Page 131 of Phoenix's Fire

"No!" I hurried to assure her. "I just... We weren't allowed to. I didn't want to interrupt, since it is your home."

"Dragons don't hide it," she told me. "But you're going to stay with Lessa tonight. She lives over here near some of the guys I'm heading out with. I thought I could walk you to her place, make sure you're settled in, and then head to the front with them."

"Is this dangerous?" I asked.

"Yeah," she mumbled.

"Please don't die?" I begged. "You're a good friend, and I don't really have many. But if you don't come back, I'll make sure Brielle's okay."

Jeera looked over, her silvery-grey eyes holding mine just a little too long before she pushed a smile onto her lips. "Thank you. You're a good friend too, and that actually makes me feel a lot better."

She shifted closer and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, but we walked the rest of the way in silence. I understood, though. This was a terrifying thing they were doing - and they were doing it for everyone else. To me, that sounded so brave, more so than the hunters, who earned privilege and prestige with their work. Dragons just helped each other, exactly the way Ayla had said.

Soon enough, we came to a little white house with another one behind it. Or maybe that other one wasn't a house, because it was smaller? I wasn't sure, but before we even made it into the yard, Lessa rushed out of the door. A tan man with black stripes across his back and green stripes down his ribs followed. Then came a bright-green man. He was the greenest thing I'd ever seen. Combined with the red lines by his eyes, his coloration was a bit shocking.

"Drozel. Omden!" Jeera said, greeting them.

"And Meri!" Lessa said in heavily accented English as she waved me over. "Do you need to sit?"

"No," I said, offering a kind smile to the men.

But the tan man hurried over to gallantly offer me his arm. "You are the frand of Ayla?"

"Friend!" Jeera corrected.

"I am," I assured the man.

He nodded. "She is ma frien' too. She safe me."

"She saved you?" I asked, then decided to try in Vestrian. "She saved you?"

Which made the green man whoop. "Sa daulks!"

It took me only a moment to realize that was the Vestrian version of "she talks," so I nodded at him. "A little," I tried in his language.

"Not bad," Lessa told me, pulling open the door in a clear invitation. "Come in." Then she switched to Vestrian. "Drozel, go kill some Moles. Ommy?"

The green man moved closer and held his arms open. "I'll tell Ayla she's here safely," he told Lessa.

"And take care of Droz, okay?" Lessa asked as she hugged the green man.

"Promise," he told her, but then the tan man stepped up.

"Don't scare her. The things we take for granted are confusing to them."

Lessa just caught the man's neck and pulled him down to her face. Then she kissed him! I had to bite my lips together to keep from gasping, but on the man's other side, Jeera was watching me. She also stuck her tongue out, proving she'd noticed my surprise.

"And Omden's his boyfriend," Jeera said, pointing at the green guy. "Complete heathens, all of us."

Which was enough to make me giggle just as Lessa let the man go. "That's a kiss for luck," she told Drozel. "Share it with Ommy, okay?"

"Oh, I can do that," he said. "We'll be home before dawn."

"You'd better!" Lessa yelled after them. "I'm tired of funerals!"

She stood there for a moment, watching until they made it out of her yard, then sighed. Finally, she turned around and headed inside, closing the door behind her. Without a word, she crossed the room and headed into another. I waited, not sure what I was supposed to be doing. Something banged. A moment later, I heard a chink. Then there was fluid.

After that, Lessa returned with a pair of glasses. "It's called lemonade," she told me. "And you get to pick. Do we distract ourselves with fabric, or do you want to sit and relax?"

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