Letting out a heavy sigh, Saveah took the chair across from me. "It won't be easy, Ayla. You look like a Mole."
"You have blonde hair too!" I huffed, because hers was almost exactly the same color as mine.
She chuckled. "I do, but my skin isn't like yours."
"Which is peeling like a lizard," Brielle pointed out, pausing to clasp my shoulder kindly before taking the chair next to Saveah and across from Jeera. "And it's not just your hair, Ayla. It's all of it."
"So how do I get rid of it?" I asked.
"Sunlight," Saveah told me. "The more you get on your skin, the darker your skin will get - to a point. Some of us are pretty light, like you and me. Others, like Jeera's mother are darker."
I looked over at Jeera and nodded. "And she's a real doctor?"
"Uh, yeah?" Jeera gave me a confused look. "Brielle is her main nurse. I work there sometimes."
"As a nurse?" I asked.
"Yeah..."
I was smiling even more. "I wanted to be a doctor, but people don't do that anymore in the compound. Especially not women. The men simply make all girls over fifteen learn how to set wounds. I liked it, though. Pulling out the arrows was the best part."
"The arrows?" Saveah asked.
"Mhm," I agreed. "Like the ones Zasen shot the hunters with. We couldn't save most of them, but his arrows were always the hard ones. They have points that cut a lot when pulled out. Sometimes it was easier to push them through." I grimaced and looked at the women around me. "Don't tell, but that was my favorite part."
Which made Brielle lean back and laugh. "Okay, I approve." Then she looked the other way. "Zasen, we have to keep her!"
"Definitely keeping her," Jeera added.
My eyes just jumped over to Saveah. "I'm also very sorry about the other day. I tried not to let Tamin stand in front of me, but the man had punished me, so - "
"He beat the shit out of you!" Saveah snapped.
I looked at her blankly as I replayed those words. "I don't know what shit means," I admitted.
"It means a lot of things," Saveah said around a sigh. "This time, it means 'a lot.' He didn't punish you, girl. He abused you. He beat you up."
"That's what punishment is," I explained, glancing at the two nurses and hoping they'd back me up.
"It shouldn't be," Jeera said. "Ayla, for Dragons, that is called assault. It's a crime."
"Like stabbing my husband with a fork and how that broke the sixth commandment?" I asked.
Jeera paused with her mouth open, so Brielle reached across the table for her hand and answered instead. "Just like that, sweetie. But for Dragons, our laws are a little different from yours. Basically, we want people to be good to each other, but that doesn't always work. Sometimes we have to be hard, or loud, or anything else."
I nodded, showing I was keeping up. "I'll learn it all."
Which made a deep voice chuckle behind me. "And she will too," Zasen said, his eyes on Saveah. "She's trying very hard to get everything right. She also helped set the table today."
"I was going to help Rymar cook too," I said, intending to push back my chair.
Zasen simply placed his hands on my shoulders. "I'm helping. I think you need to entertain our guests, Ayla. They probably have dozens of questions for you."
Saveah grunted in a way that sounded like she was giving in. "Okay, you win, Zasen. I don't hate her."
"She's just orin," he said, rubbing my shoulder lightly before letting me go. "And I've got Tamin with me, Saveah. We're going to let him shoot targets."
Saveah huffed at him. "He can't pull an adult bow!"
"I have a crossbow for him," Zasen promised. "Target arrows too. I want to make sure he knows how to protect himself."
"Okay," Saveah relented.
"You should get Ayla one," Jeera said.
Zasen glanced at her. "I think she needs shoes first. Her feet are almost healed. Mom wants to come look at them soon to see if we can stop bandaging them."
"And pants," Jeera said. "Boots. A bow. I think Ayla is going to need all of it."
"Women aren't supposed to use weapons," I said softly, staring at her in awe.
Jeera just turned her pretty grey eyes on me. "I do. I can even out-shoot my brother with a longbow."
"But not a short one," Zasen countered.
Jeera just scoffed at that. "It's close."
"Not as close as you wish," he teased. Then he looked at me. "But you can't pull a bow yet. You need to eat more to make muscles."
