Page 225 of Phoenix's Fire

"Yep," she said. "Was having dinner with my sister." She flicked a finger to where Ulris was putting a pair of meals into a cotton bag. "But it seems you need her more than I do, so I'm taking the food. Ayla, I'll leave yours with Zasen when I get my kids. Rymar, make sure she gets home safe, okay?"

"And don't get her drunk," I said, guessing where she was going next.

But Saveah just laughed. "I dunno. Could be fun." Then she leaned forward a little more and grinned at Ayla. "It's something everyone should try once, and I trust Rymar to be a gentleman - well, of the Dragon sort." Then she grabbed her bag. "Take care of him, Ayla?"

"Promise!" she said. "Thanks, Saveah."

Saveah just waved and headed for the door, so I lifted my glass and drained it. Reaching for the bottle, I looked over at Ayla. "Wanna?"

"Which part?"

"Get drunk with me," I clarified. "Because I'm thinking that drinking away the memory of tonight sounds like a great idea."

She nudged her glass toward me. "Zasen and Kanik never let me try any of it."

"Kanik's convinced you won't like beer. Most women don't." I added a few glugs to her glass.

"Why not?"

"No clue," I said. "Beer's bitter. Men like it, women don't, and that rule is not necessarily true for everyone. Lessa likes beer. Omden, Drozel's partner? He doesn't. So yeah. I guess it's not a rule. Wine, though? I like the sweet stuff. Cherry, strawberry, and even apple wine are good. I'm not a huge fan of the grape kind."

"I don't know what any of that means," Ayla said, but she was smiling at me. "So maybe I should learn?"

"Ulris!" I yelled. "I need more bottles!"

"If you get stupid drunk, I'm kicking you out," Ulris told me.

"Huh." I looked at Ayla, then back to Ulris. "Get me another cherry, a strawberry, and an apple. Maybe a little grape if we have it? A partial?"

"For?" Ulris asked suspiciously.

So I turned to Ayla. "Wanna see what the forest is like at night? I know the perfect place to sit, drink, and get over my shame."

"No shame, Rymar," Ulris assured me.

I just waved him away, never taking my eyes off Ayla. She glanced between the pair of us, then nodded.

"I think that if someone yelled at me like that, I'd be so embarrassed. I don't know how you looked so brave, Rymar. So if you want to go somewhere else, I'll go. I've seen the forest at night, though. Zasen takes me hunting all the time."

"Not like this," I promised. "Ulris, a bag?"

"Yeah, and those bottles are going to break."

"Then put something between them," I said. "We have some towels back there. Huh. Two, at least. The big ones we use for drying."

Ulris just shook his head. "If Zasen asks, I'm telling him where you're going."

"If Zasen asks," I said, "tell him Ayla's taking care of me." Then I pushed the bottle at her. "And we don't need glasses. I'll share with my friend."

"Just drink from the top?" she asked.

So I took it and demonstrated, swallowing a few gulps. "Just like that."

She grabbed the bottle and did the same. Her drink wasn't as big, but that was okay. I didn't really want her to get drunk. A little tipsy would be okay, just so she could understand the feeling. Mostly, I wanted to go somewhere else. Anywhere but here.

"Hey," I said, leaning closer to her. "What do you think about swimming?"

"Swimming?" She shook her head. "I don't know how."

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