Demesne Patron EX SS 9 - The End of Umu's Day (Patreon)

Another day of weaving, and Umu was tired. The bright, unchanging light of the Dungeon made one lose track of time, but there was always someone who called down the end of the day, or at least the approach of sundown. When the call came, everyone stopped working to relax, take a bath, have a hot if slightly repetitive dinner and then spend the rest of the night as they pleased. Was it petty to think that, after all the hardships, all the deaths, all the beads spent to cross the ocean, all the risk of death, that it was all worth it because she didn't have to work late into the night and skip meals just to reach a quota?

She put away her shuttle and spindles, taking the tension out of the frame of her loom before tucking it with the rest of the looms in the weaver's alcove. The frames needed two people to move properly, and while it was inconvenient, it had been explained to them that the floor needed to be as clear as possible in case there was a dragon in the middle of the night. So they put the looms away, the same way the ropers on the other end put away their hooks and cranks, and the carpenters put away their tools.

No one moved the pile of wood, because it had been stacked as high as it would go, so it was as compact as could be.

Umu found herself moving the loom with Mikon's help. Despite their… disagreement… the woman was always unfailingly helpful to Umu. It was sort of annoying, really. While they'd grated against each other at first, over time the woman seemed to have let go of any enmity, and was now acting like a friendly acquaintance. It was really annoying, because she was still competing with her for Rian's attention, but she was being so thoughtful and considerate! Couldn't she be act despicable and dislikeable instead of nice to her? What, did she think they were friends?

No, they weren't friends, they just ate meals together, worked together, had the same interests…

…

No, they weren't friends!

They put away Umu's loom—at least, the one she was using and therefore was responsible for, she was a bit unsure about who actually owned the looms, since the carpenters made it but they didn’t have to pay for it…—then Umu resignedly helped Mikon put her own loom away.

"Thank you for the help," Mikon said cheerfully as they finally put down the loom, the stools they sat on while working tucked under them.

Umu mumbled something vaguely acknowledging as she waved a negligent hand. Her hands ached, and there was a light sheen of sweat on her back. Despite how cool, almost breezy, the Dungeon was, she still sweated. Well, the bathhouse was free and never ran out of hot water, and they even had soap. The chandlers were busy at all times making soap using the fat from the seals. Normally they'd be more busy making candles, since people would have needed light to work long into the night, but Binder Lori took care of light… where she thought it was needed. So, most of the fat went into soap to keep people clean so they didn't get sick.

While people lit small fires in their homes for light, most people only went there to sleep since they ate at the dining hall in the Dungeon or the old dining hall. The houses were a bit bare, solidly built with thick walls and well-made roofs, but mostly used for storing people's personal belongings. The one Umu shared with her parents, siblings and one unmarried uncle was one such, the table leaning dismantled against one wall to keep the floor clear, with a bed in the corner for her mother and younger siblings, and their packs lined up along one wall, ready to be grabbed if a dragon came.

The rest of them still slept on bedrolls on the floor, but that wasn't anything new, and at least it was solid and dry. Rian had said he wanted everyone in the demesne to be able to sleep on their own bed, and indeed, the newcomers had shown very cunningly made beds in their homes up the slope, ones that folded up against the wall for space or were stacked up three high. Her father had worked in the tree-cutting gangs—they hadn't had much use for a cobbler just yet, except for a pair of boots she was fairly sure had been Binder Lori's—so they could ask to have their house altered. Did having beds added to the walls count…?

She could ask Rian, he'd probably know…

Umu got her towel and soap from her pack, which contained her clothes and what few belongings she had, folding it all up carefully so that the soap didn't fall out. Everyone knew you needed to bathe with soap to keep disease away, but she wasn't really sure why. Her uncle had said it was because soap had Deadspeaking on it, but she was fairly sure Binder Lori would scream 'That's not how soap works!' if she heard that…

Umu groaned as she saw Mikon waiting outside the bath house, trying to look casual. Was the woman waiting for her or… no, Riz probably bathed in the new one Binder Lori had made, so the other weaver was definitely waiting for her.

She could be belligerent to the other woman, but that would just make her seem petty and mean, especially since Mikon kept being so nice. Didn't she realize they were supposed to glare at each other and dislike each other when they were after the same man? She was pretty sure that was how it worked. The boys that had kept trying to get under her skirts certainly all got glare-y when they saw each other, until she made it clear that she didn't like any of them.

Was it because Mikon was from another demesne originally or something? Did she think this was just some friendly competition, and when Umu finally got Rian's attention and he realized she was the woman for him they'd just shake hands and be friends with no hard feelings?

…

Actually, that didn’t sound so bad. The woman was nice enough, they could probably be friends afterwards. But only afterwards! Right now, they were adversaries!

Umu debated. She could try walking up the slope to the new bath house, but she didn't feel comfortable bathing there. And Riz was probably up there, and she had a lot of friends. They might gang up on her…

She could wait until Mikon finished using the baths before going in herself, but that might be a long time, and Umu wouldn't be able to eat with Rian, and that woman would win! And Riz too, because the two of them will be with Rian—and Binder Lori, but she didn't matter— without Umu!

She could go to dinner without taking a bath… but then she'd smell…

Or she could just take a colors-dusted bath and put up with the woman being… ugh… nice and friendly. She'd have to be on her guard. The woman was insidious, and if Umu wasn't careful, she might find herself forgetting to dislike the woman…

Sighing, she stepped around her hiding place and stepped toward the baths.

The moment she did, Mikon turned and entered the baths, not even seeing her. Argh! Why? She'd just decided to let the woman be nice to her and she didn't even notice? So frustrating!

The baths had an entryway full of wooden shelves and cubbies to put clothes in just past a privacy wall so it couldn't be seen from outside. Naturally it was full of women either getting dressed or undressed, some chatting as they did so. Mikon was already there, talking to her aunt as the two of them got undressed. She wasn't even looking around to see if Umu was there! Ugh…

Shaking her head, Umu found an empty shelf to put her things in and started getting undressed herself, tying up her hair in a bun to keep it from getting wet.

Her Bindership had changed the design of the baths recently. Instead of individual open stalls where warm water streamed down, there was a long central basin full of water (which people were supposed to be careful not to get soap into, but it was soap! it got everyone and it was self-cleaning, so what was the problem?) that people used dippers to wash themselves with. Indeed, there were a lot of wooden dippers all around, some simply just wooden bowls that had a little lip to hold onto when wet. There were also little wooden blocks for people to sit on, a recent thing that Rian had implemented since people didn't like sitting directly on the stone. He did things like that, making little changes to account for the things her Bindership missed.

There were already a lot of people in the baths, but Umu was able to find an open space next to the basins pretty easily. She picked up a dipper in front of her—she preferred them to the bowls—scooping up water from the basin and beginning to pour it on her body, getting herself ready—

Someone knelt down on the space next to her and began doing the same. "Oh, hello Umu," Mikon said with a smile. "Want me to help you wash your back?"

Umu twitched. She had to know how Umu felt, right? It was pretty hard to miss the scowl on Umu's face, they were less than a pace apart! But no, she just smiled! And giggled!

"You look like her Bindership," Mikon said, her voice teasing. "Rough day?"

She didn't intend to respond. It had been a perfectly ordinary day, after all. No dragons, no deaths, no strange ice things being built. So why did the tired sigh come out of her mouth?

Umu felt a hand patting her reassuringly between her shoulder and her back. "There, there. Day's over, we can have dinner, and maybe later we can soak in the pool."

Why did she have to be so nice? Didn't they used to glare at each other? Umu missed that! At least that made sense!

"That would be nice," Umu sighed again instead. No, no, don't fall into the pace of her niceness!

…

Well, maybe after Umu had gotten her back washed, it was always hard reaching back there.