Page 183 of Phoenix's Fire

But I didn't know that term. "What's on strike?"

"When the workers stop working to make their point heard." He murmured. "Well, in a very simplistic way. It's a way for the many to upend the power held by a few, and from everything you've said, it sounds like a handful of men are the ones in control down there."

"The elders, yes."

He reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "And Callah has access to your books, right?"

I nodded. "Yes!"

"What if you sent her a book?"

I shook my head. "It would have to be a small one. Something she could hide."

"I can get a small book," he promised.

"In English," I reminded him. "And it would have to be something that proves there's a whole world up here."

"History," he assured me. "I'm pretty sure there's a copy ofThe Ruins of Menthat's been reprinted in English." But his voice had turned distant, like he was mostly talking to himself. "That would explain everything to her about how the world became the way it is now, but she'd have to read all of it."

"As a girl, she'll have plenty of time alone in her room when she should be doing chores," I assured him. "I'd sneak into the library. It sounds like she's doing the same, so she could!"

"Then I'll get it, you write her a letter, and somehow we'll have to wrap it up so it can be hidden. That way Tobias won't get caught with it."

Okay, I was really liking this idea. "And she can start a strike before she leaves?"

He nodded. "Yeah, and maybe, if those women can stop things down there and get some power, then we can make an alliance with the Moles. Trade our hunting for their information or something? I don't even know, but if they'd just stopkilling us, then we have options." He lightly touched my arm. "Ayla, a lot of those people are related to us."

"Yeah," I said. "Saveah and I were going to make a list of the women who went missing. The tailless ones, I mean. I thought I could send it to Callah. Maybe her mother's on there? Maybe she and Tobias are cousins? They need to know!"

"Not if we're getting her out," he reminded me.

"Yeah, but she still needs to know," I countered. "It's just..."

"What?" he pressed when I paused for too long.

"Just knowing it changes things," I explained. "I'm a real Dragon, Kanik. Mymother was a Dragon, and now all her stories make so much more sense. If Callah knows her mother, and if she has people here? Tobias does now, and he was shocked."

"Yeah," he said. "It grounds you in a way. Gives you ties to the thing you're fighting for."

"Or against."

He glanced out at the water, checking our bobbers. "I'll help however you need. If that's playing with Holly, then even better."

The sound of her name made my dog lift her head and whine. Kanik turned to look at her just as a breeze picked up, blowing his hair all in his face. Without thinking, he pushed it back, but I giggled. His fix had made it all stick up.

"You know, wind isn't something we have down there," I said as I leaned in to put his hair in place.

But those purple eyes of his jumped over to land on mine. "That's hard to imagine," he said softly.

I moved a few more strands. "A lot of things are different. Before, this would've been leading you on."

"This," he promised, "is just being friends."

I nodded. "Zasen said it's okay to change my mind."

"It is," Kanik promised. "About anything. People are allowed to grow and alter their opinions."

So I nodded once, definitively. "Well, I've decided it's not improper to touch. It's nice, actually, so if you do that thing with my hair, I'm not going to yell at you for it again."