The Builder (The Young Ancients) (48 page)

Smiling she shrugged and looked at everyone in the room.

She said everything twice, first in Two Bends dialect then in Noram standard.

“Kids, your father and I have... Well, you'll all be told the whole tale in time, but for right now we've decided that all of you need to learn to speak properly...” She floundered a little after that, trying to come up with reasons why, since most of them had never been more than forty miles outside of Two Bends and everyone inside that area spoke like they did.

Timon, or rather, Weasel, Tor corrected himself quickly, tilted his head.

“S'all aight... Alright. May I ask why?” He stumbled over the words more than Terlee had but Sara clapped happily at his effort. After half a beat Tor did too. He gave her a little seated half bow. It looked funny with him being so small and in brown and tan homespun, but he'd gotten it about right anyway, Tor noticed.

For a Countier to a merchant. It seemed to be on purpose too. Amazing.

Scrambling Tor stood up.

“Um, two main reasons for right now. If you want to go to the wedding, which may be away from here, probably in the Capital, since that choice normally goes to the bride's parents and this isn't their place, you need to be able to communicate with people clearly.” Like his mother he said everything both ways, correctly first, then in standard so that the guests could understand it too.

Then he told them about the delivery service idea. No one seemed to think much of it at first, until the Morgans' jaws collectively dropped open, eyes going wide. Eric grinned and shook his head in disbelief.

“That's... No one could afford to compete with you for years! Yes... if you're willing to take in the Capital and some of the larger cities in your routes... This could be very big. I'm a little sad I didn't think of it first, to tell the truth. I recommend that you do it. If you don't want to though, I will.” The meaningful look he gave the kids made them all take notice and start becoming far more excited about the idea.

Tor got it.

They were being offered a chance at something a Duke wanted too, and it came from their own brother, so they got first go at it. That meant a lot.

Once again his mother asked how much all this would cost, her voice doubtful for some reason and Tor spread his hands on the table top, showing he didn't know. “Really? Since I'm making them for everyone, just the cost of materials. A few bits of copper, something to etch them with for the activation sigil, it's not that much. Say ten golds for twenty of them? Not even that much really, since I've been buying stuff in bulk. I have more than that with me already made, but I wanted to make a gift of a few to some people at the school, so you can't have them all. Still, one for everyone in the family and a few extras in case anyone else in the village wants to try? I'd like everyone to get a chance, since this could be big. I can send more later. I've earned enough to pay for the materials though, no problem.”

Sara looked around, a proud look on her face. She didn't speak until almost everyone was looking at her however.

“Most of the flying rigs and shields are going directly to the military as fast as they're being made, edict of the King himself. There's a waiting list for nobles, and one out of every hundred is being sold to them. Those go for five hundred gold apiece, but only if they agree to wait and buy them four at a time. For a single one, it's seven hundred and fifty gold. You want a shield too and the Tor-shield is the military standard now. Nothing else comes close by half in what it covers you from. Those go for more, about two thousand gold each, but unless you get one from Tor you aren't allowed to own one as a private citizen unless you're members of the nobility or a sworn member of one of the militaries. I guess you all can... Um...” She waved her hand at Laurie, earning a slow head shake. Sara tilted her head, thinking.

“Right, because you're Tor's family. Not even the King would argue with that, right?”

She looked at Rolph who agreed, saying that really, as long as Tor gave them away, he was allowed to provide them to anyone, the idea being that if Tor cared enough to just make a gift, it meant that the people were important.

“That's not new either, it comes from the King himself and is standard for all the top builders. It prevents problems.”

Sara smiled and looked at everyone, but spent more time focusing on Weasel for some reason than anyone else.

“So, it's not just a matter of coin, but short of being a Count or Duke, people allowed to have their own sworn military, no one could do it but you. But really, speaking Noram standard will help a whole lot. You'll have to learn maps and things too. I can have some sent, if you want? Debri house will want to use your services actually, and maybe hire some light cargo moving, come to think of it... We can't have our own cargo movers yet. I mean, we can own the boxes and devices for it, but the people to fly them are too hard to get so far... Really, if you're all willing I'd like to make a tentative offer for small and emergency shipments? I need to clear it with the head of the house, but if she doesn't agree it would be foolish, and my mother definitely isn't that.”

Tor repeated what she said, and even if it was tedious, he did it using both kinds of speaking so that everyone could get used to the difference. Weasel looked at him seriously and asked, in nearly perfect Noram standard, if they could start right then.

It turned out they could, but the lesson had to be given by the Count, Rolph and Sara, because everyone else was busy.

Wedding planning.

Except for Duke Morgan, who decided watching the training would be advantageous, since he had to set up his own unit for that soon. It was just to get out of the tedious planning session, but also was a good point. No one even looked at him too hard over it.

It really wasn't that big of a deal, not for Tor. He sat back and agreed with whatever he was asked. After about half an hour they all started catching on and making more and more outrageous suggestions. Mercy suddenly asked for a water sculpture in the shape of a sparrow, to match her family crest, one that would float in the air like the magic river, and possibly flap its wings. Trice countered with a request for a falcon as well, because after all, Uncle Richard and Aunt Connie would be coming and it wouldn't do to seem to be promoting their family crest over the royal one, right?

Tor felt his eyes glaze. “Um, how big?”

Eyes twinkling Mercy held out her hands about two or three feet apart, then said, “about ten times that big?” She started chuckling and so did his mom, but Patricia looked at him and started shaking her head. “I... I hope you really want that mom, because I know that look and it means that he has an idea.”

He did.

It was just holding water in a static form. That basically just meant moving the water in to an area of space that stopped movement in all directions. By making the field move in a repeated pattern, could he make the wings flap? He got up to leave, and felt a hand on his arm, looking down he realized that Trice held him in place. Hardly fair.

“Hey, no running off until we set all the orders for what we want!” She smiled, but Tor got it. It wasn't about telling him what to do, but about not leaving her alone with these two women that had suddenly gotten very scary and possibly gone insane. So far they'd been agreeing with each other too, so it wasn't even possible to play one off the other, not yet at least.

The big things, of course, were the date, which Laurie suggested at being a year out, but Mercy didn't really care about overly herself, and the location, which was harder. Tor's mother wanted it to be held, not in Two Bends, but Grenwyn, the Lairdgren capital, since all of her extended family would be there.

Mercy tilted her head, a baffled look on her face for a while before finally speaking. Her voice was pleasant and friendly.

“Well, Tor is... A bit famous now Laur. You heard about his relief efforts for county Ford? That, the flying rigs, shields and other things... You know, he saved a city from a death plague? Galasia. Sewage got into their water supplies... This is all in the last few months too. He's popular right now, and even if he never does another thing, probably will be for a long time. People will want to come. Plus Connie will want to be there. She and Torrence are a little bit of an item, I hear...”

His mother looked scandalized.

“Torrence Green Baker, you did not sleep with the Queen, of all the irresponsible things to do...” Her tone sounded playful, which shocked the hell out of him, she was always so proper. Country proper. That meant she didn't play around with the topic of sex, or really, even mention that it existed. She must be reverting to her old ways or something. He decided to watch her closely in case she suddenly went into a combat rage over the flower arrangements. She never had before, but now he felt suddenly wary.

Tor let his eyes narrow though.

“Um, no. She didn't even offer. She was just nice, and helped me out when I was injured, that's all, and made sure that country born hick or not, I didn't ever feel too lost or out of place in the Capital. Now I'd thank you all to not malign the Queen in front of me again, she's a good woman and doesn't deserve such.” He made his voice dry and so strict sounding everyone stopped and looked at him for a second, thinking he might be really mad.

Then Trice broke out laughing.

“Uh hmmm. So that thing at the end when she practically ate your face, right in front of everyone, that was just her showing “motherly concern”? She didn't kiss Rolph goodbye that way, me either and here I am her favorite niece and everything.” Her eyelashes batted at him several times. Innocently as if she wasn't trying to needle him.

Sigh. Well it was just part of this scary and uncomfortable new world he found himself in, wasn't it? He'd live.

Possibly.

Not having an answer to her words Tor decided to work on the problem of holding water stable in space. Actually, holding it in place wasn't that hard at all; it was filling it and then draining it later that would be the problem. He needed to find some water to try it out with. The spring house should work well enough, especially if he didn't let the floor get all wet. Dad hated that, he knew, because damp could lead to rot and disease. Plus, it got everything all wet, which looked sloppy.

His mind reeled as it occurred to him that he could drive low level moisture out of an area by collecting it all in a specific zone away from a given space. Two plates could do it again, like a pump, only more general in action. One to tell the water to move, one to give it a location near which to collect. Duh. He could work that up in a day or two. That would cover the woman from the dinner party's house at least. He could even filter the field, so it wouldn't steal water from living things. That was more complex, but it only had to cover plants and animals, which felt similar as far as the information that made them up, well, compared to dead wood or rocks at least. Yeah, he could do it.

Patricia took his hand and squeezed it a little.

“Earth to Tor. Earth to Tor...” Her laughter brought him back to the moment. He shook briefly, a single start of motion and then smiled.

He'd forgotten where he was for a second. Well, their fault for mentioning fields and devices they wanted. What did they think he was going to do, sit and pay attention to what kind of flowers everyone thought smelled best? As a rule he was voting with Trice on everything. After all, while any of them could call things off, it was Patricia that would most likely wake up one day and remember whatever plan she really had and make it end. He sighed a little.

Tor got it now of course, just as he was getting her help to put off Sorvee house, she was using him as a shield against Count Overland. Right. It made sense. Well, he was her friend, so of course he'd help her for as long as she needed.

When he looked around everyone was staring at him. Ah, right, marriage planning.

“Sorry, I was thinking about fields and devices. I think I can do the sculptures in water you want. I mean, I can make forms that will hold the water in the air. I don't know if I can actually do art or anything, so I hope you're all happy with incredibly stylized as far as that goes...”

Patricia laughed again.

“The question was; who do you want as your best man? That and your groomsmen?”