In all it took nearly two hours to get Sara back from the crowd, and another three for everyone in the town to feel satisfied that they had done everything in their power to make sure she knew how grateful they all were to her. Singers came forth and sang several songs in which she featured prominently, which made her blush prettily and hide her face in her hands. The singers weren’t all that good, some hit more than a couple flat notes and the words made it clear that the writers hadn’t been professionals at all.
It was heartfelt and touching for all that. Tor felt tears coming to his eyes a few times when the songs spoke of how they were nearly dead, how people had laid in the street suffering and even those not made ill were dying of thirst as they struggled to care for those that simply wouldn’t make it. He hadn’t known how bad it had been. When a group of school kids acted the whole thing out, he had to hide his face from the crowd, so that no one would see how soft he really was.
Crying at a children’s play? After a few minutes he noticed that he wasn’t the only one. Ferdinand used a handkerchief to dry his own tears and caught Tor noticing the action, his own eyes tearing a bit at the time. He smiled a little, sadly, and went back to watching the play.
Then the scene changed to a dark cave, in the wilderness most likely, but you could only see the inside, a rough place that looked well constructed enough that you really kind of felt like it was a cave in truth, not just a painted backdrop. Someone had put some real effort in, making it three dimensional and everything.
A tall blond girl, who might have been twelve or so entered the cave, fighting her way through several trials to get there. A wall of force that had no source, which she cleverly tricked a giant with red hair into turning off for her was the first one. Tor smiled getting it. That was supposed to be Rolph? Well, he was big enough… The force field then was the door to their room? There was that magical device he had to use to let her in, so the play was kind of right in a stylistic way. Then she had to face down a pack of wild beasts, who she sang to sleep with her beautiful voice. The girl could actually sing, Tor noticed, even if the song itself was just a simple lullaby. Then she had to face freezing to death while she walked the endless track of cave, snow falling on her even inside. That, no cleverness would fix, so she had to simply persevere, going on simply because Galasia needed her too. A boy narrated this for them, so they didn’t get lost.
Tor couldn’t get the last things. Freezing? In his room? Was that about the heat plate thing? The timing for that would be way off though. And why were there beasts? Their dorm didn’t even have a pet cat or dog like some of the sections did.
Finally she had to face the evil troll know as Tor. He was short, played by an old man that stood on his knees, so that the proportions were “right”. Their Tor had a lumpy mask which appeared to have currants or raisins stuck all over it haphazardly. Moles he realized after a second. The nose was huge. Big enough that Tor touched his own nose self-consciously. His nose didn’t look like that. It was slightly small if anything. In his whole life no one had ever bothered to make fun of his nose, not even Dorgal. His hair, his too pale skin, his being too skinny or little, all that, but his nose? Trice saw him do it and stiffened a bit, he noticed. He did it again and gave her a worried grin.
The troll Tor didn’t seem to care much for Galasia at all, saying several times that the city deserved its fate for being lazy and not doing the work they should have to fix the problem before it poisoned them all.
“They deserve to die. It’s no kindness to save them, for they shall only forget in time and let this happen again. Oh yes, oh yes. Humans always forget their lessons.” The troll shouted at the audience shaking a fist. The audience booed back and called out denials, saying they’d never forget.
The girl cried, and pleaded, and even offered her own hand in marriage to get the evil little being to cooperate, which he cruelly spurned. He spent several minutes berating the girl for daring to think she was good enough for a being of true magic like him and called her names that Tor thought were a bit strong for a children’s event, if not actual curse words. The troll even called her ugly and suggested she go away and die several times. Tor definitely didn’t remember that conversation with Sara at any point. Really it had been more of her handing him an envelope and explaining things and him setting to work on a plan, then going almost directly into an emergency build.
Finally the evil Tor Troll relented, but he placed a geas on the devices he sent with her, so that they would run for only twenty years and not a second more.
“If in that time the fools of Galasia cannot fix their own problems in two decades, then they deserve to parish. Any fool could fix such a trifle in the time they have. Let them not come back to me a second time if they fail to even try! I’m much too busy for such nonsense. Much too busy. Now take these devices and be gone girl. I have work to do and no time to stand about nattering with the likes of you.”
Thanking the mean little being profusely for a while the girl then flew to Galasia to save city. She just held her left hand out in front of her and ran around the stage while a crew of others changed the scene. It was the wrong hand for the flying rigs back then of course, and Sara would have walked back to her room, not flown anyway, but that was pretty trivial all things considered. It was a cute way of doing it, giving you something to watch while the work was being done behind her. It even gave a hint that she was flying when they carried the new backdrop in. No one else died from the sickness and the water that had gone foul and stinking was restored, better than it was before even, made clean and pure so that it could be drunk safely without even boiling first.
Really, for a kids play it was pretty good. Better than anything the Two Bends School had ever put on. Tor clapped loudly when it was over and the kids all took their bows. For a laugh the old man that played Tor the troll came out for a bow too, only to have the girl take him away by the ear. It was cute, obviously planned out ahead of time; still the laugh it got was earned.
The girl was actually a decent actress, which Tor mentioned to the Ferdinand, who sat closest to him, being on the right of the bench they all sat on, Trice being on his left, holding his hand a little harder than normal.
“My daughter Meryl. They all worked very hard on this production, as you can tell no doubt. I can’t say that I agree with their presentation of Tor as a troll myself, the man saved us after all, and never even sent a bill for the work. But still, it’s not like he’ll ever see it right?”
Shrugging Trice turned to the man. “Well…”
Rolph moved in and gave the man a serious look, Sara just looked scared and embarrassed for some reason. Embarrassed he could get, after all the play had made her seem a little… godlike. Scared made no sense at all to him. Tor looked around and saw that she was staring at him. Worried that he’d go all Troll on them maybe? He smiled at her and winked.
“Well, they all did a great job. Do you have any plans for fixing the sewer breach yet?”
The large blond man smiled and spread his hands.
“We have to re-dig the sewer, holding the broken section in place while somehow leaving the whole thing working. It won’t be easy… if it’s even possible. It was a poor design to begin with. Short of making a whole new system though…”
Tor’s mind started spinning. If the earth was packed hard enough and the surface turned to glass or brick, would it hold water he wondered? Could he make a device for excavating? That should help a little at least. If he could come up with something. Wasn’t it like moving water? He’d done that before with dirt, if old dried feces counted as dirt at least, which really, it should. It had a lot of the same problems and wouldn’t work if they hit solid stone at all, but…
Standing the Prince moved to his side and shook him by the shoulder a bit.
“Tor, don’t fade on us now, we need to leave soon or we won’t get to the Capital by nightfall.”
Right. They were traveling. Maybe he’d come up with something in the air. Or maybe that would be a recipe for sudden crashing. He’d have to be careful.
Ferdinand’s eyes went huge and then he stammered, sounding a bit breathless.
“You’re… Tor? As in…”
“Oh… yeah, obviously my nose isn’t really that big… I didn’t want to mention that, because, you know, the play and all. Plus everyone was so excited to see Sara. They really did a good job, make sure and congratulate them all for me? I’ll let you know if I come up with anything that can help with rebuilding a new sewer system for you.” He shook the man’s hand again, which was a little limp this time.
Hopefully it wasn’t anything he’d said; Tor didn’t want any more enemies than he already. People here already thought he was a troll after all. He kind of wondered how that had happened. Had his message at the end come across as that hostile? Tor had just meant that the problem should be fixed, not that they were responsible for it happening and all those deaths. That was kind of harsh and he’d have never said that, even if they were responsible like the play had accused him of saying. If they thought that’s what he meant, no wonder they kind of thought he was evil. They got the short and ugly part right at least. Not the nose though. If they did the play again they should probably change that. No moles either.
They flew straight through the rest of the way, and Tor thought he had the basic control and flow system down for the earth movers by the time they got to the King’s river and started to follow it. They’d gone at least two hundred miles further east than they should and overshot the Capital by a good ways, which was a pain, as it meant nearly another hours worth of flying. On the good side he finally got to see the Falcon’s river, or at least half of it. It was so clear that it really didn’t look like much from the air.
Well, as long as they remembered to turn it off once the rains started, they’d be fine. He’d have to make sure and pass a reminder along to someone at the palace. Connie maybe. He could do it when he gave her the thing he’d made for her. It wasn’t a present, not really, he told himself. Just something to pass the time. She probably wouldn’t even like it and, well, even if she did, being Queen, she got a lot of stuff every day.
It wasn’t like Tor was singling her out for any special reason, other than that she’d been nice to him. Right? He definitely didn’t have a puppy crush on her. Certainly not. She was his best friend’s mother for goodness sake! Who did that?
On top of that he had a perfectly lovely and nice fake fiancee. He just wanted to make sure she knew that he appreciated her kindness. That was all.
She probably wouldn’t even remember who he was. Richard either for that matter. They were both busy people. He was just…some cave troll. He chucked a little remembering the old man trying to pretend to be as short as he looked compared to Sara. They’d over done it a little bit. Sara was less than a foot taller than he was after all. Oh well, artistic license and all that.
The nose still bugged him though, making him touch his own self-consciously.
They weren’t met by guards this time as they flew in, but they did see a small red building next to four large white arrows on the ground that all pointed to an x. An official landing area? Rolph took them in carefully, descending slowly so that if it wasn’t the case, someone could come warn them off or something. Instead a thin young man that must have been about the same age of everyone else in their group came out with a clip board.
“Gentles!” He cried loudly enough to be heard from thirty feet away easily. “Welcome to the Capital. I’m Steward, and I’ll be your Two Bends representative for the day. If you have any packages that need to go out, the next pick up is tomorrow, though special delivery is always available for an extra fee. We can also signal for transportation from here if you have errands in the city. Please let us know if anything we can do for you will help make your stay here more pleasant.”
Two Bends? Tor smiled, getting it instantly. His family already had a building up just outside the Capital and a landing place for anyone flying in? That was clever of them. Or possibly of this fellow here, Steward. Tor moved in and shook his hand.
“Hi Steward, yes, some transport would be great. Um, we need to go to…” Tor froze for a bit, he’d been working so much he didn’t know what anyone’s plans were at all. Everyone else had places they could stay, except for him of course. He could always just stay in the corner of Rolph’s room or something if need be, or even sleep outside, if everything had been filled up. That things might be a little more cramped this time had been mentioned to him more than once. Really, no one knew if their own homes here would be full or not, as far as that went.
It was just possible that Trice’s parents would have lent the house out for instance, if they hadn’t flown down themselves. Debri could have high powered guests in too. Since no one was expecting Rolph home really, even his rooms might have been given over to some Count or something.
Stepping forward the Prince suggested they try the palace first.
“After all, if nothing else we can all sleep on the floor of the tool shed out back, I’m sure.” He added with a wink. It made sense to Tor, and he knew that Rolph would do it, even if no one in the palace would have let him most likely. They’d find something, even if a servant had to give up their own bed. Well, Tor at least didn’t need anything fancy. The floor was good enough for him. It would be like camping out, sort of.
It took a bit for the carriages to come, again three of them, like the last time they’d been to the Capital. This time the whole trip took a lot longer though. Nearly four hours of riding in the carriage to get to the palace grounds, sometimes not moving at all because of all the people in the streets already, putting up banners and hangings, sweeping and getting ready for the coming festivities it looked like. The events seemed to be quite a lot bigger here than at the school, and Tor had thought they made a big thing of it there.
It was dark when they pulled up to the gate, a Royal Guard walked up to the carriage carefully and held up an oil lamp so that he could see who was trying to get in at this time of night. He greeted the Prince by name and asked, very politely, as to who else might be with him. With each name spoken the man checked a thick bundle of papers to see if they were allowed entrance.
“Sir… we seem to have everyone listed except for Mr. Baker. I’m afraid that I can’t allow anyone not listed in, by order of the King, Sir…” The man looked… not pleased at least. Tor just shrugged.
After all, why would he be on the guest list at all anyway? They hadn’t known he was coming. That the others were on it, well, they’d been Rolph friends for a lot longer than he had, at least as far as palace visits were concerned. Right? And Trice was even family and Sara was Rolph’s “special friend” which Connie knew personally. Or, well, maybe they just didn’t want someone like him here right now? Save room for the important people?
“Uh…” Rolph looked around for a second. “Right, well, no use arguing with a Royal Guard, would you be all right waiting here for a minute while I get this sorted out Tor? It won’t take but bit I’m sure…”
His friend sounded embarrassed, like it was something he’d done that caused this inconvenience. Tor just hoped that he could find someplace to stay if they wouldn’t let him in here, at least for the night. He could always fly back to the school the next day if not, but it would suck waiting for ten hours until it was light enough to fly. He climbed out of the carriage so that it could drive in, wondering if he should grab his trunks as the carriages disappeared into the palace complex. Too late for that, he realized. So he wondered around for a bit.
An hour passed and no one came back for him, not even to tell him to go make other arrangements. At two hours he kind of wondered if he’d just been ditched all together. He didn’t even have any coin on him, what he had being in his main trunk, so getting something to eat in town was out of the picture. Not that he was hungry particularly, but it would at least give him something to do and a place to sit. The guards were changed over about then and the new ones didn’t know who he was, so they asked him to move away from the gate all together.
Asked… was a little more polite than they really were about it. They kind of threatened to hurt him if he didn’t leave right then, even after he explained the situation and who he was waiting for. Not knowing what else to do and not really wanting both his legs broken at the knees as offered, he turned and wondered back into the city. The streets were dark now and, as it had neared midnight, no one was out on them at all, except for him and a few women that looked lonely, standing out on the street corners in their distinctive tall boots, asking him if he wanted to spend some time with them.
Not even Tor was so naive that he didn’t get it.
Still, they didn’t seem happy with their work at all, not to him. Then again, how much work could they be getting if no one else was out on the street right now? He kept on walking after explaining that he didn’t have any coin at the moment. Oddly they were all pleasant enough about it, winking at him and telling him they knew how that was. Even though he couldn’t be their customer, they smiled at him and said nice things, which was sweet. Tor had never met any women like that before and had expected, well, that they’d be bad. Mean or course. Instead they just seemed like people. Fairly pleasant ones even, that didn’t hold his being poor against him.
No one tried to stop him, or rob him, which wouldn’t have worked anyway. Even if he hadn’t been armed and wearing a pretty good shield, what would they have gotten, some amulets? Those might be worth a little. Maybe he could trade one for a meal or somewhere to stay? If he could find anyone to trade with. Even the prostitutes had gone in by the time he’d thought of it. Not that he wanted to trade for their services, but maybe they’d have known someone, or where he should go?
So instead he just wondered, hoping that when light broke he’d at least be able to see the wall and figure out where one of the gates was. His feet were getting sore from all the walking, but it just didn’t feel right to sit down anywhere. Most of it was either in the street itself or someone’s private property. Sitting in the street was a bad idea in general, plus it would look weird. No one did that. With private property, well, someone might let him sit or even lie down and take a nap, if he could explain things to them. But no one was out yet.
Hours later he finally saw someone moving, opening the door to what looked like a small shop. Tor didn’t want to spook the woman, who looked about ten years older than he was, even though it was hard to tell in the light. He stood well back and called out to her.
“Excuse me please,” he started, causing the woman to turn around and look at him, smiling a little.
“Let me stop you there.” She held out her right hand, about half way into the room behind her already, as if ready to run if she needed to.
“I’m not a prostitute, don’t have any money to steal, and don’t have any work for you for the duration of the festival, unless you can bake or know the city well enough to do deliveries. So…”
Tor laughed a little.
“I don’t know the city at all, but I can bake. At least I can for the country; I grew up in a bakery, literally. But I was wondering-” The woman cut him off.
“Alright. I’ll bet you to making some things. If you can do it without burning half of the product, I’ll give you room and board, plus half a silver per week for the duration of the festival. Not to dazzle you with my clever math, that means half a silver all told. You’re here to work though, not goof off all day or ogle the girls that come in and if you pinch my behind even once you’re out on your ear. Deal?”
It sounded like he could at least get off the street for a while, so he agreed. Especially since she wouldn’t let him finish a sentence otherwise. It kind of reminded him of home already.
Board meant she fed him, right?
The interior of the shop was much nicer than what he’d grown up with, but the ovens were almost identical. Large brick things that took up the back wall of the space completely. Tor started the fire without being asked; using a single match from the small stone box she had next to the fire tools, which got a nod from the proprietress. While he did that she started lighting oil lamps so they’d be able to see what they did.
Once she had the four lamps they were going to be using going, she turned and stared at him for a bit. “Oh! You’re a bit older than I thought, what, about fourteen or so?”
Tor fought not to sigh at her with a hangdog look. Instead he grinned a bit wryly.
“Seventeen. My name’s Tor. Torrance Baker actually.” He looked around for the starter and flour, which were kept away from the stove here, since it was already warm enough for dough to rise. It would die if it got too active overnight, most likely, given the heat.
“Tor? Like the magic river? Well, easy to remember at least. Call me Debbie.”
“Isn’t the river called the Falcon’s?” He asked her innocently. He kind of wanted that name to catch hold, but feared it might be too late already.
The brunette shook her head a little. “Not that I’ve ever heard. “The River Tor” after the great wizard that built it. Why would it be named after a bird?”
Tor explained about the three bronze statues that held it aloft while they started for the day, really trying to sell the majesty of it, how it looked like their wings were lofting the clear stream of water into the air. That wasn’t exactly something he knew first hand, but it sounded good.
They moved quickly, the woman seemed pleased enough with his work at first, and even more pleased when he got everything out of the ovens in time. That, of course, was the real secret to baking. Paying attention to what was going on. By the time light began to show through the clear and decently large windows in the front of the shop, they had racks filled with breads, rolls and sweet confections already cooling for the day.
“Those small hand-pies you’re working on are the big favorite during the festival, kind of local tradition. Fruit, meat, even the vegetable ones will sell out. If you feel hungry yet, try one of the beef pies when you take them out of the oven. Let it cool a bit first, of course.” He face held a smile for him as she said the words.
Now that he had enough light to see her by, she looked a lot younger than he’d thought, maybe early twenties. Her hair was brown and held up under a kerchief, and she looked well fed. Not fat by any means, but healthy and clear skinned. She reminded him a lot of Terlee, only taller, about six foot, and more outgoing. She told him stories about her life as she worked.
“How about you Tor? What do you do when you’re not busy being a festival baker?”
“Other than being ditched in a strange city by my friends? I’m a student, as the brown outfit suggests. I go to school up in Lairdgren near the top of the County. I’m there on a King’s scholarship and came down for the week with friends. Well that… and I make magic rivers and other bits of magic of course in my spare time. I guess I should have stuck with baking though, huh? That or just stayed at school for King’s week. They didn’t let me in the palace at all, and her I thought the King and Queen kind of liked me.” His voice had gone playful enough that he didn’t sound bitter about the whole thing, he thought. Debbie just smiled and kept working, nodding her head as if he’d told a bad joke. Tor darted to one of the ovens and pulled out a tray of full wheat loaves then freed them from the sheet they were on and set aside on the stout wire racks to cool.
Debbie stood stirring a bowl of icing, which would coat the sweet hand pies she’d told him earlier. It sounded good to him. The meat pie he’d had earlier was good enough that he could see why they were a traditional favorite at least. The apple and peach they were making right now scented the whole room wonderfully.
“Well Tor, it sounds like you need to make some new friends if that’s how they treat you. Why would anyone do that? Abandoning their friend that far from home. Anyway, their loss, my gain. You have the job by the way.” She kept working as she spoke.
“Thanks!” That she thought he was good enough to work with her filled him with a quiet sense of pride. It could be hard to impress strangers after all, and this woman was obviously good at her job. You probably didn’t keep a shop in the Capital if you weren’t.
At least now he wouldn’t have to rush back to the school or worry about starving. Plus, Debbie was nice. He’d hate to see her struggling with increased traffic and losing sales because she couldn’t make things fast enough.
After about nine in the morning, people started coming in a steady stream, brightly colored in festival clothes even this early and mainly smiling. It was fun and uplifting. Finally Debbie had to just go to the cash box and help customers the whole time, leaving Tor to make more pies as fast as he could. It went on like that for hours without a break, but he kept up with the demand, almost.
At about three in the afternoon he heard Debbie talking to someone in the front.
“I don’t know… let me ask my assistant.” The voice that called from the front was crisp and business like, but friendly all the same. “Tor, do we have any of the peach hand pies ready for sale? We’re out up front.”
They did, sitting on the cooling rack, the hard clear glaze just dry enough, if they packaged them carefully. He pulled the whole tray and moved with it carefully towards the front.
“Yes! Still warm from the oven…” He nearly stumbled when he saw who was asking for them. A tall blond woman wearing a nice dress made of a light colored fabric that would almost pass for white, but was really a soft lavender. It took Tor a second to remember her name though, since they’d only met the one time.
“Ah! Collette, isn’t it? Baronetta Coltress? We met at that party, you were there with Tovey?” He reminded her, in case she’d forgotten him already. It could happen; he’d been far from the most impressive person in the room that night after all.
“Tor?” Her hands came up in front of her slightly, clutching each other. She didn’t look worried or anything, just a bit surprised.
“What are you doing here?”
He explained the whole being ditched thing and how he’d gotten a job baking for the duration of King’s week. She blinked as if he was telling a bad joke.
“But… you could stay with any number of people, couldn’t you? Why I’m sure Tovey would love to have you and of course I’d gladly open my own home…”
It was really sweet of her to offer, but he’d already promised Debbie that he’d help her out, hadn’t he? He made a point of explaining carefully and winked at her as she left with a full sack of various kinds of pies.
“I have to keep my word after all, or what point is there to speaking?” She blinked at him for several seconds and then gave him an odd smile and a tiny bow.
“Words to live by.” She said, very softly, and then left, smiling just a little and looking at him over her shoulder, even as she walked away.
Tor went back to work. They left the ovens to burn down starting at six, but kept the doors open late. Debbie had Tor do most of the cleanup work, which wasn’t hard or anything, and not even boring, because it was a new place, to him at least. At nine she showed him to a little cubby in the back. It had a small cot in it, and a thin blanket and pillow ready to sleep on. The room was tiny and he felt glad he wasn’t one of the tall royals, because then he’d never be able to fit in it. It was decently clean though, looking like it got swept out pretty often and everything. No bugs even, but that was important in a bakery. Want to lose customers? Let them find insects in their bread.
“It isn’t much but…”
It would do. Tor just wished he had his luggage, so that he could use his toothbrush before bed. When he mentioned it, Debbie held up a finger.
“I have an old one here… I know it’s a little gross, using someone’s old toothbrush. It hasn’t been used for years though, so anything on it should have died by now.”
She could have used it in front of him first and he still would have gone ahead and brushed with it. After the last day he needed it too badly to quibble over a few germs. She locked the front door as she left, giving him a smile over her shoulder. He could get out from the inside, but no one could just walk in by mistake. He was tired enough that even being in a strange place didn’t keep him from sleeping soundly, hardly even tossing on the hard cot. He woke up with a start when he heard the door open in the morning.
“Rise and shine sleepy head!” The woman sounded far too cheery for this time of day, but he made himself get up anyway. She’d probably gotten less sleep than he had after all, having to walk home and back. Saint that she was, she let him have fifteen minutes to get ready, wash and brush his teeth again before they started. It wasn’t a full bath of course, but he used a bucket of water to scrub up as well as he could behind the shop. He’d have to figure out what to do about his clothing soon, or he’d end up with yeast growing all over them. Then he’d smell like beer all the time without even drinking.
The day went faster since he knew what he was doing and they couldn’t really stop working if they wanted to keep up with demand. Solid work always helped to pass the time, he knew. Debbie ran from the front to the back as he scurried around trying to keep up with everything. For him it was the fastest he’d ever moved while baking by far. At least he had his equalizing amulet. Tor felt a little bad for Debbie, who was obviously uncomfortable most of the time. Not bad enough to give up his own amulet… yet, but he felt himself getting there.
He had a few more ready to go, sitting in his luggage. Somewhere in the palace if they hadn’t just put it all out on the street. Rolph better not have let that happen. Even if he wasn’t important enough to be a guest there, just dumping his stuff would be rude. Most of what he owned was in those two cases. Things weren’t important, not really, but they could be handy. For instance it would be nice to have his own toothbrush and soap.
At noon Debbie let him have a break, a few minutes to eat a couple of the hand pies, that and bread being what they had extra of at the moment, and wash it down with a few cups of water. He just sat on the floor in the back while he ate, looking through the door at the people coming in. That’s why he noticed when the sun went away.
It hadn’t really gone, of course, it was just that a really large person stood in front of the windows looking in. A few seconds later the blond man entered the shop, looking around curiously.
Tovey.
Tor brushed off some crumbs and wiped his mouth with his hand before standing all the way up. He’d finished anyway. Count Thomson looked around for a few seconds as Tor walked out from the back. Debbie’s eyes goggled a bit.
“May I help you my lord?” She actually stood up from the wooden stool she used and curtsied, not that Tovey could see her behind the counter.
“Tovey! Enjoying the festival?” Tor felt happy to see the familiar face. True, he could, in a pinch, just walk to the nearest gate and leave the city on his own, even fly back to school by flying north and following land marks, but inside the city… He actually had no idea where he was.
“There you are! Everyone’s been off looking for you. Alphonse has been half convinced that you’d gotten yourself kidnapped by a whore master and set to servicing tourists, and Connie wanted to send out the troops to search every part of the kingdom for you. I would have shown up with everyone in tow, but I wanted to make sure you were really here first myself. Collette told me you were. She also told me to mention that the hand pies were very good by the way. She’ll probably be back in tomorrow for more. The Baron, her father, particularly enjoyed the apple raisin ones with icing. I was asked to make a point of telling you that.”
Tor made a mental note of it. He could have some of those ready, he let Tovey know.
“Ohhh, hey, if everyone isn’t hating on Tor right now, do you think someone would send my luggage over? I’d kill for a clean shirt and my razor, you know?”
The giant man nodded and looked over at Debbie.
“Those pies do smell delicious. What kinds do you have?”
That started them on a discussion of what was available, which allowed Tor to get the unbaked pies from the rack into the oven. Thankfully they were a pastry, and didn’t need to rise. After he was done he popped his head back out to check on his friend who was just passing over some coins in exchange for a large bag.
“I’m here for the week.” Tor said simply. “So if you could help out with the clothes and stuff…” He felt more than a little awkward sending a Count off to get his laundry, but really he didn’t know where the palace was from here right now, and if he went, he doubted that the guards would help him retrieve his things for some reason. First, it really wasn’t their job. Second, he’d probably pissed off more than a few of them with the whole Wensa thing, if they’d heard about it. They might not kill him over it, but being a little difficult with him was probably fair. Who could blame them? If someone had locked up his friends for what turned out to be no reason he’d be a little cold towards them too, probably.
“Sure, I’ll get your luggage, but you are coming to the party tomorrow, aren’t you? Everyone will think you’re mad at them if you don’t. Not that I’d blame you myself, but you don’t seem too upset about things…”
Tor shrugged. Why would he be upset overly? This wasn’t what he’d had in mind and he still had to find out if Winchester was holding a grudge, but it would serve. Plus, Debbie had said that she was making about forty percent more money this year so far, because they could keep up with demand. It was a huge jump in earnings for her, even after his half silver for the week.
“I guess. I, um, don’t know how to get there though. I kind of wondered over a big chunk of the city after getting left at the gates like that. So…”
Tovey laughed and told him that he’d take care of everything, then left which after a few minutes caused even more people to come in than before. After all, anyplace that’s good enough for a Count must be good enough for the man on the street, right? Tor had to keep baking until nearly nine that night. People kept streaming in, even after they normally would have closed. At about ten Rolph, Trice, Sara and Varley all came in with his luggage. Debbie took the lull they caused by their presence to close the shop. Or more to the point, the half dozen large Royal Guardsmen standing out front, keeping everyone else out. They’d pretty much sold everything out anyway.
“Yay, luggage.”
Tor didn’t have but about three seconds before everyone rushed him. Even Rolph hugged him, picking him up off his feet and swinging him side to side for a second, before Trice grabbed him and kissed him soundly. Sara joined in that, but just kissed him on the cheek. From Varley he just got a hug, but it was a lingering one that she didn’t let go for nearly twenty seconds.
“Oh, hey, everyone, this is my boss Debbie who owns the shop and gave me a job for the week. Debbie, this is in order of who’s going to be yelled at least, Princess Veronica Cordes who is, as far as I can tell, blameless in the whole Tor abandonment project. Sara Debri, who’s not only pretty but has no particular reason to run out of the palace looking for me, except that we’re supposed to be in business together, and losing a whole Tor like that has got to be embarrassing. I mean, what would your mother say? My fiancee Patricia Morgan, who you’d think might have at least come and told me that I needed to find someplace for the night through the fence and finally a guy who claims to be my best friend, Rolph. Oh, um, he’s sometimes called Alphonse too.”
Debbie looked like she was about to pass out, but then so did everyone else so maybe that was fair?
It was the giant red headed Prince that spoke first, blushing brightly.
“Tor… Look, it wasn’t like we meant to leave you at the gate; it was just that we had to find dad to change the gate information and he was off in a meeting with some of his advisors. We finally had to get mom to go in and get him to change the order for the gate guards, which turned out not to need changing, because you were on the list, only not as Torrence Baker, but just Tor. It really was there too, I looked at it myself, right on the first page with the important people and everything, please don’t be insulted, no one was trying to snub you or anything…” Rolph looked worried, as if Tor would throw a fit or something.
It didn’t really matter. Sure he’d felt abandoned and lost for a couple of days, but it wasn’t important or anything. A sad look crossed his face, he felt it form and made it leave as soon as he could get it too. Standing off to the side Debbie looked at each person in turn, as if trying to figure out what was going on.
“So, if this is Princess Veronica, and the heir is here trying to claim that you weren’t really abandoned at the palace gate then… you’re… Tor?” The bake shop owner looked at him skeptically for some reason.
“Like I said I was, yes. Tor Baker. Student, grew up in a bakery, makes little magic stuff sometimes and gets abandoned at the palace gates. Anyway, everyone needs to go now, because Debbie needs to get some sleep and we go back to work inside six hours.” For affect Tor yawned himself, which got a real one from Debbie. They really had been working hard and on short sleep and would be for days.
Rolph bowed deeply and held it for nearly half a minute. When he stood he spoke softly, not looking up.
“Both father and mother have personally requested, if you’re not too angry with all of us, that you come to the party tomorrow night? I know that we’d all love it if you showed up. This was just a stupid set of errors, honestly Tor…”
The Princess dimpled at him and kissed him on the cheek. She had to stoop slightly to do it. That was no fair of course, since she’d been about the same height as him when they met just a few months before. He suppressed a sigh. They grow up so fast, Tor thought, looking at her.
“Show up a bit before nine, mom and dad will want to talk to you first. Groveling to be done and all that. Dinner party, obviously, so don’t fill up first. Oh! Mom said to tell you that she’s sorry about the mix up and to give you a kiss from her.” Varley giggled then touched his lips with her own warmly. It wasn’t lingering, but it wasn’t a quick peck on the cheek either. “I know dad felt horrible about it too. He didn’t send a kiss though. And Karina wants you to bring her something, because she’s a selfish little bitch, couldn’t even be arsed to come check on you, but wants you to bring her prezzies…” Varley looked at Debbie and winked. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”
It took several minutes for everyone to leave, and another round of hugs from everyone and a kiss from Trice. Debbie locked the door after them all from the outside, leaving him with his cot.
Tor got ready for bed and almost fell into it. In a normal bakery he’d have gotten to sleep way earlier, but during the festival people stayed up late and ate more than normal, so it was worth staying open until the last people came in. Well, nearly the last people. He heard some drunks walking past near midnight; at least he assumed the loud, off key singing belonged to a drunk or two. He just rolled over and went back to sleep. Morning would come soon enough. Too soon.
At least when Tor woke he could scrub up and get into some clean clothing. He used his own toothbrush and toothpaste and actually had some real soap with him, the really strong kind that stripped the grime, and a few layers of skin, right off without too much scrubbing. He did it quickly, knowing that they had a lot of work to get through as fast as possible. If he was going to leave early at all, he needed to have everything made to last Debbie until they closed.
Before they could work he had to push his chests out of the way. They were both big, but the new one had a nice flat top to it, and was banded in iron for extra strength, so the other could be stacked on it securely. It was the one that held all the extra devices he’d brought along. Thinking about that he got into it and pulled out a few things that he thought Debbie might find useful. An equalizer for the heat, and a hot water heater for her bath at home. Looking in the case he realized that he didn’t have a lot with him that really related to an actual person much at all. Unless she wanted to learn to fly? Down at the bottom he had twenty room temperature control plates, so he gave her two, one for the shop and one for home.
She looked at him uneasily, seeming bashful suddenly, which wasn’t like her normal assertive self at all.
“Um, why are you giving me things? These must be worth a fortune. Hundreds or even thousands of golds. I’ve been making you slave away for a hard cot and food you’ve been making most of yourself… I really expected that you’d be gone when I got here this morning to tell the truth.”
“What and lose out on all those sales? You have a business to run and what would I be doing if I stayed at the palace anyway, giving people presents and getting underfoot? Here I’m out of the way and doing something useful. I can give you things that you might even actually use even. Besides, when I needed help, you gave me work and let me stay here. I know it was all an accident, and even if it wasn’t I shouldn’t complain about the royal family not wanting me around all the time, but I’m still a little mad at them for making me walk the streets thinking that everyone had forgotten me. I’m of half a mind to just skip tonight, but people would be offended… Probably at least. If they noticed I didn’t show up at all.” Tor smiled and showed her how to use the temperature plate and set it up in the front of the shop for her, on the wall near the counter, so she could reach it easily to control the temperature.
The work went fast, since he had a pattern now, and while he had to keep pushing all day, because he was wearing down a little from lack of regular sleep, it wasn’t too hard to keep on top of everything. Not for the first half of the day. At about one in the afternoon it started to get crazy. Lines stretching down the street, all leading to Debbie’s little shop. People bought things, but also took their time, staring at him for some reason. Enjoying the cool too. Some kids came in and just sat on the floor near the corner, just for that.
Tor finally had to give them temperature equalizers to get them to leave. They were little though; no older than seven and the youngest was maybe four, a cute little girl that looked a little thin and underfed. Seeing that, Debbie sent them off with a wink, a small swat for the eldest and a bag of treats.
Even though it was probably the busiest day she’d ever had and everything could have been sold. Tor felt tears come to his eyes, but hid that by making up more hand-pies in the back, as fast as he could.
Collette had to wait just to get her dad some of the apple and raisin hand pies that she’d asked for through Tovey anyway. It was a little embarrassing, but they just sold out of everything too fast to keep them on hand.
“Do you plan to go to the party tonight?” She asked, looking at him wistfully, standing in the door to the back room so she could talk to him while she waited. “I was invited to go with Count Thomson originally, but he had to dis-invite me, because the girl he’s going to marry is going with him instead. Counserina third Lairdgren, um. Tama-Lyn? Do you know her? Apparently she’s not the understanding type, even though she could get in on her own. I’d be miffed, but who can blame her really? I wouldn’t want my future husbands sometime girlfriend hanging out either, not that the Count and I are that close.”
Tor had just walked into the room with a large tray of still warm hand-pies which he almost dropped. “Tamerlane. Um… Well. You’d think Tovey would have shared that tidbit with me. She’s my older sister. I knew that she and mother visited with him at school, but I didn’t really think… Well much of it at all, which probably means I’m a bit of a moron, but there you have it. Well, good for her.”
At least Tovey was a nice guy. He felt a little bad for Collette, and told her so, but she just wrinkled her nose at him. “It’s not like he and I were close or anything. Not overly at least. He just thought I was pretty enough to walk around with at a few parties. I was kind of hoping I could go with you, so I could at least mix and mingle. It’s the second largest event here at the Capital and generally you have to be a Counserina or better to get invited on your own. Only Noram Day is larger, but that event is so hard to get into at the palace that I’ve never been. But if you’re not going, I’m out of people that I know who can get me in the door. Well, drat.” She sighed dramatically then smiled.
“It wouldn’t be a big deal but my half-sister is in town with her husband and since he’s a sitting Count he’s automatically invited, though I hear that he’s kind of on the outs with Alphonse, because he got the Prince’s fiancee pregnant.” She whispered this as he filled the basket she brought carefully with the pies, adding in a few peach for her as well as the apple raisin for her dad and plain apple for her mother.
It took Tor a few seconds to catch on.
“What!” He said too loudly. She looked at him and nodded.
“I know, it’s a huge scandal, I couldn’t believe it myself, but Maria told me herself. It was a big thing and Alphonse even attacked Count Ward, if you can believe that. No one was hurt though, thank goodness.”
Shaking his head he looked down for a second with a frown on his face. “Sorry, what I meant to say was; what, Maria’s your half sister? I already knew about the rest. I was there.” Standing between the two royal giants as they tried to fight in fact.
“Oh yes. She’s… well, she’s not a very kind person all the time, to tell the truth, not to me at least. It’s not that she’s evil, but if she gets to go to a party and I don’t, she’ll rub it in for weeks and I kind of have to take it, because she’s a Countess now.”
Giving it a few moments thought, Tor stopped, even while the line grew out front, finally she touched his arm making him jump. He made up his mind suddenly and nodded.
“Right, well… My own fiancee is going to be there. Ducherina Morgan? You met her at that party we met at? We got engaged the next day actually. It’s not a real engagement, but we kind of have to fake it for a while for other reasons, as odd as it probably sounds. So, I can’t have you as a real date there, but I think I can get you in, baring incident. Can you be here at, call it, seven? You might end up being turned back at the door, but if so we’ll both leave. I won’t leave you stuck standing there or anything like that.” Especially after it had happened to him. Well, if nothing else it was at least a good learning experience.
Don’t “accidentally” keep your friends out. He’d be sure to remember that if he ever got a palace of his own, or even had a gate to guard.
She clapped her hands and squealed a little, getting attention from the whole room for a few seconds, including Debbie, who looked at him like he’d grown a second head and was carrying on a conversation with it. Collette seemed happy enough when she left at least. After that Tor buried his head and started working non-stop until six, hoping that he had enough product for his boss to keep the place open until nine or ten. All the product racks were full; mainly hand pies, golden brown and flaky looking. Most of those had a soft white hint of sugar glazing on the top. A steady stream of people came in though still, laughing and smiling the whole time.
He scrubbed up again standing in the small yard out back, because the shop, which had running water and a restroom, didn’t have a bathtub. He used a large wooden bucket with black iron bands around it instead. A woman across the way saw him strip down to the waist to wash and made a sharp, festive noise at him. Tor smiled and waved to her, she looked a little plain, and about thirty or so, but had a nice smile. At least she seemed playful in her attentions and hadn’t screamed in fear about a half naked man. In Two Bends it would have been a bit of a scandal, but here it was just… Wednesday. For that matter, Tor kind of thought that if the woman had been the topless person no one but him would have batted an eyelash. Then, given the heat, he kind of wondered why anyone wore clothing here at all.
Changing was a problem. He had clothes, Rolph had sent an outfit for him, just putting it in his trunk, but lacking Burks to help him into it, dressing took a lot longer. It was frustrating, because he couldn’t reach the laces that ran up the back, and in the end he had to break down and ask Debbie to help him. It was a heavy silk and velvet thing, with no color in particular to the whole outfit. Debbie thought it made him look older.
“Good though. Kind of small for a royal, but you could be one of those merchant princes from Tellerand. Not that I’ve seen any, but I hear they have about your size and look. Dark hair, pale and, um, short.” She whipped back to work as if he’d be insulted by the fact that he wasn’t all that tall. He’d lived it his whole life and came from a place where everyone was his size. It was the people in this place that looked too tall to him. He grinned at his boss’s back and finished getting ready.
Tor barely got the chests drug around before Collette showed up, in a very pretty powder blue dress that had more lace on it than could possibly be comfortable. It looked warm, uncomfortably so, and she was trying to cool herself a little when she walked in, with a silk fan that nearly matched the color of the gown.
“Good evening!” The tall blond said when he walked out, doing a double take when his luggage followed him, hovering about a foot in the air.
It was just a simple modification of a basic luggage float. It would go up to the point he lifted it to and then stay there. He had an amulet around his neck that it followed, no matter where he went. It had some issues, for instance, it could be confused by doors and would try to pass through a person if they got in its path, but if you paid attention it was way simpler than trying to carry something that weighed that much. The main chest was just on the edge of what he could pick up on his own. Copper and silver plates and even amulets, added up way faster than it looked like they should and he had a lot with him. Party favors mainly.
About twenty minutes later a carriage pulled up, the wood was polished, a deep, dark color that spoke of taste, and a lot of care, because in the Capital anything that shade would show each speck of dust easily, and that did collect. On everything. It probably had to be cleaned daily to keep it looking like it did, which was virtually spotless.
Tovey stepped out of the back, along with a pretty woman that wore a red dress designed to catch the eye. She was short, and looked different than he’d ever seen her. He realized who she was at least fifteen full seconds before she seemed to recognize him though, so he figured the points had to go to him on that one.
“S’t… Torrence? You look great. Who’s your friend?” She asked this with an accent that sounded a little fake to his ear, but really, if he just listened to her without remembering she was Terlee from Two Bends, she sounded like a royal. Way more than he did. He sounded a bit more like a merchant in accent, at least that’s what Rolph had told him. Then, Tor had learned to speak like he did by copying Rolph’s, which at school was all “Rolph Merchant” his disguise, “Prince Alphonse” sounded different.
Tovey looked puzzled by the addition of Collette to their group as they stood in the store for a few moments. He waited for an explanation apparently, and possibly a bit anxiously, so Tor filled them in. He could get the possible unease. Terlee was from Two Bends, not the Capital. Having an extra girlfriend around might just make her go off. Except that it was Terlee, and Tor knew his sister better than that. She might hide all evening, but she wouldn’t get openly angry.
“Collette is a friend of ours Terlee. She was originally going to go to this with the Count but they decided that wouldn’t work too well, since the situation with you and he has changed? I’ll need to be filled in on that sometime soon I think. Anyway, since she’s a friend of mine too, I’m getting her in to the party. There’s more to it than that, but that should serve for now.” To his amazement Terlee just smiled and took Collette’s hand gently.
“Nice to meet you.” She said, getting something similar back from Collette, who seemed happier and more at ease suddenly. Of course the situation could have been a lot more tense given everything, so that probably made sense. Terlee was a lot of things, but mean wasn’t one of them and apparently, rumors of her not being understanding aside she really was trying to adapt to the new situation at least as hard as Tor was. If anything she fit in better, he decided, feeling proud of his sister again. She’d gone from Two Bends to engaged to a Count in what, a month? A month and a half? Tor had been out of the village for nearly three years now and still wasn’t engaged to a Count at all.
Tovey helped him boost the chest onto the back of the carriage, moving it easily. Tor couldn’t have picked it up that high on his own, not within two feet even. He marveled a little, knowing that no matter what else happened in his life, he’d just never be that tall. No wonder people let them lead. It was just darned impressive. Before they got in the back of the carriage Tor took out a handful of amulets and started handing them out.
“Presents. One to keep your temperature stable,” Tovey pulled his out from under his shirt, so Tor took the one he’d tried to give him back with a smile. Good to know that he’d kept it all this time. “The other is just, well, here….” He put the amulet on and looked down at the little array of sigils and tapped the first one.
A soft white light grew slowly out of the air around his body, resting about two inches off of his skin. It wasn’t glaring and showed better in the back of the dark carriage than it would under bright lights, but it wasn’t meant to be useful, just interesting.
Collette looked at hers.
“Why are their seven sigils though?” She didn’t hit any of the others, being smart enough to know better. No sane adult ever touched a sigil without knowing it was safe.
“Each ones a different color of light. It’s harmless. Let’s see…Here.” He reached over to her and hit the right sigil, fourth from the left, not noticing at first that he was tapping so near her chest until after the light blue sprang up in the air around her. He suddenly felt awkward, but no one else seemed to notice. Terlee matched her own with red light after a few tries and the Count decided that green suited him best.
“If nothing else,” Tovey said as he looked at the people with him, smiling in that relaxed fashion of his. “At least we’ll be easy to see.”