"I won't hurt you. I will never hurt you like that. Now go get your bow and let's make sure you know how to keep anyone else from ever hurting you again, okay?"

Fifty-FourKanik

Ayla went to sleep early. She said she needed to get eight hours of rest so she could keep taking the venom. No, that wasn't quite what we'd told her, yet somehow she'd decided more rest was better. Not a single one of us said otherwise.

So when her door closed for the night, I made my way upstairs. It had been one hell of a day. The sting of her rejection this morning still hurt. Lessa's rant about making a family with Zasen and Rymar was like a little salt in that wound. Not that she - or they - would ever get together like that. It was more how easily I'd been pushed to the side once again.

But the end of summer was getting closer, and I had classes to prepare for. So, heading to my office, I stepped around the mess on Rymar's side and plopped down behind my desk. Now that I'd heard English spoken and used, I wanted to incorporate some of it into my lesson plan.

If we started teaching children in Lorsa how to understand the words, maybe that would help them hide from Moles in the future? Or fight back? Or something! I wasn't sure, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

I was breaking down the semester studies by week when the sound of nails on the floor made me pause. Looking up, I watched as Zasen made his way into the room, aiming for the worn-out chair at the side. Then he all but threw himself into it.

"I saw the flowers on the coffee table," he said.

"Mm..." I started writing again because I really didn't want to talk about this.

"Rymar also said Lessa showed up at the bar."

"Mhm."

Zasen sighed. "Kanik, I didn't send Lessa there. I wasn't trying to dump my problems on you again. Look, I know I've been letting you handle things with the girl, but it's because she seemed more relaxed around you. I didn't realize it was bothering you."

Calmly, I set my pen down and gave up on my lesson plan. "It wasn't until I screwed up with her this morning, okay?"

His eyes narrowed. "How?"

Snapping my leather-bound study plan closed, I swiveled my chair around so I was facing him. "The flowers Rymar got her were dying. I thought she might like some girly things around, since our house is a little functional."

"Makes sense," he agreed.

"Well, she tensed up when she saw the flowers. And then we started talking about the first dose of venom, and she was nervous - so I touched her."

For a long moment, he simply stared at me. "Touched her how?" he demanded.

"The side of her face," I admitted. "She backed up and made it quite clear such things are improper."

"Mm." His tail flicked beside him. "Well, I saw that you'd gotten her flowers, so when she did well with the bow, I had this brilliant idea. I would get her some to celebrate her success, right? She said she thought the ones out front are pretty, so trying to make it a surprise, I asked what her favorite color is."

And now my tail was twitching. Damn it!

"Well," he went on when I didn't reply, "I scared her. When I moved too fast, the girl flinched like I was going to smack her around, so we had a little chat. Seems half her ideas are from the Moles. She's supposed to love all God's creatures but not touch them, because that's only for a husband and wife. If she's touched, she'll be worthless, and shit like that."

"Fucking Moles," I grumbled.

"Mhm," he agreed. "But it's all religion, Kanik. My fucking religion, and seeing what it's done to her?" His barb was starting to slide into view.

"Yeah, I told her that Dragons touch and that people are made for touching," I admitted. "I made it clear that doing something nice isn't going to lead to rape. At least not with the three of us."

"You think she even knows that word?" he asked.

I nodded my head slowly. "Ayla? Yeah. I have a feeling she doesn't completely understand it, since her views on things are so fucked up, but I'm willing to bet she's read a dictionary she wasn't supposed to or such."

Which made Zasen laugh. "Yeah, sounds about like her," he agreed. "Also explains why she was so tense when I was trying to adjust her aim."

"Huh?"

So he demonstrated, reaching his arms into the air before him. "Standing behind her. Angling her bow better. She didn't slap me, but she was almost trembling."

"What the fuck did they do to her down there?" I breathed.

"Kinda what I'm wondering," he admitted. "Although I'm starting to think she's at least listening to us."

"How so?"

"Well," he explained, "you told her touching can be okay. A few hours later, I touched her, and while she was definitely nervous, she let me. That girl was confused and ready for me to 'punish' her, but she still gave me a chance. I've been thinking about it all afternoon. I mean, she was winding herself up right in front of me, and yet she didn't run, didn't slap me, and didn't curl up into a ball. She actually tried to..." He huffed out something like a laugh. "I guess she tried to act normal?"

"Our normal," I realized.

He nodded his head slowly. "Yeah. But I came up here because I wanted to run an idea past you, since you're the one who's spent the most time with her."

"Okay?"

He leaned over his knees and licked his lips. "I want to ask my sister to take her to church."

I felt the breath sliding from my lungs. "That's a bad idea, Zasen," I said. "The congregation will take one look at her and think she's going to attack them. Not even Jeera can hold off that many people."

"Not a service," he assured me. "Just to the church. To let her meet the priest and hear a different side of things. Make it clear that not everything about God is as screwed up as those Moles say."

But I had another idea. "What about her marriage?"

Zasen's tail went still. "What about it?"

"Annul it," I said. "Zasen, she didn't agree to it. They didn't even ask for her consent! When she was telling us about it, she said they pinned her in place. That is not a valid marriage, but to Ayla, it means that old man has a claim on her. What if you give her a way to remove it?"

"Oh, that's a fucking good idea," Zasen breathed. "Fuck. Yeah. That might help more than anything else!"

"We hope," I grumbled. "The truth is we have no idea what twisted shit they've taught her. We do know she can unlearn it. We know she doesn't want to be like them. The real question is what she does want."

"Her friends," he admitted. "She's mentioned them a few times."

"Okay?"

"Bringing them here," he clarified. "Getting them out. Ayla wants to help her friends, because she thinks being aboveground is better than belowground because we don't punish her."

"And she's allowed to read," I added. "Yeah, I can see that. So how are you dealing with this?"

"I'm not," he admitted. "The fucking truth is I don't know these girls she's talking about."