A surge of pride ran through him for the boy. It was impressive, him winning his own place. Tor would have to make sure that the Countess knew not to let him have a scholarship though. Tor could pay, and more to the point, his brother could, most likely. He didn't want some poor kids spot taken up after all.
Once on the ground it turned out they had to head straight to the palace, with the Wards, since the Queen had decided on a dinner meeting about Postern. Tor wanted a nap, so let the others know they were in charge, in case he just nodded off.
“Not the plan, but I make no promises at all. So, Um, Maria, Ali… You've got this?” They looked at him and smiled, happy enough to be in charge of something.
Count Ward just sat, looking affronted and Ursala grumbled outright.
“What about me? I'm not good enough to be of use?”
Tor wanted to grab his forehead. Eek.
“Um, you're busy with the transportation network. That's going to take everything you've got, and probably a full team as well. The new lift plates and controls should be coming in a few days. Out of Lairdgren.”
“Oh, right.”
Tor stuck his tongue out and laughed a bit, “Now the rest of you, please stop acting like you need me to constantly pat you on the back and show how much I love you, OK. I do, we're all friends, but I'm about done here. I really need to rest and I can't keep running each day if I'm going to get better. So, um, I was wondering, Marvin, Trice, would you two cover for me? Just for a bit? That way I can concentrate on the case with Smythe and make sure Brown and Burks aren't just stringing us along. Plus, I need some other things done… No, you two can do that too. But it has to be done in secret. I mean, if you'd do that? I get that you both have other things to do and I know it's lazy of me-” But he really didn't want to die of exhaustion and while he felt better, not getting rest was taking a toll on how fast he could get back to normal.
“Certainly. I'll need a list of what you'd be doing though.” The giant Count behind him sounded pleasant about it at least.
Trice just landed the craft slowly and gave a lopsided grin that Tor could only see half of.
“OK… we need to be careful though as to what we agree to though Marvin. Tor might just put us to baking for hundreds if we aren't careful. He does that himself every now and again. Gotten me to help too, so, you know, that’s a real thing that might be on the schedule.” She sounded happier though. As if him admitting he needed help touched her, made her feel better?
“No, not this time, but I need Marvin to go to my mother and act as a go between for Sandra. It's a bit of a hard road right now, as great as she is, Ursala is her main competition for it and Todd already put forth that it would be a good idea to send a go between to her. I don't know if that's going to happen now or not, since you kind of declared intent openly already like that, but it still might.”
The tall blond Countess smiled and took a deep breath, “really now? And here I thought I wouldn't stand a chance. Sandra is fascinating. A future Countess and looking to be one of the best builders of her generation already? That's hard to match on paper. Worse, she's sweet. A bit quiet, but notice how that didn't stop her from just speaking up earlier when she wanted something? All is fair though. I think I'll point out the need for a nice bakery in Thorgood. I can even provide land in Valhalla. Right on the main strip too.” She got quiet, thinking then.
Marvin went quiet.
“If that's the task, I'll do my best for the girl. I feel a bit at cross purposes here. I don't want to give affront to Ursala. On the other hand, Tor asked me to work against her cause.”
Oh, well, he had, hadn't he. Ah…
“Sorry. That's true. Hmm… OK, so I'll send in someone else. No problem, though still a lot of other things to do that won't put you on the spot like that. I didn't think. My apologies there.”
Tor made himself walk in, but it was a real chore still. Instead of a long bit of mingling, there was an almost instant arrangement at a table, a square one, so that no one would know where the top was easily. He sat next to Count and Countess Ross, with Ali and Maria on either side of the Queen. That made sense, they were the power group here.
Johanson the finance minister kept smiling like all the gold was going to him and Rolph kept making notes, and double checking figures. The whole plan came together quickly, with no real arguments. The only point that could have been was that the Queen wanted a maskers procession through the town, handing out candies and singing, and wanted a massive indoor eating area with giant bonfires and free food for the masses.
The cost for all of this was so high that both women winced and started making smaller plans. Rolph tapped the paper in front of him, looked at Tor and then Ali. Tor waved at his wife. She was in charge of it, not him. What was the point of having her do it if he was going to second guess her? More to the point, if they had the money in the treasury, he wanted to spend it. It sounded insane, but it would do a lot more in people’s pockets than in a giant vault or whatever.
After a second the Prince nodded. “Alissa, that's well within budget for this festival. Given the requirements, I'd suggest we find at least two more similar events. Maybe something that will take in other cities? Or pick a small town somewhere at random and gift them with a celebration spectacular too?”
She nodded and said that they'd do that, carefully not looking at Tor. Quietly she suggested that they set aside some of the funds for those children that lived in orphanages. They didn't often get fine foods or parties. They weren't abused, but that didn't mean life was simple or easy for them.
It made sense to him at least, but he didn't say anything. It was her idea.
A very kind one too.
At the end of two hours they stopped and ate dinner, which was done in high palace fashion. There he was between Collette and her mother, again pretty far down the table. He managed to sit without too much discomfort and smiled at the ladies, listening more than speaking. They had a lot of ideas about things too. A whole lot. After dinner he mentioned that, and coaxed them to speak even in the company they were keeping. Then he shut up and let the real powers in the room take over again. He didn't nod off, but he so truly wanted to.
Finally he got to leave, Johanson only half happy.
“I was kind of hoping that we could spend a bit more, to tell the truth.”
“Get with the, I don't know what to call them… The top of the table there? I once heard from the King that you were the best person he'd ever seen when it came to spending golds. It wasn't an insult or a joke either. So you know, counsel away.” He smiled which got the older man to simply snort back.
“Oh, I do like you Counselor Baker. I do indeed.” The bow he gave had no irony at all and he walked off to bug the Queen immediately.
Half an hour later, Tor was in his room, actually getting to sleep in his bed, the sores mainly healed. It felt nice, but he still had to sleep on his side mainly. He woke up, snuggled between two bodies. Large and warm, but both female, and no one was doing anything to him at all, so he just went back to sleep. In the morning it was a bit of a shock to find that it was Maria that held him from behind, smelling of jasmine and lavender and Collette in front, his right arm gently over her. Just past that on the huge bed that had gotten bigger while he slept in it, he thought, was Count Ward holding Trice, Ali was between them all and slept alone, looking young and cute, eyes closed tight to block out the bit of sun coming through the window.
It took a minute to get free and Maria woke up, murmured something at him and then went back to sleep. Well, they were friends and they'd followed his rules, so he had to be all right with it. He also needed, rather badly, to first go to the bathroom and then get to everything he needed done. It was looking to be a long day again…
Except that he had help, didn't he? Smiling, he got himself cleaned up and showered, then shook first Trice and then the count awake.
“Work time!” He whispered, but tried to sound happy about it. He felt that way. For the first time in his life, having help didn't feel like cheating.
Not overly.
Just a little.
Tor found the little room behind the dining area and decided to use that for his office and got a couple of soft lounging chairs to appear by thinking about it for a few moments while touching the wall on the left, which Collette had decorated to look like wood and leather for some reason. It had a real “work” atmosphere at least. The chairs matched the color of the wall, but had a surface like satin, which he liked the feel of better personally. They were very fine looking, but Tor made himself stand. He needed the exercise.
