the Counts, which was pure base. A grumble that sounded like thunder at a distance. Scary. Tor grinned up at her a bit sadly.
Lyn bowed though, her clothing looking funny on the oversized thing she’d become.
“Yes Countess. It is only the outer form that changes. If I don't do it often enough, I start to ache though. There has not been much chance these last months. I didn’t want to frighten my roommate. One moment.” The shift back reduced her in size in about the same time frame, but left her looking older. Wiser too. And a bit less attractive, because she'd been using her disguise amulet as make-up and it suddenly didn't work on her at all. The colors were all wrong and things didn’t line up correctly, wrinkles in the way as they were.
Then she shifted down in age, looking like herself again and prettier for it.
Debbie gibbered a little and Maria wrapped her in an embrace, letting her bury her head in a shoulder. She started to glare at Lyn, but the Ancient just shook her head and walked towards the women slowly.
“Sorry there, I guess that was a little abrupt. I'd forgotten the day. Please forgive me?” Her words were shy, very timid almost. Maria sighed and held her other arm out for a hug.
It was a bizarre scene all the way around.
“So, I think that we should all go again, don't you Alphonse?” Karina spoke suddenly, trying to distract everyone, Tor figured.
The Prince shook his head firmly.
“I… No. Neither of us can go to Austra right now. Even if the government is in agreement with a peace treaty, the people might act out of love for their lost leader and his daughter. I'm sure most of them didn't know them, which could lead to mistakes, and the idea of killing an enemy leaders children is rather fresh in mind.” He smiled charmingly, “not that Daria didn't deserve it. But we should probably let things die down a bit before going for tea and a chat.”
Sitting near Maria, and her brother, Petra stretched and stood up.
“Um, not to be pushy, but who's paying for provisions?” She glanced around as if it wasn't directed at Tor personally. It was a really good point though. Technically the kingdom should, but Denno had asked that he personally be responsible for his people. That they were, at least mainly, literally Denno's spies, even if they didn't know it, just made sense to Tor.
Who else had thousands of years to get things in place?
So that made them Brown’s to watch over and that, no matter how unlikely it still seemed, meant it was a family matter for Tor.
It took work to stand, still stiff, but he managed it with a small groan. Then, slowly he walked towards the door. It was less than fun and he needed to get into bed soon, regardless of the time. He'd been up all night and so had Rolph and Karina. Blinking he realized that everyone in the room, except Lyn, had probably been up all that time too.
It was going to be a long week.
Possibly a long life.
“Come with me. We need Collette, gold, and then some rest.” Lots and lots of rest.
They weren't going to get it.
Tor knew that with a certainty he hadn't felt about anything in a long time.
“In two days we head to Austra.”
From there on to the summit of the Ancients. Because, no doubt, that was going to be fun. Tor didn't shake his head. Really he couldn't. It was too heavy at the moment and Daria Serge whispered in his ear, distracting him from his own thoughts. He could feel the hot, fetid breath against the side of his face. It stank of rot already, even though the girls head was supposed to be frozen, waiting for them to come and check on.
“Ask yourself this Tor, who do you think is trying to kill you? Someone clearly is. It isn’t me or daddy either…” She intoned, a sound that was heard by the ear, but not a real sound at all. Just a projection of his own mind.
He didn't know. Who'd bother?
That got a laugh when he thought it. Several. Box added his voice to the noise as well. It was an odd thing, considering and almost friendly. Then the man didn’t have a lot of reason to be mad at him for the killing. Not like the others.
“Who? Have you looked around lately Tor? Half your “friends” would probably sell you out for a box of gold, or even just the knowledge that you won't be bothering them come next Noram day. Every Ancient might be against you for reasons you can’t begin to imagine, and even your own family might just do it, just to keep you out of the way. You tend to meddle you know. It's annoying. Thanks for killing me and not letting them force Debbie though. That was good, but it proves the point, doesn’t it? You poke into things you shouldn’t. Oh, you have good reasons, sure, but it still makes people angry. More than you know. To a lot of people you just go from place to place pushing everyone else around and showing off. Magic castles and giving out magic and golds as if they were free. There is such a thing as being too nice you know. People are selfish and petty and when you don’t show them you are too, they’ll change the meaning behind what you do to make it seem like that. They can’t live with themselves otherwise.”
Tor blinked.
Not because the voices were being mean, that was kind of expected and he got the idea. Really, they were being nicer than he’d thought they would, Except Baron Rochester, who he just ignored. Even dead the man was an ass, just standing in the background and making threats, calling names and generally spewing hate.
It was just that he wasn't totally sure they were wrong.
That… wasn't a good thing.
Not at all.
Because in less than ten days, Tor was going to be standing with all the Ancients in the world, and really, if anyone was plotting against him in secret like he suspected, if he hadn’t just gone insane from all the death he’d created, he’d probably find the answer there.
The sad thing though, he knew without having to really consider it, was that he very well might have actually gone insane.
Daria laughed in his ear again.
“Might have?” She said, her voice fading away. Then, one by one all the other ghosts did too.
The stench of death didn’t though. This wasn’t really over, he knew. In fact, he wasn’t sure, but it wouldn’t surprise him to find out it had only just begun.
