stopping it in the air when the shielded pie basket hit it.
The pies!
“Stop! We’re going to ruin the pie!” He yelled again, pulling the basket towards him fearing they'd been crushed.
Countess Printer stared at him for a moment and went pale.
“Tor…” She said simply and dropped the weapon she held to the floor.
A second later she followed it.
Chapter five
What did you do when a tall, thin, Countess goes to her knees in a room full of people? Tor didn't know, three things ran through his mind almost at once, the first was to help her up. That made some sense, after all, she was a Countess. Ticking her off could not be a good plan. The second was that in this position Tor was actually taller than she was, by over a foot.
Heh. Shorty.
It was the third thing was the one he said, not really knowing where it came from, it just kind of popped out. “All right dog-girl, what the hell have you been doing with my underwear?” He crossed his arms and tapped his right foot, basket dangling from his right hand.
Her people all stiffened and so did she at first, for nearly half a minute. Finally she blinked and started to chuckle which turned into a full laugh, hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. After a minute she blinked and wiped at her eyes.
“God Tor, I thought you were blind and out of commission, I should have known that something as trivial as being permanently blind wouldn't stop you. I saw your eyes though, and they were cooked white, just solid. How…” She stared at him, but didn't stand yet.
“Fixed it. Imagine my surprise when I woke up and found my clothes and toothbrush gone. I had to borrow these and given how new they are, and that they actually fit, I kind of think they might have looked better on Varley. Anyway, we can deal with that in a few minutes, now, stop being silly and come give us all hugs. I brought some of your friends here to see you.”
Rising slowly, she walked over and gave him a hug, then one to everyone else, though she paused at David. He had to reintroduce himself to her, since she didn't recognize the giant in front of her as the little boy she'd met once or twice before. He got a hug though. While she was doing this, Trice started messing with the box, her back turned to the room. When she turned she held a small brown bunny in her arms.
She grinned.
“One armed girl with a bunny and pie, if that doesn't say we come in peace, then you've probably lost it, yeah?” Cutely the little rabbit popped it's head up then, pink nose twitching and looked directly at Holly. After a few seconds it ducked back deeper into the crook of Trice’s right arm.
Looking in the basket Tor shrugged.
“One and a half pies, if we can count something that smooshed as a pie. Maybe a fruit pudding? Well, it should taste about the same. Peach strawberry? We heard you liked it.” Tor smiled and tried to look like everything was all right and that four women, all bigger than he was and generally well armed, hadn't just tried to beat him up. When had people attacking him become so common place? Tor wasn't even shaking. The bunny was, so he even had something to compare to.
Steady as a rock. Weird.
They moved to another room, that somehow hadn't been trashed already, meaning that these people didn't always greet their friends like this. Either that or they didn't get a lot of guests. Other people probably got served drinks and told they looked nice. Not that he did, but it would have been good to hear anyway. Well, the one guy had seemed all right at least, though he still acted like he didn't know what to expect. Really, who could blame him? They ate the pie from bowls, Holly apologizing for not having any frozen cream, because it was just too hard to get ice in this time of year.
That earned her a snort from Tor.
“You have about a hundred temperature plates capable of making ice. You just need an insulated box to put it in. If you let me see my trunks I can set one up for you, maybe a few, if you want…” Tor really wanted to climb into his own clothing and steal away one of the personal equalizing amulets. They could set up some temperature control plates for the house too, while they were at it he let her know, by way of a bribe to let him have his things. Everyone else in the room stared at him. Well, that wasn't exactly true. His friends didn't, not even Petra.
Holly did, but he was talking to her, so that could be explained away as normal enough if a little intense. Her eyes were a stormy gray that he always associated with crazy people for some reason, though it wasn't true overly. Not really. All the Printer people stared too however, which made him feel uneasy, like they wanted to attack again or something.
It didn't help that all the women in their identical uniforms stood behind Holly stiffly, as if ready to fight for her again, even as they ate pie. But what kind of nut job brings you pie and then attacks? Well, not the kind Tor was, that was for sure…
Damaged or not the peach and strawberry worked well together. The crust was a little more dense on the bottom than Tor would have made it, but that could just be the humidity here, right? Holly ate silently for a while, finally pushing her bowl away and sighing hugely.
“So, how are we doing this? Am I supposed to turn myself in now, or… God I don't know what else. Treason charges? It's theft at least. I knew it when I took the stuff. Just thinking you might not be making any more, well that didn't give me a right to run off with it, did it? I just, I didn't want the Wards to get away with killing Danny like that. We loved each other, arranged marriage or not. If I could have traded places with him, make it me that died, instead of him, I would have. I'd do it now. It just seems like the Wards have something cooked up to get them out of trouble, place the blame elsewhere, probably using Master Tor as a shield to protect them. I mean, they were just waiting for you to show up so that they could make peace? How likely is that?” She crossed her arms meaningfully.
That earned a funny look from Trice who started to cross her own arms, then realized that didn't work too well at the moment. She looked angry for a second, then explained.
“Well, I'd been sent with a message for Tor, and a strong suggestion from Maria that I'd been wrong about him and was being cruel to a good person. Actually she called me a Doretta to my face and told me to fix it while I still had the chance. That came even before that box of stuff you sent with the letter you know. They wouldn't let me destroy the things either and when I started explaining that you were just trying to buy my affection and said I wouldn't have it, Maria nearly tossed me out on my ear. Marvin lectured me for half a day on how I should appreciate having a friend like you and thank whatever my people held sacred that I hadn't killed you. Come to think of it, they'd both been a little awkward about the whole “let's hate on Tor” thing for a long time. I think from before I got there. They both claimed they didn't try to have you killed, though I think Maria did have Laval kick you down those stairs. She said it wasn't supposed to kill you, just make Alphonse feel bad. After the poisoning though, they both seemed to think that it had gone way to far… Though really, I just thought they were faking that part. I would have, if I tried to have someone killed. Why advertise, even with your friends?”
That tracked with what they'd told him at least. That didn't mean they were innocent of anything, but putting them on trial was a lot better than going to war. If they were guilty, they could just kill them. If they were innocent, well, then they could help everyone find who was really guilty, maybe. It was better that way, wasn't it?
Tor thought so, and so did Petra, since it was her brother and she was halfway fond of him at least, if not Maria. Holly obviously wanted to take all the stuff she'd gotten from Tor and use it to raze Warden if she could manage it. Kolb cleared his throat at her, but David shook his head.
“Nah, Kolb, I get it. I kind of want to do that too. But Countess Printer, our anger isn't rational. It isn't good. If we don't let them defend their name when they ask, then it's just murder. I say we have the trial, find them guilty and then kill them. That way we'll know that what we deliver is justice or at least looks a bit like it.” His eyes were half hooded, playful it almost seemed, except he didn't laugh afterwards, instead he just exchanged nods with Holly.
