Weekly Digest 23 - (#69 - #71) (Patreon)

The Cost of Treatment

When Lori woke up, her initial confusion and almost panic at waking up in a strange place was detoured by the fact she no longer hurt.

Bewildered, she raised her right arm. The bandage was gone, and there was only unmarred skin on her forearm. How…?

That's when she realized she wasn't inside her demesne.

Lori jerked up to a sitting position, looking around. She was in a room with walls made of wood. Not wood planks, or cut logs, but one contiguous wall of wood, all of a single piece. The floor was wood too, smooth and whole and melding seamlessly with the wall. She was lying on a bed—a normal bed, made from carpentry instead of Deadspeaking— atop a sweat-soaked bedroll, and none of that mattered because she couldn't feel the wisps around her. The bed was one of two, and the other bed was just bare wood. The windows were small and round, looking like knots in the wood, and there was a single door marring the smoothness of the walls.

She started breathing in barely controlled panic, taking in magic, letting it build up inside her, giving herself something solid to focus on. She had nothing to readily work with but airwisps, lightwisps and darkwisps, but that was fine. The most basic methods of self-defense magic were blinding and deafening your foe.

The door opened, and she leapt to her feet, magic from her core rushing through her as she bound the airwisps in her breath and around her head, blocking her ears to keep from being deafened as she—

—tripped on the skirt she was wearing and stumbled, falling face-first on the floor as she lost control of her wisps in her surprise. There was a loud snap—as opposed to the deafening bang there would have been—as the airwisps she hadn't finished binding released the magic she'd partially imbued into them.

"Gah!" she heard someone—Rian?— cry out, their words muffled. "Oh, you're awake. That was fast. We thought you'd still be asleep."

Lori blinked, and released the binding over her ears as she looked up to see Rian holding a tray and—BREAD!

No, no, she had to stay focused! She wasn't in her demesne, she was in danger!

Also, why was she wearing a skirt?

…

Oh, right.

Rian put down the tray—she saw it was just the writing plank he carried around being used as a tray—to help her up. Normally she wouldn't have needed his help, but she hadn't worn a skirt in so long she kept stepping on the hem, almost pulled the skirt down her waist, and fell over trying to keep herself from becoming stripped indecent.

"Careful," he said as he caught her, preventing her from falling on her face twice in one day. "We just got you healed up. Stop trying to break your neck so soon."

She glared, though since she was still bent over, it wasn't directed at his face, and so he missed the full effect. After making sure of what her feet were stepping on, Lori straightened and pulled herself out of his grip. "Where are we, Rian?" she demanded.

"River's Fork, where else?" Rian said, turning around to pick up the improvised tray. Lori twitched when she saw the three pieces of flatbread on the tray, as well as a bowl of various chopped fruits, and another bowl of what looked like stew. "It was the only place we could take you."

"Why?" she said, trying to growl the word out through gritted teeth to keep the panic in check.

"Your wound had gotten infected despite the antiseptic, which we ran through a lot of, by the way. You'd gone feverish and delirious, and we were all out of medicines to treat an entrenched infection," Rian said. "None of the doctors and medics were sure they could keep you alive. So I made the decision to take you here to try and get you healed. I figured having you alive to be mad at me was better than literally any other alternative that involved you dead."

"Mad? Why would I be mad?" she said. "After all, you just decided to remove me from my demesne and put me in the power of another Binder. Why would that possibly make me angry?"

She was snarling as she finished, binding the air around her, wondering if she should risk drawing lightningwisps from her arm to throw it at him. It would just replenish thanks to her connection to her core, after all.

"It was the logical thing to do," he protested. "If you died from infection, we'd have needed to go to her to try and convince her to claim the core anyway. Anyway, you can calm down. She obviously healed you instead of killing you, didn't she?"

"That doesn't mean it was what you should have done!" she snapped.

"Well, you should have left orders for what we should do if you were ever incapacitated and unable to make decisions," Rian said. "You made me lord, so I made a lordly decision to bring you here and see if she'll heal you, which she did."

"She is unlikely to have done that for free," Lori said darkly.

"No, she did not," Rian confirmed. "But don't worry, I haggled her to something you'd accept."

"Oh." Lori coughed. "Well, I'll be the judge of that! What does she want in return for this?"

"Well, she originally wanted to do it for free, but I managed to convince her you'd be really suspicious about that, so I talked her up three sets of stone wheels for carts and you listening to a proposal she has," Rian said. "No agreeing, just listening. And I even got her provide you with meals while we're here. Just you, don't worry, everyone else is taking care of their own food arrangements. They all have friends here, so they'll be eating with them." He sighed. "More ration stew for me."

Lori latched on to the only thing she had to be suspicious of. "What proposal?" she demanded.

"She didn't say," Rian said. "But don't worry, you only have to listen, there's no obligation to go through with it."

"There better not be," Lori said.

"There isn't!" Rian said. "I made sure of that. Honestly, as far as medical treatment, meals, and a place to sleep tonight goes, wheels and a conversation are pretty cheap."

Lori crossed her arms, then glared down at the blouse she was wearing. It was far too loose on her frame. "Well then, where are my shoes?"

"In the bag," Rian said, pointing behind towards the foot of the other bed. Lori looked, and saw a leather satchel that she hadn't noticed from her previous angle. "Your socks are in there too, along with the rest of the clothes you were wearing when you had your completely avoidable and surely never to be repeated accident. Umu and Mikon washed them with your nice new laundry area."

"Amazing," she said blandly. "See, you cantalk to them and ask them to do laundry for you."

Rian, in the process of bending down to put the tray of food on the bare wooden bed, paused. "Are you seriously making sarcastic comments about me being unable to talk to people? You? The woman who specifically has someone—me—to talk to other people because she doesn't like doing it herself?"

"I dislike talking to people," Lori said. "What's your reason?"

Rian put down the tray. "Well, at least you're feeling better. Any headaches? Lingering pains? "

Lori frowned and rotated her right shoulder. There was no sudden explosion of agony. She poked at her right side. The flesh beneath was soft and did not erupt into burning fire that made her want to turn the blood there into ice. "None," she said. Even the slight ache in her back from sleeping on her bed with only her laundry and raincoat as a mattress was gone.

"Well!" Rian said. "Definitely worth some wheels and a conversation, don't you think?"

"Hmph," Lori 'hmph'-ed contrarily.

"Anyway, eat up," Rian said, straightening up and leaning on the wall next to the bed. "I helped Shana make the bread, so you don't have to worry about it being poisoned or anything."

"She's a Deadspeaker, she doesn't need to poison it to kill me," Lori pointed out.

"Yes, she could have not healed you," Rian said brightly. "But I figured you'd still like to know I watched to make sure it wasn't poisoned."

Well, yes… but he didn't need to know that.

"Shana says you can rest and wait until tomorrow to make the wheels," Rian said. "The doctors say you need to rest too, since your body's been through an ordeal. They say they'll be bringing you a lot of fruit and bread to try and bring your body's reserves back up."

"We're leaving tomorrow," Lori said. "So I'll make the wheels today and then listen to her proposal. What time is it?" It was a bit hard to tell from the light at the window, since the dome over River's Fork had an effect on the sunlight coming down.

"Not yet noon," Rian said. "So this is technically breakfast and lunch."

Lori frowned. "Not yet noon? How did we get here so quickly? It usually takes us half a day to get here with the waterjet."

"I'm flattered you think we got here that fast," Rian said. "But you were down and just this side of being a corpse. Doctor Samoth said you were dangerously feverish several times. It's a good thing we had to keep splashing you with water to get rid of Iridescence, or you might have overheated."

Lori blinked. "Then how did we get here?"

"We rowed," Rian said blandly. "I had oars made when it looked like your wounds might be infected, just in case, and we traveled on eight manpower for all day and part of the night. It's a good thing someone had a good mirrored lantern they were willing to lend us. And that this place was downriver. Everyone is completely exhausted."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "You don't look like it."

"I accidentally took a nap while you were unconscious after Shana healed you," Rian said. "I'm really glad no one killed you in my sleep, or else I'd be really embarrassed."

Lori blinked and took a closer look at her lord. His eyes had a slightly unfocussed look, and he was swaying slightly.

"You haven't slept yet," she realized.

"I told you, I had a short nap while you were asleep," Rian said.

"Rian," she said, pointing at the bedroll she'd just vacated. "Go to sleep before you fall where you stand."

"Is that an order?" he said.

"Yes," she said. "That's an order."

"You sure? What if you need someone to watch your back?"

"Then I'll put it against a wall. Go to sleep, Rian."

He nodded. "Yes, your Bindership."

Lori watched him take his shoes off before he collapsed onto the bedroll she'd been sleeping in and closed his eyes, an arm over his face to block the light through his eyelids. After a moment, he pulled the pillow from beneath his head and put that on over his face.

By the time Lori finished the first disc of flatbread, his breathing was smooth and even. She started on the sliced fruits. There was happyfruit, hairy blueball, and a few others she was surprised to recognize from the old continent. There was a pink lady, and… yes, that one was a golden bud! She loved those! Had the Golden Sweetwood Company, or at least this place's previous Binder, managed to bring seeds with them? That… maybe if she threw in another pair of wheels, Shanalorre would let them have some seeds?

It was something to consider.

By the time she finished all the food, Rian's foot was twitching on the bedroll.

For a moment, Lori sat there, and had to wonder whose bedroll she'd been sleeping in all this time. It wasn't like the village had any spares. In fact, considering she didn't have one, there was a definite deficit. Someone had to have volunteered their bedroll for her to be laid down on.

She sighed, adding them to the list of people she had to offer restitution to, along with the owner of the clothes she was wearing. Something to have Rian find out for her later.

Lori gave him one last look, then started taking deep breaths. When she'd taken in enough magic, she bound some lightwisps for illumination, and then covered the windows with darkwisps for some privacy, and changed clothes. After putting on her shoes and socks, she folded the skirt and blouse neatly and stuck them in the bag with the jars of rations and water skin in there, before dispelling the darkwisps.

She took a deep breath, already planning how to make the wheels. There should still be boulders in the river she could use as materials, provided she could get close enough to touch them. More than enough for three sets of wheels. Simple. Then she could listen to whatever proposal Binder Shanalorre had in mind and be away in the morning. Lori's Boat was still their only vessel, so thy must have taken that, and the water jet was still attached. They'd be back by midday tomorrow.

Lori wished she had her staff with her, if only to make her feel better. She always felt better when she had a long, heavy stick to hand for hitting people with if she needed to. But no, she'd left that in her room in her Dungeon, because she hadn't thought she'd need it during a walk…

She shook her head, reminded herself she was a grown woman and a Binder, and stepped out of the room into the pre-noon sun.

––––––––––––––––––

An Altercation

River's Fork was different from how she'd left it last time. For one, there was a lot more traditional carpentry construction visible, rather than just buildings made from Deadspeaking. There were more people bustling about as well, carrying things. The dining hall that had just been completed when they'd last been there was full and had seemingly been expanded, with benched and some sort of cooking area—a grill?—outside of it.

She'd learned how to navigate River's Fork, a little, from the time they'd been ferrying people to her demesne. It involved using the central tree as a reference point, and recognizing which side of it was facing you. She was about a quarter turn away from the beach where they usually kept Lori's Boat, which was her first destination. She needed to make sure that nothing had happened to the waterjet, lest she have to make another one…

Also, she had to find a latrine, apparently she'd been unconscious for more than one day…

Well, at least she was close to the dining hall. They had a row of latrines near there, if she recalled correctly.

The dining hall was starting to fill up with people as she finished her business. While River's Fork apparently still expected each family to make their own meals using food rationed from a central store, lunch at least seemed to take place centrally, so that people could eat quickly and go back to work. The air was filled with the smells of sweat, sawdust, and food being cooked as Lori skirted the edges, going around the place so she could head to her destination and absently stepping around people who weren't watching where they were going and had gotten in her way. The sooner those wheels were done…

Lori came to a sudden stop as someone grabbed her wrist in a tight grip, causing her to stumble in surprise and confusion.

"Tah! I'm talking to you!" the green-haired woman who had grabbed her said.

Lori frowned. "I think you've mistaken me for someone else," she said, trying to pull her wrist free, but to her surprise the woman tightened her grip almost painfully.

"You don't remember me, do you?" the woman said, sounding surprised and angry. "You nearly killed me and you don't even remember."

"I think you've definitely mistaken me for someone else," Lori said, trying to be reasonable as she took deep, even breaths. "Now, please let me go, I have work to—"

The blow swung at Lori's face, but she managed to pull back, and it missed, then there was a flash of pain as the woman settled for a hammer blow to the bicep. The woman was stronger than she looked, because it hurt, as did the second blow to almost the same place, and the third.

Lori didn't let there be a fourth.

Lightningwisps were imbued, and Lori's arm went numb, deadening the pain from the blows as the violent woman started shaking violently, her hand tightening momentarily around Lori's arm in a grip she didn't feel before she let go, stumbling back in confusion and leaving herself open.

Lori, with precision, malice, form and her own anger, stomped the woman in the side of the knee.

There was a distinct crack of something breaking, and the woman collapsed like an argument no one was listening to, screaming in pain. Lori took a step back and got ready to kick the other knee, or possibly the woman's face, whichever—

Someone grabbed her and pulled her back, and then someone was at her other side doing the same, both of them disjointedly yelling, "Calm down!", "Relax!", "Stop, stop!" and other silly nonsense. Lori tried to free her arms, but if anything they held on even tighter and kept pulling her away from the woman, who was now wailing and clutching at her knee, surrounded by people and pointing at Lori, saying something unintelligible because of her crying. Lori imbued the lightningwisps in her arms again, about to force them to release her, when—

"What is going on here?" someone demanded in a firm, authoritative, carrying voice that reminded Lori far too much of some of her old teachers.

The people around her clearly hadn't had any similar experiences, because instead of closing their mouths shut, they all started trying to talk over each other at the same time, the injured woman most of all, sounding completely incoherent as she pointed at Lori while trying to cradle her knee and then stop cradling her knee because it had shifted and suddenly hurt even more. The man who stepped forward looked vaguely familiar though, and Lori was definitely sure she'd seen him before. Now, where…?

The two men had loosened their hold when the man had appeared, and Lori was finally able to pull her arms out of their grip, giving them an annoyed glare as she straightened her shirt. Maybe she should have found a length of firewood or a stick for her to carry or something she could set on fire…

"Binder Lori, is this true?"

Lori blinked, and realized the vaguely familiar man was talking to her. "What is true?"

The man pointed at the fallen woman. "Naineb claims you attacked her without provocation."

"Ridiculous. She attacked me," Lori said. "I've never even met her before, and she just grabbed me as I was walking, rambled about nonsense, and then attacked me with her fist."

"And her broken leg?"

"The woman is clearly violent and not very smart," Lori said. "I had to defend myself and put her down so she stopped being a threat to my person." She frowned. The familiarity was really nagging… "Who are you?"

"I'm Lord Yllian," the man said, sounding vaguely tired. "We've met before."

Lori blinked. "We have?"

The man sighed. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with me to speak with the Great Binder so she can make a judgement on this."

Lori huffed in annoyance. "Very well."

Really, this was so inconvenient. She just wanted to make some wheels so she could leave tomorrow!

––––––––––––––––––

Apparently, Binder Shanalorre normally had lunch alone in her home, cooking her own food. Lori would have wondered whether that was the best use of her time, but then remembered the person in question was an uneducated savant who only knew healing. Currently, she was a figurehead and someone to keep people from dying. Not that Lori wasn't grateful to be kept from dying of infection, but even so, there was only so much Binder Shanalorre could do. So she probably had plenty of time to eat lunch alone at home.

That lunch was being interrupted as Lori, the woman who'd attacked her, Lord Yllian, and some of the local militia were made to wait in the house that Shanalorre used as her ground-level office. It was surprisingly very office-like, with a wall full of writing of what looked like… some kind of tally? It had a Deadspoken table was full of sheets of either parchment or small scraps of seel leather with more writing, and there was even a basket with 'to wash' written on it full of sheets. There'd been a bench outside, and in her previous visits Lori had seen that bench full of people who wanted to talk to Shanalorre.

Why she didn't have a lord or lady to keep annoyances like that away from her, Lori had no idea. Maybe she was just so lacking in things to do she had to handle talking to her people herself.

The woman had needed to be carried, since she couldn't put any weight on her knee, and she alternated between wailing piteously and swearing vividly at Lori as she was jostled repeatedly on the way to the office. Since she seemed to be focusing on accusing a hypothetical father of disturbing sexual practices that resulted in Lori's existence, Lori didn't bother to respond. She didn't have a father.

They'd also been joined by a man who smelled of sawdust, was covered in sawdust, kept giving Lori angry, threatening looks and who kept trying to comfort the injured woman. From the context, he seemed to be her husband. They'd brought the bench insde, and the woman lay on it, trying not to jostle her leg as one of the two doctors left in the demesne—not Shanalorre's uncle, Lori could tell that much— examined it. Apparently, Lori had been unable to break the knee. The crack had been something tearing.

Lori, for her part, kept breathing evenly, taking in magic and readied to unleash the lightningwisps in her arms should it be needed as she leaned against one of the walls. She wished she had her staff with her, or even just a coalcharm. Though if she was wishing, she might as well wish for mastery over all forms of magic…

The door opened quietly, and when Shanalorre stepped inside, she almost seemed furtive, but that was just a product of her size. When she entered, everyone's gaze was on her, as it should be. Even the injured women seemed to try to stifle her whining and moaning in Shanalorre's presence, then ruined it by giving an annoyed look at the back of the younger Binder's head when she just passed by with no comment or deviation.

Shanalorre went behind her table and after a moment's awkwardness settled herself on the tall stool that let her, if not be eye level with adults, at least probably let her be close to it for seated adults. Her gaze was not childlike. It was serious, even imperious, and it looked at everyone in the room, even Lori, like they were wasting her time. The fact her hands were still slightly wet, no doubt from needing to be washed, did not detract from it at all.

"Lord Yllian, please report what happened," she said calmly. Then, she glanced at Lori. "Binder Lolilyuri, please try not to have your mind wander and pay attention."

Lori was mildly offended at the accusation, and resolved to recall how to hide her wandering thoughts better. She used to be able to hide it in school…

"Great Binder," Lord Yllian said, coming to attention. "During the midday meal, I became aware of an altercation. Unfortunately, I was on the far side of the dining hall, so I wasn't able to witness any of it myself, only the aftermath. I found Naineb on the ground with an injured knee and Binder Lolilyuri being restrained and pulled away from her. I went to Naineb first to ascertain her injury, and she claimed that Binder Lolilyuri had attacked her suddenly and without warning, and had been pulled away before she could do more damage."

Lori became aware of the more intense glare the husband was directing at her and frowned at him. Surely he didn't believe that nonsense? He married the woman, he of all people should know she was irrational.

"When I spoke to Binder Lolilyuri," Lord Yllian continued, "she testified that Naineb attacked her, that she had never met Naineb before, and that she had been accosted and attacked while walking, and had merely defended herself."

"That liar!" the Naineb woman cried through gritted teeth. Lori, her own injuries fresh on her mind, could almost sympathize with her pain. Almost.

But she didn't.

"I see," Shanalorre said, nodding as if she agreed. "And what do you say really happened, Binder Lolilyuri?"

"I was on my way to the river to make wheels," Lori said succinctly, "when this woman grabbed my arm." She held up the arm in question. Unfortunately, there was nothing so dramatic as a bruise in the shape of a hand. "I told her she'd mistaken me for someone else, and she began ranting nonsense about my trying to kill her. When I politely asked her to release me again, as I had work to do, she attacked me. I forced her to release me, and then incapacitated her, since she was clearly violent. That was when I was then assaulted by two more people from behind, and they restrained me despite my being the defending party."

"That's not how it happened!" the woman cried.

"Kozya Naineb, be quiet and wait your turn," Shanalorre said levelly. She was being much more patient than Lori would have been. "Binder Lolilyuri, what were you doing at the dining hall? You say you were on your way to the river to make wheels, but the area of the river with the rocks you prefer to use is on the opposite side of the house you were placed to recover in from the dining hall."

"I needed to use that lavatory, since I'd been unconscious for more than a day," Lori said blandly.

Binder Shanalorre nodded. She finally turned to look at the woman, who seemed to be shaking from more than pain. "And you, kozya Naineb? What do you say happened?"

The woman pointed at Lori, then winced as this seemed to change her balance and put pressure on her knee. "I-I was j-just minding my own business when she just kicked me in the knee!" the woman lied outrageously, her voice shaking and stuttering slightly. It would probably be attributed to the pain. "Just like that! I didn't even see her coming! She was going to do it again too, but some decent people pulled her away from me before she could do more. I know she wanted to! I could see the murder in her eyes."

All right, maybe Lori had been aiming more for her head than her knee.

For his part, the husband rounded on Lori, and only some of the militiamen and the doctor physically barring his way kept him from getting too close to her. His words still reached though. "You leave my wife alone, you hear me!" he roared, playing that intimidation game of where he made it look like he was trying to force his way past three men, but allowing himself to be pushed away. "You leave her alone! Haven't you ruined our lives enough?"

That required a response. "I don't even know you people," Lori said blandly. "Why would I even have anything to do with you?"

For some reason, the man gave her the same look of surprise and anger his wife had earlier.

"They were previously from Lorian Demesne," Binder Shanalorre said, as if by way of explanation.

"That means nothing to me," Lori said. "And if they left, then they're clearly not my concern anymore. They are yours, Binder Shanalorre." She gave Binder Shanalorre a level look. "One of your people attacked me. I demand restitutionfor this unprovoked attack on my sovereign person, or we shall be at war."

War. It was a dramatic statement, and in a proper theater performance or novel, it would the point where there was a dramatic silence as the parties involved all felt the full horrific—and dramatic—import of such a statement. Words like 'unthinkable', 'grim', 'portentous' and other adjectives would have peppered mental narration and monologues, and there might even have been musical accompaniment.

Alas, this was neither a theater performance nor a novel.

"Duly noted," Binder Shanalorre said with a distinct lack of hesitation, drama, quaver, grimness, or any other fittingly appropriate emotion.

Lori wished Rian was there with her and not sleeping. He could have made that statement sound properly dramatic.

––––––––––––––––––

That Would Have Been Nice To Know

Though the woman deserved it, Lori had initially been glad when Shanalorre had finally healed whatever-her-name's leg, so she didn't have to listen to the piteous moaning, crying, sobbing, wincing, hissing and groaning anymore. After that, Shanalorre had stepped out with Lord Yllian, ostensibly to consider things, leaving Lori and the woman, her husband and a whole bunch of militia alone in her office to wait. The husband had sat down next to his wife when her leg had been healed, on the side closest to Lori, while the militia stood in the center of the room, glaring at both sides. Lori relented and grabbed the stool in front of Shanalorre's desk to sit on it. While she was annoyed that Shanalorre hadn't made a decisive proclamation immediately, she supposed the younger Binder had wanted to show she would not do things at Lori's convenience. Lori could respect that. If Shanalorre ever came to her demesne, Lori made a note to make her wait too.

As Lori sat, she hoped the tool she'd made for making wheels was still there. She'd made some before, in exchange for bread and some raw grain for them to try and grow in her demesne, but there was always a use for wheels. The tool wasn't much—basically a convenient rock she'd shaped to put the would-be wheel on so she could get it properly round—but if she had to make another one because some idiot had taken it to use as part of an oven or something… well, she'd make another one, but she'd be annoyed about it!

Shanalorre and Lord Yllian soon returned, and once more took her place at the desk. She nodded towards Lori, who hadn't stood up when the other Binder had entered, even though the woman and her husband had. Lori was amused to note that on their respective seats, she and Shanalorre were at eyelevel. She wondered if that was deliberate.

"I have spoken with witnesses," she said. "After sorting through inconsistencies and lies, I have come to a conclusion."

Shanalorre turned to Lori. "On behalf of myself and my demesne, I apologize for the unauthorized assault on your person. Lord Yllian, please arrest kozya Naineb and confine her to the stockade. I will decide her fate at a later time."

"What? NO!" the woman cried. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"I have witnesses confirming you indeed antagonized and assaulted Binder Lolilyuri unprovoked, kozya Naineb," Shanalorre said coolly. "That is 'wrong', as every other child in my demesne knows."

"I protest," Lori said. "Why is this woman not being exiled? Given precedent, that is the established punishment for her offense of attempted bodily assault on a Binder."

The woman let out a scream and suddenly charged at Lori, only to find the militia in her path, trying to restrain her. They almost succeeded, at least until her husband weighed in on her behalf, knocking the militia aside, roaring about getting their hands off his wife. Lord Yllian moved to his Binder's side, pulling her behind him as he drew the stick he was wearing at his waist like a sword, calling for the militia outside.

Lori, unfortunately, had no one to do the same for her as her lord was currently asleep, on her orders. So when the woman managed to slip around the militiamen while they were preoccupied by her husband and come charging at Lori, she had no one to protect her.

Lori opened her mouth, and darkwisps inside her and airwisps around her head she'd been binding and imbuing came together, binding around each other before streaming towards the woman's face. The dark, smoke-like stream slammed into the woman, the darkwisps blinding her even as the airwisps made a loud snap. Blinded and hopefully disoriented by the deceptively sound gentle sound that Lori knew was a lot louder when it occurred right next to one's ears, the woman stumbled, and Lori rose and smoothly grabbed her stool by one of the legs in the same motion, swinging it up to slam under the woman's jaw.

As the woman stumbled, Lori moved sideways slightly to position herself, drew back her foot and methodically repeated the same stomp that had stopped the woman before.

There was a crack and another, more pained scream.

The woman's husband let out a cry, trying to push through the militia towards his wife, who'd once more fallen and was again clutching her knee. For a brief moment, he managed to push through, and knelt next to his wife, who was crying and screaming "This is her fault! This is her fault!" again and again, her face still blinded by darkwisps as the door opened to show more militia.

He was promptly tackled from behind by the militia he'd just gotten past, and who were promptly joined by the ones coming in through the door. His wife's cries gained a new dimension of agony as they all promptly fell in a pile on her and her once-more-ruined knee.

Lori watched warily, but it seemed like the militia would actually be able to handle this now. Still, she stepped back warily before examining the stool she was holding. The seat had popped off the legs slightly, but nothing a little light hammering couldn't fix. The demesne's woodworkers could probably take care of it.

"That's twice," Lori said, giving Shanalorre an unamused stare. "Both times unprovoked."

"Duly noted," Shanalorre said, looking with disapproval past her lord.

"Will she be exiled now?" Lori said. Beneath the pile of men trying to restrain the spouses, screaming that were almost words resounded.

"I wish you had not pressed the issue," Binder Shanalorre said quietly, almost too quiet to be heard over the screaming. "But yes. She will be secured with Grem and exiled to Covehold when the time comes." There was a pause. "Her relations are welcome to stay, though I find it unlikely they will do so."

"Why?" Lori said. "If they had wished to stay at Covehold, they'd have never joined the expedition to settle my demesne."

For a moment, Shanalorre and Lord Yllian gave Lori a look.

"What?" she said.

"I suppose that is a logical statement to make," Shanalorre said eventually. "But people are seldom logical."

"No, they're often idiots," Lori agreed. "Shall we discuss reparations?"

Shanalorre blinked. "Reparations?"

"Indeed," Lori said. "When a member of my demesne attacked you, we took immediate action and successfully prevented bodily harm to your person. That was not reciprocated in this instance. I had to defend myself. Twice. Reparations for allowing this to happen while within your demesne are necessary, to show you are truly regretful of the oversight."

The two of them stared at each other for a long moment over the sounds of the husband finally being subdued and the wife getting her knee looked at again.

"I've healed you," Shanalorre said.

"The payment for that has already been negotiated, and will be paid. I was in fact on my way to do so when I was attacked," Lori said. "This is a separate matter."

There was a mild commotion at the door as several militia dragged out the husband, and tried to get the wife on a proper stretcher instead of the improvised one Lori could vaguely remember she had been carried on. She was making it difficult for them not ceasing in her howling in pain and moving her leg.

"I see," Shanalorre said eventually. "Yes, I follow the logic there."

Lori did not smile triumphantly. This wasn't a stage performance, after all. "I've noticed you possess certain fruit…"

––––––––––––––––––

It was nearing dusk by the time Lori returned to the house where she had left Rian, now escorted by a pair of militia. She'd been able to finish the wheels, though she'd needed to rush a little to finish them in time. It had been necessary, since she wanted to be gone the following day after listening to Shanalorre's proposal and claiming her loot—er, reparations. Still, the wheels were symmetrical, round, with a hole properly sized for an axle. They were even the same size as the wheels she'd provided before, in case they were to be used as a replacement. All of them had been officially received by River's Fork in the person of… someone, so the debt for her healing was almost discharged. She'd only have to listen to Shanalorre's proposal now, and then she could go back to her demesne and never have to leave it again!

She tried not to remember she swore the same thing the previous times she'd left.

She collected some lightwisps before she stepped inside, and so she had a glowing binding of lightwisps on her forehead to provide her light to see by in the now-darkened house. Despite everything, there were still some unused houses in River's Fork. More than enough to suit any idiots that decided they didn't want to live in her demesne anymore.

She still wouldn't be taking them here by boat. They want to leave her demesne, they could walk for the privilege. She wouldn't stop them.

Rian was still passed out on the bedroll when she came in, the pillow he'd used to cover his eyes fallen half off his face. She unbound the lightwisps from her forehead and stuck them to the wall, adjusting their output to not be overly bright. Then there was nothing for it but to sit and wait for the food Rian had said he'd negotiated with Shanalorre. To have something to do, Lori looked through the bag that had contained her clothes, and now contained the clothes she'd worn while indisposed, pulling out two of the earthen jars of ration stew. They were both cold and slightly congealed from sitting in the bag all day, so she went outside to find a rock that was still warm from the sun to draw firewisps from.

She got strange looks from the militia there, but so what?

Rian was still asleep when her food arrived—bread, another bowl of fruit that was so pretty and colorful she wanted to douse it in sweetbug gold mixed with water and call it a jewel, as well as what seemed to be pan-seared seel meat—which she ate with enjoyment. Especially the bread. Ooooh, the bread.

She was in the middle of eating when Rian finally woke up with a groan. "Bread?" he groaned.

"Good evening Rian," Lori said, trying to ignore his post-waking erection, no matter how funny it looked. "Your dinner is ready." She pointed at the jar of rations she'd used firewisps to heat when she'd seen him start rousing.

"Hmm?" he said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Oh, did you save that bread for me?"

"No," Lori sad blandly, taking a bite of the last piece of bread.

"You're a terrible person for not finishing that sooner and actually letting me hope I was getting bread," Rian said, looking grumpy.

"Would you rather I make the stew cold again?"

"Thank you Binder Lori. Your kindness and graciousness to your people knows no bounds," Rian said, bowing dramatically. "Please don't make me eat cold food, it feels disgusting in my mouth."

Lori nodded, pushing the warm jar towards him. Then she sighed, tore a 1/16th piece from her bread and put it on the plate the bread had come in, pushing it towards Rian.

"Awww, you do care. How nice," Rian said, even as he plucked the piece of bread like he was afraid Lori would take it back. It… wasn't an unreasonable caution. She was already regretting doing that. "So, what did you do while I was asleep, and do I have to worry about anything."

"I made the wheels, so we can leave tomorrow," Lori said. "Also, a reminder that we have to uphold our end of exiling Grem to Covehold."

Rian sighed. "I know, I know. Well, at least nothing happened while you were out. That's good."

"Oh?" Lori said flatly. "What are you afraid might have happened?"

"Well, you might have been attacked," Rian said. "I mean, they weren't here the last time we were because they were trying not to die on the bath next to the river from Lorian, but even just from the boat to where Shana—"

"Shanalorre," Lori corrected.

"—right, where Shanalorre treated you, you were getting a lot of nasty looks from people I recognized who'd moved here from Lorian. Maybe they think you tricked them into moving here or something. There was this one woman, Missus Naineb—don't know if you remember, you drowned her in the ground once as an example—"

"You exaggerate," Lori said, finally remembering the woman. "She sank, but didn't actually drown. Drowning involves lungs filling and preventing air from coming in, which didn't happen."

"—well, actually drowned or not, the woman blames you for how bad her life is, from what she was yelling," Rian said. "I think Elceena promised her land and that's why she and her family joined the expedition. She was actually throwing rocks at you, her husband had to hold her back…"

"Ah," Lori said. "Well. That would have been good to know sooner."

"You didorder me to go to sleep, my generous and caring Binder," Rian said.

Lori nodded. "So I did. And now it's my turn to go back to sleep."

So saying, she took off her shoes and lay on the bedroll that had just been vacated. It was still warm and squashed form having Rian lie on it, but it was muchsofter than her laundry, and she had to keep herself from groaning…

"You know that's my bedroll, right?" Rian said.

There was a long pause.

"Your Binder thanks you for your sacrifice and assures you that you will be compensated," Lori said eventually.

"I'll hold you to that," he said, sitting down on the other bed. "Well, go to sleep then, you had a long day and a long illness. I'll make sure no one kills you in your sleep. It's not like I have anything else to do."

Lori nodded, not getting up, She raised up her head, fluffed the pillow, and settled it in place.

Then she sighed, breathing out darkwisps to block the light from reaching her eyes.

"That's creepy," Rian said conversationally. "You look like you're smearing your soul on your face."

"Noted. Now be quiet, I'm going to sleep. Unless you brought the game board?"

"Shutting up, your Bindership. Good night and pleasant dreams."

For a long while, Lori lay in darkness and quiet.

"Rian?"

"I'm still here."

"Thank you for saving my life."

"It was a group effort. But you're welcome."

She fell asleep.