The embroiderer
A few days later, Emil received a visitor. This was Matthew, Canada. To Emil, Matthew and him became close friends due to Canada being the place outside Iceland that has the largest Icelandic population. However, he would not know that this has nothing to do with it at all.
A mother would never stop love her son, even if she had to leave him.
Matthew was completely startled by the tapestry. Upon seeing it, she felt that deep sorrow again. Even though she was able to see her son, the fact that they were only friends instead of mother and son did hurt very much.
Her eyes were fixed on the tapestry, but luckily, Emi's interpretation was wrong.
"I know that it is weird for me to put this up when it is not completed, but…my mother made it before she disappeared." Emil explained.
Without understanding why, he found it very easy to talk to Matthew. Despite the other being younger then him, Matthew was very soothing. He has actually told the other a bit of his past, including the disappearance of his mother, which did relate to Matthew. After all, most people thought that Vinland was the nation that existed before Canada.
Matthew knew that what she would do was quite risky, but she did wish that her son could have a finished piece of work.
"I am able to finish it for you." she said before she made some sort of excuse of how she once helped an old lady to finish a tapestry. It was not the best excuse that she could come up with, but it seemed to work for Emil, who thought that the awkwardness was due to the other knowing how to do this despite being a male.
"Are you sure?" Emil began. "This is extremely precious to me."
"All I would be doing is filling it, it will not be damaged in any way." Matthew assured him before she offered to give an example of what she would be doing.
As he watched Matthew began to finish the work, Emil suddenly found himself thinking about the past again, when he would watch his mother like this.
He did not understand why, but he felt that same serenity.
He found his eyelid growing heavy and even though he would normally never fall asleep when he had another person here, even if that person was his immediate family, he found himself giving in.
"It's alright, Emil. I don't mind." Matthew assured him and she was seeing him as a little boy again.
The subject was Frigg mourning for Baldr due to the theme, but she also picked this scene because she wished to model her son as Baldr. Like Frigg, she thought of her son as being pretty much perfect.
It has been a long time since she did a tapestry, so it took longer then it would. However, she was happy at this as it allowed her to be here longer.
When the tapestry was finished, she placed it on the table before crouching beside her son, who was now fast asleep. She then gently stroked his hair, what she would do back then.
A smile appeared from Emil and he whispered: "Mama" softly, while his hand reached to clasp her missing hand.
"I hope that I will be able to tell you the truth soon." Matthew, who was once Ranveig, said softly as she kissed her son on the checks. "But remember that I will never be completely away from you, as I am thinking of you everyday."
Author'sNote: Unlike the others, Emil actually never get to talk about his tapestry or see it being made with Vinland. I then feel that it would be suitable to have Canada coming out. As the next chapter (which I have yet to put up) in 'Neither princess nor queen' would show, Canada disguises herself as a boy and uses the name Matthew. I do feel quite weird to use Matthew in the story as it is a guy's name, but then…that is her name!
The information about Canada having the largest Icelandic population outside Iceland is thanks to Lady Axis Neoluna. As for why Iceland is the other character…I feel that this story is ultimately about him receiving this gift from his mother.