education, but it just went on and on… A vast stretch of blue and green that made the world smell of salt and sand. Rot too, but he didn't think about that too hard, not wanting to ruin the moment for himself. Being blind, even for a little bit, had taught him to appreciate things when he saw them. It could all be taken away in an instant after all.
Grabbing both towels the pretty giant girl took his hand and playfully tugged at his arm, which made him follow her instantly. She was huge, and really, he wasn't. So not much choice in it as far as he went. Laughing he started to walk with her, stumbling a little over the stones of the beach. Petra stood then, as if waiting for something after she tossed the towels down. After a bit she raised her eyebrows and smiled at him with a bit of a leer on her face.
“Are you going with your clothes on? Strip already!”
Tor froze.
It wasn't that Petra hadn't seen him naked before, they'd both showered in the same room even, but the idea of taking off his clothing in a public place seemed wrong. Dirty and evil. That wasn't the way here though, was it? That was Two Bends thinking, a backwoods town. Even his own parents had told him that he had to be the one to adapt to new situations when he left and not demand foolishly that other people changed to meet him and the quaint ways he knew. Even if he didn't always understand it or if it made him uneasy. Right. He had to do it… But he was still nervous. What if people saw him and laughed, like in his dream? Tor mentioned that to Petra, trying to buy time, she just shrugged and gave him a wink.
“Well, if either of them sees you naked, I can guarantee they won't point and laugh. Well, maybe at how skinny you've let yourself get, but they won't point at your penis like that. Unless pointing out how much bigger it is than they'd have expected? Even then it would be unlikely. Who cares about such things anyway? Don't worry about it.”
Easy for her to say, clothed as she was in swimming gear. Well. Tor stripped naked and forced himself not to cover up with his hands in shame, walking to the water as boldly as he could manage. That meant he probably looked stiff, slightly afraid, and nervous, but wasn't acting like someone had stolen his clothing at the swimming hole for a prank. The rocks got smaller for some reason near the water. Not pebbles, but about the size of rounded coins. Leaning down he picked a few up, getting a curious look from Petra who stopped suddenly. Instead of making her ask he just shrugged and explained.
“I can put fields on these. They won't be regularly shaped like what I normally do, but if I make a small cutting field, or an etching one for the sigil… though I've never done that, I won't really need copper at all. I mean if I can't afford to buy anything for a while. It's harder to work in stone, but I think I can do it now. In bulk I mean. I did the new equalizers in glass and that’s the same thing, as far as copying goes.”
It was a good plan, but his giant girl friend snickered and shook her head. Tor paused realizing how that would have sounded if he'd said it out loud. Girlfriend. He'd just meant it wasn't Rolph, who he thought of as his giant friend. That was all. Wasn't it? Well, he and Petra weren't dating, but they were supposed to, weren't they? He'd asked her and everything, and well, she'd said yes, so…
He dropped the stones, deciding to collect some up later. Nothing ever went better in life just because you were distracted. Except the nudity parts, at least the public ones. The water was neutral in temperature, after the first moment of coolness as the heat equalizing field around his neck adjusted to it. He'd probably lose the field in the water or something, but he had more back in his room, provided no one had run off with them yet. He decided not to worry about it. Petra acted cold though. Not freezing, but that cool water on a hot day thing people did.
They played and splashed for a while, Tor getting the worst of it, since they went out far enough for his friend to stand with the water nearly to her chin, which meant he was swimming the whole time, treading water.
He knew how to swim of course. His parents had made sure of that. For all the kids, the whole town of Two Bends really. He'd never thought of as being odd before, because it just meant that most of the kids could hang out at the swimming hole. That was nice in the heat of summer, so seemed normal to him. Everyone did it.
Kolb had tested him and said he swam as well as anyone, in his first year at school, but ocean swimming was harder. He kept getting hit in the face with waves and bobbing up and down nearly two foot each time. Petra did too, so he wasn't alone in it. That wasn't too bad, but even though he closed his eyes when it happened he still ended up with salt singing when he opened them again. Part of the oceans charms no doubt. Of course if you needed salt, it wasn't a bad thing at all.
More than once he started to float away and Petra had to reach out and grab his arm, gently pulling him back to their spot in the water. Finally she suggested they swim out past the breakers, which made things a lot easier for him at least. Petra swam easily through the water and he had to kind of copy her, diving into the waves as they came. This kind of thing obviously wasn't new to her, but then she'd grown up in Warden, also right on the water. The same water, Tor realized, if further south and with nicer beaches. The swimming didn't last that long, because Petra stopped after about twenty minutes of moving parallel to the beach, back and forth so they could see the little house he'd put there the whole time… and pointed, single finger coming above the water for a few seconds while she kicked hard enough to raise out of the water a bit, bobbing upwards.
People had come. It looked like everyone. All the people he knew in Printer at least, as long as he didn't count Kevin, or Dan Baker.
Well, great. Holly and Kolb were back, so maybe he'd have his things finally. Of course he was naked and all the girls were standing there and waving to them. Waving them in. Tor stiffened and sank, not moving in mortification.
Yes, drowning would keep him from being embarrassed. He steeled himself wondering if he could force himself to take a breath underwater, which he didn't think he could, so, reluctantly, he kicked back to the surface and sputtered a little. If he couldn't escape that way, what could he do?
Be embarrassed?
As good a plan as any for now, since death didn't seem a good option. Tor readied himself for pointing and laughing, and started to swim along with Petra. It took about five minutes to reach the shore, but then he really wasn't trying for speed himself and Petra didn't go that fast either, waiting for him to catch up.
As he rose from the water, ready to be mocked or at least giggled at, he was met by nothing but stony faces. Varley and Trice kind of looked ticked even. Because he'd gone swimming with Petra? All they'd done was swim, which should have been fairly obvious, she still had a suit on and everything. Kolb passed the towels to them after they got out of the water, so they could get dry, while Varley crossed her arms and glared.
At Countess Printer.
Trice stared at him, her eyes indeed looking lower than was comfortable, but she didn't smile or say anything. She had out her equalizing amulet and it turned a brilliant pink, but had a swirling black inside it at the same time. Whatever that meant. Affection and despair or depression at the same time? She hadn't been happy over all, he knew, losing an arm could do that, but this felt different.
Kolb moved next to Holly and a single chest, one that Tor recognized as his. In fact the one that had held all the little bags with thousands of golds in it, the one Sara Debri had given him that had rope marks on the top, dug into the wood and metal. They'd gotten there when they'd used the chest to save some kids, his left ankle throbbed in remembered pain from that event, but he walked to it anyway. He didn't expect it to have the gold. After all, that was something that people would likely steal, right? Or “borrow” if they found it there like that.
If he made a big deal about that though, it would be like blaming Holly for taking the stuff in the first place. That would be fair, probably, since she'd taken it, but would cause more trouble than it was worth. Really, Tor didn't blame people for making off with the gold. He wouldn't have, but most people seeing that much gold probably couldn't help themselves. He let it go and opened the trunk with a smile. No one else did, except Petra.
Maybe he'd at least have some clean underwear or a shirt that wasn't made of silk? Holly turned away as if not wanting to see his reaction. That or she was worried about his nudity. He had a towel wrapped around him now at least, a big soft one in a cream color.
Instead the chest was nearly empty. It only held three things when he looked in. The towel slipped a bit as he let go of it, holding the lid with slightly white fingers. At least that was soft enough as it settles on his narrow hips. Really it was better than the ones at the palace and certainly nicer than any he'd had at home or school. Tor had to drop into a deep trance to keep the anger from showing on his face, though his pendant still glowed a solid red.
Inside the case was his toothbrush, which should have been a good thing, but the bristles had been coated in a deep brown wax, the kind soldiers used to polish and protect their boots from water. He'd been around enough
