"Make me a good deal on sweet potatoes next year," I told her. "We'll call it even."
"Done," she said. "And find Irrik for me? You know him, and he's good enough I can trust him to do this."
"I need to talk to him anyway." And I stood. "But real sleep, Eriska. Not drunk."
"They smashed my stash," she told me, "so that's not even an option."
"Then I'll send Irrik back." And before she could change her mind, I left the little cabin.
But I'd seen that list. It wasn't a short one. The Reapers weren't a large community to begin with, and to have that many names on her paper? They must've lost a quarter of their population. Enough to be crippling, at least.
While I tried to imagine what that would do to their community in the coming future, I kept my eyes peeled for Jeera's boyfriend. He was around here somewhere. Yrena said he was fine. Nyco said he'd jumped right in to help, which was part of the problem. He couldn't simply leave his people. He was too important to them for that, and now?
I spotted him by the well. "Irrik!" I yelled.
"Yeah?" He turned, but when he saw me, a smile took over. "Rymar!"
"Hey..." We headed toward each other, and when he was close enough, I offered my hand. "First off, I'd like to give you my congratulations."
"For?" he asked.
"You haven't gotten a letter from Jeera and Brielle yet?"
"I did, but it said I needed to visit because they had an amazing surprise."
And I groaned. "Well, fuck. Now I'm not sure if I should tell you."
"Tell me," he said, making my decision for me.
"You have the chance to be the proud father of a beautiful, blonde-haired and probably blue-eyed little boy. His name is Cerlik, and your partners adore him."
His response came back filled with so much hope and excitement. "They got a baby?" And the biggest smile claimed his face. "Really? I didn't think they were that high on the list!"
"Meri's boy," I explained. "She wanted to place him, and she thinks Jeera and Brielle will make sure he is raised as a Dragon, not a Mole."
"Oh, wow," he said. "Is she okay? That girl did not look good when we found her. Nothing but skin, bones, and baby."
"And now she looks a bit more like a person," I promised. "But, to go with that good news, I'll give you the bad. I'm making Eriska sleep. She needs it. She also named you as the man in charge until she wakes."
"I'm good with that," he assured me. "I got a bit of sleep last night. So what are we doing? I'm going to assume that as often as Lorsa has been attacked, you have some clue how to handle this mess?"
"We," I told him, "are going to try to get everyone who we can to head to the winter camp. My militia is going to take over guard duty, and your people will sleep. Eat, too. So tell me, besides the wounded and the protection, what else does this place need to keep going one more night?"
"Not much," he promised. "Come. I'll show you everything."
"And we should get a meal for Eriska while you're at it, then tell her we've got this."
"Then that's what we'll do first," he said. But a little chuckle slipped out. "I'm going to be a dad?"
"Sounds to me like you already are," I said. "Congratulations. At least I got to give a little good news today. Actually makes this better."
Thirty-One
Lessa
The days had a way of continuing on like normal. In the mornings, Meri and I headed to my sewing room - which was more of a building - and got to work. I had quite a few orders that needed to be filled, and Meri really wanted to make something for Drozel. She said she'd promised Omden.
Yeah, that sounded like something those guys would do. Ommy would make sure Droz looked good enough to seduce whoever he wanted. Meri would feel like she was giving back, and everyone would end up happy.
