by P. S. Power
Tim stopped and glared at the backs of the two boys.
"The blond fellow is the one that spit in Tiera's food. One of the Galas. After what happened there last week I'm surprised he hasn't been called home. He was also the one that lured Tiera and Reggie to the tavern for that prank."
It seemed like Tor was missing something.
"What happened in Gala? Or did you mean the thing here?"
"Crud. No one told you? I guess that makes sense, you were just back and all that. OK. Fine. Leave the task to the little kid." Timon looked around before speaking, his voice going low, almost nervously he rubbed his right hand on his black velvet trouser leg. It was pretty clear that whatever happened he didn't want to be the one to say anything himself.
He did it though.
"Patricia Morgan and Gerent... He was pretending to be you, to draw the Larval out, they were taken into custody in Galasia. It seems one of the Baron's brothers realized that he wasn't you and figured that meant Trice wasn't her either, so they were thrown into the low jail there. Karina found out about it from some sources of hers and asked me and Tiera to go and get them. They were mistreated while they were there. Raped. Both of them, many times. Beaten too, or at least Gerent was. I haven't heard all of it, but I saw the wounds."
"What?" It didn't make sense. First of all he didn't know who Gerent was, and second... They were raped? How? "Did the Baron..."
His face felt cold suddenly, and he was starting to shake, rage pouring through his body. Timon didn't step away, but he did slap his shield on.
"You're going into a combat rage. Stop it. We don't have time. Besides, it's already been dealt with. Tiera helped them take off the jailer's arms and legs. Then she ordered the men put in a whore house to live out the rest of their lives being used against their will. Well, after Gerent took off their manhoods. Baron Gala swore, under Truth verification, that he didn't have anything to do with it. It's a good thing, since I was almost certain Gerent was going to fight him right there on his own front lawn. He's a good man. Um, family now too. Count Lairdgren adopted him. If anyone asks, including the King, the story is that it happened ten years ago. So he wasn't really breaking the law, impersonating a nobleman. You get that?"
Tor focused and made himself relax, just standing with his eyes closed for a long time, until all that was left was a headache. A few moments with a healing amulet took care of that. Luckily he had one with him. You never knew when they'd come in handy.
"Alright. So... I don't know what to do. Should I go to them now? Can either of them bear the sight of me? I didn't know... I should..." That was the thing, what should he have done? What could he do? They were both wronged and nothing he said or did would fix it. Not at all.
Tim patted his back, his shield impacting with him just hard enough to get his attention.
"Yes. You need to go to them, and soon. Right now we have other things to do however and duty requires us to see to that. They're both staying in the capital. Gerent is next to my place, in the cottage next to mine. They're my own build, but I pretty much stole your plan for it. The color scheme is a little better, otherwise they're the same really. Bigger bathing areas, and two separate rooms for sleeping."
Tor closed his eyes again and nodded.
"I'll do that. I can't believe that happened to them. It's all my fault." He felt like it was, but even he couldn't work out how it would be true. Timon didn't correct him though.
They just walked in silence for a while instead. When they got to the headmaster's office a rather bland woman sat in the chair that used to be occupied by Proctor Campbell before he died. That had been a gruesome scene too. Tor had never cared for the man overly, but the nanos that killed him had been a horrible way to go. All death probably hurt, but some ways were clearly better than others.
It was a sad thought, but at least Regina had gone fast. A big part of her head was simple gone in an instant. It was horrible, but quick, if you had to die at all.
The woman looked up, her face skeptical already, even before they said anything. Tor smiled and nodded toward the closed office door.
"Is Headmaster Hardgrove in? We've come to invite him to a party." He didn't add what it was for or the part about Sherri, since it wasn't this woman's business yet. Besides, the way she kept staring at him was a bit off-putting. It was like she wanted to have sex with him right then and there, without any flowers or sweet words first at all. Given that she was about forty and worked for a school, that was creepy. He was twenty, but he only looked about fourteen still. He might be a student there, right?
"He's in. Whom may I tell him has come to call?" Her words were professional and she didn't seem half as sour about it as Campbell always had. No, she seemed... a bit over interested.
"Tor Baker. This is my brother Timon." He could have added all the titles and what not, but Hardgrove already knew them, and it wasn't an official visit, just some friends dropping by, as unlikely as that would seem to anyone watching.
"One moment." She threw her long braid over her right shoulder with a flick of the head and kept eye contact with him as she moved, her blue eyes going slightly hooded, as if trying to flirt. It was overdone given the scene. Worse, the way things were going for him, she'd probably turn out to be his cousin or sister. Something like that.
It didn't take long at least and Kyle came to the door himself to see them.
"Boys! Wonderful to see you. Is everything alright? Do you need to talk in private?" He sounded a little worried, as if it might be something other than what they'd said. As if the man didn't get invited to many parties at all.
"We came to see if we could grab you up for a dinner party. It's In Two Bends, my brother Todd is getting officially engaged to Countess Thorgood. We're grabbing a few other people as well. My sister, and Ali's roommate Sherri. My wife is busy, attempting her first build." There was a bit of pride in his voice. Even if it didn't work, it was her first year in the building studies program. Others had done it too, but only the very best even tried it. He hadn't, not until his third year and that had been considered almost impossible at the time.
"Truly?" The old man with his glorious gray beard smiled as if he'd been handed a bag of gold coins. "That's wondrous! I have to admit I was a little uncertain about allowing her into the building program at first, but I'm so happy to find out that I was wrong there. Her academics were a little weak, coming in, but given everything it looks like I'll have to eat my thoughts about her and how long it might take to catch up. Very good." The thing there was that he clearly meant it. It even came off of his field, so it wasn't just acting. "As to the other, I'd be delighted to attend, if it isn't a problem? I'll need to catch a ride with one of you, since I have work in the morning."
That earned the man a happy nod.
"Not a problem. Terry, one of my younger brothers, will be flying us down. I promised to get him a Fast Carriage if he can do it without crashing. He managed the trip up here perfectly, so I think I'm going to have to start a new batch of them soon. Tim's going to be doing one too, since they're kind of handy to have around. You can get with him on collecting your own, of course." Tor meant it as teasing, but Timon just gave a half nod.
"That makes sense. If I can't do it, we'll cadge one from Tor for you. After all, they're only worth a few million gold, or twenty. Every school should have at least one, in case of emergencies, don't you think, Tor?" For the first time in a while it sounded like his brother was actually being playful. There was even a small, but real seeming, smile with the words.
"Actually that's not a bad idea. At least here and the Printer School. I don't know anyone at the others. Not yet. We can take those out of your first batch too Tim. I actually have every confidence that they'll be done very well."
Then they promised to meet the Headmaster in the commons in half an hour, so that he could finish his work day and get ready. On the way out the woman behind the desk smiled at him and batted her eyes a bit, which got Timon to chuckle.
"More or less. I don't always know what things mean, since I never learned to recognize all the correct signals. It's strange. I feel things and know what they mean, I had emotions before after all, but I don't have them in the same places. For instance half of me really wants to run off to Gala and take back all the water filters, and ruin their sewer system for letting Trice and that guy be abused like that. The other half just wants to avoid even thinking about it. I guess that neither is the correct course of action though, is it?"
Timon gave him a sidelong glance and lifted his chin.
"Not so much. You're smart enough to figure it all out. When in doubt, come and find me. I'll tell you what to do. Just for a bit, until you get a handle on things. What did you do while you were gone? Work all the time?"
That was pretty close to the case, so he kept walking, not wanting to seem incredibly boring or anything. He'd hidden in different places, most of them in the forest, or for a few weeks, under the water of the ocean. The Larval had the ability to get information from space, so he'd had to be very careful while moving around. The hard part had been cutting off contact with anyone though. Especially when they all kept trying to reach out to him like they had.
In the end that had gotten Tim tortured horribly and molested by some Countess that Tor had never even met. He didn't know how to process that either, and kind of thought that even if he'd grown up without an invisible slave collar in his mind, he still might have had some trouble there. It wasn't something that had ever happened before, was it? Worse, he felt bad for having reacted so strongly to Trice being hurt and having barely lifted an eyebrow when he'd heard about Tim.
Part of that was just that he'd lived in a trance state for months by that point and it took a while to come out of that level of being. It made him seem flat like that and emotionless, for a long while after. The rest... Well, he loved Trice, even if she wasn't always the best person for him.
That thought got something else to occur to him suddenly, it was enough to get him to stop walking altogether.
"Trice."
He froze, his mind racing. His little brother watched him for a few seconds and then looked away.
"I don't know either. We'll have to have her blood tested to see if her mother is the Count's child as well. She looks enough like Queen Constance to make it possible. Until we know for certain you might want to hold back there a bit."
Tor nearly threw up again. Was it everyone he knew? No, that couldn't be... But it was too much. He nearly started running, just heading away, but managed to close his eyes and force himself to relax. It was... Not good. A lot of people had worse things happen to them though, hadn't they? Not weirder, maybe, but it wasn't the end of the world. It just seemed like it at the moment. It was as if, in the space of a few moments, almost everyone he'd ever cared about was suddenly gone. Except they weren't.
Maybe it wouldn't be the case though. Maybe he could keep Trice?
This certainly wasn't what he'd struggled to return to.
He rallied though, because that was what you did when things got hard, wasn't it? He stood straight, opened his eyes and started walking again, faking sanity as hard as he could. It wouldn't last forever, but if he could make it seem like he was fine, just for a little bit longer, he could make it through the night and just be alone for a while. That would be better.
It took a while to get everyone around. The girls didn't take nearly as long as normal women would have, all being in magical gowns and having some things ready to go ahead of time as they did. Except Sherri, who was the slow one. She had the same equipment, but needed to do her make-up and for some reason didn't have a dozen different dress patterns memorized already. Not ones that would be suitable for a fine event in Two Bends. She said the words with a straight face, her ash colored hair already up in a fancy arrangement that Karen had helped her with. She did look good, considering she normally managed about average that way.
Tor laughed, sounding a bit manic, but smiled at her.
"Well, you look great. I honestly don't think you have to worry about anyone from Two Bends thinking that you aren't perfectly well dressed for the event. Just don't touch anyone overly and you'll fit in just fine." He glanced over at the Prince and waved at his nice suit of clothing. It had the royal crest on the front, which was a hand sized badge in purple and gold. The jacket was made of something that looked stiff, and had shiny gold buttons, as well as a decorative sash. That was because his friend was attending as himself, no doubt.
People would probably be impressed.
For his part in things Tor decided that he needed to be a touch fancier than he normally bothered with, so changed his amulet to something just a bit more stylish than what he had on. The material seemed to melt as he focused, thinking about what he wanted it to look like. Black and purple for him. A stripe along each leg, on the outside, shining black boots, a velvet jacket that had strong shoulders on it and black buttons. It would have been alright for the Capital, so hopefully no one would think it was too overdone for home. No one said anything, and Tim just stayed as he was, wearing a black velvet outfit that looked pretty sharp, if not exactly dressy. Terry tried to get away with going in his regular day wear, but Timon shook his head.
"Match mine. It's what you wear when you fly a Fast Craft. At least if you're going to work with me. Presentation matters." He didn't make it a real invitation, but Terry let his own clothing flow over his tiny body, smiling, even though his hair was still a mess. Long, and a bit unkempt. They didn't have time to get haircuts right then though, so Tiera lent them a brush that she didn't need anymore, and they were there to meet Hardgrove in the commons on time with only a little rushing.
Terry didn't need any real instruction to get them home, even though it was already starting to get dark. The rules for flying with a rig at night were the same as for a carriage like they were in. You were careful near the ground and kept as high as you could while aloft. He still didn't go full speed, but they didn't miss Two Bends either, which was kind of impressive. The lights on the ground showed from a long way off, even under the canopy of trees. The house in the back was glowing green on top, which made it stand out, so they were able to settle down next to a large black blob in back, which was Ursula's transport it turned out, as soon as Tor had a chance to look at it closely. Not the largest one, but a fairly standard size thing that could carry forty to seventy people.
They were early, of course, but given the travel times that wasn't too big of a problem, he didn't think. They could go and... Look at the bakery or something.
Or, since his mother had been raised doing things like what was happening, they could also go and listen to the band that was playing in the very large and well appointed sitting room she'd created, and have drinks that were brought to them on trays by rather friendly looking servants.
A girl that looked to be only a few years younger than he was came by with a tray that had what looked like crystal goblets on it.
"Iced apple juice, sir?" She smiled at him and then the others, her dark hair and short stature showing that she was a local, if not one that he recognized personally. When he took the glass that was offered he blinked.
"Thank you..." The glass... wasn't. It was made of magic. The effect was very good however. Until he'd touched it he hadn't suspected a thing. Most wouldn't even then.
Tiera took one as well and stared at the glass for a few seconds, her face blank still, as if it were a huge fight for her to be there at all.
"Guide glasses. He has a full complement of dishware. I wonder how Mother got so many copies of it though? I brought one down but that would only do ten at a time. They have at least thirty in here." There was a low chuckle from behind them. Above them too, well, everyone except Alphonse. When he turned there was a blond giant there, holding one of the objects of discussion tha
t seemed to have wine in it, rather than fruit juice.
"Tovey. I didn't know if you'd be able to make it up, what with the Council going on and all that." Tor smiled though. For a Count, Tovey was a good guy. He was dressed almost identically to the Prince too, except his little badge was different, and had an evergreen tree on it, and his sash was a light blue with silver on the sides.
"I have it on good authority that a certain Conserina Lairdgren did the copy work. Without a template." He smiled as if to make them guess which of the girls had done it, but Tim spoiled the game almost instantly.
"Taman? That's impressive. I could barely bathe myself when I was her age."
It really was too. Tor almost couldn't believe it, to tell the truth. She was only five after all. He thought that was the case at least. She wasn't even in the village school yet.
"Seriously?" His voice was probably a little too impressed or something, because Tiera poked him in the ribs with a single finger. Not too hard though.
"Don't doubt her work. In ten years people will be walking up to you and asking if you're Taman's brother and if you are, could you please get them some of her wonderful magic? I suggest you get on her good side now, while she still doesn't know what a pain in the ass you really are." She grinned though and covered her mouth as Karen scowled at her.
The large woman didn't say anything though, or correct her in public. That would be as bad as what his sister had just said. After all, you didn't use language like that in polite company.
Tor just nodded.
"That sounds about right. Of course with you two around no one will remember me at all. They'll all be begging me to make introductions and seeing if I can get them into your parties." Which was the way it should be, he decided. He'd never been that great at things like that anyway. The idea made him ridiculously happy for some strange reason.