He'd done that a few times now.
Tor repeated what he'd told Varley, that he couldn't do the work just then, but would gladly send something to her if she'd write him a note reminding him about it and where the device had to get to. She looked surprised.
“Oh! I… I mean that's wonderful of course, but surely you're too busy for my petty concerns. I'll muddle by like always…”
He waved that away and asked her to send the note again. It was a largish field, but it wouldn't take that long to develop. Tor just needed the time. He always needed more time. Better than being bored at least, right?
It was the rest of the conversations that made him feel uncomfortable.
Two of the women openly flirted with him, right at the table, so blatantly he figured it was them just making fun of him for some reason. Especially since one of them could have been his grandmother, which given how young all the royals looked compared to real people meant she must be nearing a hundred years old. The other looked to be about thirty and really, if she hadn't been sitting right next to her husband, he might have been interested, at least in theory.
Tor didn't really want to sleep with a married woman, at least not if she wasn't married to him. It was just his Two Bends upbringing, but it still bugged him. No doubt he should work on that part of things? He just couldn't bring himself to flirt back and so found himself at a loss as to what to do. He'd been warned not to be rude, even if they were just playing with him, he kind of even got that he should play back, but it was too hard. Tor floundered for a few seconds, feeling more awkward than he could remember being in the last year.
Varley saved him.
After a fashion at least.
“Oh… my brother mentioned that all proposals need to go through my mother for Tor. She's handling such things personally for now, so that he can give his full attentions to matters of import for the kingdom. She's being a stickler too, only taking the most serious. She already shut down my sister's proposal of marriage to him, so, you understand, there's a high bar here. I'm considering floating my own offer too, but don't know if I'll make the cut either. I think mother wants him for herself. She's already married though, so really, I don't see the problem.” She said it simply, smiling, then taking a delicate bite of a tiny chicken pie thing that was delicious if too buttery and rich for his simple palate.
Tor almost choked on his own mouth of food when she said the words, her cute face dimpling into a look that he took to be teasing. As soon as he got her intent he played along though, nodding seriously as if it were normal that the Queen would be stepping in for his own mother for real. No one else teased him about things like that for the rest of the night at least. There were some funny looks though.
The dessert was a flavored ice dish that actually got applause. Lime. It wasn't half slush, but shaved ice delivered to the table frozen solidly with no melting at all. It evaporated on the tongue like fine winter snow. Even in the cool dining room it was fantastically done. The Queen tilted her head at him and pointed at the dish with her spoon. She smiled at him warmly and shook her head just a tiny bit. Did the cooks use the new cold boxes? She seemed to think he'd had some kind of hand in the dish. Tor didn't know himself. They could have had some other plan in place already, before he did anything even. Things like that took planning for even a few people, and had to have even more for hundreds.
The shouting match didn't start until after the meal had finished at least.
He couldn't even tell what it was about, some overly large man decided that some other overly large man had wronged him, of course. Something about lines and borders, from what was being screamed back and forth. Tor would have been happy enough to let the men, both old enough to have learned at least a little self-control, past thirty but under forty at a guess, handle it themselves if one of them hadn't grabbed the lady that was with the other, and start to strangle her.
It was a shocking move. If the man had gone after the other large fellow, it might have made sense, but this? It simply wasn't right or proper.
Tor couldn't move fast, but he did the best he could, stumbling along towards the back of the room, slapping at his shield to turn it on as he went. The damned splint was impeding him too much. The one man, who'd been the louder of the two mere seconds before, spoke to the other man softly, telling him to let her go… or else. That noble didn't attack, probably worried about the woman who was having the life choked out of her as he spoke, she was turning a pale blue color already and her tongue was sticking out in a comical fashion that a lady like this would never have done on purpose. Not in public. The calmer man's voice became both softer and more anxious the whole time.
Tor activated his shield hoping that he could get the man to simply attack him instead. He wouldn't be hurt and the woman should be alright. She'd stopped struggling by the time he got there, making only the softest of whimpering sounds. That attacking man wouldn't let go, obviously well into battle rage already.
Walking up behind the man and dropping his walking stick, so he wouldn't have a weapon on him, Tor hit him in the right kidney as hard as he could with a right hook. Which… didn't even make the man turn. That hurt, being hit like that. Nearly as much as being hit in the groin. Tor knew this from personal experience. Maybe he was just too small to make it work like it was supposed to? He tried it again, half expecting the Royal Guard to come and start trying to kill him right then, instead of waiting for him to have a chance to save the lady.
He knew he was dead after this anyway, he had to be. You just weren't allowed to hit royalty like he was doing and live. Not some common guy from Two Bends. Still, the light blue woman needed his help. Everyone else had pulled away or just stood there. So that left only him, right? If he was trading his life for hers, then he really needed to get the guy's attention fast. Two people dying here wouldn't be worth it at all.
He hit again and again, then, in desperation, he kicked the man in the groin from behind, balancing precariously on his splinted leg for it, nearly falling over backwards. Finally the guy let the woman drop and started trying to just kill him instead. He didn't bother fighting back, just standing and letting the man exhaust himself against his shield. After about twenty minutes of steady punches and kicks that had a very trained quality to them, certainly more than he could have handled without his shield, even if the giant wasn't in a super strong combat condition that left cracks in the floor again, the dark haired giant stopped suddenly. Blinking he looked at the room, where the party had mainly moved to the other side and looked down at Tor, suddenly going white.
“Are you alright? I… I'm sorry, I was discussing a border issue with Baron Rochester and the next thing I knew I came-to hitting… you… what happened?”
Tor decided to go for a flip answer instead of simply crying for mercy that couldn't come under the law anyway. Too many people had seen it this time for anyone to turn a blind eye. He might as well not look like a wimp on the way out, right? For all the good that would do him. He had to fight to keep the Two Bends out of his voice when he answered, moving past fear and even shock into hopelessness faster than his mind could handle.
“We got into a fight over a girl… I got the girl in the end by the way, go figure, right?” He smiled at the man who just looked baffled.
Tor took off his shield amulet and handed it to Rolph, who'd cautiously walked over to him, looking concerned. No one came for him though. He waited and then figured it out. Of course they'd wait for him to leave the party, not wanting to endanger people, or cause a scene, one of those polite social rule things that royalty always did. This in mind he walked outside into a garden space, the Prince following him closely, about five feet back. Two Royal Guardsmen came as well, watching him nervously. One shifted a little, turning back to face the room as Rolph stood holding up the amulet.
“Tor?” He said his voice uncertain. “Something?”
Tor shrugged and waited for the guard to do their duty, but they just stood there, watching him, and oddly the room, closely. Finally one of them, the large black and purple clad one that faced him spoke, his voice calm, as if speaking to a mad man.
“Sir, Master Tor… do you intend to pursue this further?” The man sounded almost diffident, which was not what he expected from the Royal Guard, even when they were being nice. It took him off guard.
“Huh?”
“Do you intent to meet the Duke in battle sir? Or do you consider yourself satisfied as to the resolution here? We need to know your intent so that the King's forces may plan accordingly…”
He knew all the words the man used, at least in theory, but they still didn't make sense. How was he going to meet a Duke in battle and what did the King's forces have to do with it? He shook his head trying to clear it. What
