"Those kids," she grumbled playfully. "I just about raised all three of them. Then again, I'm sure their mothers would've said the same. Well, back then, it was four. Tasult, Tamin's father, was a part of their childhood friend group, and they were always up in each other's business."

"The Moles got him, though," I said, proving I knew that much.

"They did," Naomi agreed. "Tasult pushed them out of his house to protect his family, and he hasn't been seen since. They all took it hard, too." Then she jerked her chin at my side. "Will you let me look at that?"

"Okay," I agreed, lifting my dress high enough to expose the well-sewn laceration on my side.

Naomi murmured a few approving sounds. "It seems my son hasn't lost his touch with a needle. That shouldn't leave much of a scar at all." Then she pressed lightly around the edges. "And no signs of infection, but I'm going to leave you with some pills." A flip of her hand made it clear I could put my dress back down.

"Pills?" I asked as I straightened my clothes.

"Antibiotics," she explained.

"To be swallowed?" I asked, making sure I was keeping up. I'd read about such things, but had never seen them.

"Yes, they're small pieces of condensed medicine that taste absolutely horrible." Gesturing for me to move my legs, she claimed the cushion beside me. "You will need to take one a day for a week."

"Five days?" I asked, making sure we were talking about the same week.

"Yes," she said. "And the boys said they want to start making you immune to Dragon venom. I think you should gain a little more weight first, but they're insisting. They told me you are more than strong enough to handle it."

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

She rocked her head from side to side in an ambiguous gesture. "It isn't comfortable. Mostly, it's shocking. When I was given venom, I was a girl, much younger than you. I was sure they'd given me too much and I was dying, but I got used to it. Each dose got easier." She offered me a gentle smile. "You also aren't required to take it, Ayla. It is a good idea, simply because there are so many stingers around here, but no one can make you do it."

"I want to," I assured her. "Doctor Naomi, I want to become a Dragon. I want to stop the Moles and maybe prove to everyone that women with orin color aren't bad. Maybe then my friends can come here too, because I'm worried about them."

"How will they know to come?" Naomi asked.

"Callah said to send back something yellow," I told her. "I just have to put it on a hunter, and she'll find it. She'll know, and then she and Meri can get thrown out the same way I did."

Zasen's mother was nodding at me, but her face was blank. "Ayla, it may not be that easy."

"But you don't understand," I insisted. "Meri's already married, and Gideon punishes her for everything. He's going to kill her! And Callah? In a few months, she'll turn twenty and have to marry too."

"Ayla..." Gently, Naomi rubbed my leg. "Sweetheart, you're a good girl. You also know the Moles kill us. They take us back to feed your people."

"Their people," I corrected. "I'm not a Mole anymore."

"Okay," she relented, "their people. The problem is you look like a Mole still, and your skin has been getting darker. Your friends? They will still be pale. They will look like hunters, Ayla. People will want to hurt them because they're scared of them. If you try to bring them here, it may not end well."

"But I have to," I said, hoping she could understand. "If I don't, they'll die in the compound - and in a worse way. We don't have medicine, you see. I only learned about using ethanol on the wounds by accident. Otherwise, we simply pull out the arrows and sew them up. Ms. Lawton picks us for the infirmary by how well we can stitch fabric!"

"No antibiotics?" she asked.

I shook my head. "It was all lost when we left the surface. When someone is sick or injured, we pray."

"Dear God," Naomi breathed softly. "Please tell me you know to wash before tending wounds?"

"Only because Mrs. Worthington told me," I admitted. "She said that kept the wounds from infecting as fast. In the books I read - that I wasn't supposed to know about - I learned all about germs and how to kill them, but things like antibiotics don't exist in the compound. Or anesthesia. Or numbing agent. None of it. We just have someone hold them down."

"No wonder you're trying so hard to learn everything," she said. "Okay. I'll leave a schedule for getting you immune to venom. I'd like to take it a little slow, though, because you're still underweight, Ayla. That will make it harder for your body to metabolize the venom."

"I'll do it," I promised.

"Honey, this isn't something you can try harder and make work. It's how your body works. So we'll go slowly. Better that than killing you by accident, right?"

"Okay," I agreed, willing to do anything so long as it meant I was allowed to get one step closer to being a part of this place.

"And the boys are going to get you some shoes. More clothes too, I think." She smiled at me, then turned her eyes to the hall and lifted her voice. "Okay, you three can come back down now!"

The thundering of their feet was even louder than before as the three men all rushed back into the living room. Zasen was the first. Kanik was right behind him. While Rymar tried to look like he hadn't hurried too much, his eyes were the ones that found me first.

"How's she doing, Doc?" he asked.

"She's fine," Naomi promised. "Zasen, your sutures are still beautiful. I'm also going to write up a schedule for her venom tolerance program. And while you work on that..." She crossed her arms and looked from man to man intently. "Shoes, boys. Ayla needs sandals and boots at least. She also needs more than these little dresses you're keeping her in."

"Pants," Zasen agreed. "Yes, Mom, I know."

"And I told her we'd start on the venom tolerance tomorrow," Kanik said. "She was up before me, and I woke at dawn."

"We'd probably just left," Rymar said.

I nodded. "I wasn't sleeping anyway, so I thought I'd remove the Moles from the house."

"Eight full hours of sleep," Naomi told me. "Any less, and you'll have to wait another day to start."

"I'll go to bed early!" I assured her, just as I'd said to Kanik that morning. "I promise!"

Then Naomi glanced over at her son. "Zasen, if I hear any of you are taking advantage of her sweet nature, I will amputate your tail, do you hear me?"

"Mom..."

"All three of you," Naomi snapped. "I raised you to be gentlemen, and don't think I won't do it. You'll be fumbling the whole time it regrows!"

"Regrows?" I asked.

"We can regrow our tails," Kanik explained. "And other things."

"We were designed to live in a hard world," Zasen told me. "We're good at it, Ayla."

But that wasn't what I was thinking about. It was the tail in the dining hall back in the compound. "So the Dragon who lost his tail..."

"It's not an uncommon injury," Naomi explained.

"The Moles have one hung up," I said, looking between all of them. "It's kinda brown and black, I think. It stinks, too. But Mr. Cassidy said it was cut from a Dragon and then the Wyvern went to feast on him. I know that part's a lie, but it's a Dragon tail!"

Zasen shoved a hand over his mouth. Kanik huffed out a laugh and turned away. Rymar, however, simply pressed his elbow against the corner of the room and then leaned into it.