Historia (Etrian Odyssey Fanfiction)

Chapter 10

Naylin, Flandr, Shiva, Sage, and Dyria all stayed with Eliath and Lesai at their house for the rest of the day. They mostly talked, reminisced on old times, discussed future plans and sat there as Eliath gave them lectures and advice that he probably didn't notice sounded so fatherly. That wasn't unusual, Eliath had always been sort of like the unspoken dad of Historia, and nothing had changed at all since his retirement. In fact he'd essentially adopted Halo as well as Historia, and if anyone from either guild needed advice or had questions they couldn't ask anyone else, they would go to Eliath.

Not to mention the fact he raised Sage single handedly, so he was so used to taking care of younger kids, it came as second nature to him, like it was part of his personality to shove his own needs aside when one of his little siblings was in need. That had always been a pretty bad habit of his, to neglect himself for the well-being of others, but that was okay, because Lesai was there to keep him healthy and happy, taking care of Eliath while Eliath took care of everyone else.

Honestly Lesai had gotten somewhat motherly these past six months, Naylin was just waiting for the two of them to realize it. The hexer was still incredibly quiet, he wouldn't talk much to anyone, he didn't even talk to Eliath if there were other people in the room or near enough to overhear him, but the way he acted, the little things he'd started doing, even if he wasn't nagging or scolding like a mother, were enough.

The first person to become a victim to his silent, stoic mothering was of course Sage. Lesai had always like the young survivalist, even when he wouldn't speak with Naylin and Flandr, he would talk with Sage, and they seemed to have gotten closer in the past few years knowing each other, so after retiring, it was no wonder the green haired explorer became the first to be doted on.

Naylin noticed immediately of course, the way Lesai would flitter around Sage, straightening his hair and his clothes, patting his cheeks, bringing him snacks like he was saying without words that Sage was too skinny and needed to take better care of himself, even bringing a scarf out of the back one cold evening and spending quite a few unnecessary minutes wrapping it around Sage's neck to ensure he would be warm during the walk back to the inn. Sage noticed too, eventually, but he didn't complain even once.

"I kind of like it," he admitted to Naylin with a smile, "I never had a mom, it was always just Eliath and me for the longest time, and he was my brother and my father all rolled into one, so it's nice to have a mother too."

The next to fall into Lesai's doting was Shiva, but that wasn't all that surprising. Shiva would always come along whenever Historia went to visit the couple, so his injury and the months of healing following it had not gone unnoticed by Lesai. He would always take extra care around Shiva, bringing him tea he'd made himself, a special blend that Shiva admitted made his throat feel a lot better, enough that he was able to speak quite a bit before getting tired. It may have been because of the cause of Shiva's injury, the result of a mad hexer, so Lesai felt responsible or guilty in some way, or maybe he just thought Shiva needed the extra mothering because he was so sweet.

Whatever the reason, Shiva never complained either. He just smiled. He seemed to like being fawned over as much as Sage did, and Naylin noticed, though he'd never confronted Shiva on it, that the musician would often pout a little just to get Lesai's attention, like he really loved it when the hexer mothered him. Sneaky little troubadour.

It was especially nice to see that Lesai, while still quiet and withdrawn, was becoming more open in some ways. He didn't mind touching people as much as he used to, although being touched abruptly still freaked him out, he seemed to like playing with people's hair, especially when he was trying to smooth that hair out into something more presentable and not as wild.

It was normally Flandr who was subject to this, as his hair was constantly a mess, and Lesai would tug on his sleeve like he wanted to talk to him, prompting him to lean down closer, only to slump his shoulders in irritation when the hexer reached up to straighten his hair out instead of whispering to him. The landsknecht always grumbled, but Naylin, for some reason, got the feeling he actually liked it, and kept his hair messy on purpose just so Lesai would try to fix it.