by P. S. Power
The laugh that came out of the other man was dark sounding.
“Great and now you feel like you have to make me feel better about myself. You get my point then?”
Ducking his head Tor wondered what he could say. There just wasn’t a real comparison between them. He did some cool things occasionally, maybe, but Rolph was that way all the time. Really, by definition he was the standard for the term as it applied to men. At least in Noram. Probably a few other places. Not Afrak maybe, but that was what it was and Tor wouldn’t be accepted over there either. Wrong gender for it he suspected. He stumbled over trying to explain this until Rolph finally sighed loudly.
“Oh, I’ll live Tor. I can’t even hold it against you, I mean you really are just that great, you know? Let’s stop the whole bit about how I’m god’s gift to women too, huh? Oh, true, you and I go to a tavern and I walk out with more women, hands down. Being Prince has its perks. But what about the women we know? I bet if we gave Sara and Ursala the choice between spending the night with me or with you, they’d both argue to get into your bed. Maybe even both at once. Notice how I never give them that choice?
“Sara didn’t come here, join the military and take a job as a goods shipper just to have me warm her bed you know. She came for you. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even know I was there. The look on her face when she realized… Oh, true, she didn’t turn me away, but did you see how she looked at you when she found out you saw us having sex? I thought she was going to cry, and trust me, that is not what women normally do after having sex with me.” Looking towards the front almost stiffly Rolph smiled.
“That’s usually more like… “Oh, Alphonse, I love you… no other man could ever compare to you, marry me…” which I know isn’t really about how great a lover I am, just girls trying to get into a position of power, but it really is good for the ego.”
It took only a few more minutes to land and get back to the little hut, which looked a lot more like a simple shed now than it did before, the compound having grown around it in shining focus stone, glittering a little in the sunset like a jewel. It was kind of pretty. More than just a little, he realized, really nice. Well, it was probably just as well that he was living in what looked like a storage building then. No one would think that he was taking all the best for himself at least. He didn’t even get his own room.
When he and Rolph got to the front of the hut a curtain had been hung up over the door. It was a heavy canvas piece in green. He hadn’t put it there, so couldn’t explain it to Rolph. A door, obviously, but more than that he didn’t know. Cautiously they worked their way inside, leaving their shields on. Not that assassins would come and make improvements to their dwelling normally, but just in case, they wanted to be ready.
The scene inside was odd. Possibly even stranger than if assassins had come to redecorate.
The place hadn’t been changed or anything like that, but all the chairs at the table were in use, there was a nice wooden box on the top of the focus stone table they used for eating and Sorlee was crying softly with Ursala patting her back.
Sara looked up when they came in eye getting big.
“Tor, good! We didn’t know where you were. Um, a letter came for Sorlee and she started crying but we don’t know why. She showed us the letter, but none of us can read it…”
Next to the chest was a letter that had clearly been scratched out in haste or by someone that had pretty poor penmanship. It took a minute but Tor realized what it said. It was just written phonetically and in backwoods, not standard. Easy enough once he got the idea. Tor read it out loud.
“Dearest Sara Lee,” He had to read slowly because the writing was sort of hard to make out at first. “I write with dark news. Due to bills from the doctor and the rent on the farm coming due to the Count, we will be dispossessed at the end of the month, if we cannot come up with a sum of seventeen golds. Your brothers have all gone to look for other work for the winter, but it does not seem we can manage this in time. If possible, I will write again soon and let you know what happens to us all.
“A nice young man from the Two Bends fast delivery has agreed to take this message to you for free, because it is close to where he has to take another package. Know that we love you. Mother.”
This started a round of back patting and hugs for the girl. The woman next to her wasn’t anyone Tor recognized, but since she wasn’t a giant he figured her for one of the other industrious women and left it at that for the time being. She was pretty enough in a girl from down the lane kind of way. Feeling awkward he got Rolph to help him pop the box open, which turned out to be the first payment from Sorvee house. Timely as promised. The box didn’t have a lot of gold in it, just forty, but it did kind of provide an answer to Sorlee’s problem, didn’t it? Almost like an omen really, showing up at exactly the same time as the letter did.
Plus he was supposed to be bad with coin, giving it away and everything. This was almost perfect for that, wasn’t it?
Without thinking about it Tor counted out seventeen gold and put the stack in front of the girl, then as an afterthought put another one beside the taller stack. She’d have to pay to get it there in time after all. Sorlee had her head buried in her arms on the table, but the women next to her gasped suddenly and clutched at the girls arm.
“Sorlee look…” The voice held awe.
That he could get. Seventeen golds was a big part of what a farm would bring in during a year. He didn’t know what the women made working as they did, but it didn’t seem to be that much, if the other woman’s response was indicative. She got moist eyed, but smiled at Tor as she shook the smaller girls arm gently.
“S’wha?” The girl, small and brown haired, red shot eyes and running nose looked up, but it was like she couldn’t see what was in front of her at first. The woman next to her had to point and finally put her hand on the stack before the girl understood.
“To save the farm? But… this is too much. I won’t ever be able to repay this. Not even if I spread my legs for the entire military here for years!”
Tor answered her in proper speech, which only they could understand at the table, since it was the way she’d spoken to him anyway.
“Well, I don’t think that’s actually right, if you got all the men to sleep with you, it should be possible, but we can’t afford to lose you from the kitchen for that long, so this is a gift.” He laid his hand flat on the table, fingers spread, a single, well defined movement, to show that the matter was finished. She glanced at the hand and given that they came from places with similar customs actually got what the move meant. So a first for the last few years of his life.
“There are no debts between friends.” He said softly.
Crying softly the girl stood and put her hand out to shake, leaning in from a far ways away.
“There is no debt between friends.” She answered back, her voice thick with tears still.
No one else really got what was going on until Tor asked if anyone knew the fastest way to get the money to the Farmers. It turned out that Sorlee would need to be taken into the Capital so the Two Bends rep could question her personally about where the package needed to go. Rolph pulled out a small, very nice, box for the gold to go in and then they sealed it for delivery. The girl sat and wrote a note to go with it. No one asked what was in the letter, since it was obviously private.
It meant that she had to wait until the next day and that someone would have to go with her. The natural choice being Tor, since he could actually understand her and translate. It meant that they’d have to get up extra early in order to get all the baking done before they left, but he wasn’t going to leave his friends family stuck just because he wanted to sleep in late. All told that left a tiny bit of time left to work on the problem he’d thought of before bed, if he could find out anything about Austran explosives.
Tor needed to get back to Kolb, since he was as close to an expert on how other military organizations fought as they had. At least he got to br
ing good news to him along with the questions once he found the man. The King was sending along money so that Tor could pay everyone in the new unit. Sure, it was out of his private funds, but they got a little something for toiletries and clothes, as well as what pleasure items and services they may want. It had surprised him a bit, but the King and Rolph both suggested two golds per week for each member of the new unit.
That, they said, meant that they were better paid than the military, but wouldn’t be so well paid that everyone would notice that it seemed special. Most of them were nobles, so that would get them a bit of slack money wise, no one being able to tell if it was part of an allowance from home or just their normal pay. Some of them actually got allowances from home even, so it would further confuse the issue. Tor had figured on paying them a lot more than that, but didn’t argue. He was pretty bad with money and Rolph was trained as an accountant already, mostly. He knew gold.
It turned out that the new shield would only have to hold against raw kinetic force traveling through the air, physical debris, heat and fire. It was a lot because of the size the shield needed to be and he hadn’t learned how to handled force in the air like Kolb described to him yet, but it gave him a starting point at least.
The next day started even earlier than normal but they managed to get into the Capital by ten in the morning, which being Monday meant that the pickup wouldn’t happen for another day. Normally. Since it was one of the six short vacation weeks that kids got off of school not one but two “agents” came to pick up outgoing packages from the Two Bends office while Stewart was working out the complicated directions to Sorlee’s family farm.
“So, it’s a town called Forrest Far? Past the two white top mountains, near the big clearing? And our agent should go into the village center and find the school mistress, S’Lalia? She’ll know where to go then? I see. Is she good with standard do you think? Because I don’t know if any of our delivery agents can speak like that…”
From behind them, as they stood working at the little counter, a young female voice spoke clearly, in nearly unaccented standard. Royal standard.
“That’s all right Stewart. We can all understand the regional dialect there.” Tor spun around causing the girl to look at him questioningly for a few seconds.
“S’Torrents!”
Not one, but two, forms hit him then, wrapping him in familial warmth. The very nicely dressed young lady in front of him was Tiera. He knew she was twelve, but she looked even younger than her years, like he did. Younger than any of the other kids had at that age. It made sense now, if she and he both had the same kind of gene plan or whatever it was called. Did they just age slower than the others? He really needed to get with his mom or maybe with Burks and learn about this kind of thing, since it would be affecting him.
Next to her, standing as tall as the girl, was a young man in the same type of clothing, leather and silk flying gear with deep green shirts. The hair was short on the boy, professional looking, nearly military. When he pulled back a half step Tor realized it was Timon, not the next older boy Toller.
“Tiera! Tim! Weasel I mean… I didn’t expect to see either of you here today. This is great. You both know where I’m living now, right? About an hour’s flight from here-”
Timon grinned.
“Giant black walls, shiny like a wet river stone in the sunlight? Kind of hard to miss. Wildlands Station it’s called? I did a delivery there yesterday. Box from here and a bunch of letters from all around. People wanting to get word from home to their soldiers. Penny a letter. More for packages though. But yes, we know where you live now. If you want we can send someone by every week or two and see if any packages are going out? Not really big enough for it, but you being family we’ll all want to visit anyway, when we can. Plus, if we could overnight with you occasionally, that would mean we can change the delivery hours for the Capital. A lot of business is starting to come in from here and if we could guarantee an early pick up once a week or so a lot of people would be grateful.”
That made sense to Tor, after all, they were his relatives, they were always welcome in his home. With this bit of warning he may even be able to work up a room for them. It seemed more and more like he needed to get a proper house soon. At least a room for special guests and all when they came to visit.
His little sister dimpled at him and winked, gesturing at Sorlee with her head. Ah, right, he’d failed to make the introductions. Before he could speak Tiera asked him if this woman was his new lady then, since they’d all heard about the last bit going south. She clearly had been coached not to make a big deal about it by their parents, or at least someone. Tiera generally loved to tease people if she could get away with it. It was the worst thing about her personality in general. That and how she acted like girls were always better than boys. Then their mother did that a bit too, so it was no wonder where she got that from.
“Na, I just work for him. Sorlee Farmer. My folks ran into some trouble after da’s accident and the farm is about to go under, so Master Tor here is putting up the money for us… He said it was because he and I are friends…” She looked down at the ground suddenly, as if embarrassed.
Both the kids stood a little straighter and nearly as one they both murmured, “There’s no debt between friends.” Which got a nod from Tor even as Sorlee blushed brightly. It was just true though, wasn’t it?
“Sorlee Farmer? Then it was your ma that asked me to deliver the letter for you the other day? Not good news then? Sorry about that.” Weasel gave her a serious look that spoke of having seen things that Tor didn’t know about at least. All of his siblings had probably seen a lot, doing deliveries like that. He’d never even considered it when sending them off into the world like that.
“I know where it needs to go, and can get it there directly. Is that OK? Tor, can I come back and visit in a week or so? It might be two or three… Maybe overnight? Ma will say yes if you OK it. Though she’ll want to know if you have a new girl lined up yet. Its fast I guess, but she thinks you shouldn’t wait too long. Worries about you and all that. Probably because you’re the only one not right there for her to watch all the time.”
Patting the boy on the back his shield stopped the contact, but the younger boys didn’t. He stared at him for a second and got only a baffled look in return. Patting his sisters back he got the same reaction. A blank look.
“Why don’t you have your shields on? And for that matter Stewart, do the people that work here have shields at all? I know that the military is taking them all, but I can give them out. Which… probably answers that question, doesn’t it? It’s war time though, so we need to take precautions all the time. I’ll make some up and have one of these two bring them down within the next week or two, or bring them myself if I can.”
He switch to standard quickly, and then back without pause.
“Anyway, tell mom I already have another engagement set up. This one even seems more real. I’m not holding my breath though, but all the asking and stuff is done and she’s said yes. I’m guessing that mom and dad will be OK with it too, since they know her parents.”
He waited for one of them to ask who it was, because even in Two Bends the name would be recognized, Varley being a Princess and all. OK, so it was name dropping a little, but the idea that she was willing to even talk to him made him kind of proud. This whole thing was incredibly flattering. Yes, he did feel a bit like a troll that forced the lovely beauty to marry him, but that wasn’t his fault. Really, he hadn’t even asked for it. Of course that meant that he had to remain valuable to her for the whole thing to be worth it to her, but that, at least, was possible, as long as what she wanted were devices and not poems. Tor knew that would be a fiasco, since the only ones he knew involved roses being red and opined that violets were blue, when, by retution, they were actually violet.
There were hugs all around, which included Sorlee to her surprise, but not Steward who just smiled looking at them. It was clear he hadn’t understood mos
t of what had been said at all, but that was fine. It wasn’t his job to understand them really, this was the Capital, so if they wanted to be understood, they needed to speak like the local people did.
The amount of packages that were pulled out nearly made Tor blanch. Sorlee and he stood blinking into the sun as the two headed off, followed by four large cargo containers all filled with things people wanted delivered. It was impressive.
The man that flew the transport for Sorlee and him turned out to be named Haper, which could have been his first or last name, Tor knew. It turned out he was actually a slightly better pilot than Godfrey. Most of the military people went by their last names all the time, unless you were a close personal friend. That seemed to be the rule at least. He’d really had this driven home when Godfrey had come by one day trying to find out when Debri would be around for a delivery to the other base. It was strange hearing her referred to that way, but at least the “other base” made sense.
That was the flight training one, which didn’t have a name yet, except for “flight school”. It seemed that the flight school wanted to start a transport fleet too and Haper was slated to go and be their first instructor. No one wanted to lose the man, because there weren’t enough pilots to get them around that way as it was.
The dark brown man impressed Tor a bit when he showed Sorlee how to fly the transport and let her control it on the way back. She seemed to do all right to Tor at least, since they got back alive and all. Haper nodded towards her before they all climbed out.
“Would it be all right, do you think, if we trained her to be my replacement sir? She actually did slightly better than most of the flyers do, for some reason once you learn to fly outside on your own it seems to mess up good control of the transports. It can be done, but it’s better to start fresh like this. Plus, you know, if a little girl is doing it, it gives the men a reason to try harder while they’re learning. We can have her come in near the beginning of training and shame them into doing better and not giving up if it gets a little hard. Maybe have her teach a class or two if she’s up for it?”
