"I'm glad you did, though." I pulled in a deep breath and looked up at the stars shining above us. "I'm so glad you were there, Kanik. All of you. I just hate that I can't tell my friends about this place. That I can't figure out how to bring them here."
"So that's what we'll work on next," he promised, turning me towards our house and guiding me forward.
But he didn't let go of my hand. His fingers cradled mine, and it felt so good. He also didn't chide me for kissing another man. I knew he'd seen Zasen's mouth on mine. He'd been right behind us! And yet Kanik didn't seem to care. He was still treating me as a friend, as if my decisions were okay. As if this new me was someone he wanted to be around.
"I'll sew your arm," I said, breaking the warm and comfortable silence between us.
Kanik chuckled. "How about we let Zasen fix up both of us, hm? He's the one who was almost a doctor."
Sure enough, when we made it inside, Zasen had all of his medical supplies laid out on the coffee table. The man sat in his chair, his blue tail flipped over the side and twitching slowly. When Kanik and I entered, his eyes dropped to our connected hands and hung for a moment.
I let go, pulling my hand back and trying to pretend like nothing had happened. Zasen just gestured to the couch with a smile.
"So it seems you don't mind touching Dragons," he teased.
"Well, she's a Dragon herself now," Kanik pointed out.
"Mm..." Zasen shot him a look. "And your arm needs some stitches."
Kanik ducked his head to hide his smile. "Ayla already offered. I said you should deal with it."
"Then sit," Zasen said. "Rymar should be back soon, since there weren't as many injured as we feared. I'll get you a beer. You convince Ayla to put on something so I can see her hip."
"A dress," I said, heading for the bedroom I'd been using.
When I came back out, the men were laughing at something, but I was told to lie on the couch. Zasen then guided my dress up, helping me to tuck the fabric between my legs to hide anything he shouldn't see, and then he cleaned the wound. When that was done, Rymar arrived home just in time to watch Zasen apply a bandage that stuck to my skin.
Then he turned his focus on Kanik's arm. I tried to watch. I wanted to see if his technique was different from mine, but my lack of sleep the day before and all of the excitement tonight left me drained. Somewhere in there, I blinked for a little too long.
I woke the next morning with my head on a pillow and a blanket over my body. There was an annoying noise coming from the chair beside me, like someone's nose was stopped up. Forcing my eyes open, I looked to see Rymar draped sideways in the chair, and the sound was him softly snoring.
"Ry," Zasen said from the kitchen.
It didn't sound like the first time, and that was probably what had woken me up. Pulling in a breath, I sat up. In the darkness before the dawn, I could see the silhouette of Zasen in the kitchen, headed this way.
"Sorry," he said as he set a pair of cups on the table before us. "I was trying to wake him."
So I reached out and grabbed Rymar's tail. "Hey," I whispered.
The snoring stopped. His tail tensed, and then wrapped around my arm. Eventually, the man's eyes opened, scanning the area around him before looking down at where he held me trapped. Quickly, he unwound his tail.
"Shit, it's morning?" he asked, pushing himself back to a normal sitting position.
"Kanik's up," Zasen said. "Ayla is too, now. Tea's on the table and I'm about to light the lamps."
"Caffeine," Rymar mumbled lovingly as he reached for a cup. "Take the other, Ayla. It will help your mind work at this ungodly hour."
"Why do we need to be awake?" I asked as I reached for the second cup.
"Town meeting," Zasen said. "There's always one at dawn after an attack."
"Jerlis will have been up all night figuring out our losses," Rymar explained. "He'll assign survivor benefits to the ones who had someone die, pushing off their bills and responsibilities for a few months. The rest of town will want to know if we defeated the Moles. Basically, it's an update."
Which was when Kanik stumbled down the stairs, his steps uneven and tired sounding. "I need some of Ayla's pills," he said. "The numbing wore off and my arm hurts like a bitch."
"Isn't that a female dog?" I asked.
Rymar just laughed. "Oh, Ayla. I'm going to teach you to cuss beautifully one day. It's going to be so much fun."
"Okay," I agreed.
"And Zasen kissed her," Kanik said, dropping that out there. "She decided it didn't hurt."
"You didn't tell me that part," Zasen said.
"Nope," Kanik agreed, heading into the kitchen to get his own tea.
This version wasn't iced, though. It was hot, which made me want to cradle my cup. Curling my legs under myself, I had a million questions to ask. All of them were about different things, but one was more important than the others.
"So..." I said, blinking as the lamp caught and began to get brighter. "Do we tell them about my mother?"
"What about her?" Rymar asked, having missed that part.
"Yes," Zasen answered, claiming his own chair. Then he looked at Rymar. "I think Ayla should talk today."
"On the stage," Kanik added. "Take her up there with you."
"Jerlis will not like that," Rymar pointed out.
