Edea sipped at her coffee, made a face and tipped three more heaped spoonfuls of sugar into the drink. Stirring it she looked at the still flushed face of her companion who stared down at his own untouched mug. Edea sighed, sipped at her drink and broke the silence. "It's okay Tiz." She glanced at the dripping bag on the floor beside the table, still soaked from its brief trip in the circling waters of Florem.
Leaving Ringabel, Agnes and Airy behind, Edea had taken Tiz shopping. Last time Ringabel had accompanied her but had been unable to carry anywhere near as much as she would have liked. This necessitated several trips to and from the inn as they ferried Edea's assorted purchases around. She noticed that Tiz, unlike Ringabel, never seemed to complain about the weight of their assorted baggage. He also never seemed as tired as the rest of them after a long day's hike. A far better choice to help her grab some last minute items from Florem and help prepare their supplies for the sea crossing. This last part they had not been able to get around to due to the earlier mishap.
It had taken a few different shops for her to notice something unusual in Tiz's behavior. It only took one more before she cottoned onto what attracted her attention. He always seemed a little flustered in Florem, not used to the female populace and the few numbers of men wandering the streets. Despite this he did not once complain when they entered any of the fashionaaabluh stores Edea wished to frequent. On the contrary, he seemed to look forward to it. Unlike Ringabel who usually took up position by the door, Tiz began to wander on his own. His fingers darted out to touch fabric, check prices and once or twice, lift a garment from the rack. He always replaced it seconds later, but the repeated movements caught her eye.
Maybe it was for Agnes's benefit? There was a connection between her and Tiz obvious to Edea, and she suspected Ringabel had also noticed it. Likely that was the reason he spent so little time flirting with Agnes as opposed to the attention he showered on her. The thought made her smile, though it was soon tempered as she paid more attention to the clothes Tiz was investigating. None of them seemed like they would suit Agnes at all. Poor Tiz. He never seemed to quite grasp the concept of fashionaaabluh.
"I'm not sure that would look good on her," she commented, leaving her own browsing for the time being.
Tiz jumped and crammed the dress he held back onto the rack, turning to look at Edea with a reddened face. "I wasn't-." He frowned. "Sorry, what did you say?"
Confusing. "I said I didn't think that would look good on Agnes. It's not really her style," she said watching Tiz's face.
"O-oh." Tiz glanced at the dress. "Y-yeah, you're probably right." He shuffled away from the rack, taking a more Ringabel-like position by the door. Curious.
"I'm going to try these on," Edea said and strode towards the changing room. Inside, she tweaked the curtain aside and watched Tiz. He fidgeted in his spot, and after a few wary glances towards the cubicle, shuffled over to the rack he had been looking at before. He reached out once again and felt the fabric between his thumb and forefinger. This bore further investigation. Edea abandoned her selections from the shop and lead Tiz to the next. A pity since she had been quite taken with the red dress. Still, Tiz's surprise and unconvincing response to her own assumption had lead to a new theory.
In the next shop she moved off towards the back leaving Tiz by the entrance and circled around the outer edge of the store. Moving with unnecessary stealth, she ducked behind racks and other shoppers as she moved. Sure enough, Tiz had been unable to maintain his position and was investigating a rack of dresses. He pushed through the hangers and unhooked one. Edea continued her movements, coming up behind Tiz.
"You should try it on," she said.
Tiz jumped higher this time, thrusting the dress at the rack and missing, sending it crumpling to the floor.
"E-E-Edea. What are you talking about?" He flushed crimson, looking down at the floor.
Edea crouched down and retrieved the dress. She glanced between it and Tiz. It suited him. She lowered her voice. "Tiz, I've seen you staring at dresses these last few shops. And since I don't think for a second you're trying to pick out something for me or Agnes, I can only assume you want something for yourself." Tiz opened his mouth to speak but no sound emerged. "It's okay you know Tiz. If you don't want me to say anything, I won't. No one else has to know about this. But if it'd make you happy, I'll buy you the dress."
His head rose a little, and she met his fear tinged eyes. "Y-you won't tell Agnes?"
Edea smiled. "I won't. Your secret is safe with me. Though, you are required to be my shopping buddy from now on." That got a smile out of him. "Do you want to try it on?" He nodded, still red. "Come on then." She walked towards the changing room, trusting him to follow. Glancing around the shop, she ushered him inside handing the dress through the curtain after him. She leant against the frame as Tiz's clothes rustled inside the small cubicle. He emerged a few minutes later with a more relaxed smile.
"Like how it looks?" He nodded. "Then we'll get it." She took the dress, paid for it and handed Tiz the bag.
"Thank you," he said in a quiet voice.
"It's no problem Tiz. Consider it a repayment for my last spending spree." They wandered along the street to the next shop.
"Y-you're not going to ask about it?"
"Nope. If you want to tell me, I'll listen, but you don't need to explain or justify yourself to me. If you want my help, I'll help. For now though, let's shop."
Still flushed, Tiz smiled wider and followed her into the next store. There was a new levity to the trip, Edea finding clothes she herself liked and ones she thought might work for Tiz. She kept finding new things, turning to appraise her companion who was hunting through the racks all by himself. Then it all went wrong. They wandered into an open plan shop near the outer rim of the city, just beside the flowing waters. Tiz had plucked three or four dresses up before heading for the changing room, fighting to keep a smile from his face. Edea had grinned to herself as she continued to browse. The ear-piercing shriek a moment later had her spinning on the spot. To her horror she saw a Florem resident holding open the curtain to Tiz's cubicle staring at the half-naked man clutching a dress. The woman fled the shop, Tiz bursting from the cubicle seconds later to a chorus of whispers from the other shoppers. Every eye in the shop stared at him.
Tiz clutched the bag with his dress tighter and fled. She chased after him, stumbling to a halt as he flung his bag into the canal beside them. Tiz was shaking, staring down into the water and the drifting bag. Moving on automatic, Edea dropped her bags beside him as she leaned down low, grabbing for the bag's handles. Water poured from the container as she got it onto dry land and Edea could not bring herself to think of the state of the garment within. Well, it should be okay if they got it dried out and cleaned. For now though, Tiz needed a distraction. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the nearest coffee shop.
"It's okay Tiz." He did not look up. "Tomorrow we'll be away from here and I doubt we'll ever see any of those people again." He still did not move. Edea took a large swallow of her drink. "I'm sorry that happened to you. I should have stood guard again."
"No," he said in a small voice. "I got too excited."
The corners of her mouth turned up a little. "Maybe. But it's completely understandable." He glanced up at her words. She put her mug down and clasped her hands in her lap. "You just found a confidante for something I suspect you've been keeping secret for years. And I encouraged you. Suddenly you were actually acting on all those impulses. It's just unfortunate apparently some people can't check if a changing room is occupied before walking in." He laughed, more like the exhalation of a long-held breath than actual humor, though at least a step in the right direction.
His smile faded as he glanced at the puddle beside him. "Sorry I threw the dress in the river."
"It's yours. You can do whatever you want with it."
"I wanted to-." His voice dropped lower. "Wear it."
"You still can. We can dry it out. We can clean it. And if you don't mind, I'd like to see you model it."
"Maybe when the others aren't around."
Edea laughed. "Oh, definitely. I don't think you want Ringabel finding out about this any time soon. Or Airy. You might need to tell Agnes eventually though."
Tiz squeaked at her words, trembling hands now reaching out to grasp his coffee. He sipped at the drink, red-faced but did not reply. His silence spoke volumes.