That got their attention. No one spoke for a bit, then Rolph started chuckling nervously.
“Well, Sara, it looks like you just saved a part of the kingdom all on your own! Well, no problem. Tor's on it, so it will be fixed now. Good thing we were goofing around then, instead of “working” isn't it? Probably some of the most constructive play this year.” Moving carefully the large young man came over and patted Tor on the back warmly.
“Everything has flaws, it's just a matter of finding them and fixing them if you can. That's what building is all about, yes? I seem to remember some guy telling me that once…” The look that came along with the words was significant, as if trying to keep Tor from sinking into a depression.
It was a good point. Fix the error and move on. That one was too close though. Tor knew that it could have very easily been missed and then… disaster.
Caused by him. God and gods.
No one said anything else about it, but it bothered Tor, niggling at the back of his mind as they moved inside for luncheon, a late one, since it neared five in the evening. They'd brought lunch, but, as he kind of suspected before, none of the others had thought to bring anything except the basket of food that had been handed to Rolph before they left by the same cook that had given Tor bread and cheese the day before.
It was funny to watch them all realize that they didn't have anything to eat, even though the pantry was filled with stable foodstuffs that could have fed a small family for months. After about ten minutes of growing desperation Tor burst out laughing. No one else thought it was funny for some reason. He stuck his tongue out at them all and patted everyone on the back. Mainly so they wouldn't hit him as he covertly mocked their inability to perform basic house chores.
It took about two hours to get everything ready, which turned late luncheon to early supper, because he had to collect wood and fire up the stove first, which none of them knew how to do either. Then, really, if he ever needed to know the most popular song at the moment, he was stuck himself, so it was probably even as far as what knowledge was better to have.
Or would be, after they ate.
Tor made biscuits instead of bread, because there wasn't any yeast starter and while corn bread was good, no one else had ever had it before. He decided to leave that for the morning. The kitchen probably got hot, but everyone had the equalizing amulets on, so no one complained, or even noticed. That was good, because the glass jars of meat and vegetables had to be fried. They did if Tor was going to cook them in a timely fashion at least. Now, he could make a stew of course, or roast things, but that wouldn't be nearly as tasty coming out of jars, or as fast. At least someone thought to keep some oil on hand. Also, as a special treat there were spices here, so he got to use plenty of those, which always made things taste better, unless you went absolutely insane with them. He only went half insane, using a lot of rosemary, but not so much that it would be the only flavor the food had.
The food, in the end, was plain enough, homey kind of, for all they were away from their comfort zones, but definitely wasn't what they had in the Capital or at a palace dinner. Then again, it was pretty much at the level they normally had at school, and beat starving, so no one complained about it. In fact Trice kept smiling at him and telling him it was good, which was nice of her, considering she was a royal and used to eating really fine food most of the time. Tor figured she'd realized that the other options all involved flying hundreds of miles to find something better. That or she really liked rosemary too. Then again, who didn't?
After dinner they headed back to the beach and set up a large fire, made of dusty gray wood they found on the beach, in a shallow pit dug into the dry sand. Now they suddenly all knew how to make a fire. Perfectly in fact. Only in the kitchen they couldn't help with it? Hmmm. Didn't they realize it was basically the same thing? Tor wondered if he should point that out.
It was just dark when Sara started the blaze using a clever little device that created fire within seconds, just by pointing one end of it at the wood and activating it using the tiny sigil. It looked about the size of a finger, one of Tor's, smaller than everyone else's and looked to be made of silver instead of the cheaper metals he most commonly used.
There was no sudden rush of fire, it just started and grew steadily as if they'd used matches. Tor had seen similar things before, but had never gotten to investigate one close up. He hesitated to ask Sara if he could, in case it was personal or she didn't want him touching her things. He could understand that, what if he broke it, or lost it in the sand? Most people couldn't break a field, but he was a builder and it was just possible that he could, if he examined it in the wrong way. It would take hours of work though and wasn't what he had in mind, but how would she know that? Not that the girl had ever been anything but nice to him about things… Which was weird. Tor didn't want to push her, so he kept his mouth shut about it. He could probably figure out how to make one himself anyway. Just concentrate the ambient heat energy? It should work. Of course this was an existing field, so if he could get a hold of one he could make himself a copy in an hour or two. Even if he didn't have a template. Not everyone could really do that, he knew, but it was how he'd learned to make field devices in the first place. Copying the fields from tools around Two Bends.
Rolph, not being subtle at all, sat down right next to the cute blond and put his right arm around her as she sat on a blanket about six feet away from the center of the ring of light. She responded by leaning against his chest as they sat, the gloom settling like a cloak being slowly drawn over the sky. The sunset was pretty, a wide open thing that Tor had never really seen before, no forest in the way to obscure the view. Or walls. It was probably the same outside the Capital, but he'd been inside each night for that so far. In half an hour, it was black enough that Tor couldn't see anything outside of the circle of light made by the burning wood.
It was about then that they started trading stories.
Most of them seemed real, instead of the tall tales he and his childhood friends used to tell each other when they went camping in the woods away from Two Bends. Tor kept quiet for a while listening as Sara shared a funny story about her mother, who they all knew now that he'd gotten to meet her too, and the head of Sorvee house, an ancient man named Willem.
It was a long story, but told an interesting tale of how the man, at least in his eighties, tried to woo the then thirty year old Heather after her first husband had died of a virus suddenly.
“It was… comical. Almost. Mother had to be very careful not to hurt his feelings of course, because, you know, the rules. Even after treading around the idea for almost a year the man still hadn't taken the hint. Mother had to send an intermediary to let him down. Last course measure. It was… sordid. House Sorvee still hasn't quite forgiven us for it and it's been nearly ten years now.” Her voice was soft and not teasing at all, even though the idea of any eighty year old trying to marry a thirty year old, very attractive, woman was ridiculous. Not that he could blame the guy for trying, Heather was hot, even ten years later, but to expect to succeed was just silly.
Tor chuckled a little thinking about it and said it was ludicrous flat out. Everyone went quiet for a bit, while Sara shook her head. He could tell he just said something stupid, but at least no one laughed at him about it. They'd probably wait until later when he was gone. Oh well, he could tease back, armed with the knowledge they could starve to death in a loaded kitchen. Hehe. Just thinking about that made him smile a little. Not their starving, just the idea of standing surrounded by food baffled like they had. They'd seen him do it now, so if nothing else they'd figure out to open jars and warm the contents, they were too smart to really starve that way, but it was funny.
Sara whispered into the dark then, sounding odd. Nearly scared for a second, though her voice warmed back up to normal as she spoke.
“Different worlds Tor. My mom couldn't afford a war with Sorvee back then. Debri house may be bigger, but constant sabotage eats away at you. I mean, we're all merchants, so it wouldn't come to actual fighting, that's too hard on business for everyone. But stealing contracts, hiring bully boys to damage stock, that kind of thing? Yeah, that could happen. Sometimes it happens anyway, just because, without any provocation at all. So you have to be polite if someone shows interest in you. It's even worse for nobles.” She shrugged and cuddled in a little closer to Rolph.
“It's… Well, no one's required to accept a proposal or an offer of… Um, interest… You know, an invitation to have sex? But if someone shows they like you, you have to be nice about it, no matter how awkward it seems. If they're eight or eighty doesn't matter, you have to be gentle and kind. It's kind of ingrained at our level of society, but you were raised differently, yeah?”
Rolph hugged her, as if trying to keep her warm, which was a bit silly, since they all had amulets for that. The blankets they sat on, soft material that might make a good baby blanket for his new little nieces or nephews when they came, kept them out of the sand at least.
