She'd made a copy of one of his lights?
Without training and without a template? From memory… after just getting to hold one for a few minutes? That showed real skill! He clapped getting everyone else's attention.
“Gah, Lyn's showing off her little light again,” one of the younger boys said a bit derisively.
“Gonna be the next Tor you know. Like to see her make something like this! Come on, I want to try it!” The young boy was naked, they all were, and Lyn got a slightly embarrassed look on her face. It wasn't the nudity though, but what the other kid had said.
“I know I can't be that good ever, like Tor, but I can be good, if I learn how, I think. I heard that Tor went to school. Maybe I can go too? I don't know… we don't have a lot of money, gold, I mean, but I don't know… Maybe I could work and go to classes, just sit in the back and learn that way? I know, it's probably stupid, but there aren't a lot of people that even bother trying to become builders or even copiers. I know I can learn that, right?” She looked at him as if expecting derision.
Instead he shrugged and nodded at the light she'd made.
“That should be enough to get you a scholarship. You can read and write?” It wasn't a given, even for a city kid. Not all of them went to school if they were slated to go into a specific trade, but Lyn nodded.
“Some. Mame taught me. Said I'd need it even if I went into milling or tanning. Even whores count coins, so I learned sums too. What's a schooler sip? A kind of drink?” The question was innocent and cute, but Tor gestured at her to follow as he walked.
“It means that someone else pays for you to go to school, so you don't have to scrub floors all the time instead of learning. There's a bunch opening up for next term at Lairdgren school up north. That's where I went. I dropped out though, because of a girl, which was stupid of me, don't you think? I should go back if I get a chance… Actually, I think I will this next year if they'll take me. I have a whole lot to learn yet and they have some of the best teachers anywhere. Even the Prince went there before the war. Don't tell though, because he may want to go back too, and it's kind of a secret, for safety and all.”
The stairs were slightly rough underfoot, but it wasn't painful to walk on, just enough to stop people from slipping even if the stone got wet. So far so good. When he turned to look at her Lyn fairly gaped at him.
“Do you really think someone would pay for me to go? Who? How do I ask them too? Does it mean I work for them after or… I don't get it, what do I do?” She seemed eager, excited by the prospect even.
It took a while to get to the top, so Tor explained that there were a couple of scholarships she could get and that people would pay for her to go, just to have another good builder later. The King did most of them, that's how he'd gotten in, he confided in her. Countess Printer was doing a bunch too now and she could also check with the people in Tor’s house down the way. Just go and ask for Collette, Rolph or Tor, he told her. Her eyes went so wide he was afraid they might fall out.
“What? Go up and just say “hey, you in there, send out the Wizard Tor so he can give me some gold for school”? I'm sure that would work!” She laughed at him like he was joking and pushed him, her damp hand slapping his bare back. His shield didn't kick in. Ah. He'd left it off. Oops, well, if it was gone he had more. Hopefully whoever picked it up would get good use from it if he didn't get it back.
“Seriously… try it. If you want to go to school and learn, you're going to have to work for it and do a lot of hard things. Facing down a fellow builder isn't even a challenge. What do you think he's going to do? Yell at you? I happen to know he almost never yells, and even if he did, so what? Just show everyone the field you copied and they'll let you in. If they don't, come find me and I'll take you myself. But try it on your own first. It will impress people. Wear clothes though. I think dinner is at nine. Might as well get a free meal too.”
The ride down the waterfall was fast and breathtaking, but fun and safe. There was a shield all the way around so you couldn't go flying off at all. It was just a matter of not going so fast that people drowned when they hit the water. It drove water up his nose, but that was fine, it was safe enough, he decided. That one waterfall slide at least. Tor made the trip six more times and then waited for everyone else to finish as he air dried and put his magic clothing back on. It occurred to him then that he could have worn swimming clothes and he blushed, but no one else had thought anything of a bunch of naked kids, not past the sight of them riding waterfalls at least.
The next event didn't need him to test personally, it was a fighting square, but the “weapons” were just weak shields that looked like swords in a glowing red about two and a half feet long and each person fighting got protected with a shield too, one that was strong enough to stop the swords blows and glowed a sudden and brilliant gold when hit, the look was kind of impressive. Get hit three times and you were “dead” and your sword vanished, leaving you holding only a focus stone handle. The cool thing was that you could block with the blades and it actually felt like hitting something real and made a clashing sound like metal would have. All the kids wanted to try it when it was explained to them, but Tor held back. He knew the system and actually had sword training. It wouldn't exactly be fair, would it?
Lyn kept staring at him, but now it wasn't just curiosity over his amulets he didn't think. No, now she probably saw a chance to make her dreams come true and he was someone that had knowledge of what she needed to do. That made him special to her right now. Hopefully she'd remember what he'd said and at least try. Burks had told him not to do everything for everyone, but it was so tempting to just make it all work for her. She needed to do it or it wouldn't mean as much. It was simple and obvious, but he had to fight not to do it anyway.
They wanted to keep playing with the “shield combat” gear but Tor saw that the next event was being set up already and got everyone to hurry over. This was the one he thought people would love the most. Or hate. You put on a harness that went around your middle and buckled in place, just so no one could drop it. After that you stood on a light tan focus stone plate that was about two foot wide and jumped. Then it took you into the air, magnifying your jump by about thirty times, slowly lowering you back to the plate. But you could also jump up and out in any direction, so it would allow some stunts. It always took you right back to the plate no matter what you did though. As you moved through the air you left a multicolored trail of sparks and light. It would be impressive after dark and looked kind of neat even with the sun out.
The colors were in purple and gold to start, but could be set by the person running the device if they got bored with that. The lights worked well and the landing was more gentle than it would have been if he'd actually jumped up in the air a few feet. There was clapping when he finished, his new group of young friends mainly, but by the time they were all jumping around and doing tricks, about fifty people gathered to watch. Tor clapped along, because they were doing things that he'd never dreamed of, holding hands and spinning around each other leaving brilliant spirals, flips in mid air and little dances comprised mainly of hand and arm movements and spins.
After that there wasn't a lot more to look at yet, so Tor waved good bye to the others and called Lyn over.
“Remember what I said? I'm serious. Ask for any of those people and show what you've made, explain it to them and see what they say. Really, you should do it before dinner.” She looked scared, but determined, which was better than Tor would have done at her age.