Page 93 of Phoenix's Fire

"I thought you said you'd met him a few times?"

Zasen made a noise as if that wasn't quite right. "Met, yes. Usually when trading, often to say a handful of words and little else. I know who he is. He knows who I am. That's about it. Irrik should keep him in line, though."

"Your family is fucked," Rymar joked.

I had to bite back a giggle. Zasen's family was loud, brazen, and so amazing. I wouldn't have used profanity to describe them, and yet somehow Rymar had said that jokingly, getting the exact point across.

"Mhm," Zasen agreed, "but speaking of families... When are you going to introduce Ayla?"

Wait. What? Why would he want to introduce me to a family? I stilled, listening even closer.

"My mother asked about her when she showed up," Rymar admitted, "but I said she was just a refugee. I also thought Kanik should do the whole family thing first."

"Or," Zasen said, "maybe we need to keep it casual? I'm not sure how she'd take being introduced like that. For all I know, she'd think it was something suitors do or a sign someone was going to propose. I mean, look at how she reacted to the flowers!"

"And both mine and Kanik's mothers are ready for us to start families. That Ayla's tailless? Someone is going to say the wrong thing and convince her we've been lying this whole time. Zasen, be glad your mother gets her fix of babies in other ways and isn't hounding you about your love life."

Thiswas why I trusted these men! They didn't know I could hear them, but these words matched what they'd been telling me the whole time. It was stupid and foolish, but also proof. The friendship we had was real! They didn't want to dothatwith me - and still liked me.

"So maybe we should just introduce her as our new roommate?" Zasen offered. "Drozel will gladly add her to the militia, then all you two have to say is that she's working with me."

"Would keep my mother from thinking the wrong thing," Rymar said. "Ayla would need to start attending the training, though."

"She needs to do that anyway," Zasen said. "We both know she's not going to stay home when the Moles come. I'd prefer she knows how we'll move, where to stand, and how to make sure none of us get hurt."

"Make sure you tell Kanik," Rymar said. "It's no secret she's here, but the longer she stays, the more all of our parents are going to start hoping for something."

"Ayla isn't ready for that," Zasen warned.

"Exactly," Rymar said.

And even though they couldn't see, I nodded in agreement.

Twenty-Nine

Ayla

We were late. After I'd gotten dressed, Zasen had insisted on covering my wound with ointment. Kanik's bag had ripped, requiring him to find another to carry the books with us. Then Saveah had struggled to get her children to cooperate. Taris had needed a diaper change, and Tamin had wanted to bringallof his toys with him.

So half an hour after we were supposed to arrive, Zasen led our group to the front door of a very large house. The grass around the sides and back was walled off with wooden slats. The structure was made of heavy timbers with stones and plaster as well. My favorite part, however, was that the front door was painted blue.

Zasen rapped on the wood, then opened the door, calling out, "We made it!"

"The men are out back!" Naomi yelled. "Women are in here."

So Kanik passed me the books. "Give these to everyone?" he asked.

"Where?" I begged.

Chuckling, Zasen turned me to the right and guided me forward. Rymar offered Tamin his hand. Saveah followed me, and our group split. The men went to the left, clearly knowing where they were going. Zasen led me and my sister to a large room with many soft chairs filled by women.

Meri, Jeera, Brielle, and Lessa were all here. And Zasen had been right, Lessa was wearing a dress. Not the sort of dress Meri would've ever seen before, but it was a dress. The fabric stopped at her knees. The straps over her shoulders were as thin as the ones on my nightgown, yet it was pretty - and definitely feminine.

Then there was the fabric in her lap. Small squares had been spread out, and Meri was looking at them as if we'd interrupted a conversation about clothes. That made me smile. Meri deserved to have friends, and she'd always liked clothes. She'd probably noticed Lessa's choice of style, finding it even more shocking than I did.

Jeera and Brielle both wore clothes that were sedate. Their shirts had highnecklines. Their bottoms were well below their knees. Jeera had on pants this time, but they only came to her shins. Brielle was wearing a skirt that hit her ankles. The fabric was loose, but also made of lace. A layer of something else was under it, preventing the cloth from being see-through.

Naomi was dressed the way she always was, in a relaxed shirt with pants similar to mine. Meri's dress was close to what I wore around the house, but Saveah and I were both in pants - although I wasn't completely convinced that was the proper term for Saveah's clothing. Rymar had called them "shorts" because the pants had been cut halfway down her thighs and showed most of her legs. Combined, Meri was clearly getting a very comprehensive example of how Dragon women dressed.