That actually got about five more responses from around the length of the table. After all, if the royal family and that weirdo Lairdgren were going to be working with the Ward bitch, then why not? It would be interesting if nothing else, right? They collected Countess Ross, Ursala and to Tor’s amusement, Abbie, who smiled brightly about it.
Countess Thorgood had enough control not to grind her teeth at the table. It was clearly taking effort though.
Tor bowed his head and committed all the names to memory. Then he spoke to the Queen quietly. “Sorry, I ended up accidentally turning this towards business. Do you have plans for the water garden this year?”
That, as quiet as it was, got everyone to move back to polite dinner conversation as if he'd scolded them instead of whispering the words. The food was incredible, as always, though he just couldn't eat it all. Not more than a few bites of each thing. He tried, it was just too much still. After desert, a lovely dish that had flaming berries with brandy, which he didn't touch at all. He was a bit surprised when Sandra, down the table, looked at him and quickly followed suit. Builders didn't drink alcohol, but that wasn't why he wasn't having his, he was just too full.
Count Morris and a beautiful looking woman of about forty, tall and lithe, sat near her, the resemblance was more than passing of course, her parents after all. Sandra sat straight and made small talk with the people around her, not looking overly unhappy even. Of course, she'd said that her father didn't get along with her, but that didn't mean they'd fight at a dinner at the King’s table.
When the meal broke up Tor floated over, getting even more strange looks from the room. He knew he looked odd, but really, he couldn't sit any more, the sores just wouldn't allow it. It was this or stand and he really didn't think that would work for more than a few minutes, so Not-flyer it was.
He tried to start things on a positive at least, “Count Morris, so nice to see you again. I haven't forgotten-”
“Master Tor! Wonderful to see you, I wanted to thank you for the timely delivery of devices. I hope that sending the payment to your residence here was sufficient? Countess Printer wasn't certain when she made the delivery…”
Tor put it together, so didn't feel too silly at least. The Countess had “borrowed” a few million gold worth of his property, the King said she could keep it, but had to pay for it. It was a lot and since it turned out that she didn't have to destroy Count Ward after all, for the death of her husband at least, it seemed she'd decided to spread the pain of that judgment out a little.
Good. Tor had completely forgotten about it until he saw the Count.
“Oh, that sounds fine, thank you. I haven't been to my own house for a while though. I was planning on staying there tonight. Do you have rooms?” He addressed this to the Count, who nodded.
“Yes, the Queen saw to that for us. Sandra…” The man looked slightly worried at least, which Tor took as a good sign.
Tor nodded to the girl.
“Is part of my working group, so stays with me. In fact, we're using my residence as headquarters when not up at Lairdgren, on breaks and so on. She'll be needed there a lot, since the students are, well, students, but on holidays and breaks we should all be around here, if not needed on other tasks around the kingdom.” It was all kinds of pushy, but she really was needed for duties with the crown.
Shrugging Tor said that out loud too, including that he knew he was being bossy. Her parents should be proud. He was after all.
The Count wasn't though. He just frowned and shook his head.
“I do appreciate your humoring her, but really her efforts at building haven't amounted to much have they? Her single building project so far is a children's toy. Barely an amusement even. I suppose it's as good a hobby as stitchery or perhaps horsemanship, but she should be out looking for a husband of good birth, don't you think?”
Right, Tor had forgotten what an over bearing jerk the man could be. After a few second Tor just shrugged and turned to his colleague’s mother.
“Countess, have you spoken to my mother? I have five brothers, four of whom are unmarried, all Countiers. Some far too young, and there is some competition for them, but it may be something to think about. Sandra is a catch and I know that I'd be honored to call her sister.” He turned to the Count and winked, getting a small smirk from the man back.
“Now, not to be rude, but as to your daughters building career, you couldn't be more wrong. She's good. As it stands at this moment, she could go and make a living anywhere in the kingdom starting with nothing more than a few rocks. That little toy of hers has a full feedback mechanism, that senses both balance and the passage of time. OK, the toy is a little misplaced, since few children could afford such, but the work isn't just a toy. She didn't get named the leader of the Lairdgren group because she's a noble. She earned it.”
Mainly be being the oldest person in a group of volunteers, but hey, that counted right? Tor grinned at her parents.
“My point here is that you need to live a nice long time now Count Morris, and love your job, because we need her. The kingdom needs Sandra now.” His voice wasn't nearly as strong as he'd have liked, but a voice came from behind him then.
“Simple truth. Do you know that she ran out a batch of fifty shields earlier? In two hours, by herself. I tested the fields on them, very high quality work. There are less than six people in the kingdom that can do that.”
Tor turned and tried to smile. Lairdgren again. It was true enough though, and really, other than the guy not being exactly forthcoming with him, there was no real reason to be mad at him. Not yet.
Sandra looked horribly shy suddenly. Burks was pretty good looking, so maybe that was it? He was back to looking older, about thirty. It was a handy trick. Half the problems Tor had were because people didn't take him seriously. It wasn't that bad yet, because well, he was still under twenty, so no one would have anyway. Not for a few years. When that happened though, looking a bit older would be nice. Spending forever locked in what looked like a child's body would be hard to manage. Doable, but a pain.
Lairdgren did a much better job bolstering Sandra than he had though, making her seem like the best thing since cream was discovered, which was kind of what he'd been trying for, but missed. He just stood and nodded with a smile, backing the Ancients play. By the end of ten minutes even the sour and entitled Count Morris had to admit that there may be some value to his little girl becoming one of the better builders in the kingdom.
Tor grinned, “Also and don't take this lightly, think how much you can save on devices, what with the family discount… You could save ten, twenty percent even.”
The funny thing was that the Count and Countess actually seemed pleased by that, as if their own daughter wouldn't just give them what they wanted?
Tor yawned and shook his head a bit.
“Sorry, I need to make the rounds and get to bed. Um, Burks, do you know if Denno is around?”
“Guest house. Are you staying here?”
“Nope, my place. We have room, if you want?” Of course, Tor was also planning to kidnap Denno Brown, so his brother might not want to be seen as helping with that.
He agreed to come though, and they collected a few other people as Tor and Sandra said their goodbyes. Including the Wards, who'd been planning on getting a room at an Inn, not feeling overly welcome at the palace yet, and Ursala, who glared at the Wards, but not Tor. That… Well, they hadn't poisoned her, but they had set her up to get pregnant and just to lash out at Rolph, so it was kind of fair. It had really ruined her chance to be Queen one day, hadn’t it? Well, maybe he could get her into make-up sex with them, so none of them ended up in his bed? Not that he'd be using a bed for a while still. The nap he'd taken laying flat had kind of hurt. It got him up quickly enough but that night he was just going to float again. That was really comfortable.
At the guest house they found Denno easily enough, looking like the servant he pretended to be. Greg. Tor just pointed to him with his left hand and raised his right, like the royal family did, not knowing if it would work at all. He had some Royal Guard friends, so hopefully they'd help out.
“I'm stealing Greg. Get someone to cover his shift please. Actual kingdom business, not just to scrub my floors or anything. Come on, Greg.” Tor didn't wait for the man to make a decision, just walking out. For some unknown reason he followed. It was foolish of him, but then, the guy had to know that. He probably also knew that Tor wouldn't be beating him.
He still didn't have a real plan as to what he was really going to do.
The flight back to his house was short, about three minutes and that long mainly to make sure the Royal Guard saw them all leave. No one spoke on the way back. He landed smoothly in front of the house and tried to be quiet walking in. Really, he didn't know who, if anyone would be there and what they might be up to. As long as it wasn't group sex in the front room, it should be all right. Instead he was greeted by Collette, who ran to him, a graceful shuffle so her dress wouldn't trip her up, soft slippers a whisper on the stone floor. It looked like marble now, but in a different color than he'd last seen it, gray shot with white, polished to gleaming.
She's come from the dining room off to the right, except, from what he could see, it was a sitting room now, with several people in it. Not all of them people he recognized instantly. Several men…
Which would have been jealous making, except one of them was her father and the rest looked like merchants of some kind. At least they had the height for it. After a second he got that one of them was Kris Debri, a friend of his, after a fashion, and his mother Heather sat near him. That was all he could see from where he stood.
“Tor!” He was gently hugged and given a soft, slow kiss on the mouth that didn't get a reaction from his body at all. It was still nice.
“Collette. I brought people with me. Is that all right? I notice we have guests?” It was the best he could do, short hand wise. She stood a little straighter and then bowed to… Everyone. Oh, right, all nobles, except “Greg”.
“Honored. Will you be staying?” She noted that the Wards had luggage. And probably that the rest of them didn't.
“Well, Maria and Marvin are your family, so of course they're staying. Burks and Denno are mine, so that gets us stuck with them for the night, though Brown needs to be back to work as soon as he can walk again…” It was a pointed statement and the man tapped the sigil around his neck, making his disguise vanish. It got a gasp from the doorway to the sitting room, since Bonita had come to look, when she heard his voice.
Denno bowed to her, “Ma'am. Don't be alarmed, I always look like this. Well, not so much lately, but my little brother is to blame for that.”
He said it like that made any sense at all. Nita closed in for more hugging, hitting up Burks first and then him, but circling around to cover Maria and Marvin too.
Tor stood looking into the other room, wondering what the protocols where here. Did he just go in, or should he ignore that people were there, in case it was secret or something? Finally he just leaned in to Collette and asked.
“Oh, well, yes, it's a little secret. Trying to share information about what happened at Lairdgren and find out if anyone knows more, if we can put the puzzle together at all.”
Tor tilted his head and thought for a second.
“OK. Well, if you warn them that a bunch of noble types that might have to report any information they hear back to the King are coming in, we should go say hello, then get out of their hair, so that proper planning and all that can be done. Is that… acceptable? I don't want to be rude, I just don't know what to do in a case like this.”
Collette hugged him again, “I think that will work wonderfully, one moment then?”
After two minutes she waved them all in, setting off a bunch more bowing. Then people started hugging each other, since a lot of them were close friends and relatives.
He got one too, from Kris' wife of all people. She was a bit plain looking but had a kind smile, which she turned on him full force. It was a little warm, considering they'd only met once before and hadn't spoken more than a few words. Nice of her to remember him though. Kris didn't look overly pleased about it, but not upset either. His wife, Meredith caught the look and smiled at him lovingly. Kris was a nice looking fellow and a good catch all around for a widow like her.
“Dear, you asked who arranged all that gold for me?” She sounded happy and sweet about it. Enough so that Tor felt a little bad about not having accepted her marriage proposal once. She'd had the wrong last name then or he would have.
Tor shrugged.
“Well, I provided part of it, Dorgal did the rest. Definitely a combined effort. Though I have to say, his leaving a mysterious chest like that makes a much better story than what I intended, which would have just been passing it along to you. All's well on that front? With Dorgal I mean?” Tor hadn't seen the man in months after all.
Some friend he was.
“Oh, yes! Business is good and his mother is planning to send a go-between for him. Lyn Cooper? I don't know if you know the name?” She smiled when she said it, but it was hard to read.
Tor winked.
“Yes. Her mother lives here in the city, the cooper by the south wall. Collette knows more I believe.” He looked back at her.
“Oh, yes, I can take you there if you want, so you know where to send his mother. How exciting! I do love a good wedding.” Collette smiled at him with a twinkle in her eye.
“So if she says yes, I take it your paying for it, as her sponsor?”
“Seems reasonable. We'll have to set some gold aside for it. Speaking of marriages, anyone know where my wife’s gotten too? I want to check in with her. I should have already.” It was a good excuse to get out of the room at least, so that people could plot in private. As long as it wasn't against him or the crown, it wasn't really his business. Hopefully it wasn't about him. That was possible, since Collette's father, the Baron, might not be happy with how poorly he'd been doing finding his daughters murderer.
Tor took a deep breath. Crud.
He moved in front of the man, who'd stood to hug Maria, and oddly Sandra too, and bowed low. Not going to his knees, because he couldn't and float like he was, could he? Hopefully the man would understand.
“I apologize for not doing a better job on the case sir. I allowed myself to become sidetracked, it felt needed at the time, but that's no excuse. Please know that the full might of the kingdom is on it however, and that the failing was with me alone. I promise to do better in the future.”
The man bowed back.
“Thank you Lord Baker. It's good to know that it isn't forgotten. It's frustrating not knowing what's going on, but I can't exactly tell Smythe of Westend to just send over a report bi-weekly, can I? I don't suppose you know if anything has broken on the case or not, do you?” The man didn't seem hopeful.
Ah, well, no one had told him anything had they. Tor straightened.
“Excuse me for a few moments, please? Collette, is there a private room near?” She showed him to a door, hidden well in the fake wood work at the back of the room. It took a bit to get in touch with Smythe, and a while longer to run everything by him. Finally, some forty minutes later, really feeling drained, Tor walked out and bowed to the Baron again.
“Alright, both Smythe and the King have cleared me telling you what we know so far, which isn't much. I have to extract oaths from you first and kick Meredith from the room. Sorry. If I had more energy right now I'd clear you with a truth amulet. I just don't. It's incredibly rude of me, but-”
She waved a hand at him and smiled again, “don't let it worry you. You can tell me some other time.” She glanced around, “Um, Collette, where should I retire too?”
They, it turned out, had a second sitting room. Tor was impressed. The idea of rooms just to sit in wasn't totally new to him, but having not just one, but two of them was a real step up for someone like him.
After that he ran down the whole thing, ending with the attack on Lairdgren, which they knew about and that the Austran agent had been using Ginger's name and station to work her way into the school. Which of course, they didn’t know at all, being privileged information.
“Why, we don't know. That's why I brought this man. Here. Denno?” He gestured and the small dark man who looked a lot like a younger, smaller version of Count Ward, but even more perfect, moved forward.
“Yes, little brother?” He said softly, voice calm.
Tor didn't have a plan at all, so just shrugged.
“Well, you’re the Ancient of Austra, so, what can you tell us about all this? Who likely ordered it, what else should be expected and anything else you can come up with that might be right. We can't force you to help us, but, well, if your plan doesn't involve an army taking out Austra next week, I suggest you at least trying to help us out here. I get that you have some secret… whatever it is, going on. If that involves killing girls, well, it better not. But be honest about it, please. You're best chance is to engage me in a fight right now, if you have to. I'd love to avoid that, but I can't stop you. Not at the moment.” His voice was flat, tired and so worn even Denno winced, implied threat or not.
“Ah, I… OK. I have no plans that involve anyone from this kingdom at all, except you, Purple and Green. Possibly Laurali Gray as well. Laurali Baker? Also Mr. Dan Green. At any rate, my best guess given the nature of the attack and the kind of agent used is that this was the work of the protection agency. Kind of like… I'd guess the closest thing you have here is the Royal Guard. They guard the Premier and his family, which means Daria, who, most likely, is behind this in some fashion. It reeks of her cruelty and ham fisted ideas about how to run an operation.” Denno looked at each person in the room in turn.
“As too what will come next? That's too hard to accurately forecast. Given her unstable personality type, I'd expect more attacks. Probably towards young women, though not, of course, coming from her personally. The Serge line, no matter how unstable, is marvelous at keeping themselves safe. Truly gifted at it, in point of fact. That means agents brought in for the task. That or ones recruited on site. She was here in the city, I believe? For several years? It wouldn't be impossible at all for her to have co-opted a few people. Austra has a few methods that could allow for that to happen very quickly, if the correct type of person can be found. In this case, my guess would be a killer that has been co-opted, turned if you will, rather than a spy turned killer.”
He was smooth and just a little warm, considering the subject matter, which could have been due to thousands of years of practice, but felt more like an attempts to placate them all than anything else. Tor watched what he was doing carefully, no obviously coded messages to Burks, which didn't preclude very hidden ones at all. But, if Tor had to make a raw guess himself, it would be that the man in front of him was trying to buy his good will. That didn't really make a lot of sense though. Not based on what Tor knew.
Why would he need Tor for anything? He could barely walk at the moment and Denno didn't even believe in magic at all, so his building skills were kind of moot there too. Other than those things though, what use was he to the man?
He was helpful anyway. His words, even if Brown just didn't care about them, added reams of possible data to the mix, and it was probably a lot more correct than the nothing they had before. Even if he was hiding facts or even lying, it probably had mainly truth to it. Good lies did. Tor started probing about the time that Denno wound down a little.
“How likely is it really, that Daria Serge is behind this and not her father?” He kept his voice quiet, soft and tried to sound manly instead of like he was about to collapse. It wasn't nearly as easy as it should have been.
Instead of being intimidating or even coming across as strong, Tor was afraid that Denno was starting to respond to him because he just looked and sounded so pitiful. The man winced and started speaking more softly as they went on. The kind of voice you used with an invalid or dying person. Tor raised his eyebrows.
“Stop that. Acting like I'm about to fall down. Just answer the questions. I know that you've probably seen all this a hundred times before, but finding the… killer and making them pay, stopping these attacks, it actually means something to these people. It means something to me. Don't let age make you forget your humanity Brown.” Tor grimaced, hard and floated closer to the man. “I don't know what all you have going on inside that Ancient skull of yours, probably more than I'll ever understand, but I know this, no matter what this really is, Austra is your responsibility. If you don't stop this, help us stop this, some of these people are probably going to fly over there and end your entire continent.”
Lairdgren looked down, but didn't speak for a time. A long time. Finally he looked at his brother and nodded.
“And some of them can actually do it Den. I wasn't joking about that when we spoke on it. I don't want there to be threats between us and these people don't mean harm to innocents, but in their grief…”
The Ancient of Austra looked at his brothers and finally the room, “I… may be able to get in touch with some people back home and see if I can trace the roots of this for you. It will take some time and I may not come up with anything useful. I don't exactly have the needed gear to hand and while powerful, your technology isn't compatible with Austra's, so-”
Tor stared at Burks and shrugged. The elder man winced and looked away. He had the needed gear, but wasn't supposed to? Tor grinned.
“You can use mine. I keep it in Burks’ basement.” It was a lie, but Green shrugged and gave Tor a solid look, then Denno.
“We can leave in the morning.” If it was said in anger at Tor it was hidden well. It sounded bland. Almost amused.
Denno wasn't fooled at all though.
“You're secret hoard? Against the treaty, isn't it Green? But then, I guess, as you've mentioned more than once, Purple here isn't a signatory, is he. Good plan… I suppose it beats my people being destroyed over one stupid bitch that thinks the world should revolve around her crazy whims.”
Tor yawned.
“Sorry, I'm about to go to sleep. I really can't help it. Um, Burks, if you and Brown would please look into those things for us, I'd take it as a personal favor and um, everyone else, if you'd remember to keep this quiet for now? Please? We don’t want to alert the wrong people, especially since we have no clue who they are.”
Everyone murmured agreement and no one seemed too upset. Baron Coltress didn't seem exactly happy, but he gave Tor a bow before he could float from the room.
“Thank you. You're efforts mean a lot to us all.” He murmured gently.
Tor Bowed back, but found himself waking with a start, head coming up in that over tired fashion that people got when they forgot to rest properly for days on end. He just chuckled about it though, and made his way up to what he assumed would still be his bedroom. It probably was, he figured, since his wife and girlfriend Trice were on the bed when he opened the door, naked, doing something complicated and fun looking. He froze for a second, then closed the door. It was a little awkward, wasn't it? He'd known that they were “friends” that way. Trice had flat out told him several times after all. A stab of jealousy ripped through him, but after a few seconds he just had to shrug.
After all, his marriage to Ali was real enough, but hadn't been for love at all. He did love Trice, but hadn't exactly been around for her lately, and she was fresh from her own traumas and darkness. If she was doing this, wasn't it a good sign? He floated into the room, nearly falling asleep. Awkward situation or not.
“Hey loves.” He said gently, earning a squeak from both women on the bed. They started to scramble to correct their “indiscretion” but he waved them back. “Nah, finish up. If I was in better health I'd join you, but I'm going to pass out in about a minute anyway. Just, you know, I love you both. Talk in the morning?”
It wasn't an inspired speech, but he managed to get to the side of the room, on the far side of the bed, near the wall, before his eye closed. They said things to him, but he wasn't really sure what it was. It had the tone of “I love you” rather than, “get the hell out” which was good, because he fell asleep then.
When he woke up they were both still there, light coming from the window lighting them up, casting golden sheets over them both, as they lay entwined. It was lovely, he decided. Both were naked and wearing several amulets, so heat wasn't an issue for them, after the covers were kicked off. Tor would have been, should have been, aroused, he knew. His pattern just couldn't handle that right now. Smiling he got into the bathroom and managed a full shower and shave, all on his own feet, checked the bed sores on the back of his legs which had healed a lot, once the constant pressure was gone and walked out slowly.
Trice opened her eyes and stared at him as he approached.
“You look better. Um, about all this…” Her tone was a whisper and her gaze moved over Ali gently. Slowly she ran her left hand over the still sleeping girls shoulder.
“I know that it must have been a shock to you.” Her tone was wry and playful.
“A bit, but nothing too bad. I mean, you are our girlfriend, right? I'll adjust. It's just, well, I need to get better and that's going to take time, so I do feel a little down about that part of things. You're both so cute. Anyway, I need to find breakfast soon, if I can. Want to try and get sleepy head there up and around while I get that going? Oh, by the way, we have guests, so you know, whatever that means… Guest rules?”
Surprisingly, even though it was later than he'd thought, nearly ten in the morning, no one else had come down to the table yet. They only had one dining room now, the table made smaller by Collette, not needing more at the moment. Tor could have resized it, but it looked big enough for the number of people they had. Well, the ones that he knew about. It was possible that they had other guests.
The kitchen was in about the same place, So Tor figured that he'd start trying to work something up, only to find the room filled with the scents and activity of cooking already. He sort of recognized several of the people even, from Kings week, when they'd hired a bunch to cook for the hundreds of nobles that had shown up. Apparently they'd never left. Well, that was good. It meant that they’d all had jobs the whole time. Had to like that.
Collette sat on the far side of the room, going over a list, a cup of tea in front of her.
“Looks like we should be starting soon then everyone. Tor, do you have any particular request for the meal?”
“Um, food would be good. Other than that, you know, we have guests, so whatever they like is fine. Maybe something done in Warden fashion, so that they'll feel comfortable? If that isn't too much work? I know it's a bit short notice.” He sounded tentative and weak again, so covered with a grin. If they wanted a commanding high lord, they needed to go somewhere else, didn't they?
“I think we can do that sir, something like the style of breakfasts from before? Very good.” The woman that spoke wasn't that old, mid-thirties at most, about six foot tall, which could have marked her as either merchant or noble, though the way she swung into action argued for the later pretty strongly. Even merchants weren't normally that bossy. Tor just hoped she was actually in charge of the kitchen…
Collette noticed him looking at her and nodded towards the bustling woman.
“Oh, Tor… I know you two didn't get a chance to meet last time, though she was actually here a lot. This is my mother, Glaran. Um, I kind of hired her. She and father aren't together. It's complicated, they were married, but a different situation had to be arranged for father, in order to protect the barony, so they divorced. I hope that's all right, her being here?”
Tor blinked and nodded.
“I don't understand the situation at all, but family is always welcome. Are you Bonita's mother too?”
“Oh, yes dear. She mentions you often. Thank you both for seeing to my care like this. I should have mentioned it sooner, but I had the impression that we were rather hiding me away in the kitchen in shame.” Her eyes twinkled when she said the words though, as if she hadn't thought that at all.
Tor was just confused. Why would they hide her? Especially from him?
“No ma'am. Never. Um, speaking of which, would you be free later in the day? We're going to have to add to the house staff, for several dwellings during Postern, if you'd aid us in that, it would be wonderful.” He turned to Collette.
“We're paying for the Capitals amusements this year. Out of the golds the kingdom is holding for us. So… Rolph invited every member of every Count and Countesses extended family to stay with us. I figure that we should grab as much land along the river as possible and set up houses for them. I'd like the people from Warden to be put up, if possible, since there personal friends. Also, um, we should invite the Ross' and the Brettermeres. Plus anyone else you can think of. Kind of stack this place with our pal's. The Lairdgren group too, plus the… Um… well, everyone from school.”
Tor held his hands out and laughed a bit.
“Yeah, that will keep the curmudgeons away, turn this into the kid’s house.”
Collette walked over and hugged him, as if he might be deranged, but Glaran, who was also blond and still very cute waved them out of her kitchen. She had a wooden spoon in her hand when she did it, making it look like an implied threat, but her face showed a real enough looking smile.
“Breakfast will be out in a few minutes. Now, you two out, let us work. To answer your request Lord Baker, I'd be most please to aid in your plans. Just let me know where and when.”
Tor bowed to her. It wasn't a deep bow, which everyone accepted as being correct, but his words weren't, he knew.
“Just Tor. Which goes for everyone here. Um, I hope to get to know you all. If you need anything, please let me know? After breakfast I mean.” He chuckled a little, but the staff stopped and looked at him silently, until Glaran waved them back into action.
Well, Tor figured that he'd obviously just opened a can of worms there, hadn't he? Oh well.
The dining room had enough room, but got reconfigured into the needed shape, the long table remaining, so dark brown it looked black, with a light blue table cloth on it, but a new, narrow side table got set up to match it, for the food to be placed when it came out. Then Collette winked at him and suggested they go get everyone else.
The meal was good. Nearly as good as what the palace served even. After the meal he gave almost everyone hugs and grabbed Sandra. Bonita had already gone off with Burks and Denno, to see about finding out that secret information of his, and Ursala looked at him meaningfully, a bit sad.
“Right, so, we need to get back to the school for a bit and get the kids there set up. Um, Ursala, a word?” He hated the way he sounded, like he was about to take her to task for something, which wasn't the case at all.
She kind of glared at him too, but she walked over, if a bit stiffly.
“Sending me away?” The words were an accusation, and not happy at all.
“Um, why would I do that? I kind of need you. Right now for work, true, but seriously, stop moping, will you? Anyway… I was wondering if I could get you to do some things for me? I know, who am I to send you on errands, right? But I can't get it all done and no one else would really work for some of it.”
Like checking on the girls at Wildlands Station. Tor had ignored that situation for nearly a year, but they were still his responsibility. Her eyebrows shot up, but she nodded.
“OK. Anything else?” She sounded bored, but not as angry at least.
“Yep. We need to expand the civilian transport fleet, and I'd like you to come with me to Two Bends, because I'd like to get some of the people from there involved.”
“Oh? Well, that sounds more interesting that sitting around feeling alone and bitter at least.” She sighed. “Why not?”
Trice flew them in, being a better hand on the controls of even the fast carriage than he was, and they managed to get on the ground and have the carriage put away before anyone came out at all. There was at least a foot of snow on the ground which took Tor by surprise. It snowed in Two Bends, sure, but normally not near Postern. It was just a thing, particular to the area. It should have been cold, but not snowy. After the second time he slipped he just rose into the air and floated over to the bakery. There was activity down the way and a whole host of new buildings, which made everything seem strange. The old shop he'd grown up with was different too. The front was closer to the street, having been built up, more, it was painted and had a sign with actual words on it. Two Bends Bakery.
My.
Tor blinked and just walked in, floated in, the others following without pause. Behind the counter a familiar form worked, efficiently enough it seemed. Tor's little brother Todd. If by little he meant younger, which the kid was, by a year, rather than shorter. Somehow he'd managed to stretch up to nearly five-ten or so. Otherwise he looked like all the kids. Pale, black haired and light framed.
“S'rih wit'o ifn pleasure.” He said before making a full turn, a tray of bread rolls needing to go into the rack.
When he finally turned, wiping his hands on a clean cloth, he stared, first at everyone else in the room, then back to Ursala, who was almost a foot taller than he was.
“Um, Welcome Lords, to this humble establishment, how may I be of use or service today?” He bowed and held it, not looking at anyone in particular, but from behind the counter.
“Hey Todd, ma set up a marriage for you yet?”
“S'Tor! Um,” he stood up and glanced at the others, “Sorry, I meant to say, no, not yet. Why?”
Tor shrugged and very purposefully didn't look around.
“Just keeping up with things. I heard a rumor that Countiers are far more popular than regular Two Bends guys, but so far I'm not seeing it myself.”
He made the introductions, or started too. Todd already knew Ali and remembered Trice. He even nodded to Ursala.
“Um, Countess… Thorgood?” He said, making it sound like a guess. “We met, briefly, at the King’s birthday celebration?”
“Oh, of course! You were there with your parents, brothers and sisters?” She spoke warmly, at least getting that being nice to Tor's relatives was a nice thing to do.
They made small talk for a while, Ursala moving closer to the counter and Todd getting each of them a sweet roll, orange apple. It was unique, but Tor liked it.
“You make these Todd?”
“Yeah, da said I needed to come up with some signature food items, maybe run them by you and see if you'd front me the capital to start my own bakery. I do deliveries too, which pays well enough, but I always liked baking.” He let his head hang a bit, looking embarrassed, probably because it was considered a low level merchant position and they were all royals.
Taking another bite Tor nodded.
“Alright. Pick a location when you’re ready and I'll do that.”
Ali walked forward, pulling something from her purse, from the sigil it was one of the new, more advanced houses. It took a second, but she started to explain quickly enough.
“This will make a good bakery and you can live in it too, so you won't have to spend a bunch of money at first building a real structure.”
It was a good idea.
A great one actually. He could have a baking castle with that if he wanted, which actually sounded kind of cool. All he needed was to buy or rent some space, which was doable.
“Good. So just send a note or come find me and it will get done, gold wise. Should have thought of it sooner. Oh, hey, want a job for Postern? Everyone else will probably be off playing, but there will be a lot of nobles around, so if you can impress any of them with your products, they might want you to set up in their areas. It never hurts to have friends. I'll rent you a space next to my place outside the Capital and you can give away what you make. I'll pay you for it. Get some of the others to help too. If you want.”
He grinned, a charming, if shy thing.
“That sounds like fun. We don't get to do much for Postern here. Just eat a big meal and talk about how important family is.” Looking at the others he bowed again, a small thing though, rather than the proper one he threw out earlier. “Which it is, of course, but it doesn't really make for stunningly fun times for some reason.”
Next to him, Alissa nodded, “we'd love to have you. All of you, Kari and I can help with the baking maybe?” She looked at Tor a little slyly, but didn't smile about it.
Well, as long as she didn't sleep with his brother, that worked for him. Karina could go too if she wanted.
“Hmmm, well, she does need a suitable match, Todd here is within the three steps even. I'll suggest it too her.” Trice giggled as she said it though. Probably because Ursala was turning a bit red. It wasn't blushing, Tor knew that because her eyes narrowed.
“I think not.” She looked at Tor and tilted her head, which looked regal on her. “Where is your mother, do you think?”
He had no clue, but Todd did. She was working at the central warehouse, setting up the schedule for the next day’s deliveries. The pointing finger suggested they go down the street to the new buildings, to the right.
“Thanks Todd. Hey, I mean it about Postern. You in?” He used the home tongue, which got his brother to grin.
“Hey, yay! Just to see the Capital would be nice. I always get the deliveries to the eastern coast. Never been down that way save the once. Think ma and da will be all right with it?” The cadence was rapid fire and without much pause. It was nice to hear someone speaking properly again.
“Should be all right. I'll clear it with them now if you want. Oh, um, what do you think of Ursala here? She's single and needs to get married and is really nice. I can suggest to ma that setting up a go between might be a good idea.” It took work not to make his tone teasing, but he managed it. Mainly due to pure lack of energy, but Todd just blinked and stood still for a second.
“Alright. She's very pretty and if you say she's a good sort, that's enough for me. I don't know that she'd have me, but what the heck? Ever since Vera married Lind Samson, there hasn't been even one eligible girl in town. I know, you'd think that glamorous flying men would get some attention other places, but people tend to leave us all alone. I think they don't want to risk slowing a delivery.”
With a wave Tor got them all going in the right direction.
The new complex was just a large empty wooden structure, at least it had no interior walls to speak of, just the outer shell of a building. It had stuff in it, mainly cases with float plates on them. At a square wooden table he found his mother, sitting alongside Tiera, who had grown to look very similar to, but not exactly like, a younger version of their mother.
Thank god. Now if it just meant she had a shot at being her own person and not another copy of Lara Gray, Tor would have to start believing in some god or another so he could thank them properly.
“Hi everyone!” Tor tried for happy sounding, which got attention at least. His little sister ran to him and gave a large familial hug, then turned one on Alissa, sized up Ursala and bowed, then saw Trice through the door.
Small hands clenched into fists as she did that and she stepped forward moving between Tor and the other girl.
“What, do you think you're doing here?” The girl said, her voice almost copying the royal accent perfectly.
“Bitch.”