Page 182 of Phoenix's Fire

"But you're good with her too!" I insisted.

He smiled at me and shifted closer. "Not as good as you, and that's allowed. I'm happy that you're good with her, and I'm proud of you for being so willing to learn all about her. Plus, you made enough with the bear to buy her on your own, right? You just didn't because you didn't want to put us out."

"Lansin said she'd need a fence," I explained. "But she's doing okay without one!"

"She is," he agreed. "It's because you take her hunting almost every night. Most dogs don't get that because their people don't hunt. You do, so she gets exercise. That means you make up for her not having a fence, and since she's not left outside, you don't have to worry about a cougar coming to eat her."

I sucked in a breath at that. "They'd eat her?"

"Which is why dogs are so expensive," he explained. "There's a lot of wild things that hunt. Dogs aren't that big by comparison. Puppies are even more vulnerable, so yeah. Dogs need people as much as people need dogs."

Which brought me right back to my point. "And we can use her to stop the Moles, right? To take their guns?"

"We'd have to try," he said.

I nodded. "Would you be willing to help me? We'd need one of the guns."

"Rymar can get that."

"And she'd knock you over again if it worked," I mumbled.

Which made him laugh. "Ayla, she didn't hurt me. She just surprised me - and I bet she'd surprise a Mole! I mean..." He let his words trail off as his eyes lost focus. "We'd need more dogs, but Xav has one. With two of them out there? It would definitely make a dent."

"And we have to make sure Tobias can talk to me," I reminded him. "I mean, I was thinking about writing a letter to Callah, and he's supposed to be getting a code to the door."

"Why?" Kanik asked.

"Which part?"

"The code," he said. "If we can get Callah out, then why do you need the code? Well, why doesZasenneed it?" he asked.

"To stop them forever," I said.

Kanik nodded slowly. "But what about everyone else in there? Zasen thinks about breaking in with an army and killing them all, Ayla. You said the women are victims. That means they don't deserve to die, do they?"

I reached over to run my fingers through Holly's hair. "I don't know. I don't think so, but the people up here shouldn't be hunted, and I don't know how to stop this. I don't know how to save them without hurting more people, and I'm not sure they'd even help."

"Help with what?" he pressed.

I shrugged. "The men are useless without the women. Women cook. They clean. They sew. Without women, there's no one to heal! If the women would simply stop helping them..."

"So why didn't you stop?" he asked.

"But I didn't know!" I insisted.

"And they don't either," he reminded me.

Which made me pause. "But Tobias does. That means Callah should."

"And?" he asked, sounding like he was encouraging me.

I let my eyes drift out over the water, watching the reflections oflight on the rippling surface. "If she tells them, it could be dangerous," I said. "What if they turn her in?"

"What if she tells them before she leaves?" he asked.

Which was a great idea. "I'll put that in the letter!" I decided. "I can tell her all about the surface, and all the things she thinks that are wrong. I'll explain about Dragons, and meat, and quarantine, and how hunters come here when there's plenty out there to eat."

"And how women can go on strike," he suggested.

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