Page 82 of Phoenix's Fire

He caught my arms, easing them down. "She's learning, and I was in there to get ointment," he said, gesturing to his ribs.

There, three red lines stood out as gashes in his skin. They were deep. Not enough to require medical attention, but also not from a wayward branch in the woods. Across the entire area was the glossy sheen of ointment, giving his excuse some credibility.

"Why her room?" I asked, making it clear he'd better have a good reason.

"Can we do this downstairs?" he asked. "She's still asleep."

"Once you tell me why, then maybe." I jerked my head back at her door. "Otherwise, I'm going to need to check on her, so start fucking talking."

"We came across a bear last night," he said, lifting a hand to hold off my response. "We're fine, it's dead, but we didn't get meat. Ayla got hit across the back of her shoulder. I got pawed on the side. No other wounds, everyone is fine, but we dragged it back."

"From?" I asked.

"Market side of the creek." He paused to scrub at his face. "We pulled that thing all night, didn't sleep, so once we got home, I cleaned her wound and sent her to her room. Once mine was washed, I came up to put ointment on her injury, had her put it on mine, and I intended to leave."

"But you didn't." The words were an accusation.

"I closed my eyes," he admitted. "I was answering her, and I think I fell asleep. She rolled over, which woke me up, and I snuck out. I don't even know if she knew I was there, and I'd prefer to keep it that way."

"Oh."

"So can we go downstairs now?" he asked.

"Yeah," I relented, gesturing for him to go first.

But when we reached the first floor, Rymar was sitting in one of the chairs, reading over some papers. He glanced up, then back to his page, but a second later, he lowered those, looking at both of us again.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Zasen passed out in Ayla's bed after hunting a bear last night and dragging it to the market until morning," I said as I headed for the kitchen. "I'm making tea for us. Want one?"

"No," Rymar said as his attention snapped over to Zasen. "Abear?"

"We were not hunting it," he said.

"A fucking bear?!" Rymar asked again, this time sounding annoyed.

"Look, the forest was quiet. I was half expecting Moles to be out there, but Ayla says it's not time yet."

"Unless she's wrong," Rymar pointed out.

"And she's not," Zasen insisted. "We've got eleven more days before they'll be here. Still, I knew something was up. Even the birds were quiet, but I couldn't figure out why. I kept to the edges, staying close enough to Lorsa that we'd have an escape route."

"Makes me a little less pissed," Rymar said.

I put the kettle on, thankful someone had already lit the stove, then headed back to the living room. "Why didn't you bring her back?"

"Because..." He grunted, slinging his head slightly in annoyance. "It started with her cursing herself when she missed a shot. She called herself stupid, and things like that. I made it clear that's not how to curse, then tried to teach her to blame it - whatever it is - and not herself."

"And this has what to do with the bear?" I asked.

Zasen groaned. "Look, that led to a conversation about the kiss, that she doesn't forgive me because she doesn't think I did anything wrong, that she wants to be pushed, and that she's pissed off that Lessa doesn't think purple is a good enough color."

"Oh?" Rymar asked as a smirk began to claim his face.

"Why were you talking about purple?" I asked.

"Because I was trying to explain to her that she has more options than marrying one man. More? Less? That's up to her. She just needs to understand she has options now. And we may have talked about how I wouldn't kiss her again, that being her friend means she can make mistakes with all of us, including saying no - or not saying it. And so on."