Whispered Emotions

Story time completed, the muscle bound woman looked back at me. And I went for another ride in her hands. The last time felt like a greeting if hurdling through the ceiling could be thought as such. This time had a more warm touch to it that surprised me. I couldn’t really spell it out, just how it felt. It was so strange, but nice.

She set me down after the spin around. “Thank you for taking care of her! She can be reckless, but got a good head on her shoulders!”

My legs felt a little wobbly, but I kept my balance. “She protected me as much as I helped her…Miss Kaln?”

A deep laugh came out as she pounded on my shoulder. “Kaln’s my husband, I’m Erina. He’s not so great with people, so he does the work while I keep the customers flowing!” Judging from her build, I felt like she did more than that. She clearly had talents of her own. Made me wonder if she was an adventurer before getting married.

“Mrs. Erina, then.”

“Erina, young man! Politeness is fine in the right situation, but loosen up!”

This was the right situation, but I nodded. “Erina, I heard you could patch up our armor. The Vertil fancied himself a fashion designer and had some biting critiques to our attire.”

“Getting some fine use out of them! They must be in love knowing they’re keeping you safe still!” I nodded with the curious phrasing and got motioned along with Eri'Sol by a very strong hand at our back.

Mrs. Erina let Eri'Sol go first, getting changed behind a curtain. After her, I disrobed, getting the tunic that she loaned me until they were finished. We sat down almost like it was a bar with Mrs. Erina opposite us pulling out a couple of tool kits as she laid out the clothes. “The amount of damage to yours Eri is going to cost a little more in closing everything. More materials, but shouldn’t be more than two silver.”

“Thanks so much!”

She started with mine first being the least damaged. There were strips of leathers and sheets of fabric laid out as she flipped through finding the correct one. Then I watched her take what looked like almost a pizza cutter looking blade and carve out a piece.

I thought she was just going to stitch in or maybe replace a part of the armor to fix my hole. But instead, Mrs. Erina grabbed another tool that looked more like a hammer though smaller. A blue glow surrounded the tool as it transferred into the patch. I watched her cut and hammer it into place until it perfectly matched. Three arrays of magic circles covered my gear sending a cool blue glow through the whole piece.

After it faded I had to lean in to confirm what I was seeing. It didn’t even look like there was a hole or even had been repaired. She somehow made it look brand new. I looked up at her, but she held a deeply focused gaze not finished yet. Mrs. Erina took another tool going over the stitching looking like she was testing and tightening up anything that had been loosened. She stopped or slowed when she found something, not that I could tell.

It was deeply impressive work and a strong attention to detail. This wasn’t the sort of maintenance that I expected. I sort of thought they might cast a spell or something, but this was very manual and personal. It was oddly captiving to watch her work.

She completed mine with relative ease. The time flew by so fast and she moved onto Eri’Sol’s. It was no surprise that she needed a lot more material to fix everything. A number of stripes were carved out to fit into the cuts. And each one closed up almost like she was mending a wound. I had never seen someone work leather in my life before, but she looked more like a doctor in how she treated it. I doubted our world did things in such a way.

Minutes passed into hours, I think, as we watched the delicate work of tending to the equipment. For just a large bulky woman, she had a soft touch with the leather and metals of Eri’Sol’s piece. Nothing was roughly treated or skipped. It was like handing a fragile doll. Complete care and focus was delivered. It almost felt personal.

But it all finally came to an end and Mrs. Erina stretched out her hands nearly going to the ceiling. “Good as new and they’re singing with love!” Eri'Sol went around giving the woman a hug though she couldn’t fit her arms around the thick torso. “Keep giving it care and love and it’ll watch over you! Go get dressed, it’s humming.”

While Eri'Sol disappeared, I looked over at Mrs. Erina cleaning up the table. “You’ve a way with leather and fabric. You talk like you can hear them whispering to you.”

She grinned with a small nod while coming to put the tools away. “Spend enough time with precious items and you can feel the growing voice from them. In time they’ll be singing the words themselves rather than just expressing it in small emotions.” Watching her speak about it made it clear that it wasn’t metaphor or fanciful words to explain magic. No, she genuinely believed what she said.

“You believe there is a soul, a spirit within everything?”

“It is the truth. I’m told some from your world have a similar appreciation.” I nodded to her. While I didn’t fully take it all, I knew what she spoke of. And in some ways I superstitiously believed in souls growing within some of my things. “Take care of it and treat them with respect and love and they’ll return that kindness.”

‘Was that why Eri'Sol was emphatic about her sword and gear? Their culture sees souls in things that are deeply cared for?’ This was another world with different laws. I couldn’t treat it as though it was something of faith. Magic existed, souls within inanimate objects could be a thing. It was important to them all.

Sating my curiosity timed well with Eri’Sol returning. I took that moment to go change back. Changing back into my gear felt different, more than I imagined. I knew she tightened and fixed any stitching, but the fit made a little more snug than before. It felt more like the first day that I put it on. Limited as the fighting was, it might have loosened it up more than I expected. This was more impressive work that I gave her credit for.

I tugged down getting it fully fitted and put my pack back on. “Thank you! Fits like new!”

“A happy customer and happy belongings are thanks enough!” We stepped over to the counter to settle the cost of the work. Each of us paid our own way. I did wonder how much she had on her. She had a family I assumed in town, but I could imagine that source only went so far. The Vertil we’ll be able to split the sales and that should fix her up for a while.

The bill paid, we were about to leave when Mrs. Erina’s face became much more serious than I had seen previously. It drew concern immediately from Eri'Sol. “As one of the heroes, can I ask a request of you?” This took more of a turn than I was expecting. A request to the hero had a classic feel to it. So I couldn’t help a little bit of eagerness with my concern.