Cormac laughed. "Just send a few at a time. Like, get a few shirts from here and just rotate them out to send to Wyn. I'm sure she would like to help us even if she can't travel with us." He sighed and rubbed the ring in his pocket that Wyn had given him.
"Maybe. But for now, I really do need a new shirt. What I have left isn't really cutting it."
The door bell rang as someone entered the store. It was Heceril. The shopkeeper began fumbling for words. "Sir, please ignore the raceless. I promise you, we don't-" but Heceril just ignored him and walked past. He looke around the store, until his eyes finally settled on Marius. "Excuse me," he said a he walked over, "I'm told you travel in the company of one Astien Tymnas? Could you tell me where he is?"
Marius looked the elf over. "What do you need with him?"
"Astien came to me last night. I am concerned for him."
Marius pointed toward Astien and Cormac. "He's looking for shirts."
Heceril bowed to Marius and went to Astien an Cormac. "Astien," he said, "Astien, a rather disconcerting throught has occurred to me."
"Oh, hello Heceril. And what would that be?" Astien asked.
"Your pregnancy. From your size, you are clearly nearing your due date. From the size of your child, your best method of delivery would likely be a vitruvian cut. But what if you go into labor while out on the road, far from anyone who could perform this procedure?"
"He has a point, Astien," Cormac said.
"I suppose that's a good point, but…" Astien said.
"But nothing, Astien. What would happen? Could you trust Cormac, or that other man to cut out your child? Without hurting your child, or causing excess pain to you?"
Cormac looked to Astien.
"Almost done, Delas?" Marius asked.
"I guess... I guess I'd thought that I could perform it on myself..." Astien said.
"Astien, that is a rather foolish notion. As a healer, you should know that."
Delas came out holding a large pile of clothes. "Yep, all this here! Woah." He looked at Heceril over Marius' shoulder. "That elf is HUGE! Can elves really be that tall? What's he doing?"
"He's just speaking with Astien," Marius said as Cormac walked back over. They went to the counter where Cormac paid for everything.
Astien was quiet, and Heceril was silent as he waited for some sort of response.
"Cormac, what's with that elf? How come he's so tall? What'd he want?" Delas asked, a bundle of curiosity.
"He's a friend of Astien's," Cormac said simply. "He also taught me how to shoot a bow for a while. He's just trying ot sort out delivery plans."
"Considering that Aiden could arrive any day now, it makes sense," Marius said.
"I don't know what to do, then. I really think if had to, I could do it myself, or talk one of the others through it. But when you put it that way, I guess I don't have this as thought out as I thought." Astien looked down at his belly as he spoke, watching it contort as Aiden moved around.
Delas shrugged. The shopkeeper let out a sharp whistle. "You bought your clothes, anomaly, now get out!" He punctuated this by spitting at his feet.
Cormac let lose a small fireball that extinguished before the shopkeep's face and glared at him while he left the shop with Delas.
"Been practicing with your fire, huh Kid?" Marius asked.
"A bit."
"Please Astien, you need to seriously think about this. Please, do it for your baby." Heceril bowed in thanks for his time, and walked out the store.
Astien was frozen in thought for a moment, until he returned to reality to find that his friends had left him behind. And apparently turned the shopkeeper into a scared dribbling mess. He sighed, and winced at a strong kick from little Aiden. He smiled softly at his tummy, and gave it a rub. "At least you're still keeping me company." He turned and returned to searching for shirts.
"I'm going back to Astien," Marius said. "You two head back to the inn. And stay out of trouble."
"Will do," Cormac said.
Marius gave a stiff nod and went back into the store.
Astien took a few shirts off the rack and headed back to the changing room. On his way back, stopped to take another look at the maternity lingerie. And again, he looked away, embarrassed.
"It'd look good on you, you know," Marius teased from the other side of the changing room door.
"Ah, Marius! Uh, I don't really think so, you know I uh, ahem. That sort of look is best left for sexy, smooth people who know how to operate, you know?" He stepped out of the changing room. "I think this one's okay. Doesn't look as bad as the other one." He looked at himself in the mirror. "Though, it does make me look a bit chubby. What do you think?"