Rolph put a hand on Tor's back. “Tor, this is Count Horace Thorgood and his wife, the Countess Marigold. You both know of Tor already it seems. He's agreed, along with Patricia here, to aid us if possible in coming to a sensible and honorable solution to this current situation.”
Richard came in a bit later getting bows from everyone but the Queen. When Rolph bowed Tor did too. After all, this was in public, right? The King wouldn't think he was being mocked if everyone else was bowing and all that, would he? The huge man clapped the Prince on the back after giving his wife a kiss on the cheek. Then he followed by giving a head nod to everyone else, finally standing just behind Tor, who'd ended up between the Queen and Trice somehow.
“Hopefully we'll be able to come to a solution to this tonight. There's a situation in the Ford district that needs seeing to as well and as lives may be at stake, we really shouldn't leave it too long. Drought. It looks like we might lose the mid-summer crops, and if this lingers the late summer harvest too.” Looking at Tor he added some information, probably getting that geography wasn't something the younger man had a lot of knowledge of.
“Generally dry and warm there, directly west of here, near the Pacifico so the moisture is there, but they can't irrigate with salt water. Bad for the plants. Plus we'd have to bring in a river's worth of water to do it, since the good crop lands are hundreds of miles away from the ocean anyway.” He shook his head sadly.
“Prime growing area in good years, but it looks like we may need to start shipping food to them again. It happens every ten years or so.”
Tor started to sink into himself, thinking about how to first filter the salt out of water, which should be doable, kind of like separating sewage really, right? He'd already gotten a filter for that so if he could modify it… Then he'd have to figure out how to get the water to move in the right direction long enough. That would be harder. After all, he'd learned in the Two Bends school about how water tended to flow towards the ocean, making it go the other way could take a bit of doing.
Just before he lost himself in thought totally, Trice started shaking his arm covertly. He looked at her, having jumped slightly.
She grinned a little and gestured with her head subtly.
“Looks like it's show time. It's Count Ward and it looks like he brought his wife. Ballsy of him. You'd think he'd be trying to hide this from her if he could. Then again, he never was known for being exactly… bright. Good looking, but…”
The man was good looking Tor noticed and easy to see as well, even across the huge room. If he wasn't as tall as the King it was only because the ruler had better posture. In many ways the man was probably about the best looking guy Tor had ever seen anywhere. Perfect skin, dark enough to make his white teeth stand out at a distance. Black hair, about the same color as Tor's but longer, tied back in a ponytail. He couldn't see the eyes yet, but they were probably great too.
Jerk, being all good looking like that.
Well, that explained why Ursala had slept with him at least.
On his arm he had a tall girl obviously of royal blood as well. It wasn't until they moved closer, walking arm in arm, heads held high, that Tor realized who she was. She'd grown considerably since the last time they'd met. At least ten inches. He swallowed and stopped breathing, which Trice noticed. She nudged him a little.
“Something?” She said quietly.
He nodded.
“Maria.”
Chapter seven
Rolph turned to look, a frown suddenly crossed his face. “I didn't realize… Tor, honestly, I didn't know…” His friend sounded slightly panicked, which got the attention of several other people instantly.
Without missing a single beat the Queen stepped just past him and turned, using her own body to block Tor from sight for the moment, a questioning look on her face. Tor couldn't manage to speak, so just shook his head. It was stupid and not consequential at all. Just because Maria had been the one that was there at the most embarrassing moment of his life, that didn't mean anything in the here and now. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I'm fine. It's not important.” He knew his face had turned red with shame. Worse, he hadn't even known back then that the girl he'd asked out had royal blood at all. No wonder she'd reacted so forcefully to his asking her to that party.
Connie looked concerned and tilted her head at Rolph, who shook his head slightly.
“Um, like with Count Wylde and Doretta? Only in this case… possibly for real? And worse. Doretta was way nicer about things I think, and had greater reason.” The Prince muttered softly, causing a reaction from the whole group standing around him.
No one spoke for a moment as the Count and his young wife approached, but the Queen turned and smiled at them, her arm going protectively around Tor's shoulders. The whole bowing process was done again, except that when all the bowing was done Maria refused to look at Ursala at all, obviously snubbing her. That made sense to Tor, but meant that she ended up looking at the Queen and Rolph. It wouldn't do to stare at the King after all, and that didn't leave a lot of people to look at.
It meant that after a few seconds she looked at Tor. For some reason she smiled and then looked down, then back up her smile growing larger. The Queen didn't let go of his shoulders, but Trice moved in on the other side, closing ranks, with a cold look in her eyes.
The King swept an arm towards the table.
“Let's eat before we begin the discussion, shall we?”
Tor felt faint. Of course not sleeping for a day and a half on top of all the stress might explain it. Then again, maybe it was just his subconscious mind looking for a way to get him out of the room. The idea almost made him smile. That would make him look good, wouldn't it? Pass out over the chilled fruit juice in front of him. Instead he took a small sip, trying to focus on it and ignore everyone else for a moment.
They all made small talk, saying very little for the most part. He felt tempted to go work on the problem of ending the drought the King had mentioned, but he let that idea go quickly. Jumping up and running off probably wouldn't go over very well. At least Maria, Countess Ward he corrected himself, hadn't regaled the room with how he'd foolishly asked her to a party once and had to be publicly chastised for it. Not yet anyway. The night was young. Whee.
For some reason he'd been given the seat next to the Queen, on her left. She and Richard held the top of the table, putting Rolph directly across from him. Tricia sat next to the Prince and Ursala was next to him. Some kind of subtle statement no doubt, about the damage done to alliances or whatnot. Tor didn't get it all and doubted he would even if it were all explained to him. Still, the girl hadn't been put at the far end of the table either, which meant that no one at the palace thought she should fear being poisoned, right? That was a good, if confusing, sign.
Really, it was all he could do to not spill his juice. He didn't jump when the man standing behind him placed a napkin in his lap, but only because the King's man had gone first, then the Queen's woman. They were all matched by gender. Interesting. Behind each of the ten people present stood a servant, ready to do whatever it was they did.
Everyone stared at him, except Rolph and the Queen, who both smiled, amused. The King suddenly stood and bowed to him. “Again you honor us, sir.” His voice was warm and filled with respect. Tor looked down at the cup in his hand, wait, did taking a sip of juice count as the first bite of food? Argh! He hadn't even thought about that. He looked down and closed his eyes slightly. Maybe if he excused himself to go to the bathroom he could reach his flying gear and head out of the Capital before they noticed he was gone?
Next to him, before anyone else could take a sip Ursala held up her own cup, as if saluting with it and took a large swallow. The King bowed to her as well, smiling and then picked up his own vessel, still standing. He took a single sip and sat gently. The Queen stood and went next, and after her Rolph. Then Trice tilted her head at him and took a single sip from her own cup. Other than the King and Queen, no one else was standing up.
Was he supposed to take a sip now again or not? He missed being at home, or even school, where he could
