things happened at the palace.
After about an hour of chatting cozily, and sometimes awkwardly on his part, a woman came into the room, a slightly older lady, who seemed a year or two senior to Connie and who looked somehow familiar. Dark brown curly hair, strong features and blue eyes that glinted a little bit when she saw the Queen sitting with Tor at the table.
The clothing he wore was comfortable, but not really appropriate for meeting new people, he didn't think, based on the way the woman smirked gently when she saw the ensemble. He struggled to his feet, because that's what you did when a woman came into the room, at least if she wasn't related to you. Her eyes went wide when she saw the splinted leg, but she didn't wave him down. Instead she greeted Connie, who'd risen from her own padded chair, with a hug.
She really did look familiar, like he should know who she was. Had they met? Tor didn't think so, he'd have remembered her. She was very good looking. Obviously one of the royals, being so tall, six-seven or eight at least. About the same as Connie. Well, that and the whole walking into the palace and just hugging the Queen. Everyone else bowed, even Counts and Countesses. That meant that this woman must be important. Family or a close friend?
“Connie! We just got in to town. Normally we don't come down this time of year, but we were close anyway and wanted to see the floating river. How often do you get to see a spectacle of that nature? It's incredible. Eric and I even drank from it, just in case it has some miracle properties to the water. Came here directly of course, after that. Have you seen my youngest around anywhere by chance? She sent a note that she was planning to come down, but travel times being what they are she may not be back from school yet.” The woman didn't ask about him, but did sit so that Tor could, covertly glancing at his left leg again.
“Oh! Yes, I've seen her indeed. She's off to the river wall market with Karina and Varley today, as well as her friend Sara Debri. They should be back here in a few hours, planning on dinner with us I think, if you'd like to stay? A bit of a party tonight, so come if you can. Fancy dress. I think they even have my son traipsing along playing footman for them. Well, good for him to be useful, even if he does have to stand about while they look at materials from Afrak all afternoon.” She smiled and touched the woman on the arm gently, like she had been with him all afternoon.
It took a few seconds for Tor to shift gears, having been working mentally on the cold box idea, since he should be able to knock that out in a few hours, and claim it as simple entertainment. Maybe eight hours, if he built a template for it instead of just a one up field. He didn't know if it would be useful to anyone really, but a lot of people liked cold drinks and chilled food at the palace, so maybe someone would like something that didn't take a lot of ice? Sara had mentioned that this time of year the price of ice was measured in silvers for a ten pound block in the Capital. Sometimes gold. That meant that even the chilled water he drank had to have cost about three pennies. More than some made in a day. He swallowed thinking about it.
Tor shook himself, wondering if the injuries had affected his mind, his attention going back to the woman in front of him.
Right! Two great looking women here and he was thinking about ice? Brilliant. No wonder women didn't have any use for him.
“Excuse me is this…” He didn't want to jump in and be wrong, so he hesitated, waiting for someone to fill things in for him. Connie obliged winking at him with her left eye.
“Baroness Merciful Thorgood Morgan. Wonderful person and accomplished singer, you really should hear her if you get a chance.” Connie smiled over at the woman who thanked her softly and touched her on the shoulder playfully, almost a push.
“Also my sister, as you may have guessed since no one else would treat the Queen like this, practically knocking me from my chair… Seriously!” They both laughed and started pushing back and forth like children, which made Tor chuckle. It really reminded him of how he was with his own brothers.
“Mercy, this is Torrence Baker.”
The Baroness looked interested at the simple introduction but didn't ask for any more details. Tor had a sneaking suspicion that the Queen was teasing her somehow, being mysterious about him to make her figure out who he was. Since he had to look like a little kid sitting around in night clothes like this, he couldn't imagine what she'd guess.
Most likely that he was some little kid sitting around in his night clothes in the palace. Well, given everything he couldn't blame her if she did.
The conversation went on with Tor mainly listening. These women were way more interesting than he was after all, so best course for him was to shut up and pay attention. It seemed that the northern orchards on the Baroness' estate were doing well, a bumper crop in fact. She feared that she'd lose half the apples and peaches before they could do anything with them, just rotting in the bins waiting for wagon transport. His mind boggled when she mentioned that they had over ten thousand trees. That… was huge. Tor tried to keep his reaction off his face. The Baker family had ten apple trees behind the house and they managed to have apples almost all year for everyone. It took a lot of canning to make it happen but, ten thousand trees?
“Oh, Connie! Eric asked me to see if you had any connections with Debri house? They have a new whole foods drying device that we could use to save part of the crop, possibly, except that our local representative from that organization told us that they aren't making them right now, focusing on other, apparently more pressing and lucrative, manufacturing first. You mentioned a Sara Debri earlier?”
Connie smiled, “yes, she's the child of Heather Debri, second in line to the empire if I have it right. A good friend of your own daughter, her roommate at school this year, so I think you would want to start there if you intend to apply leverage. Or, possibly, I'm given to understand, with my son. He and Sara seem to have grown… close, of late.”
“You're Trice's mom?” Tor blurted a little loudly. He surged to his feet, well, tried to surge, it was more of a slow standing up that looked a little awkward. The woman's eyes went a little wide.
“So nice to meet you! I didn't know… didn't make the connection. Duh, Morgan. You just look too young to be her mother, so it threw me off. Sorry.” He bowed to the woman, again a clumsy thing, but the best he could do at the moment.
The Queen chuckled behind her hand, her eyes showing genuine mirth at his reaction.
“Oh ho! Well, that's special!” She turned smoothly to her sister and leaned into her slightly, mock whispering. “You should feel honored, he doesn't even bow to Richard you know. Not in private like this.”
Tor flushed and sat back down. Should he explain the deal with the King, how he'd gotten trapped into being rude all the time to the man, so that he wouldn't think he was mocking him now? He didn't think he could explain it, not and still seem halfway sane. The woman just smiled at him, probably thinking that Connie had been joking with her. Well, good. Who wanted to be known as the ill-mannered guy anyway?
He went back to listening, his mind flying off in a dozen directions as the women spoke. Apple and peach crops, along with some pear… going to waste, flying rivers which brought up flying guardsmen and how Eric, Mercy's husband, the Duke, Patricia's father really wanted to try out flying himself if he could get a hold of one of the devices.
Tor tilted his head.
“Well… I have a couple of spare sets if you'd like to try it, with shields, so it's not even that dangerous. Of course he could borrow Trice's too, I'm sure, but this way you can all go somewhere together, which is more fun…”
The woman's eyes went wide.
“You'd part with them? Patricia can already fly? She has her own Tor-flying rig? How much are you asking for them, even the loan of them must be… pricey right now.”
He waved that away, Connie covering another laugh.
“Not a problem. I brought them as gifts anyway in case someone wanted them. Turns out all the counselors get nervous about the idea of the King flying about for some reason, possibly because they fear he'll escape? Connie won't even try it, being chicken. A sad thing really, since it's a lot of fun. You should work on her there. Trice is a good flyer already and Rolph would be glad to show you how as well I bet, I mean Alphonse, or… Count Thomson, who has to be one of the best flyers I've seen so far. I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks, probably actually working in his off time instead of lazing about like I am, seeing to his district and all that. Though, you know…” Tor, felt awkward suggesting the next bit, not knowing if it was rude or something or if he could even pull it all off, but it
