The Rizzari Housebound believes all Major Transforms should ally.  Focuses need Crows to keep their Transform households free from bad juice, as do the Nobles, who are a Crow-stabilized allied group of Boston Beast Men.  Her allied Focuses have several openings for willing Crows.  In addition, all of the three Arms regularly visit Boston to protect Focus Rizzari, and while they’re there they dispose of their fallen prey in a shared graveyard.  Over time, by taking some of your dross from the Arms, you’ll find yourself better able to function as a Crow.”  And join in our fierceness.
    “And this Focus I would be working with?  How safe is that?” Talisman said.  He stopped taking dross to look at Gilgamesh warily.  “Focuses are dangerous .”
    Right on cue.  “That’s where I come in.  The Rizzari Housebound and I will talk to the Focus involved, setting up an agreement between you and the Focus.  We don’t need you and the rebellion Focus to interact directly at all, unless both of you choose to do so.  One common practice is to work with an intermediary – a household Transform – to keep problems from arising.”
    “They won’t need me to live near them?”  Talisman’s Crow companion, who had hung back at what Gilgamesh suspected was his hearing range, nodded as well.
    “They won’t even need to publicly admit you exist.”
    Talisman shivered and went back to taking Tiamat’s graveyard dross.  “I hate the older Focuses, the ones who are so mean to their Transforms.  Foul things.  I want to hurt them through this rebellion.”  He paused and shivered again.  “I like the idea that Tiamat is helping the Crows, but Arms in person scare me.  Whenever she comes close I run.”  Close being ‘metasense range’.  Five miles.  Gilgamesh had a hard time believing he had ever been so fearful, yet Talisman was years older than him.
    Alas, Talisman’s feelings were common among the Crows.