entire kingdom and… You can't speak to him that way!” Then she punched him. In the middle. Flesh hit shield and her hand just stopped as George moved between then casually. Veren just took a step back and bowed. Very low.
“Sorry ma'am…” He sounded so confused it was nearly charming. Oddly enough Karina walked up and stood in front of Countess Ward and bowed a bit too.
“Don't worry, Veren just meant that he thinks Tor screwed up and should fix it. That's all.” It didn't seem to help until Trice laughed and put her right arm over Maria's shoulder.
“Yeah. Don't worry, it’s a thing people like to do to Tor every now and then. Let's see what he comes up with, since he can't just build his way out of it this time.”
Tor sighed.
“Right. So Royal Guards and cute Princesses with me. Everyone else…” He was going to say they should make themselves at home, but Bonita came out then and stared at the decently large group, looking worried, until she saw Tor, then she looked pale suddenly.
“Um… welcome?” The words were soft and suddenly so shy that Tor floated over to her and gently kissed her on the cheek.
“Hey love. Brought guests for a bit. Is that all right? We should have gotten in touch with you first…” It was a good point he realized. She'd been living there the whole time after all. Sp it was her house too and here he was, high handedly bringing in a trove of strangers.
Though not all of them were.
“Nita?” Maria ran to her with a squeal of happiness.
They were half sisters after all and actually liked each other. Maria started chattering in a rapid, high pitched tone that Tor still couldn't quite make sense of, though Bonita and Trice both could. A girl thing maybe?
Tor smiled, “Count Ward, why don't you come with us too?” He had an idea after all.
Half an hour later he walked them all out of the back parlor, dressed to look like towns folk for the most part, and using the disguise amulets, finally, he got to play around with making them all look totally different than they did before. As a lark they did one up for the count too, making him a long haired, red headed man, with skin that almost matched Rolph's in tone, added lines to the package, aging him up a lot and reshaped the nose to match too.
Then he got dressed in a nice velvet black and green outfit with black leather boots. It was all magic, but other than the height, he fit the part.
“William Merchant.” Tor introduced him with a grin. “Rolph's da.”
Everyone laughed, except the Royal Guard who stared. Finally George, who looked younger and more golden skinned, like a southerner, nodded.
“Very good. I see it. Yes.”
Kari Merchant looked way different too. Heavier by about fifty pounds, a lot of that breast, and hips, which made her look pretty good, if Tor did say so himself. She had long red hair, which was close to her normal color, but a rather unfortunate port wine stain birthmark on her face. Her rounded and slightly mannish looking face. It was easier to add layers of light than not. Even the flesh felt right though, if someone touched it. Or the hair. It was all shield, but it moved right. Tor reached out and made her butt just a bit bigger.
Trice laughed, but not for long.
“No, really, I have to admit, that's about perfect. This even makes sense, William Merchant is a successful trader and has guards, brought his daughter to visit… and while they could stay in town, it only makes sense that Rolph's buddy Tor would open his home… Now we just have to make Maria match. So… Rolph's sister or… no… mom. That would work. Here,” she sat Maria down and started in on her with a vengeance.
In five minutes she looked twenty years older, sixty pounds heavier and like smiling was simply not her hobby at all. The eyes all got changed too, Kari getting plain brown, like her “mom” and Will, as Tor decided to call the man, getting the same blue that Rolph had. After all, they were family. That made everyone look different.
Veren walked over to Tor and nodded.
“Alright. I have to admit that's better than I thought you'd do. Think of it first next time. We were seen landing. It would have worked better if we'd gotten out looking like this.”
After a moment Tor understood. Veren was doing what they always did at weapons and fight practice. He saw a flaw, so he immediately pointed it out. Maria, who didn't have a new name yet, stiffened, looking far fiercer now than a few moments before, but Tor nodded back.
“Good point. I'll try to keep that in mind.”
Then, since it was nearing lunch time, Tor decided to collect up some people and see about getting something to eat in town. After all, he couldn't take Rolph's parents to the school dining hall, could he? That would look shabby. It meant going to get Rolph though, who'd come back the day before to set things up. He was a good friend that way.
They found him in the room he shared with Tor, and smiled when he walked in.
“They haven't even kicked us out yet, can you believe it? I'm not sure why though. We can't complete the term, but everyone is letting us back into classes anyway. I checked for everyone, because, you know, why should I be the only one to suffer?” He stopped and smiled at the people that crowded in.
Kari ran up to her brother and squealed a little, a lower sound than would have normally been. Something she was faking personally, but Tor could make that work with a device too… Which he decided to just write down, later.
“Rolph! So good to see you!” She all but tackled him in a hug.
Wide eyed he patted her back and looked nervous, obviously not recognizing her at all. A half beat later Maria moved in to do the same and finally Count Ward, who raised the normal pitch of his voice nearly to a deep tenor, did the same.
“Son! How's school life been treating you?” The accent was, nearly perfectly, standard merchant class.
“Um… Fine sir.” It was strange, no doubt, but Rolph got that something was going on and until someone either came to help him escape, or at least explained, would just play along. Tor got it. He pointed to each of the players as soon as the door shut.
“Rolph, This gentleman is William Merchant. Next to him is his wife, your mother, Mary, and your sister, Kari Merchant. They came to visit and are staying at my house for a few days. They brought some guards, which is a little bit of putting on airs, don't you think? Still, they all seem nice. I was just going to take them to lunch.” Tor stopped and furrowed his forehead a bit, still floating in place. It was still too hard to really walk any distance, though he could stand now, which he needed to make himself do whenever possible he decided, so set down.
“We, so you know where the working group is? I want to take them too. Lyn needs her allowance if nothing else and I should check the others too, make sure they have what they need.”
“Uh, yeah, I made contact yesterday. Um, I can run get them, or those not too busy at least. I fear you've infected them all Tor. Driving themselves like, well, you always do. I suggest you also point out the potential down sides to that.” He left then, leaving everyone standing, which was a little rude.
Of course, he came back with Wensa in tow, as well as Backus, who was both a Royal Guard and a music instructor. One of the best at the school. Tor held a hand out to him and shook, then gave Wensa a small hug, like he would his own sister if she'd been there.
Rolph smiled and wrinkled his nose at both those things, but didn't smirk about it.
“I got Sam to run and fetch everyone else. Would it be all right if Instructors Wensa and Backus join us?”
That got a low chuckle from Trice, but everyone else played it straight. Tor mock glared at her.
“Yes, always. I may need Instructor Backus' help getting back into violin lessons, once I can hold it again. Instructor Binchly would of course be within her rights to beat me in the commons for missing so much, but, honestly, I can't survive that right now.” He was sending a message, but it was a real enough one and not in code. Wensa got it and tilted her head.
“That rough?” Was all she said.
“Yes. But you know, sit around like I have and… Well it adds up.” Tor smiled, because she really did know all of that and really trying to talk to her in code about it was stupid.
He looked around the room and then winked at Rolph.
“Everyone is in disguise. Two hundred gold if you figure out who your family is by the end of the meal. Don't
