Caldisla; February 14th.
Tiz was having trouble.
He had never been good at shopping, and even on their long journey, it was only Edea and RIngabel's help that had allowed him to be able to get anything slightly okay, and their advice had been questionable at times. Though that part had mostly been on account of them telling him how to give the gift.
'Present it to her with a flourish and a selfish grin!' 'Surprise her! Throw it at her face or something.' 'You need to dress fancy before you go give it to her.' 'Make sure you've memorized your lines perfectly.' 'Guys, maybe I should just do this on my own…'
Tiz chuckled at the memory. He had ended up going along with his friend's plans, and quite unsurprisingly, he only succeeded in frightening Agnes out of her wits and making her think he might be coming down with a fever.
It wasn't that the gift had been bad, at least he thought. It was the 'extra' advice that had messed it all up.
But now, here he was, Floremsday, and he didn't have a single person to turn to for advice.
Well, that wasn't entirely true…
"Tiz, why'd you want me to come along?" Egil asked, pulling off the small chest plate he wore almost every day, "Can't you pick out a cool gift for your sweetheart all on your own?"
Despite the fact that he was engaged to Agnes, he still blushed at the term his adopted brother used. "I'm sorry Egil," He said, "I really didn't mean to interrupt your training, I just, well, it would be nice to have an extra pair of eyes that's all. I'm not very good with gifts."
Egil laughed, "Well, so what? If she dumps you because of a lousy present that'll be your fault. Besides, I'm sure you'll be able to find another girl."
Tiz still regretted letting Ringabel spend time with Egil to this day…
"No, Egil." He said sternly, "We talked about this. I don't want 'another one', and it's wrong to think that way. And she's not going to 'dump me', no matter what kind of gift I get her. I just want it to be a good one is all."
"All right, all right…" Egil muttered. It was obvious he wasn't enjoying himself, but he didn't complain just yet.
The first stores they stopped at sold groceries and household goods.
"Why…?" Egil said looking around, "Why are we here? I thought you wanted to get Agna a gift."
Tiz didn't correct him on the pronunciation of Agnes's name. He had called her Agna forever, and she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she liked it.
"I don't know." Tiz replied, "I mean, sometimes these stores carry things that Agnes is interested in, but we can't afford."
"Like what?" Egil asked, hardly listening, and eyeing a particularly large apple that sat in a crate.
"Metal frying pans, I thought." Tiz said, scratching his head. "Some special spices, extra dish cloths and…" he paused, "That doesn't really sound like a nice Floremsday gift, does it?"
"What?" Egil said, then he handed Tiz the fruit he had been looking at, "How about an apple? She'd love that!"
Tiz raised an eyebrow at him, "Don't you mean YOU would love that?"
Egil cocked his head and looked innocent, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Tiz laughed and tossed him the apple. "Happy Floremsday, Egil." and he went and payed for it at the register.
By the time they came out of the store, the apple was almost gone.
"How can you POSSIBLY eat that fast?!" Tiz said in shock, watching as Egil finished off the last of the core, "Keep going like that, and your liable to end up like Edea!"
Egil shrugged and licked his fingers, not bothering to respond.
"Well, let's see…" Tiz said, looking over the storefronts. "Agnes likes… jewelry. And practical things. She also likes mystery novels, and she was talking about buying a new pair of shoes." He paused. "Well, Egil? What do you think?"
Egil made a face. "I think you should get her something thoughtful. I mean, sure, you could get her something she's asked for, or something she needs, but shoes? How about… uh..." he scratched his head, losing his train of thought "I don't know."
Tiz looked at him in surprise and chuckled, "Egil, that's actually a good idea. Well, let's see…" he went through in his head all the things that would be meaningful to her. He had already given her a ring, and buying a house for them on a whim would be nearly impossible. But it needed to have meaning…
"Why don't you take her for a walk?" Egil laughed, nudging Tiz playfully.
"A walk?" Tiz laughed, then he snapped his fingers, "That's perfect! I could take her to Norende falls for the day! We could take lunch, and… oh."
He still needed a gift. Something nice, something that would matter to her. Something… special, that he hadn't have given to her before. A walk would be nice, but it wasn't really a gift.
"Hey Tiz?" Egil said as they continued to walk, "How about something homemade? I mean, you're pretty handy with a saw, I think, maybe you could build her something?"
"No time." Tiz replied, "But…" he stopped, "That could work. How about… a locket?"
Egil shrugged, "I don't know. What would she want to lock up?"
Tiz sighed, "No, locket." And as they walked towards the jewelry store, he proceeded to explain the uses of a locket.
"So basically, you keep pictures of those precious to you inside them?" He asked, "Wow, so who would she put inside the locket?"
Tiz frowned, "Probably Olivia, but I don't think I have a photo of her…"
"You mean the girl that she grew up with?" Egil asked.
Tiz nodded solemnly, and no more words were said on the subject.
Unfortunately, none of the lockets at the local store looked right. They were always embellished in one way or another that made them strange, and unlike what Tiz wanted to give Agnes. But then, he had an idea.
"Come on Egil." He said, "Let's head back to Karl's."
"Why?" Egil asked, " don't remember seeing anything worth giving as a gift."
"But I think I have something…" He said.
Once in Tiz's room, he pulled out a chest that looked both weatherworn and old. Inside, were items that looked important. A white puffy shirt, like what Tiz liked to wear, the head of a cane, like shepherds used, and several other items of the same sort.
"What is this?" Egil asked, picking up the cane head.
"My inheritance." Tiz replied sadly. "My family had a tradition of hiding the chest with all of the things they would bequeath to us in the edge of Norende heights. It was far enough away that the Great Chasm didn't strike it, but… I mean, it's nice to have something to remind me of them."
"Anyway," Egil interrupted. He hated to hear the story of the chasm, just as much as he hated feeling sad. "You have something in here you want to give to Agna?"
Tiz nodded and pulled out a smaller chest. Inside were necklaces and pendants worn and old, needing repair, but holding history. Tiz picked out a specific one and held it up. It was a locket with the design of a bird's wing on it's front.
"This was my mothers." He said, handling it gently, "It means so much to me. I can't imagine anything more special I could give to her."
Inside, was a picture of four people. An adult who looked like an older Tiz, and a woman who bore similar features. In front of them were two boys. One was Tiz being a bit younger than he was then, and the other…
"So, that's your brother, Til?" Egil asked.
Tiz nodded. Egil leaned in a bit closer and said, "He looks a lot like me."
Tiz laughed, "Well, that's just a coincidence. You're an absolute stinker. But, I hope you can meet them someday."
Egil paled, "Are you trying to make me die or something?"
"No!" Tiz cried, and frowned, "Egil, that's just… please don't joke like that."
"O-okay…" The moment of jealousy Egil had felt upon seeing the picture vanished when he saw how much Tiz cared about him. He quickly recovered though, "So, your giving that to Agna then?"
Tiz nodded, "I hope she likes it." He glanced at his brother, "Will you come along and give me moral support?"
Egil smirked, "Why not?"
Agnes was sitting inside the Caldisla church. Though she had resigned from her duties as Pope, she still had many things to do. Letters from Edea, but in Alternis's handwriting kept pouring in. Eternia still had many questions for the former ruler of Gathelatio. And of course, she still had to monitor a few jobs that she had yet to find candidates for. Teaching Vestalings was one of these. There were a few young Vestalings in training that she would have to give lessons to every now and then, for she had put it off for the sake of her other duties at the Sanctum.
And let us not forget to mention the gift she had to give to one Tiz Arrior.
She hoped he liked it. She had spent all day combing through Old Norende Heights to try and find what she was looking for.
Sheep's flower. She guessed that he saw them every day back when he had been a shepherd, but now they were considered rare, apparently being indigenous to Norende and Norende only.
She had carefully dug around the plant and transferred it to a planter box. Her plan was to let the plant flower and seed, and then regrow those seeds into more plants. Eventually, Norende might be as full of these flowers as it had been before.
Agnes knew he still didn't feel like Norende would ever truly exist again. Perhaps that flower could give him a bit of hope...
But as of right then, she was hunched over her papers, and she didn't expect to see him until she went home to the inn.
However, she was in for a surprise on that point. For soft and familiar footsteps told her there was someone there.
Turning around, she saw Tiz himself walking up to her, holding his hand just right so that she might not notice that he held anything.
"Tiz." She said, smiling at him, "Is everything okay? What is it?"
He looked suddenly nervous and replied, "Yeah, yes. I mean, it's all good. Um…"
He looked down and an uncomfortable silence ensued. Agnes bit her lip and glanced at the planter which sat behind her on the bench.
She could have sworn she heard a little boy's voice shout 'Spit it out!' from somewhere nearby.
"Right…" Tiz looked up, "Agnes, er, I uh, that is… I mean… I have something. For you, I mean."
He held out the box, and Agnes smiled at him again. For what reason, he couldn't guess. She hadn't even opened it yet.
When she did, she gasped. A small locket, with a tiny wing detail on it's front. It looked old, precious. And at the same time, beautiful.
"It, uh, it was my mothers." Tiz said, "It's one of the only thing of hers I have."
Agnes stared at him. He had given her something like that? Something that special to him?
"Oh Tiz…"
Tiz motioned to the locket, "Open it up."
Agnes did, and gasped when she saw the picture inside.
"That's you… and your family." she murmured. Tiz nodded and pointed to the other half of the locket.
"And that side… we can put our family in there. If you want I mean…"
Agnes smiled at him again, tears starting to well in her eyes. But she stopped herself and quickly dried her face off, turning about and picking up her own gift.
"I… I don't have anything as special as that to give you, but I hope it is… acceptable."
She stepped back and showed him the plant. His breath caught when he saw it.
"That's… a Sheep's flower!" He said, staring at it. "Where did you… how could you have possibly found one?"
Agnes smiled at him, wiping the lingering tears off her face. "Lots of looking. I was hoping we could try and get seeds off of this one. Maybe grow them all over Norende again someday."
Tiz shook his head as if in disbelief, and touched the small blossom gently. "Agnes…" he said, "Thank you. It's… it's hope. Just like you."
Agnes smiled at him, and they just stood there for a while.
At the door, Egil rolled his eyes and looked away, making a face.
"Yech…" He said, starting to walk back down the path, "Mushy stuff."