Right. Because that was exactly what the average person did with their free time.
They spent the trip with Tor explaining the whole situation, trying to leave out the part about him having to kiss Denno and then what the device had played while they escaped. It was just too embarrassing. That he was the only one in the whole world that would find it so didn't matter, his face and neck got hot just thinking about the shame. It had worked, but still…
“Gods! Tor, is that the King’s river already?” Rolph goggles, as Tor nodded.
“Yep. This new carriage is a little faster than the old kind.” That was an understatement of course, and came with a matter of fact and dry tone.
The trip in took just as long as usual, of course. It was silly and really wouldn't help anything at all, that ten minutes of slow decent into the palace grounds, but it was traditional now, so it had to be done. Well, at least the Royal Guard wasn't requiring that everyone be stripped to bare skin and all their secret parts be checked for devices and amulets. It had been suggested at one time, but the King put his foot down. It would simply take too long.
That was the actual rationale for not doing it too. Not preserving dignity or anything like that. Just that it would take too long to be worth the effort.
As it was they had to all be checked with truth devices to prove who they were and that they intended no harm. When it got to Ali the cream and yellow stripped aura of light that surrounded her turned black when she gave her name, causing the guards to draw weapons. Ali shrieked and looked scared, but Rolph just put his hand on her arm gently.
“It's all right. You have to give your real name, that's all. I know you don't use it, but I think that's what’s triggering the device right now.”
“Oh, right. Um, I'm Gretchen Alison Derring Baker. I go by Alissa or Ali now. I intend no harm to anyone.” That got a pure reading and the Royal Guards put the weapons away so smoothly it hardly felt like they moved at all.
In a way it was how both Burks and Denno did things too, that smooth and economical way of moving that didn't waste motion and gave them a still feeling most of the time. It was more pronounced in the Ancients, but now that he noticed it, it made sense. Watching the others he suddenly realized how much energy and time people wasted doing most things. Did it make you faster by cutting out wasted motion? It was something to think on.
Like he needed another thing to ponder. What he needed was to start making a list of things, so he didn't forget good ideas later.
Sighing, they all walked to the dining room, Rolph had changed into a splendid purple velvet outfit with gold highlights and what looked like thick cotton underneath, a winter time dress outfit for a Prince? It looked sharp and was mainly purple, which Tor liked, that being his favorite color and one of the Cordes house colors. Ali was wearing a big dress that looked fluffy and huge, cream and white satin and piles of lace. Rolph had commented on how pretty it was when he saw it and again as they walked down the hallway.
“Thank you Prince Alphonse,” Ali said, making the change of title and name come to her lips far more easily than Tor ever managed. She had a small, alluring smile on her face, flirtatious and a little coy. “So kind of you to notice. Petra Ward designed it for me. She's one of the best in the kingdom you know.”
Not for the first time Tor wondered if they were sleeping together. It made sense, maybe he should suggest it if they weren't? Rolph was great, Ali was splendid and given their shared culture making love would have been pretty normal for them, even if they hardly liked each other, since they both knew him so closely. It was hard to think like that, but Tor shrugged, no one noticing that he did.
The stupid royal rules made little to no sense to him at the best of times.
They didn't sit at the table at first, small meal or not. The dining room wasn't one of the big ones, but Denno was basically as important a visitor as they could have at the palace, so they'd pulled out the stops. All of them. Even common sense.
The room was filled with more kinds of magic than Tor had ever seen working in one place at one time, some of them his, but a lot of them were other peoples as well. It was almost like a museum display, as if to overwhelm Denno with what they could do. The room clicked and buzzed, lights flickered and blasted at times, different, all pleasant, emotions tickled across his skin, and music, ethereal and soft, chimed from the back of the room.
It was too much and looked silly to Tor, not very tasteful at all, but Denno kept walking from one device to the next looking amazed and baffled, finally he turned to Tor and threw his hands up.
“I can see it works, but how? It's against the laws of physics and thermodynamics!”
Blinking Tor stopped for a second and tried to remember what he'd worked out about that, from the bits of science Burks had told him about as they trained and prepped for the mission a few weeks before.
“No it's not. That's the flaw in your thinking on it, you're missing one key part, so you think that it's impossible, even when you see it working. Magic is simply a complex organizational process on the quantum level, using a biological interface. What you're missing, I think, is that every object exists down to the smallest parts of reality.” It made sense to Tor, but the Brown man grimaced.
“I know that.” He said, as if Tor had just insulted him.
“Good, but remember, the human brain exists on that level too, and we can control our thoughts, which means that we can build partial structures of information on that level…”
Denno looked shaken for a second.
“But…” Then he stopped talking and walked away.
The man stopped asking him how magic worked at least.
Connie walked over and placed her hand on his arm gently to get Tor’s attention. It was a soft and gently thing, and she looked radiant, as always. Her hair had grown out a little, near collar length, and was still her normal red-brown color, it was hard to describe really, being as lovely as it was. On impulse Tor gave her a warm, but small hug. It wasn't enough to insult his wife, and the King wasn't in the room yet, being busy elsewhere for the time being, so it wasn't rubbing anything in his face. She looked at him in surprise, but took the opportunity to kiss him gently on the lips. Nothing to overt, but it got a grin from Ali who stood at his arm.
The Queen looked around the room and sighed.
“Burks suggested it. I'm mortified myself, but Mr. Brown does seem impressed. We'll shut it all off for dinner.” She looked at both of them and suddenly swooped in to give Ali a hug.
“Now, Tor dear, go away so I can chat with Alissa about you in private.”
Laughing Tor walked over to Rolph, wondering what they were really going to be talking about. He wasn't interesting enough for a conversation, he knew. His huge friend stood and watched Denno walking around with an amused expression. It was a little funny, even as the good looking man fought for control over his face. Someone had given him a clothing amulet Tor noticed, and let him set the style, a plain jumpsuit like everyone wore in Austra. The color was a simple brown and looked bland for the room, but Denno still didn't. The guy always looked good.
Rolph shook his head.
“A year ago I thought the Ancients were just a fairy tale told to children, immortal little men and women that helped guide us all in secret, like gnomes or something. Now I not only know they're real, but have met six of them.”
“Six?” Tor only counted three himself.
“You, your mother and sister Tiera, Lairdgren, Brown and Lara Gray. Six.”
“Ah. Well, I don't count. I'm still just Tor after all.” He tried to sound normal, but it came out humble and a little embarrassed. He wasn't Ancient at all, two months younger than Rolph even.