Page 179 of Phoenix's Fire

Belatedly, the noise made Holly wake up from her nap in a sunbeam by the window. When I heard her nails on the stairs, I couldn't help but smile. That dog didn't like it when I was out of her sight. It didn't even matter if she was looking. If I went to the washroom, she came with me. If I went upstairs, then so did she.

And I kinda liked it.

But dressing for something I'd never done before was never easy. I found a pair of soft pants. They were made of similar material to my shirts. My shirt matched, simply because I really liked it when the colors looked pretty together. I slipped on my sandals, then gathered up all of Holly's things. When I was finally done and managed to carry all of that back downstairs, Kanik had a basket sitting on the table in the living room.

"I got your medical bag emptied out," he said, passing me the canvas bag. "Put Holly's stuff in there?"

"Does she need to be on her leash?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No, but I'm not sure how she'll do around the docks, so we might need to put her on it later," he explained. Then, "You ready?"

"Yes!"

I carried the canvas bag. Kanik took the rods and the basket. It looked heavy, but I liked the way his arm changed shape as he lifted it. The muscles in his bicep flexed, proving it was impressively big. The hunters in the compound had been strong men, or so I'd been told, yet their arms were slim and lean compared to most of the Dragons I'd met.

Together, the three of us headed up the street. Like always, Holly stuck to my side, but when we reached the market, Kanik turned. This was the first road I'd ever walked down, the place where people had gathered to jeer and spit at me as the men took me to Naomi's clinic. But this time, the few who looked over offered smiles or waves instead.

"Hey, Kanik! How's the class this year?" a man called out.

Kanik lifted a hand in greeting. "I got a lot of good kids, but ask me after the first exam." He laughed, the man laughed, and we kept walking. But when we were far enough away, Kanik leaned in, "His daughter's one of my students this year."

"You haven't said much about school," I told him. "You just get up early and come home in the afternoon most days. Do you like it?"

He murmured under his breath. "The start of the school year is always a little different. I have new students, since the ones from the year before are older and learning different things. So we all have to get to know each other. It's like making new friends, except they're the kids, and I'm the adult trusted with them."

"You're a good teacher, though," I assured him. "I bet your students are happy."

"I wouldn't go that far. Most kids would rather be playing than learning. Still, I've gotten a lot of questions about you."

"Me?"

He nodded. "They know the Phoenix is my roommate, and that you have saved many lives. The first day of class, they made me speak English so they could hear it, and we've been learning how to properly pronounce the words the way you do."

"So they can understand the Moles?" I asked.

"Well, that's our reason," he said, "but for them, it's like a secret language. Most teachers speak it how we were taught - which is how I pronounced things before I met you."

"Walf," I teased.

"Exactly," he said. "So the kids like that they can speak real English as a secret language between classes. They get confused when I answer back, but I don't get them in trouble for what they say. The way I see it, if they're having fun using the language, that means more people to help us with the refugees like Meri, and hopefully Callah."

"Yeah," I said, liking that.

But then he turned again, angling us away from Naomi's clinic and towards a part of town I'd never been to before. When my steps got shorter and I started looking around, Holly moved closer, pressing her side against my leg. Kanik noticed, so he started pointing at buildings, explaining what they were.

Most things in this area were factories that made things. Metal was a lot of it. One was for tools. Another, smaller place made nothing but arrowheads, including Zasen's war arrows. There was a building for furniture, and even one for binding books!

"They make them there?" I gasped.

He chuckled. "Yes. They have big machines where they set the letters up and then print hundreds of copies of a single page. Then they do the next. When it's all finished, they put it together, and then they have machines for making the covers. Sadly, I only know the basics of how it's all done, but it's called a printing press."

"Oh, that's amazing!" I breathed.

Then we turned again, and something large and blue stretched out before me in the distance. The smell of the air changed again, but I couldn't place the smell this time. There were strange buildings with fabric, and beside them, dozens of people moved around - and a horse!

"Is that the ocean?" I asked.

Kanik laughed before quickly smothering it. "No, Ayla. That's just a river."

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