Page 97 of Phoenix's Fire

"I'm not!" I hissed.

She gave me a little nudge. "You should."

So I went, feeling only a little guilty about it, but the moment I stepped through the back door, something big hurried towards me. I tensed, doing my best not to flinch.

From that side of the yard, a man yelled, "Holly, gentle!"

My eyes landed on the dog a split-second later. She'd slowed with the command, but her tail was still wagging. That meant the voice belonged to Lansin.

"Ayla!" Tamin screamed.

"Holly, push!" Lansin yelled in response.

The brindle dog raced towards Tamin faster than I'd ever seen anything move before. I barely managed to remember to close the door behind me as I watched, worried about what would happen. Thankfully, the dog didn't hurt Tamin, but she did get close, barking and pushing at him to turn Tamin around the other way.

"Shadow, collapse!" Lansin called next.

Tamin began giggling the way only a small child could, and the black dog darted in to carefully bump the back of the boy's leg. Tamin went down, then the dog named Shadow lay over him, holding the kid on the ground.

"Release!" Lansin called. "Come!"

I stood there, just outside the door, watching the man command the animals so easily. I was so enraptured with the way the animals worked that I didn't even notice Kanik until he lightly touched my arm.

"It's okay," he assured me. "They won't hurt the kid."

"They're bigger than him," I pointed out.

"And trained to move livestock," Kanik explained. "Including baby horses and sheep."

"Goats too," Lansin said, waving for us to join the guys by the firepit they were standing around. "Come to check on us?"

"I think she came to see the dogs," Zasen teased.

Rymar laughed, then held up a drink. "Beer?"

"She will not like beer," Kanik said, guiding me over to a table. "But we have tea here."

"Oh, that would be nice," I agreed.

So Kanik poured me a glass, and himself, then we made our way where the other guys were standing and talking. They shifted over, easily making room for me, and I couldn't help but look at the two Reapers.

They were humans - or tailless, as the Dragons called them. To me, they looked like Moles. Not quite the same, because both men had beards. Irrik's was long. Lansin's was short. And where Irrik was near our age, Lansin seemed to be older, maybe in his forties? Both men were surprisingly fit and muscular, though.

Before, that would've made them intimidating. Now, I realized it was just a sign they did physical things. Trying to be subtle, I looked over Jeera and Brielle's 'boyfriend,' trying to decide if he was handsome. I thought he might be, but people were judged on different things here.

Then there was their coloration. The human men I'd known had all beenblonde-haired, blue- or grey-eyed, and had pale skin. Lansin's skin was a nice golden shade, similar to mine and Saveah's, but his hair was very dark, almost black. Irrik's skin was darker, and his hair was a similar shade to the dog's. It was almost red, but not quite. Mahogany, maybe? Although I'd never seen that color up here. I'd only read about it in books.

"What color is your hair?" I dared to ask Irrik.

"Brown."

So I looked at Lansin. "But..."

"Black," Lansin told me.

That made me look over at Zasen. "I'm confused."

"Natural black," Zasen said, pointing at Lansin. "Mine's Dragon-black, so it has a green tint, similar to my stripes. Some have blue-black hair, which is even darker."

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