apology, but there were no debts between friends, right?
The Prince laughed gently.
"I stand rebuked anyway and will strive to be more discreet in the future." There was a bow that came back, but it was just a bob, one that could have been taken as being self-important, but wasn't. Tor couldn't do a lot of bending at the moment, so by keeping the move subdued his friend made it so that he didn't have to try and get his own head at a lower angle that just couldn't be easily managed.
Abby gathered some tools from a low table and turned back towards him.
"I... Let us take tissue samples. The testing itself will take several days to finish, that can't... It cannot be helped. Is that alright?" The words were in Afrak, and sounded like she expected to be beaten at any moment. It wasn't really fair, but Tor got that Abby really couldn't help it. She had no coping skills for such things at all, except medical ones.
"I can come back and get them in a week or two, if that's good for you? We can chat using the communications device when it's done. The only reason for the boat ride over to Austra is to give the appearance of comfort and luxury to the people there for their agents. It isn't enough to not abuse the guests in our care, we need, as a land, to show that we respect them as a people. We had their leader and his heir killed. I had them killed. Even if it was needed, and the best way to end the war... that has to be atoned for. Otherwise everyone will keep thinking it's OK to just kill off the leaders every time an argument takes place between lands." It made a lot of sense to Tor, but it wasn't the tradition. Normally you didn't kill the leaders at all, you just killed their people until they gave up.
Terlee went wide eyed then and stared at him.
"What do you mean you did it? You were here. Thousands of people saw you. Was it some kind of magic? The duel with that evil Baron..." It was her turn to be baffled now.
Tor rolled his eyes.
"I was here. It... It was my plan. In part at least. There's no escaping that part of things at all for me. I got the information, made the plan and gave it to people that I knew might well implement it. It had to be done, and I'm not sorry about it, but..." Tor suddenly felt exhausted as laughter entered his ears from the ghosts in his head. Even Box chuckled this time.
And spoke gently as two of the voices faded.
"There you go. Taking responsibility will shut those two down fast. Same with the rest of us. Think about it Tor, you know that for you, killing is wrong. If you want to be free of us mentally, you have to admit to yourself that it was needed. That won't make you feel better about it, not really, and it shouldn't in the long run, but that's what has to happen to get a good night's sleep. It won't fix it all. That's clear. There are things and things in your deepest mind here that you have to deal with Tor, things you haven't been, matters you've been denying and hiding from yourself. At least two things that are going to be central to your continued existence. You need to look into that soon, or everything isn't just going to fall apart, you're going to die and a lot of other people will be going with you." He laughed again inside Tor's mind as the others stood quietly, just looking at him strangely.
Baron Rochester growled.
"I didn't deserve to die! I have a right to use anyone under my power as I will. Connor was my own son and that means-" What it meant Tor decided not to care about. Instead he took Box's advice and examined why he felt bad about the Baron being dead at all.
It wasn't what he'd thought, not when he really looked at the issue. It was wrong to kill and more than any other person involved, the Baron had been killed out of anger. Tor was, on a very real level, afraid of feeling angry. It kind of shocked him, but it made sense. Anger had never caused him to do anything good, had it? Just lash out and act like a little brat.
Oh, he'd tried to fix it when it
The Prince laughed gently.
"I stand rebuked anyway and will strive to be more discreet in the future." There was a bow that came back, but it was just a bob, one that could have been taken as being self-important, but wasn't. Tor couldn't do a lot of bending at the moment, so by keeping the move subdued his friend made it so that he didn't have to try and get his own head at a lower angle that just couldn't be easily managed.
Abby gathered some tools from a low table and turned back towards him.
"I... Let us take tissue samples. The testing itself will take several days to finish, that can't... It cannot be helped. Is that alright?" The words were in Afrak, and sounded like she expected to be beaten at any moment. It wasn't really fair, but Tor got that Abby really couldn't help it. She had no coping skills for such things at all, except medical ones.
"I can come back and get them in a week or two, if that's good for you? We can chat using the communications device when it's done. The only reason for the boat ride over to Austra is to give the appearance of comfort and luxury to the people there for their agents. It isn't enough to not abuse the guests in our care, we need, as a land, to show that we respect them as a people. We had their leader and his heir killed. I had them killed. Even if it was needed, and the best way to end the war... that has to be atoned for. Otherwise everyone will keep thinking it's OK to just kill off the leaders every time an argument takes place between lands." It made a lot of sense to Tor, but it wasn't the tradition. Normally you didn't kill the leaders at all, you just killed their people until they gave up.
Terlee went wide eyed then and stared at him.
"What do you mean you did it? You were here. Thousands of people saw you. Was it some kind of magic? The duel with that evil Baron..." It was her turn to be baffled now.
Tor rolled his eyes.
"I was here. It... It was my plan. In part at least. There's no escaping that part of things at all for me. I got the information, made the plan and gave it to people that I knew might well implement it. It had to be done, and I'm not sorry about it, but..." Tor suddenly felt exhausted as laughter entered his ears from the ghosts in his head. Even Box chuckled this time.
And spoke gently as two of the voices faded.
"There you go. Taking responsibility will shut those two down fast. Same with the rest of us. Think about it Tor, you know that for you, killing is wrong. If you want to be free of us mentally, you have to admit to yourself that it was needed. That won't make you feel better about it, not really, and it shouldn't in the long run, but that's what has to happen to get a good night's sleep. It won't fix it all. That's clear. There are things and things in your deepest mind here that you have to deal with Tor, things you haven't been, matters you've been denying and hiding from yourself. At least two things that are going to be central to your continued existence. You need to look into that soon, or everything isn't just going to fall apart, you're going to die and a lot of other people will be going with you." He laughed again inside Tor's mind as the others stood quietly, just looking at him strangely.
Baron Rochester growled.
"I didn't deserve to die! I have a right to use anyone under my power as I will. Connor was my own son and that means-" What it meant Tor decided not to care about. Instead he took Box's advice and examined why he felt bad about the Baron being dead at all.
It wasn't what he'd thought, not when he really looked at the issue. It was wrong to kill and more than any other person involved, the Baron had been killed out of anger. Tor was, on a very real level, afraid of feeling angry. It kind of shocked him, but it made sense. Anger had never caused him to do anything good, had it? Just lash out and act like a little brat.
Oh, he'd tried to fix it when it
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