When the Counts and their wives left, Ursala with her parents, Trice ran over to him, hyperventilating slightly. “Tor! Are you alright?”
Everyone else came over as well, looking scared, except for the King who just looked slightly amazed. The giant man shook his head.
“That shield you're wearing, it blocks out the battle aura too, doesn't it? How did you come up with that?” The King looked impressed when Tor told him. And a little embarrassed when he told him why.
“So, I have to try and protect myself from Wensa, just in case. I don't know what I'll have to defend against. I still haven't figured out poisons, so don't tell her that one, alright?”
Tor assured them several times that he was fine, then after taking a deep breath, asked the King if he could see him in two or three days about the drought problem. It would take at least that long to make sure he could do anything useful anyway. The King just bowed a tiny bit and stated that they'd have luncheon in three days, if that would suit.
That… should be fine.
Rolph was at least as tired as he was after his combat rage episode, which he assured him wasn't a common thing. Tor reminded him that he knew it wasn't, obviously, having lived with him for years.
Rolph looked chagrined, “it's just, that guy, Ward, made me so angry. Sure, people have sex and sometimes things like this happen, but for him to act like he was the victim and worse, claim that she was a slut… it was too much. Even if she was a slut, which a half dozen lovers a year doesn't make her at all, you just don't say such things in public like that. I'm kind of surprised her father didn't declare war right there. Really, the only reason he didn't was probably the fight itself. Ursala's honor was defended instantly and then, what you did…”
His friend yawned and led him back to the guest house, so that they could both sleep. It was before midnight, but the morning would come early, Tor knew, somehow it always did. He headed off to bed as soon as he got changed for it, laying the nice clothes out on the table, so that he wouldn't accidentally ruin them. The room, thankfully, was cool. He'd left the servants with all the remaining personal heat exchangers he realized. No big deal, he'd make up more in the morning before he started on the other work that had to get done.
His head hit the pillow and he slept until he heard a soft knock coming from his door. He blinked awake, dim light coming from the curtained window of the large room.
“Coming.” He called out struggling to crawl out of the bed covers. Tor's feet didn't want to work right and he stumbled a little as he walked across the floor. Brushing the sleep from his eyes he opened the door, to find Rolph's sister Karina standing in the hall. She didn't wait to be asked in, ducking past him and closing the door to keep the cool in.
“Good morning! Sorry to bother you so early, but I heard about the temperature control devices that people can wear and wondered if you might have another that I could borrow? I know that I have no right to ask or anything, but I'm going to be out all day and…” She looked hopeful and gave him a cute look that he recognized as wheedling. He had sisters after all, it wasn't like it was lost on him. He held up his hand to stop her, then yawned, covering his mouth with his other hand.
“Sorry,” he spoke quickly before she thought he was being mean to her or something. “All out. I don't even have my own anymore, or you could have that one. Gave them out to the servers last night. It will take me… Oh, at least another couple hours to do up the next batch. I have some plates I can put them on, but I don't have anything to etch them with. If you could find me some sand paper we could get it done quickly enough. Acid would work too, if you can find some strong enough?”
She looked surprised, but not put out.
“I suppose I could find something, two hours? I wanted to leave by noon…”
It turned out that it was only nine, so he assured her they could have something before then, if he hurried. She ran out and he got right to work, sitting on his bed, making the transfers from the template. It seemed easier to do this time for some reason. Maybe he was finally getting used to doing it? Could be the simplicity of the field itself too. Either way it worked for him.
He managed to get his teeth brushed and if not a full bath, a good scrubbing down, before the Princess got back. She had a bottle of acid with her and some natural fiber brushes that would simply dissolve if they tried to put it in the bottle. Her face fell when he mentioned that, but he smiled and assured her that they could use it anyway. Taking the plates out into the garden with a large bucket of water, he put the heavy paper on the metal, making sure it was flat and then carefully poured the stark white paste onto the metal, using the glass of the bottle's lip to spread it around. Then they had to wait about ten minutes to rinse, this acid being rather stronger than the stuff he could get at school, but once that was done, they were ready to go.
He handed her a damp piece of copper and had her test it. Standing out in the heat like they were, the effects were instant. He took one himself and did the same thing. The sudden sense of comparative cool took him for a moment. Delicious.
The thought reminded him that he should probably eat before getting back to work, if he could find food. He mentioned this to Karina, hoping she'd be able to point the way to the kitchen, which she did, even going as far as to walk him to the door of the small light colored outbuilding. Then she kissed him on the cheek and blushing, ran away.
He touched his cheek. Heh, kissed by a Princess. Wait until he told the folks at home. Then he realized they either wouldn't believe him or would misunderstand how innocent it really was. As she scurried away, a quick walk rather than an undignified run or playful scamper, she looked back over her shoulder and smiled. Her red hair swaying as she walked. Tor kind of wished she'd stayed. Having someone that belonged there next to him would have lent a lot of weight to the idea that he wasn't just some beggar that had slipped past the guard or something.
Looking down he realized that his old brown school outfit might not work for him in this situation. They'd probably grab him and set him to scrubbing pots or something, it didn't look that different than what a lot of the people in the kitchen wore he'd bet. The only problem really being that he had other work he needed to be doing. Instead, as he stood in the door, an unfinished wood frame, no one noticed him for a long time, almost five minutes. Finally a large woman, tall, not heavy, with gray and silver hair cut short, spun on him.
“Help you sir?” She said, her voice friendly if hurried.
Tor asked if they had a spare crust of bread or some fruit lying around that he might have, the woman chuckled and had him sit at a low table apologizing for the heat. She bustled and grabbed half a small loaf and cut him a slice of light yellow cheese, which she laid on top of the brown crust, to this she added a stack of apple slices that had been dried. They had an odd, almost crisp texture that melted in his mouth when he took a bite of apple. One of his new dryers had been used on these then? The effect was interesting, if not identical to regular dried fruit.
The woman smiled at him as she scooted him out the door by waving at him, he had to carry the new heat exchangers under the bread, but managed it without dropping anything. Thinking for a second, Tor rolled his eyes. Seriously, he was a moron sometimes.
“Excuse, ma'am? Um, here, they don't have cords on them, but they might help with the heat.” Holding out half the pile of copper plates got the tall woman to stop and stare at him for a second, as if he was trying to give her a burden. Maybe she didn't like magic or…
“Oh! Are these some of those cooling devices the servers got last night? I've been trying to cage one all day, since I heard about them…” She took one from his grasp and hit the sigil, closing her eyes briefly as she did.