Chapter 64
Sixty-Four
Rymar
A yla was getting herself involved in something. While I'd been off on my date, she and Saveah had spent hours at the library, going through the historical records of Mole attacks in Lorsa. Someone there had noticed - and I was pretty sure they'd complained. The next day, Drozel had stopped in to let Jerlis know she was working on something. That had been enough for the mayor to tell me he wanted a meeting with her and her sister.
He hadn't seemed angry about it, so I hadn't pressed. I should have, but I'd been distracted. Okay, I'd been daydreaming about Qavan. I couldn't help it! He was charming, powerful, and not at all intimidated by me. Over the last couple of weeks, while the guys had been teaching Ayla how to use her dog, how to use her bow, and everything else, I'd gone from a few casual drinks with a nice-looking man to an actual date.
And what a date it had been! Dinner had turned into a long walk which had become coffee at his place - then breakfast. Even better, he'd said we needed to do it again. But I was going to take it slow this time. There was no reason we couldn't have fun, take our time getting to know each other, and see if things actually worked out for once.
However, I had to deal with Jerlis's mess right now. When I'd told Ayla he wanted to have a meeting with her during business hours, she'd had a million questions, and I couldn't answer any of them. Instead, I stood there like an idiot because I'd forgotten she might even be worried about this.
Thankfully, Zasen had a pretty good idea what Jerlis wanted. "You've made it known you're trying to find the names of the missing women," he explained to her. "That's something Jerlis has been concerned with too."
"And Drozel came in yesterday, after the militia training," I said, hoping like hell this wouldn't be bad. "I'm just not sure if he's pissed about it."
Damn, I should've asked, but my thoughts kept going back to Qavan. It had been so long since I'd met anyone who seemed to care about me and what I liked. Someone who wanted to hear my thoughts, spend time with me while we still had our clothes on, and actually have a relationship. So far, it seemed the people I liked spending time around were the ones who wanted to keep it very platonic.
Kanik had no interest in men. I could spend hours with him, being as stupid or as serious as I wanted, and it never got old, but that was as far as it would ever get. Zasen? He was like a brother to me. I hadn't been able to think of him as anything but a friend since we'd been in school. And Ayla? She couldn't consent. She didn't even understand saying no was an option - let alone what having a relationship meant.
But Qavan could. I liked the way he looked me right in the eyes as we talked. He listened! Our discussions had swung from my job, his job, and then to the best side of town to live on. He thought I was crazy for keeping the house on the south side, and I couldn't disagree. He'd also agreed the prices were tempting, but he liked keeping his scales a bit too much.
"Rymar?" Zasen asked, his tone just a little too stern.
"Sorry," I said, pulling my focus back to the here and now. "My mind wandered."
"Uh-huh," Zasen said, smirking at me like he knew exactly what I was thinking. "When do you want to go do this? Today, tomorrow?"
"Now?" I suggested. "I told him we'd stop by this afternoon. I figured Ayla wouldn't have anything else pressing."
"Sounds good," Zasen said. "Ayla, put on something pretty. I'll let Saveah know she's needed as well, and I'll look after the kids." He gave me a pointed look. "You're going with them?"
"I should."
"Going to be able to handle it?" His mouth was struggling not to curl. The asshole.
I reached up to scrub at my face with both hands. "Zasen, I can handle Jerlis without paying attention. We're fine."
"Okay," he relented. "How long do you think you three will be out? Do I need to leave a note for Kanik so he isn't worried when he comes home and the house is empty?"
I could only shrug. "I doubt it. We should be back before he's out of school."
Zasen nodded. "And do not let that man intimidate our ladies. That means paying attention, Rymar."
Yeah, he did have a point. Jerlis was a surly and reactive man. He was huge. Those two things combined tended to intimidate a lot of people. As a mayor, he'd done wonders for Lorsa, but as a person, he was impressively abrasive.
"Then I need to get dressed as well," I said, gesturing for Ayla to precede me upstairs. "Zasen, tell Saveah she has half an hour?"
"On it!" he said as he turned for the door, clearly heading there now. "Take Holly! "
It took Ayla less time to get ready than I needed. When I came downstairs, I found her in that pretty green dress with the sweetheart neckline. Her golden hair was put up loosely at the back of her head, leaving a few loose tendrils she hadn't been able to tame. The girl probably didn't realize it, but she'd somehow managed to make "presentable" into classically beautiful.
The two of us picked up Saveah, leaving her kids with Zasen for a bit, and headed into town. The whole way there, we speculated whether Jerlis would be upset or not, but Ayla had good reasons for what she was doing. The only thing that truly surprised me was she hadn't asked everyone for help with it.
And that actually made me proud of her.
Slowly but surely, our little Phoenix was spreading her wings. She was finally realizing she really could do anything she wanted, and we would always have her back. Considering she'd only been here a few months, it was a shocking amount of progression for someone who'd been as sheltered and abused as those Mole women.
But when we entered City Hall, I realized Ayla had never been here before. Her eyes went wide as she looked around - and then up. Holly stuck to her side. I casually rested a hand against her back, directing her where we needed to go, and Saveah followed behind. When we got to Jerlis's office, I rapped on the door and then stepped in.
"I have your afternoon appointment," I told him, guiding in Ayla and Holly first, then Saveah.
"Ladies?" Jerlis said, gesturing to the chairs before his desk. Then he paused. "A dog?"
"Her dog," I clarified. "Get used to it."
He grumbled, but seemed to accept that. "Rymar, find another chair, since I get the impression you're staying."
"I'm curious about what's going on," I admitted as I found a wooden chair and brought it over beside Ayla. "So, what is this about, Jerlis?" Because I didn't want Ayla spilling everything and causing problems Jerlis might not know about.
The man turned his eerily black eyes on Ayla. "I heard you're trying to gather the names of every tailless woman missing from Lorsa?"
She clenched her hands in her lap, but nodded. "I am. I think some of them, if not all, may have been kidnapped by the Moles the way your sister was. If that's the case, I'm hoping I can get a message inside the compound, to my friend Callah. She might be able to find more children like Tobias - your nephew."
Beside her, Saveah leaned back and crossed her arms. " Our relatives aren't the only ones who've been taken. I'm sure others would like- "
Jerlis lifted a hand, pausing her. "Clearly, the determination is a family trait." Then he pointedly looked between the women. "And the family resemblance is strong."
"I think the same could be said for your nephew," Ayla told him.
Which made Jerlis lift a brow. "He's tailless, Ayla."
"Yes, but also huge." Then she tilted her head, looking hard at the mayor's face. " It's hard to tell with the coloration differences and the lack of weight, but I think Tobias's face is similar to yours as well."
"I'm not that overweight!" Jerlis huffed.
"Moles aren't fed well," I reminded him. "She means your nephew is thin."
"Oh."
And Saveah leaned closer to Ayla. "Calling someone fat is considered rude."
"What?" Ayla gasped. "Why? It just means they have a life of plenty! Of privilege! I'd love to be fat - and old!"
I was biting my lips together, struggling not to chuckle. Sometimes, her naivety was too cute. Ayla had come so far, and yet there were going to be a lot of moments like this. Times when the things she thought she understood came out to be from such a vastly different perspective it made me - and probably everyone else - reevaluate our own biases.
"I've never seen a fat person," Ayla mumbled. "I'm not sure what it would look like."
So Jerlis patted his ample belly. "About like this. I sit at this desk too much."
"Oh." She nodded almost excitedly. "Okay. Thank you."
Which made Jerlis cast me a confused look. All I could do was try to shrug without being too noticeable. It was Saveah who got us all back on the right subject.
"So why did you want to see us?" she asked.
"Right," Jerlis said. "Missing women." Then he pulled open a drawer on the side of his desk and set a folder before him. "Twenty-eight years ago, Moles began carrying away tailless women and all the tailed, they killed. For years, we assumed they were simply lost. We didn't understand that they were harvesting the bodies for the first few years of the attacks. Then, we thought some tailless were taken by mistake in the confusion."
"But only women?" Ayla asked.
Jerlis grumbled at that. "So many were killed. So many bodies were just gone. Since we don't divide our people by tailed and tailless, and each family grieved their own losses, we didn't realize it was only tailless women for much too long."
"Then it was only a rumor," I explained. "What we call a conspiracy theory."
"No one has seen a woman taken," Jerlis explained. "Often, women with tailed kids - who were also taken - were the ones missing, so it was assumed they gave chase and were killed in the woods and consumed by the wildlife."
"Oh." Ayla nodded to show she understood.
"Until you," Jerlis went on, "we weren't sure. We've known they were butchering our dead for a while, because they used to do it in the woods. Once, we caught them and attacked."
"When Drozel lost his tail," I explained.
Which made Ayla gasp, pressing a hand over her mouth. "Oh. That makes that story so different."
"Which story?" Saveah asked.
"The hunters," Ayla explained, "were harvesting and the Dragons attacked them out of nowhere. The hunters had to defend themselves and ran out of bullets. In the end, one man cut the tail from the beast, the Wyvern rushed to feed on the wounded Dragon, and the stinger was the only weapon our hunters had."
"They abandoned the dead," I told her. "Zasen and the rest of the militia hauled back the corpses that were intact so they could have a burial. The ones that had been butchered were buried in the forest so the families wouldn't need to see it."
"But that was when we were sure," Jerlis said. "It was when we realized the Moles were hunting us for food. Eating us. But the loss of tailless women has been so rare and infrequent we've never been able to confirm they're intentionally taking them. Just that they're missing after the battles."
Ayla nodded. "When I was a girl, there were maybe a dozen women in quarantine. I never counted, but between eight and twelve, if I had to guess. I also know my mother died and was composted, but more children are still being born from there."
"Thirty-two," Jerlis said, passing a stack of papers to Ayla. "In twenty-eight years, they've taken thirty-two women. This is all of them, with the dates they went missing. I've gotten descriptions of them where I could. In some cases, entire families were lost, so we have limited information from the friends and neighbors."
Ayla took the pages, handing half to Saveah. Both women immediately began to scan what was before them. Ayla trailed her finger down what looked like a list.
"Black is like Naomi?" she finally asked.
"It is," I told her.
"What happens when a black woman has a child? Is it random? Some are pale, some are dark?"
Saveah made a noise like that wasn't quite right. "Typically, skin color is a mix of the parents. Well, for us tailless. For the tailed, their color and pattern are inherited separately, but that's a whole other thing."
"A black mother with a white father," I said, "will often have a brown child. A brown parent with a white one will often have a very light brown, or nearly white child. Why?"
Ayla licked her lips. "My hair is gold. Meri's is the color of most Moles. Hers is almost silver-blonde. Mine was dark, but my friend has pink-blonde hair. Some boys have ashy-blonde. We're told it will lighten with age, and that shades happen, but..." Her eyes fell to the pages again. "None of us are brown. Hair, eyes, or skin."
"What are you saying, Ayla?" Saveah pressed.
She tapped at a name. "This woman had black skin and hair. I saw a woman with dark hair once, but her skin was pale. None had dark skin. No child in the compound has brown skin. I don't know if they were put into quarantine - or if something worse happened."
"Killed?" I asked.
"That's what I'm afraid of," she admitted. "God chose the Righteous because we were most like Him. That's what they teach the children. We are the last of the proper people, and things like that."
Saveah grunted, clearly not impressed. "Those people are sick! "
"Power-hungry," Ayla said, then looked up at Jerlis. "May I have these, or do I need to copy the information?"
"Those are for you," he said. "But if they didn't keep the black women, what happened to them?"
"I don't know," Ayla admitted. "The second time the Moles attacked - I mean, for me - a hunter was trying to 'save' a tailless woman. She had skin like Irrik." She glanced at me. "Brown, but lighter. This black woman was taken long ago, before I was born. What if they learned the children won't be orin?"
"By trying?" I asked.
Ayla nodded. "Women are vessels. We are the weaker gender, meant to be fruitful. Our opinions aren't important, and our manners should be gentle. If not, we will be punished until we learn to be godly."
"Fucking Moles," Saveah grumbled.
"But Dragons know English," she said, still looking at me. "Maybe not well, but enough to figure it out quickly. Enough to learn how to survive the way my mother did. Enough to tell the men it will never work."
"Shit," I breathed. "And I'm sure they wouldn't let them go."
"No, I don't think they would," Ayla agreed. "They'd use them as compost."
Behind his desk, Jerlis growled. "Do whatever you need, Ayla. If you need more, you tell me, because we..." He gestured at Ayla, Saveah, then himself. "...will not let our relatives' deaths go unpunished."
"No, I'm going to make them all pay," Ayla swore.
And I believed her. In that moment, I was even scared of her, because she said those words like nothing more than the cold, hard truth.