Tor woke up aching and sore in places he definitely didn't expect to be, but it made sense when he thought about where the falling clods of dirt had to impact. Dangling by one leg, being pulled around upside down like that. Ouch. Well, he probably wasn't ever going to have children anyway at the rate he'd been going with women. So no big loss. It did smart though, he could have done without that part. His skin felt burnt and sore too and of course his leg was just in agony. But he wasn't crying. Heh.
He knew he was tougher than that.
Well, more accurately, he wanted to be tougher than that. He didn't know if he was or not. Hadn't at least.
The room he was in was nice, at least as fine as the one he'd been given in the guest house, but looked different. Older. More stone work by far and a bed large enough for his whole family to sleep in. He looked over towards the right edge and saw that it wasn't really true. He was in the center and the bed's edge was only about four feet away. Still, the biggest bed he'd ever seen.
No one else was in the room, it was dark inside. Not black by any means, but the deep brown wood and deep blue curtains blocking out the light through the window didn't leave him a lot to see by. It was daytime at least. Hopefully the same day, because he didn't have enough time to get everything done if he missed more than one or two.
Tor scooted to the edge of the bed and started to swing his feet out, noticing that his legs had been covered with loose pants that were made of soft white silk-like material, his left leg wrapped in a thick splint that felt like metal pieces on either side when he touched it. It ached still, but it was attached, so they hadn't had to amputate it. Good. He'd worried about that a little he realized. Being the one foot guy would have been annoying to say the least. Kind of lopsided. Survivable though.
He realized he was acting grumpy in his head, the pain getting to him a little. He chuckled and found himself laughing after a few seconds. Only he would jump head first into a cesspit. It would probably be the big joke when he got back to school. First things first though, he needed to get something to drink, water by preference, go to the restroom and then find some plates for the drought relief project and get to work.
Standing he noticed that the shirt he wore was loose and white as well. It felt nice against his skin. Soft and smooth. The room was cool, but not cold, even though he didn't have an amulet on. Looking around he noticed that one of the room cooling plates hung on the far wall. He could see why they called them that here, but the heating properties would save a lot more lives in a harsh winter.
There was no water anywhere he could find, so he limped slowly to the door of the room and poked his head out.
In the hall two black and purple clad men, both huge and holding strips of metal in their hands that probably had massive destructive power built in to them. He could figure it out if he could see them in action, or even better, get to hold one.
Royal Guards.
Eeek. Tor wondered if he was being held prisoner. He couldn't think of a reason why, other than the fact that he'd sassed the King to his face the other day. That might do it. The man hadn't seemed to take it personally though, so that probably wasn't it. Besides, if he was being held against his will, it was an awfully nice dungeon.
The man on his right turned and looked at him, shock in his eyes.
“Sir! You're awake? We've orders not to let anyone bother you. Do you need anything?”
Tor asked for some water and then if he could use the facilities. The men didn't hesitate to make both things happen. So probably not a prisoner. After all, prison guards didn't run errands for you, did they? Tor didn't know for certain, but it seemed like a definition of the term really. Then he asked if he could possibly see the King. He knew that the man was busy, kind of what his job meant as far as Tor could see, so settled back on the bed to wait, wondering if he'd be summoned within the next few days. Could he get someone to collect his trunk and the materials inside or… Maybe they could just bring him something else he could work with?
It turned out he'd been moved to the palace building itself, by order of the Queen, so that she could attend to his needs herself. He assured the men that he didn't need much, probably not even guards, at least until he started work on the next project. He explained it to one of them, who clearly didn't get most of what he said, but did understand that he should have food, water, help to the restroom and peace as soon as he started, and that it would probably take days of work. The man nodded and left then.
Less than an hour later three large brass falcons were brought in, liberated from the palace gardens.
“Will these serve sir? We can procure something else if you wish?” The Royal Guard, a man named Finely asked, his voice lacking almost all emotion.
“Those… will work very well actually, if the King OK's the project. Thanks!” They really were lovely, the nicest thing he'd ever gotten to put a field on by far. A little big, being nearly as tall as he was and probably weighing four times as much or more, but he didn't think a mighty “sky river” should be linked to something the size of his hand and no thicker than a piece of paper either. For one thing, these would be harder to steal. Of course it would take a moron to steal something like that with a river attached to it, but the world was filled with people that didn't always think.
Not ten minutes after that the King, his wife and four other people came in. Rolph, of course, who he'd expected a little earlier, an older man, who looked kind, had on cream and yellow robes and was missing most of his hair, and oddly Karina, the Princess, who was followed by a prettier girl that looked a lot more like the Queen, only in miniature. Since she was the only person in the room that didn't leave him feeling like a midget, he tentatively decided to like her.
“Hey! It's everybody!” Tor said enthusiastically. He sat up straighter, then grinned at Richard. “Sorry, bowing is completely out right now, how's everyone doing? The kids I mean? No one else got too hurt did they?” He'd heard them crying, but knew that sometimes people died of their injuries later. He felt relief wash through him when the King smiled.
“Both are fine. It seems the tanner boy had fallen attempting his own rescue of the girl, the youngest child of a chandler. People are impressed.” Richard gave Tor a very significant look as if he was talking about him, or something silly like that. Tor ignored it.
He nodded gently at the words and took their literal meaning instead. “I can see that. For an adult to try and save a child is natural, but for a kid that age to risk his life like that took a lot of guts. I'm glad they're both alright.”
Pointing to the stolen statues, he asked if he could have them for the drought relief effort. Then he had to explain to the King and Queen what he meant by that. The Queen started to forbid it, but he shrugged and explained that while mentally difficult, he'd actually get a lot more bed rest for his injuries that way than if he was sitting around restless, worrying about people starving the next winter.
The man in cream and yellow bowed to him and held it.
“Oh, Tor…” The Queen gestured to the man beside her. “This is the King's counselor Smythe of Westend, he heads the military for the kingdom, after Richard himself. He wanted to be here when you woke…” She trailed off as if she didn't really understand what the man wanted with Tor.
“Indeed young sir. I wanted to discuss some things with you… but I see that you already have plans. Very good. Would it be possible for me to visit with you at some length before you leave the Capital do you think?” The man didn't sound bossy or wheedling, he just asked, so Tor nodded.
Why not? If the man wanted him to do something he could pretty much just tell him to, right? Tor would have to do it, since the guy was the head of the military and all. If he wanted to act all polite about it, well, it did make him feel better than if the guy had come in making demands and barking orders. He just hoped he wasn't being drafted into the guard or the army. Most of those guys were a lot bigger than he was for one thing. Besides his battlefield cry of “run away!” probably wouldn't go over very well. He could lead any strategic withdrawals for them that they needed though. Kolb had trained him pretty well for that actually.
Karina hung back, dressed prettily in a light colored green dress that flowed to the ground and looked completely useless as real daily wear. It was more like a party frock or even wedding dress. At least not something you'd want to wear while outdoors. In her hair she had a simple green ribbon, darker than the dress and made of shiny material. It could have been more silk. She stepped forward and smiled at him, then spoke rapidly.
“That was very brave, going into that… hole like that, after children you didn't even know. Did you… Did you really go into a combat rage?” She asked with only slight hesitation, though everyone else winced. The smaller girl next to Karina sighed loudly and pushed her arm.
“You don't ask people about that.” She said, her voice sounding pleasant but slightly exasperated. A little like she was talking to a small child that needed to be corrected gently.
He looked at Karina, wondering if he'd misheard and smiled. Brilliantly he added a slightly mirthful, “what?”
Rolph shrugged. “Yeah Tor. I mean, you weren't all violent or anything, but you obviously had a shield around you even without wearing one, and pulled the girl out of the pit using direct effect. Controlled direct effect, which is… rare. I got caught in the disorientation aura, that's why I told everyone to run when I realized what you were doing. This was while you were being ripped out of the ground by a broken leg. It had to be something similar at the very least, didn't it?”
Everyone thought so except the King who smiled and waved this away. “Don't worry about it right now Tor, just do what you need to, and let us know if we can do anything to help. It will be seen to instantly.” The man smiled at him, and for some reason winked, then walked out, taking his advisor with him.
Rolph stayed, waiting for his mother and sister Karina, both of whom offered to “fluff his pillow” for him. The younger girl looked at them all and laughed quietly behind her hand. For some reason this got a laugh from Rolph too, who told them that it was inappropriate with him in the room, because he shouldn't ever have to listen to such talk. Karina blushed a scarlet color and looked furious for a second her lips tightening, but Connie just laughed at her son.
“A very good point. Perhaps you should leave then? We wouldn't want to offend your delicate ears. Now that you gave us that wonderful idea, I'm sure-”
Rolph threw his hands over his ears, and spoke loudly to drown her out.
“I'm not listening… Ho de hum…”
“Well, you've been warned.”
Her tone was dry, regal and somehow still playful.
After a bit more talk like this that Tor didn't get, but could tell meant something, they all left, finally letting him get to work. At last. They were nice, but he couldn't work with everyone standing around talking like that. For one thing it would be rude. And really the pillows he had were already almost too fluffy. It was nice of them to offer, seeing to his comfort like that, without even considering that they were all royal and he was just… him.
The next six days were harder than he'd thought they'd be, because the pain kept screaming for attention as he worked at first. Still, Tor forgot he hurt at all by the end of the day, and had to be led to the restroom and fed after that. He didn't know who did it and couldn't spare attention to understand what they did to him, which was probably too embarrassing to consider anyway. Everything he had went into holding the three separate fields constantly nearly the whole time. That he'd gotten the whole thing down to only three fields instead of thousands… It would make a vast difference in the end, he thought. By day four he folded in on himself, the world becoming nothing more than the three sets of information he was generating. Then he locked it all in place taking another two days all told.
After that he had to sleep for a while. A long while, waking up only long enough to eat a little and drink as much water as he could. On the evening of the seventh day he was finally able to send the statues out, he scratched numbers on them so that each would go in the right direction. Number three needed to go up the King's River by a good way, as far as they could get it and still have the full width to work with, he told the men who came to cart them all away. Workmen that were getting a detail of Royal Guard to make sure no one bothered them, this was important after all.
The second had to go nearly a hundred and fifty miles north, halfway to the ocean since it was the field that defined where the line of water went and the first needed to be as close to the coast as possible without actually ending up being washed away. Then number one just had to be activated, a simple tap like one of the shields or clothes dryers used. It didn't have a real sigil, so he suggested they just needed to tap the number. Anywhere on it would work, but most people couldn't seem to get the idea for some reason.
If all went well, the King's River wouldn't overflow. He'd had to guess at the amount of water needed, too much would be worse than too little, but he hoped he'd at least gotten it close. Water could be taken from any point in the stream that would float above the ground, just by sticking something in the flow. A stick or a wooden board would work, if braced well enough.
Easy.
It took most of a day and all the luggage floats, retrieved from the others by Rolph, to get the statues in place, but by the ninth morning they had water flowing into the river, which doubled the height of the water line along the banks but didn't cause any flooding. Tor felt a sense of relief. They could set a guard to turn it on and off at need at the beach, but the less messing with it they did, the happier he'd be.
New clothes, more loose silk that felt wonderful to his skin, but probably looked incredibly bizarre, in a light violet color, was brought for him to wear after he finally got a real bath, the splint being removed so that his leg could be scrubbed carefully. It looked awful, covered in black and blue bruises with the skin torn in a ring around it, a strange oblong where the rope had grabbed at him. Embarrassingly, he couldn't bend over to do that himself, it hurt way too much, so Burks, the man that had helped him at the guest house, came to do it for him. The guy didn't even blush as he reached the soft brush carefully into the bath water. It had to be done if he didn't want his leg to stink the place up, so he put up with it, turning red the whole time in embarrassment.
Splint back on with new wrappings, sturdy canvas, and tied carefully into the loose silk pants he was ready to venture out of the room finally. They wouldn't let him go and see the river himself, since it was a good distance north of the Capital, not yet at least.
Connie came and sat with him at a table in one of the dining rooms, family style, she called it, so that there weren't ten paces of space between them, letting them sit and talk in a civilized fashion. That was good, because otherwise they'd have to scream at each other just to be heard. It was funny, but no one seemed to ever use the whole sitting that far apart thing here, not even at the tense dinner party where the space might of helped a little. Maybe it was an old custom?
Smiling she commented that the new river, temporary or not, needed a name. Most were calling it the “River Tor” already.
“If you have something else in mind, I suggest you let us know quickly, things like that tend to stick.”
Tor definitely didn't want it to be named after him. That would be… well even the King's River was named for the job, not the sitting King at all, right? Still the “Broken Student's River” didn't have much of a ring. Well, a bit of a ring, he reflected, but it was a mouthful.
“How about the “Falcons River” after the statues that have the fields on them? That's on the royal crest even, right? Falcons. So people will know that the King's looking out for them, helping out with drought relief and all that?” It sounded about right to him. He tried thinking about it like he was still just a kid from Two Bends. A sky river the King had made to save crops for farmers? That would go over pretty well. A lot better than if it was named after some kid that they'd never even heard of.
The Queen smiled and took his hand. “But it wasn't Richard that did it. He didn't even ask for it to be done. You just found a need and fixed it…”
Tor smiled and shook his head. He didn't want to tell her she was wrong, but he distinctly remembered the King telling him there was a problem in the Ford distract that had to be attended to, and that they'd need a river of clean water. It was Rich's idea even really.
For some reason Connie chuckled when he mentioned that and squeezed his hand gently. She looked at him long enough that he started to get a funny feeling in his stomach. If she'd been younger, or even just not married, he'd have been very interested in her. She really did look like she could be Rolph's slightly older sister after all and had obviously gotten the job of Queen in part based on her good looks. Or, well, given the way these people selected mates for their kids when they were little children, maybe that had been luck of the draw? However… it had really worked out for the King at least. She was fine.
When the Queen finally let his hand go after a while, and he felt a sense of relief. He knew that she was just being nice to him, treating him like she might her own son, if Rolph were injured, but falling in love with the Queen would be bad on so many levels that he couldn't count them all. Even a puppy crush would be a silly thing to let happen. At least she probably wouldn't be as mean about rejecting him, if he were so foolish as to ask anything of her, as Maria had been. Not from what the others had said at least. It made Tor feel safer around everyone here in a way. The idea that his giving a device he made to someone wouldn't have them throwing it in his face calling him names in public was a good thing, even if he did end up being rejected over and over again.
Look at him…
A little attention from a good looking woman and he was suddenly imagining himself in love? Even if she hadn't been totally out of reach, totally inappropriate, and completely not interested in him, it wouldn't have worked out, because he'd still just be him. Duh. He smiled at her, and got one in return, which was better than he deserved most likely.
“Well, if I'm not going to inspect my work on the water system I should probably get to rebuilding the floats. I mean making the fields larger for cargo hauling in the air? I told the people from Debri house that I'd do that as soon as possible.”
Her eyes went dark then, not angry, but concerned, as if he'd just told her he needed to go back to the front lines of a war or something instead of lounging around in bed for days at a time. He'd have gone running, he told himself, trying to think about what would be good for him, but the broken leg meant he could skip that without even getting in trouble with Kolb. Crippling himself wouldn't help keep him in shape after all. Kind of the opposite by definition.
Yep. Perfect reason to slack off.
Tor wondered then if the woman had some mind reading ability, a real possibility given her royal blood, he guessed, because she narrowed her eyes at him and told him, in no uncertain terms that he would not use a broken leg as an excuse to work himself to death. She softened her statement with a gentle touch on the arm which made him uncomfortable again. It would have been fine if his mother or one of his sisters had done the same thing, so he ignored it and asked if he could have some water instead.
She nodded and got it herself, from a cool pitcher sitting in an insulated box next to the table. The box made him think of something, causing him to chuckle. Right, his totally superfluous idea of making cold boxes that didn't need ice. Tor avoided mention of the idea itself, since he knew it might be considered work, but he did ask if there was a spare box that could be put in his room, like the one next to him. The Queen raised her eyebrows, clearly knowing he intended something other than just keeping some water cool, but nodded and raised her hand about shoulder high. She didn't ask for it to be done out loud, but he knew it would be anyway, in that eerie fashion that things happened at the palace.
After about an hour of chatting cozily, and sometimes awkwardly on his part, a woman came into the room, a slightly older lady, who seemed a year or two senior to Connie and who looked somehow familiar. Dark brown curly hair, strong features and blue eyes that glinted a little bit when she saw the Queen sitting with Tor at the table.
The clothing he wore was comfortable, but not really appropriate for meeting new people, he didn't think, based on the way the woman smirked gently when she saw the ensemble. He struggled to his feet, because that's what you did when a woman came into the room, at least if she wasn't related to you. Her eyes went wide when she saw the splinted leg, but she didn't wave him down. Instead she greeted Connie, who'd risen from her own padded chair, with a hug.
She really did look familiar, like he should know who she was. Had they met? Tor didn't think so, he'd have remembered her. She was very good looking. Obviously one of the royals, being so tall, six-seven or eight at least. About the same as Connie. Well, that and the whole walking into the palace and just hugging the Queen. Everyone else bowed, even Counts and Countesses. That meant that this woman must be important. Family or a close friend?
“Connie! We just got in to town. Normally we don't come down this time of year, but we were close anyway and wanted to see the floating river. How often do you get to see a spectacle of that nature? It's incredible. Eric and I even drank from it, just in case it has some miracle properties to the water. Came here directly of course, after that. Have you seen my youngest around anywhere by chance? She sent a note that she was planning to come down, but travel times being what they are she may not be back from school yet.” The woman didn't ask about him, but did sit so that Tor could, covertly glancing at his left leg again.
“Oh! Yes, I've seen her indeed. She's off to the river wall market with Karina and Varley today, as well as her friend Sara Debri. They should be back here in a few hours, planning on dinner with us I think, if you'd like to stay? A bit of a party tonight, so come if you can. Fancy dress. I think they even have my son traipsing along playing footman for them. Well, good for him to be useful, even if he does have to stand about while they look at materials from Afrak all afternoon.” She smiled and touched the woman on the arm gently, like she had been with him all afternoon.
It took a few seconds for Tor to shift gears, having been working mentally on the cold box idea, since he should be able to knock that out in a few hours, and claim it as simple entertainment. Maybe eight hours, if he built a template for it instead of just a one up field. He didn't know if it would be useful to anyone really, but a lot of people liked cold drinks and chilled food at the palace, so maybe someone would like something that didn't take a lot of ice? Sara had mentioned that this time of year the price of ice was measured in silvers for a ten pound block in the Capital. Sometimes gold. That meant that even the chilled water he drank had to have cost about three pennies. More than some made in a day. He swallowed thinking about it.
Tor shook himself, wondering if the injuries had affected his mind, his attention going back to the woman in front of him.
Right! Two great looking women here and he was thinking about ice? Brilliant. No wonder women didn't have any use for him.
“Excuse me is this…” He didn't want to jump in and be wrong, so he hesitated, waiting for someone to fill things in for him. Connie obliged winking at him with her left eye.
“Baroness Merciful Thorgood Morgan. Wonderful person and accomplished singer, you really should hear her if you get a chance.” Connie smiled over at the woman who thanked her softly and touched her on the shoulder playfully, almost a push.
“Also my sister, as you may have guessed since no one else would treat the Queen like this, practically knocking me from my chair… Seriously!” They both laughed and started pushing back and forth like children, which made Tor chuckle. It really reminded him of how he was with his own brothers.
“Mercy, this is Torrence Baker.”
The Baroness looked interested at the simple introduction but didn't ask for any more details. Tor had a sneaking suspicion that the Queen was teasing her somehow, being mysterious about him to make her figure out who he was. Since he had to look like a little kid sitting around in night clothes like this, he couldn't imagine what she'd guess.
Most likely that he was some little kid sitting around in his night clothes in the palace. Well, given everything he couldn't blame her if she did.
The conversation went on with Tor mainly listening. These women were way more interesting than he was after all, so best course for him was to shut up and pay attention. It seemed that the northern orchards on the Baroness' estate were doing well, a bumper crop in fact. She feared that she'd lose half the apples and peaches before they could do anything with them, just rotting in the bins waiting for wagon transport. His mind boggled when she mentioned that they had over ten thousand trees. That… was huge. Tor tried to keep his reaction off his face. The Baker family had ten apple trees behind the house and they managed to have apples almost all year for everyone. It took a lot of canning to make it happen but, ten thousand trees?
“Oh, Connie! Eric asked me to see if you had any connections with Debri house? They have a new whole foods drying device that we could use to save part of the crop, possibly, except that our local representative from that organization told us that they aren't making them right now, focusing on other, apparently more pressing and lucrative, manufacturing first. You mentioned a Sara Debri earlier?”
Connie smiled, “yes, she's the child of Heather Debri, second in line to the empire if I have it right. A good friend of your own daughter, her roommate at school this year, so I think you would want to start there if you intend to apply leverage. Or, possibly, I'm given to understand, with my son. He and Sara seem to have grown… close, of late.”
“You're Trice's mom?” Tor blurted a little loudly. He surged to his feet, well, tried to surge, it was more of a slow standing up that looked a little awkward. The woman's eyes went a little wide.
“So nice to meet you! I didn't know… didn't make the connection. Duh, Morgan. You just look too young to be her mother, so it threw me off. Sorry.” He bowed to the woman, again a clumsy thing, but the best he could do at the moment.
The Queen chuckled behind her hand, her eyes showing genuine mirth at his reaction.
“Oh ho! Well, that's special!” She turned smoothly to her sister and leaned into her slightly, mock whispering. “You should feel honored, he doesn't even bow to Richard you know. Not in private like this.”
Tor flushed and sat back down. Should he explain the deal with the King, how he'd gotten trapped into being rude all the time to the man, so that he wouldn't think he was mocking him now? He didn't think he could explain it, not and still seem halfway sane. The woman just smiled at him, probably thinking that Connie had been joking with her. Well, good. Who wanted to be known as the ill-mannered guy anyway?
He went back to listening, his mind flying off in a dozen directions as the women spoke. Apple and peach crops, along with some pear… going to waste, flying rivers which brought up flying guardsmen and how Eric, Mercy's husband, the Duke, Patricia's father really wanted to try out flying himself if he could get a hold of one of the devices.
Tor tilted his head.
“Well… I have a couple of spare sets if you'd like to try it, with shields, so it's not even that dangerous. Of course he could borrow Trice's too, I'm sure, but this way you can all go somewhere together, which is more fun…”
The woman's eyes went wide.
“You'd part with them? Patricia can already fly? She has her own Tor-flying rig? How much are you asking for them, even the loan of them must be… pricey right now.”
He waved that away, Connie covering another laugh.
“Not a problem. I brought them as gifts anyway in case someone wanted them. Turns out all the counselors get nervous about the idea of the King flying about for some reason, possibly because they fear he'll escape? Connie won't even try it, being chicken. A sad thing really, since it's a lot of fun. You should work on her there. Trice is a good flyer already and Rolph would be glad to show you how as well I bet, I mean Alphonse, or… Count Thomson, who has to be one of the best flyers I've seen so far. I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, probably actually working in his off time instead of lazing about like I am, seeing to his district and all that. Though, you know…” Tor, felt awkward suggesting the next bit, not knowing if it was rude or something or if he could even pull it all off, but it seemed like too good a chance to pass up.
Mercy smiled at him encouragingly, as if she suspected he had something good to say. Connie reached out and touched his arm, holding it briefly, not letting go until her sister raised her eyebrows at her, then the Queen patted the arm, signaling him to just rush in and hope it wasn't too bold of him to ask.
“Alright, I guess I should just jump in then. Please excuse me if this is out of turn or rude… I can get you those fast food dryers and, I think, rapid shipping for your fruit to other places. You'll need flyers for that, but I can get that done too… Do you think that you'd be willing to… trade for that? Um, about half of what would have spoiled without it?” He held up his right hand quickly.
“It's not for me personally, or anything like that, county Ford is having a drought that took about half their mid-summer crop, that means lean times even if the irrigation can get the late summer crops in. I was thinking of shipping things there. Well, not by ship, of course — air transport. It should be a lot faster.”
The woman blinked, then smiled and batted her pretty blue eyes at him until the Queen cleared her throat. Trice's mom winked at Connie happily though.
“You can get all that done?” The woman asked, laughing gently. She stopped when the Queen looked at her and gave a single nod of the head, looking very regal.
“Mercy, I think that if Tor says that he can do something, it would be best to just assume it's so. He's rather good at… getting things done. Richard did no more than mention the drought in front of him, and he's already done all this…” The words were soft, but not unkind.
“Oh… Oh! As in that Tor?” This was addressed to Connie not him. That Tor? It sounded like a funny question, he was just a student that had made a few devices that, while interesting and hopefully useful, weren't all that special. Well, the river was impressive he had to admit, but it wasn't like that meant he was anything special.
The Queen just nodded.
The agreement came fast, and even though she claimed that she couldn't make deals for her Duke, she hinted that if he'd be willing to double the deal they might be able to swing a large fall wheat harvest as well. That would only take shipping, so wouldn't be quite as large for Tor's portion, still possibly worth doing, the Baroness said, a little wheedling.
Tor agreed and had to stop himself from just jumping up and going to work right then. Easiest thing to do would be to borrow the template he'd given to Debri house for the dryers. He could rebuild the original field, but that would take extra time. Besides, he really wanted to play with the cold box idea first. It was selfish and silly of him, but sounded like a more interesting way to spend the afternoon. New things usually were more fun to work on, device wise at least.
The women let him go back to his room to rest for the afternoon, Connie telling him that he was expected at dinner later, about nine. As he left she imparted a gentle kiss on the cheek, which made him blush, but her sister didn't blink at it, so it must be a normal thing, he decided. One of those royal things a bumpkin like him just hadn't learned yet.
That gave him hours to work in. Nearly ten, which should be plenty. Back in his room he found a nice cabinet about three feet on a side with walls about four inches thick, it was wood on the outside and silver metal inside. It had a block of fresh ice in it and a pitcher of water. It would do nicely, Tor thought.
He didn't have an oven for the corresponding heat, so he just sunk it into the ground, about a hundred feet under the copper piece he used to hold the field in place. Thinking about it, Tor didn't want to bother going outside to do acid etching, afraid that the Queen may have left orders to stop him from doing something like that. He really didn't want to get nabbed by the Royal Guard. Those guys were nice enough, outwardly at least, but always seemed like they were ready to execute him on a moment's notice with a single word from… anyone really.
Rolph, the King, one of the Princesses, the maid that cleaned the room… Tor really didn't want to push them if he could avoid it.
Instead he used a bit of sharp rock to make a simple design to act as a sigil. It was just a circle with two arrows inside, to represent the heat leaving the box. It took a few hours to make, then an extra few to form a template and make a full set of copies. He put one in the box for testing and waited. And waited.
At first he thought it had failed. That happened sometimes after all. Normally not to him, not with work like this that he had a pretty good grasp on already, but maybe he'd forgotten a step? Sighing he took the pitcher out of the box to get a drink of water.
It was frozen solid.
So was the ice, no melting on it at all, just a frozen puddle at the bottom spreading out gently. Tor smiled. It didn't feel that cold to him, because he was wearing one of the temperature equalizing amulets. Oops.
Laughing he called for Burks, who'd taken the duty of watching after him for some reason. Possibly as a punishment for some transgression that Tor didn't know about, though it was hard to imagine the man ever doing anything wrong. He was incredibly good at his job.
He tried to be an easy person to take care of, but knew that a sick or injured person was always a pain. Burks handled it like a trooper, always showing up in the morning first thing with his breakfast and making sure that he ate regularly and had whatever he needed. He'd kind of thought that the man was the one that had kept him… clean, when he used the restroom and had been working. It was embarrassing, but the guy never mentioned it, thankfully.
The man boggled a little at the frozen pitcher of ice, but recovered when Tor explained what he thought would work. Just taking the remaining new devices to the kitchen and setting them up there. He'd go himself, he assured the man, but was afraid that he wouldn't be allowed in directly and was a little obvious with his leg in a splint to sneak in pretending to be one of the servants, a pot washer or something.
“Just so sir. I'll take care of this. I won't be but a moment.” It took longer than that, but gave Tor some time to work out the large shipping floats. He'd promised them to Debri house anyway.
Stopping himself he realized that he hadn't promised anything. They'd asked if he could do something for mass shipping in general, just one of the ideas they thought could make gold, not that he have it ready within the month. Still, he had a reason to now anyway, so it made sense to get it done. He needed a float plate like what he'd already made, only with a bigger field on it, so it would lift more. A whole lot more. It would take time, but it wasn't building a river in the air, so three or four days?
Now he just had to convince everyone to leave him alone for a while to get the work done before his break ran out. The people at the school really didn't like it when he stopped going to classes for days at a time, which made sense, he was there to work and learn, not play with his own projects and ignore the lessons.
Burks made it back about two hours later and told him that all the plates had been installed and seemed to be functioning very well. The cooks were impressed at least. Burks smiled and went to fetch clothing for him to wear to dinner. The tunic top was a nice black and purple velvet thing, with a smaller King's livery patch on it than the last one, but they didn't have real trousers that would fit over the leg splint, so the man took a cutter from his jacket pocket and carefully slit a pair of black silk pants down the side and punched holes for black ribbon along the perfectly smooth slit so that Tor could be tied in. Tor winced when he saw him doing it.
That much silk! It was one thing for him to borrow the clothes, but to ruin them like that… He'd be working for years to pay for them, he was afraid.
It looked alright when it was finished, so he tried not to worry over it. Tor owed everyone here so much already, having cared for him like they had after he'd gotten himself hurt. The King and Queen for opening their home to him, certainly, and Burks who'd done a lot of the personal work himself. He wondered what he could do to repay the man. He didn't have a lot of money, so just giving him gold wouldn't work. He'd have to think of something.
A walking stick was provided to him to aid his getting to dinner on time. It was an interesting thing, nearly as tall as he was, gnarled and thick at the top, lacquered, a shining black that, to his amusement, matched the outfit he was wearing. He made sure to slip on his temperature equalizing amulet and his shield, thinking about the last “dinner” he'd gone too at the palace. Tor wanted to be ready just in case that kind of thing happened again. Even if some of them were his friends, royals could be dangerous.
Though it wasn't lost on him that Rolph, even when in a full combat rage, hadn't touched him, or even hit at him directly. Ward had, but his friend was looking out for Tor, even when not strictly in his right mind. Even when, if asked, he probably would have said he didn't have any control of himself at all.
Remembering his promise to Mercy, he went to his chest and took out the remaining two flying rigs. Looking around he realized he didn't have anything to put them in and the Baroness probably wouldn't want to wear them around all night. Especially if they didn't go with her outfit. The problem with all his stuff so far was the copper. A good sturdy metal for fields, but not great as far as jewelry went all the time. Silver would have been a better gift, but he couldn't afford things like that yet, not really.
“Hey, Burks…” He turned to look at the man, holding up the devices. “I need to wrap these up for a Duke and a Baroness, they're married, so it can go in one package I think, any ideas?”
The man bowed a quick and choppy thing and left the room at a quick walk, coming back with a small chest that was intricately carved and made of soft looking light colored wood, sanded so that there were no rough edges. The man presented it formally holding it over his left arm.
“These are kept in the closet down the hall for the purpose of presenting fine gifts. It should work for this, I hope?” The man spoke evenly as if Tor's little handmade presents counted as “fine”. The guy was really being kind, he'd have to remember that and figure out some way to repay the man later. Maybe he'd like a shield or flying gear? Would he even have use for it though? Something special to make his life easier would be better, but nothing in particular came to mind.
That reminded him, so he slipped two of the newest shields in as well. Flying without them was nearly insane. He'd heard of people doing it, but Tor wouldn't, and really, he wouldn't ask anyone else to either. Even if it meant giving away the shields for free.
The copper looked nice in the box, being wrapped in purple silk, the whole thing didn't weigh too much, about two pounds, thankfully, because he had to carry it under his right arm so that he could hold the walking stick in his left. It took him a while to find the right dining room, since dinner was being held in one of the larger ones tonight and he hadn't been that way in the palace before.
It wasn't that hard to find, since all he had to do was follow the line of people going in. There must have been hundreds of them. He almost turned around and went back to his room seeing them all slowly headed towards the vast double doors, moving slowly in rows of twos. For one thing he wasn't sure he was in the right place. He'd thought it was just a small family and friends thing. Then again, maybe this was what having a few friends over looked like when you were a King or Queen?
The other thing was that he was all alone, not having a date. Everyone else had someone by them but him.
That left him feeling awkward.
Out of place. No one really looked at him too closely at least. Most of them actually seemed to look over him. Kind of as if anyone less than six foot tall wasn't worth noticing? No one stepped on him yet, so some part of their brains must be aware he was in the room. The way you normally managed not to crush a small child, or pet cat?
At the door each couple was announced to the room by a man with a powerful voice, deep and intimidating. Tor got into the line and moved along with it, hoping that he was in the right place after all. Everyone around him was obviously royal, even the few kids in the crowd were taller than he was. Which probably meant that he looked like a tiny child that had wondered in alone.
Great.
Each person had tried to dress nicer than the last it seemed, with some of the women dressed in gowns that shone like crystal, glittering and heavy, and some of the men dressed head to toe in silk. He'd felt a bit silly wearing loose silk pants around, but apparently he wasn't going to be the only one doing that tonight. It made him feel a bit better. Not that he didn't look ridiculous, he did, but if anyone mocked him over it, they'd have to contend with about twenty percent of the room, not just him. It was a safety, or at least comfort, in numbers thing.
In a way it was worth coming even if they didn't let him in at the door, just to see all the glittering and finely dressed people. It was something that no one in Two Bends had probably ever gotten to see the like of. The man with the loud voice called out the people ahead of him.
“The Lord Duke Brettermere and Duchess Brettermere!” He called out. Like everyone else had, they took exactly five steps into the room and stopped, waiting for about fifteen seconds before walking on into the huge space. The woman wore a pretty purple dress that, while not as shining as some, still lit up the room a lot. Tor thought it looked really nice, but then purple was his favorite color. They were both older, gray hair on their heads and wrinkled faces. Only a few people turned around to look at them. Dukes and Duchesses didn't rate much attention in a room with this crowd it seemed.
Tor limped up slowly to the man, wondering if he'd come to the right place at all, half expecting the man to send him off to the kitchen to start baking or scrubbing pots. Though if they wanted him to bake they really should have gotten him in place a lot earlier in the day. Baking wasn't a last minute thing really. Instead the man looked at him questioningly, his face going blank for a bit. One of the liveried Royal Guards by the door made a small noise, a clearing of his throat, which got the man to lean in for a moment. His face went totally blank, and then he nodded.
“Tor!” He called out simply, his voice just as powerful as before.
Making his way into the room slowly, Tor stopped like everyone else had, hoping it was the right thing to do, he'd counted off ten seconds when he realized that most of the room had turned to stare at him. Eeek. Had he messed something up already? The guy had announced him, and the Queen asked him to come, right? He hadn't misunderstood had he? God he hoped not. That would be too embarrassing to live with. Tor walked on, hoping that if he had screwed up everyone would consider it in poor taste to notice or something. Maybe he really was supposed to help the servers or something? But if that was the case, shouldn't Burks have dressed him in green so that he'd match?
Everyone else had made their way to the front, past the long table, an incredible sight all on its own, he followed along with the crowd, because he didn't have much of a choice if he didn't want to be stepped on. After about twenty minutes, his leg starting to ache horribly, he saw what everyone was doing, heading up to where the King and Queen sat on large chairs, set on a raised platform. People walked up and bowed, spoke a few words and then walked to the far side of the room, where they all stood talking and mingling.
Three groups of people walked past him to see the King and Queen as he slowly made his way towards the front. The conversations seemed simple enough. They said “your majesty”, which wasn't plural, bowed to each, with Rich getting the first bow, said that the event was lovely, commented on how pleasant the room was or how lovely the Queen looked and headed off. It was all so formal that Tor almost felt like going up and calling out “Howdy Rich! How's it going Connie?” in his best Two Bends accent, but decided against it. He didn't want to start trouble or anything. Not just for a laugh about something only he would find at all funny. But it would have been funny.
Hilarious in fact…
When he got to the front he managed a bow to each and to say the required phrases he'd heard, which got a smile from them both that looked a bit more genuine than what the others had been getting he thought. He hefted the box a little to catch their attention.
“This is for your sister and her husband, the Morgans? It's just the flying stuff I promised earlier and a set of shields. I didn't know this was going to be such a big thing… Do you think one of you could slip it to them for me? I don't know if I'll be able to find them and it's a little bulky to carry around all night with this stick in my other hand.” He smiled hoping it wouldn't seem all out of place. These were his friends though, like Rolph. Important people, but still people. Maybe they'd understand what he meant.
Richard smiled and took the box himself, causing the guard standing next to him to go wide eyed for some reason. Probably wondering if Tor had just handed the King something harmful. Eeek! Tor would have to learn to be careful about things like that in the future.
“Certainly. Our pleasure. Now, go see if you can find someone to talk to for a bit before dinner. I think I see Alphonse off over there, at the top left of the room.” This came out as a friendly whisper rather than the man's normal booming voice, probably so Tor wouldn't be embarrassed by the directions. Nice of him to think of it. He nodded thanks and waved to them both a little as he walked away.
They all really were going out of their way to be nice to him. Tor smiled as he tried to find his giant friend.
The top left turned out to be on the left portion of the right side of the room, which was more than a little confusing as far as directions went. Thank goodness Rolph was pretty tall. Not the tallest man in the room by far, some were even taller than the King, but the red hair made him easy enough to find. A small group had collected around him, mainly people Tor didn't know, older people, all freakishly huge.
Thankfully, near that group was Count Thomson, who stood next to a beautiful blond woman that was at least a foot taller than Tor. He worked his way over and stood near them, hoping that he'd be noticed, the Count being used to seeing him around at least. The woman noticed him first, which kind of surprised him, since no one else had been looking down enough for the most part.
“Hello!” She said brightly holding out her right hand. “Baronetta Collette Coltress.”
Tor took the hand and bowed over it a little, like he'd seen everyone else doing with the ladies.
“Torrence Baker.” He said simply. It was the only name he had, even if it wasn't impressive sounding and didn't have a fancy title attached. The woman nodded and kept smiling as if his name was completely ordinary for the room.
“This is a lovely party isn't it? I was so pleased when Count Thomson invited me. I'm afraid that I normally wouldn't rate an invitation to something like this at all, not on my own merits.” She flushed prettily and ducked her head as if embarrassed at her “low” station. It worked with the soft pink color of her dress. Her green eyes looked a little humbled as she glanced around. Tor could sympathize. The woman leaned in a little and whispered conspiratorially to him. “The man with the red hair behind me? He's the heir! And we're standing right here not ten feet from him. The Count said he'd get me an introduction to him if we can make our way over through this crowd, isn't that something? I've met his little sister Veronica, but never Alphonse himself…”
“You know, I've never actually met Veronica myself. I… thought her name was Valarie to tell you the honest truth. I think we must have just kept missing each other so far. This place is so huge, you know? Anyway, nudge Tovey's arm for me will you? I want to use him as a shield so that I don't get stepped on.”
The girls eye's lit happily and she jiggled her date's arm enough to catch his attention and related what Tor had said. The man turned to look around and looked over his head twice, not even playing around. Everyone else in the room was just that big.
“Tor! There you are, yes, come stand by me and Collette here. You've met?”
“Oh, yes. Old friends you know.” Tor answered with a smile, being that the Count had pulled him close enough that he bumped into the pink ruffles the woman wore. She smelled nice, he noticed, the scent catching him from about three inches away as she turned, her bust line almost hitting him in the face. Not a bad view, but a little hard to stare at, being too close to focus on, he chuckled a little and took a half step back. At least it wasn't just him, everyone was packed this closely together in the room. Nearly at least. Tor accidentally stepped into someone and turned rapidly to apologize.
He froze, but only for a second. A sense of relief came over him as he finished the turn. Trice. “Hey! So good to see you…” His face faltered as he saw her eyes. They looked sad and hurt. She shook her head and turned away.
“I'm sorry.” She mumbled and walked away.