Well, he could afford her upkeep easily, if it came to that, and she had all that medical skill, the Afrak were years beyond Noram in that regard, which made her valuable… Maybe centuries ahead. Even if the marriage to Rolph fell through, and Tor did tell her it was a bit of a long shot, she could practice her craft or even teach at one of the schools. The idea made her happy it seemed, she smiled at least, and suggested she could do that even when the marriage arrangements came through.
The trip back found Tor with more helpers in the kitchen, since everyone was just that bored now, and working really did beat sitting around. For him personally it meant some actual free time to practice fighting in the afternoons. It was fun in a way, though Kolb and Petra were both constantly trying to get him killed it seemed, demanding he do better each day, and not just a little. They kept putting him up against four and even five people at once, which he couldn't beat of course, as hard as he tried. He was sore and bruised all the time, but didn't complain about it. What else did he have to do for fun? Mope?
Trice started hanging around with him constantly, and so did Sara. It was nice enough, but didn't make a lot of sense really, unless it was a spying thing? But what was there to spy on here, his secret baking recipes? Tor’s failures in fight practice? Still, if they wanted to hang out that was fine, they were friends, spies or not. On the fourth night they both moved into his room with him, their trunks sitting along his far wall and both lounging on his bed when he walked in after dinner. Looking at the whole thing Tor crossed his arms.
He didn't mind, but they each had their own room, they didn't even have to share…
“Relax Tor,” Trice said gently, giving him a hug.
“Were just claiming you as ours, that's all. You'll thank us later. Karina was about to auction you off to the highest bidder and a few of the people stepping up were definitely not your type. I think a few just wanted to have anal sex with you as revenge for making us eat those awful fat bars.” Crossing her arms the fuzzy headed bleached blond shook her head woefully.
“Who could blame them? Those things sucked. They'd have broken you though and then no one would be able to play with you.”
Sara pushed her a little and winked in his direction.
“Oh, it wasn't that bad, Trice is exaggerating. Karina was just joking about it all anyway. We just wanted some company and to solidify our claims on you. Married or not, you're our Tor. Saw you first and all that. We'll Petra saw you first, as she mentioned earlier, but you seem to like her, so we need to work harder if we don't want to be left behind.”
What? They thought he didn't like them? Why? He asked, but neither answered him until he comically started tapping his foot, hands on hips like a farmer’s wife demanding the shops oven bake faster.
“OK! I'll talk, but don't get mad?” Sara looked at him tentatively as if he really was going to get mad over something. He promised not to get too mad, and hoped he could keep his word.
It seemed that everyone thought he was being all stand-offish again.
Tor didn't visit with the crew really, or play cards, or bathe with them, except by chance and then he didn't hang out, just washed quickly and leaving. Tor also didn't make a point of spending time with any of the women overly, even his women. That made him stop Sara for a bit.
“I have women? Why doesn't anyone tell me these things. How am I supposed to know? I mean seriously, I don't think I can know things like that! I mean it may be, like a real thing, me not being able to see it. Is this serious or just casual? What am I supposed to be doing that I'm not? I mean, I understand I should spend more time with Ali, but there are others too?” He tried to think of who, but not much came. Sure, he had some friends, but…
Oh, right. They were supposed to be his girlfriends. Ah. It sounded stupid, even in his own head, but he'd forgotten that part of things. Somehow.
Sara continued without much pause.
“It's not that big a deal. It's just that you're alone a lot, so we came to make sure you aren't lonely. Is that all right? Don't worry about the rest, we're just teasing. Kind of. But… you do have some offers if you’re willing. You might want to try some of them out, build alliances and make friends. People still think of you as a bit stuck-up you know. That or so discrete no one really knows what you're up to. If that's the case you might just want to shake that up a bit. You're supposed to be discrete with your partner, not the whole world.”
Trice had to tease him then, because that was who she was. He even liked it about her, when it wasn't directed at him.
“Let us know if you need the room, or, if you want we can stay and help?” She giggled after that. As if it were just a joke?
Tor sighed and then nodded.
“Alright. But when I bring back a small hoard of women, you two have to move along quickly. Otherwise it would get all awkward, don't you think?”
Sara gave him a look that was so serious Trice busted up laughing. That got a sharp look from the blond towards her friend.
“Trice… do you really think he can't do it? Or won't?”
That got the laughter to stop for some reason.
That night was fun, wonderful really. It wasn't that they did anything much, but they talked and kissed and hugged a lot. Tor would have liked to do something with them both, but didn't know how to ask. The trick was probably just asking. They weren't exactly afraid of such things, so why should he be? Still, he put it off until he fell asleep, missing the chance completely.
As he drifted off Tor wondered what he was doing here.
It wasn't really his world, but if this wasn't who he was, then what was he? A bakers son from Two Bends? A Builder? A guy too dumb to score with two women that probably would have jumped at the chance if he'd even mentioned sex, if only because it was less boring than chatting with him for hours?
Sleep took him hard and his dreams were odd, strange and uncomfortable. Sex dreams, a few with the girls in the room with him even. Trice had climbed in next to him at some point and the stump of her left arm was over him when he woke suddenly. She didn't wake and just rolled over and cuddled in to him when he shifted, her body warm and smelling faintly of flowers, her perfume. There wasn't enough light to see, but he could feel it was her and that she was in a deep sleep, not dreaming. Holding her close for a while he thought about what the dream had meant, if anything.
It was simple enough. He'd found the new combat giant girl Dara in the bath and asked if she wanted to have sex with him, she agreed, even though the whole thing was way bolder than he would have been with a woman he didn't know, and he'd expected her to hit him for mentioning it. Then, there in the tub, as they were doing things, kissing mainly, her face melted and she turned into his friend Karen from school.
But she was dead.
They talked about that for a while, but the answer didn't make sense to him. Her father killed her? Was it a message from the dead? That was rumored to happen even to regular people, and all the building he'd done probably made it a bit more likely to happen to him, but Tor didn't think it was the case here.
No this was his own deep mind talking to him. What it was telling him was probably complicated and troubling.
Had he loved Karen?
They'd only been friends, she'd help him train in fighting, and was nice to him, which counted for a lot, but they hadn't been that close, had they? Had he wanted to be? Honestly, on the conscious level Tor had always been more afraid that she'd beat him than anything else. He'd kept missing her lessons, and really, deserved the beatings, but she never did it. That was the nice part of working with her. She pushed him, but she didn't punish him for being lazy or late. If he had been harboring some secret crush there, it would have made sense. It certainly wasn't off-putting in the dream. He'd been more than willing to keep going when she turned out to be Karen, hadn't he?