Weekly Digest 32 - (#96 - #98) (Patreon)

Emergency Order Bonus

The final test assembly came the next day. They were almost out of time, after all. While Lori hoped that they'd be able to bring the components to River's Fork and assemble it that day… she wasn't holding out much hope. In fact, she'd already resigned herself to having to go back to River's Fork to imbue the temporary measure she'd put there.

"I'm going to have some people cut some fresh ropeweed," Rian said as they ate breakfast. "When we put the part on the boat, we'll need cushioning so they don't so they don't damage the boat."

"Will that really help? Either the boat can take the weight of the parts or it won't," Lori said.

"It's less about the weight and more about the possibility of it shifting and unbalancing the boat," Rian said. "Also, it might poke holes in the hull when it shifts. If we get a hole in that thing, I don't think we'd be able to patch it up."

"Right. Get the ropeweed," Lori agreed. "I'm sure the weavers will be able to use it later."

On either side of Rian, Umu and Mikon nodded. "As long as it's not cut up too short, it should be fine," Mikon said. "Er, Lord Rian."

"I'm sure Lori appreciated you not talking to her directly," Rian said, giving Lori a blandly look.

Lori nodded.

"That's probably the most affirmation you're going to get from her," he told the weaver.

"I got more," Umu said smugly.

The other three on her bench looked at her. "You're making that up," Riz accused.

"Why would I lie in front of her Bindership?" Umu smirked.

They all looked at Lori.

Lori ignored them and continued eating.

"Lord Rian, is that a 'no' silence or a 'yes' silence?" Mikon asked.

"Could be either one, or it could be an 'ignoring you' silence," Rian said. "I'll be honest, I don't think I know her well enough to interpret just silence without more clues."

Lori finished her bowl, pushed it towards Rian to deal with, grabbed her hat from next to her on the bench and went out towards where she'd left the water wheel yesterday, grabbing some more rock from the pile near the dungeon entrance as she passed it.

The waterwheel on its stone mounting was still where they had left it the day before. The wheel jutted out from one end, the rest of the axle stuck out the other, at the end of which was some stone Lori had used earthwisps to wrap around the end as a counterweight. She examined it as people started working on the houses nearby, touching the wheel and getting it spinning, listening to the sounds of the stone ball bearings rolling inside. She'd needed to raise the dividing grooves the bearings ran on blind, but it seemed to have worked. The wheel rolled smoothly, and kept turning for a bit after she'd let it go.

She frowned, concentrated on looking at a single point, and turned the wheel again. Squares pegs flashed by, all blurring together into a seemingly solid line. It looked like the gears teeth were all in line. That was a good sign, right? Hopefully that meant it would intermesh with the gears for the fan…

"Your Bindership?" someone said hesitantly.

Lori looked towards the voice. Thankfully, it was someone whose name and face she knew. "Yes, Tackir?" she said. "Have you seen the fan?"

"We put it in the shed with the lathe, your Bindership," he said. "So it wouldn't get stepped on."

Lori nodded. Ah, yes there it was, being carried by some men. Hopefully the fact it was being carried by two people was because it was long and unwieldy rather than because it was heavy. Rian would have to carry it in River's Fork, after all.

The fan needed two stone mounts, though fortunately neither needed to be very high. One just behind the fan, and another at the other end to hold it steady while so that the gear teeth could properly transfer energy. Lori had to adjust all the mounts slightly so everything aligned. By mid-morning, however, everything was aligned properly, and when they turned the water wheel around the whole way for two revolutions, all the teeth continued to mesh together, turning the fan all the way through.

There was no cheering. Carpenters, in her experience, tended to be serious, no-nonsense men when it came to their work, so all the waterwheel and the fan garnered were approving nods as good work done well. Off to the side, someone was already putting together a box of gears to add to the wheel and fan in case the fan didn't revolve at a sufficient rate.

With that done, Lori filled up the trough under the water wheel with water, and bound the water to flow, pushing the water wheel with it.

…

Yes, just connecting the fan straight to the waterwheel wasn't nearly enough.

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It took most of the day, but by midafternoon, it was finished. The waterwheel turned, the spokes on its side turning a gear in the gearbox, which turned another gear, which turned the fan quickly enough that Lori concluded it was an actual physical hazard and someone might lose a hand. A finger, at least. There was nothing they could do about that, since a protective grille was beyond their time and resources, but then, anyone stupid enough to stick their extremity into something turning that was fast just asking to lose it.

Then came the hard part: dismantling it, cutting the axles of the waterwheel and propeller fan down to size, remembering how it was supposed to be put together, and then loading into Lori's Boat to bring to River's Fork the following day. Lori's part in that was quickly, and merely needed her to dismantle the stone structures on which the parts were mounted, as well as collect the stone ball bearings so they wouldn't get lost, taking htem to her room for safekeeping that night. The carpenters took care of the rest, showing Rian—who had been called to remember how to put it together so he could assist Lori the following day—how the parts fitted and how they would need to be mounted. They nodded in approval at the fresh ropeweeds that had been brought in to act as cushioning for the parts that would go on the boat. The parts—water wheel, propeller fan, and gear box—were all moved to the dungeon to be loaded on Lori's Boat the next day.

As the carpenters were beginning to put away their tools for the day, Lori came back from her room, a sack slung over she shoulder and held with bother hands. While she didn't know everyone's names, faces were still on the forefront of her memory and a glance showed all the carpenters were still there.

She opened her mouth… and paused. Argh! How did talkative people do this? Rian just basically said 'Everyone, look at me!' and they did! If she was that sort of person, however, she wouldn't need Rian in the first place. Said lord, unfortunately, appeared to be gone.

Sighing, she glanced about, found a person whose name she did know, and went over to them. Tackir was carefully handling a sat of very sharp and well-maintained chisels, one of them large enough to be mistaken for a spatula if it weren't for the thick metal and keen edge, putting them away into a wooden toolbox.

"Tackir," she said, and the man looked up at her call, hastily putting down his toolbox.

"Yes, your Bindership?" he said. He seemed less nervous now, and indeed was almost relaxed. Perhaps it was the proximity to where carpentry had so recently happened.

As people glanced at them curiously, Lori said, "Everyone did very well working on the parts that I needed, today and the days before," she said. "You were all able to build a viable design under a strict time limit and get it done. You are all very good craftsman in your respective fields and should be proud of that."

It was, Lori had to admit, a very clunky compliment. Certainly nothing like the elegant praise she'd heard of in plays where characters were complimenting someone's skill. It was certainly nothing like the easy but sincere flattery that always seemed to roll so easily out of Rian's mouth. She didn't even have the advantage of seeing Tackir straighten proudly or any sort of easy cues like that.

All he did was smile and say, "Thank you, your Bindership." No straightening whatsoever.

"If we were in a more civilized place and I had money, you and everyone else who helped build the fan and waterwheel would all be receiving a bonus for completing such an emergency order," Lori said. "However, as I don't have that…" Carefully, she heaved the sack down from her shoulder, and the ground rose up in front of her "Here. It's the only thing I have to offer that you all can't make or get yourselves. Open it."

Tackir took the half-filled sack—with only one hand, Lori was annoyed to see—as the other carpenters abandoned the pretense of not listening, getting up and moving closer to see. He opened it and reached inside. Out came a pink lady, beaded with condensation from being removed from her cold room.

"I'll trust you divide the contents fairly among all who helped contribute," Lori said as people leaned forward, one even peeking into the bag. "Yourself included."

Tackir finally straightened, and then unexpectedly bowed, a full tilt from the waist and dip of the head. "Yes, your Bindership. You can count on me. And thank you, your Bindership. These look delicious."

Lori nodded. "Please return the sack to me at dinner when you're done."

"Yes, your Bindership!"

She nodded again, turned, and head headed towards her room to finally take a bath and get dressed for dinner.

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Lori found a sack on the table when she came down after her bath. She placed it next to her on the bench as she sat down, putting her sunk board on the table as she waited for Rian to arrive. Finally, it was done. Not that it was the end of her commitments to River's Fork. There was still the monthly ice, and the next set of volunteers next week. Still, many of the new houses looked done, and she suspected people would start moving in from the shelter soon, possibly as soon as later this week, so there would be a surplus of manpower to send.

She glanced up as she heard someone sit, but it was only Mikon. Lori sank back into her thoughts. On further thought, perhaps she shouldn't make a new building for the carpenters and just house them in their own alcoves in the second level? Each carpenter could take one alcove, or two could share one, and in the event of the dragon, their family could be assigned that alcove. And tools like the lathe would probably need their own dedicated alcove, where the tools could be moved to make room in the other alcoves. The smiths would definitely need their own area though, since they'd be working with combustibles and heat, and therefore would need to be able to vent their smoke to the outside so that it wouldn't fill the Dungeon…

Restlessly, she reached for one of the stone-filled bowls on the board, picked up all the stones, and started dropping the stones into subsequent bowls as if she were making a move. She'd finally be able to challenge Rian to a game tonight, instead of being so tired and frustrated she just went straight to bed—

Lori blinked as a hand reached into one of the bowls opposite her own, grabbed all the stones, and started dropping them into bowls as well. She looked up, eyes narrowing slightly as Mikon gave her a wide-eyed, innocent look before casually averting their gaze to the side. Eyes narrowing, Lori took the contents of the next bowl…

By the time Rian finally got to the table, Lori was claiming her first victory.

"Am… I interrupting anything?" Rian asked, glancing back and forth between them. Behind him, Riz and Umu were doing the same, the latter giving the other weaver a suspicious look.

"What took you so long?" Lori asked.

"I was making sure we had enough lard for lubricant," Rian said. "The jars are with the other parts. Don't get them confused with the jars with our lunch and just-in-case dinner and breakfast."

Lori looked up sharply as Mikon quietly reset the board after her loss. "Why is there dinner and breakfast?"

"Just in case, as I said," Rian said. "So I checked the dimensions, and even with the parts I think we can bring one, maybe two people with us. How do you feel about one of the carpenters coming along in case something breaks or something?"

Lori considered that as Mikon finished and sat back and gave Rian a smile of greeting. "I have no objections," she said.

Rian nodded. "Good. Good… okay, I have to ask, are you two playing together?"

"I'm playing sunk," Lori said.

"But are you playing it with Mikon?" Rian asked, eyes still going back and forth between the two of them.

"You took too long to come back and I got bored," Lori said.

Rian made a face. "Is that what it takes for you to actually talk to other people? Boredom?" He paused. "Now that I say it out loud it both sounds stupid and makes a lot of sense…"

Lori gave him a look. "Why would I need to talk to anyone?"

Rian stared at her, then sighed. "Are you seriously telling me you two played a game together without even talking about playing a game together?"

"I was just waiting for everyone else to arrive, Lord Rian," Mikon said with a smile, "and trying to remember what you told me about how to play sunk."

Rian looked up at the ceiling for some reason. "Ugh, whatever. Lori's interacting with another human being. I'll count that as a net positive in the grand scheme of things. Keep at it for as long as she lets you, I suppose."

"That's up to her, isn't it?" Mikon said.

Lori responded by reaching forward and making her opening move. Mikon moved in kind.

"I'll… go get dinner," Rian said, still looking confused as he headed towards the line for the food.

That night, Lori won four games in five. Her one loss was a test to see if Mikon was actually trying to win.

It was a good night.

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Fulfilled Obligations and Bedroom Hygiene

"And done!" Rian declared, giving the waterwheel an experimental turn. It moved MUCH more smoothly than it had before in her demesne when they'd been testing it, thanks to the rendered seel fat they'd added to the bearings as lubrication. "It's all yours now, your Bindership."

Lori nodded as she finished filling the water trough under the wheel. Rather than just an open trough, it has a small partition in the middle, dividing the water into two areas. When filled, the water was essentially ring-shaped, with an amount of water at the bottom, the partition right under the water wheel that was open on either end, and then the water at the top, into which the water-wheel was partially submerged.

Lori took the bowl of bloody water that Binder Shanalorre had returned to her, untouched and still imbued heavily and connected to herself, and poured it into the water already in the trough. She touched the metal-capped end of her staff into the water, the metal conducting her will, and between that and the bloody water, she began binding waterwisps, still imbued and claimed by her. Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, the water began to flow under the waterwheel, pushing against the paddles submerged in the water. the wheel began to turn, and the fan with it. A leather hood secured around the curving, bent wood around the fan funneled the air it was blowing into the mine's ventilation tubes.

"It appears to be working, "  Binder Shanalorre commented.

"It will take some time to get up to speed," Lori commented. From the mine entrance, she could hear sounds of pickaxes and shovels as her people dug into the stone of the hill. "The water will push against the water wheel, flow down, over, and up again, in a constant flowing stream. With the thick rock, we should have to worry about erosion for some time, though you might need to add more water. You see that mark?"

"The one you're pointing at?" Shanalorre said blandly.

"The water needs to be at that level for optimum flow," Lori said. "Have someone check every so often and add more water as needed. As long as there's water, the wheel will turn, and so will the fan. In the meantime, try to keep it covered to prevent dust, bug droppings and other things from getting into the water."

Shanalorre nodded. "And this mechanism will simply move constantly?"

"Yes. So not try to stop it, alter it, or do anything except occasionally add water or rendered fat to the ball bearing for lubrication. Most especially, do NOT try to stop it so you can connect it to a lathe, mill, or whatever else. You have a perfectly good river right there," Lori pointed downhill. "The gear ratio has been calculated to operate the fan and the fan only. Any additional load on the waterwheel would be detrimental."

Shanalorre looked at the fan. "It's already spinning fairly fast."

"That current rate of rotation is not nearly enough for all the air my miners need," Lori corrected. "The water wheel is still getting up to speed."

Shanalorre nodded slowly. "I see. I will have my people find something to cover the trough then."

"And we are going back home," Lori said. She could feel her connection to the waterwisps—or at least the ones from her blood—she had bound to maintain the constant cyclical flow of water that pushed the waterwheel. The effort to imbue them without using her staff as a conduit was marginally more difficult than doing it normally, but she knew that would even out in time. And if it didn't, she'd give Rian some of her blood to pour in when he came with the next batch of miners! "Come on Rian, Tackir, get everything and start packing up the boat."

"Yes, your Bindership," Rian said, helping Tackir with the tools he'd brought and the jar with the lubricant. It turned out the man had needed to get a quick adjustment to the protective from of the fan to keep the leather hood from slipping off constantly. Her lord glanced up at the sun. "You know, if we hurry, we might be able to have lunch in our own demesne."

Lori glanced up to herself, noting the angle of the sun. Huh, Rian was right. At worst, they'd arrive a little after lunch was finished, which meant she'd still have most of the afternoon.

"Our business is done here, Binder Shanalorre," Lori said, nodding to the other Binder. "Rian will be coming at the end of the week to cycle in the next batch of miners."

"I will see you then, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said, returning her nod.

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The days leading up to exchanging the next batch of miners were oddly relaxing to Lori. There was no need to rush—beyond the usual preparations for winter and unexpected dragons—and Lori was able to slip into a routine. Between curing wood, heating the pottery kiln to bake the clay pieces that had been finished—there were plates and platters now—checking on the binding of waterwisps in River's Fork, and finishing the alcoves on the second floor, she was able to relax and just be for a while.

That said, there was still specific work she needed to do. She had to make more showers, for one thing, since Rian had pointed out the crowding in the current bath houses. And now that she had proven it effective, she had added blood to the bound wisps in the water jet of Lori's Boat meaning no matter she no longer had to accompany it on trips out of the demesne. They just left it running. While this was convenient for her, it also required her to find a way to stop the boat while the water jet was still running. This had led to flaps that could be lowered into the water to act as a brake and a mechanism that would let them raise the whole water jet assembly in and out of the water so that it would stop having anything to push against. This took some doing, since they had to mount it on Lori's Boat without using nails or otherwise cutting into the hull, since they wouldn't be able to repair it to the same quality.

"So your solution was to extend the boat?" Lori said as they waited for dinner. She reached over and made her next move. The game was almost finished. There were few stones left.

Rian shrugged. "I figured if we couldn't risk damaging the hull, then add something to the hull that we could risk. The joins are surprisingly tight as is, they almost didn't need the bugwax. The extension fits around the back and side of the boat and locked in place with this sort of hook and wooden pins you push down on to squeeze the boat and the new part together. The new part is where we anchor the swing arm that will raise and lower the water jet out of the water."

"I'll look at it later," Lori said.

"Please," Rian said. "We'll need to test how well it can take the strain of the water jet, how it affects steering, and whether we can use it to get the water jet out of the water. Besides, you're the only one who can take off the water jet from the boat. Tomorrow, please?"

"Fine, fine," Lori said. She made her move and claimed her victory. Her opponent immediately began resetting the board.

"You know, you two are creepy when you play like that," Rian said. "Seriously, do neither of you talk to each other at all?"

Lori gave him a bland look. "Why would talking be needed?" Mikon finished resetting the board. Once more, the pink-haired weaver made the first move. While Lori disliked not moving first, that also meant she hadn't lost the last game. "Besides, I'm talking to you. How soon before the houses are finished?"

"We've got some people moving in already." Rian said. "So you'll soon be able to get started on… um…"

"Yes. Um," Lori said, responding to Mikon's move. "Please tell the carpenters we'll need doors. And feel free to tell them what the doors are needed for, so they can be motivated."

"I'm sure it will be very motivating," Rian said, not seeming to notice the blush on the women sitting next to him. "Hopefully after that we can focus on building a boat to go to Covehold. The boat will need to be specifically designed to have a water jet built into it, rather than as an external attachment."

"I will be the first to admit it have no idea how to build a boat," Lori said as Mikon considered the board. "Never worked in the industry."

"That's fine, most of us have no idea what to do either."

"Most?"

"One of the carpenters once helped the late Binder Koshay shape the boat we have now," Rian said as Mikon finally made a move. "A good thing too, or else its hull might not have been so thick. He wanted to make it thinner and just use magic to reinforce it or something."

Lori kept herself from looking up at the ceiling, now reinforced by pillars. "How unsafe," she said, reaching towards the board, hesitated, then made a different move as she realized the previous one would have given Mikon an advantage. "Then after that comes the third bath house. I suppose for the sake of fairness, I should make it as dark, cramped, and utilitarian as the previous two."

"Please don't. Please, I'm begging you." A thought seemed to occur to him. "When are you going to rebuild the baths in the Dungeon? You know, for when dragons come. It got pretty desperate here last time."

Lori grimaced. "I supposed I'll have to," she said. "And a new water reservoir, come to think of it. I should probably do that before the bath house."

"Eh, knowing you, it won't take that long," Rian said. "You're finally finished with the second floor, right?"

Lori nodded. "I think the carpenters can set up shop on the far end so they don't get in the way of the ropers. There's plenty of clear space among the pillars to lay things out. They just need to remember that water won't conveniently drain away." A thought occurred to her. "Do we have brooms?"

"A few," Rian confirmed. "They use beast feather shafts as bristles, since we have a lot of those right now. A bit stiff and scratchy, but they work. You need one?"

Lori shook her head. "Just wondering." She used blasts of air to clean her room as needed.

Umu tapped Rian on the shoulder. He gave her a curious look.

"The food's ready, Lord Rian," she said, pointing towards the kitchen.

He blinked, then glanced that way. "Ah, thanks Umu." He glanced at Lori. "Should I…?"

"Yes, you should," Lori said blandly.

As Rian and the other two women stood to join the line for food, Mikon glanced up, looking towards the kitchen, then at Lori, then at the board. Lori waved her off, and the weaver stood up, heading towards the kitchen with the others.

Now alone at the table, Lori stretched her arms upwards, and sighed in contentment. She wasn't quite sure what the weaver was doing with this, but it was nice to play with someone besides Rian, so she was willing to allow it. Though if Mikon thought this would grant her any special favors, she was sadly mistaken.

When Rian came back with her food, she greeted him with, "Rian, when the second shelter has been converted to um, we're going to need people to clean the rooms regularly."

He looked at him blankly, before his eyes went wide, and a slightly sickened expression came over his face as she took one of the bowls and began eating. "Oh right. It's going to need that, isn't it?"

"It will be necessary for health reasons," Lori said. "Unless you have a better idea?"

"Make them shower rooms instead of bedrooms?" Rian said. "That way, they'll have soap."

Lori stared at him as Umu, Mikon, and Riz looked away with blushing faces and raised eyebrows. "My mothers warned me about the minds of men."

"You asked!" Rian protested, blushing himself.

"And how quickly you answered was disturbing. Still, it does seem like a sound suggestion…"

"Or we could just have it cleaned twice a week." Rian paused thoughtfully. "Three times a week."

"Will you be able to find enough people to clean it that regularly?" Lori said, half-wondering if any of the three women would volunteer.

Umu half-heartedly opened her mouth. Mikon reached behind Rian and put a finger over the other weaver's lips, shaking her head. Umu closed her mouth and nodded, giving Lori's current sunk opponent a grudgingly grateful look.

Rian noticed none of this. "Oh, I'm sure the people who've made enthusiastic use of the facilities would be very happy to keep them maintained, especially if they ever want to use them again," he said, voice bright, cheerful, and vaguely vengeful at those hypothetical people.

Lori couldn't help it. She chuckled. "I'll leave that to you then. And feel free to excuse yourself from the cleaning duties should you ever find yourself using the um. A lord should have some privileges, after all."

Rian rolled his eyes. "That's probably never going to happen, but thanks. Will all lords get this privilege, or am I just special?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I make more," Lori said blandly. "Eat your dinner."

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Miners Home Again

It was with a happy heart that Lori watched Lori's Boat, full of… well, full of part of the next batch over miners who'd be mining in River's Fork for the week moving downriver. The rest were still packing, doing last-minute laundry, or were making themselves useful by watching the children and making sure they didn't get hurt or anything. They'd be ready to go once Rian came back.

The new mounting for the water jet had been finished yesterday, and had undergone testing in the water. The swinging arm was able to smoothly lift waterjet to essentially deactivate it. The bone tube she had made was now encased in a hollowed out log for protection, structural integrity, more secure mounting, and to keep the binding from damaging the tube by trying to siphon off the waterwisps absorbed into its structure.

Rian had wanted to somehow combine the water jet and the tiller so that turning would have the full power of the waterjet's thrust behind it, but they had not had the time to properly build the sort of mounting such an idea would require in the time they'd had. Still, it seemed a promising idea for the ship they would eventually come to build. The sudden panicked look that had flooded across Rian's face when she'd reminded him to compensate the carpenters for the extra work had also been entertaining.

The water jet didn't feel separate yet, not like the water in the trough of the water wheel, since it was still in her demesne. That would only happen when the boat actually left her demesne's confines. But she'd done the experiment to see if the connection would still occur if the binding and bloody water were in the process of leaving her demesne, and so she wasn't worried. As to the water in the trough… well, she'd managed to imbue it was a distance, and it wasn't any more distracting than doing so for any of the other bindings currently active in her demesne. Even the sense of strain at having to imbue into something separate from herself, not touching, was easy to get used to.

She was also finding herself inspired. What other things could she do with this new method? New to her, at least. After all, this method and its derivatives had been something she had been strongly cautioned not to use when she'd merely been a Whisperer. Blood was an extremely minor loss to pay for extracting useable internal waterwisps, after all. And yes, internal darkwisps was no less at all, since there was no consequence to losing some inhabiting her stomach, lungs and her bodies few other internal cavities. Loss of lightwisps would lead to blindness, and while that was relatively benign, the fact one had to use one's EYE to claim and bind lightwisps meant one risked rather more physical blindness since you'd have objects near your eye. Not to mention an instinctive desire to see would make one pull the lightwisps back in place anyway. But losing firewisps meant loss of body heat, which WAS deadly. Lightningwisps would lead to dangerous numbness and potential loss of function of bodily organs. Removing airwisps would lead to collapsed lungs as the lungs were never truly empty of air. And earthwisps were channeled through teeth and bone, not something she wished to lose. Nails, despite being used to channel them, had very little actual affinity for earthwisps, and were much more ephemeral than blood, as body parts went.

However, now that she was a Dungeon Binder, the loss of any of those internal wisps, with the exception of bone (and only until she learned the Deadspeaking needed to safely extract parts of and regenerate her bones), was much less fraught. She's used her body's lightningwisps to defend herself, after all, and the resulting numbness had been a momentary thing with the power of the core renewing her. Lori didn't dare experiment with firewisps, but lightning- and lightwisps seemed safe enough for now.

That was more than enough.

And there were other experiments she needed to try. Previously, she had wondered if she could keep a binding constantly imbued by connecting it to her core by a length of wire. Now, however, that idea had taken on a new logical conclusion she would need to test…

As soon as Rian got back with the boat.

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The second level was growing lively. In one alcove, tucked into the corner were it would be out of the way in the event of sudden evacuation, sat the stone pots containing seeds that Rian had wanted to try growing underground, the lightwisps above them shining bright in imitation of sunlight, lacking only heat. The soil in the pots, a mixture of soil, rotting leaves and some wood chips, was moist, the water smelling slightly of the retting tanks. Among the alcoves they had claimed, several women were weaving with impressively quick and skillful movements, the array of strands in front of them slowly turning into a light off-brown fabric of some kind. Umu and Mikon, with no Rian to distract them, were weaving skillfully, hands and moving with practiced ease on their frames. In one corner, several women and a few children were taking ropeweed fibers and spinning them into thread using… sticks? It looked like sticks, anyway. Different kinds of sticks, certainly. Three were using a small devices with a wheel on it. It didn't look like the spinning wheels she'd seen in theaters, but that's what it probably was.

She was amusing to note some children were playing lima with their feet, entrapped pieces being left where they were due to the difficulty of picking them up with their toes.

The ropers had claimed a literal corner since they apparently needed room for making rope. Like textiles, ropemaking wasn't an industry Lori was familiar with. The few listings for it she remembered had been looking for Deadspeakers. Seeing how the ropes were made, Lori could guess that the Deadspeakers were for fusing the fibers together to prevent unravelling. Like the weavers, they too had more people, mostly young boys, who were spinning fibers together.

Lori made a note to make the… spinners? To make the spinners into one group, irrespective of wehter their finished product was to be used by weavers or ropers. She'd have to have Rian check, but this was starting to seem like a petty rivalry in progress.

The carpenters had occupied alcoves in the middle of the room, and while their area was the most messy—there was sawdust everywhere—the work there was clearly organized and neat. The wheels on the lathe had been removed in favor of permanently securing it to the ground, and additional reinforcing had been added to be able to support a large stone flywheel, both done with her assistance. If she understood correctly, it was currently at work to make the pieces for a second, larger lathe. Some were making small wheels, probably for spinning thread. Those not engaged in that, she was amused to note, were making doors and wooden locks.

Thankfully, no one was complaining about the noise all this was producing.

This sudden influx of people was why she was adjusting the bindings on the airwisps that functioned as ventilation for the level. While the bindings were doing their job in making sure the air was kept fresh, the pressure caused by all the air coming in through hone end of the level and all going out the other end create something of a constant breeze. While the ropers didn't mind—they said it was refreshing—the breeze tended to send unattended raw ropeweed fibers flying. That had just barely been an issue, and had resulted in the older women chiding to younger to secure their raw materials better. With the addition of the carpenters, however… While she'd never seen one herself, she'd heard about sawdust explosions. Also, she didn't want any of the stuff to get into the kitchen and the food, or worse, into her room.

Fortunately, it didn't take long. Lori merely had to reduce the intensity that the air was being draw in. She also stole an idea from River's Fork and made stone tubes imbedded into the ceiling that both pulled in and drew out air, reducing the tendency for all the air to move in a single direction and there for a constant breeze. This made the currents of air in the second level completely random and unpredictable, but it kept the sawdust from spreading, and that was what counted.

By the time she was done, Rian had come back with the first batch of returning minders.

She watched from beside the dungeon's entrance, shaking her head as Lori's Boatapproached the beach where it usually landed. Lori made a note about building a proper dock as the new pivoting mount lifted the water jet into the air. The outflow end sputtered, spitting out water, until it was empty of all but the water that was part of the binding of waterwisps imbedded into the bone. Even so, Lori knew, occasionally a few drops of water, drawn from the vapor in the air and condensed by the binding, would be spat out the end at great speed.

There was a crowd gathered at the water's edge, and for some reason many people were cheering and crying as part of the first group of miners came down. Really, they'd only been gone a week, why were people making such a big deal about it? There was work not being done.

Still, she better make sure.

Sighing, and adjusting her hat, she headed down for the beach, planning to talk to Rian. Fortunately, he managed to see her coming, getting off the boat and stepping to the side so that she wouldn't need to try pushing through the crowd, though he had to splash through water to do it.

"You're getting careless with your clothes now that you have someone else laundering them for you," she said as she drew close.

That got a wince, and he looked at his trousers, soaked almost to the knee, a guilty expression on his face. "Yeah, that's a bad habit I'm getting into," he sighed. "I'll have to apologize."

"You could offer to return the favor," Lori said blandly. "I'm sure she'd greatly appreciate you washing her underwear."

"Only if she wants them ruined," Rian said. "I don't know how to do laundry."

Lori had a reply ready, but stopped herself. No, poking at him at his inability to recognize when a woman was all be lewdly flirting with him would have to wait. She had duties. "Was anyone injured in River's Fork?"

Rian shook his head. "I had Pellee keeping an eye on everyone. The closest thing to a serious injury was someone tripping and bruising their knee, and apparently Binder Shana—"

"Shanalorre," Lori corrected.

"What I can call you Lori but I can't call her Shana?" Rian said, giving her a look that implied she was being strange. "That sounds really backward."

"I have people call me Lori because I know most people mispronounce my full name atrociously, and I'd rather not have reason to cringe every time my name is called. I'd rather you not make the mistake of getting into the habit of referring to her disrespectfully. She might take offense and have you killed."

"… fine, sure, let's go with that," Rian eventually sighed. "But picking up from where I left off, she was there and she healed him. I'm told they also got pretty good food with lots of bread to help keep their energy up for mining, so at the moment we don’t' have to worry about out people being worked to death with insufficient nutrition. I'm pretty sure a bunch smuggled some bread in their packs, though I'm not sure they'd be worth eating, buried in sweaty clothes."

"Tell them to bake it again," she said. "It should be enough to purge anything clinging to it, though I doubt it will make it more edible." She frowned thoughtfully. "Do you think the generally favorable conditions will make them willing to do two-week shifts? Because if we have to face this sort of pointless drop in productivity very week…"

"They just missed their family, and their family missed them," Rian said. "After all, they haven't seen each other in a week. It's understandable."

"I disagree," Lori said. She hadn't seen her parents in months and knew she wouldn't react like this if they just happened to show up. Quite the opposite. "Load up the boat and come back quickly. I have a test I need to do."

Rian's eyes widened eagerly. "Oh, sounds fun. Same place as last time?"

Lori nodded.

"I'll try to get back by lunch or so, then," he said.

Nod again. Then she remembered what she'd been about to say. "If you truly feel guilty about taking advantage of someone washing your clothes, perhaps you could learn to wash your own clothes. I did, after all."

He blinked in confusion for a moment at the sudden shift in conversation before seeming to recall. "So, are you offering to teach me?"

"No," she said bluntly. "However, we have a laundry area full of women you can ask. Why don't you start there?"

He looked at the indicated place warily. Sure enough there were people there doing laundry, and someone was stringing up a new drying line. They were running out of places to hang those up. She might have to make more. "I wouldn't want to bother anyone…"

"As opposed to bothering someone by having them wash your clothes for you?"

He considered that, then sighed. "You're right, I suppose."

Of course she was.

"Of course I am," she said. "Now get moving, we still have that experiment to do."

It took much more time than she would have liked to get people dispersed and the remainder of the next batch of miners loaded onto Lori's Boat—by which she meant it took time at all—but soon she was watching her boat moving downstream again, loaded with more workers clutching packs of spare clothes and bedrolls.

She wondered if they would be able to wash their clothes, or would just need to wear them out over the week?

Perhaps she should have Rian bring it up with Shanalorre…

Shrugging, she went to gather the things she needed for her experiment.