He meant it as a joke, of course, but she smiled at him a little sadly, and sighed. At least she didn't seem upset with what he'd just said. It wouldn't do to compound any sadness she had if he could help it.
At dinner itself he was seated away from the Queen and King a good ways, but closer to them than most people, which surprised him. He figured they'd put him off in the kitchen or at least at the other end of the table, if they were going by rank. After all, some of the servers probably outranked him socially here. They were palace servants after all and he was just a student. Actually, that would mean everyone in the room outranked him. It was sobering, but made him both grin to himself and feel a bit like an impostor. No one around him was familiar, but he was seated directly beside a young girl with deep reddish brown hair and a smooth cream like complexion who looked familiar. The same one from the room the other day? She was a little too young for him, maybe, but not so young that he couldn't think she was pretty. Fourteen or so. Back in the village he could have dated, even married her, in a year or two, his own seventeen not being considered too old for her yet. Not all gross or anything at least. Fourteen was legal after all, if she was really that old.
Here… well, he didn't know the rules regarding ages here, but suspected it wasn't all that strict. Not if Maria had gone off to marry a thirty odd year old Count when she couldn't have been any older than the young woman next to him. The girl smiled, her eyes looking very familiar, but then a lot of the royals did. They were all related in some fashion or another after all.
“I don't think we've met formally yet. I'm Veronica.” She didn't offer her hand, but kept smiling and leaned towards him slightly, so that he knew she was speaking directly to him.
“Nice to meet you. I'm Torrence. Um, everyone calls me Tor though. My friends at least.”
She giggled and nodded.
“I know who you are, of course. I saw you in your room the other day? You're the one that's making this summer bearable, thanks to the cooling devices you gave me. Karina told me she nearly kept them all, but found that she didn't need to, they work so well. She likes you, you know. My sister I mean.” The girl looked around to check and see where the other Princess was, up the table a few places. “Don't buy it though, she just wants stuff from you. More toys. She'll play with you that way if you let her. You're better off just giving her the things she wants and finding some nice girl to hang around with. At least find one that will actually sleep with you. Karina's a giant tease. Plus, even if you got her into bed, she'd probably only do it to get you to do what she wanted. Definitely not worth the hassle.”
The girl smiled and looked around at the people around them, keeping a polite and gentle look on her face the whole time.
Then they spoke of much more normal things, where she went to school, the palace of all places, since they had fine tutors brought in for it. Then what kind of things she liked to do. It turned out that she was interested in learning to fly, but so far hadn't gotten a flying rig. It wasn't forbidden her like it was the King, but the military was taking them all up so fast that they were almost impossible to get.
“That's why everyone's so envious of the gift you gave the Morgans tonight. Say, you don't have any more of those lying around your room that you might be willing to part with do you?” Her voice got excited.
“Um, not right now… I can probably work up a new batch. Actually I need to soon, but I won't be able to on vacation, I don't think, I have so many other things to do first. Want me to earmark one for you? The controls will be for the left hand, which I think will help the military. That way most of them can use their dominant hand for aiming weapons. Plus I need to fix the turning on them, so that it's easier to control, which will make them simpler to use I think.” He held out his left hand and mimicked aiming a weapon with the right to demonstrate, getting some oddly interested glances from the people around him, instead of the baffled glares he expected. Well, they could all hear him anyway, so it probably made sense.
The youngest Princess smiled at him and nodded, telling him that she'd pay well for it if he'd get her one. He shook his head.
“I just meant as a present. There's no debt between friends after all. Besides, you have to wait, at least a bit. I do have some shields though. I'll send one for you and another for your sister, they're handy to have, even if you can't fly yet.” The girl smiled broadly and brushed his right arm gently with her left. A friendly gesture he thought. Nothing that would make Rolph have to pound him at least. He hoped.
Over the course of the next hour her chair kept moving closer to his as she whispered things to him, mainly court gossip.
“Baroness Michelson and Count Ward have been having a thing for a while, since he got… well, you know about that. People aren't supposed to notice who's with who overly, but he doesn't know the meaning of discrete. The lout even had the nerve to ask me to bed. After the thing with Ursala. I mean, before sure, why not, but after? He must be nearing forty don't you think? You'd think he'd know better. Talk about improper. Not the age thing, that could be forgiven in interest of having a good time, he is dreamy, but all of it put together. I got mom to talk to him and let him down easy. But… well. Not something I like to dwell on.” The girl grinned at him and hid it behind her hand.
Tor realized that the girl was a little confused about some things, like her sister trying to use him. She wouldn't use, she'd just demand. For that matter the junior Princess could just do the same. That she asked instead meant a lot to him personally. Hopefully she'd continue in that vein over time. No one liked to feel like they didn't have a choice at all, even when they didn't.
The dinner itself was excellent, if having too many courses for comfort. After the first one Tor had to copy the petite girl next to him, and eat only a little of each serving, since cleaning his plate would lead to discomfort, if not his getting sick at table. That would be worse even than his seeming wasteful. With each course, he noticed that Varley made point to engage a different person in discussion. He started trying to copy her, figuring that the girl knew a lot more about how to do this kind of thing than he did.
What he found out was fascinating.
About half the people seemed to actually want to talk to him, normally about problems in their district, county or once, from a fairly attractive, but much older, woman about six people to the right, but across the table, her own household. Her problem turned out to be easy enough to solve, once he thought about it for a few seconds. She had mildew inside her home, because of moisture. All she needed was a device to drive out moisture during the damp months. That could be done. It was just a matter of moving water around after all.
He'd done that a few times now.
Tor repeated what he'd told Varley, that he couldn't do the work just then, but would gladly send something to her if she'd write him a note reminding him about it and where the device had to get to. She looked surprised.
“Oh! I… I mean that's wonderful of course, but surely you're too busy for my petty concerns. I'll muddle by like always…”
He waved that away and asked her to send the note again. It was a largish field, but it wouldn't take that long to develop. Tor just needed the time. He always needed more time. Better than being bored at least, right?
It was the rest of the conversations that made him feel uncomfortable.
Two of the women openly flirted with him, right at the table, so blatantly he figured it was them just making fun of him for some reason. Especially since one of them could have been his grandmother, which given how young all the royals looked compared to real people meant she must be nearing a hundred years old. The other looked to be about thirty and really, if she hadn't been sitting right next to her husband, he might have been interested, at least in theory.