Weekly Digest 35 (#110 - #112) (Patreon)

Timekeeping

The Dungeon was different from the last time a dragon had passed. For one thing, it was lit now.

In the meantime, while that was being done, Lori filled one of the pots with water for the morning stew—if it wasn't morning already, it would be soon—and set down bindings to radiate heat, Riz following her as ordered and going off to look for people if Lori needed it. It was a simple combination of lightwisps, to define the area you most definitely shouldn't stick your hand in, and firewisps to heat whatever was put in it. She really hoped no one burned themselves to the bone, since this dragon was probably going to kill Shanalorre—and Lori's miners with her—but, well…

She chose to look on the profiting column of the ledger: she'd now be able to claim River's Fork's core, assuming she could find wherever it was buried, which would greatly ease extraction of metals once she'd bound it to her and she could use Whispering freely there. To do that, however, she and her demesne had to survive as well.

Lori had boiled the water in the reservoir before she'd sent it to the kitchen, so it should be clean enough to drink, and as breakfast was being prepared she redirected the pipes of the kitchen spigots to lead to the reservoir, while sealing off the old pipes in case anything tried to crawl through there. She also filled the trough in the new baths and heated the water. While she still needed to make a better reservoir, these baths she was inclined to keep this time, even if she would only open them for emergencies.

By the time breakfast was ready, the Dungeon was under siege.

A group of former militia armed with spears stood in front of the air vents under Rian's direction, their spears half inserted into the slits as they killed and pushed out dragonborn abominations trying to get inside. There were noticeably a lot more dragonborn abominations trying to get into the Dungeon this time than there had been before. The charred, sweet smell became intensely nauseating, and Lori was finally able to place what it was: dragonborn blood, exploding into heat and boiling as it left their bodies. Not all had it but some with bodies that seemed to run more on magic than life, the most twisted and strange, were filled with the stuff. The bottoms of the air slits and the floor in front of it was becoming caked in the substance, a thick, syrupy liquid the color of burned gold that still bubbled with inner heat.

The spearheads were equally coated in the golden dragonborn blood. Fortunately, it didn't seem to overly impair their use.

"Rian, breakfast," Lori said.

"I'll eat later!" he said, not looking back at her.

"You have been awake even longer than I have been," Lori said. "And I'm hungry. You will eat now so you can arrange for a change in shifts and so we can plan long-term. Now get over here."

Rian finally glanced towards her, a frustrated look on his face, but nodded. He turned to a neaby man. "Take over, Kolinh," he said. "I'll be back."

"Take your time, Lord Rian," the man said, looking almost bored. Wasn't he an engineer? "We'll be here when you get back."

"I really, really hope so," Rian said fervently. He stepped away and, to Lori's amusement, rested the spear on the makeshift rack the children put their seeling rods, which had been moved aside when the Dungeon had been opened up. Rian fell in next to her as they began heading for their table. "Please tell me you didn't just call me to get your food for you."

Lori frowned at him. "Of course not," she said. "But yes, go get the food. No, we need to schedule. At least one of us needs to be up at any given time, meaning the other needs to be sleeping while that happens. I've had my sleep, so after breakfast I want you to lie down so you can take over when it's my turn to rest. "

"I'm still good for a while longer," Rian said, looking stubborn.

Lori gave him a level look. "I am not asking you to sleep, I am ordering you to sleep. You already told some of them to go and rest, didn't you?" There had been much fewer people in front of the air slits than there had been when she'd come down after Rian had woken her up. "I had Riz find one of the waterclocks from the Um that were moved in here. I'm filling that with water after breakfast, and when it goes empty, Riz has orders to find you and get you to go to sleep. I suggest you set up your bedroll somewhere quiet before then."

Rian frowned, opened his mouth… then sighed. "All right, fine, fine, I get it." He rubbed at his eyes, then winced, staring down at them. "No need to send Riz at me, that would be a waste of a spear. Do we have any wash water?"

"Use a wet cloth," Lori said. "Even if our water isn't limited, the waste water disposal is very rudimentary." She titled her head thoughtfully. "I should probably make an evaporation chamber after this, so we can reuse the water…"

Rian sighed. "I suppose I should probably find my towel then."

He headed off, presumably to find his towel to wash his hands with. Lori headed for their usual table, already pondering their problems even as she compulsively checked on the darkwisps outside over the demesne. Still holding and filling with magic from the core, she was relieved to find. All around her, the tables were sparsely populated for now. While the food was ready, a lot of people were still asleep, and Lori had given orders, via Riz, to those awake that everyone who were still asleep were to not be disturbed so as to limit the number of people moving around and making a fuss. The ones awake already were all eating, possibly to beat the inevitable rush. Lori sat down and waited for Rian to come back, probably with his hands washed and hopefully with food. The little waterclock was already there where she'd left it.

So, they had wash water, they had drinking water—as soon as she boiled it again to make sure—they had latrines that she'd have to clean out herself because they were so deep… ah, she'd have to put a binding of airwisps to keep the smell inside. Not on the seat itself, but halfway down, or else the rising pressure from the slow increase of matter would be… explosive. She'd also have to clear out the air slits of the things that couldn't just be pushed out. Having to breathe air that passed over dead, decaying things… no, not safe. They might get sick. She'd do it after breakfast, they had time. What else? What else… what else… what else…?

Oh, she should probably seal off the reservoir again, so that no one could contaminate it. In fact…

Lori close her eyes and, after ascertaining there were no voids in the passage leading up to it—or in the water itself, she was glad to note—did just what, binding the stone on either side to pinch the passage shut. Then she sent her awareness throw the pipes, checking for conspicuous voids of wisps that would indicate life that shouldn't be there, like moss or bugs. Thankfully, there was nothing, but she should have remembered she could do this sooner.

All right, water: protected.

She paused, then closed her eyes and added a little hump at ground level across the entire passage, so that no fluids spilled along the passage would be able to just continue to the reservoir. There. Now it was completely protected.

When she opened them again, Rian was across from her, sitting down with two bowls of stew in his hands.

"I wasn't sleepy," Lori informed him. "I was using Whispering."

"I didn't say anything," Rian said, putting the bowls down. Lori picked one and started it eat. It was nice and warm and flavorful, and tasted strongly of mushrooms today. And no blue gourd, which Rian was probably glad for.

They both settled down to eat in silence. Lori, for her part, was hungry, and Rian seemed the same. He'd been awake longer than her, after all. Unless he'd managed to find a fruit to snack on, the hunger must have gnawed at him for longer than it had her.

"All right," Lori said, her bowl half empty. "Long term plans. I have the water clock we use in the Um to count how long people can use the rooms for.  It's marked for an eighth of a day and as close as we can calibrate to an hour. We'll have three shifts of militia at the air slits, each to run for five-eighths of a day and a bit each. That way people have time to eat, rest and sleep. The entrance isn't very wide, so it doesn't need a lot of people at a time. You and I, meanwhile, will both be awake for at least a day each, with some overlap to discuss, so that some will be in charge at the same time."

"Why are we measuring things in eighths of a day instead of hours? That's what you say when you're trying to tell time with the sun."

"Because it's a water clock Rian, it's not some sort of precision time piece running on springs and gears." Her tone and gaze were flat as she explained this obvious fact. "The hour calibration is just a guess, while we can be pretty sure about how long an eighth of a day is on average, and is thus closer to being accurate. And is the exactness of our time keeping really an issue?"

"Right, sorry. Who'll be watching the time?"

"I had Riz go find someone," Lori said. "It will be their only job. We can find someone else once they have to go to sleep."

Rian nodded. "Okay, we can't keep people running for all that time. Better if we have a shift change every eighth of a day, with every change a fresh group, as well as an emergency reserve of everyone else who's awake. Five-eighths of a day is about six and a quarter hours, and no one can keep fighting for that long non-stop."

Lori swallowed her mouthful. She'd been eating while he was talking. "They're just standing there and poking with sticks," Lori pointed out.

"And if you keep doing that while in a state of focus, concentration and controlled panic, you'd be exhausted in a hour too," Rian retorted. "Trust me, we need shorter shifts, and more of them. No, what's important is we have a day group and a night group. The day group can sit next to the active shift and be an emergency reserve if something really bad happens, the night group can sleep in—"

"Like you're going to," Lori emphasized by pointing with her spoon.

Rian nodded. "—like I'm going to so I can lead them when you go to sleep. Same setup, active shift and emergency reserve. We use the hour marker and people take turns, but no one does two shifts in a row, and they take three shifts to rest before they cycle in again."

Lori nodded. "Write that down and set it up before going to sleep. I'll give you an eighth of a day."

"You're giving me paperwork before I go to sleep so I'm nice and sleepy?" Rian said, a sardonic smile playing on his lips.

Sure, she'll go with that.

"Sure, let's go with that," she said, a small smile on her lips.

"Um, Great Binder? Is this who you're looking for?"

Lori turned. Riz was there, standing respectfully at attention. Next to her was the brat. "Excellent. Go and get the other two, and then come back so you can have breakfast while you can."

Riz blinked. "The other two, Great Binder?"

Lori rolled her eyes then pointed to either side of Rian. "Yes, the other two. They should be awake by now. If not, then just come back and eat."

Riz stared at her for a moment, looking surprised, but she recovered herself. "Yes, Great Binder," she said crisply, then turned and headed back down to the second level with a resigned look on her face. The woman had been going up and down those stairs all morning. It wasn't Lori's fault people were still asleep!

"They have names, you know," Rian said dryly. "They've been sitting in front of you for weeks, you should know their names by now." Lori resisted the urge to retort that she already knew them better than he did. It was difficult, but she managed to keep it unvocalized.

Ignoring him, Lori turned towards the brat. "Karina," she said, "I have a job for you." She gestured towards the water clock. "I need you to keep time for me."

"You don't have to accept," Rian interjected, "but it would be very helpful if you did."

Lori glared at him, but nodded to confirm she accepted the amendment.

The brat looked between her and Rian. "What do you need me to do, Wiz Lori?"

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Day Shift

The brat had been given a bucket of water and admonished not to drink from it, another bucket to catch the water that dripped out, some stones to count how many times the waterclock had gone empty, and orders to yell out the time before refilling the water clock. Lori had her sit where the people guarding the air slits could hear her but not be close enough to distract her. The brat had sat down, head bowed to stare at the fired pot, a binding of lightwisps at the bottom shining to help her make out the level of the water and the flowing stream easier.

"She'd probably going to sit like that all day if you hadn't told her she could take latrine breaks," Rian commented.

"Good," Lori said bluntly. "I don't want her getting distracted and losing track of time."

"For someone who's so concerned about their wellbeing, you sure give the children a lot of work."

"I'll compensate her," Lori said irritably. "Don't you have scheduling to do?"

"Don't you have someone to talk to?" he retorted.

"Do your work and go to sleep."

When she returned to the table, she found Riz eating there, with two sleepy-looking weavers sitting next to her. That was a good sign. The two blinked at her, hesitantly making to stand before Lori waved them to sit back down.

"All right," she said without preamble. "Do you have enough materials to weave?"

"W-what?" Umu said, rubbing her eyes.

"Weaving," Lori repeated impatiently. "You brought in the ropeweed fibers, did you not? Are there enough dry fibers for you to work?"

"Yes, your Bindership," Mikon said, managing to compose herself. "We have enough dry retted fiber for spinning, at the very least."

Lori nodded. "People need to be occupied so they don't get into trouble. Everyone else is to get their alcoves properly organized. Things neatly stacked, nothing in anyone's way. Then organize as many people as possible to start spinning, play board games, and keep the ones keeping dragonborn abominations out of the Dungeon fed and watered." She checked the dome. Still complete, still whole, still being imbued. Good. "Everyone needs to be occupied so they don't do something stupid, like make trouble or play music."

"W-what's wrong with music?" Umu managed to ask.

"It's loud, pointless, annoying, and it keeps me from sleeping," Lori said flatly. Dragon shelter parties were the worst. "No music."

"Yes, your Bindership," Umu said meekly.

"It will take time to set up, your Bindership," Mikon said. "We can get the other weavers and the spinners working, but I'm not sure everyone else will listen to us."

Ah. Right.

"Fine, I'll have Rian tell them before he goes to sleep and you can just keep them going," Lori said. "Riz, when you finish eating, find Rian and tell him, then come find me again."

Riz swallowed the spoonful she was eating. "Yes, Great Binder." She started eating faster.

Lori glanced towards the air slits, frowning as she concentrated on her awareness of wisps. "You two have breakfast," Lori told them. "I'll be back."

She stood, heading for the Dungeon's entrance.

The air slits had clogged. Now that the abominations were dead, they weren't complete voids anymore, but since all that was supposed to be in the air slits was, well, air, the dragonborn's corpses were obvious. Still, she couldn't clear them while people had spear stuck inside them. They might lose the spearheads.

"Back away," she said as she approached the air slits, binding the earthwisps making up the stone. The thick, syrupy golden blood was thick on the ground and dripping from the openings. "I'll clear it so we can get more air."

"You heard the Great Binder," the man Rian had spoken to— Kolinh?—said. "Back away, back away, let her work!"

It wasn't smooth, but it was vaguely coordinated as the two ranks of militia stepped back, pulling their spears out of the slits, each dripping with blood. Lori immediately had the earth slide and flow. The surface of the stone roiled and slid, moving towards the outside as fresh new stone that had filled the inside of the slits flowed out, showing a new, clean face. The movement was vaguely organic, like an undulating tongue, but it dumped corpses and blood outside. Those that became lodged inside were pushed out by little fingers of stone that protruded from the surface of the rock and interlocked to sweep them out, sometimes accompanied by a wet, bony snap.

Outside, strange cries called through the strange silence that still lingered, broken only by occasional too-brief gusts of wind, of loud crashing sounds as of falling rock, and the sounds of things falling from the air slits. Soon, the air slits became clear, and Lori rebuilt them, the stone slits forming into shape once more, slightly less bloody, and now with more air flowing through them again. The made the slits narrowed even as she added more of them, hoping to make it too narrow for the abominations to enter.  "Done," she announced as she added little fingers of stone in places to act as obstructions for beasts trying to get in. The curve she'd given it, she realized, had prevented the spearmen from pushing the dragonborn abominations all the way out.

"You heard the Great Binder, back into position!" Again, their movements weren't smooth, but there was no jostling or getting in anyone's way as the ranks of spearmen stepped back into place, spearhead just slightly outside of the openings as Lori double-checked the bindings of airwisps pulling fresh air in, and the stream of darkwisps that connected the dome outside to the core. Both were intact, thought the opening was now too narrow for the spears to poke into.

"Someone go and find the shovels," Lori ordered as she added glowing lightwisps inside the slits to outline anything trying to make its way inside. "Anything getting in through that will be too small to be dealt with using spears. Hopefully this means fewer things get in, though."

"Tovvy, you heard the Great Binder, go! The shovels should be downstairs somewhere," Kolinh said. One of the men fell out of line, handing his spear, useless as it was, to another man standing nearby, who took it and his place in line

"New time, call me if the air slits become significantly obstructed," Lori said. "Getting air in is slightly more important than keeping abominations out."

"Yes, Great Binder," Kolinh said.

"As soon as Rian gets back organizing the rest you should be changing shifts so you can eat and get some rest as soon."

"Looking forward to it, Great Binder. We'll yell if the air gets blocked again."

Lori nodded. She suspected she'd be responding to a lot of yelling the rest of the day. She'd have to think of a better configuration for the air slits before it was her turn to sleep.

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When Rian finally came back after declaring the shift schedule had been organized and would start as soon as the brat called out the first eighth of a day, he'd looked mildly exasperated when told he also had to organize everyone to start tidying up their alcoves—"At least let it wait until after they've had breakfast!"—and then get them to do something so they'd be out of the way and out of trouble.

"Don't you think they can work out that they're supposed to do that by themselves?" Rian said tiredly. He was sitting next to Umu since the three had already been sitting down together. It was the farthest he'd ever sat from Lori while sharing the same table.

"No," Lori said bluntly. "It's far more likely some idiots start playing music and all this becomes a dragon shelter party."

"I'm pretty sure it's not sundown yet—"

"There will be no music. Arrange it."

"Is this your cunning plan to get me so tired I actually do fall asleep?"

Lori gave him a flat look, then ignored him. "Riz, take a nap," she said. "I'll wake you if I need anyone and you can properly go to sleep when I do."

"I… can?" Riz said.

"Yes. You're my temporary Rian right now."

Both Riz and Rian got a strange look on their face.

"You mean temporary Lady, right?" Rian said.

"I said what I meant. Get to work before the eighth of the day is up, Rian. Riz, nap while I don't need you. That's an order."

"Yes, Great Binder…?" Riz said, looking very confused. She looked down at the table and hesitantly began folding her arms in front of her to lay her head down.

"You can lay your head on my lap if you want," Mikon offered as she ate her breakfast. "I'm more comfortable than the table. Just let me finish."

"You're supposed to be doing something," Lori said.

"Most people are still asleep, your Bindership," Mikon said. "Surely it's best to wait until after breakfast, so they've fed and watered and are more amiable?"

Lori gave her a flat look. "Fine. After breakfast."

"That's very kind of you to offer, Mikon," Rian said.

Lori couldn't help herself. "If she'd made you the offer, you'd have just said she didn't have to, gotten embarrassed and acted awkward and ungrateful."

"Well, I can't stay here, I have to go and get the awake people organized to start tidying their alcoves after breakfast," Rian said hastily. He slid off the bench and headed down towards the second level. There was a rising murmur of conversation there, as of people trying to be quiet but the acoustics were against them and all the talking was building up to a din.

Lori wished she had something more to eat, but alas she was full. Sighing, she got to her feet as well. "Riz, nap. Mikon, Umu, after breakfast."

"Yes, your Bindership/Great Binder," the three said, not at all like a chorus. They overlapped quite dissonantly, really. As she walked away, Mikon moved down the bench a little, looking at Riz and patting her lap with a smile.

Slowly, the day, such as it was, began.

The brat eventually called the first eighth of the day, and Rian barely managed to get his last-moment assignment finished in time. Despite everyone being told to put their things downstairs, Rian had stashed his things at the entrance to the vault corridor. Rather than waste time trying to get him into one of the alcoves downstairs—Lori suspected none were left unoccupied—Lori just had him sleep in the hallway leading to her room—after she sealed off the room itself, of course. She even dispelled the lightwisps illuminating the hall so it wouldn't be bright.

While the kitchen had spigots to control the water coming from the reservoir, the bath had no such control, and so Lori had to go between the baths to refill the water—people were being annoyingly wasteful with it, in her opinion—clearing the air slits, and building better defenses outside the Dungeon. Clearly this dragon was creating more and more aggressive abominations, so she had to make it harder for them to reach the air slits. When she concentrated on her awareness of the wisps, there was a disturbing amount of voids falling on her demesne.

She had to build the new defenses unseen, but that was almost commonplace now, considering the amount of pipes she'd made up to this point. Creating a basic moat in front of the dungeon, especially a pit beneath the air slits, was simple in comparison. She displaced the stone onto the bulwark in front of the Dungeon to make it thicker, and in the process raising the air slits three paces above the bottom of the moat. That helped keep abominations away significantly as they avoided the deep pit there.

Just in case this eventually proved insufficient, she also put a binding of airwisps over the pit to keep the air in and set a binding of firewisps at the bottom to cook anything that fell in there should the abominations become more aggressive again. Hidden under the dome of darkwisps over her demesne—which was still holding, she was glad to see—Lori didn't have to worry about the bindings being worn away or affected by the dragon.

As the day progressed—the brat called the second and third eighth of the day—it seemed the pit was sufficient, which meant she didn't have to clean the air slits after the fourth time, and they were able to keep getting fresh air, albeit air that smell of charred sweetness. Given how the smell was from the blood of the abominations boiling once it left their bodies, they probably didn't have to worry about dustlife riding in the air. Unless it was twisted, unnatural dragonborn dustlife, in which case they were dead already because she didn't know enough—or any at all, really—Deadspeaking to deal with the things.

Lori had lunch as the brat called the fourth eighth of the day. She certainly felt hungry enough for it to have been half a day.

Another half a day to go. She could do this. She'd done it before.

…

Perhaps she should plunge the Dungeon into darkness again, she didn't remember people being this loud last time…

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Into the Night Shift

Lori managed to resist the urge to plunge the Dungeon into darkness again. She didn't need any more darkwisps, after all.

The militia and assorted people Rian had scheduled kept watch over the air slits, occasionally killing the few dragonborn abominations that now managed to make their way in. They seemed to be flying bug-derivatives of some sort, and hot golden dragonborn blood and greenish bug blood intermixed before Lori pushed them out.

With defenses and necessities secured and handled, Lori made sure people were staying out of trouble. She wasn't Rian, able to get people to settle down with that stupid smile and a few words. She settled for walking around with a glare of disapproval and Riz at her back. Fortunately, people seemed to be staying put. Many people had been drafted to spin thread for the weavers, but they all seemed to be enthusiastic or at least relaxed about it, seeming almost idle except for their fingers, which were moving deftly as they used distaff and spindle to turn the ropeweed into something usable.

The second level was also tidy, save around the carpenters, who were busy working with some of the few piece of wood they'd brought in the day before. To keep themselves occupied, they were building the water wheel for the lathe that she'd promised them. There was an almost relaxed air to the work as they worked with more care. To her eye, however, they were moving only slightly slower than they had been when building the other water wheel.

"A bigger lathe is nice," one said to the other carpenters nearby as he carefully chiseled out joints where the wood was going to slide together, "but we already have one. Do you think we can try building a saw of some kind instead, to make cutting easier? A waterwheel can power one too, if we make the gears right."

"We'd have to get the saw made first, you know that," another said. He was carefully chiseled out holes in a round piece of wood. "Unless you have some of those stashed away?"

"Maybe this dragon will drop so much iron that her Bindership will let us have one made?" another said wistfully. He was gently marking pieced of wood with a small chisel, making shapes that would be carved out later.

"I'll consider it," Lori said as she passed, ignoring how they jerked in surprise. Fortunately, no one was injured. Really, they should be more aware of their surroundings, they were working with sharp objects!

She checked the corner where the stone pots where the seeds were planted under constantly shining lightwisps. The hairy blueball seeds had budded, little shoots of green poking out of the mix of dirt, sawdust and rotten leaves. The pink ladies, however, were still just lying there. Argh, what had Rian done wrong? This had been his idea, right? Next to the pots was a pile of what looked like uprooted crops from the field, dirt still caking the roots. It was a small fraction of what had been planted, but she was glad someone had thought to try and save it. While it wouldn't be enough to feed anyone, it might be enough to start a proper crop again. She was fairly confident that with the darkness, their crops wouldn't be twisted by the dragon, but if a scales fell on them… or if dragonborn abominations demolished them…

She might have to start that underground planting area after all.

"They need cold, Great Binder."

Lori blinked, realized someone was talking to her. She looked sideways at Riz. "What?"

Riz swallowed. "The pink ladies," she pointed. "They need cold before they can bud."

Lori frowned. She'd stored them in her private cold room. "How cold?"

"They need to be buried and cold for at least two months, Great Binder, though three months is better," Riz explained. "They need to think they were buried in the ground over the winter to finally bud and grow."

Ah. So Rian HAD been doing it wrong!

Distantly, she heard the brat call the time. That would be the… seventh, right? Dinner would be soon, then.

"How cold does it need to be?" she asked.

"It's winter, Great Binder," Riz said as if explaining something obvious. "Cold enough for ice and snow."

She might have to build a cold room for this… well, later. Being in a pot probably wasn't hurting it right now.

Lori continued her rounds. Fortunately, no one was bathing anymore, so she was able to clear away the stagnant pools of water into the drain and try to level the floor a little to keep it from happening again. At least the floor of the bath was lower than the rest of the floor, so she didn't have to worry about too much about the water spilling out. Then she emptied the water basin—"Riz, tell people to be more careful while bathing so they don't get soap in the water everyone is using!"—before refilling it again from the reservoir and heating it to a suitable temperature.

The water they had stored in the reservoir was holding. At the current rate, they might be able to last for a week. Hopefully it wouldn't take that long. They had enough food, right? They could access the winter stores if needed, since that cold room was in the Dungeon, but hopefully that wouldn't be needed, the kitchen stores should be enough.

Perhaps it would be best to gather more food after the dragon passed. They needed more surplus and a buffer against dragons and other emergencies…

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Lori was in the middle of dinner when the brat called the final eighth of the day.

"Riz, would you go and wake up Rian, presuming he hasn't been disobeying orders and awake already?" Lori said. "He should have been sleeping in the hallway leading to my room, up the stairs. "

"Yes, Great Binder," Riz said across from her, picking up her bowl and spoon and eating as she walked away. The woman looked a bit less tired than Lori, since she'd been having little naps through the day while Lori had been changing the bath water and checking the dome. Still, she was clearly sleepy.

This was a sharp contrast to all the other militia who had collected near the air slits, which despite a lack of music and booze, and only having the same food as everyone else, had the air of a party to them. A lot of board games had found their way there, and while they didn't talk too loudly, the sound seemed to carry, making them feel loud, even if Lori could just barely hear them over the background hum of a subdued dinner crowd.

Across from her, Umu and Mikon slowed their eating, Mikon actually stopping entirely. Why were they…? Were they waiting for Rian so he could eat with them? Lori rolled her eyes and went back to eating.

The day's sleep had apparently restored Rian to his usual mood, because he immediately tried to be funny.

"You're eating?" he said. "Did you finally learn how to get your own food?"

Lori rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly. My temporary Rian got it for me."

"You're still using my name as a noun?-!" He blinked, then frowned. "Or is it a title?"

"It's a temporary posting for the duration of the emergency. Go get food so I can tell you what needs to be done so I can go to sleep."

"Ah, working immediately. Fine, fine, I'll get on it your Bindership…"

Lori finished her food by the time Rian got back, and she immediately got to business as he ate. "All right. Before I go to sleep, I'll refill the water at the baths. Hopefully not many people will need to bathe tonight, so that should last you the night. The new defenses in front of the Dungeon have reduced the amount of abominations trying to get in, but if there's a sudden surge that suddenly blocks the air slits, wake me. I'll leave making arrangements for who's going to do the cooking through the night up to you, since the kitchen staff have been up all day, and if you want them to make any food for midnight, you should do so before they go to sleep. Also, Karina will need to sleep soon, so you'll need to find someone to take over time-keeping duties. Do you understand?"

"Don't take too many baths, call you if we can't breathe, deal with midnight lunch, find someone to keep time," Rian repeated.

"Also, you've been planting the pink ladies wrong," Lori added.

Rian blinked. "I have?"

"Apparently they need to be kept cold to bud. Riz can give you further details," she shrugged. Was there anything else…? "Don't forget to make sure everyone is sleeping properly so they're not causing trouble."

"Yes, your Bindership," he nodded. For a moment, he was quiet. "So, we're not in danger?"

"Of course we're in danger, there's a rainbows colored dragon above us," Lori said flatly, pointing upwards. She checked the dome of darkness again. Good, still being imbued, still subtly ahead of the wear the dragon was inflicting upon it. "At best, no one in here is doing anything that will get the rest of us killed."

Rian sighed. "Well, it's still an improvement over trying to keep you up so you can work your magic."

"A great improvement," Lori agreed.

"I suppose you found a trick to let you protect us even when you're sleeping?"

"I'm going to sleep," Lori announced, getting up. "Riz, I suggest you do the same soon, I'll need you tomorrow."

"Yes, Great Binder," Riz said, much more relaxed than she had been at the start of the day.

"And there will be no more naps for you tomorrow."

A disappointed sigh. "Understood, Great Binder."

"You can sleep on my lap again, if you want?" Mikon offered.

She couldn't help it. "Don't you need to sleep?" Lori asked flatly.

"I'm not sleeping on a schedule, your Bindership," Mikon said. "Besides, I can sleep with someone on my lap."

Riz gave her a tired, exasperated look. "Sure, why not. Don't complain to me if your legs go numb. Where are you sleeping?"

"Wherever you—"

Lori walked away, shaking her head. Fickle.

The brat was still sitting near where the militia were gathered, watching the water dripping from the water clock into the bucket beneath it intently.

"Karina," Lori said, and the brat blinked, looking up. "You can stop now, it's night time. Go eat and get some sleep, I'll need you to do this again for me tomorrow."

"I can keep working, Wiz Lori," the brat said.

"No," she said firmly. "You've already done a full day's work. Rest and come back to see me in the morning. You did well."

The brat blinked, then nodded reluctantly. "Yes, Wiz Lori."

"Rian will find someone do to this for him tonight. Wait here."

Lori walked past her, and headed up the stairs to her room. She altered the bindings of lightwisps she had there, making them glow again and just barely managing to not kick over Rian's bedroll, which along with the rest of his things had been lined up neatly along the wall so that it didn't block the way. She removed the stone blocking off her room from the hallway and stepped inside.

The brat was still there when Lori came back down. "Hold out your hands,"  she ordered.

The brat dutifully did so, and Lori put three golden buds, three micans, and two pink ladies into her hands. The fruits were still cold and beginning to be covered with condensation. "For your work today," she told the brat. Awkwardly, she patted the brat on the head. "Good night."

Lori went back to her room and sealed off the hallways behind her.

Lying down on her soft, wonderfully comfortable bed, she closed her eyes, feeling the dome above her. She began to imbue the dome, filling it faster than it could draw from her core through the wire of her staff…

Lori fell asleep as she imbued the dome, her mind buffered by the presence of the dragon above.

She had no dreams, for which she was grateful.