Getting money and keeping money was the key to success in this city. To keep money, one had to pretend they had none. People typically left beggars alone since they barely had anything. The getting money was the hard part. That was why Dala was in a cage, fighting against another kid. They were in one of the Taverns in Vilpamolan called The Demon's Alehouse. There was a large cage in the center of the tavern with chairs and tables dotted around it. The bar part of the tavern was near the entrance and the man behind the bar was calmly cleaning a cup with a rag. People inside the tavern were cheering and enjoying the fight inside the cage. There were two people inside the cage fighting each other. Dala and another child who was around twelve years old. Both of them knew why they were there. The boy she was fighting was taller and stronger looking but that is why Dala was chosen for this fight. She was fast and smart enough to compete against him in the fight. And even if she was beaten up, she would still get paid. People were placing bets on Dala and the boy, eager to see who would win. 

The boy swung at her as hard as she could but Dala was able to duck his swings. She has lots of experience when it came to dodging punches. Dala took her chance and jabbed him right in the gut, right where he was breathing. The boy tried to keep fighting but because of her punch, he was having to catch his breath. She moved quickly and went for the face. It was a bold move and she knew that she could easily get hit but she needed to take out his vision. The little girl managed to punch him in both of the eyes but she got pushed away and was sent into the bars. Pain spread through her head as she saw the boy looking around, trying to find her. His vision was blurred and he was distracted by pain. Dala quickly moved towards him and took him by the arm. Using her entire body, she slammed herself down on him while holding his arm back, causing him to fall to the ground. At that point she was pinning him down and punching him with her right arm. Dala didn't want to fight anymore but she knew that she couldn't stop the fight until the man who organized these fights said so. 

"Stop." The man said standing up, "It is clear who the winner is." 

Dala quickly stopped and got off of the boy, who was bruised and bleeding a little from her attacks. He stood up and was shaking all over. The little girl wanted to help him down but she knew that would be a sign of weakness to the audience. It would dock her pay if she didn't play the part of ruthless little girl. The man who owned the cage walked up to the cage door and unlocked it. Dala left the cage, avoiding the stares of the others and walked over to the bar tender who was already preparing her payment. The other boy got out of the cage and also walked up to the bartender, though he was careful to not get too close to Dala. She took her silver and walked out of the tavern, putting the silver in a hidden pocket in her satchel. Although she had won, she did have a bruise on her eye from an earlier fight that day. But at least she had the money that she needed. 

The fights were dangerous and involved a lot of pain but it was effective in getting silver. Especially with the increase of orphans after the war, the streets were filled up with enough beggars. There were so many wide-eyed cute little orphans to take pity on that Dala knew she would never stand a chance when it came to the competition. That was why these fights were so important. They were the only income for people who had no stable job. There were adult fights but the child cage fights were the most popular, since you couldn't find such things in almost any other city but Vilpamolan. 

Dala kept to herself and ignored eye contact with other people. She was walking towards an old rotting orphanage that the city had put up in order to have a place to send useless orphans. Keeping them on the streets was pointless and that would mean there was a lot of bodies to clean up once they died from the cold, disease, or starvation.