some of them have had children. The process, a genetic one, that gave them their long lives, doesn’t always breed true. In fact it rarely does. In Noram, there are only five that we know of that show the trait. One of them is the ancient of magic. Count Lairdgren, Burks Green.”
No one said anything for a few moments. Then the King spoke, his voice gentle.
“The others are Tor’s Uncle Dan, his mother Laurie, Tor, and possibly his younger sister Tiera. That last is still uncertain, but Tor’s been checked out already, special blood examinations taken by a highly trained doctor after he was poisoned. The thing is, well, the Green men with that trait, they aren’t exactly highly fertile. So it might be hard to rapidly have a child with Tor, Varley. It shouldn’t be impossible, but if you marry him, well, chances are good that you won’t have his child. Normally not a big issue, but he’s not exactly overly tall… So some care would be needed in the selection of lovers if you decide to have children.”
Tor hadn’t known that. He hadn’t known a whole lot of it to tell the truth. He’d have trouble having kids? It… kind of made sense for someone that might live for a long time. He hadn’t really thought about it much, because so far it seemed unlikely that he’d live long enough to grow old normally, but if he could, he might not age? Right. He’d believe that when he saw it. His mother certainly hadn’t had problems producing offspring for her part, but then, Connie had said the Green men. What really got his attention was that Lairdgren was named Burks.
“Um, just to clarify, the Burks that was here the other day, that was Lairdgren?” Tor wanted to make sure he wasn’t just confusing two different things.
“You didn’t know? You seemed pretty casual about him, so I thought…” Rolph shook his head a little.
“No big thing, we’ve met many times, he just neglected to mention the whole part about being related. Anyway, I didn’t know some of that stuff, about the kids and all, so if you want to back out Varley, I’ll understand.”
Rolph stared at him, then shook his head.
“Tor… You look just like Count Lairdgren. I mean, I figured out the connection before we even went to Two Bends based on that. He’s a little older looking, but not even all that much. In the right light, I’d swear you were the same person.”
Tor made a face, mouth screwing up just a little.
“Except for the fact that he’s really good looking and I look like this. Kind of a major point, don’t you think?”
No one said anything for a second, Karina started to speak, but was silenced when the King waved his hand.
“Tor also has some other information for us.”
That got Richard talking, which he did excitedly. Connie seemed pensive, and Varley kept coming back to the other topic, clearly more interested in that than having a share in her own secret military force.
“So…Tor is extra magical? Is that why he can do so much more than anyone else?” The girl asked, interested, but not, thankfully, scared.
Connie answered that one.
“No, according to Burks it’s more likely that he’s normally gifted, and just works that hard. It’s not that he’s extra magic, but extra disciplined. I think what Lairdgren was getting at was that we could all do what Tor does if we weren’t so lazy. But when I pointed out that he doesn’t do what Tor does either, he stuck his tongue out at me. You’d think after three thousand years or more he’d have learned better manners.” Her face took on a lovely smile, showing that she wasn’t really put out by the whole thing at all.
It turned out that Varley, for all that she announced openly her intent to go back to Wildlands Station with Tor, couldn’t. Whatever duties the Princess had at the moment, they were actually deemed far too important to lose, even for a few days. That was fine with Tor, since he didn’t really have a place for her yet, not something nice enough. It was one thing for Rolph to stick his future wife in a room with his lover and Tor, who was mainly just over in the corner working anyway. It would have been a lot different for Tor to do the same thing. At least it felt like it. It wasn’t that his hut looked bad inside, but it was a bit crowded with three people and even more with four, adding a Princess and whatever protections she’d bring to the situation at the same time would probably be too much.
So something else to add.
At least he was learning enough to see how important getting other peoples’ help was. It still ripped at him, asking other people for aid, but he just couldn’t get everything done on his own. Well, not fast enough anyway. He should probably stick to building for a while, and leave the real work to everyone else.
Somehow in all of the excitement from Veronica, Connie and Rolph, Karina forgot to question him all that closely about why he’d picked her little sister and not her to marry. That was good, because he couldn’t explain it. Not at all. Sure, he liked Varley better than her. But what did like have to do with getting married? He’d tried that and look where it got him. This time he was going to do it right and treat it as a strict business deal, not letting his heart get him into trouble.
What it came down to though, was simply that Varley, now that he could see what had been set up by the girl, had been working him into place for this for a long time. Since what, their second meeting? How she thought back then that she’d make it work he didn’t know. Then again, given her being a noble like she was, she might have had twenty plans like that going on at once. She might still have them going on. Another reason for him not to get involved except as a pure business deal.
With kissing.
She was good at that.
It made him smile for a second until he realized that getting good at things normally took practice. Well, that wasn’t her issue; she was right for her station and part in society. Torrance Baker was the backwards hick that needed to catch up. Maybe Ursala would be willing to help him there? Or, and he cringed a little inside thinking about it, maybe Sara?
She was Rolph’s girlfriend though, so he didn’t want to make trouble there. Maybe, if needed, some of the professional women would help him out? It felt wrong to use their services, but at least it wasn’t because of his prudishness this time. No, it was just because they were under his protection.
They talked for a long time, including the river going up and how he’d like a message as soon as any of them heard about it from any source, including, he added, an indication of exactly when they heard about it and who told them.
“Oh! I also… If you want to keep using the Not-flyers we need to get everyone wearing them. Two girls floating around in brown dresses stand out as much as if they were walking around in full regalia. I’ll try to send some around in about a week or so, but until then…”
Karina crossed her arms, still dressed in her brown servants dress, which, Tor noticed now that he had time to pay attention, wasn’t heavy canvas at all, but a soft looking material that probably breathed in the heat, not that she’d need it yet. It was decently comfortable outside right now. Enough that during the day Tor didn’t even turn his equalizer on at all. The Princess pouted a little.
“Great. Varley gets a decent guy to marry, but I have to dress in a shipping sack and Tor wants to send me off to the kitchens to “learn the value of hard work”. What next, cut my hair and join a religious order? Now I can’t even use my Tor-shoes?”
Everyone laughed, except Tor and oddly Richard. Tor shuddered a little at the use of “Tor-shoes” for the Not- flyer, but let it pass for now. Instead he tilted his head and regarded the girl, pretty in her brown dress, with her bright, long hair. Her incredibly rare and distinctive copper colored hair.
“Well, no. I mean no religious order needed for now, but if you’re going to actually hide who you are when you’re out and about, you have to lose the hair. You too Rolph. I’d suggest a brown dye for Karina and about the same for Rolph, with a military haircut. Put him in blacks instead of brown servant garb and he should fit in. None of your servants are as big as him, but some of the guards are. Not that I know of anyone watching that closely. I was just… thinking, you know?”
Tor realized something odd. His mind had actually slipped into the same state he went into when working on a building project. There was no overt field problem here, which baffled him for a moment. Laughing, both of the kids grabbed at their heads as if to protect their hair. Like hair was important? He chuckled along, but the King started nodding a pensive look on his face.
“The Royal Guard has been after them to do the same thing, basically, for about a week now, on the premise that looking like the people around them will lend safety, not any specific threat. If Tor can see the same thing
