“Um, that's very noble of you sir. I… don't want to be…” Suddenly stuck for words? Grimacing himself he stammered on.
“Well, what I'm saying is that I'm footing the bill this year. I mean Lairdgren is. Um, the County Lairdgren Special Fund. It’s what we used to pay for the last King’s day celebration, in part. I have… some control over that.” Was that real enough? He was in line to be Count Lairdgren after all. The real point there was that Burks would back him on it. Tor hoped so at least. He might get a beating for overstepping himself though. “Um, School supplies and clothing, I'll provide devices to everyone for that, and right now I want to get permission to set this all up and kind of, um, keep it secret? Would that be all right? The funds aren’t the problem, but the Count can be a bit of a stickler when it comes to people doing things for themselves. I just disagree about that when it comes to students. We may have a fight about this later.
“ I was thinking that since Henry here seems to know economics, he could run the ledgers and handle payments for the supplies at the student store and Ridley could over see the rest and make sure everyone has what they need? He's personable and going to be a Baron some day, so it's good experience.”
They both looked flabbergasted, but the Dean smiled and gave a nod. It wasn't cold at all, but he did raise an eyebrow towards Tor and didn't actually smile.
“The Count mentioned the County Lairdgren special fund to me before as a matter of fact.” A small hint of a wry grin showing from under the thick beard.
“I seem to recall that being his pet name for your personal funds being held at the treasury.” The man didn’t seem to expect an answer at least, probably getting that Tor was trying not to make a big issue of the matter.
If he wasn't happy about it, Hardgrove didn't tell him to go away either, or seem upset overly. It made Tor feel very small, knowing that this very good man probably felt like he was belittling him. It wasn't his intent, but what could he do about it now?
Chapter Two
Rolph gave him funny looks the next day as they sat in the student’s dining room eating bowls of oatmeal, dried fruit bits stirred in, and drank small cups of fruit juice. Hardgrove had let them use the facilities so that everyone would have something to eat before lunch, and came to eat with them himself. Tor and Rolph had actually made the food, humble as the offering was, and Ali helped out by serving it along with her roommate Sheri. It was a team effort all around and if no one mentioned it, they didn't complain about the quality of the food either. Since they were mainly nobles, that spoke about just how many of them had gone without the day before.
Most of the highborn loved to complain.
When Hardgrove asked, his voice quiet, what should be said about who was paying for everything, to throw Burks off, Tor actually had an answer ready. It had come to him in the middle of the night as he dozed and fretted over that very thing. Not that he could really hide it from Count Lairdgren, since it was being done in his name, but he could distance himself a bit and get some cover maybe, using someone else as a shield.
“Right. Well… Um… it's a special project of the Queen and the Princesses isn't it? Gathered up their allowances and some other coins from friends, and are spending them here on us, so that we can repay the kingdom later with knowledge and good works. Plus… it isn't free really. Everyone is expected to work on breaks or during emergencies if they have to. Not that people wouldn't anyway, but it will let people feel that what they're getting has value and that they aren't being humbled by it. I hope so at least. We really will put them to use if need be, right?”
That got an actual smile from the man.
“Very good. I must thank they're majesty's then. You may want to get with them first though. So they know of their good works and don't get taken by surprise. We wouldn't want the Count to feel confused as to who's doing what, would we?”
Tor just smiled back and nodded himself, happily. It didn't shock him at all that Hardgrove had figured out his plan so easily. The man was basically the kingdoms “trainer of spies” or something like that. He could probably have a fairly accurate accounting done of how many pair of socks Tor owned.
The answer was zero, though he wore a good facsimile at the moment. Brown to match the heavy canvas clothing he affected.
The rest of the day for Tor was spent working, at least after he gave five thousand gold to Ridley and Henry for their part of things, which had required a run up from the Capital to deliver it. Collette, his friend, got his little sister Tiera to deliver it. It was nice to see her, even if she was a little pushy at times.
Rolph said it might be too much, but Tor didn't think they'd steal it from the other students. Besides, if you didn't trust people they couldn't prove worthy of it, could they?
It wasn't fair really, but Tor dumped a lot of the work on his friends, sticking to copy work for a few days as the term started, at least in the evenings. It wasn't good, he knew, not enough, but he did make an effort to spend time with Ali each day, making love when they could, of course, but also just talking about how things were going for her. She seemed happy enough so far, but Tor worried, because she would have said she was happy even if she felt miserable, just to keep his spirits up, wouldn't she? He could have checked directly, but she was his wife and leaving her that extra bit of internal privacy seemed important. Instead he just did his best and tried to balance out his school work with the rest of his life.
The new classes amazed him to no end, so at least he didn’t have to contend with boredom on that score.
Music especially, since he hadn't even known what went into it before. Reading sheet music was like learning a new language, if a simple one, and the instruments were varied and each had to be treated differently. In the beginners class he was in they got to try them all out, to see what they liked best. Tor ended up with the violin, because the guitars were all a bit too big for his hands and the woodwinds all sounded off to him. He wasn't very good yet, he knew, so tried to work in an extra hours worth of practice each night, using one of the sound canceling devices so that poor Rolph wouldn't have to listen as he screeched and scratched away.
Economics was fascinating, even if it was taught by Wensa, the Royal Guard Captain in charge of protecting the Prince. She didn't advertise the fact and was simply “Instructor Wensa” at the school. She was probably the second hardest teacher Tor had ever worked with, Kolb being the first. He was a weapons and fighting Instructor, but since he left and took everyone else with him, that section of the afternoon was pretty much left empty. With a war on it was too hard to find anyone that could fight well that wasn't off getting ready for the Austrans.
It was on the second day that Tor had an idea. Again one of those stupid and probably overbearing ones that made him feel embarrassed for having thought about it in the first place, but a real enough one. When he got to the practice area to begin his personal run and stones work out, he took a deep breath and called everyone over. His face felt full of blood, but he made himself say the words and tried to sound confident.
“The weapons instructors are slightly delayed, due to the war, so we're going to break up into three groups and the senior students will act as instructors until the real ones get here. I'll let you decide who does what, but we want armed, unarmed and magical device sections. Everyone is going to be learning to fly, so that needs to be set up too. Can anyone fly yet?” He looked around but even the older students didn't raise their hands.
“OK, starting tomorrow I'll start teaching that part, after my own work out.” It was more to do, but he'd been flying as long as anyone. Longer than anyone, literally, if only by a few days. The beauty of having made the device for it, Tor was the first moron to go up. It was safe enough, but he hadn't really known it at the time.