Chapter 60
Sixty
Rymar
T he 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.
"Our house," I corrected. "You live here too. You're our roommate now. That means you're allowed to go upstairs at any time. It's simply polite to knock on someone's room before walking in."
"Like people do with the front door," she realized.
"Exactly like that," I agreed. "And now, I need some caffeine to get my brain in gear."
"There's an entire pitcher of tea brewed," Kanik called after me. Then he told Ayla, "So you can go work on the calendar if you want."
"Okay!"
While I was filling my glass, I heard her delicate little steps rush up the stairs. What I didn't hear was them on the floor above me. The girl moved softly. I had a feeling that could also be silently with very little effort.
"So," Kanik said as he stepped into the kitchen, "it seems she didn't want to bother you this morning."
"Which means I should come down for a tea first," I realized.
He just shook his head. "No, I think you should push her to go upstairs when she wants to. I mean, Zasen's talking about making that into her bedroom. Evidently she likes the window."
"You know there's another behind the bookshelf, right?"
"Oh, I forgot about that," he breathed. "We blocked it off instead of getting curtains."
"Because we're lazy and uncouth men," I joked. "But Ayla's going to need a lot more than just curtains, you know."
"A bed," he said. "Places for her clothes, if Lessa ever finishes them."
"She will," I assured him. "It's only been a few days, and sewing an entire wardrobe takes time."
"Probably a mirror," Kanik added.
I grunted at that, because he was right. "Definitely a mirror."
"Yeah, but..." He made a face. "Ry, I'm kinda broke. It's the end of the summer, so no tutoring for extra income. I'm basically just making the bills."
Reaching out, I clasped his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Kanik. You know we got you. Hell, I'll even cover your share and call it compensation for not making me teach her Vestrian."
Kanik laughed at that, but he also looked a little relieved. "I just didn't want to assume."
"We're good," I assured him. Then I picked up my glass. "And I'm going to start cleaning up my side of the office."
"Ayla's room," he corrected.
"Still the office," I countered. "You need to convince Zasen to start moving his shit around. There's no way we'll fit two desks in there with his workbenches like it is currently."
"He's actually going to move a lot of that outside," Kanik said. "The sharpening tools and stuff will be fine against the side of the house."
"Works for me."
Patting his shoulder, I stepped around my friend and made my way back upstairs. When I entered the office, I wasn't surprised at all to find Ayla sitting in Kanik's chair with her face locked on the calendar that covered the top of his desk. Just to make sure I didn't scare her, I dragged the nails of my toes on the wood, letting her hear me coming.
Her eyes glanced up. "Will I bother you if I'm here?" she asked. "I'm very quiet."
"You won't bother me even if you're loud," I assured her. "Kanik mutters and grumbles when he works. Who knows, I might do the same." I flashed her a smile.
She offered me one back. "I just want to line up all these days," she explained. "Then I can put my holidays on your calendar and count out when the Moles are coming."
"I'm going to be rustling around," I warned. "Will that bother you?"
"No." She smiled again. "We women learn to focus even when men are being bothersome."
A joke? My mouth dropped open in surprise, because I was pretty damned sure Ayla had just made a joke at my expense! A moment later, a delicate laugh followed.
So I balled up a scrap piece of paper from my desk. "I'll show you bothersome!" And then I threw it at her.
She ducked the slow-moving projectile and giggled in a way I'd never heard before. "I don't have anything to throw back!"
Which made me laugh harder. "It's the only thing saving me, I think. But was that really a joke, Ayla, or am I bothering you?"
"It was a joke," she assured me.
Yet her voice hadn't turned into that demure mumble she so often used. Sure, it was softer, but more like she was shy and less like she was waiting for punishment. Her big blue eyes were sparkling with a hint of mischief.
"Well, then that means you can clean up the trash I tossed at you, since you are the woman here." And I stuck my tongue out at her.
She giggled again. "Nunh-unh. Jeera says Dragons are equal."
"Oh, that's my girl," I praised. "Look at you, putting me in my place."
She grinned again, then dropped her eyes back to her work, but I still had a smile on my face. With Ayla, it was those little moments that proved she was so much more than she let anyone see. Glimpses, that was all we'd gotten so far, and she'd been here more than three weeks.
She also looked really good behind that desk. I wasn't sure why, but it made me see her as someone powerful and important, not the timid creature who so often pulled into herself. Like this, she was in her element, and it brought out something in her that made her shine.
But while she continued to draw out grids for months and pause to count days, I picked up the first report. Of course, it was the budget. We needed more revenue for the town, but with the damages caused by Moles, people were hurting. Especially the ones on the south side. The poorest ones.
I read through that, glancing up every so often. When I caught Ayla chewing on the end of Kanik's pen, I had to fight to keep from smiling at her like an idiot. It was such a completely normal thing that it looked a bit out of place on her.
Then she began counting. Her finger tapped the squares she'd made, pausing when she made an X in one, and then she kept going. The pen scratched as she marked out numbers for both her days and ours.
This woman was smart, I realized. No, it wasn't her lining up some ancient English calendar with our modern one. It was that she was doing it in a language she hadn't known a few weeks ago. Her eyes flicked to the calendar on Kanik's desk, she made a note, and just kept going.
The names of our months, our days, and maybe even the numbers of our years were all different to her. She also didn't let it slow her down. That much change would be crippling to most people, but Ayla simply accepted it.
Just like how she'd accepted two men kissing. Two things might have the same name, but that didn't mean they were the same thing. When Moles kissed, it was torture. When Dragons kissed, it was affection. If the concept was that drastically different, then why would it shock her that men could kiss men, women could kiss women, or men could kiss women?
She really had burned down her old world. This quiet and gentle woman was discarding everything she'd once known with ease, and embracing our ideas as her own. It would take her a while to fully adapt, but I had a feeling she was going to figure it out.
Then her pen stalled. "It's in ten days," she breathed, looking up.
"What is?" I asked.
"The next time the Moles will come." Her tongue darted over her lips quickly. "Twelve days before the holiday. Two days to get here. That means they will attack us again in ten days."
"Zasen!" I roared. "Kanik!"
"Shh," she begged, pushing to her feet. "I'll get them."
"Guys!" I simply bellowed again.
Ayla's eyes were getting big and scared again, though. "Rymar, don't yell through the halls!"
"This is a house," I assured her, "and we yell here."
"Lots," Zasen said as he stepped into the room.
I could also hear Kanik's feet rushing up the stairs. "Rymar? Everything okay?"
"She found it!" I said, turning my chair so I could see both men now hovering in the doorway.
"Found what?" Kanik asked.
Ayla lifted up her pad of paper. "The Moles will be here in ten days. Saint Richard's Day is coming. Twelve days before, with two for traveling, and they will be here in ten days."
"Shit," Zasen breathed, crossing the room to look at her paper. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "I started with the new year, then matched up all the other days. The last time the Moles were here was on August fourth, which you said was Arbor sixteenth, right?"
"Right," he agreed.
"And the next holiday the compound will celebrate is this one." Her finger stabbed down on the paper. "Saint Richard's Day. They will serve meat. They will have weddings." Then she lifted her eyes. "So the Moles will be back, right?"
Zasen traced his nail along her page, clearly tracking the dates backwards as if checking her work. "Shit," he breathed. "We know when they're coming!"
"Which means you need to tell the militia," I said. "Zasen, we can be ready for them this time."
"And tell Jerlis," he said.
"Figure out the rest," Kanik told her. "Ayla, figure out all of them."
So she turned her paper so we could all see. "The days with an X are our holidays. The ones with a circle are when the Moles leave. Where I scribbled - is that said right?"
"It is," I assured her.
"Where I scribbled is the day they'll attack. The dark boxes."
"So make a copy," I told her. "Fuck, make three copies!"
"Four," Zasen said, "so I can give one to Jerlis. Looks like I'm going to ruin his afternoon."
But Ayla was already working. Her grids weren't perfect, being drawn by hand, but she'd spaced it all out on our monthly system. Each week had five days. Each month had either five or six weeks. Each time the Moles would come was marked boldly, as if she was scared someone wouldn't see it.
"Zasen," I said softly, realizing how big this really was. "You're going to need to tell Drozel too."
"And make sure everyone is ready," he agreed. "Yeah. Trust me, I'm already making plans. We'll start training tomorrow."
"I'll help," Kanik assured him.
"Which means I'll stay here with Ayla," I said, knowing they'd worry about that next, and not wanting to make it obvious we were still hovering over her.
Zasen just glanced up and met my eyes. "If she's right?"
I nodded slowly, because if she was, we could finally get ahead of these fuckers. We would have our warriors out, armed, and waiting before the Moles even showed up. For once, we might be able to save people instead of organizing mass funerals!
But what if she was wrong? That was what scared me the most. Because if she got this wrong, the backlash would be swift and harsh. It might even be more than I could stop - but I'd do my best to protect her anyway. After all, I'd made a promise.