P. Power - Knight of the Realm

When dinner was over he looked around at the material available. He could work as the baseline for a male, being healthy enough right now, recovered from having been poisoned, and not damaged overly, bad mood aside. That part could be left out anyway for now, mood and all that. It would be a good idea for later though. Trice was injured, and pretty badly he realized when he touched her field from across the room, so was Varley… Tor blushed.

Well, that wasn't exactly sick was it?

Last he heard, being pregnant was normal enough. God, well, that told him a lot didn't it? She wasn't forbidden from having sex, but should have at least not let herself get pregnant. Oh well, he could deal with that later. Or not. Whatever. Emergency situation now, he had to remind himself of that, feeling distracted. It wasn't just a few weeks pregnant either, he didn't think, about three months? Had that been why she hadn't wanted to go swimming? Afraid it would show? That came later though, didn't it? When she was pregnant, his mother never showed till nearly five months or so. Then in Two Bends everyone stayed pretty well clothed all the time, so maybe it was a real issue?

Petra was fine, healthy and strong. Holly was still ill, the poison having taken a huge toll on her system. Tor could relate. Walking over to Petra he asked if she would meet him in his room later.

“In fact, could you sleep with me tonight?” It sounded innocent to his ears when he said it, but almost immediately he blushed. It could be taken the wrong way. She nodded though and smiled.

“I'll meet you there. In about half an hour?”

Well, Tor had an awful thought that she might be disappointed in him when she found out what he really wanted. Then again, if he hurried… No. That wouldn't work, there just wasn't enough time. It wasn't fair, but it was true. Even if he could somehow finish this faster than anything he'd ever done, they'd probably all have to leave as soon as it was daylight. Laughing it occurred to him that she probably just assumed he was afraid of the storm like a little kid. It was sometimes hard for royals to remember that he wasn't way younger than his actual years.

Still half an hour…

That meant he had time to get some work done.

He isolated his own field and pulled out the parts responsible for his basic form, that of his limbs, organs and shape. Leave out size, he reminded himself. One size fits all. It had too. Just the most basic stuff. Then he added in the feeling of healing, and increasing the speed of that. It wasn't enough he knew, but he held that much already when he heard a knock on the thick oak door, pale gray with age, or some treatment he didn't know about. Tor walked over as if in a dream and opened it.

Petra stood, wearing a lovely gown that wasn't shear and didn't hug her tightly, but hinted nicely at what might be underneath. Not silk, but something that shone a little even in the dim light of the room. After she stepped in, her feet bare, she turned away and let it drop, looking at him sweetly over her shoulder. A robe then, not a night dress? She wore nothing but a smile then. Not thinking about anything but gathering information about her, he felt his body move with her towards the bed. It wasn't rushed and for the most part he ignored it, focusing on her deeply. Almost not aware that he moved at all. On what made her a woman, what that meant field wise… It was fascinating.

He was kissing her, and apparently doing a good enough job of it, laying next to her, naked now. Tor couldn't remember getting that way. They did a lot of things, and it took a long time, but he kept making himself work, even as he finished. He realized, since he was examining her so closely on the deepest levels, that she hadn't yet. Not quite. So he kept going until Petra didn't need any more, her moans lovely in the dark room. He let his lips touch hers again and noticed how different the field for her brain was. Not the thoughts, but the physical organ itself. Fascinating.

“Stay with me.” He murmured into her ear before she could collect her things and leave, which was her clear intent.

Taking the single stone he had, Tor sat and plunged his mind as deep as he'd ever gone. It felt like he only took a single breath, but it was morning when he opened his eyes and he held a basic healing device that he could only hope would work.

Dawn was just breaking, but he didn't need his eyes to see now, not in this state. Not really. Next to him Petra slept still, clutching her pillow a little. Setting down the device, which had a forest green glow to it, the sigil on the front a complex one of a person in silhouette, Tor leaned over and kissed her cheek. Even asleep she was pretty, he longed to run his fingers over her face again but let her rest. As he dressed, trying to be quiet she rolled over and mumbled at him sleepily.

“Sneaking out lover?” She was half asleep, but smiled, a lazy thing with eyes mostly closed.

“Yes. But I'll be back inside half an hour or so. I have work to do.”

“'Kay, wake me up when you get back?”

Tor promised he would and hurried to the beach, which looked horrible. Water had clearly been driven higher than the edge of the rock expanse, which would have buried his little magic house if he'd left it in place. The walkway he'd made wasn't visible at all, under layers of new rock and sand. Almost on top of where he would have been sleeping there was a large tree with no bark that had somehow washed ashore, as he looked he notice that it wasn't alone. There were at least twenty of them along the beach and more than a few trees down in the woods along it. For a second it occurred to Tor that Swarley had been right.

If he'd been out in that, he would have died.

Tor hurried and stuffed stones into the canvas bag he'd brought, loading it as full as he could and still carry it. He picked small stones, but wasn't as picky about their shape this time. If anyone cared about looks now, that was their problem.

It took till mid morning for someone to come for him, Trice as it turned out. She didn't knock, just walking in as if he wouldn't possibly be doing anything interesting or naked. Well, until last night she would have been right. Tor felt guilty. And excited.

He'd had sex. With a girl and everything. He hadn't even had to pay her, which given everything he'd kind of wondered if his first time, possibly all his times, would be gold transactions. Or at least silver. Petra had done it just because she liked him.

“There you are sleepyhead! I was just telling everyone how lazy you always are…” Looking at the piles of glowing stones, four hundred of them, she grinned. “Yep, as I figured. Well, let's get these in a case and get some food, we need to move as soon as possible.” Trice grinned at him, a different look than he was used to seeing from her. Not happy as much as… accepting? Like she'd known this was what he'd be up to if left alone?

A lot was broken and scattered around the town, but the people seemed alright, mainly. The first one they found that wasn't had already died, an ancient man that had been trying to save his little house from flooding, piling bags of dirt in front of it. Tor couldn't tell what had killed him. Heart attack or drowning? When he touched the corpse's field, which left him with a curiously blank and empty feeling, not the gross and slimy one he'd expected, he still couldn't tell. It seemed like something had broken in his brain, like a bruise or something maybe?

They passed out water purification devices and made large public cisterns out of focus stone that fed with pure water constantly for anyone to use. Petra and Trice set up emergency houses along the beach and then on the opposite side of town, using the water from two different streams for those. It took hours, but was way faster than trying to build new houses on the spot, even out of focus stone. It wasn't until nearly two in the afternoon that an old woman hobbled over, cradling her right arm which was visibly broken, though not bleeding, thank the universe. If it had been she'd have died already. Feeling his breath freezing in his lungs, Tor walked to her and held the healing amulet over her injury, then triggered it, touching it very lightly to her flesh. There was an audible pop, and she screamed, but even as he started to pull the green glowing field away, he saw the healing taking place, the bruise fading and finally the woman gasped.