"It really is," I agreed. "But you know what? It's okay that you don't understand everything yet. It's good that you're asking questions. That's how we learn, and the more you know, the more you can decide for yourself."

"I like that," she said.

"Then finish your book," I teased, flashing her a smile as I headed around the corner.

My goal was to head upstairs, but seeing the bathroom door closed made me walk that way instead. Lifting my fist, I banged on the wood.

"When you're done, head upstairs," I called through the wood.

Water splashed as the man inside reacted. "Can do!" Kanik called back, proving who was in there.

Then I went upstairs. At the top, I heard a familiar scraping sound. Before I even rounded the corner, I knew exactly where I would find Zasen. Sure enough, when I peeked my head into the workroom, he was there shaping a rod of wood so it would hold an arrowhead.

"Hey, got a second?" I asked.

He murmured like he was agreeing, then turned. "What do you think?" he asked, lifting the arrow he was working on.

The fletching was yellow. The tip he was currently mounting was a broadhead like he used. One with four sharp edges to make the most damage upon impact.

"Changing colors?" I asked

He chuckled. "A few times, Ayla has said something about yellow," he explained. "I asked her favorite color, and she said orange, but I'm not sure she meant it."

"Why wouldn't she mean it?"

"Because she said like my eyes," he admitted. "So since she keeps talking about yellow, I thought I'd make her yellow-fletched arrows to use if the Moles come back."

"Her own war arrows," I said. "Nice."

He laughed once. "And I figure yellow is like the color of gold, right? Remember how Jerlis called her my gold?"

"But she's not yours," I insisted.

"No," he agreed. "She's not. I was thinking more that maybe making her the Dragon's gold might work better. You know, a nice little spin for you to use later. She's Lorsa's treasure - or will be once she sorts out the entire calendar."

I hummed thoughtfully. "I'm actually a little surprised she's not working on that right now."

Zasen waved me off. "We told her she had to take today off. Dragons don't work every day, so she can't either. Today is her fun day to do anything she wants. So, of course, she wanted to read again."

"And she asked for history," Kanik added as he came up the stairs. "To know what happened to the world while the Moles were underground, she said."

I waved both of them to follow me into the office. "Well, I learned something interesting about her."

That was enough to make the guys pile in. Kanik took the chair behind his desk. Zasen claimed the old chair at the side. That left me my own office chair. Easing down into it, I leaned back and kicked my feet up on the top of my desk, then smiled at my friends.

"The girls got Ayla's marriage annulled - and got her to talk. She's straight, she is aware of men but scared of them, and from the sounds of it, she has good reason."

"Already knew that," Kanik pointed out.

"But you didn't know that when she saw Drozel kiss his partner, her first thought was it was 'loving.' You didn't know that she could care less that it was two men. She's never seen affection before in her life, guys. To Ayla, a man desires a woman, so he marries her - which is basically ownership - then rapes her over and over until she's pregnant, and keeps her pregnant until she's all used up. That's the one and only option Ayla has ever been given for any kind of relationship."

"And she said friendships weren't really allowed," Zasen admitted. "Fuck. She was horrified at the idea of her father kissing her! She said her mother hadn't given her kisses as a child. I mean, I knew the men were terrorizing them, but when it's all put together?"

"Which is why she's so worried about being 'improper,'" Kanik realized. "It could get her married off to a man."

"Mhm," I agreed. "Because if a woman is raped, she marries her rapist. When she got married, her husband forced her to kiss him. If a man notices her, she can't exactly say no. She can't refuse to marry someone. Hell, she tried that and it didn't stop them."

"Shit," Kanik breathed. "It's hard to even imagine."

"I know," I agreed. "We're so used to millions of little kindnesses, but Ayla isn't. So, I've been working to make sure she knows I'm her friend, and only her friend."

"Okay?" Zasen asked.

I pulled in a deep breath and decided to just lay it all out there. "Guys, she didn't care about Jeera and Brielle being together. Now, they haven't exactly been pawing each other in front of her, but she still didn't care. And when Omden came into the cafe today? Drozel shoved his entire black tongue down the man's throat. Like, right at the front, in plain sight, and Brielle said Ayla saw."

"So she's not upset about same-sex relationships," Kanik said, nodding to show he was following along.

"And Brielle thinks she might need someone to talk to about men's muscles," I said. "This evening, I told Ulris I'd be off for a while. I figure I can spend some time with her, and somehow, probably over the next few days, I'll explain to her that I've dated both men and women."

Zasen just leaned back in his chair and smiled. "And become one of the girls? I mean, you're pretty enough for it."

I flicked my tail at him, stinger out. "Asshole."

"But no," he said. "It's a good idea, actually. I have a feeling she'll have questions, though. You okay with talking about it?"

"Since it means she's not going to run away screaming, calling me the Devil?" I chuckled. "Yeah, I'm good with it. Trust me, I've got no problems talking about shit. I just thought I should warn you, because this could backfire."

"But it won't," Kanik said. "No, Rymar. I think you're right. She needs a friend. She needs someone who won't laugh at her when she doesn't know something. And more than all of that, she needs to talk to someone she won't think is trying to marry her."

"And I have no intention of marrying anyone," I agreed.

SixtyRymar

The next morning, I woke up, pulled on a pair of lounging pants, and headed across the hall. Downstairs, I could hear Ayla talking softly to someone. A moment later, I heard Kanik's voice. Then Zasen replied as well. That meant everyone was home.

But I did have work to do. Jerlis had sent me a few reports to go through, and I had a few issues to assign. Nothing pressing, which was why they'd all been sitting here for at least a week. But, if we were going to move our office into Zasen's workroom to make another bedroom, then I needed to clean up this mess. Finishing work was the first step.

I handled the work orders first. With those assignments made and approved, I folded them up and headed downstairs. Taking the long way to the kitchen, I passed through the living room, opened the front door, and stepped outside. The work orders went in the letterbox beside the door, and then I flipped down the arm to make sure the post carrier would know there was a pickup.

Once that was done, I meandered back inside, aiming for the kitchen. Sitting on the couch, Ayla's head turned as she watched me. Reclined in the chair beside her, Kanik just chuckled.

"Told you he was probably awake."

"But upstairs is your space," Ayla said softly.

Which made my feet pause. "Ayla, upstairs has our rooms, which are our space. It also has the office and the workroom, which are spaces for everyone. No different than you going into the room down here and closing the door. We don't all have to retreat upstairs, right?"

"But it's your house," she reminded me.