P. Power - Knight of the Realm

“Oh! That is so sweet! He'll be please to know that Master Tor thought of him personally and remembers him by name, I think.” She beamed but let him go and sat, which was good, since it let him get to the next pile of stuff.

“These are fishing boats.” Tor didn't explain and didn't have too, because Petra started to gush about them instantly, clapping her hands.

“Oh brother! Those aren't just boats, they're magic schooners, fifty foot long and they propel themselves through the water, even against the wind, at speeds faster than a horse can run. If we moved beds in we could take long voyages in one. I…” She stopped suddenly and grinned a little. “They're really neat.” She finished lamely.

Beds? Well, if you didn't need the hold for fish, that could be done. He hadn't thought about turning one into a home before. Was that a thing? He realized that he already had almost everything he needed for it. He'd probably want to make it a bit bigger and maybe prettier… Add some amenities that the fishing boats didn't have, like restrooms and showers. Tor realized that Petra was looking at the amulets wistfully. He shook his head.

“Petra, can I give you yours in a few days? I have an idea…” He didn't say more and as dark as she was he didn't think she blushed, her even smooth tan skin staying the same lovely shade, but she nodded and gave him a funny look.

“I didn't mean…” She started to say a little meekly, but Tor moved to the next pile of things.

These were just freezer units for cold boxes, since it was warm here and ice was a treat in the heat. Tor assumed it would be the case at least.

Everyone but Trice went very still, including Collette. Tor glanced at her and tried to show that he didn't get it. Was having ice forbidden? Had he just run up against some kind of anti-frozen water social taboo here?

Ellen rescued him, thankfully, explaining the situation, her voice impressed, even if her face looked a bit shocked. She had some at home though, at her dowager estate. Tor had sent them himself, so maybe it was because the Count had been in trouble so recently?

“That's a fine and expensive gift. A pound of ice is worth a gold here in the summer and half that in the winter. The ability to make even small amounts of ice is like being able to produce currency this far south.”

Maria nodded, and told them that they should make an effort to give some away to the poor, since they wouldn't have access to any otherwise, especially if they could do it for free. Tilting his head Tor had to stare at her, for three reasons. First, she was pretty. That's what got him into trouble with her in the first place wasn't it? Second, well, she seemed awfully nice really. Everyone he'd talked to about the topic had described her as a bitch, but he hadn't seen it, well, not recently at least. Was this all an act? It wouldn't help her or her husband in regards to the investigation, and Tor would have done the same things even if she was still screaming at him and being belittling. Then Trice hadn't said Maria was bad, just that she had more dick in a month than the girls at the whorehouse. A bit promiscuous, even by royal standards, but not a sin really, just… friendly?

The last was a new design idea, if everyone was willing to just give ice away for free or at least sell it cheap. Tor nearly laughed when he realized that this, too, was just a recombination of things he already could do. At this rate he could have more presents for the next day.

If only Trice’s arm was that simple. Maria had pulled her down next to her in the awkward looking seat, a bowl shaped disk that looked like everyone should slip out of them instantly. The last was just a set of lights. On stone, not metal.

“The ones in here are going to fail in about six months and probably dim and flicker three months before that. So, here.”

Instead of asking for a room, Tor set up a house on the lawn out front, which caused people to come and peek in the windows. A lot of them. So many that Tor finally set up another one on the other side of the lawn for people to tour. It didn't get everyone to leave him alone, but it cut down on the noise a little at least.

The beach here was a smooth white sand, about a half mile from the palace. Light gray at least. It took a lot longer to find rocks to work with, so finally, he just used a compressor, one of the new stronger ones for processing rock and used a small cutter to make about four hundred thin glossy tiles of white. Whiter than the sand itself by a good four shades, however that worked. They looked like glass he realized, if opaque.

Then he popped some holes in then, with a device, a modified cutting tool, right there on the beach as people watched from about ten feet back. Everyone still wore white, but now they had different colored sashes not just blue and red. Filling up his canvas sack he walked away, trying to smile, but feeling self-conscious as he went. People were watching him. Smiling, but clearly tracking him with their eyes as he moved away.

It wasn't meal time yet, even though he was hungry, but Tor started working anyway. If he did the equalizers first he could have them done by dinner. It would be two batches, but that would leave some extras to hand out, if people wanted them. They ended up looking different, but in a way they were even more elegant, the thin white squares contrasting nicely with the purple light of the sigils that glowed constantly, and disappeared when turned on.

He had enough of them, hopefully, so after he washed up and changed to another set of workman's clothes, that being all he had. Tor loaded the tiles into his little bag, then went to dinner, which was to be held outside, festival style, since Tor was “letting” the Wards have full liberty, as long as they held to their agreements. For the common person it was cooler outside than in, so the tradition had the evening meal served there. Bugs or not.

Well, Tor had grown up in a forest, he was used to insects at least.

The sandwiches were a cooked and shredded meat, with a tangy sauce made of fruit, and thinly sliced vegetables. It was good. Everyone ate the same food, and it seemed like half the city had turned out, again with a band playing and people dancing and drinking foolish amounts of alcohol. Tor stuck to pure fruit juice, checking it openly for poison, using the little stone he'd created for it. He passed those out as well, since he had a lot of them. The food was on a huge table, so he checked the whole thing. It was safe, of course, but then he'd thought that all food was safe, once upon a time. Being poisoned really sucked. Hard. If he could help anyone avoid that, he simply would.

Maria had Trice sit on her left and waited on her like a servant, reaching out to touch her over and over again. Ellen sat directly to Marvin's right and Petra past her. There was no room for Tor at the table, not the one set up in front of the residence at least, so he just grabbed a plate of food and went to join Collette at one of the round ones that had been set about twenty feet away, out on the short grass. Men kept coming over and asking her to dance, which she playfully declined, since she was eating still after all. They'd just have to wait…

Tor didn't blame them though. He'd have asked her to dance too. The idea made him chuckle a bit and shake his head. Why shouldn't he? Collette looked at him politely, if quizzically. Right, she couldn't read his mind. He finished his bite, waving his hand to indicate what he was doing, so that he wouldn't have to talk with his mouth full. It was both in that book on manners and something his mother had taught all the kids from childhood. It made sense, after all, they were the rules she'd been raised with as the daughter of a Count, so she passed them along.

Really, it was only the sexual etiquette and relationship stuff that Tor had big trouble with. For the most part, he found reading the book, he hadn't even been messing that up too badly yet. Oh, he hadn't been polite, but it was a near thing, so he just looked cold, not like he wanted to insult anyone. It was a relief to see it in print, but he already knew that real life could be a lot different. Maria had freaked out on him after all, hadn't she? That wasn't covered in the book at all yet. It just wasn't supposed to happen.