And shouldn't have to. If not that, then she'd probably take him to task for talking like she wasn't there. He hated that himself so got ready to take whatever she had to say.
“Who's Martya?”
Except that, he froze for a second, how did he explain that she was an ex-whore from Warden? Petra solved that for him.
She was so great.
“She runs the ice manufactory there and is branching out with Collette Coltress across the kingdom with them. It's a good business. I'm investing what funds I have in it.” She shrugged. “Martya's really nice, you'll like her. Maybe I can take you around? She was my best friend when we were little.”
Tor shook his head, but with a smile.
“Um, no? I have a request of you Pet. It's kind of important, and it means you'll be busy for a few weeks, possibly longer. All the Austran spies that turned themselves in need to get home and I was kind of hoping you'd lend your ship and captaincy skills? They shouldn't be a problem, they just need a ride. It's a matter of honor that they arrive both safe and treated well. The King agreed to those terms and I'm in charge of overseeing that part of things.” He tried to make it clear but she was already agreeing.
“Sure. I love sailing. When do we leave and who's going with?” She sounded pretty happy about it, enough so that Kolb gave her a look.
Petra got it, the day was truly a dark one, wasn’t it? She made a bit of a face, but addressed the man directly.
“Oh, come on, how often do I get to play ship’s Captain like this?”
Tor agreed himself. That's why he'd asked, plus she had that huge boat. Two big boats actually. It would mean he didn’t have to have a new one made. He could read fields now, if he was careful, but that didn’t mean real building was an option for him. It wouldn’t be for a bit. This was easier. Besides, it would mean he could have his friend with him.
“I'm going with you, but will probably be leaving from Austra. I don't know who else will be with us, other than the spies… Lyn?” He looked out the door at her and she nodded back, not turning around to look. She was still on guard duty after all.
“Weasel too then most likely. Maybe my mother and little sister, Uncle Dan and maybe Denno Brown and Count Lairdgren.”
Sam snorted a little but it was Sandra that spoke, looking at him only briefly, then back to the security zone she was supposed to be covering.
“I get why your family might be going, if you are, but why Lyn, she's one of us.” Her voice was certain of that at least.
So it was. Tor shrugged.
“That's true. She's also the Ancient of Vagus. Red. We have a meeting to get to there in a week or so. That said, good point, if Petra will have a bunch of ner'do-well builders on her crew, you should all sign up. You might actually be useful, when you aren't washing dishes and all that. This is serious work though, not a game. So the dishes need to get really clean each time.”
None of them said anything after that at least, since good guards didn't chatter too much. It was distracting and made it too likely you'd be attacked. They moved inside a little awkwardly, the kids all pretending to be Royal Guards, checking the doorway first and Guide holding the rear, as they all got in. Kolb watched them closely as they “worked”. When they got to the quiet room, which was pretty secure, he stopped them at the door, and ripped into them like he would if his own people had screwed up that much.
“I counted sixteen separate points of attack left unguarded. We will now go over all of them. Haver, the door please?” He kept speaking, not sharply, but with decent volume as it got shut. Lyn was in the room with them, which got a funny look from Ward.
“So, another Ancient? Collecting a set, Tor?”
“Looks like.”
“Ah.” The giant winked. “I would have suggested something more portable, given your penchant for travel. Still, most of them aren't overly big…” It was a joke, but Lyn turned on him and crossed her arms suddenly.
“Oh?” Then without moving her body at all, she started to stretch, and grow. It kept going on for nearly a minute, with her ending up an incredibly thin, rather horrible looking creature, almost like a pale walking skeleton. Her fingers ended in black talons, and veins stuck out of her face, blue and sharp looking.
Tor just nodded, not acting surprised at all. He yawned, which was a real thing, as tired as he was. “Yeah, she'll fit in the luggage better the other way.”
Count Ward just chuckled, sounding almost sincere about it. Instead of horribly panicked. Then no one had said he was a coward, just that he was too pretty, and slept with a lot of women. Maria looked a little scared suddenly. So Tor waved at Lyn and spoke softly.
“It's still just her Maria, don't worry, she's nice, no matter what she looks like. It's… her way.” At least he hoped so. If he was wrong this could get messy.
Lyn spoke softly, if a deep, gasping growl got to count that way. Her voice was low now too, more so than the Counts, which was pure base. A grumble that sounded like thunder at a distance. Scary. Tor grinned up at her a bit sadly.
Lyn bowed though, her clothing looking funny on the oversized thing she’d become.
“Yes Countess. It is only the outer form that changes. If I don't do it often enough, I start to ache though. There has not been much chance these last months. I didn’t want to frighten my roommate. One moment.” The shift back reduced her in size in about the same time frame, but left her looking older. Wiser too. And a bit less attractive, because she'd been using her disguise amulet as make-up and it suddenly didn't work on her at all. The colors were all wrong and things didn’t line up correctly, wrinkles in the way as they were.
Then she shifted down in age, looking like herself again and prettier for it.
Debbie gibbered a little and Maria wrapped her in an embrace, letting her bury her head in a shoulder. She started to glare at Lyn, but the Ancient just shook her head and walked towards the women slowly.
“Sorry there, I guess that was a little abrupt. I'd forgotten the day. Please forgive me?” Her words were shy, very timid almost. Maria sighed and held her other arm out for a hug.
It was a bizarre scene all the way around.
“So, I think that we should all go again, don't you Alphonse?” Karina spoke suddenly, trying to distract everyone, Tor figured.
The Prince shook his head firmly.
“I… No. Neither of us can go to Austra right now. Even if the government is in agreement with a peace treaty, the people might act out of love for their lost leader and his daughter. I'm sure most of them didn't know them, which could lead to mistakes, and the idea of killing an enemy leaders children is rather fresh in mind.” He smiled charmingly, “not that Daria didn't deserve it. But we should probably let things die down a bit before going for tea and a chat.”
Sitting near Maria, and her brother, Petra stretched and stood up.
“Um, not to be pushy, but who's paying for provisions?” She glanced around as if it wasn't directed at Tor personally. It was a really good point though. Technically the kingdom should, but Denno had asked that he personally be responsible for his people. That they were, at least mainly, literally Denno's spies, even if they didn't know it, just made sense to Tor.
Who else had thousands of years to get things in place?
So that made them Brown’s to watch over and that, no matter how unlikely it still seemed, meant it was a family matter for Tor.
It took work to stand, still stiff, but he managed it with a small groan. Then, slowly he walked towards the door. It was less than fun and he needed to get into bed soon, regardless of the time. He'd been up all night and so had Rolph and Karina. Blinking he realized that everyone in the room, except Lyn, had probably been up all that time too.
It was going to be a long week.
Possibly a long life.
“Come with me. We need Collette, gold, and then some rest.” Lots and lots of rest.