"Because you don't want me to escape?"

"You still tried," Zasen pointed out. "What I want to know is why you ran, Orin?" He let out a little grunt. "Ayla, I mean. Why did you decide today that you no longer want our help?"

The book was still in my lap, and my fingers tightened on the cover. "I didn't mean to tempt you. I was merely trying to wash my things, unaware you were in the house. Any of you! So I didn't watch my posture. You see, I would rather you not force yourself on me." I couldn't meet his eyes. "After everything I've been through, I don't want to end up married anyway."

"Married?" Kanik asked.

Which made Rymar ramble off something in their own language. Kanik replied. Zasen tried to wave them down, but it wasn't working. Those two continued to trade words back and forth for a moment.

Then Rymar turned his turquoise eyes on me. They were filled with the same cold stoicism the Wyvern's normally had. "How daz..." He paused and pulled in a breath. "How does bendinding..." His eyes flicked to Kanik, who nodded, so Rymar kept going. "...make marriage?"

Zasen answered before I could, but his reply was also in their own words. "Sa meenz reip."

"Fuck," Kanik breathed, the harsh word one I'd never heard before.

Zasen grunted at that, then lifted both hands over his face and dragged them down to his chin. "I'm sorry. I should've said something. Even if you didn't understand, I should've made sure you knew I was there." He sighed. "I simply intended to move your dress back down. It was pulled high, and I guessed that you thought you were alone. Ayla, I was trying to spare your modesty."

"Oh," I breathed.

He nodded, realizing I understood. "We are not Moles. We are all Dragons, and our women have claws."

"But I don't."

"No," Kanik said. "Yet this house has many forks."

Somehow, that made me feel better. I wasn't sure if it was meant to be a joke, yet I'd also seen the knives in the drawers. Plus, the simple fact that I could now talk to them changed everything! No longer was I left to figure out this new world simply by watching.

But there was one thing they hadn't quite clarified. "Does everyone know English?" I asked, the question probably unexpected or rude.

"No," Zasen assured me. "We are taught some with science, but most don't remember much."

"Yet all of you speak it," I insisted.

"Read," Zasen corrected. "This is the most I have ever spoken the language. I am probably making a complete mess of it. Kanik should be much better. Rymar?" His laugh made it clear he knew how crushed the yellow Dragon's words were. "We will get better."

And while they weren't making a "complete mess" of my language, they were somewhat hard to understand. They were also changing the way they said the letters with each sentence and enunciating better and better. That didn't remove their accent, but it was helping. I knew what would help more, though.

"Maybe I can learn your language?" I asked. "That might make it easier, but if nothing else, the more you say, the less strange you and Rymar twist the sounds. Kanik simply has an accent, or maybe I'm getting used to how you three speak?" I offered the last so I wouldn't shame them, even if it was mostly a lie.

Kanik chuckled at that as if he could see through my weak attempt at being polite. "I am trying to mimic you and the way you pronounce the letters. I know the words because I teach English to children. Zasen knows it from books." He tipped his head at the book in my lap. "But few of us have had a reason to use it, and none of us have heard someone who uses it all the time speak it."

One thing in all of that stood out to me. "Why do you teach children a language that is dead?"

"Because Vestrian is made from it," Kanik explained. "Since the fall of man, the sounds have shifted and the pronunciation has changed to adapt. Long ago, history books say there was Old English, then it changed to Middle English, and eventually it turned to Standard English - which seems to be the type you use. The next stage of change was Vestrian."

"Which isn't English," I said, checking to make sure I understood him.

But Kanik smiled. "It's like English's cousin. Close, if you know how to use it."

"Will you teach me?" I begged.

He glanced at Zasen, smiled, and then nodded. "Yes, I think that might be a good idea. We can start tomorrow, hm?"

"And for today," Zasen said, "you can finish reading that book. It might help more than you know."

"Okay," I agreed. "But where's Idaho?"

That made the Wyvern chuckle. "Right here. Well, it was."

"Oh." I bit my lip. "But I thought we were near the ocean?"

"Oh, I got this," Kanik said, hopping up. "I will be right back."

And with that, he hurried from the room. Next, I heard the sound of his feet on the stairs. That brought up one more question.

"Am I not allowed to know what is on the second level?"

"The what?" Zasen asked.

"Sacund floor," Rymar answered, mangling the first word. "Tail har."

"Tell," Zasen said, enunciating the word. "Her."

So Rymar pointed at me. "Tell her."

Which made the Wyvern turn his eyes back to me. "Rymar and Kanik have their rooms up there."

"And you?" I asked.

He shook his head. "You are sleeping in my room."

"So where will you sleep?"

He patted the arm of the couch he was sitting on. "Right here, just like a gentleman."

I nodded, taking that in. Thankfully, Kanik's return made all of us look at him, meaning I didn't have to figure out anything polite to say in response. I wasn't sure how I felt about sleeping in the Wyvern's room, using his bed, and taking over his space. I also wasn't about to offer to share it with a man!

"Zasen, you can start lunch," Kanik said. "I got this."

"Dismissed," Zasen joked before jerking his chin at Rymar and rambling off words that weren't English.

With a nod, Rymar pushed to his feet and the pair left, but Kanik was busy spreading a large piece of paper out on the low table between us. In his other hand, he had a book. One in his language. The paper was large, but once it was spread across the short table, he knelt on the other side. First, he gestured to my book, then to the map before him.

"Look closely. This is the world now. In your hand is the world of a thousand years ago, or almost." One claw traced a section of land. "Idaho."

I looked, then looked at the map in my book, then looked at his again. "But…"

He pointed to the east, indicating the water. "Inland sea. It translates to the Vestern - er, Western Interior Sea and happened when the poles melted. It didn't happen fast, but it still ruined the empire that existed at the time. It was called America, and Idaho was a part of it."