Page 3 of Phoenix's Fire

I only hoped we could figure out a way to make all of this work, because the Phoenix wasn't the only thing the Righteous should be afraid of.

One

Ayla

"This," Kanik said, holding up the tuber, "is a potato. The regular type. This orange one is a sweet potato."

I stared intently at the exterior, trying to determine what made each one unique. Naturally, they were shaped differently, but every tuber was. Besides that, it was hard to tell them apart, although Kanik was doing his best to teach me how to recognize all the different foods available on the surface.

For twenty years, I'd thought my only options were meat, tubers, vegetables, and fungus. Not types of those things. Our food had only been called by the most generic name. Now that I knew why, I was desperate to learn the real choices.

"Wait until we get to onions," Jeera teased. "Ayla, there are a lot more types of tubers than just potatoes."

"Of course there are," I grumbled.

And the food the Dragons ate proved it. In the handful of weeks I'd been above ground, I'd sampled so many flavors. I couldn't say I loved them all, but I enjoyed the sensations they created in my mouth. Back in the compound, our food had been nutrition and nothing more.

Then again, everything down there had been wrong. Women shouldn't eat too much because it took from the men. Meat was a luxury, something to be served on holidays only. Fungus was plentiful, and many of our vegetables had been either beans or grains, but I hadn't known that back then. All I'd known was desperation.

Because in the compound, women were supposed to be meek, dutiful, and subservient. Clearly, I wasn't. I had no interest in wedding a man old enough to be my father. I didn't want to die giving birth to his children and caring for his home. I hadn't been able to accept I was good for nothing more, so I'd done the unthinkable.

And now, I was here: Heaven - or as close as I'd ever been able toimagine.

In Lorsa, people weren't only blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Instead, they came in so many variations. We had the tailed, like Kanik. His brown skin was covered in black polka dots along his back that became freckles on his face, hands, and even his feet. His belly was a pale, creamy lavender. Dark purple marks ran behind his ears. I also knew the stinger on his tail matched, but he tried hard to never show it in public.

Jeera, being female, wasn't nearly as brilliant. Her skin, hair, and even eyes were grey. It was a soft color that verged on blue, but wasn't. Having now seen a rainstorm, it reminded me of those clouds. The medium ones, not the dark ones that had scared me so badly.

But none of that helped me learn the food I'd been eating. "So how do I know which tuber to choose?" I asked, looking between Kanik and Jeera.

"Depends on what you like," Jeera said. "It's just preference. No different than venison or pork."

"We choose that based on what Zasen hunts," I countered.

Which made Jeera smile at me. "Yes, and he hunts what he's in the mood for. Trust me, my brother knows where the pigs and deer tend to be out there in the forest."

"Some foods also taste good together," Kanik explained. "I like fish and sweet potatoes together. Rymar likes regular potatoes with venison."

I barely heard the second half of that. "Fish? How do you eat fish?"

Jeera turned away, trying to smother a laugh. "You go fishing and catch it."

I replayed those words in my head. I knew most of them. All except "fishing." That should've been a noun, yet she used it like a verb. Had I translated the word wrong? Was this another thing I hadn't experienced?

"Fishing?" I asked, looking at Kanik in confusion.

"We use a pole with a string," he explained. "At the end is a hook. That goes in the water, and if there's something on the hook, a fish will bite it, get caught on the hook, and we can pull it out of the water."

"And eat it?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. It's actually fun."

"Relaxing," Jeera countered. "And there are many types of fish. Not all of them taste good."

I leaned my head back and groaned. "How will I ever learn all of this?"

"One step at a time," Kanik assured me, reaching up to gently rub my shoulder. "And I will help - "

"Ayla!"