P. Power - Knight of the Realm

Easy really once he'd thought about it.

As they walked back Holly stared at him for a long time, finally taking his arm, a little awkwardly since he was pretty short and she was taller than Petra, who was six-foot-six or so.

“I'm sorry I took your things without asking. I can tell it's made problems for you, things I hadn't thought of at all, and now you’re giving away things worth hundreds, maybe thousands of golds just to keep things flowing correctly, because of my… error. I'll make it right. I promise.” She looked down at her feet, but kept walking.

How she planned to make it right he didn't know, his head was still a little stuffed feeling and it was a little hot still, even though it was dark out. Tor wanted to hit himself in the head, but just put on one of the new amulets instead. Duh. Heat equalizing field right there, if he wasn't too stupid to use it. A wave of coolness slipped over him then. That was much better. He didn't bother looking down at the light, since it was pretty obvious to him what it would be. Petra, who had a pink and yellow glow between her breasts flowed over and pointed though.

“Um, what does black mean Tor? Death? I'm pretty sure you're still alive… Or doesn't it work on you? A little unfair if that’s the case,” she said, yellow and gold suddenly taking over the center of her piece of glass.

Looking at the large girl Trice shook her head, amulet mainly black too, but Petra didn't take the hint and kept asking. Finally it was Kolb that told her to stop, a smile on his face, his voice easy, but still firm enough that the girls eyes went wide.

“Um, yes sir.” She answered, years of practice making the response nearly instant, but she was also an adult, so she didn't have to simply obey, did she?

“But… what does it mean?”

David Derring grunted and looked around at her, then at the ground as he walked.

“Easy enough Pet. Black means despair. Everyone knows that.”

The nightmare left Tor shaking and covered with sweat, laying in the dark and panting slightly. It involved a group of people, all giants, so probably royals, standing around and laughing at him as he went to dinner naked. In the dream he tried to play it off, claiming it was first just a new style, and later that all his clothes were in the wash.

No one bought it.

In fact they said it was just because he didn't have clothes. He did, they'd just all been stolen. By the King. As the meal progress he realized that they were eating peasants baked into pies and laughing about how they'd have been tastier if they were still alive. Trice and Holly took turns pointing at his groin and… snickering. They didn't even say anything, they just giggled.

It was horrible.

If it had been about anything else, as vivid as it had seemed, he'd have wondered if it was prescient. As it was he figured that it was just about his own fears and issues. Tor felt stripped of everything, which was ridiculous, since he kept trying to tell himself that objects and belongings weren't important. The rest made sense. After all, Trice had virtually done that do him once, in public. Not literally, but close enough that he kind of didn't trust her any more. The King made her say mean things about him, but she'd picked the topics she did because she knew people would believe them, hadn’t she?

What Holly was doing, that baffled him, but probably had to do with whatever she'd meant by making it up to him. If it wasn't just words he'd be surprised and kind of suspected the worst from her in regards to his stuff now.

Because, clearly, the best way to make it up to him would be giving his things back. Even if she kept the devices.

He couldn't get back to sleep, of course. So decided to get up and work on something. He'd been pretty lazy lately, not doing as much as he was used to at all in the last few days. Mentally he figured out what would be needed for Trice’s new arm and that led to him coming up with a totally different idea that was slightly linked.

The idea tickled him, being kind of “close to home” at the moment, so he padded out barefoot to the shed behind the kitchen and used one of the little red lights to snag a few more of the smaller glass disks. These were even tinier than the ones from the day before, but that was fine, the size didn't matter at all, it was just a way to hold the field in place and keep from losing things in the wash. It was a big and novel field, but he didn't intend to work on it for a week or anything this time. Tor couldn't afford that any more.

Instead he spent closer to two days on it. That was his guess at least. People gave him food and water, and since he lived, it probably wasn't poisoned. When he opened his eyes it was still dark out, but that could have meant it was late or very early, there was no real way to tell without a clock.

Then Tor slept, since his chests weren't in the room with him or anything. God… Had they lost them? That could happen, no one dealing with it would have any reason to keep his things around, would they? Amulets and stuff, sure, they'd keep that, but his old workout clothes? Soap? He blew raspberries and slept for a while longer waking up when a knock came on the door. It was a soft and polite thing, meant only to wake him, if he was getting up. At least no one was there when he opened it to see.

Tor thought he was back at home for a while, his hut at Wildlands Station. Of course that wasn't the case at all. This was Printer, he reminded himself forcefully. He stretched, hoping that he could finish making the first ten copies of the new field before breakfast, he wouldn't need hundreds after all, though the little template might eventually be useful to someone else too, so Tor wanted to have it as more than a one up.

When he finally came out of the room, bathed and cleaned, Torrance dressed in the same clothing, it being all he had. The water had been cold, because Holly either had all the hot water templates hidden away or had sent them to the training base along with his toothbrush. That at least she apparently wanted to make good on, since there was a basket in his bathing chamber with a toothbrush and toothpaste, though in a strange cinnamon flavor instead of the normal anise, a burning sensation filled his mouth instead of the licorice flavor and slight numbing he was used to. It was certainly lively.

There was a hairbrush, which he needed since his hair was nearly shoulder length now, longer than any of the girls around him even. If possible it needed to be cut. Maybe one of his friends could do it for him? At home his da had always done that, and at school there was a full time barber who would cut hair for free if you were a student and would shave you if you asked and had a copper. He'd tried it once and felt like the man’s straight razor was going to end him the whole time. His face had been smooth after though.

As clean and well groomed as he could get for the time being, Tor ventured forth, down the long and winding open stairs and towards the kitchen, where he found everyone else already up and dressed, drinking cups of something. It smelled good, making his mouth water.

“Tor! Come have a cup of hot chocolate?” Petra said cheerfully.

He smiled, because her glass amulet was glowing a bright yellow and changed to pink as he looked at her. Well, she seemed fond of him at least. Pink didn't mean love specifically, it could be friendship, or simply that she really liked chocolate, but it was better than dismal black. Trice didn't have hers out and neither did Varley. Well, they were a novelty, perhaps they just didn't want people knowing what they were feeling all the time? He had his own on, but tucked in, for that very reason.

Kevin the butler, and now school administrator, brought him a cup, a delicate white thing that had gold around the top. Just to see if he could tell, Tor touched it with his mind lightly. It felt like metal, but laying about a fraction of an inch deep on the ceramic. To his shock, comparing the two, he realized something odd. Ceramic was a metal too. At least that was how it felt. What would be next? Water turning out to be a mineral or something? Inside the chocolate turned out to be sweet, there was a lot of sugar, cream and milk in it, with something he'd never had before. It felt safe, so he took a sip, which made Trice jump in her seat as she watched.