"At least a few," I agreed.
"So give her a bow and let her kill a few more," he told me before flipping a sudsy hand towards the door. "And get out of here. We make more money when you aren't giving away meals to all your friends."
"I'm going, I'm going!" I laughed, backing towards the door.
But on the walk home, I couldn't stop thinking about what Brielle had said. Ayla was terrified of marriage. She had never seen a kiss that was consensual. She liked men. Normally, none of that would've been a big deal. For Ayla, however, it was huge.
Ever since she'd come to Lorsa, we'd kept her in a house with just the three of us. Sure, Tamin had come over, but after the last attack, his mother was keeping him close. Saveah, Jeera, and Brielle had visited for one afternoon when we'd had a cookout.
That was it.
The rest of the time, that poor girl had been alone with men. In the Mole base, men had abused women. All she knew was violence and abuse of some kind - from men. No wonder she'd been so fucking timid! Her reaction to me giving her flowers suddenly made much more sense.
From the sounds of it, once a man laid claim to a woman, she ended up married to him. It didn't seem to matter if she wanted to or not! If he raped her, she had to marry him. If he flirted with her, she'd end up married to him. If he did so much as look at her, she'd probably end up married to him.
And then raped.
By the time I made it home, I was fuming. Yet when I opened the door, I pushed it down and pasted a smile on my face. Sure enough, Ayla was in the living room, curled up on the couch with a very big, very thick book.
"What's that one about?" I asked as I began unbuttoning my shirt, wanting to get the extra cloth off my body so I could cool down.
She looked up. "History."
"That's a pretty broad category," I pointed out.
Then I caught her eyes flicking to my chest as I pushed my shirt off. Her brow creased, her eyes narrowed for a split second, and then she looked up at my face again.
"What?" I asked, aware of the inspection.
"Why do you wear a shirt but Kanik and Zasen do not?" she asked. "And what is the sign on your necklace?"
"First," I said, answering her questions backwards, "my sign is the Rose. Kanik is a Dragonfly, and Zasen - as you know - is a Wyvern. As for my shirt, well, it keeps me from getting anything hot or sticky on myself at work."
She nodded. "Makes sense. Like an apron."
So I tipped my head at her book. "And the story?"
"The fall of man," she told me. "Did you know the top and bottom of the world used to be covered in mountains of ice?"
"Glaciers, yes."
Her shoulders slumped slightly. "Oh."
"We learn that in school," I explained. "It's what Kanik does now. He makes sure all Dragon children learn about the things Moles kept hidden from you. Now, he gets to teach you."
"It's all so different," she admitted. "Nothing in here is about God or the Devil. No one talks about their war."
"Because," I said, "those books are about facts. About the things we're sure of. God and the Devil aren't things everyone believes in."
"No?"
"No."
Her forehead creased again. "But how can they not? God is everywhere, and the Bible says to ignore that will damn a person to Hell!"
"And if you don't believe in Hell, that's not a very big threat," I told her. "Ayla, our schools don't teach about God either. Our churches do." I chuckled. "And we have more than one type of church. They don't all teach about the same God. Some people believe in another one and think you are the fool for not following their faith."
She made a little noise. "It's all so confusing."
"It really is," I agreed. "But you know what? It's okay that you don't understand everything yet. It's good that you're asking questions. That's how we learn, and the more you know, the more you can decide for yourself."
"I like that," she said.
"Then finish your book," I teased, flashing her a smile as I headed around the corner.
My goal was to head upstairs, but seeing the bathroom door closed made me walk that way instead. Lifting my fist, I banged on the wood.
"When you're done, head upstairs," I called through the wood.
Water splashed as the man inside reacted. "Can do!" Kanik called back, proving who was in there.
Then I went upstairs. At the top, I heard a familiar scraping sound. Before I even rounded the corner, I knew exactly where I would find Zasen. Sure enough, when I peeked my head into the workroom, he was there shaping a rod of wood so it would hold an arrowhead.
"Hey, got a second?" I asked.
He murmured like he was agreeing, then turned. "What do you think?" he asked, lifting the arrow he was working on.
The fletching was yellow. The tip he was currently mounting was a broadhead like he used. One with four sharp edges to make the most damage upon impact.
