Page 38 of Phoenix's Fire

"Like you and Kanik?" I asked.

Rymar stuttered a bit at that, making sounds but no real words. "Um, not exactly. Kinda?"

I laughed once. "I don't know what that means."

"Well..." He draped his arm over my shoulder again and leaned in.

Before he could finish his thought, a guy at one of the stalls near the street called out, "Hey, Rymar! How's it going?"

The man was bright red with pale patches on his shoulders. The colors were vivid, but not as intense as Rymar's. Then there was the man's chest, which reminded me of Zasen's muscles, even if this man wasn't as tall.

"Good, Qavan," Rymar called back. "Just going to visit friends."

"Gonna be at the cafe later?" Qavan called back.

"Not today," Rymar said. "Tomorrow, probably."

Which made the man wave and turn back to what he'd been doing. Rymar just shook his head, then picked up where he'd left off.

"Well, Kanik is my friend. We've known each other since childhood, so he's more like a brother to me." He ducked his head, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. "I won't kiss him."

"Oh." I nodded, and we kept walking, but Rymar just kept watching me.

Probably because my thoughts had just taken off again. I'd seen two men kiss. I knew Jeera and Brielle were girlfriends, which meant they kissed - I just hadn't seen it. Men also kissed women, and all my friends insisted it could be just as loving, but I hadn't seen that either.

But Rymar liked Kanik as a brother. That much I could follow. It made perfect sense. I liked Meri as a sister. Callah too! Plus, Zasen had kissed me, and that hadn'tfelt bad. Not wrong, not painful, nor any other type of bad I could think of. The best part had been how Kanik had seen and hadn't been upset.

"You should also know," Rymar said, breaking into my spinning thoughts, "that most people only share money and things when they're romantically involved."

I nodded, but then paused. "What exactly does that mean?" Because I figured it was better to ask and be sure.

"Dating," he said, then groaned. "Kissing, Ayla. Usually sleeping together, but keep in mind, most people don't think that's a bad thing."

"Is that why Kanik didn't want your money stuff?" I asked. "He doesn't want to kiss or share a bed with you?"

Rymar slowly began to chuckle. "Um, 'sleeping together' is a phrase that means having sex. Usually, it's because people fall asleep afterwards, but not always." He waved that away. "And no, Kanik doesn't want to kiss or fuck me."

"Fuck," I breathed, trying to memorize the easy way he used that word. "Okay."

"See," he said, "some people only like men that way. Others only like women. Some like both, and some like none." He shrugged. "I like both, and yes, I think Kanik is very handsome."

That made my feet stutter to a halt. "Really?"

He nodded. "Zasen is handsome too, but we've been friends too long for me to think of him that way. Kanik? I used to have a crush on him, but he doesn't like me like that." He reached up to push his orangey-red hair back. "So, yeah. I thought that was why he kept refusing my help."

"I think it was just embarrassment," I assured him. "Kanik likes to help, notbehelped. You should've seen him when I wouldn't let him help me clean."

Rymar grinned at that. "I think you have us all figured out. Next time my roommates confuse me, I know who I'll ask for help." And he pointed right at me.

"Promise," I said. Then, "So how do I know?"

"Which part?"

I made a little gesture, trying to find my words. "If I want to kiss someone. If it's even okay to want it. Do women even do that? Or are we just supposed to wait to be kissed?"

He chuckled, but before he could answer, another voice made us both look up the street.

"Ry!" a tailless woman said, hurrying up to wrap her arms around him. "You never came back to see me."

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