"Good," Zasen said before shoving a hand into his pocket. "Here."
He then pressed a handful of folded paper into Jeera's palm. She tried to push it back, but he simply wrapped her fingers around it. The woman's tail thrashed once, then stilled.
"I've got this," she insisted.
"And I'd hate for your trip to end because you run out of money," Zasen countered. "All three of us chipped in, because Ayla deserves to enjoy her first time out of the house."
Jeera just chuckled. "Okay, you talked me into it," she relented.
So he leaned in and hugged her. The woman wrapped her arms around his back and returned the gesture in the least demure way I'd ever seen. She crushed her much larger brother against her, hanging onto him for a moment before they both separated.
"I'll keep her safe too," Jeera promised before bending around Zasen to see Kanik. "And we're having lunch out, but not dinner."
"Noted," Kanik said.
So Jeera turned to me, looking down to make sure I had the new shoes on the right way. "Ready?"
"I think so," I admitted, "but I don't know what I'm doing."
"It's okay. You don't have to." Then she placed her hand on my back, guiding me forward. "Bye, Zasen."
"Bye, Zasen," I repeated.
"Have fun, ladies," he called after us.
Outside, the daylight was bright, but I'd nearly gotten used to it. I could see, at least. My eyes wanted to squint a little, but it was no longer painful. But, with her hand on my shoulder, the tailed woman steered me up the street, walking calmly at my side.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to be out like this?" I asked. "The last time, a man got angry."
"And this time I'm with you to make sure no one else will try the same," she assured me.
So we kept walking. When we reached the end of the street, she pointed in the next direction we should go. I turned that way, trying hard not to gawk too much as I took in all the new and strange things around me.
Large structures were everywhere. Over there was the area with the brightly-colored canopies. Trees lined the street in various sizes and shapes. There weren't too many people out, but still some. The problem was how all of them kept turning their heads to stare at me.
"I shouldn't be out here," I breathed.
"They'll get used to you," she promised.
"But how do they know I have permission?" I turned to see her face. "Jeera, what if they think I've disobeyed Zasen?"
For a moment, I thought I'd said something wrong, but when she decided to talk again, it seemed she had plenty to say. "That is nothing but manure!" she huffed. "The Moles really treat their women like that? As if you're nothing but a thing to be bought and ordered around?"
"And used up," I told her. "Our place is to care for a husband from marriage until death. To be seen and not heard. Meek. Demure. Subservient. But that's because most women don't live long. We die in childbirth."
"That's so wrong," she grumbled. "No wonder you stabbed your supposed husband. No, Ayla, if anyone tries to treat you like that here - even my brother - I expect you to tell me so I can sting them!"
I sucked in a breath. "But wouldn't you get in trouble?"
"Not here," she assured me. "You see, Dragon men and women are considered equal. That means anything a man can do, a woman can as well. It doesn't matter if that's a job, a hobby, sleeping around, or anything else. Well, boys can pee standing up without making a mess, and girls can have babies, but the rest of it is equal."
I giggled at how she'd added in the part about peeing. "So it's okay that Zasen is going to teach me how to fight Moles?"
"Yeah..." she huffed. "And he's a good one to do it too. Our father taught both of us how to hunt when we were little. So you know, I learned everything Zasen did. Our mother taught us both medicine, or as much as she could. That's why I went into nursing." She made a face. "Although, I'm curious. If you didn't know about medicine before you got here, well, what do Moles do when someone gets sick?"
"Pray," I assured her.
"And?" she asked.
I shook my head, not sure what she was asking. "Um, it depends on what kind of sickness they have. If they're like the women in quarantine - "
"Okay, so you know about quarantine procedures?" she broke in.
"I know that when the Devil corrupts a woman, she's locked in quarantine until she can fight off the evil ideas he gives her. My mother never managed, though. She died before she could find her way to God, but she gave my father four healthy children, so the priest said she would be forgiven for being weak."
Jeera's response was not made from words I knew, and it lasted for a lot longer than I expected. I picked up a few of the strange words the men used, and "assholes" was definitely one.
Finally, she asked, "Because your mother was mentally ill, she was locked away?"
"I don't know what that means," I admitted, "but my mother was locked in quarantine because she refused to submit to her husband."
"Wow," Jeera breathed. "Okay. What about when people break an arm, or cut themselves badly?"
"Like the hunters?" I asked. "When they came back from getting food, most of them would be injured. We women - the older girls and wives - would treat their injuries. Most of that was removing the arrows from the Dragons and sewing up the cuts."
"And if someone gets sick?" she pressed. "Like vomiting, diarrhea, fever, and that sort of sickness?"
"Pray," I mumbled, sure it was the wrong answer.
