She also looked really good behind that desk. I wasn't sure why, but it made me see her as someone powerful and important, not the timid creature who so often pulled into herself. Like this, she was in her element, and it brought out something in her that made her shine.
But while she continued to draw out grids for months and pause to count days, I picked up the first report. Of course, it was the budget. We needed more revenue for the town, but with the damages caused by Moles, people were hurting. Especially the ones on the south side. The poorest ones.
I read through that, glancing up every so often. When I caught Ayla chewing on the end of Kanik's pen, I had to fight to keep from smiling at her like an idiot. It was such a completely normal thing that it looked a bit out of place on her.
Then she began counting. Her finger tapped the squares she'd made, pausing when she made an X in one, and then she kept going. The pen scratched as she marked out numbers for both her days and ours.
This woman was smart, I realized. No, it wasn't her lining up some ancient English calendar with our modern one. It was that she was doing it in a language she hadn't known a few weeks ago. Her eyes flicked to the calendar on Kanik's desk, she made a note, and just kept going.
The names of our months, our days, and maybe even the numbers of our years were all different to her. She also didn't let it slow her down. That much change would be crippling to most people, but Ayla simply accepted it.
Just like how she'd accepted two men kissing. Two things might have the same name, but that didn't mean they were the same thing. When Moles kissed, it was torture. When Dragons kissed, it was affection. If the concept was that drastically different, then why would it shock her that men could kiss men, women could kiss women, or men could kiss women?
She really had burned down her old world. This quiet and gentle woman was discarding everything she'd once known with ease, and embracing our ideas as her own. It would take her a while to fully adapt, but I had a feeling she was going to figure it out.
Then her pen stalled. "It's in ten days," she breathed, looking up.
"What is?" I asked.
"The next time the Moles will come." Her tongue darted over her lips quickly. "Twelve days before the holiday. Two days to get here. That means they will attack us again in ten days."
"Zasen!" I roared. "Kanik!"
"Shh," she begged, pushing to her feet. "I'll get them."
"Guys!" I simply bellowed again.
Ayla's eyes were getting big and scared again, though. "Rymar, don't yell through the halls!"
"This is a house," I assured her, "and we yell here."
"Lots," Zasen said as he stepped into the room.
I could also hear Kanik's feet rushing up the stairs. "Rymar? Everything okay?"
"She found it!" I said, turning my chair so I could see both men now hovering in the doorway.
"Found what?" Kanik asked.
Ayla lifted up her pad of paper. "The Moles will be here in ten days. Saint Richard's Day is coming. Twelve days before, with two for traveling, and they will be here in ten days."
"Shit," Zasen breathed, crossing the room to look at her paper. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I started with the new year, then matched up all the other days. The last time the Moles were here was on August fourth, which you said was Arbor sixteenth, right?"
"Right," he agreed.
"And the next holiday the compound will celebrate is this one." Her finger stabbed down on the paper. "Saint Richard's Day. They will serve meat. They will have weddings." Then she lifted her eyes. "So the Moles will be back, right?"
Zasen traced his nail along her page, clearly tracking the dates backwards as if checking her work. "Shit," he breathed. "We know when they're coming!"
"Which means you need to tell the militia," I said. "Zasen, we can be ready for them this time."
"And tell Jerlis," he said.
"Figure out the rest," Kanik told her. "Ayla, figure out all of them."
So she turned her paper so we could all see. "The days with an X are our holidays. The ones with a circle are when the Moles leave. Where I scribbled - is that said right?"
"It is," I assured her.
"Where I scribbled is the day they'll attack. The dark boxes."
"So make a copy," I told her. "Fuck, make three copies!"
"Four," Zasen said, "so I can give one to Jerlis. Looks like I'm going to ruin his afternoon."
But Ayla was already working. Her grids weren't perfect, being drawn by hand, but she'd spaced it all out on our monthly system. Each week had five days. Each month had either five or six weeks. Each time the Moles would come was marked boldly, as if she was scared someone wouldn't see it.
"Zasen," I said softly, realizing how big this really was. "You're going to need to tell Drozel too."
"And make sure everyone is ready," he agreed. "Yeah. Trust me, I'm already making plans. We'll start training tomorrow."
"I'll help," Kanik assured him.
"Which means I'll stay here with Ayla," I said, knowing they'd worry about that next, and not wanting to make it obvious we were still hovering over her.
Zasen just glanced up and met my eyes. "If she's right?"
