Tor didn't know the protocol here, waving gold around was rude, but she certainly had a right to know that they weren't going to steal their dinners too. Rolph strode up and smiled charmingly at her.
“Perhaps a price estimate would be in order? What do you think ten meals with wine would likely come to?”
The woman took a half deep breath, her mouth forming lines around it from the pursing action that made her look older than her real years.
“About five coppers apiece for the lot, unless you get the most expensive items… So five silvers for the group, not counting desert or second helpings of wine. Harder spirits being extra.”
Smiling Rolf pulled several golds out of his pocket, the coins glittering in the late afternoon sun, since it was early still. They didn't want to miss the places working hours though. The woman smiled then and let them in.
So, sometimes it was OK to show gold, but you hid it from your friends and just showed the merchant? All right, now he just needed to find out if there were other rules involved too. Country rules were a little easier for him still. In Two Bends, there wouldn't have been a restaurant, so this whole scene wouldn't have happened at all. Much easier.
This wasn't, Rolph assured them, the most expensive place in town by any means, but the food was good and filling and they made a wonderful cold pie of cherries and cream. It sounded lovely to Tor, but he'd probably skip it himself. Places like this tended to serve way too much food for him to begin with. Or he guessed that would be the case, if they were charging five pennies per meal. That or the food would be better than the King’s table itself.
The food was good enough, not as good as what was served at the palace, but then what was? Tor had made better, but what he made wasn't always as good, he had to admit. The server was polite enough and good at her job, after they got past the hurdle of the front door. The place was wide open, with no dividers or separate eating rooms. It seemed rude to look around at the other people overly. Instead he stared at the ivory colored linen table cloth and focused on the people closest to him, Rolph was talking to Sheri about what classes she was taking, Music, math and culture, so not too different than what Tor had himself, he thought.
Ali was busily making eyes at the new boy, Henry, who wasn't that good looking, but seemed polite and intelligent once she got him talking. Ridley kept lightly kicking him under the table. At first Tor thought he was trying to be fresh with him, but it wasn't that, Tor got when the other man motioned with his head at a table across the room where a group of four rather loutish looking young nobles in the fine silk version of browns sat staring. Angrily.
They were a bit older, probably fifth or sixth year students and while it was hard to see who they were looking at, they certainty didn't seem happy about it. Probably him then. For some reason a lot of guys at school had always acted a little hostile. Well, Tor didn't want problems, especially with wealthy people that could afford good silk clothing…
He almost laughed when he remembered that he could afford nice clothing, he just didn't need it anymore. Feeling awkward wasn't going to help him so he sat and watched them covertly for a while. Whoever they were, the eye contact wasn't for him in particular, that much he could tell. It wasn't great magic or anything, they just barely noticed him. Nor was it directed towards Ali or even their new friend Sheri. Tor hoped those two would be friends at least. The girl seemed nice enough. They were either staring at Henry or Gersh, Tor decided. One of them, a man easily large and muscular enough to be a combat giant, rose and left, leaving the others to pay and rush after him.
It was a bit of an odd scene, but they'd left, so if they had a problem with his guests, they didn't seem inclined to do anything about it in the restaurant. That was good, because people that big would probably break stuff, especially if they got angry.
Tor decided to try some of the chilled pie after all, which was nearly as good as Rolph had told them, and settled the bill with the server when she told Rolph what it cost. She was standing over him so she saw the golds in the purse, but she just smiled when he gave her the two golds and returned with a handful of change a few minutes later. Rolph handed her the tip, which looked to be several silvers, not a bad bit of money considering it was less than two hours of work. Some people didn't make a half silver in a week.
Ridley nudged him on the way by, his upper arm pushing him lightly, but not enough to trigger his shield. Ali was on his other side, holding his left hand, so it was definitely directed at him and not something for his wife that simply missed the mark. The contact held longer than Tor was comfortable with, but he got the idea, they needed to be watchful in case of attack. Sure enough just outside the establishments red painted door, the men had stopped to wait for them.
Well. That was nice of them. Tor thought. Waiting on the street to cause problems instead of damaging the decor. The group he was with mainly had smaller people in it, even though most were a noble of some kind of another. Their collective plain clothing probably made them look a little poor or unimportant, but whatever the reason was, these men moved on Gersh as if they wanted to kill him on the spot.
Tor shook his head and stepped into the path of the biggest and most aggressive seeming of the bunch and everyone with him. Tan silks and leather pants, which were stylish, and way too hot if you didn't have a temperature equalizing device on, which this man didn't seem to at all, given the sweat on his forehead and under his arms. The dark patches on silk would leave salt stains and by noble standards make the shirt unwearable there after. It was a waste of materials then. Tor considered the whole thing for a moment and wondered why the men hadn't opted for cooler clothing. Being trendy was all good and fine, but it didn't matter who you were, waste was waste.
“Gentlemen.” Tor smiled, trying to look friendly, these guys may be attackers or they could just be looking to ask Gersh out on a date and going about it all wrong. Until he really knew being impolite was a bad idea.
“Can we help you with something?”
The big one stopped and peered at him, eyes still angry, but taken aback for some reason to see someone suddenly in his way. That man didn't look bright, but smart wasn't the only criteria of worth or value in the world, so Tor let that thought go for now.
“Um, I…” The man peered at Tor carefully and smiled. It wasn't an angry thing anymore, just baffled for some reason. A glance flickered to Gersh, then back, taking in the whole scene.
“I'm just going to talk to my brother, miss.”
Ouch.
Tor laughed and grabbed his hair, while everyone else stiffened a bit. At least Rolph and Ridley did. Getting something like that wrong could lead to a dual after all. The man didn't seem to mean anything by it though. Just a simple mistake, Tor being small, thin and having long black hair at the moment didn't help.
“So you're saying I really do need to get that haircut then? I've been worried about it, well, I'll do it first thing tomorrow.” Shaking his head he sighed a little. It really wasn't this guys fault, he knew. Not cutting his hair for over a year had left it running down his back, a look some of the noblemen could get away with, but then the ones that did were all huge and manly looking.
Everyone else winced again, this time including the big and not overly bright man in front of him.