by P. S. Power
"You could have dumped me off at the school first." The road under his feet was new. Compressed earth, which had the rather clean sounding product name of focus stone. Someone had scratched the surface with something, forming grooves across it in places. That would be for traction in the wet or snow, no doubt. It was still a bit slick underfoot, but was leaps and bounds better than uneven stones or the old mud and muck path that it would have been otherwise.
It hadn't been like that the last time he'd been there. Not at all.
Tim gave him a look that seemed to be indicating that Tor was a moody child. After a second he smiled though.
"You have to give her a chance to apologize. Otherwise Todd and I will have to kick your butt and that will just lead to hard feelings. Yes, she was wrong in what she did, but it was, like it or not, just a joke. A prank. It wasn't even pouring a pitcher full of urine over your head or anything. You want Tiera to act like a reasonable person? Maybe you need to step up and do that yourself first."
Tor stopped walking for a few seconds and then, when the others stopped and looked at him, he mock glared at the kid.
"There you go Tim, sounding just like the reasonable mother that I never had. Well, let's go. I'm not groveling though. I know she won't."
Taking down the craft for some reason, Tim watched the whole area closely, as if half expecting an ambush.
"True. Just act normally then. Don't expect anything and you won't be too disappointed. Unless she freaks out on us. Well, we have company, so she probably won't. Let's get to it?"
They walked toward the bakery first, the white washed place looked a lot nicer now than it had as he'd been growing up. Two Bends was a lot bigger though, and almost everyone had more coin there now. That was because his family had hired most of the Two Bends delivery flyers from the local area. They earned a decent wage and that translated to being able to buy more baked goods, which meant that not one, or even two, but four of his family members were busily working away inside when they opened the door.
Normally, at least in the last few times that Tor had come home like this, someone would call out his name and then rush toward him. Most of the time it was several people at once. This time no one moved much at all, just standing there, looking at them all as if they were strangers. It was worse than a statement about him though, since anyone coming to the place would probably be a customer, which meant that they should have been greeted, at least in some fashion. This time no one even came through the door of the kitchen to see who was there at all. The little bell had rung and everything.
There was a new display counter, which was made of fine glass, clear and flat with almost no bubbles in it at all, except in the exact center. It was housing material, but still a pretty fancy thing to have in a little place like Two Bends. Behind it were racks of baked goods, most of them what people would need each day, bread rolls and hard loaves, but about half were a variety of cookies and other sweets. It wasn't a holiday though, so Tor wasn't sure why they'd have that much ready to go.
It wasn't until a cute looking black haired girl came out that anyone noticed them at all, and she barely looked up from her tray at first, since it was a good bit fancier than most of the things they made, being decorated cross rolls. If she spilled them there probably would have been trouble.
As soon as she set the tray in the large cooling rack she actually spun on them, her face lighting up as she realized who was there.
"S'Tor! S'Timon!" Tess ran around the counter and nearly tackled him, running a hand out to pat Tim in the process. Then she called out in her thick accent for everyone else, which got...
No one.
"Sorry, everyone is sort of busy. We need to get the product ready for the party later. Are you coming?" She looked at them both hard, and then up at the Prince, who smiled back at her warmly.
"Party? I didn't get an invitation. What's it for?" He was just making conversation but the girl grimaced and shook her head.
"Sorry, that was probably my fault. I helped with the invitations. Delivered most of them too. It's for my brother Todd's engagement party? To Countess Thorgood? We're having it here. Alyssa sent down one of the big magical palaces for us to hold it in, but we're used to doing the baking here. It isn't for several hours though."
"Ah. That might explain it then. She and I used to be engaged ourselves. She might not have slipped my name onto the list. Understandable, given everything, since that might be a little awkward."
Tess nodded at him and dimpled prettily.
"That would do it. More to the point, mother and I weren't certain that the Heir would come to Two Bends for something like that, so we sort of didn't actually send you an invitation. That's mainly on me, for being lazy." There was a small bow then and a wink that looked far too old for his eleven year old sister's face. "Well, I can get you all in now, I think. Would you like something to snack on while we wait?"
There was a polite no, thank you, from Timon and Tor, but the Prince looked at the food in the display case wistfully. Since the others said no, he was supposed to as well, by polite rules, but giants were almost always hungry. He was still growing too. Before Tor could ask for him Terry came out from the back and settled his own tray and then waved.
"I'll get Ma, she's in the big place now. Or... well, why don't you all come over there? It looks pretty good and all that." There was a bit of relaxed hand waving at the door, and then Tor found himself being pounded on the back in a manly fashion, even if the boy wasn't very old at all. He returned it with a grin, realizing that they'd all grown up a lot while he'd been gone.
It was still early, just past mid-afternoon, so the boy led them to the new place, which required walking on a focus stone path that had rows of magical lights on either side of it, already turned on, since it would save doing it later, no doubt. They were a clear gold color, like sunlight, and made the whole area many times brighter, the canopy of evergreen trees overhead casting a lot of shadow this time of day.
The house itself was large and looked new, being all in deep brown with a black slate roof. It was impressive, after a fashion. It could have been made to look like anything, but it was just a version of what Mayor Tom had across town, if bigger and with better windows. It took up most of the old horse clearing behind the real house. It wasn't a huge space to begin with, not compared to what they might have had, but it was enough. Most of the people in the capital would have thought it fine enough not to worry about what the neighbors thought. It could have been more, or set up to be easy for the public to see, but it hadn't been, since it was Two Bends and most people would have thought it a bit ostentatious as it was.
There were steps going up into it and they looked and felt like wood, rather than stone, and the front door seemed to be made of oak, but the handle was a smooth brass and Terry didn't bother to knock first, meaning he was fairly comfortable with the whole idea. That could just be because of his age though. Kids adapted to new things fast.
Inside it was well lit and smelled like dinner. Roasted meat, various spices and potatoes. Probably a lot more courses than most of the kids here would have expected, but to his surprise Tor didn't find his mother and other sisters all working in the kitchen. They were sitting in the front room, most of them looking nervous and like they wanted to jump up to help. One did jump up, his oldest sister, Terlee. She smiled at Timon and smothered Tor with a big hug.
"S'Tor! I'd half thought you were avoiding me. Did you bring Tiera with you?" Her voice went low and sad on the words, and he had to shake his head no, but she didn't make him say anything yet. That was good, since his mother was there suddenly, looking about the same age Terlee was, if not slightly younger, staring at him.
"I see you lived. Is that problem taken care of then? The assassins? Are they all dead?"
Her gaze and words were just a little disapproving, but Tor decided to try and take the high road, ignoring that part of things.
"No. I drove them back to Austra, or at least they sh
ould be headed that way. It's mainly Brown's problem now. If he can't, or won't, deal with them in some sensible fashion, then I can end this at any time now. It's part of what I built to remove them from Noram and the rest of the world. I'd rather not though, if possible. I don't want Denno to be mad at me for the next thousand years, you know? Bad enough..." He didn't mention the rest, but she knew what it was. He'd flown off the handle, thinking that Denno was trying to humiliate him and nearly killed the man over it. Instead of talking first or checking to see what the truth of the matter was. Tor hadn't thought his mother would be lying to him though, just to embarrass him.
Who did that to their own child? Of course, the answer was, bitchy noble women. He just wasn't used to thinking of her that way. Not the noble part.
Not the other either, until very recently. He hadn't really been able too, thanks to the controls that Burks had forced into his mind, to make him into an exact copy of the Count. That hadn't worked though, had it? Thankfully. It was a kind of slavery that was very hard to break out of, Tor knew. He still thought just about the same way as always anyway. It was who he was, after all was said and done.
The difference being that now he had a real choice in the matter. Some at least.
He could decide who he wanted to be. For the moment that meant being forgiving, even though he didn't really feel like it. Staying mad at Laurie forever wouldn't help anything and she was immortal too. That meant that grudges could have decades and centuries to grow if you didn't do something to stop them early.
To that end he leaned in and gave her a small, very awkward hug, one that made her stiffen, as if he was slighting her in familial affection. He didn't know how to explain that part exactly, but Timon didn't wait for him to do it, so at least there was that.
"We just found out that Queen Constance is, for all intents and purposes your half sister. Ancient plotting it seems, since Lairdgren never had sex with her mother. My guess is Gray, but it could be anyone. Princess Veronica is his daughter too. Or possibly Tor's. He's slept with both of them, so you can see how that might be a little... difficult for him to adapt to. Not as bad for the rest of us, but for him, and them, it's pretty harsh. Especially him. Those two are nobles." There wasn't any sense of teasing in the words, which was nice enough of him. It was good ammunition, if he wanted to needle his older brother. Maybe he was just saving it for later? Or possibly he was a better person than Tor thought?
Terlee spoke first her head tilted.
"That's not so bad." She was looking at Alphonse when she said it, her head tilted slightly to one side. The Prince smiled and bowed to her.
"Not that big of a deal for most of us. Nothing to fret over at least. Timon felt you should all know however, just in case things came up in the future. No one should date Varley for instance and Lauralie might want to avoid doing too much with my mother." There was a hesitation then, since Laurie made a face.
"No one could have told me that when we were in school together? Well, no harm done I suppose."
Thanks to a nice deep trance state Tor managed not to respond to that bit of information. He'd suspected it in the past, but really, parents weren't supposed to have ever had sex. Evidence to the contrary or not. After a few moments he changed the subject. People might need to have the information, but they didn't have to sit for hours dwelling on it, did they? Not in front of him at least.
"So... Alphonse is staying with me up at the school, so that we can be there for Tiera. You've heard about that?" It occurred to him that he'd been too busy avoiding things to ensure that information had been passed along. That was Timon's job, he decided right then. He'd have to tell him about that later though.
Terlee looked baffled, but their mother seemed a bit tense rather than anything else.
"We've heard of a death at the school, but only that it was a first year, and not Tiera. She didn't kill someone, did she?" There was an edge to the words, a slight stiffening of the mouth, like she expected to hear the worst on the topic.
Tor shook his head.
"No... It was Sandra Morris. She was trying to, well, hurt Tiera isn't really right. From what we got from her under Truth verification she was really just trying to trip her, basically. She used an explosive weapon, aimed at the ground, but she isn't that good at it and... The girl that was killed, Regina Helmsley, she was Tiera's very good friend." Tor knew that the kids might miss that reference, but Terlee got it, from the way her eyes opened wide and so did their mother.
"I... Why wasn't I told of this?" She got to her feet, her clothes changing from a nice and rather rich looking dress of multiple brown shades to a flying outfit, that had a silk shirt in a nice dark green and leather trousers. Magical clothing. It was what everyone in the room was wearing, even though it was pretty expensive to get hold of for most people still. She started scrambling for her flying rig, which she put on carefully, having it in a side pocket that he hadn't noticed at all.
"I'll go at once, Tamerlane dear, will you see to the meal for me? Make my excuses. I... This is unforgivable." At least the glaring was going at Tor instead of his brother. There was no particular reason for the two of them to have bad blood between them, was there?
Tim waved her back down and kept doing it until she actually sat, which happened with a weary thump.
"No. Tor and I are going to go get her for the party. I wasn't invited either. Probably because it's too hard to find me lately. Tiera isn't doing well, but she won't want to miss Todd's big event. We're trying to keep her from going after the King, so no one suggest treason or anything, but it should be fine otherwise." He sounded in charge enough that Laurie glared at him.
"So, you move out on your own and now you feel like you should be allowed to arrange everyone's life for them? A bit presumptuous isn't it?"
Tor stuck his tongue out and shook his head.
"At least one of us has to be a grown up. Might as well be him. It's a good plan though, really. You're needed here and can't miss this. It would be insulting to Ursula. Or could be at least. She isn't the type to be that worried about things like that. Then, I didn't think that Sandra would be hot headed enough, or stupid enough, to try and use an explosive weapon for petty revenge. What time is the party set for? Nine?" That was the polite time in the Capital, for dinner meetings and parties, but this was Two Bends and people ran on a country schedule here. More to the point, they probably ran on bakery time, which meant starting hours before normal people would even bother. His parents ran the delivery service that most worked for after all, so it would make sense.
Nodding, his older sister smiled at him, "that's right. I didn't know that you'd be available for this Alphonse, or I would have suggested that Princess Abumanitalli come too. A bit last minute now though... We'll have to have her over soon however." Then she stopped and seemed to be counting something on her fingers. "Yes, you two can still get married."
There wasn't any more explanation than that, but Tor got it. Lara Gray was their Grandmother and like him and Green, Tor's mother was identical to her. Abbie was his great niece or something. But not biologically? Still that didn't really mean that Alphonse was related to her at all. It was all so complicated Tor wanted to yank out a few big handfuls of hair, but he didn't, just moving toward the door, with Tim, Terry and Alphonse following him.
"If someone lends me a Fast Carriage I can get her from the Capital. I haven't got one yet. I can fly it though, I think. I used the regular carriage that..." There was dead silence then and Terry blushed a bit. He didn't continue on. Timon laughed and shook his head.
"That you stole? From whom? It isn't mine, since I don't have one."
The boy made a face and shook his head.
"Borrowed. That's all. From that Count Lairdgren fellow when he came about three months ago to see ma. He said I could use it for a bit. I gave it back, before he left or anything."
That was news. Tor hadn't been aware of any visits like that. Ever. Then, he'd been gone, and the man was, like it or n
ot, family. He wasn't even a bad person really. Just old and a bit pushy in a passive aggressive way.
Since that was still probably about what he was going to turn into as he aged, Tor tried not to think too harshly of the man for it.
"Alright. You can borrow mine. I don't know why people haven't been making them yet. It's not hard. No harder than making a regular carriage at any rate."
That just got Timon to roll his eyes as they walked out, not even saying what he was thinking about. It clearly wasn't anything overly nice.
It was just as clearly directed at Tor.
Chapter two
It took a while to get everything set up and while Terry was a smart boy, he also wasn't an experienced Fast Carriage driver, so that meant Tor needed to call ahead to the Palace to set things up. It would have been a bigger deal, but Connie chuckled slightly as she informed him about what was already going on.
"Princess Abbie and Countess Thorgood left hours ago, in one of the Countess' standard transports. I believe they intend to arrive at about seven? Please wish them all the best for Richard and I? We would have attended ourselves, of course, but with everything else going on... I hope that your family will understand?" She sounded worried about it, as if anyone actually wouldn't get it?
Timon cleared his throat and smiled weakly, looking at the white focus stone device in Tor's hand.
"I think they will. Todd really won't expect the King and Queen to show up for his engagement party after all. Now the wedding is a different story. I don't know where that will be held, but I'll be available to hire out for transportation services for it. Probably up in Thorgood. You, the King, all those Royal Guards... You'll want to book ahead."
There was a pause then and finally Connie inhaled, a sound that didn't sound as relaxed as it might have. Tor wondered when he'd developed the ability to tell how a person was doing based on their breathing, but he thought it was right anyway. She was tense.
