Ancient Kings (The Young Ancients) (32 page)

Rich settled into a chair that was obviously his and moved his head in a fashion that indicated the rest of them should find a place as well. It didn't take long, since they had a lot of room. Count Lairdgren who just looked at him, and then Fines for a long time, finally nodded.

"Good choice for a replacement. Master Fines is well respected in the field, and has enough years behind him that people won't think that the working group is just a school project. I would like to see the reach expanded a bit, perhaps to a few other institutions? Do you have any plans for that? We don't need a lot more builders working at that level, but scattering them a bit might be advantageous."

Tor thought he got the basic idea without being told. Too much magic was dangerous to the world. It was, he realized, something that had been coming from Cordes, not his own mind. A thing that he'd noticed from hard won observation over centuries. Every time people became too affluent, or when the ability to alter the world itself became too great, that ended badly.

He'd been considering that fact, but it was clear that more would be needed there, before too long.

No one else seemed to need to be instructed in that fact so he didn't talk about it himself either. That would just be trying to look smart, he knew. Not that he wanted to seem like a moron, but these people didn't need him to chatter at them to fill time.

"Not at present. I might have some contacts at the Printer school. I don't know what they have going on as far as building however. I should check on that." Possibly by talking to Holly, since she owned the place. Handily, she was even in the building.

Count Lairdgren smiled at him and didn't add anything else, even though it would have been normal in a conversation like that.

Richard glanced at Tovey however and didn't break eye contact.

"So, has there been any progress on what we discussed earlier?"

"Not yet. A few have asked about the Ward problem, but no one seems that concerned yet. Not openly. I'm hoping that something will break soon."

So much was left unsaid that Tor didn't have a clue what the two men were going on about, except that it seemed to have something to do with Count Ward, or possibly Maria, his wife. The men didn't explain either, which meant it was a secret, more or less. He didn't have any of those to share, so it felt a little like he was useless to the conversation. On the good side, everyone got a turn, more or less, except Instructor Fines, who just sat peacefully, looking old and a bit like he didn't belong in the Palace.

Tor could relate, remembering what it had been like his first ten or twenty times himself. Talk about something to make you uneasy. It wasn't just the finery either, but the fact that there were all those Royals hanging about, like they were waiting for you to make a mistake so they could pounce. They never did though, even when he messed things up pretty badly. That probably meant they liked him, he figured.

The conversation shifted a after about five minutes, to his current plans, of all things. He was a little bit chagrined, but he told the truth, wondering if Smythe or Rich would yell at him for being so lazy.

"I'm just planning to take a break for a while. This latest thing, with the healing devices is probably enough disruption to be going on with. In a few months I need to check in with Denno and make certain he has a handle on his Larval Assassins. If not, I'll probably have to kill them all." He wanted to claim he had some kind of major working planned, but really didn't. Not at all. "I might go and see what some of the various business holdings are getting up to and all that."

There was no yelling at all, in fact Smythe grinned as if it were a present for him personally.

"Very good! If you're looking for a worthy project, young Timon mentioned that some of the citizens of the Capital have been liberating water from the glowing river. They use it for garden plots around the city, perhaps you've noticed? The problem is that the boards and planks they use to interrupt the stream seem to be eating away the wall at the top in places. I hate to tell them they need to stop, but we can't actually afford to have the wall taken down in large divots at the moment. Would it be possible to come up with a fix for that? One that might leave people with the ability to have their gardens?" The older man looked at Tor frankly, as if it were some kind of actual problem , rather than a simple fix that would take less than a day.

"All that's needed is a variation of a water pump, designed to spray water over a large area rather than make a single stream of it. I've made several things that can do that already, so it isn't even a new build. When do you want it by?"

There was a bit of hesitation as the men looked at each other and then oddly at Count Lairdgren and Tovey, who crossed his arms.

It was the King who answered.

"Well... We don't want to take away from your current plans or force you to do free labor. What would such a project cost?" It was a strange thing to ask about, but Tor thought he got it. They owed him too much gold already and didn't want to increase the debt. That meant he was probably being a jerk about it again, not spending enough. That or the Prince was, since he controlled the treasury funds. Those shouldn't be building up that fast though, unless the interest rate was really that high?

"Nothing. In fact I won't even be doing the build or copy work on it. I have a person in mind for that. She might not be able to do it very fast though. I'll pay and we can hire some people to do the gardening portion for the kingdom, in the places that aren't being used. Maybe set up some orchards? This place could use some trees." That got Smythe to smile at least, though the others still looked tense, except for Fines who simply touched his hairless chin.

He leaned in a bit, but addressed Tor directly.

"Whom do you have in mind for the project? Some of the newer members of the Lairdgren Group? It would be a decent place for them to start. It might take them out of their projected schedules however."

He shook his head a bit, trying not to frown.

"No, I was thinking that I'd get my little sister to do it. Maybe see if any of the rest of them can manage some copy work. I might have to run up a template for it, but it seems a good project for them."

Count Lairdgren nodded at least, though he didn't get it at all.

"Tiera has been working on meditation skills and has the basic ability. I was going to ask after her. Losing a friend like that can be hard. They didn't know each other long, which will make it easier in the long run, but for the coming months she'll need to be watched."

Tor wanted to roll his eyes, but the man, no matter how young looking he seemed, was an elder, which meant he deserved respect. Even if he'd missed the actual point.

"I was thinking that
Taman
could do it. Tiera and I are working up a baking project. The idea was to help the homemaking students that needed the extra work, but I misjudged the need there. We can do something though. Maybe do some extra baking for the school meals? The fare is a bit plain. I don't want to make everyone fat, but some nicer rolls and bread won't hurt anything, and the occasional cookie might be appreciated." It was a bit presumptive of him, subjecting that the school menu to changes like that, but it really was kind of basic. That was down to the Count too, since he was in control of the budget. The cook, Millis, and his people had the skill set, if not the time for fancy baking. They lacked the materials though.

Lairdgren, possibly because he was so very old, didn't seem to have a problem with that at all.

"I'll drop a note. Can you two do that regularly enough do you think? Don't forget the alternate program there either. They're used to higher quality foodstuffs. Then, I charge their parents more for the privilege, so it works out."

Tor actually felt a little better, knowing that he had two whole things to look into suddenly. True, it wasn't a lot of work, but it would tide him over until he found something that interested him long term. He hoped so at least. He was far too young to be bored yet.

The world was vast and interesting after all, he just had to find things to keep himself busy.

He smiled a bit, feeling almost complete for the moment. He had everything done, didn't he? Some things that he had to work on, but nothing pressing. Some space craft, just in case the fleets incoming weren't a joke, but that was mainly a lark, he was pretty sure. Who'd come all that way just to attack? For that matter, who'd bother making the trip? There was a lot of gold to spend and that was kind of a chore, but he could get other people to do that part for him. At least a bit of it. The other option was to just stop taking coin for things at all. That didn't really work though, so he decided to see about that part soonish.

Tiera had that matter with those people she wanted to kill and it was going to be hard to actually encourage that, especially when one of them was a little girl, but Tor didn't really think she had a lot of choice there. Nearly a month before he'd told her that Sandra would let things go and it wouldn't be a problem. That had ended so badly he was kind of shocked Tiera hadn't tried to kill him over it personally. Now he was pretty certain that he wasn't smart enough to know what anyone would do. It was clear to him though that if Sandra was his sister or daughter, it wouldn't go over well if someone wanted to kill her.

That did bring up the question of where Count Morris had gotten too.

He looked at Tovey, since he was nearly right across from him, leaning back a bit, though not looking tired at all.

"I noticed that Count Morris wasn't at the meeting..."

That got a nod at least.

"Right. His current heir is sitting for him. Special dispensation, given the trial coming up. As you might imagine, that's slated for the last few days of the council. It gives us a few weeks. Any word as to what Tiera has planned in that regard? There's some talk of renewed warfare there..." He didn't even so much as glance at the King, who had gone more than a little still. Count Lairdgren actually frowned, which was a big deal for him. Little things like wars didn't normally get him to react much at all.

 "She plans to kill the Count, Countess and his entire family, I believe. Then throw in with the rebels. More to the point, she's already in talks with them. I think her taking over Morris is part of their plan to see if she's truly on their side." It was tempting to wait for the explosion to come, just to see how everyone reacted, but Tor smiled at the King first, which got silence instead. "I'll warn you now that she's serious about killing Morris and Sandra. If the council doesn't do it that is. The other two are my idea. Or, more accurately Cordes's. I'm personally not that wild about it, but I can see that my plans for how to fix things there haven't worked at all so far. I was the one that told her to let them surrender in the first place. I thought I was being noble and intelligent, but look where that got us."

"Ah." The King looked at the others in the room and grimaced a little. They were all loyal, but who knew what the Counts had snuck in? They weren't subject to truth verification and most of them had actually avoided it, because they had secrets. Not all of them bad, as far as things went, but it still meant they might have spies or magics in place to listen in to what they said. "Do you think she plans to kill me herself?"

For the life of him, Tor couldn't tell if the man was kidding, or just asking a bland and normal question that could apply to almost anyone.

Tor shook his head.

"Nooo... Remember, you and Connie are family now. You by marriage, but that counts too. That little bit of annoyance for me is a great boon to you at the moment. She might bloody your nose sometime, or call you names, but she'd never try to
really
harm you. I don't even think she's that mad at you now, having a bit of a chance to calm down and figure out why you seemed to be backing Morris before. Still, it's a good way for her to get in good with those others, don't you think?"

If Fines hadn't known they were on the eve of a rebellion, he did now. The man didn't react though, not even internally, his mind staying smooth and calm, much like what Doris always did. Or, Tor supposed, how he seemed to others, if they bothered to try and read him at all.

A sense of relief rolled off of Rich then, as if he really figured that Tiera was going to turn on him or something. That might have been her plan, but it wouldn't have ever really happened, Tor didn't think. She was too smart not to see that as a horrible idea.

Shortly after that, the little group broke up, which meant walking to a side room where Alphonse was storing the others that had come with him, giving them a chance to catch up. It was nice and a thing that they hadn't gotten to do in a while. Just talk about things that didn't really matter to anyone else. Birthdays and trips.

"Tim has a whole group going to Soam soon. We were going to cancel it, due to the plague, but now it seems that everyone can go. Are you and Ali headed down too? Karina is going with them. I can't, being the Heir and all that. Not this time."

Tor shook his head a bit.

"Ali has school and I'm staying there for a while. I've been about the worst husband ever so far. At least I gave her some flowers the other day, but... I need to be there for her, I think."

"Far from the worst. No one can doubt that you've had a good reason for all that you've done at least, which is better than some people ever manage. You do have a point though, if you actually want to be close to her. Taking a trip together for pleasure isn't a bad idea though, if you get a chance. Oh..." He held up a single finger, the large hand held at about his own head height, so well over seven feet up. "Mother was worried that you wouldn't come to her birthday party this year, since there was that mild bit of slightly shocking news."