you a kiss from her.” Varley giggled then touched his lips with her own warmly. It wasn’t lingering, but it wasn’t a quick peck on the cheek either. “I know dad felt horrible about it too. He didn’t send a kiss though. And Karina wants you to bring her something, because she’s a selfish little bitch, couldn’t even be arsed to come check on you, but wants you to bring her prezzies…” Varley looked at Debbie and winked. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”
It took several minutes for everyone to leave, and another round of hugs from everyone and a kiss from Trice. Debbie locked the door after them all from the outside, leaving him with his cot.
Tor got ready for bed and almost fell into it. In a normal bakery he’d have gotten to sleep way earlier, but during the festival people stayed up late and ate more than normal, so it was worth staying open until the last people came in. Well, nearly the last people. He heard some drunks walking past near midnight; at least he assumed the loud, off key singing belonged to a drunk or two. He just rolled over and went back to sleep. Morning would come soon enough. Too soon.
At least when Tor woke he could scrub up and get into some clean clothing. He used his own toothbrush and toothpaste and actually had some real soap with him, the really strong kind that stripped the grime, and a few layers of skin, right off without too much scrubbing. He did it quickly, knowing that they had a lot of work to get through as fast as possible. If he was going to leave early at all, he needed to have everything made to last Debbie until they closed.
Before they could work he had to push his chests out of the way. They were both big, but the new one had a nice flat top to it, and was banded in iron for extra strength, so the other could be stacked on it securely. It was the one that held all the extra devices he’d brought along. Thinking about that he got into it and pulled out a few things that he thought Debbie might find useful. An equalizer for the heat, and a hot water heater for her bath at home. Looking in the case he realized that he didn’t have a lot with him that really related to an actual person much at all. Unless she wanted to learn to fly? Down at the bottom he had twenty room temperature control plates, so he gave her two, one for the shop and one for home.
She looked at him uneasily, seeming bashful suddenly, which wasn’t like her normal assertive self at all.
“Um, why are you giving me things? These must be worth a fortune. Hundreds or even thousands of golds. I’ve been making you slave away for a hard cot and food you’ve been making most of yourself… I really expected that you’d be gone when I got here this morning to tell the truth.”
“What and lose out on all those sales? You have a business to run and what would I be doing if I stayed at the palace anyway, giving people presents and getting underfoot? Here I’m out of the way and doing something useful. I can give you things that you might even actually use even. Besides, when I needed help, you gave me work and let me stay here. I know it was all an accident, and even if it wasn’t I shouldn’t complain about the royal family not wanting me around all the time, but I’m still a little mad at them for making me walk the streets thinking that everyone had forgotten me. I’m of half a mind to just skip tonight, but people would be offended… Probably at least. If they noticed I didn’t show up at all.” Tor smiled and showed her how to use the temperature plate and set it up in the front of the shop for her, on the wall near the counter, so she could reach it easily to control the temperature.
The work went fast, since he had a pattern now, and while he had to keep pushing all day, because he was wearing down a little from lack of regular sleep, it wasn’t too hard to keep on top of everything. Not for the first half of the day. At about one in the afternoon it started to get crazy. Lines stretching down the street, all leading to Debbie’s little shop. People bought things, but also took their time, staring at him for some reason. Enjoying the cool too. Some kids came in and just sat on the floor near the corner, just for that.
Tor finally had to give them temperature equalizers to get them to leave. They were little though; no older than seven and the youngest was maybe four, a cute little girl that looked a little thin and underfed. Seeing that, Debbie sent them off with a wink, a small swat for the eldest and a bag of treats.
Even though it was probably the busiest day she’d ever had and everything could have been sold. Tor felt tears come to his eyes, but hid that by making up more hand-pies in the back, as fast as he could.
Collette had to wait just to get her dad some of the apple and raisin hand pies that she’d asked for through Tovey anyway. It was a little embarrassing, but they just sold out of everything too fast to keep them on hand.
“Do you plan to go to the party tonight?” She asked, looking at him wistfully, standing in the door to the back room so she could talk to him while she waited. “I was invited to go with Count Thomson originally, but he had to dis-invite me, because the girl he’s going to marry is going with him instead. Counserina third Lairdgren, um. Tama-Lyn? Do you know her? Apparently she’s not the understanding type, even though she could get in on her own. I’d be miffed, but who can blame her really? I wouldn’t want my future husbands sometime girlfriend hanging out either, not that the Count and I are that close.”
Tor had just walked into the room with a large tray of still warm hand-pies which he almost dropped. “Tamerlane. Um… Well. You’d think Tovey would have shared that tidbit with me. She’s my older sister. I knew that she and mother visited with him at school, but I didn’t really think… Well much of it at all, which probably means I’m a bit of a moron, but there you have it. Well, good for her.”
At least Tovey was a nice guy. He felt a little bad for Collette, and told her so, but she just wrinkled her nose at him. “It’s not like he and I were close or anything. Not overly at least. He just thought I was pretty enough to walk around with at a few parties. I was kind of hoping I could go with you, so I could at least mix and mingle. It’s the second largest event here at the Capital and generally you have to be a Counserina or better to get invited on your own. Only Noram Day is larger, but that event is so hard to get into at the palace that I’ve never been. But if you’re not going, I’m out of people that I know who can get me in the door. Well, drat.” She sighed dramatically then smiled.
“It wouldn’t be a big deal but my half-sister is in town with her husband and since he’s a sitting Count he’s automatically invited, though I hear that he’s kind of on the outs with Alphonse, because he got the Prince’s fiancee pregnant.” She whispered this as he filled the basket she brought carefully with the pies, adding in a few peach for her as well as the apple raisin for her dad and plain apple for her mother.
It took Tor a few seconds to catch on.
“What!” He said too loudly. She looked at him and nodded.
“I know, it’s a huge scandal, I couldn’t believe it myself, but Maria told me herself. It was a big thing and Alphonse even attacked Count Ward, if you can believe that. No one was hurt though, thank goodness.”
Shaking his head he looked down for a second with a frown on his face. “Sorry, what I meant to say was; what, Maria’s your half sister? I already knew about the rest. I was there.” Standing between the two royal giants as they tried to fight in fact.
“Oh yes. She’s… well, she’s not a very kind person all the time, to tell the truth, not to me at least. It’s not that she’s evil, but if she gets to go to a party and I don’t, she’ll rub it in for weeks and I kind of have to take it, because she’s a Countess now.”
Giving it a few moments thought, Tor stopped, even while the line grew out front, finally she touched his arm making him jump. He made up his mind suddenly and nodded.
“Right, well… My own fiancee is going to be there. Ducherina Morgan? You met her at that party we met at? We got engaged the next day actually. It’s not a real engagement, but we kind of have to fake it for a while for other reasons, as odd as it probably sounds. So, I can’t have you as a real date there, but I think I can get you in, baring incident. Can you be here at, call it, seven? You might end up being turned back at the door, but if so we’ll both leave. I won’t leave you stuck standing there or anything like that.” Especially after it had happened to him. Well, if nothing else it was at least a good learning experience.
Don’t “accidentally” keep your friends out. He’d be sure to remember that if he ever got a palace of his own, or even had a gate to guard.
She clapped her hands and squealed a little, getting attention from the whole room for a few seconds, including Debbie, who looked at him like he’d grown a second head and was carrying on a conversation with it. Collette seemed happy enough when she left at least. After that Tor buried his head and started working non-stop until six, hoping that he had enough product for his boss to keep the place open until nine or ten. All the product racks were full; mainly hand pies, golden brown and flaky looking. Most of those had a soft white hint of sugar glazing on the top. A steady stream of people came in though still, laughing and smiling the whole time.
He scrubbed up again standing in the small yard out back, because the shop, which had running water and a restroom, didn’t have a bathtub. He used a large wooden bucket with black iron bands around it instead. A woman across the way saw him strip down to the waist to wash and made a sharp, festive noise at him. Tor smiled and
