The Builder tya-1

by P. S. Power

  A covered dish next to the bath had a small tub of soft perfumed soap. It smelled of lavender and some kind of citrus fruit. Nice. Not very manly but he figured that no one would be going around sniffing him anyway, and if they did, flowers would be more pleasant than sour sweat. He scrubbed up efficiently, hitting under his arms a dozen times with small handfuls of the soft soap. It didn't seem to have a lye base, so he'd have to use a lot more effort to get clean than he would have at home, Tor realized. Here, it seemed, washing was more a matter of elbow grease than chemical action.

  Half an hour later he felt clean enough to get out without being overly ashamed of his state. Tor carefully ran the small comb he'd brought through his short damp hair. Kolb had ordered him to keep it cut in his first year at the school and he had ever since. No one sane wanted to argue with Kolb after all. Tor was glad of it now, as the heat, dry as it was, left him sticky again the second he stepped out of the tan ceramic vessel. He dried carefully with one of the soft and huge towels hanging on the rack on the wall, not wanting to track water around, and walked into his room. He'd forgotten his clothes, of course, so he padded back into the big bedroom naked. His trunk had been brought in, meaning all he had to do was grab a clean pair of student browns from the bottom, and he'd be set.

  His hand brushed a metal plate, the bottom of the trunk being filled with them of course and he nearly had to hit himself in the head. Duh. He had at least twenty of the “temperature control plates”, what Sara had started calling the heat and cold exchangers, sitting right there.

  It was too warm?

  He could fix that.

  Shirt still off he walked one of the small copper plates to the nice table set up across the room, as big as the dining tables at the school, meant for ten to eat at a time, but about a thousand times nicer, with a soft green cloth on the top. The cloth was there to either protect the wood or stop him from seeing scratches underneath. Either way it looked good, very fine. The copper piece was nice enough on it too, so no one would probably mind. Green and copper went together, right? He hit the cooling sigil and waited with his eyes closed.

  Relief poured into the room. Blessed cool. He sighed and felt content for a moment. When he opened his eyes he found a woman standing at the door to the room, her hands folded across her front delicately fingers laced and palms up. She wasn't great looking, one of those girls that would at best manage cute their whole lives rather than fantastically pretty. Not that looks mattered that much. Nice always counted a lot more after all, and smart almost as much. Good looking was fourth or fifth on Tor's personal list of things important for a woman. Maybe lower if he really bothered to ever count it all up.

  Her red hair was long, and she had slightly dusky skin compared to Rolph, who redhead or not was at least three shades darker than Tor ever was. Her skin being deeply tan was probably just from the more intense sun here than back at the school. Her face was covered in freckles, which added to the innocent cuteness at least. When she saw him looking her face lit up.

  “Why, you're not Alphie at all, are you? Sorry to catch you dressing like this…” She gestured at his bare chest.

  Taking a deep breath he moved slowly, trying not to panic. Half naked in front of a girl that wasn't even a family member, or his betrothed? If anyone saw them he'd probably be run through the city being beaten. He swallowed and pulled his shirt on carefully, trying to make certain it was the right way around. It would just be too mortifying to have to try and fix it in front of the woman. Girl, really, he noticed, after the brown fabric which was course but not as stiff as it had been two years before when it had been new, finally fell into place.

  She was a couple years younger than him at least, he saw now that he had a chance to look at her. The dress she wore was pretty, a light pink color that somehow didn't make her seem too red, even with her bright hair, and showed wealth somewhere in her upbringing. None of his sisters ever had anything so nice. Not even his older sister Terlee for her wedding day, not that she'd be getting married yet, since his mother hadn't found anyone for her that really fit. Terlee was kind of shy and would need a husband that was gentle and understanding if possible.

  Blushing he decided to introduce himself. “Um, hello? I'm Torrence. People call me Tor…”

  The girl dimpled and curtsied. “Alphie's friend from school. Oh, right… you all call him Rolph there. That's a stupid name, don't you think? He likes it though. I'm Karina. Obviously Alphie's little sister. One of two by the way.” She stepped further into the room and smiled.

  “Someone got a cooling thing for in here? The main house has a couple, but not my rooms. You must be important to rate that. They're very hard to get I hear.” She smiled hugely and walked a little closer seeming to be enjoying the cool air a lot.

  He held up a single finger and grinned.

  “Wait.” He said, sounding pleased he hoped. The girl froze as if he planned something improper, her face looking more than a bit shocked. Did she think he was going to try and take advantage of her? He hoped not. Rolph would kill him if he even thought that was the case no doubt, which was only appropriate, because it was his job to protect his sister's virtue and all. He rummaged in his trunk quickly and turned to find the girl looking displeased. He held out four of the heat exchange plates.

  “Um, here? Two for you and two for your sister?”

  Karina looked baffled for a second, but her face changed instantly when she realized what he held. Taking them her face grew excited as she examined the sigils more closely.

  “Oh! My, this is… can I accept it though? I'm not anyone important or anything, just…” The girl looked around furtively, as if afraid she'd have to give the gifts back. Her cheeks turned a pretty color of red and her gaze dropped.

  “No big thing,” Tor said, smiling. “I brought them as gifts for Rolph's family anyway, and that's you, right?”

  “Thank you! Oh, I've wanted one of these and to have two… I don't know anyone that has two yet. Well, my parents, but I meant in my circle of friends.” Excitedly she skipped out of the room. A second later she came back.

  “Um, do you know where Alphie is?”

  “Two doors down I think, on the right.”

  The girl smiled as she left. So, at least with her the presents went over well enough. Of course given the heat here he could see it. He kind of dreaded going out of the room now that it had cooled a bit himself. If only there was a way to carry the cooling field with him as he walked.

  Could he do that? Containing the cold, or heat, was important for a room, but what if he constantly took heat from the body, just enough to keep cool? Dump it into the ground? The idea had some flaws, he could tell. After all, too cool and the person would freeze or get too cold at least. But could he build in a bottom level set point? That way the person would always feel just comfortably cool, instead of cold? It would require a feedback device, and those were always tricky…

  He could do it, Tor thought. He sat at the table and started writing out the plans for it. It wasn't a powerful field even. It just needed to be stable and draw off enough heat all the time. If he was careful he could… Yes, he could design it so that it would steal heat from the ground to warm a person to normal in cold climes as well. It wouldn't even need two sigils. He could design it so that it would work based on the temperature of the wearer.

  He worked, hardly noticing when Rolph walked in, until the shaking started.

  “Tor…” His shoulder vibrated and he finally turned around to look at his friend, who smiled at him. “Dinner time! Mother's here, but dad couldn't make it. His work schedule is harsh that way sometimes. He's the only person I know that works as hard as you do.” The tone of voice sounded pleasant, but the large face grimaced a little. So, Tor thought, an issue? It would explain why Rolph always acted like he worked too hard too. But Tor didn't have a family to attend to, which made a difference, didn't it?

  The large red haired man smiled then and took his shoulder, pulling on him gently
but insistently. The idea was clear. Come to dinner and stop playing with the unimportant papers in front of him. Chuckling Tor climbed to his feet, and looked down at his plain brown cloths.

  “Hey, is this alright? I saw your sister earlier, Karina? She looked… well dressed. This is about what I've got, but maybe I shouldn't go to dinner this way?” Tor felt self-conscious about it now that he remembered to be. Clothing at school wasn't a huge issue. Sure the wealthier students didn't wear the more practical brown uniform all the time, but even Rolph had a set that he broke out between laundry days, and most often wore something very similar to work out in. Here, if everyone dressed up all the time, he'd stick out. That was nearly the last thing he wanted to do.

  Rolph's parents were obviously well connected, to even have the use of this house for guests… It was huge. He wondered how many families lived in the big complex in front. It was nice, palatial even, if he understood the term. Maybe Rolph's family worked for a Count or something? One that lived here full time? That might explain it.

  “Don't sweat the cloths. It's part of why we're hanging out here tonight, so you won't feel out of place until we can find you something else to wear for your stay. I think I even have some old things that might fit you. True, it's clothing from when I was eleven, but the styles for men haven't changed that much in six years. And seriously, it's not like I'm going to be using them again, you know? I'll see about getting those before we head out tomorrow. As for being out in town, browns are considered good sturdy cloths for students. No one will think twice about it.” Giant shoulders shrugged lazily as they began to walk out into the hall. “OK, you won't fool anyone into thinking you're a noble, but that's overrated anyway. Right now it's way better to be you, the guy that makes people fly, than some boring rich kid anyway.”

  Tor shrugged.

  It may not be true, but it was kind and made him feel better to hear.

  The dining room was huge, a table that could have fit his full family with room for a lot of their friends, sat in the middle of a green colored room. Dark green stone, polished to shining made up the floor, bits of black shot through in wild, natural looking patterns. The walls were a light green, the color of fresh mint, which, if he could tell at a distance was actual silk stuck on somehow. A crystal light fixture hung from the ceiling, light glinting from within. Oil lamps he thought, possibly magical instead, even if that would cost a fortune to have put in. Touching them with his mind lightly he could feel the magic used, nearly making him catch his breath. It was a luxury he hadn't even imagined before. The table was covered with a rich green cloth even darker than the floor. Everything else in the room looked brown, if in a dozen shades, polished wood mainly. Wood never clashed with anything that he'd noticed, which meant the room looked nice even with all the different shades of earth tones in it.

  Thank all gods he'd bathed earlier. If he'd walked before that into a room that looked this nice, he'd have refused to enter. As it was he felt uneasy and horribly out of place. He plastered a smile on his face, because at the end of the table, in the position of the householder, sat a nice looking tall woman with hair less red than Rolph's, but with a deep brown undertone that made it look rich and lustrous. She looked young, so, the other sister? He could credit that. There was a resemblance to the other kids. She was prettier. Alluring. Tor made himself stop thinking that way about Rolph's sister. It wasn't proper of him, even if she was single, which she probably wasn't.

  Not looking like that.

  “Welcome!” The woman looked at him and stood, her arms going wide. Even her voice had a rich warmth to it, matching her looks. If there wasn't a table between them he would have thought she wanted a hug. That would have been awkward, but different places had differing customs. He didn't know what to do, so he waved happily and turned to Rolph.

  “Is this your other sister?” He asked, hoping that it wasn't some unrelated person or a neighbor or something like that. If they lived with a lot of people in the big front building, that could be it possibly, he guessed. If so, they had very friendly neighbors here.

  Rolph laughed and patted him on the back. The woman smiled at him, her smile going bigger and a little coy.

  “Oh, good sir, you flatter me…” She sounded happy enough to be flattered at least.

  His friend hadn't stopped laughing yet, but shook his head at the woman, making eye contact the whole time. “No mother, it's not flattery. Tor doesn't do that. He really just thinks you look young enough to be my sister… which, by the way, you do, so we can hardly fault him for the mistake.”

  Tor blushed and ducked his head. “Sorry…”

  The woman waved at him gently and chuckled herself, a soft, pretty thing that sounded a bit like bells to his ears. Her dress was a pale blue, heavier than could be comfortable in this heat, but then anything short of naked was too heavy for the temperature, though she didn't look flushed or damp. Her eyes found his, her look telling him that her laugher wasn't meant to hurt at least, just show how pleased she was. It made him feel more at ease.

  “If only everyone thought I looked that young. Oh well, age finds us all eventually. Oh!” She sounded shocked, though it rang a bit false, which the chuckle a moment before hadn't. “My manners… Please be seated. Normally protocol would have us sit at ten paces from each other, but I find that makes good conversation difficult. With your permission I'd be pleased if we could sit as a family?”

  The woman let her hands gesture to the seats on either side of her. Rolph gave him a little push towards her left side, and took off down the long table on the other. Rolph was already seated when he got there, but his mother hadn't moved. He didn't know what to do, but luckily Rolph had his back.

  “Mom, I think Tor's waiting for you to sit first. Sign of respect up north, waiting on a lady's comfort. Just be glad he isn't insisting on seating you… Now that could be awkward, don't you think? It involves cramming a chair into the back of a woman's legs. You think I'm kidding… So anyway, if you wait for him, because he's a guest and he waits for you as a woman… yeah, I'll never get to eat. You two don't want me to starve do you? You know I flew for nearly twelve hours today and hardly ate at all.” He gave a mock look of starvation and held his stomach as if it ached, which made his mother sit, quickly, but with grace, an actual look of worry on her face. Tor plunked down too, but grinned at the woman.

  “Don't believe him, it was only about ten hours and we stopped every two. He must have eaten three times. Even Count Thomson was satisfied with the amount of food and he's a giant. Now me, I haven't eaten since noon and really could use some food. I…” He looked around, noting for the first time that nothing was on the table. The room wasn't blistering, being dark outside already, but surely they weren't expected to get the food from the kitchen themselves, were they? If as a guest he was supposed to do something like that, well, hopefully Rolph would fill him in, because it was very different than what they did back in Two Bends. There everything would have been sitting ready on the table, that or the kids would run to get it. Here… well, he and Rolph were the kids, so that could be it. He made ready to get up if Rolph did.

  A small clap by the hostess caused a flurry of activity, and no less than six people, three men, and three women, walked in to the room, all dressed far too warmly to be comfortable it seemed to him. He felt a little melty, being out of his room as he was, and the cooling field there. Each was dressed in fine, brightly colored green velvet, the women in dresses and the men in full outfits of the stuff. After a second he realized that they were dressed to match the room. Who dressed to match a room? It looked good, sure, but seemed like a huge waste of resources.

  Tor blinked and made himself keep his mouth closed. Was this supposed to impress him particularly, or was this just normal here? Maybe all dining rooms were done in green and it was just what servers wore here? It was spectacular in a creepy sort of way. He would have been happier if they'd walked to the kitchen and gotten the food themselves, but different ways and a
ll that. Tor made himself relax and smile slightly, just like Rolph was doing. This wasn't his place, so it was up to him to follow along, not anyone else to cater to his backwoods mentality.

  Oddly enough both his mother and father had sat him down separately before he left for school the first time and told him almost exactly that. It was his part to adapt, even if it made him feel less than comfortable. Sometimes what other people did might be strange or off-putting, but he needed to make them feel at ease about it, and not get all preachy or judgmental. That advice had pretty much saved him at school in the first year.

  Each carried a heavy looking platter, covered with a metal dome that had a handle. They were quickly set down along the table, and a set of plates were brought out, carried by a boy that looked to be about twelve or so, followed by a girl of near the same age with another set of plates. Both dressed like the others in rich green.

  One of the men, an older fellow with dark hair that might have been black or a brown too deep to tell the color of in the lamp light bowed towards the head of the table.

  “Salad mum?” He asked, his voice rich and serious.

  At her nod he loaded a small plate with a pile of green leaves. Rolph grudgingly accepted a plate as well when he was asked, but made a face at Tor. At school he tried to avoid vegetables like the plague. Apparently at home they were required. Tor took a plate as well and began to eat when it was put in front of him. Everyone in the room froze as he took the first bite.

  At first he thought that he was being rude eating first, something like that, or that he'd used the wrong fork, but… They'd only given him the one. He swallowed and hoped they weren't supposed to pray first or say a blessing. Rolph never did at school and hadn't mentioned it at all. Then he never ate salad there either. He set his fork down on the edge of the plate and looked at Rolph plaintively. He was supposed to tell him things like this so he didn't mess up!