They rode in silence for the most part, everyone still a bit sleepy or maybe saving up their stories for the camp fire later that night. Tor knew he didn't have any stories to tell that the others wouldn't know, not that they'd want to hear, but it gave him a kind of comfortable feeling. After all, your friends were the ones that knew you and what you'd done. Mainly at least.
Unless they were living a hidden life for years that they weren't allowed to tell you about… No huge thing. Who was he to demand answers from people like them? Yes, they were his friends, but also royalty and important people. Great that he knew them, but Tor didn't delude himself into thinking their tolerance of him meant he was their true equal.
It took less than two hours to get to the beach, where they were going to stay at the “little cabin”. For once that wasn't too much of a misstatement, at least not for Rolph and his family. It was a house, not a cabin, one with running water and flush toilets. No servants though, and only two bedrooms, so they'd have to share. That wasn't a real problem, since they shared at school anyway. They had only one bed in each room, but the beds were huge, even compared to the giant wonder he had back at the guest house. Everything was done in light, fresh colors and soft fabrics that could breathe, giving the whole thing a more open feeling than he'd expected from the outside. It was very nice, but not as opulent as the palace or the King's guest house. In all Tor had to wonder if it would be alright for him to stay here instead. The idea was relaxing at least. For one thing, way fewer people.
The first thing they did was go to the beach. Well, honestly the first thing everyone did was use the facilities and clean up, but then they went to the beach. Tor couldn't believe what was in front of him even as he stood looking. He'd seen it from the air, sure but that had been so far away, just an expanse of blue-green on the horizon, here he could walk right up and touch the water. It wasn't just salty but so salty that he could taste it in the air itself. Subtle but actually there.
It was a wonder for sure. A thing he'd heard of, learned of in school even, but hadn't really believed in until he saw it himself, not really. The whole thing just sounded so unlikely, a giant lake that was bigger than the entire continent they lived on? Vast waves, the scent of wet sand and water in the air, along with an almost phantom taste of it on the back of his tongue. The waves were more green than the water behind it and light passed through showing little particles and debris inside, with white tops that turned to foam on the beach in places.
Everyone else played in the water, but he hadn't come to play. Tor was there to work. It took hours of focus, made harder when Trice came and dumped a bucket of water on his head, which he ignored, even while everyone else laughed. It ended up helping him, even as it stung his eyes, since he used the liquid that dripped from him to get a feel for what dissolved salt in the water felt like.
That was the key. With that sense of things in mind, he could capture what clean, pure water was like in contrast. Pure water he knew, he drank it several times a day after all. Tor had even captured the feeling before, to build the filter for Galasia. What he needed then, was the difference. He sat with his eyes closed for two more hours, but when he was done he had a small version of the water purification system coupled with an above ground river. In extreme miniature. The field wouldn't last forever, he knew, maybe a few weeks, but it was good enough for a test. The stream of water floated in the air about five feet from the ground and was about as big around as he could reach with both hands. It twisted back and forth down about half a mile of beach, but looped back so that he was within about fifty feet of both ends.
The device itself was just a simple copper plate, not even a template, just a pure one up. It was just to test the filter after all, with a moving water stream. Tor actually had to remind himself of that, feeling a little bad about not making it “right” so that it could be copied and last. Walking to the flow of water, which was a lot clearer in the air than in the vastness of the ocean, where it looked a greenish blue, he put his hand in, only to find it carried along with the stream perfectly and a little painfully at the shoulder as it whip his hand along faster than he'd figured it would. Then he tried again, bracing himself, so the force of the water, the only thing the stream would carry, in order to prevent any junk from being taken along, wouldn't knock him off his feet. His hand caused a spray of water, which he managed to put his head in front of long enough to catch some in his mouth.
It was pure. Not just clean, but perfect. No hint of anything. Like really good well water. Rolph came over and tried a sip too, the whole thing easier for him, being a lot stronger than Tor, then drank it in deep gulps. Laughing he separated a bit of spray for the others too, who agreed it was clear of all salt. Not even the taste of salt from the air had gotten in.
Then Rolph started spraying them all with water, since the flow was pretty fast it flew a long way off of the main stream, this went on for a while, with Sara getting the worst of it for some reason. Tor got that it was that playful kind of flirting that people did sometimes that could seem mean, but wasn't meant that way at all. Plus the outfit for bathing Sara had on hugged her chest nicely when wet. Trice's did too, but she was Rolph's cousin, and ogling her would be at least a little wrong.
For Rolph.
Tor was willing, but didn't try spraying her himself, not wanting to be beaten for acting improperly. Deciding to end the game of getting her with water the pretty blond ran over and tapped the copper plate with a cute smile and a flip of her now damp hair, turning the field off altogether in a single instant.
Water splashed to the ground, the momentum moving the loose and dry sand easily, a wave about a foot high flowed back into the sea after a few seconds. Everyone giggled and Sara snagged the plate, so that it wouldn't get washed out in the flood.
Everyone laughed except him.
Tor went white.
“Crap.” He said, feeling dead inside, his stomach around his knees. Then he sat down on the ground suddenly, just falling with a muffled thump. “Fucking hell. Oh my freaking… stupid…”
Sara held the plate up, her eyes going wide.
“I didn't break it, did I?”
Her voice was worried, so he shook his head and waved his right hand, not able to articulate the real problem yet. Then, slowly, Tor pointed at the beach, a large chunk of it flattened and soaking. He couldn't speak even to mutter yet in his shock, but no one else seemed to see what had just happened.
“Look!” Tor hissed still pointing at the beach, sputtering a bit.
After a minute, breath still coming out hard, he managed to explain.
“I meant, still mean, to take what amounts to a giant river and put it in the air for irrigation, hundreds of miles away from the ocean, over land, near farms, cities and villages… If I built the field this way and it ever got turned off…”
That got their attention. No one spoke for a bit, then Rolph started chuckling nervously.
“Well, Sara, it looks like you just saved a part of the kingdom all on your own! Well, no problem. Tor's on it, so it will be fixed now. Good thing we were goofing around then, instead of “working” isn't it? Probably some of the most constructive play this year.” Moving carefully the large young man came over and patted Tor on the back warmly.
“Everything has flaws, it's just a matter of finding them and fixing them if you can. That's what building is all about, yes? I seem to remember some guy telling me that once…” The look that came along with the words was significant, as if trying to keep Tor from sinking into a depression.