Chapter 813

“Yes that makes sense,” said Kat. She might not be an economics expert but she did finish with high marks in high-school mathematics. So she had a good idea about why things operated the way they did. Opportunity cost was a noteworthy thing, one especially important in a world that still used caravans to transport goods.

Belle nodded, “Good. Gaston seemed to catch on quickly as well but I could always see his eyes glazing over a bit. I’m not sure anything super relevant to his upbringing happened until he was ten... I do regret some things, and when he was ten he pretended to go on patrol with some of the guards. He came across some orphanage kids playing and well...”

Belle let out a pained sigh, quite different to her usual sighs that sounded as if there was nothing left in the world worth living for this sounding at lot more like she’d just kicked her toe on the door. “Well... I never realised just how few children he’d been around. See... a lot of the company workers are from my father’s time, or my grandfather’s time. The new ones were too young for their own children and too old to play with Gaston.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Sometimes I worry that he was ten the first time he saw another child. I don’t think it was quite that bad... but it certainly wasn’t much better. He accused the whole group of loitering,” admitted Belle with a slightly pained groan. Kat and Lily felt it best to just... let that slide. “I don’t know what he was thinking. I know I was thinking that I’m probably a terrible parent but it’s not like I’d noticed the problem.

“He was never sad long as a child. Always entertained. Always having fun. Just... not childish fun. I feel rather ashamed of that fact. I also don’t blame the guard escorting him for bursting out into laughter. It diffused the tension so much but my poor Gaston had no idea why he was be laughed at. I think that might be the first time I truly had to console him. It... it’s a little funny looking back on it,” Belle’s small smile might have looked truthful but the pain in her eyes made it a lot less clear.

“He came back, and was trying not to cry. Why, he was a big boy of course, and shouldn’t be crying. He didn’t really succeed and let him cry it all out and then started to explain what the problem was. Hoo boy did I not come prepared to explain child politics and politics between children and adults,” Belle paused seeing the confused look on her guests’ faces. “I’m serious. What else would you call it?

“Gaston didn’t understand that while that’s technically true we don’t even enforce loitering laws on most adults. Plus, they weren’t really loitering they were playing which is specifically called out in the extended document as permissible as long as they aren’t just playing in the middle of the road. I’m also not sure why Gaston thought it was a good idea, or his job to point out. I said he was playing at being in patrol, which is true, but he was just with the caravan guards. If they don’t have any powers to arrest someone he most certainly doesn’t.

.....

“It also took me a bit of time to work out why he thought it was a good idea in the first place and oh the answer he gave me. He said ‘they shouldn’t be breaking the rules’ which... oh my poor heart. Not only were they not breaking the laws, it’s not his job to enforce them. So I had to then ask why he didn’t let the guards do anything, and why he thought it was his job. Gaston didn’t have an answer for me.

“So I made him go back the next day and apologise. It worked. Thankfully. It was a nice girl called Marem who accepted his apology for the group and helped integrate him with the rest of the kids. After that it was a lot less work and a lot more play. He still practiced in the mornings, and eventually started to work out, but most of his time was spent playing.

“And eventually, when he hit puberty, it hit him like a cart on a hill. He shot up instantly, his muscles went from well defined to shirt ripping when he flexed. His voice dropped so much I thought a giant was talking to me. It was a deep base that most men would be envious of. He also fell for Zuhra not long after. He was so incredibly awkward and... well I probably didn’t help that much.

“I teased him about it relentlessly as soon as I figured it out. Zuhra also developed somewhat quickly but nowhere near as extreme. I sounded her out a little bit of course. Asked some of the other workers, maybe a few of the kids they played with. Nothing serious of course. Everyone agreed she was smart, and I could see she was pretty. I mean I have eyes. She was still more ‘cute’ at the time then sexy but I could tell she would grow up to break hearts...”

Belle sucked in a deep breath, “I guess it was my son who broke her heart in the end. She really is a wonderful child. When things were getting more serious I found out she was educated to a shockingly high standard for an orphanage raised girl. She had a work ethic that would put veterans to shame and her eyes have always been her best feature. Well, Gaston would disagree with you but he always had a strange fascination with necks and collarbones. Not sure where that came about or how he tells the difference but frankly. Could have been worse.”

“So... how was their relationship?” asked Lily.

Belle gave a slight chuckle at the question before answering, “Oh as I said he was kind of hopeless. He kept trying to attract her attention but she didn’t pick up on his intentions for at least a year. I had to sit him down and grill him to find out he’d just never made his intentions clear. I mean... I wasn’t expecting him to just ask her to marry him or invite her home for a round of sex but he hadn’t even expressed interest in courting her. He was still toeing the line of good friends,

“So I slapped him around a bit, and he let because I’m his mother,” Kat very specifically did not look at the cracks in the desk. Yes. It was just because Belle was his mother and not because she could probably still lay him out, “and told him to approach her tomorrow and make things COMPLETELY clear. I said if he didn’t I’d disown him. I was lying of course, but I’d never looked more serious.

“So you bet your ass he confessed. Came home smiling like a loon. I asked if she said yes, knowing the answer of course, and he nodded, bobbing his head up and down like one of those duck things you put in water glasses. Looked like a fool he did. So I asked, if he kissed her, and he sputtered and said no. A blind man wouldn’t have believed that answer. And because I can see in colour the fact his lips were swollen and bruised was readily apparent. Idiot boy. Thinking he could lie to his mother looking like that.”

Belle shook her head, a much brighter but still small smile on her face. “I got the story out of Zuhra later, but apparently she didn’t think Gaston was all that interested in her. In fact, she thought he was gay,” Belle’s grin grew wider. “Apparently, he was always hanging out with the boys. Fighting and sometimes wrestling. I don’t think she ever told him but all his attempts to impress her, show of his strength... Zuhra just thought he was trying to get... closer... with the boys in the group. Oh, I can just imagine my Gaston’s face if he ever heard that particular bit of information. He would have been mortified,”

The light in Belle’s eyes rapidly dimmed. “I... I guess there’s really only one thing left. The intent to marriage... and Gaston’s death. It... they happened so close to each other. I... I didn’t think anything was wrong. I mean... how could it be? Gaston was happy, his love had agreed to marry him. He was a bit busy around the time... running to and fro and trying to get a bunch of things done. He was keeping some secrets from me for sure...

“But I just assumed he was looking into wedding plans... that he was trying to ensure everything was perfect without his old mother interfering. Now... now I wonder. I told him about his father. I think it was when he was nine or eight? He asked why he didn’t have one, and I explained that technically he did. He never seemed bothered by it... but considering he was getting married soon...

“I wonder if he didn’t sneak into the 8th’s compound to invite him to the wedding and saw something he shouldn’t have. That’s pure speculation on my part. It just... it seems like something he’d do,”