“The Lord Duke Brettermere and Duchess Brettermere!” He called out. Like everyone else had, they took exactly five steps into the room and stopped, waiting for about fifteen seconds before walking on into the huge space. The woman wore a pretty purple dress that, while not as shining as some, still lit up the room a lot. Tor thought it looked really nice, but then purple was his favorite color. They were both older, gray hair on their heads and wrinkled faces. Only a few people turned around to look at them. Dukes and Duchesses didn't rate much attention in a room with this crowd it seemed.
Tor limped up slowly to the man, wondering if he'd come to the right place at all, half expecting the man to send him off to the kitchen to start baking or scrubbing pots. Though if they wanted him to bake they really should have gotten him in place a lot earlier in the day. Baking wasn't a last minute thing really. Instead the man looked at him questioningly, his face going blank for a bit. One of the liveried Royal Guards by the door made a small noise, a clearing of his throat, which got the man to lean in for a moment. His face went totally blank, and then he nodded.
“Tor!” He called out simply, his voice just as powerful as before.
Making his way into the room slowly, Tor stopped like everyone else had, hoping it was the right thing to do, he'd counted off ten seconds when he realized that most of the room had turned to stare at him. Eeek. Had he messed something up already? The guy had announced him, and the Queen asked him to come, right? He hadn't misunderstood had he? God he hoped not. That would be too embarrassing to live with. Tor walked on, hoping that if he had screwed up everyone would consider it in poor taste to notice or something. Maybe he really was supposed to help the servers or something? But if that was the case, shouldn't Burks have dressed him in green so that he'd match?
Everyone else had made their way to the front, past the long table, an incredible sight all on its own, he followed along with the crowd, because he didn't have much of a choice if he didn't want to be stepped on. After about twenty minutes, his leg starting to ache horribly, he saw what everyone was doing, heading up to where the King and Queen sat on large chairs, set on a raised platform. People walked up and bowed, spoke a few words and then walked to the far side of the room, where they all stood talking and mingling.
Three groups of people walked past him to see the King and Queen as he slowly made his way towards the front. The conversations seemed simple enough. They said “your majesty”, which wasn't plural, bowed to each, with Rich getting the first bow, said that the event was lovely, commented on how pleasant the room was or how lovely the Queen looked and headed off. It was all so formal that Tor almost felt like going up and calling out “Howdy Rich! How's it going Connie?” in his best Two Bends accent, but decided against it. He didn't want to start trouble or anything. Not just for a laugh about something only he would find at all funny. But it would have been funny.
Hilarious in fact…
When he got to the front he managed a bow to each and to say the required phrases he'd heard, which got a smile from them both that looked a bit more genuine than what the others had been getting he thought. He hefted the box a little to catch their attention.
“This is for your sister and her husband, the Morgans? It's just the flying stuff I promised earlier and a set of shields. I didn't know this was going to be such a big thing… Do you think one of you could slip it to them for me? I don't know if I'll be able to find them and it's a little bulky to carry around all night with this stick in my other hand.” He smiled hoping it wouldn't seem all out of place. These were his friends though, like Rolph. Important people, but still people. Maybe they'd understand what he meant.
Richard smiled and took the box himself, causing the guard standing next to him to go wide eyed for some reason. Probably wondering if Tor had just handed the King something harmful. Eeek! Tor would have to learn to be careful about things like that in the future.
“Certainly. Our pleasure. Now, go see if you can find someone to talk to for a bit before dinner. I think I see Alphonse off over there, at the top left of the room.” This came out as a friendly whisper rather than the man's normal booming voice, probably so Tor wouldn't be embarrassed by the directions. Nice of him to think of it. He nodded thanks and waved to them both a little as he walked away.
They all really were going out of their way to be nice to him. Tor smiled as he tried to find his giant friend.
The top left turned out to be on the left portion of the right side of the room, which was more than a little confusing as far as directions went. Thank goodness Rolph was pretty tall. Not the tallest man in the room by far, some were even taller than the King, but the red hair made him easy enough to find. A small group had collected around him, mainly people Tor didn't know, older people, all freakishly huge.
Thankfully, near that group was Count Thomson, who stood next to a beautiful blond woman that was at least a foot taller than Tor. He worked his way over and stood near them, hoping that he'd be noticed, the Count being used to seeing him around at least. The woman noticed him first, which kind of surprised him, since no one else had been looking down enough for the most part.
“Hello!” She said brightly holding out her right hand. “Baronetta Collette Coltress.”
Tor took the hand and bowed over it a little, like he'd seen everyone else doing with the ladies.
“Torrence Baker.” He said simply. It was the only name he had, even if it wasn't impressive sounding and didn't have a fancy title attached. The woman nodded and kept smiling as if his name was completely ordinary for the room.
“This is a lovely party isn't it? I was so pleased when Count Thomson invited me. I'm afraid that I normally wouldn't rate an invitation to something like this at all, not on my own merits.” She flushed prettily and ducked her head as if embarrassed at her “low” station. It worked with the soft pink color of her dress. Her green eyes looked a little humbled as she glanced around. Tor could sympathize. The woman leaned in a little and whispered conspiratorially to him. “The man with the red hair behind me? He's the heir! And we're standing right here not ten feet from him. The Count said he'd get me an introduction to him if we can make our way over through this crowd, isn't that something? I've met his little sister Veronica, but never Alphonse himself…”
“You know, I've never actually met Veronica myself. I… thought her name was Valarie to tell you the honest truth. I think we must have just kept missing each other so far. This place is so huge, you know? Anyway, nudge Tovey's arm for me will you? I want to use him as a shield so that I don't get stepped on.”
The girls eye's lit happily and she jiggled her date's arm enough to catch his attention and related what Tor had said. The man turned to look around and looked over his head twice, not even playing around. Everyone else in the room was just that big.
“Tor! There you are, yes, come stand by me and Collette here. You've met?”
“Oh, yes. Old friends you know.” Tor answered with a smile, being that the Count had pulled him close enough that he bumped into the pink ruffles the woman wore. She smelled nice, he noticed, the scent catching him from about three inches away as she turned, her bust line almost hitting him in the face. Not a bad view, but a little hard to stare at, being too close to focus on, he chuckled a little and took a half step back. At least it wasn't just him, everyone was packed this closely together in the room. Nearly at least. Tor accidentally stepped into someone and turned rapidly to apologize.
He froze, but only for a second. A sense of relief came over him as he finished the turn. Trice. “Hey! So good to see you…” His face faltered as he saw her eyes. They looked sad and hurt. She shook her head and turned away.