Phoenix’s Fire (The Ruins Of Men #2)

Chapter 30

Thirty

Ayla

E ventually, Meri realized the bundle Saveah was holding was a baby. Mostly that was because the sweet infant finally got a little cranky. Lessa and I went to find where Kanik had put the bag with bottles in it. Behind us, Meri asked why Saveah used a bottle, and I heard something about breastfeeding, but I was already out of the room.

Lessa chuckled. "I think we're going to confuse your friend," she said.

"That's the bag," I told her, pointing to one on the kitchen counter. "But why does Saveah use bottles?"

"Because men can't breastfeed," Lessa explained. "Those guys love helping with the kids, so Saveah makes it easy for them. No, she doesn't have to, but I guess a break is nice."

In the distance, a squeal made it clear Tamin was having the time of his life. I looked that way with a bit of jealousy, but picked up the bag for baby Taris.

"Let me have that," Lessa said. "I promise we won't terrorize your friend."

"But..."

She pointed at a pair of glass doors. "Those go to the back yard. That's where the guys are cooking, and you should probably check on Tamin, right?"

I looked back towards where the women were. "Well, but..."

Lessa chuckled. "We're going to make Meri pick out colors she likes, talk about babies, and be nice. I mean, mostly because Naomi would turn me over her knee if I did anything else. But you? Go make sure the guys are okay. It's fine, Ayla. I'll let them know you're checking on Tamin."

"I'll be back in a minute," I promised.

"Or you won't." She shrugged. "Today is about making new friends. That means you need to let us become Meri's friends. Now go flirt with those boys."

"I'm not!" I hissed .

She gave me a little nudge. "You should."

So I went, feeling only a little guilty about it, but the moment I stepped through the back door, something big hurried towards me. I tensed, doing my best not to flinch.

From that side of the yard, a man yelled, "Holly, gentle!"

My eyes landed on the dog a split-second later. She'd slowed with the command, but her tail was still wagging. That meant the voice belonged to Lansin.

"Ayla!" Tamin screamed.

"Holly, push!" Lansin yelled in response.

The brindle dog raced towards Tamin faster than I'd ever seen anything move before. I barely managed to remember to close the door behind me as I watched, worried about what would happen. Thankfully, the dog didn't hurt Tamin, but she did get close, barking and pushing at him to turn Tamin around the other way.

"Shadow, collapse!" Lansin called next.

Tamin began giggling the way only a small child could, and the black dog darted in to carefully bump the back of the boy's leg. Tamin went down, then the dog named Shadow lay over him, holding the kid on the ground.

"Release!" Lansin called. "Come!"

I stood there, just outside the door, watching the man command the animals so easily. I was so enraptured with the way the animals worked that I didn't even notice Kanik until he lightly touched my arm.

"It's okay," he assured me. "They won't hurt the kid."

"They're bigger than him," I pointed out.

"And trained to move livestock," Kanik explained. "Including baby horses and sheep."

"Goats too," Lansin said, waving for us to join the guys by the firepit they were standing around. "Come to check on us?"

"I think she came to see the dogs," Zasen teased.

Rymar laughed, then held up a drink. "Beer?"

"She will not like beer," Kanik said, guiding me over to a table. "But we have tea here."

"Oh, that would be nice," I agreed.

So Kanik poured me a glass, and himself, then we made our way where the other guys were standing and talking. They shifted over, easily making room for me, and I couldn't help but look at the two Reapers.

They were humans - or tailless, as the Dragons called them. To me, they looked like Moles. Not quite the same, because both men had beards. Irrik's was long. Lansin's was short. And where Irrik was near our age, Lansin seemed to be older, maybe in his forties? Both men were surprisingly fit and muscular, though.

Before, that would've made them intimidating. Now, I realized it was just a sign they did physical things. Trying to be subtle, I looked over Jeera and Brielle's 'boyfriend,' trying to decide if he was handsome. I thought he might be, but people were judged on different things here.

Then there was their coloration. The human men I'd known had all been blonde-haired, blue- or grey-eyed, and had pale skin. Lansin's skin was a nice golden shade, similar to mine and Saveah's, but his hair was very dark, almost black. Irrik's skin was darker, and his hair was a similar shade to the dog's. It was almost red, but not quite. Mahogany, maybe? Although I'd never seen that color up here. I'd only read about it in books.

"What color is your hair?" I dared to ask Irrik.

"Brown."

So I looked at Lansin. "But..."

"Black," Lansin told me.

That made me look over at Zasen. "I'm confused."

"Natural black," Zasen said, pointing at Lansin. "Mine's Dragon-black, so it has a green tint, similar to my stripes. Some have blue-black hair, which is even darker."

I nodded, taking that all in. "But his looks red." I pointed at Lansin to show who I meant.

"Mine's red," Rymar told me.

"Orange," I said.

He chuckled. "Okay, reddish-orange, better?"

I nodded, because I could agree with that. "And the dog is brindle. The other is black too, but its hair is different from Lansin's."

"She has a point," Irrik said. Then he jerked his chin at me. "What do you call yours?"

"Blonde."

"And the other girl's?" he asked.

I felt my brow crease. "Blonde."

Which made the guys laugh, but Lansin reached over to rub my shoulder. "See, same thing. We're used to dark hair. You're used to light. That means we tend to see the different shades as variations of normal, right?"

"So what do you call his skin?" I asked, gesturing to Irrik.

Because it was human-colored, but much darker than mine, yet not as dark as Naomi's. Lansin's seemed "normal" to me, but I'd already seen we were paler than most people on the surface. I was pretty sure Dragons and Reapers would have words to describe such things, and since we were already talking about colors, it felt like a good time to ask.

"I'm brown," Irrik told me. "Lansin is white. Naomi is black. There are some people who call themselves olive, or yellow, or red, or copper. Most people just use black, brown, and white, though. The rest is like Dragon-black or natural-black. Just nuances of shade."

I nodded, deciding I liked that. "And Tamin is teal?"

"Definitely teal," Rymar agreed.

"But you're turquoise?" I asked.

Which made Rymar grin. "Yep. Lighter and a bit more blue than Tamin."

"But mostly yellow," Lansin pointed out.

"And orange, and red," I added. "But those colors are easy. It's all the rest."

"Moles have poor lighting and washed-out colors," Zasen explained to the Reapers. "Everyone down there seems to have blonde hair, blue eyes, and that orin skin."

"Because God chose the best people to save the world," I explained. "I mean, that's what we were taught, not what I believe."

"Seriously?" Irrik asked. "What was that called back in the day?"

"Racism," Kanik answered. "They thought the color proteins in someone's skin, hair, and eyes made people smarter or better. I'm not sure which."

"Probably both," I grumbled before turning to Lansin. "And we don't have dogs."

"Well..." he said, reaching into his pocket. "I have something for you, since I knew you were coming."

"Oh?" My stomach clenched as old anxieties hit me.

Immediately, I wondered if I'd given him the wrong impression and led him on. Right on the tail of that, I wanted to groan - but didn't. It seemed old habits died hard, and it felt like every time I was sure I knew better, something happened to remind me just how ingrained my reactions were.

Then Lansin pulled a small yellow ball from his pocket. "For you, Ayla."

"A ball?" I asked.

He nodded. "Now, let me show you what this ball can do. Go over there..." He pointed to the grass, and waited until I walked to an open space. "Now throw it at the back fence and tell the dogs to fetch."

Okay, I wasn't sure what that word meant, but I decided to try. Heaving as hard as I could, I tossed the ball most of the way across the enclosed grass. Immediately, both dogs stopped and watched it.

"Dogs, fetch!" I said, trying to use the same tone Lansin did with them.

Immediately, Holly and Shadow darted after the ball, trying to outrun each other. I laughed, wondering which one would get it. Shadow darted in first, snagging the ball in his mouth, then he did the last thing I would've expected.

He ran straight toward me and stopped.

"Hold out your hand," Lansin told me.

"Okay?" I did, and Shadow dropped the ball into my palm.

"Now do it again," he said.

"Oh, me too!" Tamin begged, hurrying over.

Once he was out of the way, I threw the ball and ordered the dogs to fetch it. Like before, they raced after it, but this time, Holly got there first. And when they returned? Tamin held out his hands and Holly spit out the ball into them.

"Oh, that's a good dog!" I praised, petting her - and when Shadow got close enough, petting him as well.

Until Tamin threw the ball, then they both were off again. Then it was my turn. I alternated with the boy, both of us having fun doing nothing more than making the dogs run around, but it was incredible. I had no idea animals were this smart. So far, I'd watched them get things and bring them back, turn Tamin to go the way they'd been told, and knock him down!

"What else can they do?" I asked .

Lansin laughed, then gestured for Tamin to keep throwing even as he made his way over. "Shadow, collapse!"

Immediately, Shadow jumped on Holly, knocking her to the ground.

"Holly, dead!" Lansin ordered.

The brindle female relaxed completely, even letting the ball fall from her open mouth.

"Shadow, send to Irrik!"

The black dog grabbed the ball and took it over to Irrik, making my mouth hang open in astonishment.

"They know people's names?" I asked.

"I have to teach them, and they need to learn your scent," Lansin explained, "but yes. We use them to find people who get lost, to send messages across our camp - or back to another camp - and a dozen other things where they need to identify people."

"I want the fetch!" Tamin whined.

"Shadow," Irrik said, passing the ball back to the dog. "Deliver." Then he pointed.

"And," Lansin told me as Shadow took the ball to Tamin, "they understand what pointing means."

Beside me, Holly was breathing hard, so I crouched down to pet her. "They're amazing, Lansin. I never imagined anything like this."

"Oh, she's for sale," he said just a little too casually.

"She doesn’t have any money yet," Irrik pointed out.

"She does," Zasen said.

I just shook my head. "I need to buy Meri things, not me. But maybe I can have a dog one day? I mean, if it's not too hard to learn all the ways to use them?"

"And they sleep in bed with you," Lansin said. "They like to be petted, and we train them to tell us when they need to go outside."

"For the bathroom," Rymar clarified. "They also need a fenced yard."

"Oh." I felt a little disappointed at that. "We don't have one of those."

Lansin just rubbed my shoulder. "Well, I know three men who could fix that."

"Can't," Zasen said. "If we fence our yard, the Moles will go around and hit someone else. I bought the house by the gate because I wanted them to come at me first."

"Sorry," Lansin said. "I tried."

"I don't even know how much one costs," I admitted.

"About ten thousand bucks for one like Holly," Lansin said. "Now, something like Shadow? Two to three times as much. A puppy that's not trained at all? They go for about one to three thousand."

"That's a lot."

He nodded. "But I think they're worth it. Granted, I also breed them and train them, so it's how I make my living."

"Your job?" I asked, just to make sure I was following along .

He nodded. "Yep. It takes a lot of time to teach a dog everything these two know."

"So why are you selling Holly?"

He flashed me a smile. "Because Shadow is her father. I can't breed her, so I shouldn't keep her, but she's a very good dog."

"Lay off on the sales tactics," Irrik groaned. "The guys already said no, Lansin."

"I like dogs a lot," Lansin whispered.

I shifted back so I was sitting on my rump, then patted my leg. "Holly, lay?"

Surprisingly, the dog did. First, she lay down on her belly, but then she rolled to the side and put her head on my thigh so I could pet her. Beside me, Lansin knelt so he wasn't standing over us.

"You're good with them, Ayla. If you ever want a dog, let me know. I'll make sure we get you a good one - even if it's in a few years, okay?"

I nodded, but kept rubbing the dog. "We didn't have animals down there, but I read all about them. I don't think I really understood, though. I thought they were just things that stood around, but I like this more. They're fun, and smart, and so very soft."

"And dangerous," Lansin said. "These are trained in protection as well, so you'll get to see what they can do to a Mole."

My head shot up to look at him. "But the hunters would shoot them!"

"And the dogs are fast," he assured me. "It's why Reapers don't have as much trouble with Moles. We have dogs, and those two are going to help in the next attack."

I looked down and petted the dog again. "But they look so sweet."

"Loyal," he corrected. "Dogs take care of their pack - and they include their people in that, but not all people."

"Families," I realized. "The people - regardless of kind - that we want to be with."

"Exactly," he agreed.