Gabin's Little Secret

Macha sat in an unsanitary medical exam room. A brown haired man with bushy eyebrows stood next to her, busy healing her wounds. The walls lacked paint and looked more like a prison cell than a medical station. In the corner, she could see a large basket filled with bloodied rags.

Gabin jumped around the room while showering her with praises. He had never witnessed her fight before and was impressed at how fast she moved.

He imitated some of the moves she did, "I can't believe you won! You were like WHOOSH, and he was like BAM, but then you were like SNAP." His enthusiastic reenactment looked clumsy and had terrible form.

The swelling around her eye was going down, and she raised a hand, waving off his excitement. "Yes, yes. It was a difficult fight. That's why I don't want you doing this anymore, understand?"

There was no doubt in her mind that he would have been beaten into the ground if he went against Magni.

He nodded his head. "Yeah, promise. But I really need a job," he mentioned hesitantly.

She opened her mouth to ask why when the door opened. An imposing woman dressed in a teal suit with medium length dull brown hair entered the room. She gave Macha a curt nod.

"Sit," the woman commanded to Gabin.

Nina stood with her arms crossed and assessed the child-sized woman in front of her; her vibrant blue eyes had a penetrating gaze. She did not expect Lord Valois's girlfriend to win against Magni. All this time, she assumed the Obsidian Dragon's Captain suffered from a heavy Lolita complex. Now she needed to reassess her viewpoint on the matter. It was possible that this woman was more than met the eye and she wished she had more time to investigate the matter.

She had a deep voice that sounded scratchy from constantly yelling, "Nina, Leader of the Mercenary Guild. Good fight. Lord Valois trained you, yeah?"

Her direct manner reminded Macha of Tyr. While others, like Gabin, found it intimidating, she thought it was comforting because people like this were easier to read.

Macha shook her head, "At this point, both Tyr and Freyr have instructed me equally. Freyr only helped with my training because of the war."

She was very thankful for Freyr's assistance in her training and wanted to give him credit. He possessed the patience of a god and offered helpful tips and directions.

Nina tilted her head. "Freyr? Which Freyr?"

She knew many Freyrs because that was the King's name. It seemed to be one of the more popular names in the country.

"Oh, I'm sorry. His Majesty the King."

Macha bit her lower lip at her own mistake. She was so used to referring to him on a first name basis because while conversing with Tyr, Luna, and Krystof, they would use Freyr's given name.

Nina heard whispers of the King being interested in a woman, but the woman in question supposedly denied his affections. Now the rumors making rounds in the upper circles became clear and all the missing pieces came together nicely.

She initially assumed the stories had been lies because even she would accept His Majesty as a husband. Not many men possessed enough prowess to make her feel like a woman, so she found it surprising that anyone would dismiss such a fine man.

The situation between the two cousins was laughable and caused the ends of her lips to turn up. She gave a crooked smirk.

"Anyway, nice fight. Can't wait for your other six."

"Excuse me? Six?" Macha jerked her head to the side so she could stare at Gabin. In her mind, she silently cursed the boy, "Dammit, how much money did you need?"

The confusion was evident on the small woman's face, so Nina explained. "Gabin signed on for a total of ten fights. You just finished the fourth. I expect you to be here, same time same place next week."

After saying that, she opened the door and left. There were other fighters she needed to talk to.

The earlier satisfaction Macha felt vanished. She closed her eyes and thought, "Tyr's gonna kill me. Now there's no way I can hide this from him." She opened her eyes to look at Gabin who sat staring at the ground with a guilty face. Her lips parted at the realization that it was not her life he would take, it was Gabin's.

Clearing her throat, Macha asked, "How much did you get from the contract?"

Her dry tone made his heartbeat quicken.

"Forty gold," he replied in a despondency.

"Forty... Forty gold?" she cried out. "What do you need with that much money?"

Her mind was in a whirl. He never seemed like a materialistic child. So she could not figure out what a boy like him would do with so much money.

He did not answer, so she pressed on, "Well? What did you use the money for?"

He gave a deep sigh. Now he felt embarrassed by what he did.

While he looked at a bloodstain on the wall, he muttered, "There's this girl I like. I met her when I was out doing an errand for Talon."

Macha remained silent, "Oh. Girls and love complicate things." She waited for him to explain, curious about his first crush.

"She's from a noble family. Not a big one, the Landenbergs," he paused and glanced at Macha, but she still did not say anything. "Even if it isn't a rich family, I know she's used to nicer things than I am. I've been seeing her for a few months now and her birthday is coming up. I sorta wanted to get her a decent present."

When he confessed to meeting a girl, a flood of emotions swept over Macha. She was happy that someone liked him, sad that he was growing up, angry that he thought money was essential, and worried that the girl might be using him.

"Gabin. I know money is important, but if she really likes you, you don't have to worry about the price of the gift. For example, a book or a box of chocolates would have sufficed."

She remembered some of the cheaper gifts she received from Tyr and Freyr in the past. Both of them had more money than should be humanly possible, but they did not feel the need to use it all the time.

"You don't understand. She has so much more than I do. I'm just an orphan. I have nothing."

He was angry at his situation and wished he was like the other kids. Life would be so much easier if he was not an orphan.

Macha shoved the medic's hand out of the way and stood up. Gabin's comment angered her.

She stalked over to him, "Don't you dare say you have nothing. You're not some poor orphan that was abandoned. We're all a family. Everyone at the orphanage loves you. I came to this world in possession of almost nothing. Make your own future with your own abilities. I believe in you."

She inhaled, calming herself and continued, "Love transcends money. If money ruled everything, the Captain wouldn't have paid attention to me. If your girlfriend truly likes you, then she shouldn't care how much you have. You're still young and don't even have a job yet. Don't worry about such adult things."

Gabin nodded, understanding what she said, but he did not agree with everything she was telling him. He had forgotten that Macha was not from their world. She had been in his life for almost as long as he remembered, so he never considered her as anything other than the Captain's girlfriend and a mother figure.

He raised his eyes, "I get what you're saying, but I want to give her the things she's used to. I gotta leave the orphanage in a few years too. Do you think the Captain will let me join the guild? I want to make something of myself. I can't see how I can give Camila everything I want to unless I join the guild."

Macha realized the words she said did not quite reach him. He had a better point of view now and she understood wanting to provide for someone you love.

"I'm sure you would be accepted if you applied. Keep up your studies for now and ask Talon if you can do some training with him. If you want a job, you can work in my pie shop, but I don't wanna hear about you doing sketchy things like this anymore."

The medic hated to interrupt their conversation, but he finished his job a few minutes ago. He coughed politely. "Umm, you're done. You can go."

The two thanked the man and left. On the way back to the orphanage, Macha thought about how to explain the situation to Tyr. She did not want Gabin to get into trouble. He was just buying a present for a girl he liked. Everything he did was legal.

When they reached the orphanage, the younger children were already sleeping. Talon was in the front yard exercising. He jogged up to meet them at the gate. When Macha explained what happened to the housefather, he just laughed and patted Gabin on the back.

"You sneaky fella," he said through his chuckles. "Lemmie know next time you go out to see her. You don't gotta slink around like a delinquent."

While Macha was not completely pleased with Talon's reactions, she did not want to undermine him. Holding her tongue, she bid them farewell and told Gabin to report to the pie shop whenever he was ready to start a job there.

The ride home felt dreadful. Her stomach growled from hunger and she knew Tyr probably waited for her to get home so they could eat together. Aside from eating, they still needed to train before going to bed. She speculated how many chocolates she should let him inhale before bringing up the fights.