"You do?"

He nodded. "Zasen, she's nice. That girl is probably the kindest person I've ever met. She's also funny, when you get her to relax a bit. Mostly, though, it's seeing how everything is new and exciting. It makes me appreciate all the shit I take for granted." Then he laughed once. "And it's funny to watch the pair of you try so hard to one-up each other."

"Fuck off," I grumbled.

"I'm just trying to help her," Kanik insisted.

But Rymar snapped and pointed, thrusting his brightly-colored arm out over his desk. "Bullshit, Kanik. Fucking bullshit. That girl makes your dick get all tingly. She makes you smile like a complete dumbass. You've started acting like Tasult did with Saveah." Then he turned his finger on me. "And you?"

"I haven't done shit," I shot back.

"Oh? Because you always have to be her big, strong protector. You keep sticking your nose in, even when Kanik already has it handled. Maybe you should fling your tail over your shoulder to show off that blue a little more or something. Make sure she can see your bright, pretty color. Get her to fawn over you a bit more, hm?"

I sighed. "We're not that bad."

Which made Rymar laugh. "Nope, but you just admitted it. Gonna say I'm wrong, Kanik?"

"Asshole," Kanik mumbled.

"Which means you're right," I told Rymar.

"Of course I am," Rymar insisted. "But if she's going to stay, then both of you need to realize this doesn't make her a free piece of ass."

"That is not - "

"No!" Kanik snapped at the same time.

"Good," Rymar purred. "Because I will sting you. I will make you regret it if you terrorize that young lady. Ayla trusts us, and she's made so much progress in such a short time, so it's our responsibility now to be the men she thinks we are." He looked over at Kanik, then to me. "Not the ones we actually are, but the ones she thinks we are - and she's convinced you two are pretty amazing."

"So we're all good with her staying?" I asked, just to make sure the original question had actually been answered.

"Yep," Rymar said.

"And we need to make her feel like a full roommate," Kanik said. "Not a guest, but as if she lives here."

I nodded.

"So buy her everything she doesn't have, guys. Let's make sure our woman knows this is her new home - for as long as she'll keep us."

Sixty-FiveKanik

Zasen said he'd handle the dose for Ayla's venom. He wanted to make sure her immunity wasn't limited to a single strain. And while we'd been upstairs talking, Ayla had retreated back to her room. None of us were sure if she'd gone back to sleep or was hiding, but we'd deal with it.

So, with that, Rymar and I headed out. Levana's was a tiny little shop at the edge of the market district. It wasn't a pharmacy, and it didn't exactly have household goods, but everyone knew it. The place sold all the things a person needed and never thought about. Toilet paper, writing paper, pens, bow strings, and so on. The little things that were always needed at the wrong time, and life stopped without them. And in the back of the store was an entire corner for women's products.

Rymar pulled two bottles of pills from the shelves. I looked through the options of panties, finding some that were made with a special liner for periods. They could be washed and reused, and might be a little less embarrassing for Ayla. The store sold collections of them, likely made from an apprentice seamstress still trying to start out. I found a set with five different colors, in a style that wouldn't be too revealing for a very sheltered woman. That the bundle was wrapped up in a little pastel-green bow made it even better.

Passing those to Rymar, I headed for the period products. Pads would be safe since Zasen had already shown her those. Tampons would be a little intimidating, so I got a smaller package, just in case she was willing to try them. Next, I moved to things my sisters had used when we were growing up. One was a rubber water bottle, which could be filled with hot water to ease her aches. I also found a cleaner to remove blood from cloth.

When civilization had collapsed, we'd lost the ability to do some things, but that didn't mean we'd forgotten. Instead, people had been forced to create new and more sustainable ways of making the old things they'd taken for granted. Electricity was gone, but rubber plants were still grown. I was sure there were other examples, but I was a science teacher, not the history kind.

Rymar, however, had made his way to the other side of the store for packages of sweets. When I carried my haul over to him, he had four different types of candy in his hands and looked like he was trying to choose between them.

"Get them all," I suggested. "I'm going to bet she hasn't had much in her life."

"Yeah, kinda what I was thinking," he admitted. "I also know Zasen said not to treat her differently."

"So we don't," I said, guiding him towards the front so we could pay. "We can stash some away and pull it out on a rainy day or something. Or hell, we can eat it ourselves - and share with her."

"Oh, now that's a good idea," Rymar said.

The clerk totaled everything up and Rymar dropped a wad of cash on the counter. He smirked at me, looking much too proud of himself. Little did he know how much that said. Then, once we had our things in a cheap cotton bag, we headed outside, only to see the market right before us.

"I think we should stop at the Sugar Shoppe," he said, looking out at the brightly-colored canopies. "See what they have, since it's so early."

I ducked my head and smiled. "Sounds like a plan," I agreed.

He snagged the bag from my hand and hung it on his shoulder, then we began wandering that way. "I want to see if they have chocolate," he explained. "It's supposed to be good for cramps."

"You like her," I teased.

Rymar's feet slowed. "Kanik..." And he turned to face me.

"You can't give us shit this morning for liking her, then turn around and go all-out for her and think you won't get the same back," I told him. "So admit it or deny it, but don't try to do your political-talk crap."

Rymar just sighed, his feet shuffling through the dry path that led to the best candy maker in Lorsa. "I do like her," he finally said. "I think she's a nice girl. I think she could be a wonderful friend. Yes, she's cute, but so are a million girls, Kanik."

"Mhm," I muttered, pushing him for just a bit more.

Once again, he sighed. "And having any of us get distracted by our attraction to her is a bad idea."

That made me stop in my tracks. "What? So now you think she's going to turn on us or something?"

"No," he said, dragging out the word. "I think she's overwhelmed. I think she's terrified of men. I think putting our dicks above her fear is a shitty thing to do. I think that girl needs a few people on her side who aren't trying to get in her pants, okay?"

"And you think that's what I'm doing?" I asked.

He rocked his head from side to side. "Not intentionally..."

"No." I groaned. "Ry, I like her because I've gotten to know her. I like her because she's smart, driven, and this completely amazing person who somehow survived things I can't imagine. I like that girl for who she is, not because I want to fuck her."

"Least there's that," he said.

"But yes, I want to impress her," I went on. "I want her to think that maybe men can be appealing. That still doesn't mean I want to fuck her. What I want is for her to relax. I want her to laugh with me like she did when she played in the rain. I want her to understand how to have a normal relationship, and you know what? That means slow. Very slow."

"And now I'm rooting for you," he teased.

Which made me chuckle. "Give Zasen a little credit. He's a brute at times, but he's not wrong. I think he's willing to be the bad guy if it gives her the chance to learn. Sure, he's trusting his reputation to get him out of too much shit with her, but it's working."