Weekly Digest 39 (#124 - #126) (Patreon)

Something To Come Back To

Rian continued working on getting the boat built properly, adding in new beams and now carefully examining where else might need reinforcement. Lori felt he should have done that before, but what did she know? She wasn't a boat builder. Perhaps making blatant errors in common sense and thorough thinking were proper and traditional parts of the boat-building process.

Well, not her problem.

Still, the boat was taking up a lot of wood. Above the ice hull reinforced by wooden beams, plank walls were going up. The boat was meant to have a 'below' deck in the ice hull itself, a smaller enclosed 'above' deck that was pretty much a little house with a very low ceiling, and a roof deck above that, which was basically just standing on the roof. There was also a simple latrine, which was basically just a seat with a hole in it positioned over the side of the boat so everything fell into the river, with some low planks walls for a semblance of privacy, or at least telling people it was occupied. Considering how many people were expected to be on the boat, there were two on each side.

As the boat was being built, Rian pored over everything, trying to decide the optimum placement of storage, sleeping areas, open space—"We need somewhere to move around, or else we'll get cramped,"—and where exactly it would be best to put the kitchen so there was the least risk of fire. Something about avoiding the embarrassing ironic death of dying by heat while on an ice boat. Lori would have thought that avoiding any sort of death at all would have been the point.

Well, not her problem. It was Rian's.

In between maintaining her demesne and curing wood—they'd cleared a decently large swath around the dungeon already, which would probably provide a lot of farming land next year—she was excavating. They had sufficient room in the Dungeon right now, but she was thinking of the future. After all, there was a reason Dungeons were underground.

…well, mostly underground. Skykeep Demesne was an annoying exception to most general statements about demesne that a certain sort of person liked to bring up during discussion to disrupt the flow of the conversation.

But annoying exceptions to general statements aside, Dungeons were underground to be able to best take advantage of the fact that the area of a Demesne was spherical. And unless the core of the demesne had been placed at the top of a mountain or along the coast, that meant most of the area of the demesne was underground. The old continent was full of tunnels from generations and generations of demesnes, mining, the occasionally war, and the rare act of cooperation, such as the Dragon Road.

There were none of that here. The earth and stone beneath her feet seemed solid all the way until the edge of the sphere she controlled, and she could dig through all of it.

Not that she was going to. She just needed to excavate a new level.

The second level was to the side and beneath the level of the first level. The beginnings of the third level would be even lower down and at a right angle to the line of the other two levels, digging in the direction away from the river and making the beginnings of a downward spiral. Since it was away from the river, she could expand the level as large as she wanted. That was a good freedom to have when you were planning to make an underground farm.

That would take time though since she'd need soil, so for now she simply excavated. They'd have time to cart in dirt, soil and compost later.

Moving large lumps of fluidly flowing rock out of the dungeon was familiar, although passing through a surprisingly loud and lively second level, full of spinners making threads, yarns and cords, ropers making rope, weavers making fabric, and carpenters cutting, planning, chiseling, and doing all sorts of things to wood was slightly disorienting. Still, she had years of experience ignoring annoying people, and it stood her in good stead as she took the stone outside to the new stone pile, though she had to move several tables out of her path.

Lori began by excavating the slope down deeper, giving it a gentle slope and long, shallow steps. Given the purpose she intended to use this for, she'd probably have to make the tunnel wide and make a ramp as well as stairs, but for now this was enough. She'd have to come back to make the stairs level, but that was for later. Perhaps she'd make this stair the ramp and the expansion the stairs… Yes, that sounded appealing…

"Lori? You down there?"

The words echoed in the enclosed space, and Lori looked back. "What?" she demanded.

Rian carefully came down the stairs. There were no lights along the walls, the only glow coming from the lightwisps on the end of her staff. "It's dinner time," he said.

Already? She could have sworn she'd just had lunch. But no, she was sweaty, her feet ached from walking back and forth from her excavation to the stone pile, and if she strained her ears, she could make out that the sounds coming from the second level had changed. Lori sighed, then nodded. "All right, I'll come up." A thought came to her. "Will you be getting the food yourself tonight, or leaving it to the women?"

"That's rich coming from the woman who never gets her own food."

"Yes, but I have no issues with that, unlike you."

Rian's face twisted, but he couldn't find a reply to that. "Well, I've done my duty in telling you it's time to eat. See you at dinner."

Lori nodded with a grunt and started making the last batch of stone flow to bring to the pile. Fortunately people stepped out of her way when they saw her walking with a big ball of undulating rock in tow. A few children tried to reach out and touch it, but fortunately they were stopped before they managed to do so. While it didn't look heavy, since it was flowing with the seeming consistency of a very thick dough, it was still solid rock, and weighed as much. Anyone who was accidentally run over by it would probably be crushed.

Lori managed to get the stone to the pile without incident, then turned to look around. The smithy area was nearby, the coals banked and furnace door closed, tools put away. The houses which had once backed into the trees now had cleared land behind them, tree stumps studding the ground. There had used to be small plants growing there, taking advantage of the larger trees being gone, but a lot of them had been savaged by the dragonborn abominations. Still, a few were stubborn clinging on, and new shoots were already growing. It was a bit too uneven to turn into field, but it would be ideal to put in new houses should they need it, maybe be the start of a new street leading to where the seels were being caught and where the hunters and tanners worked.

She'd have to move her corpses before that day came. It was a good thing she'd buried them deep. The dragon hadn't reached them at all.

Lori glanced at the pile of stone from her day's excavating. It was sizeable, and months of building had given her a good eye for estimating how much she could build with it. She nodded in satisfaction.

Then she turned and headed back to her rooms to take a quick bath before heading for dinner.

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The next day, Lori was busy getting tree stumps out of the ground.

"All right, drag that out of there," Riz directed. "This will make for good firewood if the sawyers can cut it up."

"If there's anything too hard they don't want to risk their saws on, tell them to set it aside and I'll cut it myself later," Lori said, not looking at her as she concentrated on binding earthwisps to soften the ground around the next tree stump so it could be pulled out. This was good soil, and thus had too much mulch and things for her to be able to bind the whole of it completely, so softening it was the best she could do.

Her temporary Rian was learning her duties well, at least. "You heard the Great Binder," Riz said. "Tell the sawyers to set aside the roots that are too hard, she'll deal with it. Are you ready on those ropes?"

"Riz, we know what to do, you don't need to direct us for every little thing." One of the men at the ropes said.

"Well, I don't know any other way to do this!"

"They can pull now," Lori said.

"You can pull now!"

"Yes, we heard her!"

One by one, the tree stumps were pulled out, and there was only one accident with someone walking on where she'd softened the earth, sinking down to their knees when the ground suddenly displaced under them. Fortunately, they had ropes to pull her out.

They finished that day, since they only had to clear a small area. Riz wasn't Rian, but as a temporary Rian she was… just barely serviceable. Hopefully she'd learn to get better at it. At least she didn't have Rian's insistence on being funny.

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The next day, she began construction.

The structure she built using part of the excavated stone was essentially a small segment of the shelter and the Um. The soil and dirt she had Riz find people to shovel to the side. Perhaps it could go into the third level. There was no packed dirt here, just stone to the bedrock. Because of the small size, she finished it fairly quickly. Lori attributed that to her accumulated building experience. The little house had an arching stone roof that came down to the ground and stone wall at the end at either end to cap it off, making it a complete building. One side had an opening for a door and windows to either side, while the other end had a fireplace and a chimney.

The curving walls and ceiling also had some windows made in them, composed of curving arcs to continue supporting the roof. The floor inside was below the ground level outside, the earth excavated and replaced with a layer of stone, to provide sufficient headroom given the ceiling in question, so the entrance had to be slightly elevated from ground level to prevent water from getting in when it rained, as it had when they had first arrived in the area.

The step down was slightly awkward when the bed was being brought in.

"All right, put it there in the corner and you can go," Riz directed the people she'd found. Lori didn't know who they were, she left that sort of thing to Rian, and now her temporary Rian. All that mattered was that they were able to carry the bed. Theoretically she could have knocked the wall with the door down and they could have brought the bed in that way, but… well, the bed got it, and that was what mattered. "Thanks, everyone."

"Riz, if you're going to do Lord Rian's job, can you find other people to ask help from?" One of the people said. "Being your friend is turning into a lot of hard work."

Riz chuckled nervously. "Sorry guys. Once we have a bar and drinks, drinks are on me."

"We'll hold you to that!" another one said.

As Lori used some stone to begin work on a table, Riz went on the next errand Lori had told her to do. Soon, Tackir and Deil came carrying a door, one of the doors that had been made for the Um and repairs on the houses that hadn't been used. Or it could have even been a door that had been made for the ice boat that Rian had declared to be too big or something. With efficient, practiced movements, Lori and the two carpenters attached the wooden hinges into the stone wall mounted the door and latch to it, Lori adjusting the stone around the door to best fit it so there was a minimum of drafts while she sent Riz out to get some firewood for the fireplace. Then the two carpenters measured the floor, taking notes on a plank with a burnt stick and made their way out.

It was nearing late afternoon when they finished and Umu and Mikon finally arrived, one of them holding a sturdy canvas pack, the other carrying blanket being used as a makeshift sack. Good, it looked like they hadn't had any problems. Anyone there was probably used to Umu going in and taking things, and Mikon had used to do the same thing before the blonde had cornered the market.

"Just put it on the bed," Lori directed, pointing.

They did as ordered, laying the things out with care and a strange and very particular way as Lori looked around, trying to think of what else was needed. Shutters for the windows would have to come later and wooden planking for the floor to keep back chill, but it had a roof, sturdy walls and a place for heat, and while the step up then steps down at the entrance was surprising it wasn't all the inconvenient…

Out the corner of her eye, she saw Umu nervously open her mouth, pause, look momentarily frustrated, then sighed and turned to Riz reluctantly. The blonde weaver said a few quiet words to her temporary Rian as Mikon walked around, giving the table Lori had a strange look. Well, Lori supposed a wooden one would have been more efficient and easier to move—she'd have to tell her temporary Rian to have one made—but stone was what she had to work with at the moment.

…Maybe she should make a chair? Or some kind of bench along the wall that could be used as a shelf? The walls were fairly think, she should be able to hollow out a little shelf without affecting the structural integrity too much… No, wait, planks stuck to the wall would be easier…

"Riz, would you please remember to tell the carpenters to bring in some planks here, planed smooth?" she said absently. "One a pace long and two hands wide would suffice."

Her temporary Rian hesitated, glanced at Umu—who was giving her a pointed look—and pursed her lips. "Um, Great Binder, why are you doing this?"

Well, the question wasn't unreasonable, it was a bit sudden. "I'll need it for a shelf," she said. "This place needs somewhere to stack things on out of the ground. Hmm, perhaps make it three planks, and three hands wide, two might be a bit narrow…"

The woman hesitated. "I meant, why are you doing all this, Great Binder," she said, waving a hand to gesture at the walls, the ceiling, the fireplace, the table, and everything in around them general.

"Because I needed a house build quickly and didn't want to wait the week it would take to build a wooden roof," Lori said.

Mikon coughed. "Er, if I may?" she said, not speaking to anyone in particular.

Lori gave her a sideways looks. "What is it?" she asked.

"Your Bindership, why did you have all this built so quickly?" the pink-haired weaver said. "Why did you ask us to bring Lord Rian's bed and possessions here while he was occupied? Are you… interested in him?" Around her, Riz and Umu both looked shocked, terrified, scandalized and in disbelief, all at once.

Lori snorted at the absurdity, though she approved at the directness of the question. And a direct question deserved a direct answer. "No, I'm not interested in Rian the way the three of you seem to be," she declared. If anything, the expression on Riz and Umu's faces all escalated, now mixed with embarrassment and mortification, as well as taking on a deep tinge while making small noises. Even Mikon was blushing slightly. "Questions of your lack of taste aside, I don't care if you all decide to become his lovers and get married as a group, so long as it doesn't interfere with his ability to do what I need him to do."

Mikon coughed slightly, but didn't avert her gaze. "And… you built all this so that…?"

"So that Rian has something to come back to instead of leaving when he reaches Covehold," Lori said.

The three fell silent at that.

"He has no family here, nothing to tie him down. After all, it's not like he has a wife or lover waiting for him."

There was some shuffling, Riz and Umu looking away, while Mikon… was nodding thoughtfully.

A knock came on the door.

"Come in," Lori called out. She supposed the shelves would have to be put in later.

The door opened, and the brat came in leading a frowning Rian. "Wiz Lori," the brat said. "Lord Rian's here! I brought him, just like you asked."

Lori nodded. "Thank you Karina. Go and wash to up for dinner."

The brat nodded, nodded at Rian and stepped out.

"So, that's where my bed went. And everything else, for that matter," Rian said, sighing in relief as he saw the bed and the things on it. Then he looked around. "This house is new. Or has it always been here and I just didn't notice?"

"No, it's new," Lori said. "And it's yours."

Rian blinked. "Mine?" he said, looking surprised.

"You asked for someplace to store your things while you were gone, didn't you?"

"I… thought you were just going to toss it into the vault until I got back…"

"Well, you can do it yourself," Lori gestured vaguely. "You might have to get something made to put it in…"

Rian looked around, noting the fireplace, which had wood in it with some more to the side, the three tall and narrow windows on either side on the arcing walls, the table… "You… made me a house?"

Lori shrugged. "Not just me. Other people helped too. Riz was very helpful in finding people to do the work."

Rian glanced towards Riz, who was still blushing a little. He turned around to glance at the door. "This is house is… mine?"

"I said that already," Lori said. "I have decided that as a lord you needed your own residence, for privacy, and so you have a space to work and keep more organized notes."

"And the sacrificial altar?"

Lori gave him an annoyed look. "It's a table. And a temporary one. You can arrange to have a wooden one built, and I'll remove this one when you're done."

"I'll… do that."

Lori nodded. "Well, go take a bath, I'll meet you for dinner," she said. She made a gesture.

Rian blinked then realized he was standing in her path to the door and stepped aside. She nodded and left.

Then she stood outside and leaned with her back against the wall, listening.

"Well, we'll leave you to get ready for your bath, Rian," Mikon said. "Come on girls, I'm sure Rian won't appreciate us gawking at him while he gets undressed."

There were shuffling sounds, and Umu stepped out moving quickly, head bowed, face still red. She didn't even notice Lori as she ran past. Riz followed after, moving at a more dignified pace but clearly just as distracted.

Mikon stepped out last, pulling the door shut behind her and calling out, "See you at dinner, Rian," over her shoulder, catching sight of Lori as she did so. She only paused for a moment, but finished closing the door.

Lori pushed off from the wall and began to walk back to the Dungeon and her private bath. A pity. Such a frustrating combination of obliviousness and reticence.

It wasn't her problem, but it was mildly annoying. If they had the bad taste to be interested in Rian, couldn't they at least have the courtesy to do it in a way that was convenient for her, such as giving him another reason to come back?

To her surprise, Mikon fell into step beside her, and Lori gave the woman a curious glance. The weaver was looking straight ahead. "If I may…?" she said, seemingly speaking to the air.

"You said that already," Lori said. "What?"

"What are the requirements to get married in your demesne, your Bindership?"

Lori raised an eyebrow. "At least two consenting people," she said. "They tell me, I make a record of the agreement, and then they're married."

Mikon blinked. "So simple?"'

"A marriage is merely an agreement made official by the public record," Lori said. "Don't mistake it for a wedding, which is a separate event entirely, though it is traditional to conduct them simultaneously to save time." She shrugged. "Personally, having just a marriage and skipping the wedding has always seemed cheaper to me, with fewer organizational annoyances."

Mikon made a sound of realization. "I see. At least two?" There was a tone in her voice…

Lori rolled her eyes. "Yes, at least two." Then, a slightly vindictive thought made her say, "Inform all interested parties they are to submit applications to either Rian or my temporary Rian."

Mikon merely nodded, looking thoughtful. "I see. Thank you, your Bindership."

They walked on in silence.

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A Lonely House

Lori raised an eyebrow at Rian as he collapsed heavily onto bench opposite her, eyes heavy lidded. It's opposite rose as well as Rian folded his arms over the table and lay his head down. "Rian, did you stay up late last night?"

There was a muffled sound that might have vaguely been affirmatory.

"Did the private celebrations in honor of having your own house go on for too long?"

There was a very long muffled string of words in response.

"I didn't catch that," Lori said. Behind Rian, Mikon took one look, shook her head, and diverted to head straight for the kitchen area.

Rian finally raised his head. "I said, 'whichever of any number of implications you're making, they're not any of them'."

"Ah. Perhaps it would have been easier to understand you had you been clearer the first time."

"Your concern and understanding are a standard everyone should strive to meet," Rian said flatly.

Lori nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is."

They stared at each other for a moment as Riz and Umu arrived, both looking much fresher than Rian, and sat down next to him. Both looked around curiously for a moment, as if wondering where Mikon was, until they saw her near the kitchen.

"I literally can't tell if you're joking or serious," Rian said.

"I'm Lori."

Rian blinked, paused, blinked again. "And now you're stealing my jokes."

"No, they are being requisitioned by the government. Can you work?"

"I'm going to choose to interpret that as your way of expressing concern. Yes, I can work, yes, I'm fine, I just had trouble sleeping last night."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Again, whatever implication you're making, it's not any of them." Rian yawned. "I just had trouble sleeping last night because I was in a new place, that's all."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "You had no trouble sleeping in River's Fork."

"I wasn't alone in the room there. I was either in a house with everyone else or I was keeping watch over you."

Lori didn't understand his problem. She'd never had trouble sleeping alone. She'd slept alone all her life.

Rian blinked, then shook his head. "Not that I don't like the house, I just need to get used to it. It's a bit too dark and quiet after months of sleeping in what is essentially a communal barracks." He sighed. "I ended up walking around the demesne to try and get sleepy, which worked… eventually." A yawn ripped itself out of his mouth. "Ugh… I don't want to go to work today…"

"I thought you said you could work?"

"I said I could. I just don't want to, because I feel terrible."

Mikon walked up behind him, putting down a wooden cup and a ceramic jar of water in front of Rian. "Here you go Rian. I'll get your breakfast too."

Rian blinked, looking up her blearily. "Thanks," he said, almost sighing the word.

He really wastired, if he was just letting her get his food without any actual protest. Mikon tapped Umu on the shoulder. The other weaver glanced at her, but after a moment's hesitation and a glance towards Lori, she stood and went with Umu to get food.

Lori sighed. "Riz, you're taking over Rian's duties for today. Don't change anything, just see that things that are supposed to be done are getting done. If anyone has any questions, bring them to me."

"Yes, Great Binder," Riz said with a nod. She gave Rian a sympathetic look at patted his shoulder. "Go get some sleep, Rian. I'll take over for today. Anything I need to know?"

"You don't have to…" Rian trailed off, his head slumping slightly, before abruptly straightening blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes. "Uh, on second thought, thank you very much. I guess I owe you one. You too, Lori."

"Don't worry about it Rian," Riz said. "Get some rest."

"I'll try to be up by noon and take over for the rest of the day," Rian said weakly. "Actually, maybe I can just take a bath to wake up—"

"Rian."

"Is this the part where you order me to go to sleep?"

"It is."

"Going to sleep after breakfast then, your Bindership. Sorry for being useless today. I swear I love the house, it's just… lonely." That last was almost a sigh.

"I can only build it," Lori said. "Isn't it on you to make it less lonely?"

"I suppose…" Rian hummed. "Maybe I can draw on the walls or something..."

Riz reached up and awkwardly patted Rian on the shoulder.

"Thanks…" he said, shaking his head. "Well, just have to get used to it. And hey, I'm a homeowner now! I actually own my own house. According to my parents, I'm now an adult. And no property taxes—" He paused and looked at Lori cautiously, some of the sleepiness being pushed out of his eyes "—right?"

She waved a hand. "Yes, yes, no taxes yet. Mostly because you have nothing to pay them with." The brat had found a way, but not everyone was as diligent.

"No property taxes!" Rian cheered, then swayed and slumped. "Ugh, so tired…"

Umu and Mikon came back with food, one of the bowls only half full, and after Lori picked a bowl, the three of them took turns coaxing Rian to eat a little food. Lori didn't have anyone to play sunk with that morning but then she'd been a bit too busy to play much for the past few weeks.

Eventually, Rian finished the half bowl and staggered off to sleep, Umu and Mikon helping him get back home since he was a bit unsteady. Riz watched them go, but could clearly feel Lori's gaze on her, so she sighed and got up, heading down to the carpenters to tell them off the change of plans.

The blocks that would form the large water jet for the ice boat had been finished yesterday, the pieces finally hollowed out, but the supporting beams to lay them on was still being added to the boat's frame.

While that was being put in by the carpenters, Lori finally stopped putting it off since she finally had an immediate use for it, grabbed a dragon scale made of gold, and loomed over the blacksmiths to draw it into wire. Well, a wire and a little container the size of her little finger, since she needed something to hold her blood. Gold was ideal for this, since it could be as thin and small as needed. She had to make a form of the appropriate size to wrap the gold around to get the size and shape she wanted for the container.

As the blacksmiths worked on that, Lori took a moment to glance into the window of Rian's nearby house. She nodded in satisfaction when she saw he seemed to be properly at least. He was snoring, at least, and one leg was twitching as if he was stomping on something in his dreams. The thought occurred to her that the woman—or man—who finally managed to get into Rian's bed was in for a possibly painful surprise.

Actually, that made her wonder if he actually had managed to get any sleep that time she'd ordered him to during that holiday. None of the women had ever brought up if he'd kicked them in his sleep…

Lori looked into the window again suspiciously, wondering if he was really sleeping instead of just lying there with his eyes closed. She was tempted to call out to see if he would move, but she remembered sleepless nights and her vengeful anger when her mothers had woken her up in the middle of a day's well-deserved sleep to do something they wanted…

…

She supposed she'd let him sleep.

Lori spent the rest of the day maintaining the bindings on the demesne, checking the baths to make sure the water was the right temperature, and that the cold rooms were cold. Since the dragon, she'd been experimenting with using liquefied and hardened air to keep their storage rooms cold instead of ice, with variable results. She was still perfecting the process, since unlike ice, she couldn't just use airwisps to compress it solid. Once it became a liquid, it stopped being air, and airwisps could no longer be used to bind it. Waterwisps only controlled water in all its forms and mixtures with water in it, and while she could use bound solid waterwisps to contain and insulate the liquefied air, turning it into solid blocks of air was detailed work, since she had to let the ice start taking in heat and use it to cool the air all the way until it became solid. This was made complicated because it needed to be under high pressure at all times, or else it would turn back to gas before it turned solid.

There was probably an easier way to do it, but for now she didn't know.

Hmm, she might have to get Rian to ask around at Covehold to see if he can find the process for her. Surely someone there would know? She'd only ever made liquefied air in class, and that had very quickly changed back to air, but she knew it was an industrial process. Unfortunately, it had required more formal qualifications than she'd had at the time, and so she'd never worked where she could have learned the process.

Still, her way was… mostly working. Currently she was getting small amounts of solidified and liquefied air, which was good for massively cooling the food storage rooms and using bound ice to maintain the chill. It was complicated, but she was getting more proficient at the process, and expected to be able to mass produce it any day now. She was getting tired of all the water in the cold rooms from the ice melting, and solidified air didn't drip. And at the end of the day, the cold rooms were beyond freezing cold again, preserving their food supplies.

The cold rooms were almost full again. She might have to dig out another storage room… or possibly expand the cold rooms they had now. After all, there was plenty of unused space if she dug down…

Rian was looking more refreshed when he showed up again at dinner. He still yawned and looked tired, but that might have been because he'd just woken up… or he hadn't really slept at all.

"Did you sleep?" Lori asked him.

"Yeah," he said with tired cheer. "Still a little tired, but that means I'll be able to sleep again tonight."

"What about the problem that kept you from sleeping last night?"

Rian shrugged. "I'll get used to it. I've slept alone in a room before, I just need to remember what it's like. though the fact the latrines are so far away makes waking up in the middle of the night awkward. One thing about the shelter, there was a latrine right outside. Well, not right outside, but you understand what I mean."

"If I add a latrine to your house, you'll have to clean it yourself," she said flatly. "And you'll probably have people constantly going into your house to use it during the day."

"Hmm, you have a point…" Rian said, nodding in agreement. It was all theatricality: he had his eyes closed as he nodded. "Maybe when winter comes, if the offer is still open?"

Well, she did implicitly offer to do it… "If I feel like it," she said.

"That wasn't a straight 'no'," Rian said.

"If I feel like it," Lori repeated.

Rian's hand rose momentarily, before he seemed to firmly place his hand on the table. "Thank you," he said quietly. "For the house. I think I forgot to say that last time—" He had, "—but I'm really, really grateful that you made a house for me. It's not every day you get a surprise house. Thank you Lori. I promise, I'll come back to live in it."

Rainbows. He saw through her strategy!

"Though I have to ask…"

Lori raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Can you… put a light in my house? It doesn't need to be very bright, just a little glow on the inside for when night falls."

She gave him a flat stare. "Rian, you're a grown man. Are you actually telling me you're afraid of the dark?"

"I'm not afraid of the dark, I just… got used to going to sleep with a little light leaking out from around the covers on the lights, that's all."

"That sounds like being afraid of the dark."

"It's not being afraid, it's having a preferred light level, like having a preferred temperature!"

"You're afraid of the dark."

"I'm not afraid of the dark, I'd just rather not hit anything if I have to go out to the latrine in the middle of the night!"

Lori rolled her eyes indulgently. "Fine, I'll make you a night light."

"I'm not asking for a night light, I'm not a child! I have my own house now and everything! But thank you."

He might have insisted on the issue, but the women finally arrived, and he fell silent on his little embarrassment.

Riz sighed in relief as she saw him. "Lord Rian," she exhaled. "You're… looking more rested. Does that mean you can go back to work tomorrow?"

Rian glanced at Lori for some reason, before shaking his head, looking amused. "The day wasn't that bad, was it?"

"I have no idea what we we're supposed to be building," Riz groaned, raising her leg to step over the bench before sitting down next to him. "I know it's an ice boat, but what I know about ice boats is to watch them sink as they stop working. I just told people to keep doing what they've been doing and told them to find something else to do when they told me they were done. I don't know anything about building boats!"

"Oh Riz…" Rian said, and to Lori's surprise and likely Riz's as well, he patted the northerner woman on the shoulder. "What makes you think I do? We're all making it up as we go along. You probably did just fine." There was a small, squeak-like sound. Umu was staring at the hand in almost comical shock, while Mikon restrained herself to raised eyebrows.

Then the pink-haired weaver shrugged and sat on Riz's other side. "Good evening, Rian," she said. "I'm glad to see you're looking better. Will you be able to sleep well tonight now?"

"Hopefully," he said as Umu sat does next to him a little stiffly. "Her Bindership is giving me something to help."

Mikon nodded. "Would you like me to stay with you until you fall asleep?" she offered. She patted her thigh. "You can lie down with your head on my lap, if you want. I'm told it's very comfortable." Since Rian was focused on the woman speaking, he didn't notice Umu's head snap around in shock beside him.

"It actually is," Riz admitted almost reluctantly.

Lori watched with some amusement as Rian actually started blushing. "T-that's all right Mikon, my pillow is just fine…"

"Aw…" Mikon pouted, then shrugged. As a child of two mothers who liked to flirt with each other even when their poor daughter was present, Lori identified it as a deliberate 'bosom-jiggling-to-get-you-to-look-there' shrug. "Well, if you're sure. I'm still willing to keep you company though." A smile that deliberately ignored the fact Rian's eyes had involuntarily flicked down. "You can teach me more about sunk. I'm still not very good at it. Maybe we can play a practice game so you can tell me what I'm doing wrong?"

"I want to learn how to play sunk too, Rian!" Umu declared with no subtly whatsoever.

"Me too," Riz said quickly. "Or at least know why the stones are getting dropped into the bowls, anyway."

"Uh…" Rian said, looking overwhelmed. "Sure? I guess we can… do that…?"

"Well," Lori said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "It seems you'll have company to help you fall asleep tonight, Rian. How fortunate for you. Now go and get my food, I'm hungry."

Did any of them realize Rian didn't have a sunk board in his house? Probably not. They just seemed to be saying the first thing that came to mind…

Well, that was their problem.

––––––––––––––––––

Cheerful, Unreadable

Contrary to her expectation, the three women didn't try to get Rian alone in his house so they could have their way with him, though they probably wanted to. Instead, what happened was that other people started coming over to Rian's house to talk and relax, in the same way they sat around in front of the baths or lingered in the dining halls. She suspected Riz had something to do with that. Her temporary Rian knew a lot of people. The front of Rian's house gained some benches and convenient rocks to sit on. Lori would have found this extremely disruptive and annoying, but Rian was a twisted, twisted person, and thus he was soon coming to breakfast as well-rested and cheerful as usual.

She vaguely wondered if he'd taken up Mikon's offer to lie down with his head on her lap. Probably not.

Lori, for her part, just gave him a rock with lightwisps bound to it. It was another thing she would have to remember to imbue, and was added to the list on her wall. Her wire was still being made, but when it was finished, she resolved to try and wire as many bindings as possible directly to her core so that they would be self-sustaining. She also put in the shelves into the walls of Rian's house like she said she would, so that Rian wouldn't have to put his things on the table or under the bed where they'd get dusty.

The large water jet for the ice boat was had been hollowed out from wooden blocks, which when put together created the hollow tubes that the water jet needed to direct water. The blocks all had slots that allowed them to be locked in placed by sliding in a specially shaped length of wood, which could be locked in place with a wooden peg. Put together, the whole water jet block was about a pace and a half long and half that wide. It was heavy enough that Rian thought it would suffice in place of putting weight on the keel to help keep the boat level. It also needed reinforcing beams underneath to support its weight, which were still not finished.

The smiths finished drawing wire and the container for her blood from the gold Lori provided them. She now had… well, a very, very long length of wire of the smallest diameter the smiths had on their draw plate. It was thicker than a hair, but not by much, and very flexible besides. She had to wrap the whole thing around a branch, and even as tightly wrapped as possible, it was still a fairly sizable roll slightly smaller than a head.

While the support beams where being completed, Lori worked on preparing the water jet. She lined the tubes with stone to waterproof the block, and prevent leakage as much as possible. Then she prepared the central block. Or rather, had the central block prepared. One of the carpenters took a chisel to it to make a space for her little gold container where it could easily be accessed, and she placed it into the recess with wire leading from it to the inside tube of the central block, sealing the recess with stone. She'd put her blood in it later.

She had the water jets blocks put together so she could test how well the central block slid, and how well it worked with a binding of waterwisps inside it. Or at least how well water flowed through it, especially the holding loop. It seemed to be working…

When the support beams were finished, Lori was there to watch as the blocks for the water jet was installed. A holding box was built to hold the blocks and Lori sealed all the gaps with bone to waterproof it.

"I think we might have to open it up and shave a little off the central block once it's been in the water for a while," Rian commented as she was sealing it all up. "Wood expands when it gets wet, right?"

"Let's see if we can solve that before we move on to shaving," Lori said. "Otherwise there's no going back."

"True…" Rian said. "Are you going to line the tubes through the ice with anything or are you just going to leave them as ice?"

"Probably best to line them, in case something gets drawn in through the waterjet."

"What about where the water goes in?"

"Lined, but there's no reason to make them as long as you designed. After all, why get water from the front of the boat when you can just draw in the water from slightly in front of the water jet? After all, the propulsion come from the water going out, not getting pulled in."

"Oh, right… I guess I was just thinking in straight lines. We'll know for sure how well this works when we test this in the water."

"I heard the rudder's pivot broke."

"It turns out it was a bit too small for the whole rudder assembly, so it's being remade thicker. Hopefully that will be enough, since if it breaks while we're out there, it will be really hard to fix. I'm thinking of asking two of the carpenters to come along for repairs."

"What what's your plan to for repairing the boat if the ice breaks?"

"Hope it doesn't happen?"

She gave him a flat look.

Rian shrugged. "Well, you said I'm not allowed to recruit anyone, especially wizards…"

Lori couldn't fault his reasoning.

––––––––––––––––––

With the block of the water jet in place, Lori bound ice into a hull again once the rudder was repaired, this time with a thicker, more robust pivot, so they can test how well it worked. The intakes for the water jet as well as the reverse thrust outlet were positioned between two planks, the ice reinforced with a thick bone tube, just in case.

"I really wish we had a better way to steer," Rian sighed, holding the tiller as the ice boat bobbed and swayed in the water. Every so often it would jerk as it reached the end of the rope that tied it to the shore and rebound back until the current pushed them back again.

"As the one in charge of having this boat built, isn't that on you?" Lori said absently as she bound water to flow into the water jet so she would have enough water to bind for the water jet binding. "Can you move the central block to align with the loop?"

"Setting the waterjet on neutral," Rian said, sliding the central block using a lever. "It wasn't like I didn't try, it's just that we didn't have enough materials for what I wanted to do. Trying to control it with a wheel would have taken a thicker rope than we had the materials to make, given we need rope for other things. So we're going to control it with the tiller and just someone at the top deck to call directions. That's part of what we have to test now. If you'd be the one to give directions, since you tell me what to do anyway…"

Lori looked up towards the highest point of the ice boat, which didn't look all that safe. "No," she said bluntly.

Rian followed her gaze. "Fair enough, I suppose. All right, not from there, but we still need to test steering. Is the water jet ready?"

Lori finished binding the water in the three tubes in the block. The water started flowing, looping around in the circular tubes as intended. She nodded. "All right, it's ready. Try the thrust." She had made the thrust fairly powerful, since the ice boat was so big. She doubted the small amount of thrust that Lori's Boat could manage would be enough to move this much mass.

"Setting the water jet to one-third thrust," Rian said, moving the lever. The boat began to move forward, if slowly, but they were pointed at the shore, and Rian hastily moved the lever again. "Setting the water jet back to neutral!"

"Are you going to do that every time?"

"Do what?"

"Announce it whenever you do something with the water jet?"

"Isn't that what they do on boats to acknowledge that you heard the captain's orders?"

"So it's not just you being theatrical?"

Rian had the gall to look affronted. "I'm never theatrical!"

Lori gave him a flat look and decided to just drop the subject. "Are we going to test this with the boat tied up?"

"No, you're Bindership," Rian said cheerfully. He called out to those on the bank. "Untie the rope!"

"Yes, Lord Rian!" someone answered.

The rope was untied, and the boat began to drift free on the river's current.

"Well, let's go," Rian said. "Tell me which way to go so we don't hit anything, your Bindership!"

Lori sighed and moved as far forward on the boat as she could until she could see ahead. The boat was already moving as Rian called out, "Setting the water jet to reverse!" The boat slowly began to move away from shore as Rian moved the tiller all the way to one side. The boat began to turn.

Well, she supposed it was a little useful…

Lori frowned, as she looked forward, then turned back to Rian. "Rian, why are we going upriver?"

"I figured it would be best if we find out if this can go against the river's current, otherwise getting home is going to be very problematic." They became parallel to the shore and Rian hastily straightened the tiller, then moved the lever. "Setting the water jet to one-third thrust!"

Lori frowned, but she couldn't fault that reasoning. She shrugged and looked ahead. "A bit to the right. We're still close to the shore."

"Yes, captain! Turning right!"

Lori blinked. "Captain?"

"The one who gives orders on a ship is always the captain," Rian said cheerfully.

Lori frowned. "I'm the Dungeon Binder. That surpasses any other rank."

"Traditionally, a captain on his own ship is considered above a Dungeon Binder who's a passenger."

Lori stared at him. "You're making that up," she accused.

"Would I lie to you?" Rian said, smiling brightly.

Ugh, she hated it when he smiled like that. It was only now that she realized it was completely unreadable. "More to the right, unless you want to test how well this thing does at hitting seels."

"Yes, captain! More to the right!"

Slowly, the boat moved upriver.

––––––––––––––––––

"Well, I think that went well," Rian said later at dinner, his bright, unreadable smile still in place as they waited for the food to be ready. "Though we might need to have two people handling the tiller at a time. It gets really tiring after a while."

"Your problem," Lori said, setting up her sunk board. Her mood felt lighter today. "You'll be bringing a lot of people, might as well make them useful."

Rian nodded. "Yeah, I suppose. Now we just have to figure out storage and sleeping arrangements. Even if it's a lot bigger than the boat we're using to carry miners, it's still pretty cramped for ten to twelve people to live in for I don't know how many weeks."

"Your problem," Lori repeated. "Unless you think you can assign someone to go in your stead now?"

Rian sighed. "No, I have to go. We'll need the medicines when the babies start getting born."

Lori blinked. "What?"

"Well, Lori, when a man and a woman love each other very much, they go to the Um…"

"We have pregnancies?" Lori interrupted, still surprised.

"Why wouldn't we? People literally have nothing else fun to do."

"I would have thought people would know better than to get pregnant in our situation!"

Rian stared at her blandly. "Clearly you were wrong," he said. "What did you think we needed the medicines for, cuts and scrapes? Shana—"

"Binder Shanalorre," Lori corrected.

Rian sighed and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. Eventually he looked back down. "Binder Shanalorre can handle those, but childbirth is… more delicate, or so I'm told. Women can die in childbirth very easily, you know."

"Yes, it comes up a lot in plays and novels as to why the main character is an only child with no mother."

"There you go, then. Unless we get the medicines the doctors and medics say we need, either a lot of children of the next generation are going to have that backstory, or a lot of men are going to be less their wives and a hypothetical child. But that won't be until the second trip, once we find out how much things cost, what sells and whether we have any of it…"

Rian glanced up as Riz arrived at the table, nodding towards her, who nodded back. "Enjoyed your break from being temporary Rian?" he asked. "And I hate I managed to say that seriously, ugh."

"It was a good rest," Riz said. "But I'm getting used to doing as the Great Binders needs. Though I might need to start a still, with all the favors I've been asking."

"We don't have enough food to use for that," Lori said.

"I know, Great Binder," Riz sighed as she sat down. "Something for the future, just like with everything else."

Umu and Mikon arrived shortly thereafter. The blonde instantly went to sit in the open spot next to Rian, not seeming to notice how the other weaver deliberately stayed back to let her. Riz glanced at the other pink-haired woman for a moment, then to Lori's… well, not surprise, but it definitely merited a raised eyebrow, shuffled a little to the side to make room between her and Rian. "You probably want to be close to play with the Great Binder," Riz muttered.

Mikon smiled brightly. "Thank you, Riz. That's very thoughtful of you." She leaned forward and—

All right, Lori was surprised as Mikon gave Riz a quick, almost thoughtless peck on the cheek. Certainly Riz was surprised, eyes going wide as she put a hand on the cheek in question, as if protecting it from another approach. Umu and Rian were both staring with identical raised eyebrows.

Ignoring all this, Mikon sat down on the space next to Rian, a cheerful, unreadable smile on her face.