Tink fixed him with an angry stare, which quickly melted into defeat. Her large eyes pooled with tears, and she turned her face away from Mike.
"Tink lose. Tink give up goblin home." She snuffled, the dirt on the floor billowing away from her. "Tink leave, and no come back."
"Wait, what?" Tink had relaxed beneath Mike, so he shifted his body so that he wasn't crushing her any longer. "No, Tink, you don't have to leave, I just want my tools so I can fix the fountain."
"Goblin Law. We fight over home. Loser leave, never come back." She tried to rise, but Mike wasn't having it. He knew that Naia would be disappointed in him if he managed to lose one of the inhabitants of the house so quickly.
And honestly, was he even as entitled to the home as they were? They had been here longer, he was just the current human legally entitled to the place. Watching the goblin weep beneath him, he couldn't help but feel extremely bad. Tink obviously came from a culture he wasn't going to understand overnight, but this was a problem he needed to take care of right this second.
"I don't want Tink to leave," Mike explained. The instant the words left his mouth, the goblin turned her head toward him. There was a glimmer of hope that he was afraid to shatter, so he waited for her next move.
"Goblin Law say fight over home, someone leave."
Mike fought hard to avoid rolling his eyes. Clearly her head was hard literally and metaphorically. "Well, goblin law doesn't apply here. This is my house, so we follow my laws."
Tink shook her head. "Always follow Goblin Law."
"Well, then is there a law that lets us fight and you get to stay?" He felt Tink relax even more beneath his arm. Her snuffling stopped, and she became silent beneath his arms.
"Fight for goblin wife," she whispered.
"Oh." Mike was officially between a rock and a hard place with the little green monster he had found beneath the garage. If he took her as a goblin wife, then what did that entail? Then again, where would she go if she left? Naia had warned her that the world was a bad place for monsters, and it occurred to him that, as far as he knew, nobody even remotely believed goblins still existed. What if Tink was the last of her kind? What about his relationship with Naia? "Shit."
"No have to take goblin wife," Tink whispered. "Tink can just go."
"Well, hold on." The gears in his mind were turning. "If I take you as goblin wife, what about other people? Do we have to live down here?"
"Goblin husband take many wives. Goblin wife no mind."
"Okay. Well Tink, this was a fight for a goblin wife. Now you don't have to leave." Mike wanted to clap himself on the back, but he wanted to keep Tink pinned.
"Fight for goblin wife not over," she told him. Seeing the puzzled look on his face, she gently grabbed one of his hands and dragged it down to her breast. "Different kind of fight."
Notice : hey guys i am going to upload one extra chapter when reviews number reached 10, four more to go hurry up and do it.