near six-six or so. A giant compared to his five-four. He'd keep growing though and by about three thousand years old he should be about five-nine. The idea was ridiculous, but there it was.
“Tor, Rolph, this is my new roommate, Sheri. Um, Sherilyn Bonner, she's a Ducherina second, youngest in her family. Sheri, this is Rolph Merchant, who studies accounting here, and my husband, Torrance Baker. He's a builder. Also Countier four Lairdgren, but he almost never bothers with titles himself.” Ali sounded proud when introducing him, which made him feel a bit better about the scene earlier. At least she hadn't decided that Tor wasn't worth spending any time with yet. That would make for an uncomfortable marriage to say the least.
Tor smiled at Ali and then the new girl, Sheri. He tried to remember the name. How rude would it be to forget something like that?
“We were just going to go to dinner, would you like to come Sheri? The dining halls are closed until tomorrow at lunch.”
The girl went still and her breath caught. It could mean anything, but Tor had recently become aware of how many spies were around him all the time and decided to take action when he could. Focusing lightly, the girl’s pattern, and thoughts, came out clearly. Not in words or even emotions, but for a moment he knew what she was thinking and feeling. He just knew it.
Uneasy, because this was all new, and a bit ashamed, because her parents hadn't sent her with money for fine dining, just school supplies and some toiletries. If she spent her money now she'd feel that lack later. If she didn't there wouldn't be food for a day. It was a quandary for her. One she couldn't get out of without losing face. Not in her world. She steeled herself though, trying to find the nerve to tell these people she was too poor to go with them, so they wouldn't mistake her reluctance for distaste.
Tor nearly misted up, the emotions were so strong.
“I'm paying for everyone. We may even pick up a couple of others on the way, it'll be fun.” His voice was light and cheery, and out of all of them only Rolph got that something was going on.
Tor wasn't sure that he understood what exactly, but he grinned and looked down, as if feeling sheepish.
“Ah, that's true and I get to pick up the tip, because I kind of lost a bet with Tor… He bet me that he couldn't pick up my sisters. I mean, look at him, they should have been all over him, but no, all decorum and politeness. Go figure. Anyway, this meal is totally covered and for the bet we agreed at least six people had to come with to count.” He spread his hands and shrugged playfully.
Sheri stared and then laughed behind her hand delicately.
“Are you sure they weren't just discrete about it? I can't imagine a lot of women actually say no to him. Torrance? That's a nice name. I'd love to come, thank you.” Relief came out of her in waves and her stomached growled a bit already.
It was a giant thing, they were always hungry and the growing ones were generally worse about it than the adults. Going a day without food for the skinny Ducherina would have been like him going without for two.
Maybe three.
They walked into town, since it wasn't far at all and zipping along using Not-flyers would have been showing off here. In the Capital a few hundred people had them, the devices that let them float about four inches off the ground and travel way faster than could be run. Much more than that if they were military grade ones, which was all he'd bothered giving his friends. Plus Sheri didn't have one yet, so it would have been rude.
On the way they passed Ridley, who was with another young man, both dressed in all black, the material looking soft and expensive. Petra, one of Tor's girlfriends, had told him what it was called, but he couldn't remember the name at the moment. They were invited too, which made Ridley smile and seem pretty happy all things considered. Well, things could have been tense between them, Tor guessed, but it was a simple fact that Ali was going to have sex with other men. And probably women. At least Ridley would make sure to treat her properly and with respect.
Then they managed to pick up a young man almost randomly, a second year, that also needed food but was too proud to ask, and ran through the whole diner bet thing with him, including him without question. He was a scholarship kid and rather humbly let them know that, but Tor just shrugged.
“So you got in by earning your place rather than having it handed to you? Good. I don't think anyone here has a problem with hard work, do they?” The other new kid in black surprised him a bit by stepping forward and putting out his hand to shake.
“I'm Gersh, pleased to meet you.”
The boy ducked his head shyly and shook hands, clearly expecting a game or to be mocked, but hunger drove him to at least try.
“Henry.” He replied.
In all they had a round group of ten that was dressed in multiple dark shades, when the server in the restaurant, a fairly short woman only about three inches taller than Tor, wearing a pretty blue and red skirt and cream colored top, saw their plain clothing she balked a bit and didn't want to let them in. Tor cast his mind out again, just to see what the problem was. It was simple enough, she really doubted that they had enough to pay for the meal and didn't want to have her place of work ripped off. Ah. That kind of seemed sensible, if people didn't normally pay first.
Tor didn't know the protocol here, waving gold around was rude, but she certainly had a right to know that they weren't going to steal their dinners too. Rolph strode up and smiled charmingly at her.
“Perhaps a price estimate would be in order? What do you think ten meals with wine would likely come to?”
The woman took a half deep breath, her mouth forming lines around it from the pursing action that made her look older than her real years.
“About five coppers apiece for the lot, unless you get the most expensive items… So five silvers for the group, not counting desert or second helpings of wine. Harder spirits being extra.”
Smiling Rolf pulled several golds out of his pocket, the coins glittering in the late afternoon sun, since it was early still. They didn't want to miss the places working hours though. The woman smiled then and let them in.
So, sometimes it was OK to show gold, but you hid it from your friends and just showed the merchant? All right, now he just needed to find out if there were other rules involved too. Country rules were a little easier for him still. In Two Bends, there wouldn't have been a restaurant, so this whole scene wouldn't have happened at all. Much easier.
This wasn't, Rolph assured them, the most expensive place in town by any means, but the food was good and filling and they made a wonderful cold pie of cherries and cream. It sounded lovely to Tor, but he'd probably skip it himself. Places like this tended to serve way too much food for him to begin with. Or he guessed that would be the case, if they were charging five pennies per meal. That or the food would be better than the King’s table itself.
The food was good enough, not as good as what was served at the palace, but then what was? Tor had made better, but what he made wasn't always as good, he had to admit. The server was polite enough and good at her job, after they got past the hurdle of the front door. The place was wide open, with no dividers or separate eating rooms. It seemed rude to look around at the other people overly. Instead he stared at the ivory colored linen table cloth and focused on the people closest to him, Rolph was talking to Sheri about what classes she was taking, Music, math and culture, so not too different than what Tor had himself, he thought.
Ali was busily making eyes at the new boy, Henry, who wasn't that good looking, but seemed polite and intelligent once she got him talking. Ridley kept lightly kicking him under the table. At first Tor thought he was trying to be fresh with him, but it wasn't that, Tor got when the other man motioned with his head at a table across the room where a group of four rather loutish looking young nobles in the fine silk version of browns sat staring. Angrily.
They were a bit older, probably fifth or sixth year students and while it was hard to see who they were looking at, they certainty didn't seem happy about it. Probably him then. For some reason a lot of guys at school had always acted a little hostile. Well, Tor didn't want problems, especially with wealthy people that could afford good silk clothing…
He almost laughed when he remembered that he could afford nice clothing, he just didn't need it anymore. Feeling awkward wasn't going to help him so he sat and watched them covertly for a while. Whoever they were, the
