I nodded my head slowly. "Kinda sounds like it, huh?"

"Shit," she breathed. "Well, I can also tell you it seems she's straight. The girl admitted to looking at all of your muscles."

"Oh?" I turned and flexed playfully. "I've got a couple."

"Evidently, there was a guy she thought was attractive down there, but he was 'courting' some other girl." She grinned. "Which means she isn't asexual."

"But she might as well be," I countered.

"Mm..." She made a face. "I think this is more a case of trauma making her scared to accept her impulses. I just figured it might help her out if you make it easier. I mean, since Zasen and Kanik aren't going to mention men's muscles."

"Oh, I see where you're going with this," I teased. "Throw me under the cart, hm?"

She laughed. "Would serve you right. But since Ayla's okay with men kissing - and she acts like it's completely normal. No. Normal's the wrong word. She acts like it's nice, a relief. Almost like it changes the balance of relationships in her mind."

"Which makes sense," I pointed out. "To Ayla, marriage is a man owning a woman. To see a pair of men loving each other? To know that a kiss, or a touch, or any affection can be mutual? Regardless of who is doing the kissing, to see it as a sign of affection instead of possession? That would be a whole different concept."

"So tell the guys?" Brielle said as she slid off her stool. "I dunno. Get them on the same page or something?"

"Will do," I promised.

She left, but I thought about that a little more. It seemed leaving our little orin girl alone with Kanik and Zasen wasn't working out quite how I'd expected. She didn't feel more relaxed because of fewer people in the house. She'd been spiraling with no one to talk to. Worse, neither of those men would bring such things up. They'd be too worried it might sound like they were going to "marry her" or something.

So, heading into the kitchen, I found my best employee. "Hey, Ulris?" I called out.

"Yeah?" he replied, looking up from the sink where he was washing dishes.

"Hey..." I made my way to his side. "I think I'm going to take a few days off. You good to handle the place?"

"Sure." He gave me a confused look. "Everything okay?"

"Just going to help out with our little refugee guest," I explained.

He chuckled, then nodded. "Take as much time as you need. Rayvah and I can hold down the fort." Then he paused. "She's not trying to get away, is she?"

"No," I promised. "Ayla's problem is she wants to destroy the Moles, Ulris. Sounds like it's the men who are the monsters. Not the women. They treat their women almost as bad as they do us. I also wouldn't mind if you spread that around a bit."

"Can do," he promised. "Rumors say the girl killed a few of them in the last attack."

"At least a few," I agreed.

"So give her a bow and let her kill a few more," he told me before flipping a sudsy hand towards the door. "And get out of here. We make more money when you aren't giving away meals to all your friends."

"I'm going, I'm going!" I laughed, backing towards the door.

But on the walk home, I couldn't stop thinking about what Brielle had said. Ayla was terrified of marriage. She had never seen a kiss that was consensual. She liked men. Normally, none of that would've been a big deal. For Ayla, however, it was huge.

Ever since she'd come to Lorsa, we'd kept her in a house with just the three of us. Sure, Tamin had come over, but after the last attack, his mother was keeping him close. Saveah, Jeera, and Brielle had visited for one afternoon when we'd had a cookout.

That was it.

The rest of the time, that poor girl had been alone with men. In the Mole base, men had abused women. All she knew was violence and abuse of some kind - from men. No wonder she'd been so fucking timid! Her reaction to me giving her flowers suddenly made much more sense.

From the sounds of it, once a man laid claim to a woman, she ended up married to him. It didn't seem to matter if she wanted to or not! If he raped her, she had to marry him. If he flirted with her, she'd end up married to him. If he did so much as look at her, she'd probably end up married to him.

And then raped.

By the time I made it home, I was fuming. Yet when I opened the door, I pushed it down and pasted a smile on my face. Sure enough, Ayla was in the living room, curled up on the couch with a very big, very thick book.

"What's that one about?" I asked as I began unbuttoning my shirt, wanting to get the extra cloth off my body so I could cool down.

She looked up. "History."

"That's a pretty broad category," I pointed out.

Then I caught her eyes flicking to my chest as I pushed my shirt off. Her brow creased, her eyes narrowed for a split second, and then she looked up at my face again.

"What?" I asked, aware of the inspection.

"Why do you wear a shirt but Kanik and Zasen do not?" she asked. "And what is the sign on your necklace?"

"First," I said, answering her questions backwards, "my sign is the Rose. Kanik is a Dragonfly, and Zasen - as you know - is a Wyvern. As for my shirt, well, it keeps me from getting anything hot or sticky on myself at work."

She nodded. "Makes sense. Like an apron."

So I tipped my head at her book. "And the story?"

"The fall of man," she told me. "Did you know the top and bottom of the world used to be covered in mountains of ice?"

"Glaciers, yes."

Her shoulders slumped slightly. "Oh."

"We learn that in school," I explained. "It's what Kanik does now. He makes sure all Dragon children learn about the things Moles kept hidden from you. Now, he gets to teach you."

"It's all so different," she admitted. "Nothing in here is about God or the Devil. No one talks about their war."

"Because," I said, "those books are about facts. About the things we're sure of. God and the Devil aren't things everyone believes in."

"No?"

"No."

Her forehead creased again. "But how can they not? God is everywhere, and the Bible says to ignore that will damn a person to Hell!"

"And if you don't believe in Hell, that's not a very big threat," I told her. "Ayla, our schools don't teach about God either. Our churches do." I chuckled. "And we have more than one type of church. They don't all teach about the same God. Some people believe in another one and think you are the fool for not following their faith."

She made a little noise. "It's all so confusing."