Rolph stood up and walked around the scene to get to where Tor stood and looked at him, baffled. “Not to make myself sound artificially brilliant or anything, but, whaaa…?”
Sara and Trice looked just as confused as Tor shrugged at them. He didn't have a clue what this was about either. His mother was named Laurali, but he'd never heard that changed to Laurie before. For that matter, the fact that all these people where hugging and crying seemed more than a little off-putting.
He'd expected to have to soothe his mother, or possibly argue that he wasn't too young to marry, or wouldn't be by the time the date was set, and assure her he planned to finish school, but this? Boom, blow to the side of the head. Didn't even see it coming at all. Had he missed something again that everyone was supposed to just know or figure out on their own?
They let this go on for some while, even after Douglas came back with the rolls, butter and some of the honey reserve. He looked at the scene and shrugged. “Thought so. I wasn't sure, I didn't really know them back in the day, part of why the Count arranged for me to marry your mother, instead of one of them. The Austran wouldn't think to look for her here, after all.” This came out smoothly and with an accent that, if it didn't sound like what was spoken in the Capital, would have at least passed at the school as being normal. Possibly even cultured.
“So, da, I was just wondering…” Tor let his voice go wry. No need to get all worked up until he at least knew the score here. Probably not even then. After all, acting like an angry jerk had never helped anyone that he had seen. Just look at Dorgal. His doing that had cost his relative a marriage already at least. “And I mean this with great respect and kindness, but… what the hell?”
Tor pointed at the scene with all the hugging and now kissing, some of it a little too amorous to be just “I missed you a little”.
His father looked at them all and then back to Tor, then he shrugged. “Watch your language. As to the rest, I'll let them explain, I think. Don't want to mess it up or anything. Here, have something to drink while we wait kids, this might take a while.”
Douglas started pouring cider into glasses, but Tor opted for apple juice instead, getting another smirk from his father. He started teasing Tor a little about not drinking again, but Rolph smiled and shook his head.
“Don't argue with what works, sir. He never has a headache in the morning from over indulging. I should probably follow his lead there more often myself. Just the one glass… Plus, some of the building stuff he's done lately, well, you should all be very proud of him I think. He invented the flying gear and made a magic river to save county Ford from a drought. He also saved the city of Galasia and some kids that fell down a well, which was pure heroism. That's how he broke his leg by the way. I don't want you to think we're beating him or something. Oh! He also got himself named a Squire. Don't tell him, but he was almost named a Knight for what he's done so far. They just didn't want him to get a swelled head or something I think. Technically he's what's called a “Knight Esquire” which means that if he can't manage to be named a full Knight by twenty-five, all the other Knights get to make fun of him.” He smiled and took a sip of cider. “Hey, this is good. Eric, you should really try some of this…”
The Duke swung around, Tor's mom held in his arms now, she was laughing at least. The giant man made no move to put her down as they all walked over towards the table to see what Rolph was talking about. Finally the small woman started batting at him and telling him to set her down.
He shook his head. “And have you disappear again? I think not.”
The man did relent after a few more seconds though and took a glass of cider, about a quarter full, from Rolph. He sipped carefully and nodded after a bit. “It's good. Hickory barrels?”
Douglas took a sip himself. “I think so. We trade for it with the Smiths, the mayor's family. They hold the large orchards to the north.”
Finally Tor moved in next to Trice and Sara, holding Trice's hand. He would have clung to Sara too, he told her, but he didn't want to confuse his parents right now. They all laughed nervously, not knowing what was going on. After three or four more minutes everyone sat down, at which point Tor took a slow sip of his juice, tart and cool still from the spring, and looked at his mother.
“Not to be all pushy or anything ma, but it seems like a story might be in order? Why don't we eat some of these rolls and listen while you let us in on things. Oh wait! First things first.” He stood and gestured with his right hand around the table.
“Rolph, my roommate from school, Sara Debri, my good friend, Count Toverland Thomson, also my friend, and Patricia Morgan… My fiancee, and obviously, you already know her parents. So… please explain before I start using poor language and da has to beat me in front of my friends…” He looked at his mother seriously and felt his heart pound so hard in his chest he thought it might burst. “If Trice is secretly my cousin or something, for gods' sake tell me now before we sleep together!” This, he knew, was horribly shocking language for Two Bends but he held his face still and voice calm enough, he thought.
He was serious, but the adults all laughed for some reason.
His mother came over and gave him a hug. “No worries there. She's not even related to you within three or four steps. More than enough genetic distance to prevent consanguinity. I have to say this is a surprise though. Well, I guess my story first, then we can hit on how you managed to land a Ducherina given… everything.” Her voice seemed weird, not like he was used to, which was a little stressed and shrill, now that he thought about it, a fair thing, given she had eleven kids underfoot all the time. Right now it sounded younger than it had. She looked younger, about ten years. It wasn't something small, like just suddenly relaxing or something like that, her face had lost wrinkles that it held when she walked around the corner. The eyes did most of it, but the fine lines around the mouth had vanished too.
Her story wasn't that complex.
When she was at school, being tutored by her father and his staff, which wasn't that unusual, it was a school of sorts in truth, even back then, she'd fallen into and out of love half a dozen times in as many years. It was just the way things were there. There were twenty or so students at the time, so they actually had a chance to try out relationships with a few different people each. That's when she'd made her mistake.
One of the students was a lonely boy, a bit ostracized by the others because he was Austran, there as an exchange student. Glost Serge. Laurali took pity and had a brief, but intense, relationship with him. They'd even talked of marriage at one point. But then, as was common enough there, she broke things off with him in order to date some other boy. It shouldn't have been a big thing, except that Glost had been so lonely for so long that he couldn't bear to let go.
Tor could relate with that much. That feeling of being alone, of fearing that you always would be. In a way it sounded like it had been even worse for Glost. Tor at least had his friends.
“Finally… He tried to kill me. It didn't make sense, but those kinds of things never really do. Instead of moving on he froze in place and became obsessed. After that he left school, of course, since my father ran the place and life continued. A little over a year later he came back, with a team of… special assassins. They weren't successful, but it was a close thing, dad… stopped them, but Serge got away, so I had to go into hiding. First I moved to Pine Forks, and then here after dad arranged for me to marry Douglas. We opened a bakery and settled down. I suppose I could have come out of hiding years ago, even Glost wouldn't hold a grudge that long, but well, you know, it's not like I'm in any hurry…”
She tried to stop there, but Tor had enough pieces to put things together once he thought about it for about five seconds. It all just clicked into place, little pieces of the puzzle interlocking in his mind easily, giving him a big chunk of the picture.
“Right… So, you're not in any hurry… Because your father, Count Lairdgren, is an ancient and whatever makes him that way you have too. So, you're not really aging, just faking it, to live this life of… country splendor?” His tone wasn't teasing or sarcastic, in a lot of ways, as run down as it looked, this place really was splendid. the Capital may be impressive with its white walls and red roofed buildings, but here they had trees and animals. No singular mighty river, but about twenty streams and rivulets that meant most people here lived close to one.
For a second it looked like she'd been hit in the stomach when he said it. Tor's mom didn't ask him how he knew at least. She just took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking her son straight in the eye.
“That's… pretty close to the idea. Yes. You do too, have the trait, obviously, and I think your little sister Tiera may as well. We're watching her for the signs, she might not, it can be hard to see at first, especially with girls. Now, we weren't planning on keeping you in the dark forever, we've just been telling each of the kids when they got old enough, eighteen so far. So your older brother Teral and sister Terlee both know, and have for a bit. It hasn't been an issue yet. None of you would inherit anything from your grandfather anyway, since he probably isn't going anywhere any time soon.”
Well, Tor thought. Interesting. It didn't change anything of course. He was still going to fake marry Trice, if she'd have him and was going to try and increase his family's fortune if they wanted it. An interesting story, but other than making the wedding a reunion of sorts, it really didn't matter much. Well, it mattered, of course, but it shouldn't force them to do anything differently than everyone had planned. His parents could even keep playing poor country baker family if they wanted.
His mom shrugged as they discussed the idea.
“At least until you kids are all grown, if we can now. It may not be possible. Being raised as nobles can ruin kids as often as not though, and we have too many to take the chance with. Then again, we may take a turn off in the Capital or something. All of the people there have gotten too used to nobles being tall I bet. About time they remembered the rest of us.” Her gaze met Rolph dead in the eye. Without asking she pointed with her whole hand and spoke clearly.
“Rolph? Not your actual name is it? I bet you're Richard and Connie's first, Alphonse? You look a lot like Ricky did at your age, if with better hair. How is Connie anyway? I always liked her.”
Trice chuckled. “Oh fine, when she's not trying to get Tor into bed. I don't think she's managed it though…”
Everyone laughed at him again. Sigh. Well, at least this explained the combat rage thing, possibly at least. Well enough for now. It left him feeling uneasy, but then life had been doing that to him for a while now, so it wasn't a big deal. Even the idea that he was some kind of royal. Kind of a shock, but it really wasn't like the knowledge changed anything for him, did it?
They didn't, as he'd assured them, have any great inns or anything for sleeping in, so the Morgans had bought tents, three of them, so that no one would be put out of a bed. Luckily the things, packed in an extra case each, were huge. The tan canvas came with metal rods, pipes so they didn't weight as much, and made a structure that would be big enough to sleep eight normal people or three of the freakishly over large royals in each. The floors were even padded, so along with the temperature equalizing fields, they should be comfortable enough for the night.
Tor had to introduce each of the kids multiple times, but all the T-names proved too confusing for the new people, even Rolph who'd heard all the names for years off and on. It was different when you had a face to go with it. The only kid that got remembered was his younger brother Timon who'd decided in the last months to try and get everyone to call him Weasel. It wasn't sticking in the village much, but all the new people adopted it eagerly. Of course that meant that whenever anyone needed to find something or someone, Weasel was the one they called in for it. The poor boy spent most of the time running to get things for Sara and Patricia. He didn't seem to mind, finding Sara to be extremely pretty.
Weasel, apparently, liked blonds.
Using his thick Two Bends accent he allowed to Tor that his Patricia was pretty too, but she was already spoken for. Tor nodded and didn't remind his little brother that at nine, he may not have the best chance in the world with a rich merchant's daughter. Sara wouldn't be rude about it at least. Well, she'd always been kind to Tor at any rate and seemed to follow that code of the upper crust closely. Of course “Weasel” was being a lot more forward than he'd ever been, and might ask for her hand before they left. Tor knew because his brother confided this to him as he and the rest of the family helped set the tents up.
“Well… If you're really interested you need to have ma get in touch with her mother in the Capital and see about making arrangements, maybe send a go-between. I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, but that's how they do it, most of the time. You couldn't marry until you were at least fourteen though, which is a long time for someone like her to stay unmarried.”
His brother kept helping for a while then went off to find his mom a little later, trying to be casual about it. Tor had to fight to keep from laughing about the whole thing and so did Rolph, but Sara just brushed her blond bangs out of her eyes and looked after him with a soft sigh.
“I've… had worse offers. We'd have to wait a while of course. I'm not marrying a twelve year old. He'd have to be at least fourteen.”
Right, he realized, since that part hadn't gotten translated, the girl didn't know that Weasel had just been told that. It was strange hearing it repeated, but probably meant it was a good point. It was considered kind of evil to be involved with anyone younger than that, wasn't it?
Tor thought that she was kidding at first, but her eyes were serious and dark when she said it. Patricia came around the tent and hugged her, but didn't say exactly what the problem was.
“Yeah,” Patricia, who asked them all to call her that until they reached the school, shook a little, shivered like she was cold. She wasn't of course, even if she'd forgotten her amulet for it, she'd have been too hot, not chilly. So fear then?
“If Tor hadn't made his play when he did I would have had to marry Count Overland, you can't really put off a Count easily for long. He's… Really he's a nice guy which makes it all that much harder, if he was a jerk it would have been a lot easier and we could have just sent an emissary to calm things down. But he's seventy-eight and even if I could get past the ick factor enough to sleep with him regularly, which I suppose I could if I tried, he really is a good guy after all, he'll probably drop in a few years anyway.”
The others all knew what that meant, except Tor. Oh, he got the sex part, but the rest went past him totally. Tovey explained it, his deep voice slow and considering.
“Overland already has an heir, so while his new wife would be a Countess, that would go away when he died and she wouldn't really get anything out of it. So, while he'd get a cute young woman to have around until he went, Tri-Patricia, wouldn't have anything to show for it in the end. Tor, in a lot of ways, is a better match, and was even before we knew that he was a Countier. At least he'll be around for a while, long enough to take care of any kids that might come about. Plus, even a Count will have to admit that her marrying Tor is at least as legitimate as marrying him, if not more so. A floating sky river kind of catches the attention.”
For some reason Sara perked up a little at that.
“Right, so that makes Weasel a Countier, what, seventh or eighth? I could sell mom on that. Not as good as landing you would have been of course Tor, but I imagine you're going to be setting up businesses for your family? Like you did with the Morgans? So just set him up quick so that his financial profile looks good.”
Tor laughed at first, but then stopped suddenly, an idea coming to him.
“Well, it's not shipping large scale things, but I wonder if people would pay for rapid mail and package delivery at all? I know that Rolph has wanted to get things from school back home a few times. I can get them the flying gear and shields, even floats for boxes to carry stuff in. It isn't really cargo hauling, but…” He smiled and Sara's eyes went wide, excited even.
“I was kidding about your brother, mainly, but… Yeah, that would work I bet. Especially if they lose that indecipherable accent enough to be understood. You should see if any of them want to do it. Right now it takes a month or more to send a letter across the kingdom, unless you have contacts with the fast riders… people would pay pretty well to have things delivered faster.”
They chuckled about it and came up with ideas for different services that could be offered. Including shoving people inside floating boxes for rapid transport. Count Thomson smiled and told Tor that if his family really wanted to put it together, he'd gladly come down to help them learn how to fly. Especially since, as he pointed out, after the next three months, he was done with school officially and really wouldn't have anything left to do except take care of emergencies in his county.
“Don't let anyone tell you differently, the actual job of governing isn't that hard. It's just telling people what to do after all. The trick is being smart enough to have some kind of idea what the best thing to do actually is. Luckily, ninety odd percent of the time, people actually already know, they just want someone to confirm what they think they should do is a good idea. For the rest of it you either hire an expert or pass it along up the line to the King.” The giant man smirked a bit and patted Tor on the back. “Then, if you keep doing what you have been, he'll just send them along to you and you can take care of it. Well, only the really hard things, I'm sure. I know you personally though, so can just skip that part. Save time all the way around.”
For some reason he thought that was funny.
Tor gave him a look which got Rolph and Trice laughing too. Sara at least gave him a commiserating smile. He over-dramatized a sigh and hung his head as if the weight of the world was upon him. Then again, he doubted the King would be looking to someone like him for most issues. How often was some little bit of magic going to turn out to be the answer anyway? He'd have years at least before anyone really expected him to do anything regularly except school work. He… hoped that he'd be allowed to finish school and not marry and start working immediately instead, at least. There was so much to be learned! He didn't even know how to make a light yet.
The night was less than comfortable, mainly because, while Rolph didn't snore, the Count flailed in his sleep. At least twice the blows made the ground shake enough to wake both he and Rolph. He triggered his shield and so did the Prince, just in case Tovey managed to migrate over to their half of the tent. It had started as an even third split, but Rolph rolled a few times for safety. Tor couldn't really blame him. At least he didn't end up with feet in his face like he would have if he'd been sleeping indoors. Even if he did, Rolph bathed quite a bit more than his younger brothers.
His parents encouraged bathing, unlike some of the families in town, because they touched food all the time in their work, or so they told people. But his little brothers were, well, boys. If they could get away with missing a boring bath time now and again, they would.
Now that he had a little more information to go on, he realized it was probably simpler than all that really. His parents might be aping the people around them, but they just couldn't handle living with the stink that poor people in the woods often had. On the good side, it made breakfast in the morning far more pleasant.
Terlee cooked most of it, his sister was only a little older than he was, eighteen, small and thin, seeming more interested in books and child rearing than anything else as far as Tor knew. Girl stuff. Like bathing and perfumes.
Still, that kind of stuff might be closer to what they'd all need to learn if they liked his idea of a delivery service. For all he knew they'd all refuse to fly and run off into the woods to hide when he suggested it. That would almost make sense. Magic was kind of rare in Two Bends and flying was brand new. Who could trust a thing like that?
What happened instead amazed him more than a little. A lot more.
Terlee had just finished making the oatmeal and toast for everyone, what they ate each day in the morning, and oddly enough even the royals said they had on a regular enough basis so that it didn't seem strange to them, when she asked him a question.
“Is' kay fr'me ta'fly too?” She said so fast that Tor forgot to translate in his head and just spoke out loud, surprised she'd even asked for herself. Normally the girl, with her long, incredibly straight black hair and pale skin, managed to hide behind it when talking, even to him, but today she didn't, looking him dead in the eye. For Terlee that was like offering to fight Count Thomson bare handed or something.
Tor just blinked for a few seconds.
“Is it OK for you to fly too?” He smiled at her and nodded excitedly. “More than OK! I can not only teach you how, today if you want, but give you your own flying gear and a shield so that if you ever do crash or something hits you, it won't hurt. I have enough for everyone in fact, if… anyone else wants to try?” This came out in his normal accent so no one outside of the family really got it, but they all suddenly erupted, a wall of sound that caused the royals to jump, except oddly Count Thomson, who just smiled.
The giant man nodded at the girl. “I can show you how, if you like? It may be easier to learn from someone that isn't family at first. Tor's good, one of the best actually, but he's liable to be too nice to you. Flying is fun, but there is a bit to learn, and it takes some practice to master.”
Tor half expected Terlee to bolt from the room, or at least hide, or maybe, just maybe, ask him to translate for her. Instead she took a deep breath and nodded.
“S'th… I mean, that would be very nice sir. Thank you.” The words came out slowly, but clear enough that everyone in the room looked at her funny, except for Laurie. From her there came a snort.
“Flying through the air though? Well, I suppose it is faster than walking, but I'm going to have to see it first, before I totally trust the idea. How much do these devices cost anyway?”
Tor… froze. He knew that a clothes dryer went for about eleven gold, at least it had at school. Past that no one had mentioned cost anymore, probably to keep his mind off of the fact that he wasn't getting whatever was owed yet by Debri house. Not that it mattered that much. That would come around or it wouldn't. He needed enough for him and Trice, but he'd earn it somehow. He glanced at her and reached over to squeeze her hand, noticing that the whole room had turned to stare… at his mother.
Smiling she shrugged and looked at everyone in the room.
She said everything twice, first in Two Bends dialect then in Noram standard.
“Kids, your father and I have… Well, you'll all be told the whole tale in time, but for right now we've decided that all of you need to learn to speak properly…” She floundered a little after that, trying to come up with reasons why, since most of them had never been more than forty miles outside of Two Bends and everyone inside that area spoke like they did.
Timon, or rather, Weasel, Tor corrected himself quickly, tilted his head.
“S'all aight… Alright. May I ask why?” He stumbled over the words more than Terlee had but Sara clapped happily at his effort. After half a beat Tor did too. He gave her a little seated half bow. It looked funny with him being so small and in brown and tan homespun, but he'd gotten it about right anyway, Tor noticed.
For a Countier to a merchant. It seemed to be on purpose too. Amazing.
Scrambling Tor stood up.
“Um, two main reasons for right now. If you want to go to the wedding, which may be away from here, probably in the Capital, since that choice normally goes to the bride's parents and this isn't their place, you need to be able to communicate with people clearly.” Like his mother he said everything both ways, correctly first, then in standard so that the guests could understand it too.
Then he told them about the delivery service idea. No one seemed to think much of it at first, until the Morgans' jaws collectively dropped open, eyes going wide. Eric grinned and shook his head in disbelief.
“That's… No one could afford to compete with you for years! Yes… if you're willing to take in the Capital and some of the larger cities in your routes… This could be very big. I'm a little sad I didn't think of it first, to tell the truth. I recommend that you do it. If you don't want to though, I will.” The meaningful look he gave the kids made them all take notice and start becoming far more excited about the idea.
Tor got it.
They were being offered a chance at something a Duke wanted too, and it came from their own brother, so they got first go at it. That meant a lot.
Once again his mother asked how much all this would cost, her voice doubtful for some reason and Tor spread his hands on the table top, showing he didn't know. “Really? Since I'm making them for everyone, just the cost of materials. A few bits of copper, something to etch them with for the activation sigil, it's not that much. Say ten golds for twenty of them? Not even that much really, since I've been buying stuff in bulk. I have more than that with me already made, but I wanted to make a gift of a few to some people at the school, so you can't have them all. Still, one for everyone in the family and a few extras in case anyone else in the village wants to try? I'd like everyone to get a chance, since this could be big. I can send more later. I've earned enough to pay for the materials though, no problem.”
Sara looked around, a proud look on her face. She didn't speak until almost everyone was looking at her however.
“Most of the flying rigs and shields are going directly to the military as fast as they're being made, edict of the King himself. There's a waiting list for nobles, and one out of every hundred is being sold to them. Those go for five hundred gold apiece, but only if they agree to wait and buy them four at a time. For a single one, it's seven hundred and fifty gold. You want a shield too and the Tor-shield is the military standard now. Nothing else comes close by half in what it covers you from. Those go for more, about two thousand gold each, but unless you get one from Tor you aren't allowed to own one as a private citizen unless you're members of the nobility or a sworn member of one of the militaries. I guess you all can… Um…” She waved her hand at Laurie, earning a slow head shake. Sara tilted her head, thinking.
“Right, because you're Tor's family. Not even the King would argue with that, right?”
She looked at Rolph who agreed, saying that really, as long as Tor gave them away, he was allowed to provide them to anyone, the idea being that if Tor cared enough to just make a gift, it meant that the people were important.
“That's not new either, it comes from the King himself and is standard for all the top builders. It prevents problems.”
Sara smiled and looked at everyone, but spent more time focusing on Weasel for some reason than anyone else.
“So, it's not just a matter of coin, but short of being a Count or Duke, people allowed to have their own sworn military, no one could do it but you. But really, speaking Noram standard will help a whole lot. You'll have to learn maps and things too. I can have some sent, if you want? Debri house will want to use your services actually, and maybe hire some light cargo moving, come to think of it… We can't have our own cargo movers yet. I mean, we can own the boxes and devices for it, but the people to fly them are too hard to get so far… Really, if you're all willing I'd like to make a tentative offer for small and emergency shipments? I need to clear it with the head of the house, but if she doesn't agree it would be foolish, and my mother definitely isn't that.”
Tor repeated what she said, and even if it was tedious, he did it using both kinds of speaking so that everyone could get used to the difference. Weasel looked at him seriously and asked, in nearly perfect Noram standard, if they could start right then.
It turned out they could, but the lesson had to be given by the Count, Rolph and Sara, because everyone else was busy.
Wedding planning.
Except for Duke Morgan, who decided watching the training would be advantageous, since he had to set up his own unit for that soon. It was just to get out of the tedious planning session, but also was a good point. No one even looked at him too hard over it.
It really wasn't that big of a deal, not for Tor. He sat back and agreed with whatever he was asked. After about half an hour they all started catching on and making more and more outrageous suggestions. Mercy suddenly asked for a water sculpture in the shape of a sparrow, to match her family crest, one that would float in the air like the magic river, and possibly flap its wings. Trice countered with a request for a falcon as well, because after all, Uncle Richard and Aunt Connie would be coming and it wouldn't do to seem to be promoting their family crest over the royal one, right?
Tor felt his eyes glaze. “Um, how big?”
Eyes twinkling Mercy held out her hands about two or three feet apart, then said, “about ten times that big?” She started chuckling and so did his mom, but Patricia looked at him and started shaking her head. “I… I hope you really want that mom, because I know that look and it means that he has an idea.”
He did.
It was just holding water in a static form. That basically just meant moving the water in to an area of space that stopped movement in all directions. By making the field move in a repeated pattern, could he make the wings flap? He got up to leave, and felt a hand on his arm, looking down he realized that Trice held him in place. Hardly fair.
“Hey, no running off until we set all the orders for what we want!” She smiled, but Tor got it. It wasn't about telling him what to do, but about not leaving her alone with these two women that had suddenly gotten very scary and possibly gone insane. So far they'd been agreeing with each other too, so it wasn't even possible to play one off the other, not yet at least.
The big things, of course, were the date, which Laurie suggested at being a year out, but Mercy didn't really care about overly herself, and the location, which was harder. Tor's mother wanted it to be held, not in Two Bends, but Grenwyn, the Lairdgren capital, since all of her extended family would be there.
Mercy tilted her head, a baffled look on her face for a while before finally speaking. Her voice was pleasant and friendly.
“Well, Tor is… A bit famous now Laur. You heard about his relief effort for county Ford? That, the flying rigs, shields and other things… You know, he saved a city from a death plague? Galasia, sewage got into their water supplies… This is all in the last few months too. He's popular right now, and even if he never does another thing, probably will be for a long time. People will want to come. Plus Connie will want to be there. She and Torrence are a little bit of an item, I hear…”
His mother looked scandalized.
“Torrence Green Baker, you did not sleep with the Queen, of all the irresponsible things to do…” Her tone sounded playful, which shocked the hell out of him, she was always so proper. Country proper. That meant she didn't play around with the topic of sex, or really, even mention that it existed. She must be reverting to her old ways or something. He decided to watch her closely in case she suddenly went into a combat rage over the flower arrangements. She never had before, but now he felt suddenly wary.
Tor let his eyes narrow though.
“Um, no. She didn't even offer. She was just nice, and helped me out when I was injured, that's all, and made sure that country born hick or not, I didn't ever feel too lost or out of place in the Capital. Now I'd thank you all to not malign the Queen in front of me again, she's a good woman and doesn't deserve such.” He made his voice dry and so strict sounding everyone stopped and looked at him for a second, thinking he might be really mad.
Then Trice broke out laughing.
“Uh hmmm. So that thing at the end when she practically ate your face, right in front of everyone, that was just her showing “motherly concern”? She didn't kiss Rolph goodbye that way, me either and here I am her favorite niece and everything.” Her eyelashes batted at him several times. Innocently as if she wasn't trying to needle him.
Sigh. Well it was just part of this scary and uncomfortable new world he found himself in, wasn't it? He'd live.
Possibly.
Not having an answer to her words Tor decided to work on the problem of holding water stable in space. Actually, holding it in place wasn't that hard at all, it was filling it and then draining it later that would be the problem. He needed to find some water to try it out with. The spring house should work well enough, especially if he didn't let the floor get all wet. Dad hated that, he knew, because damp could lead to rot and disease. Plus, it got everything all wet, which looked sloppy.
His mind reeled as it occurred to him that he could drive low level moisture out of an area by collecting it all in a specific zone away from a given space. Two plates could do it again, like a pump, only more general in action. One to tell the water to move, one to give it a location near which to collect. Duh. He could work that up in a day or two. That would cover the woman from the dinner party's house at least. He could even filter the field, so it wouldn't steal water from living things. That was more complex, but it only had to cover plants and animals, which felt similar as far as the information that made them up, well, compared to dead wood or rocks at least. Yeah, he could do it.
Patricia took his hand and squeezed it a little.
“Earth to Tor. Earth to Tor…” Her laughter brought him back to the moment. He shook briefly, a single start of motion and then smiled.
He'd forgotten where he was for a second. Well, their fault for mentioning fields and devices they wanted. What did they think he was going to do, sit and pay attention to what kind of flowers everyone thought smelled best? As a rule he was voting with Trice on everything. After all, while any of them could call things off, it was Patricia that would most likely wake up one day and remember whatever plan she really had and make it end. He sighed a little.
Tor got it now of course, just as he was getting her help to put off Sorvee house, she was using him as a shield against Count Overland. Right. It made sense. Well, he was her friend, so of course he'd help her for as long as she needed.
When he looked around everyone was staring at him. Ah, right, marriage planning.
“Sorry, I was thinking about fields and devices. I think I can do the sculptures in water you want. I mean, I can make forms that will hold the water in the air. I don't know if I can actually do art or anything, so I hope you're all happy with incredibly stylized as far as that goes…”
Patricia laughed again.
“The question was; who do you want as your best man? That and your groomsmen?”
Tor froze. He was familiar with the concept of best man and groomsmen, but he didn't know what he was supposed to say. Rolph, if he would do it of course, for best man, since he was his best friend, only, would he be allowed? Being Prince of the realm and all could stop that fast. He suggested it and it was simply written down, as if it could actually happen. Tovey for groomsman? Then his oldest brother Teral?
It took massive work on his part, but he managed to keep his attention on the conversation for another hour, when everyone figured that they'd decided about what they could for now. That, of course just made sense. The idea of coming up with plans for something over a year away, a thing that wouldn't even happen… suddenly seemed impossible to him. It made him feel a little sad too, since it would be wonderful to be married to Trice. He took Patricia's arm and walked her out anyway, just in case the mad women that their mothers had become decided that there was even more to be done for some reason.
It was a relief to get away from the whole situation, until they walked towards the main street and heard the commotion out front. At first it sounded like a fight, but Tor couldn't believe that. No one in his family, in his entire village, would be arguing or fighting in front of the nobles, would they? If they had an issue, they'd wait or at least take it off into the woods a ways, so no one would hear it. He started to jog along, still holding Patricia's left hand as he did, hoping whatever it was wouldn't be too embarrassing. Maybe someone was just having problems with the flight controls or something? Or it could be a situation having nothing to do with him or his people at all.
It wasn't that. Of course it wouldn't be something simple.
In the middle of the street, with most of his family standing back and watching from a good distance, about fifty feet away, Timon, small fists flying fast, was in the process of beating up Rolph. Trying to at least.
The Prince had obviously either had on before the attack began, or had triggered, his shield, so the boy wasn't hurting him at all. From around his little brother a cascade of blue-white sparks poured off into the air. Tor triggered his own shield and Trice did the same almost instantly, making that effect go away.
“Um…” Tor spoke in a normal sounding voice, at least he tried to. “What's going on?”
Count Thomson stepped forward chuckling a little. “Well, we were all practicing flying for a while, and decided to take a break and get some water. If I have this right Weasel here came across Rolph and Sara… in a rather compromising state and your brother is now defending her honor.” Smiling a little, with his back slightly to the scene so that the boy wouldn't think he was being mocked the Count continued. His tone gave lie to the expression on his face, which Tor understood to be for the other kids, so they wouldn't get too scared.
“Your brother, he's in a full combat rage Tor… But he's what? Ten? That's young for it. Most don't hit until after puberty, usually around fifteen, if they ever do. This could, make things… difficult for him. Children don't have the best control after all to begin with and the rage makes it harder all the way around if it takes. Harsher mood swings than normal and all that. It isn't good.”
Sara stood back nervously, holding her arms folded over her chest and looking at the ground instead of the scene in front of her. The look on her face… Trice walked over to her and held her arms out, which the girl accepted, taking the comfort implied with a soft sob. Tor didn't get it. Why would Sara be that upset?
Sure, his brother was being a bit of a doofus, but Rolph was handling it calmly and just taking whatever the younger boy was dishing out, without rancor or even amusement, holding his face still and serious, but clearly not angry. If it had been some other noble instead of Rolph, or even one of his older brothers instead of the nine year old, Tor would have worried himself. The politics could be delicate after all.
But Rolph wasn't hurting Timon at all and the boy, small as he was, didn't have enough power to do anything really harmful to the bigger man, even if Rolph weren't wearing a shield. The flailing little arms windmilled almost uselessly. He was probably a good fighter for his age in Two Bends, Tor amended, trying not to be unfair to his little brother, but it wasn't military style unarmed combat by any means.
Why would Sara be that worried though?
Tor worked his way over and stood next to Trice, hoping someone would fill him in or at least drop a hint that he could possible catch. Finally Sara muttered something in Trice's ear.
“I'm like Doretta.” It was a sob again, but Tor at least thought he could put things together finally.
Sara was… actually concerned that she'd been unkind to his nine year old brother, by getting caught making out with Rolph, who was, more or less, her boyfriend? Tor froze for a few seconds as he processed it all. Those rules must be a lot more strict than he'd imagined. It wasn't unheard of for a youngster to have a puppy crush on an older person and of course, you were supposed to be polite about it, if it happened, but Sara's reaction was way greater than anyone in Two Bends would have expected from her, to say the least. She was almost in tears over what she perceived as her being at fault here.
Tor patted her on the back and smiled, then shook his head a little at her.
“No. We're on Two Bends' rules right now. If this were the Capital, or even school, then it would be different. Right now Weasel here is just overreacting for some reason. Way overreacting in fact. This isn't normal at all is it? Timon isn't the kind to go around getting into fights, even if he catches the girl he likes having sex with someone else. Not that that's ever happened before, but still… He should be embarrassed, or maybe in shock, or baffled, not trying to take on a full grown man eight times bigger than he is in the middle of the street.” Tor looked over at Count Thomson who shrugged. It really did seem odd.
Sara blanched.
“No! It wasn't anything like that, Rolph just put his arm around me. It wasn't even, you know, anything romantic. If he'd done the same thing with your sister Terlee you probably wouldn't have done more than raised an eyebrow, you know? Not even by the rules here I don't think. Still…” She at least stopped sobbing a little bit.
Tor nodded slowly, “so totally not your fault then. Even by “the rules” you mentioned. So your newfound title of Doretta has to be revoked I'm afraid…”
The older people came out and stood by Douglas, watching the scene worriedly, but obviously recognizing the signs well enough that no one tried to grab the younger boy or anything stupid like that. Tor had learned that doing so almost always made it worse, the person in combat rage fighting harder and harder until exhausted. A person could fight themselves to death that way. It was why the Royal Guard generally just let people fight if they could in those cases, rather than intervening. It was safer for everyone involved as strange as it sounded.
How did this happen? Back at school, when it had happened to the Count, Tor had just kind of assumed that with royals, when they got worked up, it was what they did. Spill a drink on them or tell a bad joke and they went crazy and killed you.
Since then though he'd been around a lot of them and really, the vast majority of the time they were all fine. Even the more aggressive ones didn't generally go around flying into a combat rage. Wensa had said something in that strange room, the cold one that drank all the heat from his bones. It had been so hard to think at the time that he barely remembered what was said there now. Almost like it had been a dream, or a nightmare, that had never happened at all.
“Trice… Back, after that little incident with Tovey at school, Wensa said something in the safe room… about this kind of thing happening more often now? Is that right? I can't… I think that the mind magics of that room make it too hard to remember for me…”
Her eyes went blank for a moment as Tor watched her, some kind of memory trance? He'd seen that look before, just not on his fiancee, so he got the general idea. Was that a special school thing then? Tor realized he'd never actually asked much about what they learned there. It wasn't his business of course and they obviously tried to keep it at least somewhat secret. Probably to protect the students. They'd be harder to kill or steal if you didn't know the weaknesses in their education, right? After nearly two minutes the girl nodded.
“Yeah, she said that it was obviously some kind of attack and that it had been happening a lot more lately. I know that I've seen it more in the last half year than the rest of my life put together. A lot more. Wensa and Kolb both seemed to think it was strange. Maybe we should talk to them about it?”
Tor nodded, hoping that Trice meant talk to Kolb, who was just an intimidating giant that might beat him at any moment, and not Wensa, who'd actually tried to kill him once already. In front of them Weasel suddenly went still, freezing in place for a second and then blinking rapidly, rubbing at his face like it might be numb.
“Go'sory! Ye'sbe aight? Wa… wa'dahened?” The boy seemed really confused and a lot dumber than usual.
Not, Tor knew, that his brother was dumb, just young. None of his family was less than clever. He walked forward slowly, leaving his shield on and spoke the home dialect, not bothering to repeat things this time. He was just talking to his brother after all, not the rest of them.
“It's alright Tim. Sorry… Weasel.” He touched the boy's shoulder and looked him dead in the eye. “You went into a combat rage… like the nobles do. It seems to run in our family too, but normally doesn't hit people until later, when they're older. It's happened to me even, if you can believe it, so it's not a huge failing of yours or anything like that. Rolph isn't hurt, he had a shield on luckily, and used it. But from now on you have to be really careful not to let anything make you mad, because you might kill someone over something small. Sara feels really bad by the way and thinks that she's insulted you, even though all that happened was Rolph acting in a friendly way towards her. You should probably apologize to them both when you collect yourself a bit, alright? That's what the nobles do too, if they do what you did. They bow and make sure that everyone knows that they have control of themselves again. It'll be hard to think for a bit, but that's just a side effect of the whole thing…”
The boy shook and looked more than a little pitiful, but he took a deep breath and walked over to Rolph, looking up at his face. Breath coming hard. Tor wondered for a second if the attack was going to continue then, but his brother just stood for a second before speaking.
“I am sorry. Please… forgive my…” The small boy spun to Tor suddenly switching out of standard.
“How do you say “trespass” in royal talk?”
Tor told him and the boy repeated the words. Really, he seemed to be catching on to the difference in speech a lot faster than Tor had himself. Maybe he had a gift for languages? Or maybe he was just smarter than Tor. Possible, since he was nothing special that way himself.
Rolph bowed to him, and accepted the apology immediately, which got a laugh from all the other kids, which Tor understood. A giant bowing to a little kid looked funny. The adults didn't laugh though, and Rolph kept his face serious and showed courtesy that would have been rare given everything even if Tim had been the Prince and Rolph some back-village kid. Oddly enough most of the grown-ups looked more than a little scared. The Morgans kept looking around as if expecting attack and Count Thomson just nodded to himself as if in deep thought. He kept glancing at Trice though.
She just looked down, which was odd.
Tor's parents finally walked over and hugged the boy, but didn't take him away immediately. Instead Weasel walked over to Sara and bowed himself, getting another laugh from the kids, but a wide eyed look from the blond girl.
“I am most sorry that I distressed you…” The words from the boy were halting and slow, as if he had to fight for each one, which given the reaction to the combat rage Tor had felt himself, made sense.
“I was… “
A shrug followed. How did you tell someone that you knew you'd been a jerk and a bit of a monster, when you were only nine? That the kid hadn't just run away or blamed anyone else was half amazing all on its own. Sara shocked Tor a little with what she did next, which was curtsy, a low bent legged thing that looked hard to pull off and more than a little silly without a skirt on. Cute though. Very proper too.
“I apologize as well, for any action or word of mine that caused pain to you. I hope… that this incident won't create a rift between us or cause you to rethink your offer to begin marriage negotiations?” Her face was serious, so Tor didn't snort or start laughing, even though a few of the kids did. Most of them didn't seem to get what was being said and Terlee, wide eyed, just hid behind her hair. She seemed to get it though, and kept watching closely.
Tor had to translate what his brother mumbled, but the answer seemed to serve everyone well enough.
“He says that, as long as he doesn't die of embarrassment in the coming months, he'll make good on his word.”
Everything with that situation had to be left up in the air, at least for the school kids, since they had to leave in the afternoon to get back in time. The Morgans, surprisingly to Tor, stayed in Two Bends with their old friend. Two of the tents were taken down and repacked, but those would be going back to the Capital in a few days, so they got left in the trunks for later.
Douglas and Laurie walked over to Tor and Patricia just before they left and started passing out hugs. Tor's mom took his arm and gave him a serious look. When she spoke it was, oddly, in her flawless standard. That was so fewer people could overhear them? It was a little odd.
“Things… will probably change for you now, but remember we're here for you. Just remember that immortal or not, you can still be killed, and Countier is just another name for fool half the time. Don't let those things distract you from your studies, and come visit on break, if you can? For that matter, now that you can make it here and back in a few hours, we expect to see you every few weeks, alright?” She glanced at Trice and smiled. “That goes for both of you. All of you really. I know Timon would like to have your friend Sara come visit. I'll try to explain the age difference to him again. Don't be shocked if he shows up at the school with flowers for her though.”
Tor chuckled, but next to him his fiancee got slightly wide eyed and nodded instead, very seriously. The cultural differences in relationship issues were so vast. Amazingly so really. Tor wondered what parts of all this he'd really been missing so far that everyone else around them would have just gotten without thinking? For that matter, how many people had he been going around offending and not even realizing it?
Just as they began to leave, Terlee came out of the bakery with a basket, one of the nice covered ones that the family used on their rare outings. She bypassed everyone else and walked up to Count Thomson directly, her hair pulled back and spine rigid. As she handed it to him, she leaned in and whispered something. It wasn't Tor's business, but he was kind of curious. After all, Terlee talking to a near stranger like that was… bold. A huge step for her really. Tor wasn't a social butterfly by any means, but Terlee was shy even around her own family as often as not. Whatever this was, he felt an upwelling of pride for his sister. They spoke in hushed tones for nearly two minutes, both of them smiling by the end. Happy smiles at least, not forced looking, whatever that meant.
Tovey packed the basket up in one of his pieces of luggage and they got into the air a few minutes later. They flew too fast for talking, but did take a break halfway to the school. Mainly so they could discuss plans and whatnot without anyone else around.
Rolph started, smiling at Tor slightly.
“So, you get the whole deal, that I'm just Rolph Merchant and not Prince Alphonse Cordes the brilliant and shiny toothed or whatever? At least at school? Some of the faculty know, but really, unless they mentioned it to you openly, just pretend nothing has changed that way. I can be the one all impressed rooming with a Countier and all.”
Tor shook his head, thinking for a few seconds. “Nah. I'm just Squire Tor at best. I don't really know what mom and dad are planning to do yet, so it's all quiet there for the time being too. And the Squire thing's just a fiction, right? So that probably won't come into play ever anyway.”
Count Thomson cleared his throat and looked at Tor with a smile.
“Well. That isn't exactly right. You shouldn't have too much to do as a Squire, true, since it's mainly ceremonial now anyway. But you have a Knight and all that, and you have to do what he says as far as training goes, he's required to see to that, as one of his duties, and if there's a war, you're off to battle with him to make sure he stays cared for and provisioned, which means you could see combat too. It isn't a lark. If it comes down to it, you'll be expected to try and protect the kingdom at the cost of your life and take his place on the field if he falls in battle.”
Rolph smirked and grabbed a sweet roll from the basket Tovey held out for everyone. They were walnut honey rolls, which made Tor half choke when he took the first bite. Not that they weren't good, they were of course, since Terlee had made them, but…
“God! Tovey… do you get the… These rolls, they're a traditional Two Bends courting gift!”
The huge man smiled a bit and nodded.
“I know. The tradition's the same in county Thomson. Lairdgren and Thomson border on the east side after all, so even the accent's not that different, a lot of shared customs and all too. Plus, you know, I figured it out when she asked if I was engaged to be married. Which I'm not yet. These rolls are really good. Anyone would be pleased to receive them I think.” He took a big bite and closed his eyes, obviously enjoying the complex flavors and textures.
Tor started to apologize for his sister. It was awkward, and he didn't know what to say, which turned out to be a moot point.
Rolph punched him in the arm. Hard. Harder than was playful.
“Shut it dwarf.” He said, a name that he'd never called Tor before, which got him to spin on his friend. At least Rolph smiled at him.
Everyone else did too, so he shrugged and looked around. Finally, thankfully, Sara explained the situation to simple little Tor. She was good like that.
“Tor, your sister… She's a Counserina. That makes her something like one of twenty or thirty women that Tovey could really marry in the whole kingdom, at least after you correct for bloodlines and such. She's within two years of his age, and really good looking too. So, you know, it's a good match. Plus, they seem to actually get along, which is a rare thing. If Tovey didn't take her advances seriously, he'd be worse than a Doretta, he'd be a moron… Sorry, Tovey, but it's true.” She blushed but didn't duck her head in shame or anything.
Tovey just tilted his head at her a little and very seriously gave her a half nod of agreement and took another bite of his roll.
“Oh.” Tor decided to let them deal with it then, and rubbed his arm instead. He really needed to remember to leave his shield on more often. Especially going back to where Wensa was going to be.
“Right, well, not my business. Unless, you know, you hurt her somehow.” He gave his best mock glare to the Count who simply nodded, accepting the idea easily. Tor expected a laugh from the others, but they just nodded too. Right. Well, he could probably get away with calling the Count names now or something, right? If he had to.
“Hey, wait!” He said, changing the topic, since that had gotten awfully uncomfortable fast.
“I have an actual Knight? Who?”
Rolph nodded and pulled out a piece of paper for him, a sealed document with an official imprint and everything. “Your introduction. There are only three Knights at the school, and Wensa's one of them. Dad didn't think you'd enjoy working with her too much for some silly reason. So you're assigned to one of the others. Sir Martin Kolbrin, Baron third. Knight of the realm, obviously or you couldn't be his Squire.”
The name didn't ring a bell.
“Uh… So I have to meet him? Is that set up or something or…” The idea of just showing up at some guy's house unannounced seemed hard, but if that's what he had to do, he'd manage it. It was his duty.
It was Tovey that clued him in, keeping his face serious.
“Um, Tor? Martin Kolbrin? That's Kolb. Our weapons instructor?”
“Oh.”
Well, Tor thought, that wasn't intimidating or anything. Not at all.
He just hoped Trice appreciated all he was doing for her, since having Kolb as a Knight might just lead to his death.
Oh well.
At least there wasn't a war going on or anything like that.
Tor flew back with the others, deciding to try and be happy. It was exciting anyway, right?
Right.