I think the Highlander knows how to sew. He probably does. Definitely Simon too. Maybe Raquna. Definitely not Arthur. And apparently his name in the EOU manga is Lindis Farne? He's named after the "Holy Island of Lindisfarne" and apparently it's a tide island with a nice castle...
"Sorry for making you two do this," Fredrica apologizes. She lounges in the corner of the room wearing some of Raquna's spare clothes. They're too big, but she doesn't complain as the Highlander and Simon mend the group's clothes.
To be honest, it feels strange to see the Highlander wearing only his boxers, when she's used to seeing bulky, uncomfortable layers of wool and mail weighing down his frame. Her eyes awkwardly drift towards his abdomen before she blushes and looks away.
"It's fine," the Highlander replies, "we had to do this soon."
"Fredrica, shouldn't you have gone with Raquna and Arthur? Most of the clothes they're buying are for you," Simon asks.
"There's no need. I told Raquna what kind of clothes I want, and I think I might have expensive tastes. Better just leave it to them. Maybe they're more frugal than me."
Simon chuckles quietly.
"Arthur was never one to watch the details, and if you've forgotten, Raquna is still the daughter of an incredibly wealthy family, with a father who has always loved to dote. I'm not sure they would be the epitome of frugality," Simon says.
At their words, the Highlander unconsciously shudders. In his mind, he can already see their bags of en, the contents being emptied into the abyss right before his eyes. They're barely scraping by, and just for this rest day they planned out a three-day "looting" of the Labyrinth. They were gathering minerals and plants and hunting like mad, taking down what F.O.E.'s they could handle. Shilleka was almost crying with happiness by the end of the week.
He tries to have faith in his guildmates and gestures to a bench beside him.
"Fredrica, you said you wanted to help, right? Start taking out the stitching in these clothes so that we can reuse the cloth."
"Sure," she says, coming over. The Highlander hands her a small hook and demonstrates how to cut the stitches.
"You got it?"
"Yeah."
Simon watches the Highlander point out the miniscule stitches, and the nostalgia washes over his mind. He can almost see his older sister telling him how to do the same thing, telling him to mind his fingers and not to poke holes in the cloth if he can help it.
"You really are like her," he murmurs, pausing his work for a few moments.
The Highlander says nothing, and simply looks at Simon. Simon has said something similar before. He is sure of it.
"Oh, you did say something about your family before, right Simon?"
"I did, but it's not that big of a deal. Our Highlander doesn't seem to be so shabby with a needle, as far as I can tell. Did you learn from anyone?"
The Highlander's eyes shy away, and he begins to observe the hole in Simon's coat with great scrutiny.
"All the young men were training to be warriors, and we lived together in a village some distance away from the castle under a chief, separate from our families. Independence was necessary. Some of my peers were spoiled by their parents, so they began training, unaware of basic things such as cooking. I already had some experience though, so people usually went to me for help on cooking and mending clothes, or if they needed random tidbits of knowledge."
Fredrica is taking out the stitching, but at the same time she's earnestly listening.
"You already knew more than a lot of them? Prepared as always."
Simon puts down his work and shifts to a more comfortable position on the bed. It's the first he's ever heard the Highlander say about life at home.
"No, no. There are some blank spots in my early childhood, but I was on my own for a while. People were kind though. Raised me in place of parents. They taught me enough so that I could survive on my own. Once I was old enough I followed tradition and began training as a warrior with others my age," he said. His sleepy face brightens with a sudden smile as he looks outside.
"The weather is usually rainy and gray, like right now. It's nice. I miss the seas though."
"The seas? That's amazing!" Fredrica exclaimed, as faintly the sound of sloshing waves echoed in her memory.
The Highlander laughed softly at her excitement, and almost screamed as Simon was suddenly at his side, opposite of Fredrica.
"Could you tell me where you lived, perhaps? An island, or a coastal region?
The Highlander frowned, and Simon was amazed to see their Highlander's cheeks flushed like that of an Midgard intern for some burly knight.
"An island, with many strong tides. L-Lindisfarne," he mumbled.
The two listeners, abruptly stared at him.
"'Lindisfarne'? Isn't that your name, Lindis?" Fredrica said, finally abandoning her sewing duties.
Simon's eyes widened.
"It's a nice name. I hear that visitors need to be care around the beaches, or they'll drown or be swept away."
The Highlander's stiff body looseed, and his voice flowed easily again.
"If you ever decide to visit, I'll be your guide. I've lived near the tides a good portion of my life, and I can usually estimate when to leave to go to higher ground."
"But Lin-," Fredrica cut off her voice as she saw Simon mouth a discreet "later". "Yeah, it does sound really nice. Maybe after I've gotten my memory back and everyone's finished their business in Etria we can visit!"
The two sighed as the Highlander's uneasiness melted and flattened.
-0-0-0-
"Oh my gosh! This is so cute!" Fredrica shouted, pressing a dress to her body. The dress was simple, with some brass ornamentation, and more importantly, the cloth looked sturdy.
"Nice, eh? We got some other necessities for you too, so try them on and we can return any you don't like, okay?" Raquna said.
"Of course! Thank you!"
The Highlander graciously accepted the money bag, and Simon could see the young man's jaw drop before stowing away the money again.
"Don't worry, don't worry! We got extra clothes for everyone plus new armor as well!" Arthur said in a hurry.
"No, no! It's fine!"
Eventually, he cheered up as well, and was laughing with them over Raquna's almost embarrassing haggling. The smiles faltered a bit when they counted how many stores they were banned from.
"Apologizing would be just... strange," Fredrica said, still in her new black dress.
"Well, it's not like we're going to need to go shopping again anytime soon," Arthur thought aloud, "plus maybe Raquna's dad can send us some stuff?"
"No charity!" the Highlander snapped, "I'll drag us all over to apologize if we have to!"
"No, no, Arthur is right," Simon, said, "it's not like any of us live in Etria, so after our investigatios over we'll return to out respective homes. We're only buying some clothes since the length of our stay is still unknown."
"I keep trying to tell you guys that we only got banned from some of them," Raquna yelled, "not all of them!"
The discussion swayed between worry and hilarity, but eventually settled firmly into hilarity. The Highlander was laughing so hard with Fredrica that he could feel his core beginning to burn as everyone saw in her in another bright, piss yellow dress. She was shrieking with laughter as well and tripped onto the Highlander, where they both began trying desperately to say everything wrong with it.
"It's not that bad, is it?!" Raquna screeched.
Arthur opened his mouth to say something, but quickly dissolved into a haphazard pile of giggles.
"It's that bad."
"Noooo, Simon!"
By the time the innkeeper had shushed them all and gave them stern reprimands, three of them were asleep. However, Fredrica was keeping her eyes open, despite beginning to feel her eyelids go heavy.
"Simon, Simon, what were you saying about him?" she whispered, gesturing to the Highlander.
The man finished checking that all of them were safely stowed away in their beds, before answering Fredrica.
"What is a man – no, a person, usually named after?"
"That's easy, his family name." A few gracious moments past, and her face paled. "Oh."
"I'm assuming the people that found him simply gave him the most convenient name possible."
Fredrica glanced over to the sleeping Highlander.
"That's too sad. Even I have my own name, but him..."
"He's not one to wallow in pity. Give him his rest. You should sleep as well."
"Of course."
The lamps were dimmed, and they all settled into deep, dreamy sleeps.