Page 56 of Phoenix's Fire

Then we were done. Naomi apologized for making our visit so brief, but she had other women who needed to be seen. As Jeera passed our clothes back to us, the tension was high in the room. That was when everyone left, giving us a chance to get dressed again.

"There's something wrong with the baby," Meri said into the silence and shufflingclothing.

"But not with you," I assured her. "Meri, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

"But you can't promise that!" she snapped.

"I've seen their medicine," I reminded her. "They have things for numbing, and medication for infections, and ways to treat sickness. They dosurgery, Meri. That has to mean it'll be okay!"

"But Gideon's a large man," she said. "Ms. White said if the baby is too big, I could bleed, and that's how women die!"

"We will not let that happen," I assured her. "And I know Dragons are different, and there's still so much you don't know, but this is what I meant. It is better here, Meri. They don't hurt us like the men did in the compound. They help us instead. Here, we're allowed to be happy, safe, and all the things we always talked about back when we were girls. That means it's going to be okay, even if it won't be easy. I'm sure of it."

A rap at the door sounded like an exclamation point to my sentence, and Jeera poked her head in. "Ready to go?"

We both nodded, so she pushed the door all the way open, then guided us up the hall. I was pretty sure we were heading back to the waiting room, but Brielle wasn't with us. Looking back made me pause enough for Jeera to notice.

"Brielle has to help Mom for a bit," she explained. "I thought we could do lunch and have her meet us there?"

"What?" Meri asked. "Meet us where?"

"Rymar's?" I asked Jeera. When she nodded, I turned to Meri just as we reached the waiting room. "Here, they have places to eat where someone else cooks for you. Not like the dining hall, but kinda like the dining hall."

"Then how is it not?" Meri asked.

"Because there are a lot of them," I explained, "and not everyone goes to the same one."

"And some offer different types of food," Jeera said.

Just as the man at the front called out, "Jeera? I need a few things before you go."

"Okay." She held up a finger at us, then started backing towards that man's alcove. "It'll be just a second. Have to schedule everything for her."

But in the short time we'd been in that room, the chairs out here had filled up. There were now seven women in the waiting room. Quite a few of them had tails, but I got the impression they were here with the ones who didn't. Small clusters of twos and three leaned together, talking or giggling about their own conversations.

To me, it didn't seem like anything to worry about, but when I turned back to Meri, her eyes were a little too wide, and she was hugging her arms to herself. That was when I remembered she couldn't understand those little snippets that were easy to overhear. To her, this was a room filled with monsters, and too many of them kept glancing over at us.

"Let's wait outside," I suggested, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her to the door.

"Okay," she agreed a little too easily.

I knew it would be too bright for her, but I had a feeling she'd rather deal with that than being surrounded by so many people. The way one woman's tail was twitching looked like she was annoyed about something, and I did not want to see if it was us.

The moment we were outside, Meri proved me right. Her eyes squinted tightly, but she still managed to waddle a few steps away from the door. Just far enough where she had plenty of space all around her.

"How do we know which ones are good, Ayla?" she begged, her words a meek whisper.

"They're just people," I promised. "Meri, Dragons aren't any different than the people in the compound. They aren't monsters."

"But..." She paused. "I just..." Then she sighed. "I know Jeera and Brielle are nice, but they make a point of telling me what they're making for my meals. This morning I had chicken eggs, meat from a pig, and tubers called a potato."

"So that you can learn what you like," I assured her.

"But what do I do when it's a person?" she whined. "And when I die, will they eat me?"

"No, no, no..." I hurried to assure her, clasping her arms. "Meri, that was a lie. It was a horrible, sinful lie too! They did it to cover for their own crimes!"

"No," she told me. "Ayla, that tail was on the wall. I've seen it! I was married right under it!"