I was going to talk to Ahmi anyway, but I only had one kren left. I should have just taken the money.

My assumption was that she’d gone off to the vita’o yard—that area to the left as you walked in through the main gate that stretched for a full mile all the way to the south wall, cordoned off by a line of old wooden posts without so much as a rope to stop anyone or anything from walking through. Thick fruit trees took up the space, massive mango trees, coconut trees, trees bearing red spiky fruits, trees with yellow fruits in a star shape, one tree had green spiky fruits larger than a baby, bundle and all, while below on the floor were thick ferns and vines fighting for scraps of sunlight beneath.

I saw no vita’o, but I knew they were there.

I looked at the stone shed where the day before I’d seen Miyani scrubbing Blue down with soap and looked around to make sure I couldn't see her again.

I wouldn’t mind scrubbing her down with soap; if only. Maybe if I hadn't been so stupid as to say that to her.

Maybe I never had a chance to begin with.

I still had a chance with Ahmi, though.

I passed between two posts and hadn’t made it two steps when I heard a sharp caw. Not twenty feet from me, two vita’o emerged from the ferns, ran up to me, and hissed. One of them was full gray with a light underbelly. That one was on all fours and dug its talons into the dirt, coiling its neck upward and bared its teeth at me, hissing hard. The other was dark gray with green vertical stripes along its body. It walked right up to me on its hind legs, bumped its body into mine, stretched its long neck to peer down upon me from several feet up, and hissed at me while resting its three-inch talons on my shoulder. As I looked up with my mind frozen, Light-gray brought its snout inches from my ear and hissed long and low.

Don’t pull a weapon. My heart thundered, and I took several steps back. Then, as though following some unseen cue, they relaxed on their hind legs with their forelimbs out front, then brought their heads to my eye level and stared at me. I looked left and right; I was back behind the posts.

I lowered my gaze some, trying to slow down my racing heartbeat. Then with a deep breath, I looked back up and spoke. “I’m looking for Ahmi.”

The light-gray one chirped. Then, it stretched out its neck towards the direction of the tall towers of the inner sanctum in the distance.

“That way?”

They both clicked. Then, the light-gray one accompanied me as I walked, keeping its body between me and the posts. Past thick trees and brush I walked. I knew there had to be other vita’o lurking in the shadows, but I couldn’t see them. I spied what I thought was one crouched beside a large tree, only to find an old stump covered in yellow mushrooms.

After a time, we came to a narrow footpath of beaten grass between two posts where my guard stopped and chirped at me.

“Through here?”

It clicked. But when I tried to enter, it stood in the path blocking my way and peered at me through one gray eye with a black vertical stripe.

I wasn’t sure what that was about. “May I enter?”

It clicked twice. I stood still for a moment, trying to work out what that meant. Then, the thing lifted its head around and sniffed at my arms and my neck before pulling away again.

“What’s the point of showing me where she is only to tell me I’m not allowed through?”

It tilted its head slightly and shifted its body around without moving its head.

“I, uh… had some questions. She just spoke to us about how amazing you guys are, and I had some questions to follow up with. That's all. Is that alright?”

I tried stepping to my left, and the creature stepped with me, continuing to block my path. I looked around. Beyond the trees, I could see the hint of the yellow-and-gray stones that made up the outer wall. To my right, the tall towers of the inner sanctum reached towards the clouds, and somewhere to my left, wrapped around the line of posts and beyond where the trees permitted vision, was the main gate. Drops of sweat soaked through my collar as the intense heat mingled with the floral scent of fruit trees before me, and the light-gray lizard continued to block the very path it had shown me.

“May I please see her?”

Quite unexpectedly, the thing moved out of the way and lowered its head towards the ground where the beaten grass began, then gestured forward along the path.

The path was a narrow gap with small tufts of beaten grass to suffice for a vale between tall ferns on both sides. My trousers took water from brushing against the bushes and clung to my skin, and that light-gray vita’o continued alongside me the whole way.

It wasn’t far. In a flat area beside a stone shed about twenty yards from the outer walls towering above a line of more trees, Ahmi sat upon one vita’o facing six young girls who couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old, each sitting upon a miniature vita'o lizard of their own. Three were natives, dark-green skin, white hair, and yellow eyes. One was Goloagi, light green skin and curly hair, and at that age had a number seared into the skin of her arm. The other two had to be mixed in some way, with one sporting hair dark as mine with skin almost as dark as Ahmi's while the other looked more like the man who'd greeted us at the gate, with sandy-green hair and bright yellow eyes. All of them were dressed the same, including Ahmi, who’d shed her dress from earlier in favor of a white cotton loincloth leaving her top half exposed though her back was turned to me.

One of the girls looked at me, and Ahmi snapped her fingers to wrangle her attention back.

“I appreciate your punctuality,” Ahmi spoke in that delicious accent without turning to face me. “Please sit down.”

“If you’re busy I could…”

“Do not speak. Please sit down.”

She hadn’t turned to face me, let alone make some gesture to indicate where I was supposed to sit. Beside the stone shed was a wooden railing with numerous straps and implements draped over it, and beside that was a large wooden bucket turned upside-down, so I made my way over there when it occurred to me. I glanced up at the guard vita’o who’d escorted me in and whispered, “thank you.”

The thing shook its head vigorously before turning and disappearing into the woods.

The bucket was still moist from the morning rain, but I sat down anyway and watched.

Ahmi held up a hand as she spoke to the girls. I found her cadence intriguing; she spoke slow and deliberate, with emphasis on the ups and downs. “mifæ gæðude... vʌ pʊ kʊ'asʌði vɪta'o. kʊde xeŋeðose vɪta'ovisa ʃa xeŋeðoyedu. ba yeθæzæye bavʌ yeθæzæwe 'ʊŋe, goŋi xemaye ʒʌgu. zoti ʃo'ibiye bavʌ ʃo'ibiwe 'ʊŋe ɣʊ tuʃʌ 'ʊŋe. ‘uŋi zɪta ‘asʌse deɣe ʃa deɣe poθʊzoʃa vʌ ko'o deɣe vɪta'ovisa. vʌ ʃo'ibide poθʊzo. mewa maðade ʃa vʌ kʊki‘asʌyedu. samewa… 'ʊŋe wæfɪða.”

One of the little native girls replied in a high, childish voice, “vʌ pʊ kʊ'asʌði vɪta'o. xeŋeðoðiʒu.”

“do'i ʃɪ’uti,” Ahmi nodded, her tone satisfied with the girl's answer.

Of course I felt lost. Like a blur of gibberish, her words flowed out from her like water from a fountain. I tried to listen, see if I could pick out anything I did know, but I didn't get far. Sæwi had said the night before that the verb comes first, followed by the subject and then the object. And the way Ahmi spoke was so gentle and deliberate that I felt like I could pick out those pieces even if I didn't know what they meant.

“... vʌ pʊ kʊ'asʌði vɪta'o. θɪŋode dowaviya. θɪŋoye dowavidu…”

She was teaching them. She was Teacher. She wasn't just beautiful; she held a commanding presence I found irresistible, and I was desperate to get a lesson with her alone. But I waited. I watched as she rode her vita'o bareback, moving it about left and right without so much as a word or gesture I could discern while she instructed the girls to do the same. At the center of her gorgeous toned belly her skin betrayed a few stretch marks, with a few more around the underside of her breasts, which sagged a little more than a woman my own age. She had a small, round scar on her hip about the size of a thumb print, and oh, those muscular legs!

Her vita'o crouched down on all fours, and she spoke some more words to her students.

The girl furthest on the left, a native, shifted her hips some, and her vita'o crouched down as well. The girl tumbled forward and rolled off the side of her creature's neck, then landed arms first in the mud. Her vita'o nudged her with its nose and made a long, low caw.

Ahmi urged her mount forward and commanded her, “weyiŋɪse”

The girl shook her head hard and pouted. “ʃʊsi bʊ’apesedu…”

Then Ahmi answered her… in Herali. “I do not want apologies. What I want is to see growth in my students. Remember that. Get up and practice again.”

At that, the girl wrestled herself off the ground and climbed back onto the lizard creature.

Ahmi then spoke to her softly once again in the natives’ language and helped her balance as the creature once again dropped down and rose again. She moved on to the next student, watching close as the girl did as instructed, then the next.

The fourth was a young Goloagi girl with light-green skin and curly hair who couldn't have been more than six and had a number seared into her skin on each arm. Ahmi addressed her in Goloagi, “is the you ready? Let the me see.”

And the beast dropped down hard. The little girl shrieked, but held on and didn't fall. Ahmi put her hand gently beneath the creature's snout and lifted its head to speak to it. “vi. ‘a. do. pa. za.”

The creature twisted its head side to side and gave off a long, drawn out chirp before gurgling some strange noise and ending that with a whistle.

Ahmi then nodded and moved on to the next girl.

She might have been seven? Maybe? It was hard to tell. A native girl, she looked at me and smirked before urging her vita'o to drop down low, and she held her balance perfectly as far as I could tell. From the smug confidence plastered on her face, she certainly felt that way.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Ahmi beamed, “do'i ʃɪ’uti! ‘idozʊ beŋæ.”

The lizard then lifted back up on its hind legs, and the girl fell back, rolled off its tail, and landed her shoulder in the mud with her legs to follow.

The other girls snickered under their breath, while Ahmi snapped at them all. Her words, her cadence was about as easy as it could possibly be. If all the people I’d heard in Carthia spoke like her, I’d pick up the language in no time. I was able to pick out words even if I didn’t know what they meant. People slur, generally, but Ahmi pronounced every syllable for these girls, and they hung on her every breath. I imagined she’d told them something along the lines of not laughing at the one who was more advanced merely because her ambition caused her to fall.

The dark-skinned girl said nothing but stood and got back onto her vita'o. Then, the creature reared up, slowly this time, while the girl’s feet shook in the stirrups as she stood with it. It craned its long neck around to rub its snout in the girl’s cheek. She shook, but she held her balance and looked at Ahmi with a big smile.

Satisfied, Ahmi then worked with the last girl before returning to the first. I watched, half mesmerized by her gorgeous figure and half awestruck by the calm force with which she guided her students through one maneuver or another. The lot of them could, at such a young age, guide a vita'o to walk, turn, back up, and now drop down on all fours only to rear back up to where the girl stood with the beast.

Except when Ahmi’s vita’o reared up, she maintained her balance effortlessly and stood with it despite not having any saddle or stirrups to steady herself in.

Then the same confident one from before fell once again in the mud after a few more trials. Her vita’o reached down to tickle her some, and she started laughing. Then the girl reached up and tickled under its belly, only for it to crane its neck up and let out a string of clicks.

“temayi!” Ahmi snapped. At that, the girl once again mounted the creature and resumed practice. That wasn’t the last time she fell. Rather, every time, she got right back up and tried again. By the time the lesson was over some hours later, she was covered in mud. She was probably covered in bruises, too, but didn’t seem to care.

Through it all, I watched and I listened, at times trying to repeat words I’d heard in hopes of being able to figure out what they meant. A thought passed by that I was neglecting whatever training my friends were involved in, but then every time I was distracted by a slice of Ahmi. And yet she scarcely acknowledged my presence. At one point I stood to stretch, and she turned to glance at me for a second before resuming her attention to her students. That was all I got from her.

After a time the girls all lined up in a row and faced towards the direction of the city, and she turned to face me. “I will return. Please wait.”

“OK…”

But she didn't wait for a reply from me. Rather, she led the girls through the ferns, beneath the fruit trees, and beyond sight.

Some minutes later, I decided to challenge myself to a game. I had to believe that somewhere in the shadows, a vita’o was watching me. Perhaps not, but I took the time to challenge myself and see if I could spot them. I listened. Sounds of grinding insects all about me blended with a faint brushing of wind across the treetops. I heard no sound of something stepping along beneath the canopy. I wiped the sweat from my brow and covered my forehead like a visor, trying to peer into the shadows. It took an uncomfortable number of minutes, but I finally saw one.

“Found you!” I grinned. It didn't move. Then to prove it, I walked up close and pointed directly at the branch leaning against a tree.

Then behind me a clattering of stone tiles being pressed against one another. Ahmi was still mounted atop her vita’o, on top of the shed. It stepped across the roofing tiles, clinking them together with each step, then jumped down and landed directly before me. Just as quick, Ahmi threw herself from its back and stood; the top of her head barely came up to my chest.

Her vita’o sniffed around my arms and shoulders and groaned, yawning its jaws open to reveal jagged, serrated teeth. Ahmi smiled and chuckled slightly, then brought its head over to her so she could rub her nose in the creature’s cheek. Then she swatted its bum, and it ran off into the woods.

She watched the creature disappear with warm affection in her eyes, and I asked, “what does visa mean?”

She didn’t tilt her face, but rather moved her eyes onto me and looked at me with one eyebrow raised, still with a warm smile fixed upon her delicious lips.

“I know vita'o, that's probably the only word I could pick out, but you often said vita'o visa. So I was wondering…”

“It is a possessive. visa is yours, vidu is mine.”

“Oh, OK…”

“Now it is my turn,” she turned her whole body to face me. What are the three rules I told you to remember from earlier?”

“Oh, that?” I had to shift my mind some. “Don’t pull a weapon, uh… don't attack their friends, or anyone really… and the ones outside are not your friends. See? I was listening!”

I wanted to show off I was a good student. I wasn't expecting…

“You are very handsome.”

I blushed. “Thanks…”

“That was not a compliment.” With that, she turned towards the wooden railing and gathered up some of the harness straps laid out over the thing.

“What? How is that not…”

“Your face is a curse. I believe that as you grew up, girls came to you, yes?”

I shrugged. “I suppose… some did.”

Ahmi shook her head. “I think they climbed over each other to get your attention. You never needed to learn how to treat a woman with respect. You got away with too many things.”

“I… I’m respectful!”

“I am not interested in you.”

“Huh?”

“Not as a lover, not as a partner, not in any way. Not now, not ever. Nothing will ever happen between you and me. Ever. Do you accept this?”

“W… why?”

“Because I do not need to justify my romantic choices to you.”

“Oh.” With that, I picked up the piece that had broken off from my heart and sulked off towards the path to leave.

“Sit down!”

That shook me. The force of her words hit me like a gust from a raging storm and I faced her. “I am sorry,” I said. “I won’t waste your time…”

“I did not dismiss you. Sit down.”

My heart plodded so hard at her command I could hear it. The look on her face was stern. Her jaw was fixed and she glared directly at me, pointing towards the bucket upon which I’d rested earlier. And so, I obeyed.

“I need to hear from you a yes or a no. Do you accept what I have told you, that nothing will ever happen between us?”

I shrugged. “Do I have a choice?”

“Yes or no?”

“Yes.” Miyani was one. Sæwi and her two friends on the balcony as I left the church was two. Or four. If three women reject me at the same time, does that count as one or three? Then there were those two in the market, so that… that was one. It wasn’t two because Mehuni rejected me while Puni rejected Faren. Then Sæwi rejected me a second time; do I count her twice?

“Now,” Ahmi began, “a lot of people here will not have the patience to hold your hand through the realization that women are people too. I am a teacher and I have long accepted that I do not control which students come to me, also I do not control the skills they come to me with. So to the extent that my patience will allow, I will try.”

“I don't understand.”

“You reduced me.”

“I did?”

“Yes. You did. You reduced me in your mind to a collection of body parts to appreciate, and in your mind that was what you wanted. That is why you came here to look for me. You did not seek my knowledge, or my wisdom, or anything. You were not interested in these things.”

“Well, I don't know about that…”

“Let me ask you this. What do you think about the vita'o?”

“Huh? Uh… they seem…” I shrugged. Images of Massi's body dumping buckets of blood onto the grass snapped into my mind. “I don't know.”

“What are they useful for?”

“Oh. Well, they can sniff things out pretty good.”

She nodded. “What else?”

“They're fast. They can carry you through the jungle…” I shrugged again. “They see in the dark?”

“Is that all?”

I watched her dark-green face as she gazed at me expecting some answer. I heard nothing in the air but the constant screeching of insects grinding their wings. “I guess? They're protective?”

“Then you do not understand. The value of a relationship is the relationship. It is not a collection of what you can do for her or what she can do for you. It is companionship. It is acceptance, and the feeling of being accepted. If I am nothing but a firm round ass to you, then why should I expect you to appreciate me for who I am? What should I expect from you by way of companionship as I grow old and my ass is no longer firm and round?”

I shrugged.

“What so many of you fail to understand is that when you reduce someone to what they can do for you it is not they who suffer, it is you. Most of the time you do not even see that you suffer for it because what you miss can not be seen. She is a pretty face. You love her for her pretty face, and that is all you choose to see. Then everything else she is you will be denied. You are with her, but you are still alone because all you can see is her pretty face. But even more perilous for you, what if she is not good for you? What if she makes you feel low, and most of the time you wish you could be alone instead of being around her, but oooooh, such a pretty face.

“It is not different. Your emperor wants to reduce Carthia to azuka, and he will like to tear down the jungle to get more of it but this place is so beautiful! In so many ways, it is a jewel. It is your falcon god that says every flower has a place to bloom, yes? This is my place! And so many others, so many people who can not exist anywhere else, why do we deserve to be erased? Why does not your emperor commit to proper defense of Carthia why can not he see the profound beauty that is this place but all he says is more azuka if he sends half of what he sends to defend Kulun… a quarter, I know we can turn things around! Why do we deserve destruction simply because he is not satisfied with the amount of azuka…”

She closed her eyes. Her fingers trembled. After a moment she looked at her hands and breathed in deep, then let it out slowly, pulled her hands behind her back, and looked at me. “I believe it is the same mentality. What can you do for me? What is in it for me? What do I get? When you reduce people to this, you will never know their true potential because you blind yourself to who they truly are. And it will only hold you back. It will hold you back because you will never see the full beauty of a person, you will never gain the full benefit of the relationship, that companionship that we all seek. Do not you see?

“It is fear that drives you. You fear betrayal. You fear loneliness. You fear loss, being less, having less. And so, you begin a new relationship with the drive to extract the useful parts and discard the rest. But this fear drives you to unhappiness! You do not appreciate her beyond her tits? You only ever see her tits? Of course you will be lonely! Of course you will be betrayed because she will never warm to you when you treat her this way! And your emperor will never truly have Carthia. Can you understand these things?”

“I think so?”

“When you do this, you also reduce yourself. That is the other peril. If you only choose to see others as what they can do for you, then you will begin to only see yourself that way. You diminish your own value because the value of a person is what they can do. What useful traits do they have, and we will discard the rest. I see you. I know that you can shoot three-hundred-sixty yards; Blue told me this. I know that you are a field medic, and women talk—have you seen that one Caleb of Gath? He is so fine; I will get a baby from him just you watch!

“And now what? What good are you? Have you no thoughts beyond this? Have you no value beyond this? What is your worth beyond this? Break your hands and scar your face. Now tell me, who are you?”

I shrugged.

“I am more than my body. You are more than your pretty face. Vita'o are more than a beast to ride. Carthia is more than azuka. Please do not reduce people to what one thing you want from them. Do you think you can do that?”

“I… I guess?”

“It begins with respect. Earlier, you were very disrespectful.”

“What? How? Why?” I'd always been very respectful to women.

“The whole time I was talking, your eyes were like this…” and she looked me up and down, smacking her lips and groaning in feigned interest. Then she returned her gaze to my eyes.

“In my defense, you do have gorgeous legs.”

At that, she lowered her gaze to the muddy ground and pursed her lips in thought. “I think… perhaps… you should take some time to think about what I have said to you. Alone.”

“Uh… OK?”

“Go. Away.”

“Oh,” I said. I wasn't expecting that.

“Now.”