"Just like she did when Omden slapped her," Rymar pointed out.
I sighed, and it was a heavy one. "No one's going to accept her. If she has a weapon as well? They'll kill her on sight."
"Sounds like we need to address that too," Rymar said as he pushed to his feet. The last of the meat was now on the grill.
"How?" Kanik asked.
Rymar murmured thoughtfully. "We need to expose people to her. Get her out of the house - with supervision, so don't panic yet, Zasen - and make it clear she's one of ours."
"She's also not as pale anymore," Kanik pointed out. "I mean, her skin's peeling now, but the sunburn did tan her a bit."
"And the more she's outside like this," Rymar said, "the more she'll tan. Soon, she'll just be blonde, not orin."
"But those eyes..."
Kanik ducked his head and snorted out a laugh. "Been looking at them a lot? Zasen, they're not far off from Rymar's color."
"Fuck off," I grumbled, not wanting to admit that I had noticed her eyes. Usually because they were so big and filled with either fear or awe. "She does that sad kid in the rain look all the time," I tried to explain.
"She's gentle," Rymar said as if agreeing with me. "She's also determined. She's been helping you, so why are you so against this? Why are you trying to keep her prisoner?"
"And you can't say it's because she could be a spy," Kanik broke in. "She's definitely not an assassin."
"She's just so vulnerable," I finally admitted. "Guys, she was abused. She doesn't try to stop the abuse either! She just takes it, thinking she deserves it. How the fuck do we take someone like that into a group of people who want to abuse her and think it's a good idea?"
"He does have a point," Rymar told Kanik.
"And I have another one," Kanik said. "We need to stop tiptoeing around her. Instead of waiting for her to mention something you can use, Zasen, just ask her. Tell her you want to know how to get in, how to get around. Hell, ask for a map, or whatever it is you want."
"And you think she'd just give that to me?" I grunted, not buying it.
"Yes!" Kanik said. "Haven't you been listening to her? She doesn't care that you shot Mole men with arrows. She isn't bothered at all by how much we hate them, because she does too. I think the only thing she's worried about are her two friends down there."
"Who you could offer to rescue," Rymar added slyly.
Which was actually a good point. Never mind that bringing two more Mole women to Lorsa would not make me popular, but I had a feeling I could make it work. Well, I could if I could make the people in town accept Ayla.
But there was a bigger question. "What do you think she's going to do when she realizes why we're fighting with her people?"
"Her old people," Kanik corrected. "And she already hates them."
"You can also stop worrying about Jerlis," Rymar said. "I have a meeting with him soon. I'll bring it all up and smooth things over."
"He will not like us giving her weapons," I reminded him.
"Nope," Rymar agreed. "But I don't give a shit. See, I don't care what Jerlis wants. I don't care what anyone else thinks. That girl is either going to have to learn how to take care of herself or we'll end up protecting her for the rest of her life."
"Or you just kill her now," Kanik tossed at me.
Scrubbing at my face, I groaned. "She was a Mole!"
"Was," Kanik repeated, using my own words against me.
"And you want to fuck her," I shot back.
"Hey!" Rymar snapped, glaring at me. "Don't start being a dick just because you know we're right. I'm pretty sure the last thing Kanik wants to do is fuck her. She's been abused!"
"Exactly," Kanik said. "I'm just trying to teach her Vestrian and be nice to her, Zasen. You know, the thing you wanted us to do? Yeah, so don't be an ass because I'm better at it than you."
Snarling under my breath, I turned away only to find myself facing the table again. It seemed Tamin was now on his mother's lap and Ayla was holding the baby. The young woman looked down at little Taris with a soft smile and one finger toying with the baby's hands.
It was enough to make me pause. Brielle was smiling at Ayla. Saveah was too. Jeera, however, was looking at me. Saying something to her girlfriend, she pushed her chair back and got up, heading straight for me.
Which made me grumble again, because I'd already been outnumbered. Adding Jeera to the mix? Yeah, there was no way this would go well. But when my sister got closer, her words weren't ones I'd expected.
"You need to explain Dragon venom to her."
"Shit," Kanik breathed behind me. "That's a good point."
"What?" I asked. "Why?"
Jeera just gestured back towards the table. "Saveah was talking about how she has to be careful with the food she eats so she doesn't accidentally take in venom that she'll pass to the baby in her milk." Jeera lifted a brow. "And Ayla had no clue what she was talking about."
"Yeah..." One more time, I scrubbed at my face. It seemed I was doing that a lot lately, but it helped me think. "Jeera, we didn't want to mention we could make her immune."
"Why not?"
Rymar chuckled. "Because your big brother has been so sure he's going to have to kill her."
