Rolph gave him funny looks the next day as they sat in the student’s dining room eating bowls of oatmeal, dried fruit bits stirred in, and drank small cups of fruit juice. Hardgrove had let them use the facilities so that everyone would have something to eat before lunch, and came to eat with them himself. Tor and Rolph had actually made the food, humble as the offering was, and Ali helped out by serving it along with her roommate Sheri. It was a team effort all around and if no one mentioned it, they didn't complain about the quality of the food either. Since they were mainly nobles, that spoke about just how many of them had gone without the day before.
Most of the highborn loved to complain.
When Hardgrove asked, his voice quiet, what should be said about who was paying for everything, to throw Burks off, Tor actually had an answer ready. It had come to him in the middle of the night as he dozed and fretted over that very thing. Not that he could really hide it from Count Lairdgren, since it was being done in his name, but he could distance himself a bit and get some cover maybe, using someone else as a shield.
“Right. Well… Um… it's a special project of the Queen and the Princesses isn't it? Gathered up their allowances and some other coins from friends, and are spending them here on us, so that we can repay the kingdom later with knowledge and good works. Plus… it isn't free really. Everyone is expected to work on breaks or during emergencies if they have to. Not that people wouldn't anyway, but it will let people feel that what they're getting has value and that they aren't being humbled by it. I hope so at least. We really will put them to use if need be, right?”
That got an actual smile from the man.
“Very good. I must thank they're majesty's then. You may want to get with them first though. So they know of their good works and don't get taken by surprise. We wouldn't want the Count to feel confused as to who's doing what, would we?”
Tor just smiled back and nodded himself, happily. It didn't shock him at all that Hardgrove had figured out his plan so easily. The man was basically the kingdoms “trainer of spies” or something like that. He could probably have a fairly accurate accounting done of how many pair of socks Tor owned.
The answer was zero, though he wore a good facsimile at the moment. Brown to match the heavy canvas clothing he affected.
The rest of the day for Tor was spent working, at least after he gave five thousand gold to Ridley and Henry for their part of things, which had required a run up from the Capital to deliver it. Collette, his friend, got his little sister Tiera to deliver it. It was nice to see her, even if she was a little pushy at times.
Rolph said it might be too much, but Tor didn't think they'd steal it from the other students. Besides, if you didn't trust people they couldn't prove worthy of it, could they?
It wasn't fair really, but Tor dumped a lot of the work on his friends, sticking to copy work for a few days as the term started, at least in the evenings. It wasn't good, he knew, not enough, but he did make an effort to spend time with Ali each day, making love when they could, of course, but also just talking about how things were going for her. She seemed happy enough so far, but Tor worried, because she would have said she was happy even if she felt miserable, just to keep his spirits up, wouldn't she? He could have checked directly, but she was his wife and leaving her that extra bit of internal privacy seemed important. Instead he just did his best and tried to balance out his school work with the rest of his life.
The new classes amazed him to no end, so at least he didn’t have to contend with boredom on that score.
Music especially, since he hadn't even known what went into it before. Reading sheet music was like learning a new language, if a simple one, and the instruments were varied and each had to be treated differently. In the beginners class he was in they got to try them all out, to see what they liked best. Tor ended up with the violin, because the guitars were all a bit too big for his hands and the woodwinds all sounded off to him. He wasn't very good yet, he knew, so tried to work in an extra hours worth of practice each night, using one of the sound canceling devices so that poor Rolph wouldn't have to listen as he screeched and scratched away.
Economics was fascinating, even if it was taught by Wensa, the Royal Guard Captain in charge of protecting the Prince. She didn't advertise the fact and was simply “Instructor Wensa” at the school. She was probably the second hardest teacher Tor had ever worked with, Kolb being the first. He was a weapons and fighting Instructor, but since he left and took everyone else with him, that section of the afternoon was pretty much left empty. With a war on it was too hard to find anyone that could fight well that wasn't off getting ready for the Austrans.
It was on the second day that Tor had an idea. Again one of those stupid and probably overbearing ones that made him feel embarrassed for having thought about it in the first place, but a real enough one. When he got to the practice area to begin his personal run and stones work out, he took a deep breath and called everyone over. His face felt full of blood, but he made himself say the words and tried to sound confident.
“The weapons instructors are slightly delayed, due to the war, so we're going to break up into three groups and the senior students will act as instructors until the real ones get here. I'll let you decide who does what, but we want armed, unarmed and magical device sections. Everyone is going to be learning to fly, so that needs to be set up too. Can anyone fly yet?” He looked around but even the older students didn't raise their hands.
“OK, starting tomorrow I'll start teaching that part, after my own work out.” It was more to do, but he'd been flying as long as anyone. Longer than anyone, literally, if only by a few days. The beauty of having made the device for it, Tor was the first moron to go up. It was safe enough, but he hadn't really known it at the time.
The others fell into line as if he knew what he was doing, and set the younger students to working at pells and learning basic techniques. No one was as good at teaching as Kolb or even his top instructors, but then they hadn't had the time to learn yet. The younger kids were getting something at least, and if they weren't good, at least everyone was getting exercise out of it. It took even more work to set up the early section, and he had to get Rolph to teach flying for them, that being when he was supposed to train anyway.
Advanced build theory was his favorite class by far, a lot of little things he'd never thought of were introduced that made him want to kick himself for not figuring them out sooner, like letting fields grow to greater strength by mimicking biological processes. No one in the class could do it, not yet, but the theory was actually an old one. Worse, he'd had the idea before on his own, but hadn't pursued it, not even on paper. That class was taught by Instructor Fines, his old novel build teacher. If that class had been about coming up with new ideas on your own, this one was very different, it required a lot of reading and thinking, discussion and conjecture instead.
Still, it gave him an idea to use, so Tor decided to try a build based on the magical carriage device. The idea would have normally taken a week to make strong enough to do what was needed, even if he stressed and pushed himself horribly. This time the work would be slower, but if he did it right the power level of the field should end up being incredible. If he messed up, well, that could happen doing new things. He didn't have a lot of time for mistakes though. Not with his upcoming trip to Austra.
During the third week everything changed suddenly. It came during the time when he was teaching a group of ten students how to fly. They were all brand new to it, this being the first day for the third group. He'd tried a larger bunch the first time, but that hadn't worked too well, because it was too hard to pay attention to what they were all doing. Ten was about his personal limit. Well, twelve worked too, but ten just felt right. Rather interestingly, they’d all dressed in what looked like plain school browns for it. Even a couple of kids he knew to be fairly high nobles.
They all matched.
“Flying this way is easy, safe and fun!” He started with that each time, since making it a little exciting seemed to help some of the more reticent students.
“Remember to wear your shield though! Really, you should wear them all the time for now, and make certain that your friends have one and are wearing it too. Having a shield and not using it, especially while flying, is moronic, and all of you are way too smart for that.”
Inside fifteen minutes they we're all up and flying, it wasn't that hard to do after all. They flew standing upright, which was comfortable and made landing a breeze. For a while they just went up and hovered, about a hundred feet from the ground, then made a safe landing. It wasn't the most interesting part of things, but once you had the landing down the rest was almost just play. That's what he told them at least.
They made the traditional first flight, heading to the nearby town of Lenders, hovering over it for a while practicing turns and then flying back to the weapons square. It was when they came in for a landing that Tor first noticed the change. There were suddenly a lot more people than there should be, and of the new ones, most were clad in leathers. Combat leathers. Tan and black, dusty and worn looking.
And they were watching the students practice like hawks ready to swoop on mice.
He came in carefully, smiling when he realized who it had to be. Kolb and his people. The man himself walked over, scar on the right side of his face from corner of the eye to just about even with the edge of his mouth, fairly large and filled with lean power, bald head shining in the sun.
“Tor! So are you responsible for this mess?” He said, his voice slightly dark.
“I'm afraid so. I know it's not much, but-”
“Ha! Don't worry, you all did fine. Better than fine. We half expected to come in and find the students resting in the shade and eating sweets. The other half was that we'd come in and not find any students at all and have to beat them for skipping. They actually look decent for week three. The older students need more work, but that's not their fault.”
The look he gave Tor was serious then. He dropped his chin a bit, like a person getting ready to fight.
“No, the fault there is yours. You may not be the mightiest warrior in the kingdom, but you can see to it that their doing better than that. You have the skills, and are a Knight of the realm. I expect you to do that for the next week. Use the other instructors, but you're in charge of it. Also, I want to increase the flight training numbers. Dean Hardgrove tells me you've outfitted the whole school with shields and flight gear?” The question had an edge to it, like the weapons instructor wasn’t certain it was a good idea.
Tor nodded anyway, since it was simply the truth. That got a rough sound from Kolb that was a little more pleasant than he’d expected. Somewhat impressed. Possibly.
“Then we need to make sure everyone has proper training fast. Kids will use those things you know, trained or not. They probably already have been.”
Hanging his head slightly Tor realized he should have been doing that all along, taking the better kids he taught and getting them to teach the others. How stupid could he be? It really would speed things up, he simply hadn’t even thought of it. Probably why Kolb was an expert instructor and Tor was just a student. This got him a pat on the back when he mumbled it.
“There you go, learning already. See to it. They're your students, so you should have a decent judge of capabilities already.”
It meant that he had to work twice as hard to get everything done and the work he was supposed to be doing in the evenings slipped badly, going down to two hundred units a day most of the time. He struggled to make up for it on his off days, but if he wanted to spend time with his wife, which was, he realized, a more important duty than schoolwork, something had to give. Slowly over the course of weeks that became sleep. His personal field stayed strong and the more organic build was growing well enough, he thought. It kept getting stronger each day at least. Tor was just exhausted though. Something he was kind of used to, but really, some extra sleep would be nice.
Sure, he could just sleep anyway, but people were counting on him. Really, he decided, he needed to just toughen the heck up. Other people went a long time on short sleep, didn’t they? Why some of the rich kids at the school hardly slept for days on end, so they could drink and party. It was exactly the same thing.
Only without the hangover.
The days dragged on, but at least he had product for the shops that carried his goods, the one in Printer and the other in the Capital. He even made up a large box for Dorgal Sorvee, since they were supposed to be friends now, even though the boy had been a jerk to him while they'd attended school together. Tor still wasn't really sure it wasn't some elaborate trick, but if they were going to be friends, that meant Tor had to look out for him as he could, didn't it?
Being a half hearted friend didn’t make sense at all. That would just waste time and cheat everyone involved out of a chance at really building something worthwhile.
Finally, on the fourth set of off days after Kolb and his people arrived, Tor managed to get to the barber and get his hair cut off. He went short, an elite military cut almost, a fighter’s cut, barely long enough to be brushed or combed, but it left his head feeling light and free when he stood up. The haircut was “free” but the service was one that the school had actually covered in prior years. Henry had arranged for Tor to do it now, which kept the older man in business at least. Tor gave him a gold as a tip and thanked him for freeing him from the prison of hair. The man was happy enough to have helped and pocketed the gold without really realizing it wasn't a copper. It was too much, but Tor also knew that even the rich kids had been tipping less this year, so it would help keep the man and his family afloat.
It was walking out of the small shop that opened directly into the stone commons for the school that they found him. Three of them, large, powerful, and bent on his capture.
“There he is!” One of them called to the others, which made him look around to see who they were talking about before he realized who was there.
A hug came in from up high, exuberant, but not so hard it triggered his shield into action. That was Petra, who didn't let him go, but shifted so that Sara and Trice could take a turn too.
They all looked good, healthy and strong. Sara had restyled her hair a bit, the blond military cut slightly longer now and brushed back from her face. Trice looked interesting, her hair bleached blond on the outside with nearly two inches of dark brown showing at the bottom. It was just her hair growing out, but it was an attractive pattern anyway. They all wore student’s clothing, Sara and Trice in black, Pet in brown, all of their outfits were made to look like high end clothing, silk and leather, but Tor knew it was all just the clothing devices. His still looked like canvas. Felt like it too.
“We've come back to school too, isn't it great? The war suddenly died down for a bit, so the King suggested we all come and learn what we can in the mean time. Plus he said he wanted these two to keep an eye on you.” Petra sounded happy and excited about the prospect and the other two nodded. Of course, friends of his or not, they were sent by the King to keep tabs on him. The black meant they were training to be spies after all. Probably good practice, though really, if the King wanted to know something, it would be quicker to just ask. They both also claimed to have feelings for him, which was generally true, but confusing. He was married now and even though he was allowed to sleep with other people by social convention, he hadn't yet. Not even one of his personal friends.
So, Tor thought, wonderingly, about half his people had managed to come back to the school as well? More if he counted the ones he knew that were in Kolb's group. Petra was one of those, and really, the idea of her coming back to school as a student was more than a little odd. She was a hard core combat giant and hadn't slacked off in the year and a half or so she'd been out of school, in fact she'd spent part of that time teaching him, so he didn't get too rusty or out of shape. When he asked about it she smiled and hugged him again.
“It's obvious, isn't it? If I were an Instructor here I couldn't sleep with you. This way I can. My course load is light and Marvin is paying for it, even giving me a full allowance, which is nice of him. Mom was covering it all from her funds for years. It's practically a vacation for me.” She really seemed happy about it, so Tor kissed her, and then, laughing had to kiss the other two as well, so that they wouldn't feel slighted.
They all ate in the big dining room, the one that Tor had used his whole time at school, except once. It was one of the changes at the school to save gold. The other kitchen for the special school kids cost nearly as much to run, and only fed about thirty of them. The food was simpler than in the smaller rich kids dining facility across campus, served on wooded plates that looked like square trays, and sometimes earthenware, with silverware made of steel instead of silver at all. The cups were heavy ceramic things in a dull and boring brown, most of them chipped and cracked. The special school students still looked a little awkward crammed into the room with the regular kids. A few sat in mixed groups though, Tor noticed.
Making new contacts. It was a good idea really. Anyone here could end up being useful or important after all.
Henry and Gersh sat with Ridley and Ali for instance. Rolph was next to Sheri and another girl that looked a little older and cuter, who was obviously trying to get the Prince into bed. Tor didn't even have to hear the conversation to get it. She kept smiling and patting his arm openly, leaning towards him and smiling the whole time while trying to make eye contact. The tables were long and each had room at them, but only a few places were left. Trice looked around and raised her eyebrows.
“Well… cozy. I guess we mingle now and learn to get here earlier from now on?”
It was a plan at least. Tor moved to the nearest seat and tucked himself in, getting an odd look from the girl that sat next to him for some reason. Girls did that with him. For a long time he'd figured they just thought he wasn't good enough for them, but he'd been told that wasn't really the case, and most of them wanted to be friends. Actually, what was said was more pointed and suggested they wanted to be his girlfriends, but how likely was that? He wasn't anyone special or anything, right?
“Um, hello.” The girl’s voice was soft and shy. She wasn't pretty or anything, in fact, she was a little snubbed nosed and pinch faced. Her skin was about as dark as most people’s compared to his own very light tone, but she did smile at him, and friendliness always counted for more than looks.
It took him a second to place the face and then the name.
“Lyn? You made it! This is great! How are you liking your classes so far?”
The girl giggled and looked around the room.
“I love it here. The foods good and I get to work on learning to build every day. It's harder than I thought, but I think I'm doing alright. I'll tell you for certain when the marks come out.”
For a second he wondered why she'd do that, but then he remembered that he was personally sponsoring her at school. It wasn't even a generic scholarship. He paid for her directly. As her patron. She was a fellow builder after all. One capable of making copies without a template at thirteen. Without any prior lessons in it at all. Looking at her he realized that she had on a clothing device, but that it wasn't one he'd made, she'd copied that too. Without a template. He knew that for a fact, but he’d never bothered to build one for that device. Excellent. The field was strong and healthy too.
“Oh!” Tor remembered something then, since he was sponsoring her he needed to see to all her expenses and maybe some spending money. It was part of a sponsor’s duty after all.
“Can you stop by my room later?” He asked, not saying why. After all, it might embarrass her if other people knew that she wasn't from a rich family. Some of the kids could make a huge deal out of things like that, as stupid as it was.
She nodded and ate quietly for the rest of the meal, if happily enough.
She just followed him Rolph and Trice back to the room, walking behind them as if she weren't part of the group. Tor stuck his tongue out at her.
“Don't hang back there, people will think you're too good for us or something.” His smile and wide eyes got a laugh, if a slightly nervous one. Trice held out her right hand to the girl smiling and held hands with Lyn until they got to the door.
“Too right Lyn. If Tor’s adopting you, then that means you’re one of our people now. It’s probably a dubious benefit, but we clean up nice.” The words got a giggle from Lyn and a wink from Rolph. Tor just nodded seriously.
She was one of his people now, wasn’t she? It was a very real point and he’d kind of fallen down on his job with her. Tor didn’t apologize though. No, the only way to make this slight up now was work.
In the room he didn't make her wait though, he counted out the weeks they'd been at school, seven now, and handed her a gold for each, making her blink and the others go still. Was it too much? Princess Karina had told him that she got five golds a month allowance and he knew that some kids got more than that when at school. Finally though the Prince nodded to the girl.
“Try not to flash that around. If you want help managing it, let me know. I can arrange some investments for you, if you like.” The funny thing was how serious he sounded.
“Would you sir?” Lyn said sounding even younger than her years. She held all the golds out to him but one. “I’ve never had this kind of money before. It would be a relief.”
Tor wondered at the term, money, but he didn’t really recognize it. Except, really he did. He got that it meant coin from context at least. It was strange though. Normally when someone used a made up term like that, it was him. Tor smiled and nodded to her.
“Cool.”
That got a grin from the small girl and a pat on the back for her from Trice.
“Don’t worry, Rolph’s good with coin. Learning to be an accountant even.”
Then Tor gave her a copy of each of the things he'd made, there were nearly thirty fields in all, so he set up a floating chest for her to carry everything in. She’d need one of those to work with anyway.
“Right, so a gold per week for supplies, investments and occasional treats, that kind of thing. Get with me if you need funds for working supplies and we’ll handle that separately. The devices are on loan to you, start making your own copies from them, I suggest doing it on metal, there’s a shop in town that has some for sale, I'd get the cheapest since someone else is paying for it, but it's up to you. When you get a copy of each of these I'll help you work out your plan for a novel build.”
She left hurriedly, seeming excited by the idea rather than put off. That was something Tor could understand at least. When he was new at school they'd dragged everything out for years before they let him do his own work. Even there he’d kind of just done it, without asking for permission. It wasn't that hard. If you could do copying, you could make your own stuff. It just took planning and getting a feel for how reality worked.
Trice and Rolph both stared at him.
“Um, what?” He said hoping he hadn't just breached some major rules or social protocol. Was it really too much coin for her? It probably seemed like more, coming in all at once.
Rolph shook his head.
“There's what, fifty people in the kingdom that can make devices without a template, and you just sent a little girl off to make two dozen of them as if it were nothing. That's what.”
Tor shrugged.
“Fifty-one now. She can do it. If she doesn't end up being a lot better than me in the end, I'll be surprised. She’s here for a reason you know.”
Trice took his hand, using her right one, the left being real looking and feeling, but not having the ability to feel anything yet. That had to be his next project he knew. Actually, since he had some time he should do it right now. The hand had been hard to make, but he didn't have a clue how to make something to do the work of nerves yet. If he went off to Austra and died though, he didn't want to leave her with a sub-standard arm. That would just be unprofessional of him.
For that matter he needed to make a right hand for Smythe of Westend, who was currently his boss in a strange back room fashion. A good guy, when he wasn't being a prick and trying to kill him. Well, he didn't have time to waste really, did he? Taking Trice by the hand, Tor got her to sit on the bed, Rolph took that as his cue to leave, a small smile on his face, letting Tor actually work for a bit.
The nerve pattern was a simple enough thing, once he captured the sense of the field. He already knew how to place feelings in a person’s mind, even physical sensations, so all he had to do was combine the two things, test it, then if it worked, rebuild the hand entirely with that added in. Simple. Trice had just been sitting and looking at him while he examined her pattern and his own, trying to distill the essence of what it was to be a nerve, so when he looked up she kind of sighed at him.
“Tor, not to be pushy, but I kind of expect a little more from my dates than just sitting on a bed holding hands. If you don't want to talk, fine, but at least-”
Tor kissed her, focusing on how her nerves responded to the action. When she sat back after a full two minutes she practically purred at him.
“Better, now for the rest?” With a tap on the sigil around her neck, after digging it out, she made her clothing vanish.
It took about an hour to kiss most of the rest of her body and for her to return the favor, but the time was well spent. Not only did he get a good sense of how nerve information was gathered and processed, it was fun. It wasn't sex, exactly, but he felt like he knew her a lot better now. They managed to get dressed just before the rest of everyone came in all at once, led by Rolph, since he had to get them through the door.
Ali stared a little as they sat on the bed and then nodded to them, walking over and kissing Tor, then doing the same to Trice.
“Good. I was worried for a bit, at least now you can help me with him Patricia. I love him, but he's a bit prudish.” She softened the words by sitting next to him and giving him a hug.
Tor tried not to laugh. By her standards it was just true, wasn't it?
Rolph stared at her for a half second, it was a funny look, but Tor didn't get why at first.
“Emergency Tor. County Cannor has been hit by a lot of flooding and needs help, I got it from… sources, but we've been requested to help by Countess Cannor as well as the King. By we, I mean the whole Lairdgren School. Apparently the word about the “Queen’s gift” to the school has gone out already. Funny, but when you say things like that to the King, he tends to take you at your word.”
Ah. That had Burks written all over, didn't it? His idea of “revenge” for Tor overstepping? Make it real and put them all to work. It was fair. Besides, people needed help, didn't they? Of course he'd do what he could. Tor climbed up quickly and grabbed his emergency chest. It had everything he needed to head out with, as well as things that might aid people, healing devices and all that. Everyone else just stood, waiting for some reason.
“Um, guys? Emergency? Shouldn't people be packing and assembling to fly out? Get with the instructors and all that? I don't know how many will be allowed to come, but maybe someone with red-hair should go and check with the Dean if he hasn't already?” Tor stared at Rolph, who shrugged.
“Sure, send me to do the dirty work. Alright. I guess I'll be back in about twenty minutes or so, with news one way or the other. Sigh I say, big, put upon sigh. But if we can't go, don't blame me. This is weird and my natural charm can only do so much.” Walking out, the large man threw a look at Tor. Didn't he want to help? Tor wondered and figured it probably wasn't just that. Maybe Tor was supposed to go chat up the Dean himself, but…
He had things to get ready.
People scattered and Tor went outside to get ready to leave. That he only had a vague idea where County Cannor was wouldn't stop him from trying to go, of course, even if he had to do it alone. Mary Cannor had kind of adopted his mom when she was a girl, since as far as they both knew her real mother had died in childbirth or some such. Real blood link or not, it meant she was his grandmother. Mary Cannor was also a bit of a loon and sometimes seemed to be missing a few steps in the process of life, but that didn't mean she and her people didn't need whatever bit of aid he could come up with. Plus the King had requested their help, so that kind of made the whole thing more important, didn't it?
Nearly eighty people stood with him in the commons, the gray stone underfoot slightly damp from an earlier rain, and the sky starting to darken early. More people came as they waited, running, carrying bags with them mainly, packs, and a few people seemed to have made their own on the fly by wrapping their belongings in bed sheets and tying them over one shoulder across their middles.
Clever!
Tor would have never thought of doing that on his own. His case would follow him, flying through the air, but these people had efficiently used what they had to make do, and in minutes, not the hour or so it would have taken him to make a box himself. He filed the information away for later. Who knew what would be important over time?
The Dean actually ran out, as did a whole host of instructors. At first Tor figured they were going to tell everyone they weren't allowed to go, until he saw that all of them had packs and flying rigs on too, including Hardgrove. He'd changed into military black and had sturdy work boots on his feet. Apparently he was serious about coming too, because the second time his famously long beard got caught on something, he pulled a cutter from his front chest pocket and made it nearly a foot shorter in a single efficient move. It looked slightly funny now, all flat on the bottom starting about an inch under his chin, but it was a sign that everyone needed to take this seriously if they were going. Not everyone was, of course, going anywhere. About a third were, which made Tor's heart sing a little. There was a problem, so people stepped up to help, even if it might be dangerous. Even if it would definitely be hard and uncomfortable.
Not all of them were fighters either. Ali and her roommate were standing by less than five minutes after Tor went outside for instance. They were young, but his wife had carefully gone through his other things and built a box of potentially useful items of her own. Sure, he'd probably have to remake them for the shops later, since a lot of them would be “lost” during the mission, they always were somehow, but as long as most of them helped someone in need first, he could deal with it.
They were only things, and he could remake them, it only took time and effort. He had effort in decent supply. Time less so, but that would work itself out. Tor reminded himself to focus on the important things first. Lives trumped objects and coin, every time.
Ali looked at him nervously when he walked over and gave her a hug, probably expecting him to tell her she couldn’t go. That would be foolish though. They needed the help and she’d already proved her worth, grabbing things he hadn’t even thought of and making up two floating cases.
“Good. You and Sherri can be in charge of the healing area. As soon as we put down, slap up a house for it and set up a hospital. We have healing amulets, you know how to use them?” He included both girls, Ali nodding, having used them a couple times if for minor wounds and burns. Sherri had no clue, but that was fine, Alissa could show her.
Kolb came and thankfully had a map, one oiled and folded to show the first part of the route. The flying would be dangerous, since it would take all night and that meant not landing until morning, so he warned everyone to go to the restroom while they could. Blind night landings were possible, if you took it slow and settled to the ground over the course of ten minutes or so. Otherwise it would probably mean slamming into the ground. That was survivable with a shield, but wasn't fun.
On a trip like this it would be fastest and safest to simply fly all night, staying spread out and going high as possible the whole time. It got hard to breath if you went too far up, but keeping on that edge of that zone would let them tell for sure that they weren't about to hit the earth.
The flight was hard, pretty much the hardest he'd ever had and Tor had gone across the kingdom before alone, more than once. People complained, calling out their problems as they flew, most of them going unheard. They may not be as fast as an Austran craft, but they were flying about half the speed that sound traveled through the air. It made talking nearly impossible, listening too. Of course that meant he didn't have to listen to people whining about things that no one could do anything about, but it also meant that if anyone had a real problem it might be missed. Tor made a point of checking the field of each person for serious issues as they all flew. It was hard while flying, but worth the attempt. In the main people just had to go to the restroom, were pretty hungry and felt a little lonely and isolated. That they were part of this large group didn't impact everyone as sharply as it did most of the people.
It took twelve hours for them to be able to see, and another half hour to fly back towards land, since they'd over-shot and found the east ocean. A mere three hours later they landed in Cannor, it being well up the coast. The flooding was visible from the air as they moved towards the county capital. Canton.
They landed near a small building that had men and women running in and out constantly, that looking like a likely place to get started. From inside a shrill voice yelled, nearly screamed to be honest, a tense and angry sound. It was Mary, and what she was yelling… Made perfect sense.
“Get men over there now, we need boats, river rescue… And food, shelter. Tell everyone to open their homes. I know they don't want to! Do it anyway. This isn't a time for being selfish.” Exasperated and just edging towards panicked, she stopped as soon as Tor and Kolb stuck their heads in.
“Finally! Here's the situation.” Her words were quick and precise. Sane, and not just reasonable, but intelligent. Tor didn't let himself be taken aback by the idea.
She was needed, so she showed up. He could accept that. Even if her mind was a little sloppy about where reality was kept most of the time, that didn't mean she wasn't going to try her best when the situation cried for it. Right now it was, loudly and with a passion. So Countess Cannor made a point of being in charge.
Kolb drew directly on one of his maps, “I'll take a team of twenty here and sweep down the coast. We'll send a second group here,” his pen tapped the page firmly, showing an area that was nearly a murky brown now from what they saw from the air.
“Karen will handle that. Tor?” It was clear that he was supposed to say something useful and helpful now. Yay.
“Alright, Alissa and Sheri have the hospital already started out front. Magical healing, but if we have any real doctors around or people good with that kind of stuff, send them over please. I also think we should send teams down all the rivers. We have the people, and they can fly. Some of them are a little new to things like this, but if we can send some of the older kids along, maybe groups of four? Hopefully we won't lose too many that way.” Hesitating Tor took a deep breath and prepared to dive in, but Hardgrove walked through the door, obviously having been listening.
“We can send an instructor with each group of four. They may not be any better off, but at least they'll have someone to listen to in a pinch. If they can stay on task, this will work.”
He sounded confident, which made Tor feel better at least. It was a trick of course, because the man had to be near gibbering at the idea of sending young and largely untrained kids out like this. Tor was too, but decided that he needed to do his own bit of covering and nodded. He pointed at the map and went over the working groups again. The plan left him in one of the five man search groups, but that was fine. The really important work now would be done by the main groups and the girls with their hospital. Searching was more glamorous, but the housing and medical groups would be the big deal. Ali had grabbed all the houses meant for sale, the little cottage type, but they'd work, clean water, provide heat and be safe. They had a hundred of them and if need be, he could make more.
No… that wasn't right.
They could make more. He wasn't the only builder here.
Tor was tucked into a group with Wensa, Rolph, and two small boys that still had thick country accents, one clearly from the Printer area down south, the other from further north, near the center of the kingdom rather than the coast, but also on a Printer scholarship. Both were about fourteen and looked as exhausted as he felt. Still, one had the fortuitous name Guide and the other was Sam. Not Samuel. No last name. Just Sam. Both were builders, like him.
The search and rescue operation moved quickly, daylight being key, Wensa told them.
“We can barley fly at night and lights help but don't seem much good for searching large areas. Unless any of you can make something about fifty times brighter than a hand light that won't instantly blind the user?”
It was a throw away comment, but not a bad idea. The woman took off, flying about three hundred feet above the water, and cautioned them not to make a sound at all.
For a second Tor didn't get it, then he realized that it was so they could possibly hear anyone calling for aid or attention. Another good idea. Wensa seemed full of them suddenly. It was her job, as a Royal Guard, to know things like that. Or to figure them out in a pinch.
As they flew, Tor started working on the field they'd need. A focused light that only went one direction. Heh. Just a minor variation on a simple light. Brighter, but that wasn't hard, the first light he'd ever made was many times brighter than sunlight. No the tricky part was trying to focus on the field being made while flying and placing it on the tiny brown stone in his pocket. A natural stone that he'd picked up from the ground. It wouldn't look as good, but that would have to be suffered through. It was an emergency.
They flew and stopped a few times to investigate odd sounds, but didn't find anything. No people. Just a single dog that Rolph moved to higher ground, plucking it from a log in the swollen and dirty river below. It was scared, but didn’t try to bite him, just running away once it was on dry ground.
Nothing more happened, until about three in the afternoon when Guide noticed something floating along, waving at them.
“Help!” The voice was female and sounded stressed, though Tor couldn't imagine why that would be. Couldn't she just swim to the shore and climb out? It wasn't that he was uncaring, just that his focus was still on the light he was trying to make in his pocket. Everyone else was suddenly puzzled as to how to get her, but it wasn't that hard. Not difficult in any way. Really, half the people here had the equipment…
“Boat.” He said, his voice flat and dry, using his right hand to search down the front of his shirt for the right amulet. It got passed to Rolph, who'd seen and even driven one before, the smaller festival type he'd made for the last King’s week. It looked ridiculous in its bright purple and gold colors, but the woman didn't seem to mind when they powered up-stream towards her, gliding silently and then tracked her slow downstream progress.
Sam was the one that made the grab, and though he was a little small to pull her in alone, Wensa wasn't. In less than a minute the lady from the water was with them. Tor got her a healing device, then a temperature equalizer. Handing off one of the dozen he'd stuffed in his inner pocket. She went from shivering and freezing to nicely cozy in moments, her body temperature returning to a nearly perfect level all the way through at once. She looked like a drowned rat still, her dark hair, brown probably, black with wet and missing a few pieces of clothing that probably made her feel uncomfortable. They didn't have anything out there for that, since Tor hadn't thought to bring extra clothing amulets or even blankets.
They found a clearing and made a house for her, since they needed to get back to work, no matter that everyone was half asleep already. That gave her warmth and shelter for the time being and clean water to drink. Wensa had made sure that everyone knew not to drink flood water, no matter what. It was all contaminated. Always and in any flood, she let them know.
When darkness started to fall they pushed the time limit, planning to just land and make camp above the highest water line. It was a good plan, but the cries from the six people trapped on the roof of a small cabin got their attention before they could do anything restful. Of course.
It wasn't a kind thought, but Tor wanted to sigh at them. Instead of running to higher ground, they'd climbed up on their roof? Brilliant. Then again, they probably had a reason. It may not be a good one, but there had to be some thought that caused them to do something that stupid.
It was a full family, two parents, two grandparents, a boy and a girl, each of the kids holding an animal. The young man had a large dog, gray and black, that was growling, apparently having had about enough of this being wet and miserable stuff.
Tor couldn't blame him. Not at all.
The girl held what seemed to be a pig. Tor blinked, but that didn't change. It was still a pig. White and brown, about thirty pounds.
Pig.
Oink.
Hopefully a pet, because if it was just dinner, Tor was going to have to scold the people for being silly. At least the small animal was being well behaved. No growling at all. It just cuddled in to the girl for warmth and safety. Smart.
The field in his pocket, the new light for searching, was done, he guessed. It had a field that should be strong enough and last a couple of years, worked into stone, even if on the fly. The glowing sigil on it was a whole word, that just said “light” in his own fairly bad handwriting, it glowed a cheery and bright yellow though, so it could be easily seen in the dark. He hadn’t had time for something more creative.
That meant he could try clawing his way back to the surface reality with everyone else instead of having the personality of a doorstop and the empathy of a rock. Wensa was talking as they hovered trying to make a plan.
“And there goes the light. So, we need to find some way to get them off the roof, and do it without killing them all or getting ourselves killed. We can't take passengers flying this way, personal rigs, and a boat might work, but they'd have to be athletic and the older ones seems a little stiff. I don't think they're up to an eight foot drop right now.”
Tor literally had to shake himself.
“Ah… um… right so… we use a flying carriage and reconfigure it so the top is open, they can just walk in. I can drive it well enough for that I think. Probably. Someone will have to hold the light. Wensa? It was your idea.” Pulling the small brown river rounded stone from his pocket didn't cause a stir, everyone was too tired for that.
He still wasn't up to speaking much, that was one of the first things to go in a deep trance state, for Tor and most of the other meditation and building students at the school too. Instead of worrying about the words he pulled out the craft from around his neck and fixed it to hold everyone, with two covered areas in the back, that had clear but secured fronts, in case the dog and pig weren't friends without their people holding them. He had to land to do it, but the whole thing only took about five minutes and then got everyone but Wensa inside, sitting on the large and comfortable seats. Smiling a little blankly, but trying to seem sociable, Tor even left a place for Wensa up front, so that she could hold the light for them while he drove back to headquarters.
When Wensa activated the light, a brilliant beam shone from her right fist, spreading in a cone that was many times brighter than the sun when the sky was clear. The whole world below suddenly turned to day it seemed. It sent the light out so that it didn't go into the holders eyes, but Tor didn't know If that would be enough to leave her comfortable or not. It worked though. Still, Wensa wouldn't have complained if it left her blind, not when there was work to do. It looked about right sitting next to her. Hopefully good then. Tor nodded to her and got a soft nod back as the craft settled next to the sloped roof.
The people climbed on muttering thanks and looking like they might be in shock, cold and hungry. They didn't have food for them, but they could get warm easily enough. Once they had the dog and pig settled in their own cages, Wensa lowered herself into the front second seat, flying herself into place carefully, pointing the light in the right direction without being told to. Royal Guards practiced team work from early childhood and never really stopped, so her first thought was about what worked for him as driver, Tor figured, plus Wensa was a quick study. She pointed the light forward and down, so that he could tell where the ground was.
“Nice light. Just happened to have it in your pocket? Might have mentioned that earlier.” She said softly, her voice light and playful.
Rolph snorted from the back.
“On a stone I saw him pick up off the ground after you mentioned wanting exactly that kind of magic just before we took off this morning? Right.” The voice didn't sound amazed, just tired and a little proud.
Sam's voice was different, suddenly more awake than not.
“Um, sorry? You created a novel device, while flying through the air and searching for people in the water? In hours? That's… not possible, is it?” His voice had gotten soft.
Tor took a turn to snort and chuckled weakly.
“Of course it's possible. Either of you could do it with practice, and will. There's nothing special about me that you can't match or beat. Don't try it now though, I may need one of you to drive.” Tor yawned and made himself smile, then realized no one could see his face.
“Getting a bit sleepy you know.”
He just drove then, watching the ground for signs of where they were, and distance above the ground, hoping he didn't crash. That would look pretty stupid and besides, he really wanted to get some sleep. Being dead may or may not be restful, but a nice bed had always worked for him in the past. Maybe with a cute girl in it for warmth. He was married to one, if she didn't already have company. Or given the situation, if she wasn't just too busy herself to sleep.
Rolph yawned loudly. It was no fair because now Tor wanted to yawn too. The control indicator in his hand got depressed lightly as he did, his head going back.
“Stop it!” He chuckled, trying not to sound panicked at the suddenly loss of altitude. It was horrible control of the vehicle and Tor didn't really want the already worried farm folk to panic. They all seemed a little uneasy so far. It wasn't like they'd been flying before, was it?
“We’ll be back in a few hours, don't make me yawn though! I don't know, somebody talk or sing, something like that?” They were flying at a crawling pace, light or not. Tor really couldn't risk going faster. It just wasn't safe.
The farmers they'd gotten from the roof of their barn told the story, which took about an hour. It amounted to; “a flood came and we lost nearly everything but a dog and a pig. It was scary.”
Still, if they felt better talking about it, Tor could listen. He made encouraging sounds and fought to stay focused. He didn't want to mention it, but he nearly fell asleep several times before they got back, eyes closing without him being able to stop them briefly. Wensa watched him, but said nothing and didn't seem worried outwardly.
Right.
In her world, Tor was the driver, and as such wouldn't fail to do his job as long as he lived. It was a level of confidence that made him uneasy, but he just nodded and fought harder to make sure he did it. Wensa wasn't his friend really, but she didn't make a lot of overt mistakes either. If she thought he could do this, she was right, and one little Torrance Baker had better just do it.
The whole trip took about three hours and from the gentle snoring coming from the back, it sounded like almost everyone was asleep when Tor saw the lights ahead of them. Wensa was awake, but she had to be, to hold the light for him. Without her doing that, the best he could do was set down as slowly as possible and hope he wasn't over the river or on top of a tree.
“Over there, can you set down in a space that small? It should be easy enough for you.” Her voice was teasing and wry, trying to hide her fear of crashing most likely.
“Not a problem.” His voice was exhausted, but also held focus and determination. Confidence wasn't there, but it would have to do. A smile did come to his face at least, which had to count for something. Even if no one else could see it.
Really, it was only hard because he couldn't see directly below himself. Other than that it was just a matter of going slow and settling instead of powering towards the ground full blast. The craft didn't even bump when they landed. A few more hundred hours of practice and he might even get good at this, he decided.
Then he fell flat on his face when he tried to lightly step out of the craft. Tor had felt his foot catch on the small lip on the floor that made sure the door fastened securely when it had a top, which this one didn't. The fall was only from about a foot up, but he really wasn't ready for it and landed nearly flat on his face. The only thing that saved him from harm was his shield kicking in and sending the force of the impact into the ground. A low chuckle rose around him, a tired sound but not too mean. Tor stood up and even though he didn't get dirty, brushed himself off. Oh sigh. Tor grinned and realized that him looking a little bad just didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The universe wouldn't notice that he'd tripped and wouldn't have cared if it did.
That was oddly comforting for some reason, knowing that ultimately he wasn’t being judged for the little things like that.
Then without acknowledging that he'd done it, Tor helped the family in the back out and handed them off to a local man in a light tan uniform that seemed to be making sure everyone had a place to sleep. That was a good plan, otherwise it would be tempting to just curl up on the ground. There were rows of new magical houses to the left, but Tor and the others were all staying in a decently large, very old, gray stone and wood dwelling off to the right. They managed to find beds and started sleeping almost immediately. Tor wanted to look for Ali, but after only a few minutes gave up and just grabbed a single bed, a device he'd made for sale, instead of one of the things from his emergency pack.
Who would have thought about beds?
Apparently Ali would, and that just showed that she was even smarter and more wonderful than he'd thought before. Tor yawned and then sank into it comfortably, letting it hug around him gently. The bed came with sheets and blankets, and, if you knew what you were doing you could make it grow or shrink. It was handy that way.
Tor wasn't too surprised when he woke up with a few other people sleeping next to him. Alissa was tucked into his front, held together like spoons. Behind him was a warm form curled around him that he feared might be Rolph or worse, Ridley, but was only Wensa. It was odd, but not as bad as he’d thought it would be. Rolph was flat on his back next to her and Trice was laying with her right arm drifting over the edge on the far side, looking like she was slowly slipping off the slick white sheet below.
Tor heard people moving around, but they were trying to be quiet, so it was probably safe to sleep a few more minutes. If they came in yelling then it would be a real problem. Drifting off he dreamed that he was flying, the air beneath his feet tingling for some reason, so he landed on a tomb, one made of pure and glossy marble. Ah, one of those kinds of dreams Tor understood, feeling a little reluctant about the whole idea. Well, he'd been warned by Burks they were coming, hadn't he? Because, even if it was all his imagination, the dead would haunt him, if he killed them at least.
Well, dream time then, goody.
It couldn't be happening in his waking life, not really, but he knew who was there. Tor had only done one thing that would set this up, so far at least. Only killed one person. The dead Count Derring. Ah. Well, this had to come, didn't it? His pattern's makeup, his “genetics”, and innate “programming”, as Burks had said, made it so he'd have to pay for each person he killed, one way or another. Monster or not, Tor had directly paid for the Counts death. With enough gold that decent sized villages couldn't have afforded it, even if they collected up all they had. Most full towns would have been hard pressed.
So no denying it was his fault.
Nodding, he readied himself for what had to come. A hand from the ground or a door opening to the tomb, for him to fall into. Instead the man was just there, not looking dead or decayed even, just smarmy and like he thought he was better than everyone else.
Normal for a Count really.
“Mr. Baker! And how are you doing?” He said, far more politely than Tor would have expected, even in real life.
“Um, hi Count Derring…”
“Oh, do call me Robert. Not really Count any more, am I? Being dead kind of cancels that one out. So, not to rush you, but you're about to wake up to an emergency, thought I'd give a heads up.”
That didn't sound right to Tor at all. Count Derring wouldn't have warned him of anything, would he? It didn't seem likely. He asked why the man had come to the sound of cheery laughter.
“Just to find out why you killed me. That's all. I don't suppose you have a good reason, do you? I never did. “I felt like it” was about the best one I ever managed myself.”
Not wanting to just gloss over it, Tor took a minute to think, it was in dream time, so a lot faster than ordinary thinking.
“It was because you had to die. Really, if you lived, you'd have kept doing those awful things to people, hurting them, raping them, all those other things you did that are too evil to even talk about. I still can't let myself think about most of those things you know. You weren't going to stop, were you?” Was he? Had Tor had him killed the day before his reformation or something?
“Oh gods no. I would have kept going, until I died anyway. Really, from here, I can see you did the right thing. Bit inconvenient, being dead like this, but the worlds better for it. Well, no real time left, you need to wake up now and get to work. Remember, work smarter, not harder.” The man chuckled and waved, a strange and almost silly look on his face.
With that Tor woke and sat up.
What the fudge kind of haunting was that? The man just basically agreed that he needed to be killed? It was true, but even Tor's own subconscious mind should have been harder on him than that. Making sure he knew killing was wrong and not to be taken lightly or something… Was he doing this dream thing wrong? Then again, maybe he just knew that the man had actually been unstoppable in any other way and what he'd done was just right?
By the time he'd scooted out of the bed and got dressed the men came in yelling, it still took a second to understand what they were saying, too many voices echoing in the stone hall they'd been given for sleeping.
“The dam is breaking!”
Right, that emergency that was mentioned. Handy that, in a way, since it meant he'd gotten a chance to wake up a little and get dressed first.
Tor grabbed his trunk of stuff and ran out into the cool morning air. After a second he didn't feel it anymore, but his breath made clouds in front of him as he ran. He needed to see the dam to know what to do, but didn't have a clue as to its location.
He needed a map. Fast too. A dam going on top of the existing flooding would be… bad.
Very bad.
The dam was only about ten miles away, half an hour by horse, the man in tan told him. Of course if what they said was true, they didn't have half an hour. They may not have ten minutes even. Tor got the man to point with a single finger and flew that direction as well as he could using a flying rig and hoping he didn't get too disoriented. After a minute the muddy water glinted enough to see pretty clearly, so Tor just followed it, hoping it was the right branch and he wasn't going to end up over the North Pole or something. It was tense flying, desperate and as fast as he could go.
When he found it, Tor understood why the men had come in clearly frightened. The thing was huge, almost two hundred feet high, set between two small mountains of well rounded stone and it's gray material was cracking as water poured over the top.
Tor considered the situation and realized he just couldn't build a new one fast enough. Given a week, or better, a month, he should be able to do it. Right now, all he could do without dying would be watch it fall. The thing was huge and must have been the size of the King’s palace in the Capital. A little smaller than his own magical place had been during the King’s week festival.
That got Tor thinking.
Could he use one of the new forms of magical house for this? Would it hold? Well, it was basically a shield, no matter what it looked like and if he layered walls closely together inside, it might do. Windows lined up from front to back so the water could spill out? Shrugging Tor pulled out the right amulet and hovered in front of the dam, not a foot over the water. Then he activated the glowing house sigil with a single thought, not having a spare hand to physically tap it.
The house was small to start with, like always, so he focused his mind and filled the space completely. The building grew and shifted, altered in creative ways, so that it got bigger at the top and slowly formed a wedge that was smaller at the bottom. Focus and desperation made it solid, filling the interior with walls and removing any air gaps. It looked like the house was crying from its windows when he stopped. Keeping his mind clear, Tor tried to feel the structure with his eyes, tried to find out if it was holding or not. So far it seemed all right, but he needed to be sure it didn't get away from him any time soon.
Having nothing better to do then, still waiting for it to hold or fail, he turned the hundred plus foot tall, three hundred foot wide house a lovely purple color. It looked bizarre, but it was backing the dam well enough for the moment. Tor moved to the bank and waited. If this was going to fail, he needed to be on hand to try and fix it. After half an hour, a bit of water leaked past stone on the left side, almost imperceptibly. Before anything bad could happen Tor expanded the whole thing until the feedback from the device actually hurt his head a little inside. It was a burning in the back of his mind, a low thing he almost didn't recognize, until it got worse.
Hoping it was a sign off a tight fit he waited again. For hours.
As it neared noon, the sun directly over head, white and gold beating down, he got up, to just start back to the base. This wasn't a permanent solution, but hopefully it would get them through the worst of the flooding and a ways beyond. Possibly years. Once above the tree line, mainly evergreens like he grew up with, but smaller and a bit more twisted by the wind near the coast, Tor saw the nearly twenty people flying in, at what had to be top speed. It took a minute but everyone slowed eventually then dropped slowly, so he did the same. It wasn't like he had more pressing business, right?
Rolph had been the first one there, but wasn't the only one of his friends in the group. Most of them were. Including Sam and Guide. He nodded to everyone, smiling a little.
“Tor! Gods above. I thought you'd be dead by now, trying to hold back a river with your mind. It's exactly what you're not supposed to do… is that a house?” The voice went from worried and slightly scolding to incredulous in three words. Not a record, but the best he'd ever gotten from his friend.
Running over to him Sara jumped into a hug. She'd been crying for some reason, but seemed happy enough to see him at least. Hopefully it wasn't anything major.
“You blocked the river with a house? I… that's brilliant!” Trice tried to hug him too, but had to share with Sara, since she wasn't letting go.
The explanation didn't take long, but Kolb set a detail to watch it for leaks or anything else that might go wrong. Baron Havor got the job along with David Derring and Gersh's brother Johan. Apparently the snap judgment he'd made about the man, that he could be a combat giant, wasn't lost on Kolb either. Tor had worked with him when they were organizing the younger students training. He was decent with a blade, better overall than Tor, but nicer too, letting the smaller man win about half the time, so that Tor wouldn't feel bad about himself or look bad in front of the others. He'd made Tor work for it, but not so hard it was impossible.
On the flight back they didn't push as fast, so Tor remembered a few things. Like the fact he hadn't bothered to eat or drink any fluids for nearly a day. Almost two days. That would start to show soon. Even if food was scarce, he needed something to drink. And a shower. But water, check on Ali and then food and bathing. He had to keep his priorities straight, didn't he? So far he kind of feared that he was sucking horribly as a husband. Tor had barley even told her he loved her in the last week. That should happen at least daily, shouldn't it? It was hard, because, well, it was a lie.
They'd married for a reason, and it was a good one, but that didn't make him love her. She was good and sweet, and doing her best to hold up her end of things, so it was up to him to do his part too. That was all. He did like her at any rate, which was a good enough start. A lot of married people just kind of tolerated each other.
The drinking water was easily enough arranged, and he got a shower at the same time. It was clean filtered water, cold and rushing out of a four inch pump line hard enough to nearly knock him down when he stepped under it, and outside where people could see, but no one seemed to mind when he started drinking from it and there was a pump to carry the waste water away from the drain below. Someone had been pretty cleaver about the arrangement really. Using soap from his gear he showered under it, his amulets all off, then shaved hunkered down next to the water. It was inconvenient, and cold, but it worked and he didn't have to borrow anyone’s house. When he fixed his clothing he felt clean and ready for the rest of the day, even if he did look like a first year school student.
Ali, thank goodness was fine, and smiled brightly when she saw him enter.
“Honey! This man,” she gestured to an older fellow sitting on the end of a bed in a nearly empty room, he wore gray clothing in three shades, a button up jacket with vest under it in a darker color and nice looking black shoes. It wasn't high born clothing, but it looked like the man made enough to live on.
“Is Doctor Kincaid. Charles Kincaid I think it was? Anyway, he'd like to buy a healing device from us. I didn't know the price, but he decided it was worth waiting for.” She smiled up at him cutely, since she still sat on the next bed and hadn't gotten up.
Walking to the box that held the gear Tor sorted through and found that they had about forty or fifty of the things left. The man was a doctor, so it might actually be useful to him, right?
“Well…” Tor knew better than to give the thing away for free. Everyone from the King down to servants had warned him against doing that unless he was personal friends with someone. They like it at first, but over time it would wear on their spirits and invite people to take advantage of him.
“Alright, the cost. Half of what you make in the first year you have it.” That was about the same deal he offered everyone and so far most people found it worked well enough.
Smiling, but looking a bit troubled the doctor shook his head after a few seconds.
“I doubt that I make as much in a year as you might think. This is probably worth ten times that. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than willing to send you the gold, this is worth it, if only for my patient’s well being, I just don't want to mislead you.”
The man felt honest enough, mostly. It was a bit of a low thing to do, reading his field instead of trusting the man on his own merit, but Tor couldn't just trust everyone anymore, could he? Still, he seemed an all right guy in the end. Tor shrugged.
“I'm not asking you to send me gold. Instead treat half your patients for free. I don't even care if they're the poor ones that would ordinarily pay in chickens and goats. I'm also not going to loom over your shoulder checking your work. You're honest enough. Is it a deal?” Tor had to fight not to stick out his hand to shake and was mildly surprised when the doctor did.
“Deal. I give my word that I’ll treat half my patients for free for the next year.” He cleared his throat. “Of course I already treat half my patients for free…”
Laughing Tor told him that still counted, obviously, and pulled his wife away greedily. Kissing her gently once out of sight he held her for a while.
“Really I just came to tell you I love you. Now I can get out of your hair.”
“I love you too! You're so good to me. When we got married I figured that you'd park me out in the country or with your parents and go live your own life, but instead you've actually taken time to be with me. I can see now why everyone loves you so much. Really at first I thought it was just your looks and the magic, but it isn't. It's your heart and soul.”
Tor blushed and kissed her again to cover it. Get close enough to a person and they can't see what you’re doing and really, if there was closer than kissing, at least that he could do in public like this, he couldn't think of it at the moment. After about twenty minutes of cuddling someone, a young boy that seemed to be alone, came in with a broken arm. No tears, but he was pale and in shock. Ali used a device to fix it, and the kid howled while it happened, but as soon as the bone clicked back together the yelling stopped.
“Thank you.” He said and touched Alissa face gently, an odd move for someone so young, then he hopped of the table and ran out, his oversized leather half boots slapping against the floor. He'd been wearing dirty cloths, heavy canvas tan pants and a dun colored shirt that had seen better days as well. A lot of people were just making do, so Tor hadn't thought much of it really.
“He's one of the orphans I think. I…” Whatever she was going to say didn't come, Tor waited patiently, since a lot of things took time to work to the surface. Rushing them didn't help. It was better to wait and see what people had to say. Even if it did make him a little impatient.
Finally she blurted the words out all together, a long stream of them.
“I can't have children. Dad, he had us all sterilized. The girls. None of us can have kids. It was so… he wouldn't get us pregnant and have to explain it away.” She didn't start crying, she just looked down and waited.
“Oh, that's horrible! Well, that's not a problem for us, we can adopt. But we should wait until we're out of school at least.” Taking a breath Tor finished the whole thing, so that Ali wouldn't go around thinking it was all her fault they couldn't have kids.
“Besides, I probably won't be able to have children for a couple hundred years, if what Count Lairdgren said is true. Really I have no reason to doubt him yet. Well, other than that the whole story is clearly insane.”
Mouth going into and “o” shape she turned and smiled sadly.
“I'm going to get all old and die and you'll still be like this, won't you?”
Taking her into a hug he murmured the answer back to her softly.
“Well, in a couple of years I should be able to make myself look a little older, so at least it won't look like you robbed the cradled the whole time. Until then, yes. Just like this baring major hair disasters and disguises…” Which he could do, couldn't he? Make himself look older using magic? It was a complex field, at least as complex as the clothing one, but it would be doable.
Another thing he needed to figure out fast, before trying to break Denno Brown out of the Austran palace. A good disguise could be helpful. There was suddenly so much to do again. Relaxing Tor held his wife for about five minutes and didn't let go until someone else came for healing. As she moved off to help the older woman and her daughter Tor ran through what was really needed. Water, food, shelter and then the things for Austra, while keeping up with his marriage duties and schoolwork.
Chuckling softly under his breath he sighed and left to see to his own food, then figure out what to do for the rest of it.
Following his nose led him to one of the houses he'd made, one of the new ones, that had been converted into nothing more inside than a dining facility with kitchen and restroom. Whoever did the work didn't bother with wasteful decorations or fancy designs. The inside looked like stone, the outside looked like the same kind of stone and the roof looked like slate. Probably because having a cobble stone roof on a peaked slant would just look wrong. Several men and women were running things inside, and doing it with a quiet efficiency that spoke of professionalism. That and a grim feeling that was understandable, but didn't seem like the best plan. Being grim led to giving up and that never worked well in the long run. So… better to fake being happy in the moment, Tor guessed. Or at least confidence. It wasn't one of his best things yet, pretending or even feeling, confident at all, but that could be learned. He hoped.
A sad and stern older woman, wearing a worn blue skirt and gray button front shirt, the style here it seemed, both with rips in them pointed a ladle at him.
“Grab a bowl boy. Fish stew is all we have, but we've plenty. That and water to drink and you best be thankful for that. Flood like this the water outside will kill you to drink it. Took magic to get this for us. Countess begged help from the Wizard Tor. Give him this though, he got her quick enough. At first I thought she might have just been saying that to keep spirits up. Here.” Without ceremony a black focus stone bowl was filled to near the brim, a metal spoon popped in it and a cup handed to him. Then he was moved over to a table to eat. No one said anything else to him, but a few of the women stared at him for some reason, their eyes watching, but faces blank and drawn.
He didn't shrug and tried to smile back at them a little when he caught them looking, they obviously didn't recognize him and were just being careful he decided. That made sense. People, men in particular, could try to take advantage of women if they weren't, so it was probably that. They'd relax once they got a chance to get to know him.
Fish stew wasn't his favorite kind of food, but it was filling and didn't make him feel ill or anything, it wasn't poisoned or unclean, he knew that thanks to the testing he'd done via the device around his neck. No one seemed to realize what had been done there, since regular people generally didn’t need to worry about being poisoned, but the food was wholesome enough.
Listening to what other people were saying while he ate, Tor rapidly got what the major concerns were. The first was simple enough. No one knew how much of the collected vegetable harvest had been lost. Most of the food here was saved in jars of glass for the winter, so when they spoke of the food being lost, they actually meant lost, buried in the mud and scattered, not just spoiled. They weren't worried too much about not having food, that would come from the ocean if they did the work, no matter how cold it got. It was just nice and healthier to have fruit and vegetables put by as well.
The other concern was simply shelter. Nearly three thousand families had lost everything to the flood waters and wouldn't have time to rebuild, winter being right on top of them like it was for the region. Right. Well, that could be fixed, if people worked together. A combination of magical houses and focus stone construction. Those last would need temperature plates or at least fire places. Both? Yes. Tor sighed softly as he finished the gray broth in front of him, because there was only one group of people that could do that kind of focus stone work fast. The people that had kicked him out of his home.
Maybe he could request the ones that weren't jerks? Actually, in a way that would probably work, he needed the ones that made focus stone materials after all, not the guards or elite military stationed there. Then all he'd need was to grovel and apologize to a few hundred people for beating them up and it would all be good.
He returned the bowl to a table in front of a kitchen window, a pleasant looking girl inside took it and smiled at him.
“Want to help wash up? Everyone should take a turn…” She dimpled at him, her face a little round and warm enough looking, a light smattering of freckles over her nose and her hair holding soft curls and tied up in the back. A blond color that could easily be confused with brown or even light gray in the right light.
It was a good point, “I'll… not trying to dodge out, but maybe later if I get a chance? I have to see to some things first. In a few hours?”
The girl laughed and shook her head at him.
“Well, at least your bothering to make an excuse, most everyone else just says no and wonders off. Still, if you really can get free, come back? It isn't hard, but it's deadly dull in here alone.” The voice was half playful, half resigned.
“I'll do my best.” He promised.
Tor could make the emergency houses himself… but wasn't going to. The first thing he needed was the other builders from school. There turned out to be eight of them in all, including him, five first years, who could all do at least basic copy work, since you had to prove that just to get in the door, one third year boy named Mark and a sturdy looking sixth year girl called Sandra that had to have the darkest skin of anyone he'd ever met who wasn't from Afrak. She was tall enough he figured her for a noble of some kind, but she didn't stand on it, and had come when needed.
She was the one to find first, being in charge of the builders, based on her age and the fact that no instructors from their section had come along. That twice as many math and economics students came as builders was embarrassing, but there was nothing to be done for it now. As a group builders tended to be a little soft and selfish. Brilliant, but that didn't mean self-sacrificing at all. The ones that had come were all special in that way. Just having shown up kind of meant they were better than the rest, to Tor at least. He'd had to go, but they did it just because it was the right thing to do.
It took an hour but Tor found the whole group of them using shovels to dig a latrine. He nearly laughed, but instead shook his head. They had restrooms, magic ones that would do the work for them and could be set up in seconds. Quietly he asked Sandra why she didn't just use one of those. Or really, set up a few dozen. She could get them from Ali after all.
“They're not mine? Plus that mean looking weapons instructor with the bald head told us to dig a latrine and pointed to shovels. I don't want to make him angry.” She panted a bit. Building was hard, but not very physical.
Tor could see that one then. If he didn’t know the man himself, he’d probably have done the same thing.
“Oh. Well, I can guarantee you that Kolb just wants sanitary facilities and would prefer to have the magic ones. We'll need more of them, I'll get some of those, and temperature plates, then we need to make copies. I'll be doing houses, with Sandra. I mean if you willing? It's just copy work, so no one should have a problem with it. No templates, but that won't be an issue, not for any of you, I can tell things like that now, it’s a magical skill I’m making up right now, the ability to know how good a builder is just by looking at them. Seriously though, just focus a little harder while working. Ten at a time at first and we should have this done in a few days.” Tor forced his voice to be confident and cheerful, because he knew that of the whole group, the only person other than him that had ever made a copy without a template was probably Lyn, the first year girl.
No one said anything, they just stared, except for her, she grinned.
“Beats digging ditches. Don't worry I can show you how to do it. He's right, it takes a bit more focus, but it isn't that hard. I've only done one at a time before though…”
Nodding Tor winked at her and grinned. A forced thing but real enough for an emergency situation.
“Again, just a little more focus is needed. Some of you can probably already do fifty or a hundred at a time, you just don't know it yet, but we need to start slow, since this is an emergency and quality counts. People’s lives are at stake here. Sandra, you're in charge, obviously, but would you be willing to work with me on this? Unless, I mean, you have a novel build that needs to be done to help out? I can do the houses on my own if that's the case.” It was all kinds of presumptuous he realized assuming she wouldn't have her own ideas.
She was a builder in truth and probably only months away from going out into the world on her own. The younger kids might have something too, he realized, so he quickly included them. Just because he hadn't been doing his own work at that age didn't mean they might not have an idea or two. Or fifty.
Sam the first year did, actually, an ambitious idea for a first build too. Probably too ambitious, but Tor smiled. It was definitely worth giving a try.
“I want to try and make a mill.” He said softly, nervous and shy about it.
Tor envisioned a full scale operation, big enough to grind grain for a whole town, but the boy meant something that would set up on a table top, and use shields that would grind together to turn hard grains into flour. Tor smiled and nodded, it was a good idea. It used parts of things Tor had made, his own original work, pretty liberally, but a lot of builders did that, it made sense not to quibble about borrowing a trick here or there, didn't it? There were only a few hundred good builders in the kingdom after all.
Nodding he had the boy draw up a working plan for it, a full template, so others could easily copy it and start producing them before they left, using a bit of charcoal from a fire, scraping sigils for it on a piece of damp tree bark. It would take the boy days to do it, and it might fail, but it was worth doing. Besides, if the guy couldn't get it right, Tor realized he could probably do it in a few hours. He had most of what he needed in his head already. It was better if Sam did it though. That he was willing to try was huge.
Tor made houses with Sandra who struggled to do batches of ten of them every four hours or so, and she wanted to stop when she got bored after the third set. Sticking his tongue out at her he pointed to what he had done by then, which was nearly twelve hundred of them, all glowing with their little red house sigils on them.
“Sure, it's easier to make copies of your own work. Granted. But Sandra, you're a sixth year. You have to be an example for the younger kids. Besides, this is an emergency and you're a builder.” He said it like that meant something, chin coming up proudly. The girl misted up for a moment then let her head raise a bit, proudly, gave a single nod and went back to work. She got faster after that too. A good bit.
Heh.
He'd known she could do it.
The next morning, earlier than he felt comfortable with, Tor contacted the palace to make his requests. This kind of thing was so awkward and hard for him, asking for anything always was, but people needed help here and if he didn't get over his own fear and suggest it, then nothing would happen. It took ten minutes for the King to get to the communications device once the Royal Guard nearest it realized that it was glowing, a bright blue thing that was hard to miss, but someone still had to be in the room with it to see. When he spoke the King sounded tired, like they'd gotten him out of bed just to talk to him.
Gods. Making the man hop to his commands now? How embarrassing.
“Tor?” Voice croaking and slightly raspy, a soft clearing sound came before the King continued.
“How are things in Cannor? Do you need anything?” Straight to the point and matter of fact.
“Hi Rich. Um, actually I need the men from Wildlands Station to build about two thousand homes as fast as possible. I could also use some fruits and vegetables for the people here. I think they can trade fish for it. Is that all doable?” It wasn't fair to dump it all on the King, who sighed mightily and didn't speak for a moment.
“I think so. I can get the military out to do the building. Hate to lose them from their regular work and a few leave days will be lost, so we need some kind of extra reward for them. I'll leave that to you though. Less work for me. As to the food stuffs… Can I get back to you later today? You're not having to do inhuman amounts of building on your own again are you? People can do for themselves…”
This got a satisfied and slightly proud chuckle from Tor.
“I have help this time. Building students from school came with us and are working diligently to make sure everyone has what they need. My part is basically finished for now. Um, if you need to get in touch with them a… woman, a sixth year student, Sandra Morris, is in charge. She's working right now, magical housing, but I think she's on her last batch for the time being.”
Tor agreed to leave Sandra in charge of his communications plate as soon as she finished up, since she didn't have her own yet. No one really did. Maybe she could build her own system, copying the one already in use, or possibly improve his or make her own unique one? Tor took a minute after the King broke off communications to look in on Sam who was floundering a bit, his mind had drifted and the field he was building fading. It was also flawed.
Shrugging Tor sat next to him, dropped into state and corrected the errors, then nudged Sam while holding the pattern. The boy came to with a jolt and a jump.
“Huh?”
“Sam. Feel the new pattern and hold it. You have this. You can do it.” Then he let go, making the boy scramble and fight to keep his hold, feeling all of this in the boys mind. He did it though.
The others had their copy work well in hand and had managed to get faster, spurred on by seeing what Sandra had learned to do, making groups of ten temperature plates every two or three hours. Guide was the slowest, but his work was very good and solid. Lyn was faster but a little sloppy. He gently pointed that out to her and got her to feel the difference. She looked down as if ashamed for a minute, so Tor gave her a pat on the back.
“Don't let it worry you, you know what to do, just increase the clarity of the field as you're working. You can do it. Now go, people are going to need these.” It could be hard to find out you needed to fix something, but it was always better to just do it and go on, than dwell on hurt feelings or embarrassment.
The idea made Tor want to laugh, but he held it in. For instance he was just so good at doing that wasn't he? Embarrassment had led half his life already practically.
With that done and feeling a lot more proud of “his” fellow builders than he actually had a right too, Tor went back to the dining facility and started washing dishes. The water was hot and someone had provided strong dish soap for them to use and natural sea sponges to scrub with.
The girl in charge was shocked when he came back and just started in with her, not asking what to do. He knew how to wash dishes after all and the set up was pretty standard. Take the bowls and dump any fish stew that was left, rinse under the warm running water, then scrub in the hot sink, rinse again and set to dry on the rack. After a second Tor set up a warm air blower, like what the magical houses used to dry you after a shower. It sped that part up a lot.
The young woman, Merilee, was amazed by it.
“How did you do that? You changed the building by touching the wall?”
“Oh, right, um, just touch the part you want to change and imagine what you want, as clearly as possible. It will probably come out a little differently than you think, but it works well enough.” He kept working as he said it, not wanting to look lazy.
The girl, who was an adult woman actually, in her early twenties, chatted the whole time they worked, a pleasant sound, a little high pitched and falsely happy, but given the situation fake cheerful beat the heck out of morose. They worked side by side and she kept “accidentally” bumping into him, even though she was working halfway across the decent sized space for most of it. Everything in the room looked like stone, except them and the bowls, the fake stone gray and uniform, slightly rounded under foot, but not sticking up enough to make them trip. Well not him at least. She kept falling against him, sometimes using him to catch her weight altogether.
“Sorry,” she said after the tenth time. “Must be tired.”
When the dishes were caught up they both sat at the tables for a while, listening to the kitchen people talk. The old woman was angry, because people had been complaining about the lack of bread.
“They think we have starter sitting in the back? Or even leavening left? We have flour and salt. I should take it and feed a bowl to the next person that asks!”
Tor thought for a second.
“Is there any oil? For cooking I mean? Lard or butter, anything really.” His head tilted in thought as the old women stopped in her angry diatribe and stared at him, but not too crossly, which was good. Tor didn’t want to make her angry. Angrier. She was pretty sore already about people pestering her about the food.
“Aye… what of it?”
“Oil crackers.” Tor nodded to himself as he thought about it.
It was about the simplest thing to make that came near being bread, crispy and filling because of the oil, and rich enough people wouldn't complain overly, he thought. He had to run and make a dozen trays from focus stone, a rich black here, darker than the plates, but then it was easy enough. After the first two batches the old women took over the making herself.
“Good thinking boy. I'll make sure to save you some for your supper.” She grinned at him and sent him back to washing dishes, being groped more openly now by the girl working there. Finally, after the first hour of continuing fake falls and laughter Tor just told her to do what she wanted to him, as long as they kept working. Even he could get that she was lonely and looking for attention.
She was cute enough and really, the fake falling thing was getting a little thin as an excuse. For a while the falling stopped and she didn't touch him at all, though she did keep chattering about her life. Just before it was their turn to eat, she pushed him towards the back of the room, out of sight and felt between his legs boldly, which was a bit more direct than he'd expected.
“Oh!” She told him, rubbing enough that he responded instantly under her hand. “That's nice. Would you like too… you know? Later?”
The idea didn't thrill him even as her hand kept working the front of his trousers. It wasn't her, she seemed nice and was certainly friendly enough. It was just that he was busy.
Really though, was that true? He'd spent the afternoon helping to wash dishes and bake crackers. Worthy work, but not something he couldn't take a short break from. Plus, really, she seemed to like the idea pretty well. It was a bit hard to think of why she’d feel that way, but Ali wouldn’t mind, he didn’t think.
“That sounds fun.” He said happily. Why not? Ali really wouldn't mind, in fact she'd probably encourage it. He did need to make sure that the girl realized he was married and lived all the way across the country first, since she was way too short to be a noble herself, most likely at least. Her rules might make it impossible. If it worked for her though, he could go with it. At least he wouldn't get her pregnant.
It turned out she was fine with all of it, especially once she found out that Ali followed the noble rules, meaning there wouldn't be any trouble for her later over it and it only took about half an hour, since she was eager, if not overly skilled. She wasn't married herself, and didn't plan on it, so felt free to do as she pleased. Normally she made her way doing odds and ends, making baskets mostly, but also taking in sewing work and doing the odd turn as a shop girl in town. It was an unusual life, but it made her happy.
“Plus it means that if I find a pretty thing like you to play with, I can and no ones to say otherwise but the frigid busy body squad. You know, the old ladies that don't have much use for sex, couldn't get wet in a rainstorm, and feel that if they don't like it no one should? Maybe we can do it again before you leave? You're very good at it.” She actually sighed happily and kissed him again.
Tor blushed. That whole being good looking thing was so hard to accept. It just didn't seem real to him at all. Burks had said that it probably never would really, but that he needed to except it or at least that others would treat him that way.
That night he actually got to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up half buried in a group of people, arms and legs thrown over him haphazardly. Ali had climbed in next to him, and they were face to face when he woke. She was being cuddled from behind by Sara and of all people Ridley was at his back, petting his backside gently in a half sleep state.
Pervert, Tor thought automatically, then quelled the noise in his head. That part of the noble society, what some of the men did together, was off putting and a little scary to him, but in their world it wasn't wrong. It just wasn’t what Tor really wanted to do personally. Still, he playfully elbowed the other boy in the sternum, hard enough that his shield turned on. So, maybe a little harder than was strictly playful? The guy didn't wake at all.
Tor was too tired to get up and just tried to relax. It wasn't like he was going to be screwed up the behind by the guy in his sleep. Not with his shield activated at least. That wouldn't work at all and he was pretty sure that his own shield would turn on if it was tried. His own deep mind would view it as an attack, no doubt.
A few hours later everyone else was getting up and Sandra, eyes wide and a little scared looking came over holding the communications device out in front of her at full arms length as if it would bite. She waved to him, shaking slightly and panicked, trying to get him to come over.
She hissed at him softly, “It's the King and Queen! They want to talk to you, here!” She nearly threw the device at him, and then tried to walk away, but he took her arm gently to stop her.
“Builders Tor and Sandra at your service, what can we do for you today?” It was nearly glib and got a laugh from both the monarchs.
The King didn't waste time after that however.
“First, the men you requested are incoming as we speak and should be there inside six hours. Three hundred with full gear. Second, Counts Ross and Ford both have food for you, grain and vegetables, dried, but healthy enough. I said they could sell them at going market rate? They wanted to give it to you free, of course, but that tends to hurt the economy. They've agreed to trade for fish if the locals agree. I'll get with Countess Cannor on that though, not your worry. Do you need anything?”
Did he?
“Well, if you could have someone package up a jar of yeast starter from the palace kitchens? We have flour here, but no bread without yeast, all that got lost in the flood.” More to the point it had died because it starved in the floods, no one being able to bother feeding their home portions for nearly a week. The King didn't care about that part though, so Tor just shorthanded it.
The Queen’s voice came over the device clearly and sounded warm and friendly. Tor melted a little to hear it, but tried not to let it show.
“I'll see to it at once Tor.” Her voice sounded warm, like velvet. Soft and like he could wrap himself in it.
“Oh, and some sugar? I'll pay going rate for it, as much as possible on short notice.”
That got a laugh.
Tor blushed when Sandra looked at him with a wicked grin. It had to be some kind of noble code for something. Probably to do with him and the Queen. He didn't know, but he might have just offered to pay her for sex. At least they'd all laughed, probably getting the idea that Tor didn't mean it that way.
Richard spoke again his voice very calm and royal suddenly.
“That's all we have for you at the moment Tor. There's a situation developing I'd like to have you look into with Smythe, that may be a while though, but try to stay ready for it and Count Lairdgren has requested you attend him in Grenwyn two weeks before the date, no matter what. See to that, will you? Other than that, the rest of this communication is for Sandra Morris…”
Handing the device back, Tor went off to find some way to be marginally useful while things got into place. What he ended up doing was just handing off houses to the Cannor military people, some of them women he noted, and arranging for them to give them out at need. Then he went and started baking crackers. Bread would have to come later.
Every few hours he checked on Sam and his novel build, helping him with some gentle corrections a few times. In all the boy was doing a lot better than he would have done at that age, Tor thought. Not that anyone had let him try. The kid got fed crackers and water, not having much else and one small bowl of fish soup, but he’d gone decently deep. He still chewed and swallowed, but didn't shift much when fed. It was a little eerie, worse because he knew on a very real level that he looked exactly the same when working himself.
A little past noon the boy's eyes opened as Tor sat watching him, the build had probably been done for two hours, but it took practice to learn that kind of thing. Better to work a little long and be certain of it. Grinning Tor took the template and set it on the bed, giving the sigil a little tap when Sam signaled for him to do it.
The device looked like worn wood for the casing, with a brass funnel and two large stone wheels that turned in opposite directions. The other builders and Rolph all came over and started clapping, making the Printer boy duck his head bashfully.
“Master Tor helped, a lot really.” He said, pleased anyway.
Sticking out his tongue Tor made a raspberry sound.
“A bit, but the next one you'll get on your own. You've got what’s needed now. Bring me the plans for it when you’re ready. Within the month. Same for the rest of you. First years at least.” He waved at the older two gently. “You two already know this stuff, but let's collaborate on some things? In the Novel Building theory book it says that people can work together, but I've never tried it. Supposed to be faster and stronger though, which with all of us should be impressive, don't you think?”
They all worked then, as hard as could be managed, wearing down as the week progressed, the water receding and the food and shelter situation being repaired rapidly. Tor didn't have that much to do really, so mainly baked, washed dishes and helped build some structures with the pro's from the military. It was good to keep his hand in after all. Plus there was a simple beauty to making something out of focus stone, knowing that the work would last and last, even after the magic houses had all faded and gone away.
No one knew how long they'd last really. Tor had always figured a year or two for his fields, but even the earliest things he'd made were still around, so that was about four years now. Not bad. Some of the best built stuff lasted decades, but it took time to find that kind of thing out.
He made a point of apologizing to each of the men from the base he saw, but oddly no one made and issue of it or let him do more than bow about half way. They seemed pleased enough that he bothered to try though, at least they mainly smiled at him about it.
Slowly, over the course of a few days, people moved out of the safety of Canton and went home to rebuild themselves. They didn't have all their things, but the winter chill wouldn't kill them now and food was available. Tor made up a few extra fishing boats, a single batch of a hundred, and rented them out for half the catch. That way people could keep up a good level of trade with Ross and Ford.
Getting home was a pain, but they all made it and most of them even got to their classes the next day, even if they were dragging horribly the whole time. Guide came to him at lunch and passed him a build plan. The idea was novel, but simpler than Sam’s mill and would probably even work.
It was for a fake fire. It took heat from the ground, a bit shamelessly copied from Tor’s temperature plates, which the boy had copied hundreds of times, and made an illusion of fire that the heat came out of, and even a few logs beneath it for decoration. It was Guide's though, no one could doubt that. Tor had never thought of anything like it. A portable fire? Brilliant really. Who didn't like a nice cozy fire?
Tor moved the kid into his room for the work, because it wasn't that simple a thing and Guide wasn't fast at working, not yet. Tor even had to go to all the younger man's teachers and beg time for him to make the attempt, but after six days, he'd done it. No corrections from Tor even and the template was strong and clear, easy to copy. It was a bit of a struggle to keep up with his own work copying and doing some new building himself, while holding his schoolwork and marriage together at the same time as helping to care for Guide, but somehow he managed, if just barely.
Rolph hadn't complained or even questioned that a young boy was sitting cross legged on a small bed pad in their room for a week. The first day he'd looked at the boy strangely, but after that he did half the feeding and watering duties without even being asked. That was just the kind of guy Rolph was.
Prince of the kingdom maybe, but he was a Prince among men first. Anyone doubting that didn't know Tor's friend half as well as they assumed.
Tor worked through most of the night several times, pushing into a dangerously deep state to get things done in time, but by the time Guide opened his eyes, Tor had a few novel things ready himself and managed to send off packages to the store in Printer and to Debbie down in the Capital city. One went to Dorgal Sorvee and a smaller one got sent to Meredith Sorvee on a whim. She'd married into Debri house, so it wouldn't be hard to find her. It was mainly her wedding presents, but a few things to sell too, and some toys for her kids, Not-flyers that had impact shields build in.
The boy went to sleep in Tor’s bed immediately, so Tor worked through the night making copies of things, taking the now vacant working pad on the floor. Not Guide's fires, because they weren't Tor’s to mess with. He did test the field out carefully though and judged it to be nearly perfect. The blaze was a little off color, too red by several shades and the heat radiated in a perfect sphere except directly underneath, not matching the fire illusion perfectly, but in all it was better than his own first novel build. More interesting by far.
A wave of pride filled him for his young friend. Now they just needed to get the others going in a similar fashion and Tor could practically retire and do something else for a while. Slower more complex building, or maybe music? Out of all the new classes he was beginning to like that one the most. He had a lot to learn, but it was fun.
He hardly sounded like he was strangling his violin at all anymore.
As soon as Guide woke, cleaned up and ate, Tor had him make ten copies of his fire on copper plate, the word fire etched into the corner with a specialized cutter that Tor had already made just for the purpose. It was easier to work in metal than stone, and the design was what Guide had already drawn up, the word glimmered nicely in the corner of the metal.
Then he packed the boy off to Instructor Fines. He was the novel build Instructor for the school after all and this was that without a single doubt. Tor didn't speak when they found him in his office, the man bent over a paper, reading it closely. He looked up, surprised to see him. Tor winked and set the metal plate on the floor and hit the sigil, the fire coming to life about three feet away, so the plate would never get too hot.
The man looked at it and nodded.
“Not… bad. I like the heat. Good spread. Though you normally don't bring me your work anymore, am I supposed to be noticing something here?” He sounded pleased, but not too impressed.
“Only that it isn't my work. Builder Guide here did it. By himself. Totally novel build. It's solid too, and the template is clean and easy to copy. Just thought you might like to see it.” If Tor sounded smug, well, he was a little. His friend had done it, a novel build and at only fourteen!
Fines clapped and looked amazed for a second.
“Wonderful! How's your copy work?” The instructor asked, settling his old frame back into the old wooden chair with scratches and lines scored into the wood, behind a very similar looking desk.
Guide moved his head side to side a little, “kind of slow sir.”
Tor nodded. It was true, but he clarified for the Instructor, knowing that he'd want specifics.
“Yeah, he does solid work, clean, but can only do about ten copies every three hours so far, without a template. I'm thinking that he should work on some speed drills for that, he can do faster work, it's just a matter of practice. We should have some novel builds coming from some of the other first years too, soon. I have to leave for a while, in about a month, but I'll try to move them along, so they can do their own work before that. Right now I think we need to push meditation skills and copy work, which is basically what they'd be doing anyway, if I remember correctly.” He suppressed a wince.
If anyone on the campus already knew all that it was this man. If Tor ever learned half of what he knew, it would be a miracle. Instead of chastising him or even giving Tor a funny look the old instructor just nodded, as if the whole thing was some plan he'd had the whole time.
“Very good. I'll get with you on that later?” He said. That was probably when the talking-to he deserved would come. Well, what could he do put take it and agree? He was way too young to be pushy like that and the man was being very gentle with him, not embarrassing him in front of the younger student. He bowed low.
“Sir, if it's all right, could I borrow some of your time to show you a few of my own projects? I'm afraid we'll have to send Builder Guide away for this part… sorry about that Guide, but it kind of has to stay secret for a bit. Relates to kingdom business. Um…” Tor didn’t know what to say, so he just shrugged at the boy.
“That’s actually true even. I know it sounds weird, but…”
Guide just bowed, looking a bit awkward about it, first to Tor, then Instructor Fines.
“I’ll be going then.” He hesitated for a bit though, as if waiting permission.
Fines nodded and stood, suggesting they go elsewhere for it, if it was to be a secret.
They didn't talk about it, but at the edge of town Tor pulled out an amulet around his neck, one on stone, and looked around carefully for watchers. It was the one that had been grown using an organic field. The man blinked when he touched it, even though it wasn't turned on.
“My! That's strong.” His hand touched Tor’s arm, a slight sense of contact brushed gently. “And you didn't rip yourself to shreds building it? So I take it you've been applying some of the ideas from my class? Wonderful. What does it do?”
It was a carriage Tor told him, the man seemed almost disappointed, since Tor had already made those before. It could fly, but he'd done that too. Trying not to smile, Tor asked if the man had a watch, which he did and then if he wanted to go for a ride.
“Well, certainly. Any specific destination in mind?”
“Oh, sure… I was thinking the Ocean?” Tor grinned suddenly. “The Eastern Ocean on the other side of the kingdom. I don’t think it will take too long.”
Set up to look sky blue and a bit flatter than a normal carriage, Tor took them straight up. Fines held his watch out, getting the idea and clicked a button on the top.
“Go!”
They went. The feeling was slow and quiet. No roaring like the Austra fast craft used, and they traveled with the vehicle as one piece, the powerful field moving the whole thing along, organizing their movement through space carefully. The ground actually blurred below them, which was new to Tor. He held the control half way down and slowly moved it forward, the black hand control that normally floated in the air resting in his right palm comfortably.
It wasn't instant, even at these speeds, but less than two hours later they saw water below. Fines looked excited and gave him the time.
“Well…” Tor had to shake his head a bit grimly. “That's not fast enough. It will have to do for now though. The Austran craft are said to be nearly three times faster and Burks, um, Count Lairdgren, said they have a few that are able to cover this distance in about fifteen minutes. Still, it's a start.”
They rode back in silence, the trip going faster, cutting nearly ten minutes off because the drive lever was thrown all the way forward the instant Fines said go the second time. Setting down directly over the place they left from, which was surrounded by pine trees. Tor couldn't bring himself to be happy about it, for all that the basic idea had worked all right. If they were going to flee Austra, they'd need some way of alluding their fastest craft. For some reason Tor doubted that just matching the sky's color would be enough to hide them.
The other thing he wanted Fines to look at was right out of the textbook. It was hinted at there anyway. Tor demonstrated it on a tree, tapping the sigil firmly, giving the old man in his blue robe like outfit a playful look, then walking through the three foot thick trunk. It was dark inside, but didn't hurt. It did feel slow, like he had to fight his way through and he couldn't breathe inside, but it only took about ten seconds. Other than the slowness and lack of air, it didn’t really feel like much of anything in particular.
Fines sighed and nodded firmly.
“So you’re going to be gone for a while? I'd suggest you take your text books and whatever else you need with you then. Don't want to fall behind. What classes do you have right now?”
When he got to economics the man grunted loudly.
“Oh, definitely get with Wensa before going then. Unless you come back dead she'll want to see your class work. Indeed she will. Just as a heads up, never gamble with her at cards. Wicked player. I still owe her three silvers from our last game.”