Page 105 of Phoenix's Fire

"You are not," Irrik said. "Baby, they're going to..." He paused with a groan. "Yeah. Need your medical help."

Jeera just pointed at him. "That is why I want to go. Ayla can heal. Zasen knows first aid. Drozel, Omden, and Tayle can all stabilize people in the field."

"Who?" Ayla asked.

Jeera gave her a confused look, but I understood. "Tayle's one of the women who is in the militia," I explained. "She has basic first-aid training. Black hair, brown skin, tailless."

"Should tailless women be out there?" Ayla asked.

Tilting my head, I gave her a long, measuring look. "Should you?"

"Well, but they won'ttakeme!" Ayla insisted.

"And we'll make sure everyone has a partner to work with them," I assured her. "Ayla, I'd like you to stick with Kanik."

"No," Kanik said.

That made me look over at him. "What?"

Kanik gestured to the Reapers. "I'll run with these two to make sure they don't get in the middle of something. You keep Ayla with you."

"He's right," Rymar said. "She'll be smack in the middle of that mess, and you know who else will be?" He pointed straight across the table, right at me. "And Ayla's been hunting with you enough now to know how to move with you."

"And we're not going to talk about that bear," my mother said pointedly.

Which made Ayla giggle before translating all of that for Meri. All I could do was sigh. Mostly because I knew they were right.

"Fine, but if you're working with the Reapers, Kanik, then you need to make sure they know how we'll move."

"Not my first time to fight with Dragons," Irrik assured me.

"Don't even think about trying to pick up another tailed woman," Brielle teased. "Although I won't hold it against you if you save a few more."

"You liked it," he taunted.

Brielle shrugged. "Might be why we keep you around. That or your pretty brown eyes."

Irrik laughed. "So, maybe I should work with Jeera, Zasen? Might keep me from getting in any more trouble."

I hummed, struggling not to grin at him. "Sure, we can do that. Both she and Kanik will make sure you two survive out there."

"I'll take Meri to my house," Lessa offered. "She can help me sew her new clothes."

Ayla translated that, which made Meri suck in a breath. "Like your clothes?" she asked.

Ayla nodded. "Lessa made most of mine. She's very good."

"And with all the amazing fabric?"

I jerked my chin at Lessa and lowered my voice so as not to talk over those two. "She sounds excited, Less. Just be gentle with her? These girls had a hard time down there."

"I'm starting to understand," Lessa assured me. "But I need to understand their words, otherwise this is going to be hard."

"I wanted to start giving all of us lessons," Kanik said. "I know Ayla picked up Vestrian easily, but she was also reading it and comparing it to English."

"What? How?" Lessa asked.

"Books," I explained. "Alice in Wonderland, actually. We had copies in both languages. She mostly taught herself."