To Love A Myth - Book 1: Mr. Higgs and the Maid🎩✔️

22

"When I said I'd do anything for you, I thought I'd be safe from this type of thing..."
"Oh, come now, I ken it's a great experiment."
"For you maybe..."
"Well, have ye ever used it before?"
"No..."
"Then it's a good time to test it out. Besides, no one will recognize ye."
"That would be the point, right?"
Edgar giggled and Higgs looked over at the boy with a piercing glare. Edgar tried to shape up but his anger was funnier and he couldn't stop laughing.
"I'm not doing this." Higgs growled.
"Ye cannae not, lad; I asked it of ye."
Higgs growled. "Damn it!"
"Are you really going to go dressed like that?" Edgar asked as he tried to suppress a giggle.
Higgs turned to him again and a green flame flickered in his hand.
"You're this close to getting foxfired in the face, little boy."
"Dinnae take ye trust issues out on the lad. Now, for the finishing touch."
"If you set that bonnet on my head, Merida, I will foxfire you."
Merida stopped and sighed. "Fine... Come on, Edgar, let's get going. Come along, Ms. Northumberly."
Higgs grumbled as he picked up the hem of his dress so as not to trip on it. He had gotten himself into a predicament and realized he shouldn't have put his sole trust in Merida. She was mischievous and this new form was also just as mischievous... and its main purpose was mischief. The whole point of a kitsune was its shapeshifting ability and its favorite thing to shift into was a woman.
Which Higgs was.
Because he trusted Merida way too much and told her so and then she demanded to see it and here he was, going to the market as a woman. It was probably the most humiliating transformation he had gone through as of yet.
"It's so nice to be able to get out in the sunlight again! I missed it being cooped up in that crazy house... Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?"
"No. Oh, well, I met Gretchen in the market and she actually stood up for me. She helped me get some apples from the apple stand. He's a prude."
"Aye, he is. He's always giving me trouble."
"How is your back, Merida?" Edgar asked in front of them, leaning his head back to look at them.
"It's itchy and my dress rubbing on it doesnae make it better but I believe I can manage."
He nodded a little. "Can I go ahead of you? Like to that tree right there?"
"An ye dinnae try to climb it and fall off."
Edgar gave her a wicked look as he raced off in front of them. Higgs smiled.
"You're good with kids."
"Aye, so I've been told."
"I guess that's why you're able to handle me so well..."
"Ye're not that bad. Ye're childish but ye're not a child by any means. Ye're just lonely and yer curse doesnae help with social interaction."
"True... How can you deal with such long skirts? This is quite annoying." Higgs said, messing with his bustle.
"I ken ye. I dinnae like skirts verra much either. When I was in Scotland, I was wearing breeches half the time."
"For pleasure?"
"Convenience, necessity... and a bit of pleasure."
"Why the other two then?"
"Well, I have three older brothers and I was the only girl. They dinnae have time for me to stop and find a dress or two so I ended up wearing men's britches for most of my time with them. Ye never really understand how bad things are until ye have to pry ye clothes off the bodies of dead boys in order to keep yerself clothed. Doughall thought it best for the pants anyway due to the severity of the war and the libido of our enemies. Being at war for a long time without a woman makes ye crazy (apparently) and ye try to get whatever poke ye can find. Ye become savage, wild... At least that's what Coinneach said, so the pants make me less appealing and we all look the same when we're dirty."
"I see. Women seem to have it rough during times of war."
"Well, they're left to care for the home in ways they shouldnae have to and also the need to defend it from the enemies that are about behind the lines than in front of it. Many a child was born during such hard times, often of inconvenience. They are treated harshly, as if they asked for such a curse to be upon them. No one wants to be conceived in hatred, but that's what those poor bairns have to deal with. Hatred from their conception and on through the rest of their life."
"Horrid way to live."
"Even more horrid for the woman. She has to live with the fact that she was taken without her consent and harbored the enemy's child, so to speak. Then, the town doesnae help, calling her a floozy or other names that make it seem like it was her who wanted it. No one wins either way except for the enemy. He gets to go about his business as usual and brag to his men that he fucked an enemy's wife or daughter or sister. The best ye can hope for is that bastard dies on the battlefield... and even then that's too good for him. That means he'll be remembered honorably. An he dies by another means, a slow and painful death, then maybe –just maybe- it might make the victim feel better."
Higgs stopped her and made her turn to him.
"Merida... did that... did that happen to you?"
"Thank the stars it didnae. I've just been in towns –when my brothers had to fight- and I'd seen many a women in such conditions. I asked and someone told me what happens. That's when I decided that I wasnae going to try and be like them. I would learn to fight as much as I could to keep my honor and my dignity. When I found out that that was the fate of women who werenae able to defend themselves, I begged my brothers to teach me more about survival. Doughall dinnae like it, but Fearghas and Coinneach were willing to teach me everything they could."
"Your eldest brother seems to be a big of a prude."
Merida laughed. "That is probably putting it the lightest way ever. Doughall is an asshole, no doubts about it."
Higgs smiled at her as they headed into the market.