from what she’d said about him and would probably hurt again when all this stuff hit, he found that he just didn’t have it inside to wish her harm. Not even damage to her reputation like this might bring. She’d been his friend, even if he didn’t feel like it sometimes, right? Everyone else seemed to think so at least.
Tor felt himself nodding off, so asked if he could get back home and work from there, checking to make sure he had the right idea.
“So, I send her a note, like we talked about and something, a gift that she’ll just give away or destroy or whatever? I think I have an idea…” It wasn’t anything big, but maybe if he coupled it with a few other things it would work?
Varley wanted to go back to “Tor Base” with them, but she was too needed there, at the palace, for now, the King informed her, gently. Escorting guests and dignitaries in didn’t seem like a huge deal to Tor, but he could kind of see it in a way. If the King and Queen were too busy to come see someone, having one of their own children escorting some high-muckity around could smooth a lot of feathers. No one could complain that they’d “only sent a Princess” to see to their needs, could they? Rolph was actually in the planning sessions, he had to be in his role as heir. God forbid something happen to Richard, but if it did, Rolph had to be ready to take over seamlessly. Karina was working with Connie nearly full time on whatever Queen’s did during wars, social projects in support of the effort, Tor thought. So that left the junior Princess kind of stuck picking up all the meeting and greeting herself.
“Well… It’s true, even if it’s mainly a boring job that a monkey could do. Still, can I come up in a few days or a week or so? Don’t try to disappear into a work trance or something before I come and visit for a bit!” Then she pulled him outside the little room and on to the stairs.
“Tor… be careful and make sure to eat, all right? I’ll be there in a few days and if not… well any extra break you take is probably a good thing.”
She gave him a tight hug and a lingering kiss like she had been doing each time they met or parted. He kind of worried about slobbering all over her like a dog, but she didn’t seem concerned about his obviously poor skill at the task. She didn’t relent until Sara cleared her throat and suggested that they shouldn’t block the stairs. There was, at least, a chuckle in her voice.
The ride back was fast enough. Godfrey had just waited for them, which Tor thought was kind of him, and needed because Ursala didn’t have flying gear yet, or, as far as he knew, skill in flying at all. So far she’d been getting rides in the people transports. That wasn’t a bad thing, Tor knew that as hearty as she was pretending to be, poisons like that could and did take a lot out of you for a long while. He was still feeling the effects of nearly dying himself for instance and it had been a while. Months now, he thought.
He spoke to Sara, who decided to sit right next to him on the trip back, even though there was room for each of them to have several of the already large benches. She didn’t try to touch him or anything, but sat as close as she could without the shields bumping so that they could talk. Her voice was pitched low and soft, so that it wouldn’t carry, not that Ursala couldn’t have heard them anyway, the space wasn’t big and the whole thing flew with an eerie silence, even the air rushing past not making a sound. The woman seemed to be lost in thought and sat at the back, as if knowing instinctively that the other blond wanted Tor alone for a time.
“Tor… Um, so… what are your plans?” It didn’t seem to have the air of a casual question, but what she meant Tor had no clue. Not really. What plans should he have?
“Well, right now, I need to get back and maybe eat some more, then climb in bed. Baking starts early in the morning as a rule and I told Sorlee I’d help her learn enough to do her job, that one at least. After that? Well, I want to test the Sky Rivers for Afrak, but that’s going to be a bit, because I need to make copies of it first and I have no idea how long that’s going to take. I need to build back up physically and maybe, I don’t know, get some exercise? Then… well, I have a half dozen projects that are all screaming at me to get done and I guess that if I don’t get back to making copies soon a dozen generals are going to descend on the compound and start pestering me. That’s… about all I have for now.”
Her breath caught in her throat, half way through its cycle and she made a sound that at first he thought might be a sob, but it wasn’t. She laughed. Not a huge laugh, but more than a polite chuckle.
“No… Not what I meant, though I agree that you need to take a break and get your health back right now. I… well, I kind of mean what are your plans in regards to Trice…”
Ah. That.
How was he supposed to answer? Sara and Trice were still friends and as far as Tor could tell the blond girl was pretty certain that her friend really hadn’t meant to hurt him with her words at all and really had just been trying to do what she’d claimed later and get whoever had attacked him to approach her, looking for an opening to get to him. It would have been a good plan really, except that he’d found out, and broke everything off in public like he had. That pretty much got her out of what she’d been complaining about, right? Going after him once the engagement ended would just seem insane. But he had nothing for Trice now.
Shifting on the bench a little, his field bumped into Sara’s, who’d taken to copying him and wearing her shield all the time. Ursala hadn’t started doing that yet he realized, which he’d have to fix.
Suddenly it occurred to him that she probably didn’t own a shield at all. There was a war on and she was at least as good a target as anyone, being a royal and the future wife of the heir. Plus, his friend. That last wouldn’t make her more of a target, but it did mean whatever small protections he could drum up with would be coming. Anyone that thought differently was too stupid to live. They’d get his friends when they crawled over his dead body to reach them. Even then, he decided, he’d make it so that his people were protected as much as possible.
“I… Sara, I know that everyone keeps saying that Trice isn’t like that, and that she must have had some other plan in place. Maybe. I don’t know. But that all seems predicated on the idea that she didn’t just hate me to begin with. I mean so far in life, every woman I’ve ever approached has done that to me eventually. Publicly humiliating me like that, telling everyone how little they think of me, how bad I am. So… what am I supposed to do here? Am I… supposed to just trust her anyway? I guess I should if everyone else says so, but I’m not really ready for that yet. I’ll work on it. I promise, all right? For now… I’ll send a letter and some gifts like the King wants and then get back to work. It’s all there is for people like me, you know? Work. That’s all stupid little trolls are good for.” Did he sound bitter? A little. Couldn’t be helped though, could it? What he’d said was just the truth after all.
At least this time her eyes didn’t fill up with tears, and she didn’t look like she pitied him either. Sara snorted at him instead, sounding an awful lot like Rolph at his most derisive.
“Just… stop that right now Tor. I’m getting sick of your stupid “no women will have me” line. Yeah, you’ve had some hard knocks, but it’s still bullshit and you have to know it by now! My mom seriously tried setting up a marriage for you and I, you know. Because I asked her to. This was even before you were Countier Lairdgren of muckity-whatever or even “The Tor”. Just my friend. Do you think that Ursala wouldn’t have married you when you asked, if they’d all known it would have been within the three steps? Hell Tor, she’d marry you now I think. I know that Rolph was worried about leaving us alone with you when he left, because you might steal both of us away.”
Now it was his turn to snort.
While it was kind of her to say, it wasn’t true, he knew. Rolph, for one thing, didn’t worry about having girls stolen away from him and didn’t have too. He was, well… him. Even if his friend hadn’t been the Prince of the realm and all that nonsense, all the girls would still like him. Everyone did. Besides… Trice and Maria had both said that Tor wasn’t good enough.
Trying to hold his voice to wry, he mentioned that.
“So? Trice would do anything she had to in order to protect her friends and family, anything, if that means losing you, you know that she’d do it. You two are just alike that way. Granted, she should have told you first. I get that now, but back then, after the thing with Maria, I doubt she thought you could handle it. It was stupid of her to think that way, true. I mean, we both saw how you went in to that middens after that boy, and she’d seen you fight a man three times your size, who was in a full combat rage, to save a woman you didn’t even know. There’s probably not a lot that you can’t handle if you know to prepare for it, but in her own way she was probably trying to protect you….” Sara, brushed her hair back, a habit developed from a life time of actually having some. Right now her hair didn’t even hang down into her eyes. It was a sensible cut for her current line of delivery person at least. It looked cute enough. Rolph hadn’t complained at least.
“But… Tor, that’s beside the point. The fact is, you shouldn’t listen to them. Even if you don’t want me or… Ursala… or even want to play with your new little friend Sorlee, not one but two members of the royal family have shown extreme amounts of interest in you. Enough to get people to talk. Right now you’re really bordering on being cruel yourself with a bunch of people you know.”
