Ellia, Elizabeth, and Annie were all in tears from his words. None of the women knew what a soul was because they had not been taught, but seeing how important it was to Nikodemus—and seeing how years and years of being treated as nothing other than a body had impacted him—the women were made compassionate to his situation, and guilty for what they had done to him.

Ellia looked down at her food, breathing heavily. She wore an expression that told Nikodemus that she was at war with herself about what to do with him. She was a pragmatic woman to her core, and knew she needed to force Nikodemus to have sex with as many women in her tribe as possible, but at the same time, she was reminded, now, that he was a human, not a tool. And that treating him as less than a human made her feel like less of a human, too.

Ellia turned her gaze to Elizabeth and Annie. “Would you two excuse us?”

Elizabeth and Annie’s faces were creased with worry. “Are you sure, Ellia? It could be dangerous to—”

Ellia cut them off. “Please. You don’t think I could handle a four-foot-tall, wiry man? You’ve seen me in battle.”

The two women were worried, but obeyed without a word. When she was alone with Nikodemus, she crossed her arms and wore her patented, hardy expression, gazing at him critically. She sized him up as if trying to gauge, for certain, whether his emotion was real or not. She said, “Did you come here just to make me feel guilty?”

Nikodemus shook his head. “I came here to ask you to give me work. Work that will make me feel like a human—not a tool. Let me be of use.”

Ellia looked at him, her eyes glassy. Finally, she understood that she was talking to a living, breathing creature. Finally, she was able to view what all these tribes had done to Nikodemus objectively, and understand that what he had been through was as inhumane as it was tragic. Ellia nodded. “I see… I suppose there would be no harm in letting you help out with some of the cooking and cleaning. I’ll tell Elizabeth and Annie to give you some chores tomorrow.”

Nikodemus beamed. “Thank you so much! That’s all I wanted… I suppose… after you tell me who I’ll be with tonight, I’ll stop bugging you.”

Ellia gazed at him with a look that was not-so-innocent. She looked down at the meal on her plate. She sighed heavily. “I… well. I was thinking… if you want. Maybe you could just spend the night with me again? Or by yourself. Either one is fine by me for today.”

Nikodemus regarded her with a grateful smile. “Ah, so the hardened Ellia has a soft heart after all. I would love to spend the night with you.”

Ellia couldn’t help a lovelorn smile. “Well, I wouldn’t be so well-respected among my followers if I weren’t.”

There was silence between the two for a time. Ellia drank her tea, and Nikodemus stole a cactus fruit from her plate. After he swallowed, he asked, “Hilargi seems pretty smart, huh? You got your hands on a good mutant, there.”

Ellia snorted. “Right.”

Nikodemus blinked rapidly at her response, shocked that she didn’t agree. “What does that response mean?”

Ellia, who had been looking up at her plate, now looked at Nikodemus, her eyes wide--evidently, she had said something that she didn't mean to say. She cleared her throat. “Well. She’s a mutant, so she has her uses, but she’s certainly not the best mutant out there.”

Nikodemus was befuddled. “She’s one of the smartest, if not the smartest ones I’ve ever seen or met.”

Ellia pouted, her eyes narrowed. “Sometimes, there’s more to being a well-rounded person than being smart.”

“You care about her being a more well-rounded person? Wow. You really are soft-hearted.” Nikodemus whistled. “I’ve never known a tribe leader to care about their mutants beyond their intellect.”

Ellia blushed. “Oh, shut it. I don’t really care about her all that much…” she claimed, lowering her eyes. “I just think mutants are more useful when they have some sense of agency and confidence. She’s very useful, but she’ll get crushed in a fight, which is not useful.”

Nikodemus chuckled. “You’re cute when you blush, Ellia. You can’t hide your true, good nature from me; I know you have some affection for that girl. She’s a real sweetheart, isn’t she?”

Ellia crossed her arms. “Don’t be ridiculous. It sounds like you’re the one who has affection for her. If you like her so much, why don’t you sleep with her?”

Nikodemus tried not to look too disturbed by the idea of sleeping with her, because Hilargi truly was one of the sweetest girls he’d ever known, but he couldn’t deny that… she wasn’t much to look at. He made up a lie, “She’s far, far too young for me. Besides, you wouldn’t want me doing that anyway.”

Ellia giggled. You’re such a liar. You can just admit that she’s hideous…” Ellia sighed. “I really do worry about her, though…”

Nikodemus was charmed by her concern. She acted like the girl’s older sister or mother, and Nikodemus thought that she might make a brilliant parent. He just wished that the two of them could have been together under natural circumstances.

The two talked and ate together a little bit longer, and eventually, the subject had somehow turned to each other’s childhoods. Ellia exclaimed jubilantly, “Oh my gosh. So many boys had a crush on me. Can you imagine it? Old, scarred up Ellia--skin as rough as sand and hair as messy as a child’s room--the most pined after girl in her tribe? I can hardly believe it when I think about it, myself.”

Nikodemus scowled, tapping his fingers on his arm. “None of them were as handsome as me, though, right?”

Ellia snorted. “Puh-lease. You’re a cutie, but the men I knew simply towered over you! Which admittedly isn’t hard to do, but you know what I mean. Still, they didn’t have your sense of humor, which is definitely a point in your favor.” Ellia went dreamy-eyed. “Gosh… they all roughhoused so often. There was so much trash talk, too. I sort of miss the honesty of their conflicts. In fact, I definitely do. A lot of the women here talk about each other behind their backs, and it’s really bad for morale.”

Nikodemus became dreamy, too. “I had a few tousles with some of the other boys on the ranch. The nice thing about it, was that, once we had our tousles, the conflict was over and we could be friends. I can’t—I mean, I really don’t know how to handle conflict with women.”

Ellia giggled and then frowned. “It’s quite complex sometimes. There are women here who frankly still have bad blood between them.”

Nikodemus nodded. “I see. Well, I’m certainly not the person you should be asking for advice on how to mend such relationships. The last time I got into an argument with a woman, we stopped talking. Forever. Made things very awkward when I had to spend the night with her.”

“Oh my goodness. It’s been so long since I’ve been around a man that I’ve forgotten that men can’t treat women the way they treat other men, or else the woman will freeze him out with silence.” Ellia laughed heartily. Nikodemus laughed, too.

Ellia sighed, realizing that it was getting late. “Well. It’s getting late. I guess we ought to get going to bed.”

Nikodemus nodded in agreement. “Sounds good to me.”