Page 7 of Phoenix's Fire

"As if you have a problem," Jeera teased, walking her way into this conversation. "You fuckers put out bribes to keep them out of your camps."

"Works," Irrik pointed out before bending to kiss the Dragon woman quickly. "Mm, it's good to see you again. Where's Brielle?"

"Working," Jeera admitted. "Granted, I need to get her and Mom, then head over to Zasen's to see what's going on with this girl."

"The Mole?" Lansin asked.

"Yep," Jeera said, "and the gold one is the girl I told Irrik about. The one my big brother has a crush on."

"And Kanik," I mumbled a little too obviously.

Jeera just scoffed. "As if you're any better, Rymar."

"Hey now," I shot back. "I will have you know I'm herfriend,and that's the only reason I'm here right now trying to sort this out."

"And I'm still waiting to know what you're sorting," Jerlis told me. "We're paying a bounty?"

"Yes, for any Mole they hang out," I explained. "It's from the discretionary fund, although I didn't think we'd really get one. I just know that if we get a man, we can question him now, and if it's a woman..." I gestured down the street to show Ayla's reaction said enough.

"Oh," Irrik said, breaking in. "You should know they've been collecting more often. We're giving them a few bushels of our unusable produce every week lately."

"How often before?" Jerlis asked.

Irrik furrowed his brow, thinking hard. "We used to set bags out every other week, give or take. They picked it up irregularly, though. Granted, they also take everything we leave."

"And it's all useless?" I asked.

Irrik wobbled his head as if that wasn't quite right. "Blemished, bruised, bitter, not fully ripe, and so on. The type of thing we could till back into the soil, but since it keeps them from attacking us, we just set it out in bags. Can't really do the same with meat, though."

I made a noise there, because he wasn't wrong. The bigger problem was rewarding those fuckers. Maybe the Reapers felt it was easier to give away their useless crap than fight back, but meat spoiled. There were too many people in the Mole compound to simply offer a deer or two. It wouldn't be enough, and they'd come for us anyway.

While I was thinking about that, Zasen and Kanik made their way over. They looked a little twitchy, though. Twice, Zasen looked back towards the road. Kanik just reached up and rubbed his shoulder.

"Give Ayla a moment to get the new one relaxed," he said, his tone soothing. "That's her friend."

"So she knows her?" I asked.

Zasen just nodded. "Meri."

And that was a name I'd heard a lot. "And the other?"

"What other?" Jerlis demanded.

Zasen lifted a hand, begging the mayor to give him a chance to explain. "Ayla had two friends in their base. Meri was one. Callah is the other. They were her roommates from the time she turned ten until she turned twenty, was forced to marry an old man, and stabbed him rather than simply agree. These were heronlytwo friends, and one of them is here now."

"And pregnant," Jeera added.

"So make sure Mom knows," Zasen told her.

"Bigger problem," Jeera countered. "That girl isn't a little pregnant, Zasen. She's got to be nearly full term. I mean, the fucking baggy clothes those girls wear hides it a bit, but she looks pretty big." She paused, looking around at all the men in this circle. "Ayla said pregnancy is what kills women."

"Shit," I breathed. "And I'm going to bet that girl is as skinny as Ayla was when we found her, hm?"

"Very," the mayor agreed. "I tried to bring her to the stage, but I was worried I'd snap her arm. Her wrists are the size of a child's and there's no meat on them."

"Okay," Jeera said. "I have to get Mom and take her over there. Zasen, you and Kanik get a dress. Maternity clothes. Ugly is fine, and bigger is better than small. Irrik..."

The Reaper smiled at his girlfriend. "I'm following you. Brielle and I can figure out anything else you need, and - "