"I don't know," I admitted. "All of her manners are overly formal, and Kanik said she has a habit of talking around the subject. She's very demure, meek, and even submissive. If any of us push her too hard or ask her pointed questions, she bows her head, folds her hands up, and plays with this little ring she wears. At the same time, she had no problem slapping Zasen because she thought he might be thinking perverted thoughts. He wasn't, but I figure he deserved the slap anyway."
"Yeah, he probably did," Jeera agreed.
"But the way she talks about things?" I said. "She mentions men punishing her as if it's just a fact. She flinches when Zasen even raises his voice."
"Which he's pretty good at," Jeera admitted.
"Mhm," I agreed. "But she can get lost in a book for hours on end. Oh, and any time one of us men step into Zasen's room - which she's currently using - she gets tense and weird. Every night, that door is always locked."
"So she doesn't trust men," Brielle said.
"And yet she does," I countered. "She's fine with Kanik in the living room. She only pulls into herself when it's anywhere else."
"Alone," Jeera pointed out. "Places that are private. Places where a man could rape her, Rymar."
I groaned. "Yeah, but we wouldn't do that!"
"Sounds like she doesn't know that," Brielle pointed out. "She probably doesn't even know how to talk about it. If things were as bad in her Mole home as you say, I'm willing to bet the abuse of women has been normalized."
"Which often means," Jeera broke in, "that it's the woman's fault."
"And she might not even know what's wrong," Brielle said. "We know almost nothing about Mole culture, but we do know that historically, some societies thought women were inferior to men. That meant men could rape, beat, or even kill a woman and suffer no penalties. A woman's only way to defend against it was to make sure none of it happened."
"To be nice to the men," Jeera grumbled. "To not be alone with them. To basically do everything you say this Mole girl is doing."
"Yeah, that's kinda what I'm getting too," I admitted. "The way she talks about things makes me believe she doesn't understand anything resembling freedom, the liberty of her own choice, or the options she has in her life. I mean, Adoet saw her in the yard yesterday, tried to attack her, and Ayla blamed herself. She thought it was because she shouldn't have been reading her book!"
"What book?" Jeera asked.
"Peter Pan."
Brielle groaned. "Do I want to know how she was left alone outside by the main road through town? Fuck. Just the color of her hair would convince someone to jump her."
"Sounds like she was supposed to be on the porch. Kanik was making tea and Zasen was changing after hunting and delivering meat. Ayla wanted to see the flowers, and she said she was hoping Tamin would come out soon..."
"Tamin?" Jeera asked.
I nodded. "Seems she likes the kid. Even better, he likes her back, but Saveah is not pleased with Zasen right now."
"No, I can't imagine she is," Jeera muttered. "But maybe we can help with that too?"
I murmured, because that would be nice. "Well, Kanik thinks we need to move slowly so as not to scare Ayla. He also pointed out that typically, oppressed women often need the help of other women. You both immediately came to mind."
I looked between these two pointedly. Strong didn't even begin to describe them. Jeera was her brother's equal in every way, and Brielle wasn't far behind. They were leaders, commanding, and confident. If there was anyone who could convince Ayla she didn't need to be afraid of doing what she wanted, I couldn't think of anyone better than these two.
"Okay," Jeera said softly. "I'll figure something out. I don't want to ambush this poor girl, and I have a feeling Zasen will think I'm sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong if we just come over to help out with the new guest. So I'll have to make it subtle."
"I'm sure we can find some excuse to go over there," Brielle assured her.
"Like maybe a cookout tomorrow?" I suggested. "Also, I'm not sure Ayla would understand you two are a couple. From what Kanik could tell, she's been taught marriage is only to create children. Not for love. Not for bonding, or anything else. Just children. From the sounds of it, Moles have no other relationships besides marriage. He said friendships weren't even encouraged in her life."
"Damn," Brielle breathed. "How repressed is this girl?"
"Keep in mind she's only just learning Vestrian, and she still has quite the accent," I told them, "so Kanik was the one getting all of the information and updating me, but all signs point to 'very.'"
"Which means that as soon as she realizes she's allowed to, Ayla will most likely swing the other way," Jeera said. "No different than kids who get away from their strict parents, right? All she needs is to have the people around her slowly but surely assuring her she's allowed to do what sounds interesting. Or at least to try it."
"In other words," Brielle told me, "we need to start corrupting her. You too, Rymar. Don't force her to do anything. Just make it clear there's nothing wrong with the fact that she might want to. Give her chances, and set her up to succeed - even if she thinks it would be considered failing. Make it clear it's okay for her to have her own opinions, and then do everything possible to enable her to follow through."
Which actually sounded like a decent idea to me. One way or another, I would figure out how to empower this poor girl, because someone had to. And if that convinced her to tell us even more of her little Mole secrets, then we all would win out in the end. Not even Zasen could complain about that.
Thirty-SevenAyla
The day after I was attacked in the street, Rymar came home with a smile on his face and flowers in his hand. I was sitting sideways on the couch, doing my best to finish the book about Peter, and looked up in confusion. Rymar simply smiled, held them out, and bowed over them.
"Fa yu," he tried in English. "For you," he then said in Vestrian.
"I understood you," I admitted, replying in Vestrian, but I didn't reach for the flowers.
He pushed them at me a little more, the gesture making it clear I should take them. "Purple cone flowers."
"Why?" I asked, pulling my legs closer.
"Because I thought you liked flowers," he said, letting his arm finally drop.
"I don't want to marry you," I explained, looking at the few pages of my book I had left. "I will tell Zasen everything I know, but please don't make me marry you?"
"What?" he asked. "Ayla, are you sure you translated that to Vestrian right?"
