by P. S. Power
There was a hairbrush, which he needed since his hair was nearly shoulder length now, longer than any of the girls around him even. If possible it needed to be cut. Maybe one of his friends could do it for him? At home his da had always done that, and at school there was a full time barber who would cut hair for free if you were a student and would shave you if you asked and had a copper. He'd tried it once and felt like the man’s straight razor was going to end him the whole time. His face had been smooth after though.
As clean and well groomed as he could get for the time being, Tor ventured forth, down the long and winding open stairs and towards the kitchen, where he found everyone else already up and dressed, drinking cups of something. It smelled good, making his mouth water.
“Tor! Come have a cup of hot chocolate?” Petra said cheerfully.
He smiled, because her glass amulet was glowing a bright yellow and changed to pink as he looked at her. Well, she seemed fond of him at least. Pink didn't mean love specifically, it could be friendship, or simply that she really liked chocolate, but it was better than dismal black. Trice didn't have hers out and neither did Varley. Well, they were a novelty, perhaps they just didn't want people knowing what they were feeling all the time? He had his own on, but tucked in, for that very reason.
Kevin the butler, and now school administrator, brought him a cup, a delicate white thing that had gold around the top. Just to see if he could tell, Tor touched it with his mind lightly. It felt like metal, but laying about a fraction of an inch deep on the ceramic. To his shock, comparing the two, he realized something odd. Ceramic was a metal too. At least that was how it felt. What would be next? Water turning out to be a mineral or something? Inside the chocolate turned out to be sweet, there was a lot of sugar, cream and milk in it, with something he'd never had before. It felt safe, so he took a sip, which made Trice jump in her seat as she watched.
“Tor?” The words sounded scared.
“Um, I think so. Anyone have a mirror? I can check, just a second…” He looked around for a second to look for one, but then smiled at her.
The breath she took was huge and shuddered a bit on the way out. God, hopefully she wouldn't cry about anything. She did not do that well. Or really, he admitted, she did. If “well” could be redefined to mean loud. Huge wracking sobs and hiccups that almost had to be fake, or at least played up.
“You didn't check the cup, I mean, I'm sure it's fine, but… you aren't, you know, suicidal are you? Courting death?” For some reason she looked scared and Varley watched him intently as if judging what he said next by some hidden internal test. Well, he'd done it, why couldn't she? It wasn't like sensing fields was hard, not once you learned to clear your thoughts at least. Really it just took some practice and not even all that much.
Laughing he pointed at the cup.
“No, I did check it. I just did it directly, I don't have a poison detector on me. Borrowed, you know. I've not had liquid chocolate before, I've had solid a few times in dishes, at the palace. On chicken once? It was good, so I recognize it. This is better though. Why would I be suicidal… crap, where's Holly! Is she alright, and Kolb, Davie… what did I miss?”
Petra reached over the small table and patted his arm.
“Nothing like that, they just went to get your stuff and oversee some of the training being done, because David is going to be in charge of it for a while. A few weeks. Kolb just went to keep Holly company. You understand. They weren't close that way during school, but they’re both adults and alone, so, why not, right? She always liked him. Your things should have come down yesterday, but there was a letter saying some kind of problem had happened. Nothing big probably, but Holly wanted to check for herself. She feels really bad about everything.”
Ah. Well, that made sense then. Still, why had Trice of all people thought he was suicidal? She'd seen him work before and he hadn't taken long at all, not for what he'd done. Really, if it worked, he was planning to be kind of proud of it even. All he needed was a halfway open space to test it in. That and food. He wondered if it would be rude to just ask. It was probably in the book Karen had lent him…
Tor went still.
Holly had lent him the book. Karen had never done anything like that. Why was he thinking about her suddenly? Because they'd been friends and she died? Plus, she'd been friends with Holly, so there was a link.
He let the pain fade after a bit and kept slowly sipping at his warm chocolate. It tasted rich, enough to make hunger go away? Not likely. He'd last eaten real food two days before, nearly two and a half now, at the restaurant. He may not feel hunger while he worked, thank goodness for that, talk about distracting, but he had to make up for it when he could. A few minutes’ later plates of food, large dishes of fried eggs, pancakes and summer sausages came out. Honey was put in front of each of them in a little container and whipped butter melted slowly on top of everything.
Tor ate hungrily, just hoping his manners weren't so terrible that he embarrassed himself.
He didn't let himself eat quickly, but it took an act of will, and he finished everything and didn't even feel overly full. The amount of food was the same as what the others had too. He normally ate about a third of what they did, except Varley, who tended to eat about the same. Today she ate half a plate but didn't comment on what he'd finished. That made sense, she probably knew what he'd been eating better than he did.
Everyone seemed more than a little bored, which Tor could understand.
“Hey, I know, I have something to test and need and open area, why don’t we all go to the beach?” It should serve, space wise.
Petra grinned at him and went to grab her bathing clothes, but Trice couldn't go into the water yet because of the wound on her arm and Varley demurred for some reason, maybe to make Trice feel better about not swimming?
Tor rolled his eyes.
“You don't really think I'm going for the swimming do you?” He said playfully, but they still didn't want to go. Oh well. Hopefully they weren't angry with him or something. They didn't seem like it. Did they have real work to do? That could be. Or maybe they wanted to talk alone? They were cousins so that also might be the case.
When Petra came down she was wearing a body hugging suit of material that looked almost shiny, even though it was black. It wasn't silk, he didn't think. She looked good in it and she carried a towel, handing him one as well. Not that he planned to swim, he told her, earning a shrug.
“Rocks are hard to lie on, and a little jagged at times. This will let you lay out without needing medical attention. Plus you’ll be able to dry off after I throw you in the water. That’s the tradition for people that go to the beach and don’t want to swim.” The very tall girl grinned when she said it at least.
Tor took the towel. If it was a tradition, then he’d have to swim. Apparently if he wanted too or not.
The path was winding and mainly in the shade, but the beach was huge, a vast stone covered thing that ran for miles in either direction and had only a gentle slope to it at the top. It dropped quickly closer to the water, which meant they shouldn't even get wet if they stayed far enough away. Smiling he found a good enough spot, pretty flat and big enough, then asked Petra to come stand by him as he took the little glass disk out of his shirt. The edges weren't sharp at least and it came with holes already drilled or cut into it. She took his left hand, which was a nice gesture, though not needed. He just didn't want to leave her out, this wasn't dangerous at all. Unless he'd done it wrong, then it could kill them both of course. Tor gripped the dark tan hand with a grin.
He tapped the plain blue piece of glass, her hand nearly touching it as well, and waited.
It didn't look like anything had happened at first, but suddenly they weren't on a beach at all anymore. The world rocked a bit, they rose in the air a few inches, and everything changed. They stood inside a modestly sized, but pretty, stone dwelling. It had windows with shutters inside, all done in bright red. A wood table and four chairs, four bed
s, each big enough for even Count Thomson, though possibly not the King or Count Ward, and two doors at the back and one to the right. He pointed to that one and grinned. Tor removed the pendant and hung in on a hook near the post in the center of the dwelling. It had no other purpose than to hold the amulet, which could be left there until the field failed if a person were so inclined. That would be years probably. Maybe longer. None of the fields he'd made himself had gone off yet, not that he knew of.
All fields failed, of course, they had to over time, but so far so good.
Inside the little interior door there was a kitchen. It had excellent counter space, an oven, cold box and stove. While it looked like a brick oven, and metal grill, the heat was all gathered from the ground below them and, when turned on, would remove some heat from the cold box too. Tor turned everything on, which seemed to work at least. He had to flip his new equalizer off, to tell, which made him chuckle a bit. He always forgot the equalizer at first for some reason.
Taking Petra by the hand he led her first to the restroom, which looked normal, but wasn't, as far as plumbing was concerned. It would work anywhere, water or not, heating the waste and shuffling it deep into the ground directly once it was turned into dried powder. That had been a bit of work, because it had to carry who knew how much waste away seamlessly. It did it by spreading the field for it over time, passing the waste out to an increasing space. Hopefully it would always be enough. The next room had a huge tub and shower both that would have warm water once he got a supply hooked up.
“I could do it from the ocean if I had a desalinating pump ready. I can make one, but this isn't for here really, I can turn it on and off and carry it with me, which is the real point. You know, so that no one can really take my house away easily again. Hard to do if I have spares. Let’s look outside?”
Petra giggled, which was entirely out of place on her frame and took his hand again, as if she wanted too or something. It was really nice of her, he decided, being willing to touch him like that. Maybe she thought she'd be getting one of the houses out of it? Tor grinned. He had spares, so why not? When she got him outside she spun in place, which swung him around too.
The view was worth looking at, as much as looking at any house would be. It was all stone, in look, but, as he explained, it was really just a shield with nearly perfect insulation. It had temperature controls of course, on the far side of the central post. It's own light fields too, if the light from outside wasn't enough, say at night. The windows even looked real. They weren't, nothing about it was. Really, if you thought about it carefully, the whole thing only pretended to be there at all, existing only in potential. It just did a really good job of pretending, that was all. But it was a house and if he had to move, he could pack it with him. On him even. Several of them, just in case. Going back in he sat on one of the beds, which was soft and formed to him perfectly.
“Oohhh,” Petra lounged back, the force field mattress, a white thing on the top that looked like a regular bed otherwise, if one with logs for legs and the wall as a headboard. “This is nice! I could live in a place like this. Maybe have a private bedroom added on? Could it be made bigger, do you think?”
Tor stood with a groan. He was just tired of course.
More? Yes, he could modify it now, no problem. But it was good sized already. Bedrooms he could do, but this was basically just a tent so far. A really nice tent that someone could live in, as long as they didn't have a lot of stuff. It was bigger than his old house by about fifty percent, being nearly seventy five feet deep and fifty wide. Big enough for him anyway. But, unlike Petra he wasn't the child of a Count, raised to luxury and waste.
No… he was the grandchild of one, raised deep in the woods in middle of a forest in a fairly run down bakery and modest sized house with thirteen people in it. It made a difference. Probably half of the real reason why it had happened that way. So that they'd all grow up knowing how to be humble. It worked, so why not?
Petra wanted to go swimming then, new magical house or not, which seemed reasonable. It was a cool enough device, but it really couldn't compare to the ocean out in front of them. The expanse of water was… humbling. Until about a year before he'd never seen anything like it. Oh, the descriptions of it were part of his basic 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 get
ting 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.
