eye contact wasn't for him in particular, that much he could tell. It wasn't great magic or anything, they just barely noticed him. Nor was it directed towards Ali or even their new friend Sheri. Tor hoped those two would be friends at least. The girl seemed nice enough. They were either staring at Henry or Gersh, Tor decided. One of them, a man easily large and muscular enough to be a combat giant, rose and left, leaving the others to pay and rush after him.
It was a bit of an odd scene, but they'd left, so if they had a problem with his guests, they didn't seem inclined to do anything about it in the restaurant. That was good, because people that big would probably break stuff, especially if they got angry.
Tor decided to try some of the chilled pie after all, which was nearly as good as Rolph had told them, and settled the bill with the server when she told Rolph what it cost. She was standing over him so she saw the golds in the purse, but she just smiled when he gave her the two golds and returned with a handful of change a few minutes later. Rolph handed her the tip, which looked to be several silvers, not a bad bit of money considering it was less than two hours of work. Some people didn't make a half silver in a week.
Ridley nudged him on the way by, his upper arm pushing him lightly, but not enough to trigger his shield. Ali was on his other side, holding his left hand, so it was definitely directed at him and not something for his wife that simply missed the mark. The contact held longer than Tor was comfortable with, but he got the idea, they needed to be watchful in case of attack. Sure enough just outside the establishments red painted door, the men had stopped to wait for them.
Well. That was nice of them. Tor thought. Waiting on the street to cause problems instead of damaging the decor. The group he was with mainly had smaller people in it, even though most were a noble of some kind of another. Their collective plain clothing probably made them look a little poor or unimportant, but whatever the reason was, these men moved on Gersh as if they wanted to kill him on the spot.
Tor shook his head and stepped into the path of the biggest and most aggressive seeming of the bunch and everyone with him. Tan silks and leather pants, which were stylish, and way too hot if you didn't have a temperature equalizing device on, which this man didn't seem to at all, given the sweat on his forehead and under his arms. The dark patches on silk would leave salt stains and by noble standards make the shirt unwearable there after. It was a waste of materials then. Tor considered the whole thing for a moment and wondered why the men hadn't opted for cooler clothing. Being trendy was all good and fine, but it didn't matter who you were, waste was waste.
“Gentlemen.” Tor smiled, trying to look friendly, these guys may be attackers or they could just be looking to ask Gersh out on a date and going about it all wrong. Until he really knew being impolite was a bad idea.
“Can we help you with something?”
The big one stopped and peered at him, eyes still angry, but taken aback for some reason to see someone suddenly in his way. That man didn't look bright, but smart wasn't the only criteria of worth or value in the world, so Tor let that thought go for now.
“Um, I…” The man peered at Tor carefully and smiled. It wasn't an angry thing anymore, just baffled for some reason. A glance flickered to Gersh, then back, taking in the whole scene.
“I'm just going to talk to my brother, miss.”
Ouch.
Tor laughed and grabbed his hair, while everyone else stiffened a bit. At least Rolph and Ridley did. Getting something like that wrong could lead to a dual after all. The man didn't seem to mean anything by it though. Just a simple mistake, Tor being small, thin and having long black hair at the moment didn't help.
“So you're saying I really do need to get that haircut then? I've been worried about it, well, I'll do it first thing tomorrow.” Shaking his head he sighed a little. It really wasn't this guys fault, he knew. Not cutting his hair for over a year had left it running down his back, a look some of the noblemen could get away with, but then the ones that did were all huge and manly looking.
Everyone else winced again, this time including the big and not overly bright man in front of him.
“I… Forgive me please. I erred out of-” The man seemed to flounder for a bit so Tor let him off the hook with a waved hand.
“Nah, don't bother yourself over it, it's my problem not yours. I'll get it fixed. Now, you seem a little upset with your brother, is everything all right?”
That started the shouting match. The big one, who now that Tor got a good look did appear to resemble his younger and smaller brother a bit, was named Johan. At least that was what Gersh kept saying trying to get his attention long enough to explain how he was able to afford eating at the nice restaurant if their father hadn't given him the lion’s share of the school funds. It seemed that this year the funds they'd gotten were only about a third of what they had the previous year and their father had cautioned them to be more frugal.
Henry looked at the scene and spoke softly to the girls.
“It's the war with Austra. Even without huge battles yet a lot of the budget for the kingdom is going to pay for military buildup, so people that own businesses that don't deal with that area directly are losing money. It settles down so that the whole economy slows. The big merchants make more money for less work, and fewer people have jobs. Everyone is feeling the pinch now. If I didn't have this scholarship from the King, I'd be getting ready for a day’s labor at a mine somewhere to keep my belly full. That or trying to sneak into the army myself.” The boy pushed his light brown hair out of the way, it was slightly matted with sweat.
Rolph nodded after listening.
“That's not exactly correct, but the end result is about the like that. Even my parents sent me with half funds and told me to make do this year.”
That got Tor’s attention fast. Since he was doing so well it hadn't occurred to him that other people wouldn't be. His breath nearly froze in his lungs then. The reason they weren't doing better was even largely to do with him and the devices he made. What could he do about it though? It was frustrating. He knew that just giving money out wouldn't work, everyone had told him what a bad plan that was, but these people here, they were students. No one had time to get a job on the side, not a real one. Some of the poorer kids would even find themselves lacking funds for school supplies, just so he could have golds building up hand over fist in vaults around the kingdom. Gold he wasn't even using for anything.
“Um, Johan is it?” Tor said, the big man going silent suddenly, blushing and biting his lip, nodding and remembering that he'd just called the man in front of him a girl. That could lead to a fight, dual or even assassination attempt if Tor wasn't just going to really take the blame and fix the issue like he'd said.
“I paid for everyone and Rolph got the tip, so this situation at least isn't indicative of your brother having any extra funds at the moment. I'm sorry for any mix up or distress this might have caused you.” Bowing low he waited, the other guy could do anything now, including telling him to get out of the way so that he and his brother could have a row in the street. They were brothers, it wasn't like Tor could beat Johan up if they did fight.
Instead the man bowed back, nodding.
“Sorry.” It was mumbled, but seemed genuine enough. Really the big guy just looked horribly embarrassed again.
Rolph, being used to command started ushering them all back towards the school, smiling and laughing the whole way. Everyone else felt relieved enough to join in, problem averted, except Tor of course, who had no clue about what to do now. Ali walked up beside him and took his hand gently.
“You're always so brave. When I saw those big men coming I almost ran away in fright!” She sounded very young just then, so he gave her hand a squeeze back.
“Exactly the right thing to do in case of a real attack, even if you have a shield on. Don't be shy about it, no one expects you to jump forth and do battle at a moment’s notice or anything like that.” Wrinkling his nose he grinned at her and bumped his shoulder against hers.
“Honestly I shouldn't have done it either. It's never a good idea to get in between family members squabbling. If one attacks you, then you kind of have to protect yourself, but the rest would have to jump in and help them, because they're family, right? It was silly of me.” The shrug he gave her was distracted and slightly abstract, but she cuddled up against his arm as they walked, either not noticing or getting that her husband was just odd like that sometimes.
They stayed as a group though, some fourteen people, most of whom Tor didn't know at all. Probably half spies. Actually, the ones in black were literally spies, but not necessarily targeted towards him personally. As they passed the Dean’s office Tor sighed and led everyone inside. Gersh and Johan both looked down guiltily for some
