The sun set in a flurry of brilliant colors. When night came, so did the chill air. Fires were lit outside the building in metal containers spaced evenly to warm the space. It was just enough to keep it comfortable even without walls, but many of the wounded were already feverish.
Python and Myrtle handled those. I sewed, and sewed, and sewed until my fingertips ached. Beside me, Zasen was doing his best to keep up. Blood was smeared above his elbows, but he looked good like that. The Wyvern might excel at killing, but watching him like this? I realized he was even better at healing.
"Take a break," a man said, slapping my shoulder gently. "We don't need your fingers bleeding in the wounds, and I think we're finally caught up."
"Good," I breathed, finishing up my last patient.
After making sure they were good, I put my borrowed things away and left the building. Someone had called it a pavilion, and while that wasn't a word I knew, this building wasn't like any I'd seen before, so it worked. But somewhere in that time, Holly had disappeared.
I knew she was from here so she wouldn't get lost, but it felt weird to not have her beside me. Still, there was one thing I needed to do first. Yrena had said the stone ring in the middle of the camp center was a well, and I needed to wash the latest man's blood from my arms.
I was bent over a spigot which pumped up water, scrubbing everything I could reach when the sound of dogs playing made me look over. There, I finally found Holly, and she was bouncing around a black dog. I was pretty sure it was Shadow, Lansin's dog, but I didn't know him as well as my own.
I finished up and called Holly's name, but that made a man turn quickly enough it drew my eye. Lansin! I recognized him easily, and from the way he lifted a hand at me, he'd seen me too. But before I could head that way, he held up a finger, asking me to wait. Then he bent and hugged a young girl tightly.
He'd once said he had children, but I hadn't thought about that, so when he turned to kiss a little boy on the brow, I didn't want to intrude. Clearly, what had happened here had been bad. For all I knew, this was a private moment. So instead, I headed to Holly.
Lansin pulled both kids to him next, then crouched down to talk intently to them. Behind them was a cart with a horse. A woman sat in the front and the back was packed full, but boardson the side had been tied together. The damage made me think Moles had been the cause.
While I waited, Lansin lifted both kids into the cart, one by one. The woman? He was only polite to her. She gave him a smile, but it looked forced. And when she took the leather straps that controlled the horse and got the cart moving, Lansin stood there a little longer, waving. The kids waved back.
While I waited, I crouched down to pet Holly and Shadow. It didn't take long for the cart to move out of sight, and Lansin's shoulders slumped. He sighed heavily enough I could see it, then turned and made his way to me.
"I didn't expect you to come here," he said, offering me a smile that looked like he had to work to make happen. Then his eyes dropped and that smile turned real. Reaching up, he flicked the base of my torc. "And a token too? Congratulations, Ayla. I think you and..." He paused, looking at the signs on my token. "All three? Yeah, that actually makes sense."
I had to glance away, because those words felt like more praise than I deserved. "I think having Holly helped me relax a lot." But speaking of that, I still had a question. "They won't tell me who bought her, though."
"You did," he said without hesitation. "You, Ayla, earned that dog when you used her like a natural. That she adores you made it happen. There's nothing more to it than that." And he chuckled. "Considering she looks to you instead of me now? I think that proves it, because I spent a year teaching her all she knows."
"She's amazing," I told him. "But I didn't mean to interrupt you and your wife."
"Not my wife," he assured me.
"Oh." I grimaced. "Sorry. I just thought those were your children. You said you have some."
He moved closer, pressing a hand against my shoulder blade to guide me forward. "Dogs, come!" Then he looked over at me. "Thosearemy kids, Ayla. The woman is their mother. She's not my wife or partner."
"I don't..." I tried to pause, but he kept me moving. The dogs both obediently walked at our sides. "Lansin, I don't understand."
"First, you need to eat," he said. "I'm going to assume you showed up with the rest of that Lorsa herd. We have a communal kitchen set up over here so no one goes without."
"Oh." That made sense.
"As for the woman?" He shrugged. "Her name is Layana. I tried to make her my partner - since neither of us are religious, and that's all a wedding is good for - but she refused."
"You still had children with her!" I hissed.
"I did," he agreed. "Intentionally, too." He murmured. "Please tell me you know the difference between an accidental pregnancy and a planned one?"
"I do," I assured him. "But why? What benefit do children give you if you aren't married?"
"The Moles are more fucked up than I realized," he said as we entered a large building.
"Moles?" someone asked from just inside the door.
"Moles," Lansin told them, sounding like he was confirming it. "This terrifying woman here once was one. Probably why she's here."
"Because I wanted to help," I said. "If I can figure out why they came here, then maybe we'll know what they're doing."
