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  He didn’t get a hug, just an exchange of bows. He went halfway down, the future King of Noram matching him. It was very polite. Actually, too much so. At least if his early lessons in such things had been correct. The man doing that kind of thing basically was him saying that he didn't know where on the social scale Al was going to range.

  Since the proper level would have probably been a slight head nod from the fellow, it was a bit overdone. Alphonse didn’t comment on anything, except to turn to Tor and shake him a bit.

  “He’s gone into a trance. He used to do this when we were in school. Someone would bring up a need for a new diaper cream or a way to get wrinkles from trousers without ironing and he’d slip away. Half the time he just left, walking away so he might be getting a bit better than he used to be that way.”

  There was a single eye that opened on the pale face.

  “Oddly enough, no. I was just going over what would be needed to terraform the moon. I can do the gravity, I think. Albert pointed some things out. It makes sense. I just need to treat gravity as a field that can be generated in a specific zone. That will need to be higher than a hundred feet though. At least ten miles. Then it can cut off though, so it won’t impact anything outside of it. Then we need air generation, surface water, which won’t be hard… I can dump the plants and animals on others. I think Gerent is on plants? Abbie is on animals. I should get with both of them on it… Soon. Right now, I need to get back home. You’re taking the transport hut away with you?”

  Alphonse waved at it, then looked at the Count, who nodded back.

  “This one?”

  Albert was already standing, so walked in that direction.

  “This is the one. I don’t know how I’m going to get it back, but it will work for now to take it there.”

  Tor waved at him, almost as if to say he was being silly.

  “You can just fly over, using your shield. You have one, being from the Moon. Timon did good work on them, so it’s even fairly fast. I can show you how to use it, if you haven’t had a chance yet?”

  Albert shook his head at the man, blushing.

  “I can use it. I just don’t fly. Not like that.” It was too dangerous. Really, he was against the idea of personal flight, unless you were in space.

  No one else seemed to get that though. At least Alphonse asked the obvious question.

  “Why not? I mean, if you can handle being in space or in a jump ship…” The words had him glared at, by Farlo.

  “Maybe he hasn’t been in space like that?”

  Albert sighed then.

  “No, I have. It’s just, that thing I was talking about earlier? What caused it.” He was willing to leave things there, so that he didn’t have to get on all fours for Tor, in thanks. Not that the Wizard didn’t deserve it. Really, that he was more concerned with how he looked, instead of doing what he should that way probably meant he was a bad person. Which was true.

  It was why he couldn’t have a pony. They’d already covered that. It felt like enough to him, but Tor looked over at him, seeming politely curious. The heir did as well, which kind of meant explaining. That or fleeing before they could stop him. They wouldn’t tackle him if he made a straight line for the booth then. Albert might even be able to walk over and do that. Be halfway subtle about it.

  Instead he just looked at the tall people and quirked his lips. Those were a bit thin, under his long nose. The lump in the middle of that held a lot of character, at least. It kind of dominated his face, to be honest.

  “Right… When I was a kid, seven or so, I was walking outside the wagon shop my family owns in the Capital. I heard some yelling, so half turned, just as I was hit. A man was flying along the street, racing another one. Um, something Pence, I think. A Baron Second? Richard, I think, like the King but that could be wrong. There was more than one of them there that day. Anyway, my back snapped from the impact with his shield, in three places. I was left crippled. I couldn’t walk for a year and a half. Which is even less fun than it sounds like. Thankfully I was young, so didn’t mind having to have other people help me in the restroom as much as all that. Then one day, an hour or two after the first big ice festival a woman came, with a healing amulet. Um… Conserina Ward. She told me that you’d made it and asked for me to be healed first thing. Me, personally. Some child you didn’t know at all.” He bowed then or tried to.

  It was a bit hard, since Tor laid on his stomach, on the ground. Blocking his subtle attempt to thank the man.

  Then, Tor, the mighty wizard, started to cry.

  “I’m so sorry. That was all my fault. I… I can’t ask you to forgive me.”

  Albert didn’t understand what the man was going on about. Really, no one there seemed to get it, so at least he wasn’t alone in his confusion.

  Chapter four

  It was Alphonse Cordes, the future King, who managed not to seem too surprised by the wizard’s current antics. The tall red-haired giant of a man looked at his friend on the ground and, not smiling or laughing at him, simply cleared his throat.

  “Tor? I think you’re going to have to explain a bit more clearly if you want a good kicking from Albert while you’re down there. Right now, he seems worried about your odd behavior. I have that correct, sir? You’re concerned, but not angry?” It was an odd thing to say.

  Which was fine with Al. Non-sequiturs were a hobby of his, after all. Half his conversations tended to be about rabbits, stew or the way the air purifiers really worked, because of that.

  So, he pointed at the other man, with a playful motion, as if trying to zap him with a lightening bolt. Only without the killing that would normally come if he did that kind of thing on purpose. There were no guards visible at the moment, but he didn’t doubt that the Heir had a good shield on and help no more than shouting distance away. Just in case errant people started tossing those bolts of energy around.

  “That’s the feeling here. Um… You’re sorry for healing me? Upset that you took so long? I can almost see that one, I suppose. I mean, you could have come up with the fantastic healing magic sooner… I bet it was you doing all that sleeping and planning that prevented that, right?” He sounded glib, which given everything, he was willing to go with.

  There was a soft moan from the ground, where the man in red was still lying, his voice slightly annoyed sounding when he spoke. It could have been that his face was pressed to the dirt, his left cheek solidly in contact with the Earth. The rest of him was as well.

  “You don’t… I made the flying units. All of them at that point. That man who hit you couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t done that. So, it’s all my fault. Then, after I learned that a child was hurt due to my error, I didn’t do anything. There should have been gold sent at the very least. Help of some kind. Even if it took me a while to come up with a way to fix it. I’m sorry.” There were real tears in his eyes, as if it was a real thing to consider.

  That this man should feel bad about having created a marvel that some idjit misused, not knowing any better at the time. Truthfully, the drunken noble man and his flying friends shouldn’t have been racing through the streets as a challenge. Anyone who could be bothered to think at all for a few moments should have gotten that point without being told it was a poor plan.

  Rather than telling the wizard, the being of great power and skill, to stand up and stop whining, Albert smiled. Just a bit. Enough that everyone else looked concerned for some reason. As if a good kicking really was going to be forthcoming.

  “When I was fifteen, I hit my hand with a mallet trying to fix a wagon axle. I’d repaired hundreds of those things by that time. I could still do it in my sleep, if it came up. That day though, I just swung away and hit my left thumb hard enough that it broke. The nail turned black and fell off. That really hurts, by the way.” He paused then, wishing he had a drink in his hand. Even some of that sugar water in the cans would have worked. Water as well. He needed a moment to think, not being sharp that way, in particular.

&nb
sp; After too long of a pause, everyone looking at him, with some interest, he managed to go on.

  “I never blamed the mallet for it. It never even occurred to me to think of the mallet maker as being in the wrong. The fault is in the person that swung the thing and the placement of the thumb. Both of those were my fault, at the time. Now, I’m willing to admit that at seven I wasn’t really responsible for not ducking well enough. Flying men were new back then, which… Um, you get the idea. I probably wouldn’t have ducked even if I’d seen them round the corner. I just didn’t know to do it. Still, no one in all the world would blame the maker of the flying magics. No more than they would the maker of the mallet, even if it really hurts to hit your finger like that.”

  He stood then, the noise from the ground stopping at least. Alphonse moved in a bit, looked at Albert and tilted his head, just a bit. It was almost regal, when he did it.

  “We should help him up then? That’s not really my place here. It wasn’t my back, after all.”

  “Oh! Yes. Help me though? This guy is huge. What’s with that, anyway? Being a giant like that… The nerve of some people.” He fake whispered the words, as he moved in to aid Tor in standing. Not that the man was passed out or limp.

  After a moment, damp faced, the fellow got himself up, nearly as soon as Albert showed he was forgiven by touching him on the shoulder. Then everyone stood for a while, since it was clear that something else was supposed to be spoken of.

  From Albert, no doubt.

  “Um… So, all’s forgiven, even if I never thought of it that way in the first place. I hope you weren’t carrying that with you, all this time. There was never need for it. Even if I hadn’t been healed, there wouldn’t have been. Not for that.”

  Interestingly, the vast Count moved in and patted Al on the back. Not Tor.

  “Well said. True as well. You might be a little over sensitive about things, Tor. Then again, it never hurts to make sure you have everything accounted for that way. Better to address things fast and pull the bandage off quick, then to let things fester.” The man didn’t move his hand, or turn to look at anyone else. He looked off into the distance.

  Albert did the same thing, in case there was smoke rising in the distance. There wasn’t, of course. Thankfully.

  Gary made a soft noise. It was a bit like a grunt. Only more polished and polite sounding.

  “Right. I get it. Seriously, let me sleep first though, then I’ll go and talk to Prentiss.”

  Alphonse, who hadn’t been there for that part of the talk earlier, still nodded. As if he understood what was going on.

  “We should get that transport pod moved? Unless you have more to say, Tor?”

  There was a head shake, then the man stood up straighter.

  “Yes. If you need me for anything, get in touch? I would have been saying that anyway, since you came to help other people. Still, anything, all right?”

  Albert nodded.

  “Um, sure? The other way around as well, of course. In case you need any floors swept or vomit cleared up. I have skills that way.” He was trying to deflect from the previous scene.

  Which the Prince helped with, by nodding seriously.

  “I can call on you too then? That kind of thing comes up remarkably often in my life. Plus, it sounds like you really pulled out the stops, aiding here. It can be useful at times, knowing a person willing to do that sort of thing.”

  Count Ross, still touching him on the back looked away then. Tearing up a little.

  “That’s true. I should go and make some calls now. Thank you for coming to make things work for us here, Prince Alphonse. Master Tor.”

  Albert moved to the transport hut, touched the red wall and then had to recall what he needed to do in order to take it down. That took him a while, though no one spoke about his slow performance. He could use magic, but you weren’t really supposed to take the huts down, once they were up. It made them a little hard to work with that way. At least he figured that was the case. Still, when it blinked off, a tiny glass tile fell to the ground, which he picked up as fast as he could.

  The sigil on it looked odd, being a series of arrows pointing into a circle, with another set of them pointing out from the inside. It glowed in red, brightly enough to be pretty. He thought that as the tile was handed over to the Prince, who took it carefully, placing it directly into a side pocket. The man was dressed in black and purple, the suit looking formal, compared to everyone else there.

  Albert was still in plain brown. It made sense, given he was working.

  “I’ll have this up as soon as possible. Tor, you can leave from there, can’t you? You should go and see the women at your house, if nothing else.” He glanced at Albert and shrugged. “He owns a whore house at the base. Technically he owns the whole thing. It’s also a military compound though.”

  “Oh.” Albert just nodded, having never considered that anyone he knew would have ownership of that kind of place. It had just never come up in his world. They existed and people spent coin there. Someone had to own the things, he supposed.

  The two men bowed, getting everyone do it back, then moved at a good clip to the fast craft and took off about a minute later, heading toward the south west. The Count moved off to talk on his handheld, with Farlo yawning and Gary looking a bit miserable.

  The man looked at the floating box that had the pills in it.

  “Could I trouble you for another one of those? The kind that will help me stay awake? I need to move the other transport hut so that the military can come and go from there. Then I’ll have to call and let them know the location name.”

  Moving quickly, even if his limbs felt heavy, Albert made that happen. The small yellow pill was taken and swallowed with a sip from a silver can of fruit beverage. Pear, Albert thought, if only from the smell. It said on the side of the thing, which was hard to see at the moment, a giant hand being wrapped around it.

  Gary took a deep breath then.

  “Thanks. I need to get on that. It will… I’ll go back home after this, unless you need me here?”

  Albert liked the company, but understood that he’d live without it. A stirring at the front of the house, a woman coming out, her hair damp, in soot covered clothing. Not everyone had magic for that kind of thing in Noram, after all. She walked over toward them, as soon as Gary moved away.

  She glanced at the table, which had some fairly fresh sandwiches on it. Some canned drinks and a few bottles of wine. It seemed like she wanted to ask after the food, having had some rest. Not a lot of it. No more than four or five hours.

  Albert smiled at her.

  “Hello! We have food here and drinks. The King is sending in the focus stone builders to fix that town that was lost.” He’d misplaced the name, in the rush of things going on.

  Luckily, the lady there, who was about forty or so and seemed fit for a woman, hadn’t.

  “Smiton? That’s good, then. Fast, too. My sister and her family live there. It’s not bad weather, so they can camp out for a few weeks, while the focus stone boys do that work. That kind of thing goes fast.”

  Albert got the lady a paper wrapped sandwich, since they were all the same and handed her a can of pear drink. She took them to the same table that everyone had been using earlier, which probably meant it was the best position. Then she kept talking, between bites. The woman looked hard, but seemed a bit dainty about the whole thing.

  Her voice was a bit thick from the smoke of the day before. That reminded him to pull out his healing amulet. The woman understood what he was doing, so let him get close enough to her to touch it to her arm. That stopped the eating for a minute, though she nodded that she was finished and started again.

  “That’s nice. I mean it hurts, but I do love breathing. It’s one of my favorite things to do, most days. I don’t suppose we get rides back into the city? We wagoned out here, but I don’t see that kind of thing… it’s better than a ten-mile walk.” She shook her head then, as if that weren’t too bi
g of a hardship.

  Others started coming out then, about half of them having used the baths or showers on the first level. The others were just dirty still. Not everyone was concerned with smelling nice. Albert had that kind of thing going on in life, even if he was tidy at the moment.

  Farlo was still there, so moved over to him, sitting with the woman from the city.

  “We should get something going for that, to get people to and from the city. I don’t have a craft on me. You should… dun Taman for that, I think. She does the Tam-cars, so it makes sense.”

  Since more people were coming, Al made more food and things to drink. That and got some glasses going and plates, since he had magic for it, from Harmony. It meant that a few of the people men and women, took wine with their meals. No one asked him for any special food items, though he made a few other things, keeping to the idea that they should be wrapped up, in paper.

  Laughing, he looked at the Ancient and shook his head.

  “Sure… Get me to do all the begging for help. I see what you’re doing that way. You claim it’s about me making contacts, but it’s really just you avoiding having to look bad, isn’t it?” There was a smile for the woman, who laughed back, seeming tired still. They all did. Even the people waking up.

  “Possibly. After all, these people are peers of mine and if I ask for things, they’ll point out that I should really make them myself. If you do it, then they won’t, not knowing if you can do that kind of thing or not, yet.”

  It was impeccable logic, so after making twenty more wraps, with vegetables and meat, along with a tangy sauce, Al stopped whining and nodded.

  “Sure, I guess. Only we don’t have a transport hut here anymore. I should have asked for that first. This being in charge of stuff is harder than it looks.” Not that he really was.

  People heard him though and figured it as funny. At least a few of them laughed at him. Probably at his blushing and discomfort. He took the Count’s trick and walked away, before getting his handheld out. Then he had to find Taman, whoever that was. In the end he called on Comp, since she knew things like that and asking Farlo felt like the wrong thing to do. Embarrassing.