30 July, evening; Convalescing

He shook his head. It would be difficult, with his left hand being his strong one, but he could mostly muddle through with only one hand. Hopefully.

"May I sit up, at least?"

This was also assuming Suie would let him. The kitten was, at the moment, washing Jérémie's nose.

Sit up? Mathilde's brows knit together. She did not like the sound of that. Not at all. But after a moment she scooped Suie off of his face and nodded. "Carefully."

His first action was to swipe his good hand over his face, where Suie had washed him. Then he used that hand to lever himself up into a sitting position. Once up, he felt marginally better.

"How are your leather sewing skills?"

Mathilde had been watching him like a hawk this entire time, and the question caught her somewhat off guard. "Leather? I don't know... I've patched canvas before, but not leather. Why?"

"Because," he replied, "my shoe needs to be repaired, but I don't dare use both hands. You might yell at me if I do." A slight grin turned up the corner of his mouth as he spoke.

Mathilde's eyes brightened, but she managed to keep a straight face long enough to say, "No. I would not yell at you. I would tie you up. And then yell at you."

Oh would she? "I would not risk that. So I'll let you do the sewing instead."

Wise decision. Mathilde gave him a nod of grave acceptance -- or tried to; the effect was somewhat spoiled by the crooked grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Getting carefully to her feet, she picked her way around him, sinking to her knees on his uninjured side. His pack was indeed heavy, but it was nothing she couldn't manage and reaching inside she felt around until her fingers brushed a heavy, cloth-wrapped bundle. She pulled it out, unfolding it on the floor of the wagon, then looked up expectantly at Jérémie.

"Right. The last - the flat piece - and the thin hammer, there. I'll need those. And my shoes, of course."

She fetched his shoes and then settled back again, peering at the tools. "These?" she asked, selecting what she thought he had described. "Do they have names?"

"Yes." Jérémie nodded and pointed at each tool in turn as he named it. "The awl, there. Stretching pliers. Sizing stick. Sole knife. Marking wheel. Burnisher. And the last, there."

She watched closely, repeating each name under her breath until he got to the final one. Then she looked up, a faintly puzzled expression on her face. "What's the last one called?"

Despite himself, he grinned. "The last."

"Yes, the--Oh." She broke off, her cheeks faintly pink. "That's what it's called?"

She held up the two tools, "Hammer and last?"

She was a quick study. Good lass. But she'd proven that well before now.

"Yes. It's for measuring materials for making or repairing shoes. This one's a general size. It'll fit most feet. There's a last in there that was carved just for me, though. Back... it was done a long time ago."

Jérémie reached for the damaged shoe. "There's also a set of leather needles there too."

Sort of like a pattern for sewing, then? Reaching back into the pack, Mathilde pulled out the other last and the set of needles; heavy, wicked looking things -- Gilles would be thrilled.

"Did you carve it?" she asked, setting down the last.

The question brought a lump to his throat, but he swallowed past it. "No. I never learned how to make them. It was a gift."

Mathilde turned the last carefully over in her hands, but some questions, she decided, were best left unasked, and so she said instead, "What do we do next?"

It was best to focus on the task at hand. Keep his mind on what he could do, right then. Something to distract him from the continuing pain in his arm, if nothing else.

"The left shoe, that one. It needs a new vamp and toe box. Damaged leather is no good on a shoe."

She picked up the shoe, peering critically at it. "Which parts are those? Toe box... is that different from the toe cap?" At least she thought that was the term he'd used that evening by the river...

"Sort of. The toe cap is the very front of the shoe, and the toe box is this piece here. Actually the toe cap is part of it. The vamp is this piece, where the buckle is."

"Vamp..." she repeated, enunciating the word and liking the feel of it in her mouth. "So, how do you take the old ones off? Is it like ripping seams? I used to have to do that. A lot. When I was just learning, I mean. Not anymore though," she assured him.

"Yes. Something like. I got new thread not long ago so I don't need to preserve the thread that's in here. We can just take them straight off."

"What do we use for that? The -- what was the knife one called again?"

"It's a sole knife. For trimming and shaping leather. It should work well enough for cutting thread."