nearly breaking out in a grin. Before she left he reached out suddenly and touched her arm. The others had left already, so they were alone, though the door was still open a crack, so no one would think he was trying to take advantage of her, Tor didn’t think.
Like he could make her do anything she didn’t want too right now? He almost laughed again. Ever. He couldn’t have taken advantage of her ever. He knew for a fact she could break him in half with one hand. Actually she’d almost done that to him once if he remembered correctly. By accident. In practice. His spine twinged a little at the thought.
“Oh! Um, do you have your own flying gear and shield yet?” He asked gently, voice rasping and grating through his throat.
“Huh? Oh, no… those are hard to get and even if they weren’t, I wouldn’t be able too, money’s a little tight at home since my dad died.” She shrugged a little, but didn’t look away from him. “My brother’s wife kind of hates me and my mom, so she’s gotten my brother to nearly cut us off. Mom has to scrimp just to hold my place here. I mean, she never complains about it, but it’s been hard. It was better when dad was alive.” The last words were just a little sad. Not pure grief, but enough that Tor could tell she missed the man.
“Sorry to hear about that. My condolences. Um, you know, if you ever need to talk about it, I’m here, OK?” Tor looked down for a moment and just prayed he’d said the right thing, he never knew what to say when people died, but his mom had always told the kids that almost anything, no matter how awkward sounding, was better than saying nothing. He shuffled over to the chest and pulled out some amulets and plates for her.
“Here, flying rig, shield, temperature control amulet and, um, some lights for your room? If you want or need anything else, just come and knock on the door, yeah? I’ve got loads of everything now. Too much actually.” Blinking he stopped and pulled a water heater for her. If she was having to scrape by, she might not have funds to go to the bathhouse in town. Tor hadn’t put any of the devices in the girls’ baths, for obvious reasons.
Duh.
He handed her ten of them.
“Could you, would you I mean, set these up in the girls section?” He looked down then, hoping it wasn’t too much to expect of her. She was always nice though, so maybe it wouldn’t be a problem?
This, unexpectedly, earned him a kiss, one that probably would have made even Rolph blush if he’d been there to see it. Well. Apparently it was worth it, giving this tall girl stuff. He’d have to keep that in mind for when Trice dumped him. He had a lot to give away after all. She left shortly after that, but kissed him several more times first.
Definitely worth it.
Two days later, his voice finally starting to work almost normally again, a knock came at the door, a sound he was starting to dread more than a little. Not that anything bad had happened so far, but people kept coming and having difficult conversations with him. Wanting to know how he felt about almost dying and things like that.
It was annoying.
This one he quickly realized probably wouldn’t be any better, since Trice stood in front of the door with her parents, all of them looking nervous as hell. Tor couldn’t blame them really. He gave Trice a hug and then Mercy, who flinched like he was going to strangle her or something, as if she couldn’t snap him like a twig. Eric got a hearty handshake, or what Tor could manage towards that as best he could at the moment.
“Hey!” Voice rasping and popping, not as bad by half as it had been, but still sounding like he’d taken up broken glass gargling as a hobby. “Come in. Not a lot of places to sit…”
They settled uneasily, looking at each other and then the bed as if it might be booby trapped. That… He stopped for a second and thought.
Yeah, it wouldn’t be easy, but he could do that. Set a trap that wouldn’t go off until a single, or in this case two, targets got in range. That he wouldn’t, not just because they might have had something to do with someone trying to poison him at least, hopefully would be enough for them. Eventually.
“So, has anything gone forward with the County Ford relief effort?” Tor knew he was casting around for a topic other than “hey, did you have me poisoned by chance?” but the fact that they’d show up was a good enough sign that they hadn’t. As good a one as he was going to get. It wasn’t like they’d admit to doing it if they had, right?
The relief effort had gone forward, in fact they’d even expanded the project, offering the loan of food driers and shipping in return for half the difference in what would have been lost otherwise. The same deal Tor had made with them. That left the accounting to the honesty of the farmer or his lord, of course, but so far the returns were pretty good. If anything, Eric told him gently, people were erring on the side of giving too much, not less.
“They know that it’s not greed on our part, but a humanitarian effort, I think. Given they still gain from it, most want to do what they can to help.”
It had to be scheduled carefully, because there was a limited number of food driers, and they were using half their shipping containers to turn a profit at any one time, ferrying goods cross the kingdom, but it was coming together well enough that Count Ford was nearly certain that no one would starve when winter came.
Slowly, like an old man, Tor got up and opened his trunk. Buried under the clothing he had about fifty more of the food driers, which he matched with cargo hauling plates, shields and flying rigs. It came to just slightly less than that number for each, because he saved a few back for use specifically in Two Bends. The farmers in that area could use them to preserve a few more things than they’d manage otherwise. Plus, a few of the neighbor kids had apparently expressed interest in working for Two Bends delivery, but needed the gear for it. Why not? It cost him only a tiny bit and would help out his old friends. If need be he’d make rigs for the whole town. Oddly, not everyone wanted to try flying though.
Mercy started crying.
Not little tears or just quiet sobs, but big wracking things that, almost unbelievably, put Trice to shame. The girl looked to be tearing up herself, so Tor tried to head that off.
“Well, I see which side of the family you got that crying from. Oh… wait.” He pulled out a set of ten lights that he’d made and turned one of them on. It matched the one that Rolph had hung on the wall. It made a glow that wasn’t as bright as sunlight, about half that really, which still almost blinded you if you looked at it for too long. There was a nimbus of light around the device that made an aura up to about a foot away. Holding up a finger he showed them how, by tapping the difference sigils on it, they could control how bright the light was. It was new, he told them, but not all that difficult to make.
“But…” Mercy sobbed loudly, a hiccup in the middle of the word. “Don’t you think we tried to kill you?”
Did he? Tor shook his head slowly.
“Not really. Why would you? To get your daughter out of an unsuitable marriage? If that’s all you wanted you’d send a go between or just come and tell me “no thank you” yourselves, not send a barrel of tasty poison. It really was good by the way, until the horrible pain part, then it kind of sucked. Anyway, back to the question. Honestly? I don’t know. How could I? I can’t see a good reason for it, but then I can’t ever see a reason for that kind of thing, so maybe I’m just too stupid to get it? As for this,” he gestured at the pile of stuff in front of him. “Either you’re perfectly innocent and someone wants me to think you’re guilty, which this should thwart pretty well, showing I won’t be swayed that easily, or you’re secretly criminal masterminds, in which case, please consider this a bribe towards my continuing survival. I’ll send more if you want. Really. Much more profitable by far to keep me alive. Yep. Definitely worth doing. I’ll kiss you all too, if that will help?” He’d liked it well enough when Petra had done it.
He smiled at them, chin coming up in a nod that was almost a tick, but wondered if the smile reached his eyes. It didn’t feel like it, but then he was only partly kidding.
“For that matter if you see them, please tell the King and Queen that whatever I’ve done to anger them, if anything, I’m sorry and won’t bother them anymore. Honest.”
They solemnly said that they’d see the message delivered if they could. It seemed that they didn’t think their own reception in the Capital would be all that warm either. Well, Tor told them, at least if they got turned away from the palace they had their own place to go to there. Stopping them before they left, he asked if they could deliver something for them, if they were going that way anyway.
“These lights are for Debbie, who runs the bakery by the south wall near the Cartwright. Please tell her that I’m sorry for leaving half way through the festival like that. Thanks. Oh… um, if you’re willing to play delivery people for me?” Tor gave then a nervous smile, but the Morgans both nodded a bit, looking nervous.
Tor made up a large sack of devices for Debbie on a whim. It got rid of some of the things and cleared space
