P. Power - Knight of the Realm

Tor knew he probably did. These were city folk, and ones picked to be guards, they weren't giants, but of the four of them, none was under six foot. They looked small compared to most of the people with him perhaps, but not that bad. He looked like a tiny child, which made him sigh. Even more so without his beard. He rubbed at his face absently kind of lamenting the loss. He'd look about twelve to most these people, maybe a little older in the right light. Part of it was the height, but he really did just look young, thin, and pale.

It took a few minutes to get directions to the Printer estate, which was overlooking the ocean, on the other side of town. Instead of flying they walked, since that would call the least attention to themselves. David carried the box Trice had, a plain wooden thing, not overly large, with a wooden handle on the top. She wouldn't tell him what was in it, saying it was a surprise for Holly. Tor let it go at that. If Trice didn't want to say more, it would just cause a fight if he insisted. It was good enough that the girl wasn't moping and whining about her arm still like she had at first. It sucked, but really, she'd saved hundreds of lives grabbing that death dust bomb, including the royal families as well as his. Her missing arm wasn't a handicap, but a badge of honor.

Looking at her from behind Tor winced.

She really did look out of balance though. Lopsided. Maybe he could get her a new arm somehow? He wondered if he could make one. His mind sank deep as he thought about what was needed. Could he use a combination of shield and something like a flight field so she could move objects… shape it like a hand? He'd never made light look like a solid object, but that had to be possible, didn't it? Things looked solid all the time and that was just reflected light. It would take experimentation. The feedback and links to her mind would have to be… Incredible. Hundreds of links and for best effect they'd need to mimic the ones that a real hand used, of course.

Then, could he add mental feedback so she could feel? That information already existed, even within himself, so it should be doable, but he'd have to investigate that too. It was incredibly complex he realized. More so than anything he'd ever even thought of making, but… Tor could see it. It was possible. Potentially at least. After a minute he realized that Trice had moved in front of him and was using her right hand to jiggle his left shoulder.

“Tor! Hey, snap out of it!” She laughed at least. Everyone else looked a little concerned, but she'd seen him do this before. More than once. A lot more than that.

“We've got things to do, no time to disappear on us now.”

“Sorry.” He said brightly, and trying to cover for just how deep he was Tor forgot himself and leaned in, giving the tall curly haired girl in front of him a warm kiss on the mouth. She just kissed him back, instead of hitting him like he probably deserved for taking the liberty, but Varley “humphed” and crossed her arms.

“Hey, this is a business trip, not a couple’s getaway. You two stop that and start walking.”

Ah. Tor had forgotten for a minute that Trice and he weren't engaged any more, and that he and Varley were. At least for the time being. That whole thing with the King having sabotaged his last relationship still rankled, and Varley had capitalized on the situation, if getting him was any kind of prize.

Maybe it was just something they'd dreamed up to keep him from totally losing it? Regardless, kissing Trice like that was more than a little indiscreet and therefore rude. Maybe. The social code of the nobles said that anyone could have almost any relationship they wanted and most people had several, some having ten or more at once, but you weren't supposed to advertise things like that. It had been a little too warm to write off as joking even. It was just reflex though. Tor didn't explain, because that would just call more attention to it. Instead he blushed, and kept on walking.

Petra chuckled and moved in beside him. Leaning over slightly she whispered in his ear.

“Don't worry, Veronica's not really mad, she's just guarding her territory, that's all.” Then, possibly just to see how bright red Tor could turn, the tall girl smiled and grabbed his behind. No one else seemed to notice at least.

A few minutes of walking later, when they rounded the corner of a row of densely packed single story white buildings, each of them seeming to hold a small shop of some kind, his face cooled when the stiff breeze hit it. He could smell the salt and hear the birds before that, and had for a while he realized. There in front of him was an ocean.

The beach was rock instead of the sand he expected from his prior experiences with similar things and he almost felt like running to the water and dancing around in it to cool down. He was more than a little warm, the air being humid here and hotter than he liked, sweat collecting in his armpits, waistband and groin in an uncomfortable manner. Well, he should have taken the time to make a batch of heat equalizers instead of silly little lights. Live and learn, right? Looking around he realized suddenly that everyone with him looked comfortable. Darn them. He was the only one that had to do without it seemed. Because that made sense, didn't it? He'd invented the darned amulets and he didn't get to have one?

Yeah that was fair.

Along with the sea, there was a smell of food in the air. One of them, something fruity and warm caught his attention, he looked around until he saw the sign that said “bakery”. The scent was pie. It had to be. Peach he thought. For a second he wanted to get one and take it with them, after all, when you went to visit you were supposed to take something, right? Especially since they were showing up uninvited. Tor didn't have any money his being “borrowed” by Holly, and felt uneasy about asking anyone else to lend him some. It sure smelled good though…

An idea hit Tor and he smiled. He had an extra five hand lights in his pocket. Maybe the merchant would be willing to trade? It was worth a shot. The worst they could do was say no, right?

Waving Tor got everyone to follow him, most of them looking bemused. Except Kolb, who looked skeptical, and a little annoyed. Well, that made sense.

Going into the whitewashed little shop probably didn't seem in keeping with their task, did it? It didn't have a glass window, just a strange board that was folded up and provided shade as well as letting light in. As they approached the man behind the counter came to it directly, so they didn't have to go in at all, wiped his hands on a brown cloth and smiled.

“How Y'all doing?” He asked, his voice slow and relaxed. “New in town?”

“Yep!” Tor said brightly and inquired after the pies, just to make sure they were really there and not at one of the other shops. The man beamed at them all and brought one out, it looked perfect, flaky crust and brown topped, slightly darker where sugar had been sprinkled on it. From the color leaking slightly through the vents on top, and the smell, Tor realized it was a combination of peach and Strawberry.

The man ducked his head a little.

“These are the favorite of Countess Printer. She normally comes in for one about once a month in season. Sometimes more.” The man wore all white, an outfit similar to what the people in Warden had all been wearing.

“Would you be interested in one?”

Looking around Tor tilted his head. Royals all ate a lot, and he didn't know how many people Holly would have to feed…

“Two would be better, but I don't really have any silver on me. Would you be willing to trade?”

The man sighed hugely and looked skeptically at Tor. He was dressed well enough, but not so well this couldn't be his one nice set of clothing, which was literally true, this being the only thing he had to wear at all until he got his things back. All of them wore similar things. He had on a purple shirt in silk, along with a pair of leather pants and a vest in the same color brown. Now that he thought about it, he realized that it was probably something of Varley’s that she'd outgrown. In fact he'd seen her in it. Tor blushed. Royal girl flying clothes. No doubt he looked manly.