Page 181 of Phoenix's Fire

"How are we supposed to make a meal of that?" I asked.

Laughing, Kanik struggled to unhook the fish for me. "We're not," he promised. "This is considered too small, so we throw it back."

The moment it was loose, he tossed the thing towards the water. Immediately, Holly jumped up and raced after it, getting belly-deep in the water before I called her off.

"Holly, no! Come!" I commanded. The dog actually sighed before making her way back slowly.

Kanik leaned in and bumped my shoulder. "I think fetch is her favorite game."

"It really is," I agreed. "In truth, she just likes chasing things. When we go hunting, she's almost vibrating with excitement."

"You know," he said, "I was thinking about the other day. How she tried to take the stick from my hands?"

"I'm sorry," I told him again.

He waved that off. "No, Ayla. I was thinking that if she could hit me like that, what would it do to a Mole?"

Which made me sit up and gasp. "What if a rifle was what we taught her to fetch?"

"Out of their hands?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yes! If they don't have a gun, they can't shoot it." Then I groaned. "Oh, I didn't even think of that!"

"Wait, what?" he asked. "And pass me your pole so I can cast it without you killing me."

I handed him the fishing pole, thinking as he sent the bobber and hook back out into the water. When he gave it back, I once again rested my leg on the thing, but turned so I could face him.

"Okay, you know how I said it's an arms race?"

"Mhm."

"But they always have more guns, and we know they have rooms and rooms of weapons, right?"

He nodded slowly. "That's what you say."

"But what if I was wrong, Kanik?"

"They don't have rooms and rooms of guns?" he asked, sounding confused.

"No!" Leaning my head back, I groaned because I wasn't saying this right. "The arms race part. Kanik, I thought that if we kept collecting the Moles' guns, then they'd run out, but it doesn't really seem to be working. I hoped we'd be able to use them to even the odds, but we can't!"

"Sadly, no," he agreed.

"So what if I was wrong about which arms race we should worry about? What if we need to be focusing on disarming the men in combat - when they are shooting at us - instead of worrying about it afterwards? To use a weapon we already have - dogs! Holly's good at fetching, and you said there's more people with dogs in Lorsa, right?"

"One of the guys just joined the militia, actually," he told me. "He wanted to buy Holly, but - " And he stopped hard.

But I could guess where he was going. "You three bought her first?" I asked.

"No, um..." Then Kanik sighed. "Ayla, she's your dog."

"Yep," I agreed.

"And we don't want you to feel like everything you have comes back to us. Holly is not just a dog you own, but look at her!" He gestured to where she was lying beside me, chewing on her toy again. "She's better with you than she was with Lansin, and he raised her."

"Yeah?" I asked, liking how that felt.

"So it doesn't matter why she's yours, right?" he asked. "Just that she is, and that you have a skill with dogs I'm a little jealous of?"

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