The King stood chuckling slightly and went to the door behind Tor and called gently up the stairs that they were ready for everyone now. Varley got to the bottom of the stairs faster than anyone else, floating down using her Not flyer, wearing a lovely white gown and a wrap of gossamer material, that reminded him of the stories he’d heard about faeries as a child, and what he imagined their wings to look like. The girl landed on her feet lightly, the hard soles of her white shiny leather shoes touching down with only a little tap. Smiling she ran to him, hitting her shield to turn it off. Laughing he did the same, as per their prior agreement. She half tackled him and pinned him lightly against the wall with a sudden twist. Then her lips touched his.
“Yes.” Varley said, her voice low. “Yes. I will marry you.”
“Marry?” Tor said with a grin. “Who said anything about marriage? I was just asking your father if I could borrow you to be the new apprentice baker at my house. We’re really in a bind right now that way. He suggested that you also clean the stables, but we don’t have any of those, so it looks like you’re going to luck out there.”
She laughed and kissed him again, which made him giggle a little.
“Well, all right, I guess we can do that marriage thing if you really want to.” Tor said when she back off a little, laughing.
Richard, standing back behind the table still, laughed himself, a deep bass thing. Tor couldn’t help but think that he wasn’t really being helpful. This one at least, if he wasn’t going insane and imagining it all, was a real marriage. Not something just to keep someone else from getting the girl. He didn’t think so at least. It might be hard to tell with royals, but he was taking it as real anyway. Even if he was really just acting as an acceptable place holder for this Varro guy. He’d get with Rolph later to make sure, one way or the other.
Nearly a minute later the other three members of the royal family came down. Since all of them had Not-flyers on, Tor assumed that their walking down the stairs was meant to give Varley time with him for some reason. Nice of them.
When they all got into the room Tor pushed the door shut and latched it from the inside securely. It was Rolph that broke first, grinning.
“So am I going to be calling you brother Tor or not?” He asked genially. Varley smiled and nodded.
“I told him yes! This is so great. I’m going back with him to his house and if I come back pregnant you can all just deal with it.”
Connie hugged the girl and then Tor with a single movement.
“Oh no you don’t young lady. No getting pregnant until at least a full year after the day of the wedding. You know how to prevent such things. No shadow of scandal please. Also… children, your father and I have something to tell you… it involves Tor, and his family.” She glanced at the King who waved his hand with a smile.
“You were all taught the old legends, how long ago ancients that survived the end of one world, took the best of it, and built anew, forming on each continent a nation of power, based on a single premise. Magic for us, genetics for Afrak, spirituality for the Tellerand and technology for the Austran. But behind all this was an underlying principle, that the failures of the old world not be brought back. That the world not be unbalanced again, that the population not be allowed to grown to unmanageable levels. That we don’t use up the world we live in, just live.”
Karina snorted, an unladylike thing to be sure, “Right, but I always liked the one about the faerie Princess that lived in a giant gourd, it always sounded much more fun. “Bodabink- you’re a rabbit!” I always wanted to be a rabbit as a child you know. That or a bird. Of course, now I can fly, so half way there. Tor, if you could get to work on the rabbit part of things when you get a chance?” She grinned at him and gave a wink.
Tor blinked. Well, he couldn’t turn her into a rabbit, could he? But… well, if he could make a light, could he make her look like a rabbit? Shaking himself he tried to hold his focus on the situation at hand.
With a serious look, Rolph hovered his large hand over the shield on his sister’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, there’s a tie in here. Wait for it…”
Connie nodded regally at her children.
“Indeed there is. So you know the stories, how the ancients, six of them back then, lived, and didn’t age or die, so that they could stay around and keep setting the world right from the damage done by the old ones. Well, some of them have had children. The process, a genetic one, that gave them their long lives, doesn’t always breed true. In fact it rarely does. In Noram, there are only five that we know of that show the trait. One of them is the ancient of magic. Count Lairdgren, Burks Green.”
No one said anything for a few moments. Then the King spoke, his voice gentle.
“The others are Tor’s Uncle Dan, his mother Laurie, Tor, and possibly his younger sister Tiera. That last is still uncertain, but Tor’s been checked out already, special blood examinations taken by a highly trained doctor after he was poisoned. The thing is, well, the Green men with that trait, they aren’t exactly highly fertile. So it might be hard to rapidly have a child with Tor, Varley. It shouldn’t be impossible, but if you marry him, well, chances are good that you won’t have his child. Normally not a big issue, but he’s not exactly overly tall… So some care would be needed in the selection of lovers if you decide to have children.”
Tor hadn’t known that. He hadn’t known a whole lot of it to tell the truth. He’d have trouble having kids? It… kind of made sense for someone that might live for a long time. He hadn’t really thought about it much, because so far it seemed unlikely that he’d live long enough to grow old normally, but if he could, he might not age? Right. He’d believe that when he saw it. His mother certainly hadn’t had problems producing offspring for her part, but then, Connie had said the Green men. What really got his attention was that Lairdgren was named Burks.
“Um, just to clarify, the Burks that was here the other day, that was Lairdgren?” Tor wanted to make sure he wasn’t just confusing two different things.
“You didn’t know? You seemed pretty casual about him, so I thought…” Rolph shook his head a little.
“No big thing, we’ve met many times, he just neglected to mention the whole part about being related. Anyway, I didn’t know some of that stuff, about the kids and all, so if you want to back out Varley, I’ll understand.”
Rolph stared at him, then shook his head.
“Tor… You look just like Count Lairdgren. I mean, I figured out the connection before we even went to Two Bends based on that. He’s a little older looking, but not even all that much. In the right light, I’d swear you were the same person.”
Tor made a face, mouth screwing up just a little.
“Except for the fact that he’s really good looking and I look like this. Kind of a major point, don’t you think?”
No one said anything for a second, Karina started to speak, but was silenced when the King waved his hand.
“Tor also has some other information for us.”
That got Richard talking, which he did excitedly. Connie seemed pensive, and Varley kept coming back to the other topic, clearly more interested in that than having a share in her own secret military force.
“So…Tor is extra magical? Is that why he can do so much more than anyone else?” The girl asked, interested, but not, thankfully, scared.
Connie answered that one.
“No, according to Burks it’s more likely that he’s normally gifted, and just works that hard. It’s not that he’s extra magic, but extra disciplined. I think what Lairdgren was getting at was that we could all do what Tor does if we weren’t so lazy. But when I pointed out that he doesn’t do what Tor does either, he stuck his tongue out at me. You’d think after three thousand years or more he’d have learned better manners.” Her face took on a lovely smile, showing that she wasn’t really put out by the whole thing at all.