Chapter 174: Tell Her He Is Fine
People with good intentions make promises. People with good character keep them.
Before the Cathedral, before Hena and his current team, Zane had promised someone else for things. For money.
And now it was time to fulfill it.
He asked Jammy to find a Runner but the janitor shook his head.
"You won’t find one here. They tend to stay away from the Citadel or any other authorities."
"Then where will I find them? I only know about their work and its nature. Nothing else."
"You are hopeless." Hena said. "Let’s go."
She waved to a carriage with four horses.
The carriage dashed towards them at super speed.
Zane widened his eyes.
"A private carriage? No they take too much mone-"
He ate his words.
"Yes. Let’s go." He said.
Hena’s glare told him if he said anything about money, forget about that thief, she would rape him instead.
He entered inside and the others followed.
Hena sat beside him and because of it, he couldn’t focus on the comfort of the carriage.
She is too close. She smells nice. Is it because of bathing with soaps?
Zane shook his head rapidly.
Focus. Focus.
He shifted to the side, hugging the very cushioned wall of the carriage.
Hena saw it and a smile escaped her lips.
But she soon wiped it.
"You have one thousand gold lumens with you now. Stop worrying about money. You even asked for one coin from the shopkeeper. Just how stingy are you?"
She scolded him in a low voice and Zane heard it without any retorts.
"Where to?" The carriage driver asked.
"The Balam street." Hena answered.
Jammy took a puff of his cigar.
"Right choice, lady."
"Um.. sir, you are not allowed to smoke in there." The carriage driver said.
"Well I fucking do."
Jammy couldn’t care less about the rules.
"Tch. Rich brats."
The driver cursed and drove the carriage to the destination.
"Heh. He called me a brat. It seems I am still young."
" ... "
No one commented and Jammy relished in the feeling.
Xavier, Draxus, Hena and Zane were on one side of the carriage and Jammy was alone on the seat in front of them.
Zane asked Xavier to go sit with Jammy so he could have some space for himself but Xavier refused because apparently that side of the seat shakes more.
There was no point asking Draxus to shift as the man would not leave Hena’s side for one second.
Zane gave up and shifted further away from Hena.
"You are not comfortable with girls, I take it?" She asked.
Zane flinched.
"No. No. I am comfortable with them. I have Milo after all."
"Sisters don’t count."
Zane’s face flushed.
"Still, I am comfortable with them."
"Then why are you not sitting properly?"
Hena asked all those questions with a straight face and Zane couldn’t even look into her eyes.
"Answer me." She pressed.
Zane fiddled with his fingers and instead of using his energy to come up with something, he gave in to truth.
"Yes. I am not comfortable with them."
"Hmm. Then perhaps you should have gone with that thief after all."
"What? No! I could never. I like girls!"
"I was kidding."
Everyone raised their brows.
Then they did a collective...
"Huh?"
Eyes stared at Hena.
"What?" She asked.
Draxus smiled. "Nothing. It’s just it’s the first time you joked with someone other than me. I am proud."
Hena dropped her head.
"Shut up."
Draxus laughed and let her be.
Zane also developed a smile.
And this time, he gave up shifting.
He sat normally.
Though, his knees still shook.
"Ahh. To be young. You must be jealous of their age too, smoking sir?" The carriage driver passed another comment.
Jammy crushed his cigar.
A vein popped on his head.
"Why would I be jealous of their age? I am not old. Focus on the road or I will light you up."
The driver went silent.
Everyone laughed and with no other talks, after five minutes, the carriage stopped.
Zane was the first one to step out of it.
"How much?" He asked.
"One gold."
Zane’s heart winced but then he remembered Hena’s scolding and without any drama, gave the amount to the driver.
All of them came out and Hena went straight to a red mail box standing outside a house.
Zane looked around and the area appeared to be surrounded with commoners.
Everyone else also went to the mailbox and waited in front of it.
"So... uh.. why are we standing here?" Zane asked.
Hena didn’t reply and the next second...
TUP!
A plastic ball came tapping to her feet.
She bent down and picked it.
Then a kid around seven years old came to her.
"You have something for me, miss?" He asked, extending his hand.
"No. But he has." Hena gestured to Zane while also giving him the small plastic ball.
Zane took the ball.
"You could have given it yourself. So lazy."
Zane handed the ball to the boy.
Hena’s jaw tightened.
The boy watched Zane with a blank face.
Jammy leaned towards Zane’s ear.
"Kid. This is a Runner. Just how stupid can you be?"
Zane’s eyes widened.
He is the Runner? A kid?
"Why are kids working such a dangerous job? I know for sure that this work isn’t legal."
Jammy patted Zane’s shoulder.
"If a kid can become the leader of gutterborns. They can handle it too."
Zane let out a tired sigh.
He couldn’t argue with Jammy as the man had a point.
The kid looked exactly like someone who would do any job to feed himself or his family.
Zane stopped talking and extended his hand with the ring.
"I want to give some money to a person in the Cinder Row. And I also have a message for her. She is Herring Redd’s mother. I don’t know her name but please find her. She lives there."
The kid nodded and brought out a black plastic bag from his pocket.
He opened its mouth below Zane’s hand and the gutterborn emptied his ring.
This time, his heart didn’t wince seeing the money going but he had to be considerate of the plastic bag’s limits as well.
So at some point he stopped the money.
"You can take your charges from the coins."
The kid nodded.
"And what is the message?"
"Tell her to distribute the money to the people as she seems fit. Make sure no one sleeps hungry and no children get harmed. I am making her in incharge of all this. If someone tries to forcefully take money from her or hurt her, tell her to not retaliate and just remember their faces to tell me about them later. I will be busy for three days so I won’t be able to contact her."
"Anything else?"
Zane’s lips quivered.
Should I say it?
He didn’t know whether he should play with her feelings but when he recalled her worried face...
"Yes. I have one more message for her."
"What?"
Zane bit his lip and made his mind.
"Tell her that her son is absolutely fine. I met him. He ate her food. And he will visit her as soon as he gets time."
It was all a lie but that would ease the woman. It would give her some hope. Even if false.
If anything Zane learned about hope it was simply...
Hope is always a lie.
