by P. S. Power
“So you truly dislike the boy? Tor here I mean?” At least the old guy didn't seem to be taking personal pleasure in it, but he did give Tor a funny look, as if wondering what he'd do about it maybe?
“What? No! I love him. I may whine about him sometimes, but that's just me being bitchy. It's my problem not his.” That, it was clear from the device making her glow so purely, was also true.
Tor had to duck his head, because he just didn't understand her at all. Was he awful or not? She wasn't lying, but it was too complex to understand. She'd said a lot of mean things about him, but loved him? He didn't talk, not knowing if that would be good or bad at all. Plus, there was the whole thing were she'd been ordered to watch him along with Sara, before he'd even known they were there. Months before. That part was just freaky.
Why watch him at all?
It was late luncheon by the time things broke up, but in all Smythe of Westend felt comfortable that the Wards did not order an attack on anyone, except Torrence Baker. That was almost funny, except that one way or another a lot of people had done that. Some more so than others but… Yeah, no doubt everyone here agreed that hurting him didn't really count. They were all royals after all and he was just… him.
As if to make a point of it no one else mentioned it again either. It should have made him mad, but it was just what was. If he wanted a fair world he'd have to make one, wouldn't he. Could he do that? Well, not from whole cloth, but remake the world into a better place? Um…
No.
Not the world. That would be too much. He might be able to help a few people over time, if he tried hard enough. That he could do. It was enough. It had to be, since it was all that Tor could realistically manage. It would do. If you can't be loved, don't let that stop you from loving others. He nodded a little to himself.
Another party was planned for that evening, since they were all suddenly free of suspicion, no one was planning a war, except against Austra, and everyone was relieved and happy about things. Tor felt down, but didn't want to drag anyone with him, so went to set up his house in the giant park out front, no bigger this time, but one of the new ones, so he could play around with decorating and making the outside look festive. This time it had three stories, so it did have more space really and he made the bottom one open except for strong, arched supports and central columns so that it looked like it would support weight easily and filled it with six giant tubs filled with water for people to play in, each one large enough for eight at a time easily. The baths all looked like gray stone, as if carved out of rock and the top looked like a mountain with widows on all sides. The inside of the space looked normal but in a dark green, to fit the park. The front lawn, Tor remembered looking around. That only killed about an hour, so he decided to work up something to help entertain people later. Why not, right? Besides he had an idea that he needed to check into.
He could do both at once. That was efficient even.
It took three hours even in the deep trance he was trying to use more often now, to get ready for the build on Trice’s arm. If he failed she'd probably hate him for real. Possibly forever. Who could blame her? If he'd been better, a true Master Builder, he would have stopped all the death dust in the area instantly, not just what he saw. It wouldn't have taken that much more if he would have thought to sense the nanos themselves, not just go after what was visible. He could do it now even.
Tor could have done it then.
Except he'd panicked, not knowing how to handle the situation, and just froze the stuff already in the air. God he sucked. Trice should hate him. She was right, and his personal failure had cost her arm.
The device was about as big as his fist and had a dozen sigils on it. He didn't know if it would be very partyish, it was more of a festival thing, but he hoped someone would at least like part of it. It was multifaceted and built to be fun, if a little more adult than he'd planned originally. Not too bad he hoped. People would think he was perverted or something if he'd overdone it. Then again, here in Ward they may not think anything of it at all.
The dinner was a whole roast pig, which looked incredible and had been cooking anyway, since it took a long time to cook that much meat. Over a day. They did it in pits they dug, which was a fascinating idea, one using layers of hot coals and earth to hold the heat for slow roasting, actually burying the animal. There were side dishes too, but it was too much work to care about them, he ate small portions and finished it all, but didn't get greedy.
Tor sat at a little table again, though Smythe of Westend had apparently found enough favor to make it to the big table up front. Trice sat next to him and he was between her and Maria, who kept touching his arm gently, as if concerned about his hand. The one mean old Tor took from him. Tor forced a smile to his face.
It had been a good day’s work and the Wards should be grateful to the older man. If Tor had proclaimed them innocent no one would have believed it at all. Trice looked at him occasionally and gave him dirty looks, so he just stopped making eye contact, the game of being a villain so that people would do whatever it was she hoped they would, wasn't as interesting at the moment for some reason.
If she wanted to play her little spy games she could do it without him.
Besides, they'd cleared the Wards on that, and unless the Larval were working with someone else that hated Tor, the situation looked pretty much wrapped up. Trice was probably just being thorough, which normally would have been a good thing, but feeling a bit down like he was, it seemed over the top at the moment.
People saw the pools and figured them out fast enough, just stripping out of their clothing and keeping the water cool to the touch, but nowhere near cold. They soaked and splashed, played and sometimes did things that got raunchy comments and laughter from the people around them. It seemed like fun, but it just left him feeling lonely and out of place.
Did he know anyone that wasn't spying on him for some reason? Or at least that didn't have someone else doing it? Even his own family was doing it. That people watched him, Tor didn't care about much, except when he was doing private things, then it mattered, of course, but that people would lie to him just to do it was… horrible.
Had he ever had a real friend or a girl that liked him just for him, not because she had orders to pretend to? Or, and the idea hit Tor hard, was he making too much of everything? Inside a single year he went from being a guy women didn't talk to in more than passing to someone other people sent women after, at least occasionally. That was better wasn't it? Some of those girls even seemed fond of him at times. That was way better than old Tor the troll had ever expected. OK, it wasn't the perfect undying love of a story book, but what was? Maybe he should stop whining, and do things instead? Try to do something fun and actually meet someone he could talk to for instance.
Tor decided he'd ask the next girl or woman that came by to dance.
No matter who it was.
With an opening like that he half expected the universe to aim Ellen Ward at him, or a tottering grandmother in her dotage. Well, so be it. If they said yes, it was better than sitting alone. Ellen wouldn't even be that bad except she was about two feet taller than he was, so it would look like she was dancing with a tiny child.
The girl that came by wasn't anyone he knew at all and wasn't even a giant.
She looked at the dance floor wistfully, but no one seemed to be interested in her. She was average looking. Pleasantly normal, Tor thought, her nose almost hooked downward a little and her face was perfectly oval. That part was interesting, the shape of her face, very symmetrically balanced, making an almost perfect arc from forehead to chin. Close enough he couldn't tell the difference. She was short for the crowd, still taller than him, but only a few inches, five-seven maybe, which would make dancing more fun. Screwing up his courage Tor decided to just jump in, expecting her to tell him that she was waiting for someone else, or maybe that she didn't dance.
“Hi!” It was a bright word and a little loud, causing her to jump and look
at him like he wanted to sell her something. She reformed her face politely, a small smile on her lips and ducked her head just a little. A shy move that Tor understood instantly.
This wasn't someone that was used to being approached overly.
“Would you like to dance?”
The smile reached her eyes and she nodded, allowing him to lead her to the dance floor by the hand. That's what people in Ward did, even if they didn't know each other. The person asking took the other persons hand and led them to the floor. At least everyone had done that with him so far. The woman, she was at least in her late twenties, danced horribly. Tor wasn't that good either, so they laughed as they flopped around trying to copy what other people were doing. It was fun. Plus, being together is looked like they were doing it on purpose, which made it seem merely unique, rather than awkward.
When the song ended she looked down, her face falling a bit, so Tor asked if she wanted to keep going. By the sixth song they were doing better. Not much, but enough. They never touched, but when a slower song played Tor looked around and turned off his shield with a flickering thought, using intent rather than a tap on the amulet. Sure, someone would probably attack him now, but if he didn't try to live at all, what was the purpose of existing? She took his hand in hers when he offered it and moved close enough for him to smell her, after looking down a bit shyly, she pressed up against him lightly. It was nervous, tentative and not seductive at all, but felt more real than most of the situations he'd been in with women so far.
The next song was faster so he re-shielded and danced with decent energy. After that it was time to get a drink, Tor figured, not that thirst was an issue for him, but she looked a little warm from all the physical activity. He had fruit juice, pineapple-coconut, which was his favorite here, probably his favorite over all, next to apple pear blend. That was about the best thing ever, when it wasn't poisoned. He got a drink that had a lot of crushed ice, some red juice and alcohol for his new friend, because she asked, paying for both himself since the vendor wasn't pre-paid. The Ward's provided free food at these things, but if you wanted to get drunk you had to do it yourself.
It was both cheaper and probably cut down on problems.
The woman was wearing the same kind of shear white dress that most of the women wore to these parties, almost a uniform. Even he had adopted the male version, with a green sash around his waist and light trousers. She was darker skinned than he was, but lighter than almost everyone else, about the same tan as Trice or Maria. Her smile was nice when she used it, Tor saw. A bit toothy and her gums showed, but it seemed to be real, lighting up her face, which counted for a whole lot with him at the moment.
She spoke softly, a bit shy, like his sister Terlee used to be before she started going all noble Counserina on him. It wasn't all bad, he was proud of her for it… mainly. Except for the spying parts.
“I'm Bonita. I'm here visiting family for a few weeks. Things were a little tense here though, until today. They say Smythe of Westend came and fixed everything. That's something isn't it? I don't think he's here though, a person like him probably wouldn't be off dancing or anything. Probably inside.” She pointed to the Ward palace, which they all called “the estate”.
“Everyone seems so happy. I guess that's understandable. I am. Happy I mean. Maria has always been kind to me. She doesn't get along well with all my other sisters, there are five of us in all, some half-sisters though. We don't have the same mom, Maria and I. But still, family is family. Her husband’s worth coming to look at if nothing else, and I hear that Tor is here. Maria said that. The wizard I mean. He's the one that brought Smythe and stopped the war I think. My other sister, she's younger than me and really pretty, she knows him. At least that's what she said. Still, she was passing out flying amulets at the time and those are almost impossible to get, so she must know someone. Then, she lives in the Capital. I'm the one they keep at the country estate. Bonita Turnbull…” She sounded a bit bitter at the end, but Tor nudged her gently, made a silly face and stuck his tongue out.
He'd heard the insane or unacceptable relative of royals called Howard Turnbull before so he got the reference. Yay, learning. Bonita wasn't crazy though, he touched her field to check, it was a little sad, depressed and lonely, but healthy and decently intelligent feeling. Not a genius maybe, but not evil either and not holding any ulterior motives in talking to him. That heartened him a lot. If she even knew who he was he'd have been surprised, if not flabbergasted. There was no recognition, nothing except genuine interest. In him.
Just the guy who'd asked her to dance.
Heh.
Tor grinned at her.
“Don't get down on my new friend you!” He mock glared and put his fists on his hips trying to puff himself up. Bonita smiled and look down coyly.
“I usually don't tell men this right off, because I generally don't want people to throw themselves at me because of my title, but I like you and am willing to throw out whatever bait I can.” Moving closer to him she whispered softly, “I'm a Baronetta first.”
Tor shrugged.
“That's OK, I won't hold it against you, some of my best friends are nobles.” She looked down shyly again, and giggled softly, which was kind of cute.
“Hey, I didn't want to go alone, but would you like to go soak in one of the tubs? It looks fun.” Moving his head as if gesturing that they should move in that direction, Tor turned off his shield and took her hand, which made Bonita smile at him and follow when he started walking.
Five minutes later they were standing next to one of the pools, which was totally full of people packed so tightly together there was barely room left for water between them. All the pools were like that. Well… darn. Bonita may not have the same kind of face as her sisters, but she looked to have a cute body with nice curves and had the benefit of not being way too tall. Bathing was a good reason to get her out of her clothes too.
The idea made him smile.
“Well, we'll go later. I think I'm here for a couple of days still. I have some work I have to do during the day, but if you want, we can get together and do stuff? I haven't really seen the city at all, this is my third time here, so I should. I've only been to the beach once, and haven't walked the city at all.” He felt silly saying it, but her eyes were warm and she nodded shyly.
“If you want, once you see me in full light, I mean. Everyone looks better in dim light.”
Tor raised his eyebrows.
“Oh… good point, you haven't really seen me yet either. Want to run off and have sex now when we're both good looking? I've been compared to a troll you know. Seriously. Now, I thought it was a little mean, but hey, there were a lot of them saying it at the time…” Stupid Galasian school kids. They made a play about it and everything. To be fair it was a pretty good play, but it still kind of hurt his feelings to think about. Worse, by their traditions, in any future plays or writings, he had to be depicted the same way. No changing it up just to salve his ego or anything.
Worse, the troll him was kind of a jerk.
Before she could answer fireworks started above them.
Ah ha! Someone had activated the device he'd made. Well, leave things on a table with a bunch of drunks and someone was bound to hit the glowing sigils, weren't they? It would be surprising if whoever had didn't wet themselves. At least the effects didn't seem to come directly from the device itself. Instead they seemed to grow out of the air itself way up high in the black night. There were thunderous booms too, a bit before the brilliantly colored streamers crossed the sky. It made it seem more real, he thought. People started to make noises of awe, which turned into cheers as fully a third of the inky black night sky was filled with brilliant purple and gold, the royal colors. Then there was an all green spectacle with twenty randomly placed looking blasts that popped and crackled. For Lairdgren, since that was his house.
Bonita clapped hard.
“Maria didn't mention fireworks! This must have cost a fortune… not that I'm har
d up for money, if you’re a male whore… I can pay…” Her voice went soft again, she was looking at him in the bright light from the display.
The snorting laugh that came out was far from dignified. Tor started to answer, but didn't get a chance, since the next phase was coming up already and it kind of stole all the attention. It would start with a flower, a single red rose made of various colored sparkles which got a gasp that was rewarding to say the least. He tapped his shield off again for what was coming, since it would be filtered otherwise and casually took Bonita's right hand in his left, looking at her in the gentle glow. She glanced at him, and smiled happily, her hand tightening around his.
What came made people stand up and cheer with delight, hooting and hollering in drunken abandon. It was a saucy dancing girl, made of sparkles all in red and bright blue. The image moved though, standing, legs flashing as skirts were tossed up. Drumming, fast and driving, came from the sky itself as she skipped and twirled, if you were imaginative and attentive you could see a dark patch as she twirled and her skirt rose, in interesting places. It was actually based on one of the girls he'd seen dancing the time before when he'd come, so it looked pretty realistic. Not perfect, but no one seemed to mind that it wasn't an actual giant dancing woman in realistic colors. He could have done that of course, now that he'd gotten how to make things move, it had just seemed like it might be too scary without giving people something less realistic to look at first.
This was it, he thought, the important part.
It started almost without notice, the sense of a warm breeze hitting the skin, gaining strength and cooling slightly as birds flew into the scene from nowhere the feeling of their wing beats buffeting the crowd. They seemed to appear on a thunderclap, both were green, and had decent realism other than the color and being made of firework sparkles. The drumming was suddenly joined by horns as rain gently fell on skin. Except the world was totally dry. It was just the sensation of it, fed to the brain directly. This died suddenly and was replaced with a low tingle that Tor figured would probably have had him lynched in Two Bends, but might go over with a crowd of rowdy drunks that often turned sex into a public sport. The tingle became pleasure, and in about a minute the pleasure grew so intense that people were shaking a little. Even Bonita who grasped his arm tightly went breathless for a bit. It felt good to him, but not that intense… Were some people just more sensitive than others then?
