Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (21 page)

His sister didn't look at all pleased, but got a funny look on her face, which seemed linked to her clothing shifting around her, into a black velvet outfit with trousers and a tunic instead of her pretty dress.

"That's alright, Tor can pay for it. They're his family after all."

Tim grinned and shook his head. It didn't look real, but he clearly was making the effort.

"Yours too. Trust me I already thought of that one. We'll live. I'll let you ride with Julie though. Try not to get too close to her. That makes it harder to resist her overtures." He wasn't kidding, Tor knew, but Laurie smiled a bit, as if he was.

The others didn't though, except Dan Green. He was busy paying attention to
everything
though. It was clear in the way his eyes were moving, but the rest of him wasn't.

It cut the numbers down a lot, since White walked past Laurie and patted her shoulder as she passed, which meant that Tor's mother let her gaze linger on the woman's behind until after she was out of the door. On the good side, most of her pearl like skin was actually covered today, if in a thin and partially see through dress.

"Oh, my... She's rather pretty, isn't she?" This was accompanied by Lauralie standing and shaking her head several times.

The others just started agreeing with her. It was true, for what it was worth, but there was a lot more to the woman than just her looks. The appeal hit on multiple levels and even when Julie tried to suppress it, it was hard not to focus on her alone. It was probably one of the reasons that the others had all left as fast as they did. If you were around her for too long, you simply started to become her slave. Willingly. Now that Tor thought about it, he wondered how close that had been to happening before. Julie White taking over the world using sex appeal that no one else could really resist. His bet was very, if he had to make a guess with no proof.

Ducking out the door himself, after making a polite excuse, he started to try and find Collette, hoping that she'd know who was supposed to be in charge of the meal. He'd invited the remainder, but food still had to be served to them and it would look bad if they didn't have enough. Odds were Glaren had simply over-prepared by a good bit, since that was the rule for things like this, just in case others showed up, but he didn't know if the places were set or not.

She was in the large room where the people waiting stood, talking to one another, drinks in hand already. There were four servants going around with trays that held fluted glassware, filled with an amber wine. He didn't take one himself, but two of the men, both wearing fine black suits with light green shirts underneath, offered him their trays. Collette was near the front of the room, standing with the Royal family and several of their guards, as well as three that were out of uniform, wearing simple, but nice clothing. All clothing amulets, so George, Wensa and Kara were clearly trying to not put on airs.

"Hello, everyone! So sorry about being late, I had some unexpected business come up. I'm so glad you all came though. We need to introduce everyone to our Austran guests. Denno is here, so we'll let him and Count Lairdgren do that, shall we?" He moved in and bowed to all the Royals, which caused Connie to look horribly hurt, until he gave her a small hug. It wasn't romantic, but did get her to smile at least. Varley moved in and hugged him then too, which got some attention from her husband, though Count Peterson didn't say anything about it.

He just seemed troubled and patted Tor on the back, like they were old friends.

They all started moving a bit then, not sure where they were supposed to go, as Tor pulled Collette over and leaned in to whisper.

"Do we have room at the table for a few Ancients?" She'd know what that meant he hoped.

"Oh, certainly. When Tim told me they might be coming we set it all up. Isn't it marvelous? This many beings of legend under our own roof. I hope they aren't disappointed by what we have to offer..."

Tor shrugged.

"Most had to leave, for one reason or another. Some to try and save their lands from the plague that's coming. The rest will probably be here for the night, I hope. They might not. Things are pressing."

That caused the woman to nod prettily but she smiled and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, just as Ali walked up. She'd been mingling, like a proper hostess, unlike him, who'd shirked his duties horribly.

Collette looked over at the clock, which said it was just then turning nine. He wasn't even late or anything.

"Would it be possible to get people settled do you think, Tor? I imagine that some of the guests will be a bit surprised by who sits where."

He walked back to the side room and just popped his head through the door.

"Dinner is about to be served. Please come this way." It took a few seconds, but the remaining people did follow him, after a moment.

The four Blues, who all looked the same, but pretty. Red, who was the shortest person there right now, except Gerent, and who looked, according to the memories Cordes had shown him, Chinese. Dan Green, Burks, Denno, Laurie and Alice Orange. The rest had taken off. It would have to do, he guessed, though it would have been a bit more impressive if the rest of them had stuck around.

The seating was done by six well dressed men in matching black and green outfits, with Tor and Ali going in first, being taken to the head of the table, as funny as that felt. It was, after all, his house, so he held that place, and Ali was his lawful wife. To his right hand sat the King and to Ali's left was his mother. After that it got confusing for the Noram nobles.

Normally things went by a combination of rank and who was most important to the hosts at the moment. That could muddy things a little, but generally wasn't looked at too harshly, as long as all the high ranking people could understand why things were happening, more or less. It was considered kind of an insult in general to seat a Countess or Count more than halfway down the table. Adding a bunch of Ancients clearly changed that dynamic though, since about half of the high ranking nobles were too far down for comfort on a normal day.

Worse, even though most of them wouldn't have cared at all if they were at the far end, not being all that invested in Noram traditions, they were the rulers of their lands. Lyn, Denno and Blue at least. Burks wasn't counted that way for this room, even if it was the truth behind the scenes. Still, there was no doubt he was the Green Man, even if most of the people didn't get that yet.

It was nearly funny, since almost divided at the centerline of the table he could see the difference in people's faces. Above that imaginary point, there were polite expressions and a few smiles. Below it, many of the people were fine, like Trice and Gerent, but a few, like the Count and Countess Ross, Tovey and Countess Printer, all seemed a bit upset. Tor waited until the last people were seated, a couple that he didn't know at all, who looked positively terrified for some reason.

He could see that, since the last places on either side of the table were called the poison seat for a reason. In general it was where the ones that you were the most displeased with were put. Of course, if you didn't know them that could mean a lot of different things, couldn't it? If they'd once mentioned that Tor was a bit above himself, or too stingy perhaps, they might just be wondering if he was holding a grudge.

He wasn't, but how were they to know that? The polite thing was just to ignore things like that and to let people work out for themselves what was happening. Besides, Collette had put them there. Maybe the grudge was hers?

The Austrans were mixed in as well, putting a few of the nobles still further down than they might have been. For instance, it was clear that the Ambassador had to be placed fairly high up the table, since it would be insulting otherwise. He couldn't be higher than Brown though, and couldn't be right next to him, being unfortunately male. Kincaid Rue would have been next to Timon no doubt, but he'd been pulled away, so she was sitting next to an older man that seemed attentive, but not like he was flirting with her. Given his position in the line, he had to be a Count, Tor thought. He was actually above Alphonse and Abbie at the table, so apparently
someone
really liked him.

"Thank you all for coming. I wish a very heartfelt welcome to our guests from Austra and hope that everyone will take this opportunity to be fast friends. We also have the privilege of having several world leaders here tonight. Lyn Red, of Vagus, Denno Brown of Austra and Cynthia Blue, of the Antarctic. Welcome all of you." He bowed to each of them in turn, getting a wave from Denno and a lowered head from Cynthia. Red just winked, since they were old friends and she really didn't care about the niceties of Noram social politics when it came right down to it.

 Besides, as strange as it looked, she was sitting directly next to Cordes Blue, who'd let one hand drift below the table.

The rest of the meal went pretty normally, mainly having to do with small talk, since it was beyond rude to start jabbering about how they were all going to die from the Gray Plague at the table. Tor liked that one, calling it that. The Gray Plague. He'd have to start using that, if it got too bad. Maybe if it didn't.

The food was very good and they actually had enough servants for once, with each guest only having to share with three others. No one wanted for service and everyone seemed at least somewhat entertained by the people around them. Even Taman, who was bragging a bit about her latest copy work. She wasn't loud about it, but the people, all strangers to her, seemed impressed enough that they asked others if it was true.

Tor nodded but didn't call down the table, since that would be rude. Richard leaned over a bit to look at him closely though.

"
Really
now? That's impressive. At this rate she'll soon be the youngest builder ever. And here I was impressed when you did it at only seventeen."

Tor smiled hugely.

"Builder
Alyssa
did it at only fifteen and Timon at eleven. Guide and Sam were only fourteen. We live in a world of impressive people right now. Soon I won't have to do any building at all, just come up with ideas and pass them off to the others. Open a bake shop and find a hobby or two. Maybe stone carving? I've seen it done and have to say it looks pretty impressive."

There was a moment of silence at the top of the table while Ali ducked her head cutely and blushed.

Connie's eyes lit up though.

"Builder Alyssa? How... wonderful! You must be so proud. That's..." She teared up, but was smiling the whole time as the King stood and bowed to her.

"Builder Alyssa." The giant man was good at getting attention, and the intonation was formal, so most of the table stood up and copied him, bowing and repeating the phrase. It was pretty loud.

For her part his little wife turned an even deeper shade of red.

"Oh! That is wonderful! We're all so happy for you Ali." Laurie actually sounded like it and everything. Douglas beamed and was among the last to sit, showing how pleased he really was.

The Blues went back to chatting, except Cordes, who was covertly staring at the King. It took the copy Tor had in his head to explain why that was though.

'
That version of me hasn't met any of his descendants before. Her descendants? That whole hermaphrodite thing is a bit confusing. I was tempted to stare the first time I saw them all as well. Looking for a bit of me in their faces. It really isn't there, after thousands of years, but it's impossible not to check for it
.'

It hadn't occurred to Tor that Cordes would think of the Royal family as his people in particular. It seemed that he did though.
Both
of them did, the one inside of him and Cordes Blue. How strange.

The rest of the meal turned to what the various people from Austra were doing, how they lived and the current trends there. It was an interesting topic, since he actually knew some of the people involved. It took a few minutes for him to realize what Kincaid was talking about, since all those involved had gone back to their real names for working in their home country, but a few things clicked into place, making him smile.

"Oh... Our old spies? Kenner Thorgood the floor washing boy, Carlos from the kitchens and your man Quavel? It's good to hear they're all getting on so well." The words sounded very phony and far too proper coming from his own lips, but Connie saw that he was speaking to her personally and picked up the thread, her eyes going slightly wide as she realized exactly who it was that ran the place in Austra.

A restaurant called "The King's Table".

Richard smiled and nodded as Kincaid spoke after that, with her extolling the virtues of the place.

"It isn't as nice as The Tor's palace, of course, but Timon has helped out, acting as a patron, bringing in fresh supplies for their menu. It's very popular. We all went several times in the weeks before coming here, to try and learn the correct manners." She covered her mouth then. "That's probably not something I should say, is it?"

From down the table a way, nearly even with the foreign player, Princess Karina answered with a soft look on her face.

"What? That you all cared enough to try and learn the ways of the place you planned to visit? That's
very
proper, I'd think. Though... Why do you all keep calling him 'The Tor'? It's just Tor. Short for Torrance. It makes it seem a bit like a title, doesn't it? Is Tor a common name in Austra?"