training in the afternoon, only now he was considered a full senior student, based more on life experience than actual skill, he figured. That meant that if he missed a class he'd really be in for it. The punishment before had been scolding and extra lessons. Now it was probably that plus a real beating or two. Sure, disguised as “practice” instead of a whipping, to let him save face, but that just meant you got hit with much heavier tools in the end. Some of the instructors could probably cripple a man with a practice sword. Not that he knew who was teaching here now.
In the morning there was meditation and advanced build theory. That class in particular sounded exciting, since it was actually in his main area of study. In the last year he'd done a lot of building, making magic and copying magical devices, but, while it was kind of the Dean to call him a master, that wasn't true. He had so much to learn still. So very much. Even if it was one of the investigative classes, meaning he had to figure things out for himself more or less, just having the time to do it and some suggestions as to what to look into was more than worth coming back to school for.
That and the fact that his wife was here.
Sure, Alissa was only fourteen, and hadn't had a lot of education in the last three years, unless you counted being a runaway and falling in with a gang of girls thieves that sometimes sold her to men on the street for a lark as a learning experience. It didn't help with reading and writing much, Tor had discovered, so they'd spent the last month trying to get her up to speed that way. Rolph, his school roommate, had helped them both brush up on math as well. It had been really nice of him, since as heir to the kingdom, he could have just gotten someone else to do it and called it good, instead of taking time each day with them himself.
But then, Rolph was a good friend.
Well, the room situation wasn't the greatest, but they'd manage. He'd just have to see her in the evenings and his off days. Of course he was already expected to spend most of his non-study time working, if only by himself, copy work for the kingdom, his retail business partners and any assignments he got from the King. That had been hinted at when he'd left the Capital for some reason, but Tor didn't really get why. What could he do that someone else couldn't do better? Still, that was his job being a Knight, and some of the things coming up were going to be downright freaky.
Like going to Austra, pretending to marry a completely insane girl so that her mentally unhinged father would let his guard down and he and his grandfather, Count Lairdgren, could rescue their brother from a cell under the man’s palace.
That “brother” part was tricky to explain, so Tor just summed it up for himself for the fiftieth time and hoped he didn't have to explain it too real people too often. Lairdgren was an Ancient, Denno Brown was his brother, made from the same basic materials, some three thousand years before, and Tor was a nearly exact copy of his grandfather, only eighteen, not thousands of years old.
Tor grinned and did some math, in two days he'd be nineteen. On the first day of term this year. Now all he had to do was subtly remind someone and maybe he'd get a cake out of it. Last year it had been totally forgotten until over a month later. Not that cake was that hard to come by, he could make one himself after all, but it was the thought that counted.
Shrugging he set up his trunks and decided what was staying in his room here and what could go over to the house that he and Alissa had set up earlier, a decently large three story affair that looked nice on the outside, but not out of keeping with the schools buildings in color or shape. It was fantastic inside, most of the rooms based on what the inside of the King’s palace looked like. They'd altered some of the colors and at times made changes to the decorations, but that was the neat part of having a magical dwelling, you were never really stuck with just one thing. Plus it was free, except the land rent, and he had that for two years, already paid in full. It had made sense at the time, but now it seemed a mistake, since they couldn't really use it. Well, oops? Tor chuckled to himself. He could always store visitors in there after all. Let's his friends use it for parties or something maybe?
At least Ali was only two floors down, on the ground level and six doors to the right of his. Her roommate wasn't there yet, which he knew made her a little nervous, but at least she'd know some of the people here. Tor remembered how scared he'd been when he was new, until Rolph started looking out for him. Ali had him and Rolph though, and probably a few other people if Tor guessed right. No one had flown in with them, but the Prince would be in later that night, unless a real emergency came up. Plus some of the Royal Guard and probably some of the spies they were used to seeing around as well. That part of being a noble was just plain odd to him. Spies were everywhere. Even watching him. That anyone would bother just boggled the mind.
Well, always good to see a familiar face, right?
After he got unpacked, or more to the point, shifted his trunks around a little, Tor decided to go and see how Ali was faring, not knowing if he should expect tears, disappointment, or simply nerves. The answer was none of those. After he knocked politely on the door, he heard giggling and then, a moment later a male voice that sounded vaguely familiar called out.
“Just a moment please.”
It took closer to two moments before the door opened and both the people inside, his new wife and Ridley Dens, who was the oldest son of a Baron, and something of a friend of his, hadn't exactly gotten their clothing all the way back in place. Alissa sat on the bed still heaving a little and gave Tor a warm smile, waving him into the small space. Ridley step to the side to let him in.
“Tor! Um, not to be indiscreet, but we were just about to have sex.” The young man who was only about a year older than Tor, but actually looked it, said without being either defensive or scared about just blurting out something like that.
That, Tor knew, was a royal thing, a noble thing he corrected, trying to drop his country habit of calling anyone over a certain size “royal”. It was a thing of their society that people had a lot of friends and lovers. Ridley was good looking, fit, and had black hair not too different in color than Tor's really. The eyes were blue, not brown, but so were Alissa's, so if he got her pregnant, that could be written off well enough. Not that Tor really wanted a child yet, but since he couldn't get her pregnant, Ridley wouldn't be a bad match if they ever did want one.
Well, Tor wouldn't be able to for the first five hundred years of his life or so, which really meant the same thing when you got down to it. If Tor was going to have a child with Ali, it wouldn't be his. Tor shrugged and tried to grin a little, hoping it was kind looking. Understanding and didn't seem too jealous.
Ridley smiled at him warmly, it was a friendly thing. Inclusive.
“Would you like to join us?”
Tor blinked.
This, he decided almost instantly, was one of those situations where his backwoods upbringing was going to fail him horribly if he wasn't careful. Half of him wanted to hit Ridley for even trying something with his wife, though by their cultural training what they were doing was normal. Inviting him was even incredibly polite and understanding on Ridley's part really, if Tor was finally getting the rules for this kind of thing. It meant the other boy was basically announcing them true friends.
The other half of him wanted to run away, possibly screaming and maybe, just maybe, defensively wetting himself. Deep inside his personal battle cry rang out. Run away!
Instead, possibly showing how stupid he really was, Tor froze and blinked a little.
He was so not ready to have sex with a woman while another man participated. It was hard enough if someone else was just watching for goodness sake. But how did he say that without seeming rude or mean? Tor took a breath and decided to just start speaking.
“Um, well, that's a very kind offer. Thank you. Could I get with you on that later though? I really just came to check on Ali, then I have to get some work done before dinner. First almost real day back you know.” That, he hoped, would be nice enough. By the noble standards he'd been told that he came across as aloof or even stuck-up a lot, which was bad, but this was also pretty awkward.
Giving him a smile the other man nodded.
“OK. Let's get together in a couple of days for that then? If you're not too busy?”
Smiling, Tor nodded and hoped that he could find a way out of it in time, “I'll try to clear some time.”
With great effort and a little bit of meditative skill, Tor managed to leave the room without running or embarrassing himself overly. Of course now he needed to get some actual work done or else he'd look like a liar. Not that anyone would check, but he’d know. Chuckling to himself he went back to his room and sat on his bed, since it was more comfortable than the floor or his desk chair. The working supplies were no problem now that he'd started doing everything in stone, focus stone, a kind of compressed dirt that looked like glass most of the time,
