But I had another idea. "What about her marriage?"
Zasen's tail went still. "What about it?"
"Annul it," I said. "Zasen, she didn't agree to it. They didn't even ask for her consent! When she was telling us about it, she said they pinned her in place. That is not a valid marriage, but to Ayla, it means that old man has a claim on her. What if you give her a way to remove it?"
"Oh, that's a fucking good idea," Zasen breathed. "Fuck. Yeah. That might help more than anything else!"
"We hope," I grumbled. "The truth is we have no idea what twisted shit they've taught her. We do know she can unlearn it. We know she doesn't want to be like them. The real question is what she does want."
"Her friends," he admitted. "She's mentioned them a few times."
"Okay?"
"Bringing them here," he clarified. "Getting them out. Ayla wants to help her friends, because she thinks being aboveground is better than belowground because we don't punish her."
"And she's allowed to read," I added. "Yeah, I can see that. So how are you dealing with this?"
"I'm not," he admitted. "The fucking truth is I don't know these girls she's talking about."
"But you can guess they weren't treated any better," I countered. "C'mon, Zasen. If Ayla needs a reason to help us, then give her one - and fucking mean it."
He shifted in the chair, casually lifting his tail up and over the arm. The blue drew my eye to the end where the stinger was still completely extended, proving my friend wasn't as calm and collected as he was pretending.
"Your tail's giving you away," I pointed out.
He laughed once. "So's yours."
My eyes dropped to the end. Sure enough, half of my purple barb was now visible. A flick put my tail behind me, though. Fucking bright colors. I barely got any of them, and the places I was colored like a man were the ones that gave me away.
"Look," I said. "I think having Jeera take her to church certainly won't hurt. It will also get her out of the house. Ayla's been locked up here for weeks now, and while she doesn't seem to mind, I'm sure she has to be curious about the rest of Lorsa."
"Yeah, but how do you think she'll take it when people sneer at her? Or worse, try to attack her?" he countered.
"Jeera," I reminded him. "Zasen, I don't know how to break this to you, but your sister is a lot more terrifying to us than you are. To the Moles, it's different. To us? I'd rather deal with you any day of the week."
He nodded. "So we'll start there," he said. "When she gets back, we can reevaluate, but I'm thinking that getting her out where people can see her is the best way to convince everyone she's not the enemy. She's just orin. After that, taking her into town should get better quickly."
"What, are you planning on taking her on a date or something?" I snapped.
Zasen's tail flicked. "Considered it."
"Where she'd be freaked out the whole time?" I added. "You know, waiting for you to rape her, or punish her for not knowing the same table manners you have, or just scared shitless on principle?"
"Kanik, she likes the idea of friends."
"We're still men!" I shot back. "Men, Zasen. Ones with dicks. How many times has that woman made a comment about not wanting to get married? Maybe we need to start there, hm?"
"Oh, is that your plan to win her over?" he growled.
And now my tail was lashing. "You're the one who asked me to be nice to her," I reminded him. "Don't get pissed off because I am. She's a nice girl. She also likes the same things I do."
"Like Peter Pan?" he asked. "Did you two share a few childhood memories during the day? Make yourself all nice and non-threatening for her, Kanik?"
"Fuck you, Zasen," I grumbled, forcing my tail to stop.
"Well, just remember that when you go back to work, I'm going to be the one spending all day with her. She wants to learn how to fight. Wants to, Kanik, so she'll be thrilled to see me every morning."
My jaw was clenched so tightly my teeth were starting to grind. Pulling in a deep breath, I tossed myself back against my chair.
"Fine," I said. "You can see what it's like to be her friend all day long. To walk that tightrope between wanting to be nice to her but not touch her, not move too fast, and never do anything she might consider romantic."
"Does she even believe in romance?"
"No!" I flung my hands in the air. "And that's the part you're not getting. You fucking steal my idea with the flowers - "
"Technically, that was Rymar's idea," he pointed out.
I sighed because he was right. "Okay, fine. But the same day I get her a bouquet of wildflowers, you're going to pick some more in her favorite color? Buy some that are fancier? Fuck, Zasen. That's a total dick move, man."
His tail snapped once, then curled back around his feet. "No, you're right," he admitted. "It was."
"She's scared of us," I reminded him. "She's trying so damned hard, but she's still scared. And yet, somehow, she convinces herself to trust us. Now, I don't know if that's because we're the only people she knows, but I like to think maybe it's because we've all been good to her."
"Oh, and you've been real good," he mumbled.
My barb snapped out so I pulled in a long breath and forced it to retract. "I've been teaching her our language. I've been trying not to scare her."
"Just tell me one thing," he demanded. "Are you into her?"
