Macha's Journey

Tyr reached for the bra.s.s handle and opened the door to the salon. Macha"s back faced him as she talked to the stylist, Takeo. Takeo was a male k.u.miho, who enjoyed gossiping about Tyr. Macha found out that Tyr had been getting his hair cut from Takeo for almost two hundred years. Takeo was a friendly open man that made Macha feel at ease. She enjoyed having her hair cut today despite Takeo"s continuous gossiping about how Fenrir left Tyr for another man.

The little shopkeeper bell chimed a cheerful jingle and Takeo looked at the door, ready to greet the arriving customer with a smile. "Lord Tyr! Welcome back. I hope you will be pleased with my service today."

Tyr glanced at a fine bra.s.s sconce that adorned the wall, "I"m sure whatever you did is fine," Tyr said sighing. Upon hearing Tyr"s name, Macha turned around with a smile on her face. Tyr stopped mid-step, his breath caught in his throat. His eyes widened with surprised at how a haircut and some makeup made her look so beautiful. Her eyes had an exotic shape to them and the makeup helped to highlight her almond-shaped eyes. Tyr liked that it brought out her bright and intelligent eyes. "Looks good," Tyr commented with a nod of approval.

"Thank you," Macha replied with a genuine smile. Macha was pleased with the results. She had learned many new techniques for applying her makeup and she loved the cut. Takeo kept her hair length, but he gave it much more structure than it had before.

Tyr noticed that when she smiled her nose wrinkled slightly. Macha"s smile was infectious and caused Tyr to smile. Tyr was a man who seldom smiled and Takeo thought the smile was because of his handiwork. Even the other patrons in the salon exchanged looks of surprise with one another.

"Let"s go," Tyr said in a gentle voice.

****

On their way back, Tyr felt refreshed and had the sudden urge to get dinner. Not thinking, he led Macha to a place he used to frequent with Fenrir. He ordered his usual, a steak with some vegetables and potatoes. Macha wanted to try what they were famous for, so Tyr ordered the coq au vin for her.

The food arrived and as they chatted and ate, Fenrir entered the restaurant. She saw them and made her way to the table. "Tyr! What a coincidence. I heard your mother bought the land that Sir Drake was selling. Congratulations, I was worried that me leaving the guild was going to affect you buying it or not."

Tyr had a mix of emotions upon seeing Fenrir. Everything she said had annoyed him. He hated that she had brought up how his mother helped him and he wasn"t sure why she would leave the guild when she did if she would be worried. Tyr took a casual sip of his wine, "There is nothing to congratulate me on. I did not get the land. What my mother does with it is up to her," he stated with a neutral tone.

Fenrir made a pout and said, "Don"t be like that Tyr. You always have tried to do things on your own." Fenrir then looked at Macha and raised an eyebrow. "I"m glad you aren"t still hung up on me. Guess I finally don"t have to worry that you still love me. Anyway, I"m meeting some friends for dinner. Talk to you later," Fenrir then walked away with her nose in the air.

Tyr knew that Fenrir a.s.sumed Macha was his new lover, but he didn"t want to explain the truth to her. He understood that his relationship with Fenrir had ended. Since it was over, he didn"t want to waste energy correcting her when it didn"t matter. He looked miffed and said to Macha, "Hurry up and eat. I"ve lost my appet.i.te."

"Was that Fenrir?" Macha asked.

"Mmm," Tyr grunted while swirling his gla.s.s of wine on the table. He seemed to be looking at the gla.s.s while deep in thought.

Macha hesitated, unsure what to say to him. He seemed to be in a good mood earlier, but since Fenrir"s departure, he dripped with bitterness. She understood how he felt, she would be upset by seeing a past lover too. Macha changed the subject to help distract him. In an upbeat voice, she said, "The food has a good flavor to it, but the atmosphere is bad. Doesn"t the guild own have any restaurants?"

Hearing Macha inquire about the guild Tyr"s attention shifted back to the woman in front of him. "No, I wasn"t sure if I wanted to open one or not. Food has never really mattered to me."

"I can tell. The food in the mess hall is bad," Macha stated in a flat tone.

Tyr was taking a sip of wine when she said this and choked a little on it. "Do you think? No one has ever complained about it before."

Macha"s face looked as if she was offended that Tyr had even questioned if it was bad. "Yes. I hate eating there."

"I"ll have to look into that," Tyr said and began to eat his meal again.

****

The paperwork created a huge piled on Tyr"s desk since he had last dealt with it. Although his sister, Luna, dealt with most of the business side, he still had to sign doc.u.ments and give permits. All of this made Tyr bored, and he gave a deep sigh. He loved the guild but preferred to be adventuring over managing it.

Tyr looked up from his mundane task and watched Macha sealing envelopes with wax. She looked like she was having fun. She seemed to enjoy having the black wax drip onto the papers. "Macha, could you make some tea?"

Macha enjoyed dripping the wax onto the envelopes and stamping them shut. She never did this in her world, but always wanted to try it. Macha looked up, "Okay." She made her way to the cabinet that held the cups and saucers. She looked around but did not find a kettle. "Tyr, I don"t know where the pot to heat the water is."

"We don"t use one," Tyr got up to show her how to make the tea. He picked up a metal chain that had a rubicund stone on the end. The stone was engraved with a rune and shaped into a square. He showed it to Macha and explained, "Heat this up and put the stone into the teapot. It will heat the water."

"How do I heat the stone up?" Macha thought the idea was novel, but couldn"t see how she was to heat it up.

Tyr looked at her, confused by her question. Many people heated water this way, and he felt like he was talking to a child. He swept his bangs back and gave a small sigh, "With magic."

Macha smiled and gave a little chuckle. She waited for a moment for him to say something else, but realized he was serious. Her smile faded, and she said, "I can"t use magic. In my world, we don"t have any."

Tyr looked at her and his eyes widened. He was unsure how to respond to this. In this world everyone used magic. People had different amounts of it, but everyone still used it.