“You humbled them Tor. You flat out told them that you were so much better than they are that their apologies don't matter, that no matter what they did to you, you were always the one in control, the “Lord of the Mighty”. People have gone to war over so much less… It would have been better if you just pissed in their faces! At least then they could dodge or take it as a punishment. That's what you did.”
Well. That explained it. Gah. No wonder Trice was angry with him. Tor looked down. His butt hurt. The backs of his legs too, where they touched the seat.
“Alright. I screwed up there then. I really… Well first, rape? I mean I guess it was a violation, but, can a man be raped? I suppose a large man could do it, but… And anyway, I said we were friends, right? So even if she did violate me against my will, I have to let that go. It's a rule.” Tor leaned into her, almost to her right ear.
“How do I fix it though? I… Gods. Do I… No, I just have no clue here. Help!” He whispered it, but the desperation in his voice was real enough, if a little playful.
Trice glared at him. Then, turning to face front she nodded.
“Alright, if you really mean all that, I'll help you fix it. You won't like it though, I can tell you that right now. Though I suppose that if it has to be done, now’s the time for it. Seriously though Tor… Learn to let other people apologize when they wrong you. It's about the worst thing you could have done at all.”
She didn't speak after that, landing in front of Alissa's house. Their house really, but everyone called the one outside the Capital his, so why not? It seemed fair. One good thing about being sick, or whatever they decided to call his current state, perhaps “terminally stupid” worked better, Tor wasn't expected to help with the luggage. Not that hitting a sigil was all that hard to manage. Still, Rolph did that for him without asking if he should. The Wards had a case each and everyone else had either a tiny chest, like Ali and Tor did, or a soft bag.
There were twelve people in all, about the carrying capacity of the old style carriage that Trice had, a lot of them in Royal Guard uniforms. It was kind of obvious Tor realized when they got inside.
Oops. Yeah, they probably didn't want to advertise overly. Karina was a Princess, and someone Tor knew, of course, but “Rolph Merchant” probably wouldn't. It was confusing, but no one else seemed to care about that. The royals all shrugged and Veren just glared at Tor.
“It’s your fault, you fix it.” The giant man rumbled at him, making the Wards both stiffen. Maria's face went sharp.
“How dare you!” She was actually shaking when she said it and approached Veren like she wanted to take him out back and teach him some manners herself. It was almost cute, except for the fact that Veren looked so baffled by it.
“Pardon Countess Ward?” He said, his voice going soft and servile without hesitation. “I'm not certain what you mean?”
“You can't treat him like that! He's… A Knight and a Countier! He's been named the Magical Counselor for the entire kingdom and… You can't speak to him that way!” Then she punched him. In the middle. Flesh hit shield and her hand just stopped as George moved between then casually. Veren just took a step back and bowed. Very low.
“Sorry ma'am…” He sounded so confused it was nearly charming. Oddly enough Karina walked up and stood in front of Countess Ward and bowed a bit too.
“Don't worry, Veren just meant that he thinks Tor screwed up and should fix it. That's all.” It didn't seem to help until Trice laughed and put her right arm over Maria's shoulder.
“Yeah. Don't worry, it’s a thing people like to do to Tor every now and then. Let's see what he comes up with, since he can't just build his way out of it this time.”
Tor sighed.
“Right. So Royal Guards and cute Princesses with me. Everyone else…” He was going to say they should make themselves at home, but Bonita came out then and stared at the decently large group, looking worried, until she saw Tor, then she looked pale suddenly.
“Um… welcome?” The words were soft and suddenly so shy that Tor floated over to her and gently kissed her on the cheek.
“Hey love. Brought guests for a bit. Is that all right? We should have gotten in touch with you first…” It was a good point he realized. She'd been living there the whole time after all. Sp it was her house too and here he was, high handedly bringing in a trove of strangers.
Though not all of them were.
“Nita?” Maria ran to her with a squeal of happiness.
They were half sisters after all and actually liked each other. Maria started chattering in a rapid, high pitched tone that Tor still couldn't quite make sense of, though Bonita and Trice both could. A girl thing maybe?
Tor smiled, “Count Ward, why don't you come with us too?” He had an idea after all.
Half an hour later he walked them all out of the back parlor, dressed to look like towns folk for the most part, and using the disguise amulets, finally, he got to play around with making them all look totally different than they did before. As a lark they did one up for the count too, making him a long haired, red headed man, with skin that almost matched Rolph's in tone, added lines to the package, aging him up a lot and reshaped the nose to match too.
Then he got dressed in a nice velvet black and green outfit with black leather boots. It was all magic, but other than the height, he fit the part.
“William Merchant.” Tor introduced him with a grin. “Rolph's da.”
Everyone laughed, except the Royal Guard who stared. Finally George, who looked younger and more golden skinned, like a southerner, nodded.
“Very good. I see it. Yes.”
Kari Merchant looked way different too. Heavier by about fifty pounds, a lot of that breast, and hips, which made her look pretty good, if Tor did say so himself. She had long red hair, which was close to her normal color, but a rather unfortunate port wine stain birthmark on her face. Her rounded and slightly mannish looking face. It was easier to add layers of light than not. Even the flesh felt right though, if someone touched it. Or the hair. It was all shield, but it moved right. Tor reached out and made her butt just a bit bigger.
Trice laughed, but not for long.
“No, really, I have to admit, that's about perfect. This even makes sense, William Merchant is a successful trader and has guards, brought his daughter to visit… and while they could stay in town, it only makes sense that Rolph's buddy Tor would open his home… Now we just have to make Maria match. So… Rolph's sister or… no… mom. That would work. Here,” she sat Maria down and started in on her with a vengeance.
In five minutes she looked twenty years older, sixty pounds heavier and like smiling was simply not her hobby at all. The eyes all got changed too, Kari getting plain brown, like her “mom” and Will, as Tor decided to call the man, getting the same blue that Rolph had. After all, they were family. That made everyone look different.
Veren walked over to Tor and nodded.
“Alright. I have to admit that's better than I thought you'd do. Think of it first next time. We were seen landing. It would have worked better if we'd gotten out looking like this.”
After a moment Tor understood. Veren was doing what they always did at weapons and fight practice. He saw a flaw, so he immediately pointed it out. Maria, who didn't have a new name yet, stiffened, looking far fiercer now than a few moments before, but Tor nodded back.
“Good point. I'll try to keep that in mind.”
Then, since it was nearing lunch time, Tor decided to collect up some people and see about getting something to eat in town. After all, he couldn't take Rolph's parents to the school dining hall, could he? That would look shabby. It meant going to get Rolph though, who'd come back the day before to set things up. He was a good friend that way.