P. Power - Knight of the Realm

Often.

The food was strange, ocean fish, clams and mussels. Things Tor had never eaten before and really didn't like now that he had. At first he thought it was a joke, when giant insects where brought out on a large steaming platter for each of them, but looking around he saw that people at other tables were in fact digging in. Well, this was their place. If giant insects were dinner here, then that's what they'd eat. Trying to not look too much like a bumpkin, he covertly watched what Holly did and copied her. It seemed safest, this being her choice of eating establishments after all.

There were bibs to protect their clothing and everything.

Was that normal for fine dining?

It kind of made sense, only wealthy people would ever eat at such places and they had nice clothing to protect. He tied one into place quickly, because the thought of ruining the silk shirt he had on kind of terrified him. It belonged to a Princess after all and he didn't have the funds right now to replace it.

They didn't speak of anything consequential during the meal, just bits of small talk, the weather in various places, if County Ford would have a drought again this year, which didn't seem likely, and bits of Printer city gossip, added by their server, Jasmin, each time she came to bring them things or check on them.

She was older, about forty or so, near Kolb's age probably, though she looked older than he did. The more royal blood you had the younger you looked for your age, in general. It was true, but the idea very nearly made him laugh out loud. By that standard he'd have the most royal blood of anyone at the table. At eighteen he looked barely fourteen at the best of times.

Jasmin had a kind face that wasn't, and probably never had been, pretty. Too long for that, but she had smile lines instead of a perpetual frown and a happy enough lilt to her voice.

“Ooh. Here’s one for you then ma'am,” Jasmin addressed Holly directly. Half her age, but still the Countess Printer, due to a horrible hunting accident three years before. Oddly enough it was the same one in which Tovey's dad had died. They were chasing a deer up a loose hill and it collapsed on them, burying them alive. A horrible way to go, being buried alive. Tor had been close enough to it himself once to kind of sympathize.

“Dan Baker come in earlier and tol' us bout hows he traded with a wizard for some pies. Got himself a red magic light he claimed! We were all saying hows magic light is expensive and no how would a wizard trade one for pies. Dan's good, but they're still just pies, right? But then he just whips it out!” This caught the attention of the group next to them who'd obviously been listening in. They were a mixed group and even had several youngsters with them, all looked to be from a merchant family, by the way they were dressed. Nicely, but not so well Tor felt like he was out of place. They chuckled at what she'd said, getting a slightly strained look from Jasmin.

“Whipped out the little light I mean. Hardly big as a coin, but lit up the whole room! I was afraid for a bit that it would kill us all or something, but it was just a light. No one knows why it's red like that though. Easier to make ya think?” She smiled again and looked around the table warmly. Instead of answering her Holly leaned over and, not quietly, asked why he'd done that with an odd smile.

“Well, you know, no money. So like everyone else does when their broke, I traded what I had.”

For some reason that got a big laugh from Jasmin, and one nearly as loud from the table of eavesdroppers. At least Tor understood why they weren't talking about anything important here. The second it was said it probably would have become known throughout the whole kingdom. Well, eventually at least. Still, as long as he knew that, it was a nice enough place. Not fancy by royal standards, but the nicest restaurant he'd ever eaten in. Giant bugs or not. What he'd eaten turned his stomach a little, so he tried not to think about it.

After desert Holly passed the woman two silver coins and got a hand full of copper in return.

This was the part Tor dreaded.

It was obvious that he was the one supposed to give the tip, since he was the guest at the head of the table. By doing that Holly had named him the head of the little visiting group, at least in her mind, Princess there or not. Jasmin hovered a little, and looked around, as if wondering if she had the places right, probably since he looked so young. Reaching into the little cloth bag Tor had borrowed from Kevin, he pulled out ten of the devices he'd made. Then took a deep breath.

“Um, I know they don't have sigils on them, but they activate just like a regular amulet. They're just temperature equalizers, mainly but… here, Jasmin, would you put this on?” Grinning she did it with a wink, as if he was playing with her or something.

“It's right pretty, thank you!” She said, as if she was actually admiring the disk of red colored glass. It was actually kind of pretty, he had to admit. He pointed and mimicked tapping his own chest to get her to turn it on. When she did it started to glow inside. The light shifted and moved, going from a blue color to a bright yellow which stabilized at gold. Then it just stayed that color, shifting around only a bit.

“Oh!” Trice said. “Now that's pretty! Make some up for me and Sara?” She said automatically, then remembered that they weren't engaged to be married any more it seemed. Tor just shrugged and got one out of the bag for her.

“You really are a wizard? Sir, I didn't know… laughing at you earlier, I was just…” She blushed and looked like she was going to pass out. The amulet shifted in color gold to red and then a deep, almost ugly purple. It mixed with other colors, green mostly. A bit of orange mixed in, but not nearly as much as all that.

Shrugging Tor winked at her in a big and obvious fashion, trying to put her at ease.

“You were taken in by my boyish good looks maybe? Don't worry about it. Happens all the time. One of these for each of the people that works here? They'll also keep you comfortable temperature wise. It should help in the kitchens I think.” Jasmin ran to get everyone, asking them not to leave, her amulet going nearly pure green.

Looking around, Trice put one on and activated it. When she looked around it was an almost black color which didn't match the look on her face, a sunny smile, but as she looked at Tor it changed, a pale pink shooting through it, growing stronger as she watched it, until, for a moment, it became all pink.

“Why do the colors change?” Awe in her voice she looked away from it briefly.

“They loosely follow your mood. The darker colors are darker emotions. Bright red rage, pink affection, yellow happiness, blue means you’re thinking, really the normal meanings for colors. It's just a feedback mechanism, something I'm working on for another project.” The light too. It wasn't exactly right, but if anyone bothered to look, when activated they became a half sphere of glass, in appearance, not just flat slabs. The glowing distracted from that. Now if he could just link the parts and appearance to the movements of a hand…

It was a start at least. He grinned at Trice who's amulet went back to pink and became shot with yellow just at that moment. Chuckling she looked down at it and smirked a little.

“These will sell. Even without the temperature equalizers on them. Make a few hundred of them and by this time next year the rabble will have Karina sucking you off to try and get some.” The words dropped out of her mouth so smoothly that half the table hadn't noticed what she said, but her amulet turned a dark green with a pretty blue swirl. Whatever that meant.

Tor ignored it.

At least now thanks to his recent experience and learning he knew what she meant by that. The sucking off part at least. The “rabble” meant nothing to him. Street people? Varley grinned and asked if there were any spares. He handed them out, finding it interesting who took one and who didn't. The restaurant people all took one and made happy sounds, like it was better than gold to them, which was kind. Most of them were happy about it, he saw, bright yellow being the most popular color. Some green crept in. Was that people wondering if they'd get money too? He hoped not, because this was all he had for them. Varley's was nearly pure blue, a bright color that Tor had expected to be there. She was wickedly smart, she even felt intelligent when he'd tried to sense her field. That's basically all this did, respond to a small portion of a person’s field and change colors.