as one of the prostitutes. The idea is that she works her away around and tries to kill you again I think, except that at the same time, instead of just being all industrious like your little friend Sorlee, my cousin has actually been using this as a base to take down the Wards, and the people behind them. So, the Wards don’t really know she’s here, I don’t think, but she kind of has a cover if they find out. ”
Tor walked too. Ah.
“Well, I guess that makes sense. I take it she isn’t really planning on killing me? I mean if she’s been here for weeks, well, if that was the plan, I probably wouldn’t have woken up from making those rivers for Afrak, right? You were there to take care of me, sure, but people have to go to the restroom, take walks that kind of thing. It’s the middle of the compound, or close enough, we have a good wall at least, but someone already inside wouldn’t just be able to walk into the hut.”
They all agreed that she wasn’t there to kill him, not really at least.
Kill him… It spurred an idea of sorts, that kind that niggled and wiggled in the brain, but wouldn’t come out yet. Forcing it wouldn’t work, he knew, but that was all right. It would come, ideas always did.
They were good that way.
Ursala laughed. It wasn’t, he saw, directed at him at all, but at Sara, who still walked stiffly. And slightly ahead of them. She had a cute butt, Tor noticed. No wonder Rolph always let her lead when they walked places instead of forcing his way to the front like his position warranted. Then again, it might be less prurient. Maybe he just wasn’t a jerk? He wasn’t perfect all the time, but Tor couldn’t cast stones there, Rolph was, Tor’s family included, the best person that Tor had ever met. Ursala had kind of a cute behind too, he noticed as she closed with the other girl, who obviously thought that something bad was about to happen, from the hunched shouldered position she’d taken.
“So, Sara… Tor couldn’t handle his ex-being here? He’d freak out, maybe go all violent? Blow up the whole world? He seems to be all right so far, like a certain Countess mentioned three weeks ago…”
He couldn’t help but laugh then.
It was…well, not funny, but strange. Like a heavy weight had lifted from him when he just decided that Trice was his friend, no matter what. Even if she hated him. He tried to explain, but he didn’t think anyone else got it, the concept was a strange one, Tor knew. Finally Rolph walked over and matched his pace, which was normally way too slow for the huge man.
“You’re saying that you just decided that she’s your friend again, even if she doesn’t feel the same way? Even if it’s naive and stupid? That’s just the way it is now?”
“Yes. Pretty much.”
“Alright then.” The Prince said, looking at him sideways. The tone sounded like he simply accepted it at least.
“So, you really don’t get why you might give a guy a complex?”
“Nope. After all, look how long it took me to realize all this. Months. I’m surprised you didn’t all kick me out a long time ago. I haven’t exactly been nice to be around, I know. I’ll… work on that, all right? More smiling, less pouting and a little less going on about how no woman will ever have me or me being an evil troll. A retu. I’m still a tiny bit hurt by the whole Galasia thing though. I mean. All I’ve ever done is help them and well… you know.” Tor held his fingers apart about a sixteenth of an inch to demonstrate what he meant by a retu, but apparently it was a common measurement everywhere, because no one seemed surprised by the term.
They all agreed that it sounded like a good plan, him not being a mopey jerk, but Sara still looked nervous for some reason. Again like she was mad at him, or scared. Well, he couldn’t fix it if he didn’t know, so finally, walking along side of her, he asked. She flushed, but didn’t say anything for a long time.
“You don’t have to say anything Sara, but I’m your friend too. Even if you secretly hate me and have agreed to kill me. Or if you like me just as a brother, or something like that. No strings attached or anything. Not even if your family can’t ever pay the golds they agreed to, or doesn’t want to do business with me anymore.” That, he felt, should have covered most of what she could be worried about.
OK, that wasn’t true.
She could have worried over a million things that he’d never have thought of. Like, what if he had body odor? Or bad breath. Well, if she told him that, he’d do his best to fix it, that was all. He tried to on top of that stuff, daily bathing and twice daily tooth and mouth care. Or maybe she didn’t like beards? It made him look older, but if she didn’t like it, it would be gone.
She started chewing her upper lip nervously and her breathing became short and choppy, he watched her with a small look of concern, but she just shook her head.
“Hey no need to be stressed over it. If you don’t want to tell me, that’s all right too. I don’t want to leave you hanging, but if you’re not ready then you aren’t. It’s all right. No matter what.” It really was. It wasn’t magic, just a decision, a choice to love instead of let himself hate, and to pick good things instead of bad. It didn’t mean he’d instantly be perfect at it, but who was perfect at anything? Maybe it was good enough to try and just keep trying? It was a start anyway.
When they all got in the hut the others grabbed clean clothes and headed towards the showers and tubs. Tor grinned and took an extra water heater for the shower tank. He hadn’t tried it yet, but didn’t want a cold shower either. Those were horrible.
Thinking about it Tor wondered how they were all going to manage this, maybe he and Rolph would stand outside and guard the door while the girls showered? Instead they all walked in at once and Rolph just locked the door behind them. Tor hadn’t even known the door had a lock. It was right there, built in; he’d just never thought to look.
He had to be let outside to put the heater on the tank that sat up on the roof, but it only took a few minutes. No ladder, but he could fly, so it that part wasn’t hard. No the hard part was getting it to stick to the outside of the water tank, The whole thing was incredibly smooth and hard, like glass, but he found that he could wedge the heater in just under the six inch thick pipe that led down into the bathing and shower area. Then he hit the second warmest sigil on the plate and flew back down. The door was locked again, so he knocked, expecting the others to keep him out for a while. After all, Rolph had probably had sex with both of them recently, Sara for sure and probably Ursala, why wouldn’t they, given their world? So it wouldn’t be embarrassing to them or anything, most likely, seeing each other naked and all that.
Instead Sara let him in instantly, almost like she’d been standing by, waiting on him.
Apparently in royal circles, baths and bathing were regularly taken as a group. Even mixed sex groups. Enough so that none of them even really considered it as a hardship, or even odd. Tor kept his head down and took his clothes off awkwardly, walking to the showers nervously and half waiting for the jokes about how scrawny he was, or even how inadequate in the manliness department, but it didn’t come. As he got the water on and stood under it, a warm wet curtain hit him evenly in the face. Tor was a little too shy to just stand facing away from the wall yet, hanging out and all that. Rolph didn’t care as much about that kind of thing from the sound of his voice as he chattered, and his chuckle when Ursala yelped when the water fell.
“It’s warm! Heated shower water? That’s… I’ve never heard of such a thing. We certainly never had that at home in Thorgood. Does the King’s palace even have this? It’s incredible. What would it cost to get something like this Tor? I mean for away from here?” She made a noise that sounded distinctly sexual, which got a giggle from Sara and an appreciative whistle from Rolph. Tor washed facing the wall, using some good lye soap on his hair. It stripped the oils away totally and all the dirt with it too. No matter how tempted he felt to look, the blindness to follow wouldn’t be worth it, he was sure. Lye soap wasn’t something to play with after all. It worked, better than almost anything, but get it in your eyes and the best you could do was flush with water, and hope the damage wasn’t too bad. The sounds didn’t stop for a while, so he actually got fully rinsed off before anyone else was done.
Being careful not to even look in anyone else’s direction, he walked carefully to the little room between the showers and the tubs to dry off. Rolph, still giggling called out to him before he could leave.
“Tor, set up two tubs for us I think, unless you all want to share?” The noise indicated that sharing was preferable, so the order got changed to just one tub. When he turned it on full bore to fill, the water pressure in the showers started to fade a bit, so Tor turned the water down some, letting the tub fill more slowly, taking about five minutes. It was just full when everyone, still dripping came out of the shower.
He’d lived with Rolph for two and a half, really three, years now. He’d seen him naked. It was impressive and a little complex making in and of itself. Tor wasn’t tiny, in, well that way himself, but Rolph was proportional, which
