Demesne 127 - Playing with Water (Patreon)

With the successful test of the ice boat—

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't named it yet," Rian said during breakfast. "You'd usually start calling it 'Lori's Something Something' by now."

"I would rather not have my name on it," Lori replied as Mikon sat alone on one side of Rian, Riz sitting on the opposite side next to Umu, who seemed to feel that her temporary Rian was a bit too free with her elbows.

"Why? Are you embarrassed by this artistic work of carpentry and engineering?"

"Yes." Mikon seemed completely unperturbed at being all alone on her side. Novels and plays had inclined Lori to think that the weaver would put out by the implied rejection. Speaking of which, did this mean that she was no longer interested in Rian? Lori supposed the woman shifting her focus would make sense given Rian's continued obliviousness, but she hadn't gotten that impression lately…

But then, Lori did need a Rian who specialized in people, since she wasn't very good at it herself, so there was a good chance her supposition was wrong on this subject. Well, she didn’t care, anyway.

"So, does that mean I can name it?" Rian said, grinning. It was a surprisingly honest, more genuine expression than any of his cheerful smiles.

"Don't you want to have people submit stupid suggestions for names and have them vote on it?"

Rian froze, and Lori could actually see his fetish for voting warring with his desire to get to name the boat himself.

"Y-you're right, as the physical representation of—" Rian began, looking like someone was pulling his teeth out.

Lori rolled her eyes. "No, too much trouble. You name it yourself, Rian. Try not to name it something silly." Yes, that grin was so much more honest than his usual smiles.

"Yes, your Bindership," Rian chirped. "I'll think of a good name for her!"

Lori frowned. "Her?"

"Oh, in my demesne, the tradition is that vehicles and significant inanimate objects are referred to with feminine pronouns like 'her' and 'she'."

"The demesne you're from is very strange, Rian."

"Rude. You're not supposed to tell people that! Even if it, you know, might be true. And wait, this is my demesne now. So you're basically insulting yourself."

With the successful test of the Coldhold—which Lori had to admit was an amusing bit of wordplay on Rian's part—the boat was tentatively declared properly useable, though it still needed Lori's blood so it could be imbued outside of Lori's Demesne. Lori felt it didn't need the outriggers that were still being finished, since the boat balanced well enough, but Rian insisted they were necessary for the part of the trip that would traverse the ocean. Something about waves and keels and things…

Well, Rian's problem.

The carpenters continued to add fittings to the boat, mounting on the folding beds and storage bins. Rian had said they couldn't just use cabinets, since no flat space would stay level for long, and anything that was just laid down would eventually roll off, so all their storage had to be chests that could be sealed at all sides and secured to the floor so that even if things shifted, they wouldn't roll off. Lori didn't know how they would deal with washing everything of iridescence, but that was Rian's problem.

Lori had her own contribution to make. With the Coldhold once more standing on land, the ice removed from it, Lori painstakingly began to lay out the gold wire around the beams that would support the ice. The water jet block already had blood in it, and it shouldn't degrade while it was inside her demesne. At worst, she'd add more blood before they had to leave.

She also had to fashion a binding for gathering salt, since they apparently needed it. Or rather, a container with a binding. Actually, in the most technical sense, she'd be making a bound tool, wouldn't she? And she didn't even need to use any glass.

…

She still wanted the glass.

The binding was simple enough, waterwisps in the form of vapor bound so that any water that passed through it was converted into more vapor. Not steam, that would be too hot, and pointless. They just wanted the salt dissolved into the water. But given the fact that they wouldn't even reach the ocean until about halfway through the journey, this would have to include her blood for the binding to last that long. But then they'd have a binding that would mostly be unused most of the time, and be a useless waste of magic. True, it wouldn't be using beads, but still, it was wasteful—

Wait.

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"So… it's for draining the boat of water?" Rian said as she held up the tube of bone. One end seemed to be full of mist.

"You asked for a way to gather salt from the ocean," Lori said. "I decided that it needed to have more than one purpose. With this in addition to buckets, you can keep the Coldhold from filling with water during daily Iridescence washings."

"Oh… Oh!" Rian said, as if comprehension was blooming. "Oh, right! If you're getting rid of water anyway… I should have thought of that."

"You were possibly distracted by worrying about beds and boxes."

Rian nodded. "True. I'm told there's no way to add a storage space to the folding beds. I figured as much, but I hoped at experienced carpenters would have a trick or idea I hadn't been able to think of. But this is great! But where does the salt go? You said you first made this for gathering salt?"

"I can make it fit on the end of a large jar," Lori said. "They just pour salt water into the tube and it will separate into water and salt." She paused, then added. "Well, technically it will be water and everything that was in the water, so I suggest the water be relatively clean."

Rian nodded. "And if there's water in the boat, especially below decks because of daily washing, instead of needing to go up to toss the water over the side, we can just pour it into the tube."

Lori gave him a blank stare. "Or you can just take the tube and put it on the floor where there's water," she said.

Rian stared at her. Eventually, he said, "All right, two things: First, I'm an idiot, I should have thought of that, that sounds far easier to do. Secondly, are you serious?" He said that last in the tone of someone exclaiming 'are you insane'.

"Watch your tone," she warned him.

"Sorry. Respectfully speaking your Bindership, did you bother to think that decision through?" It wasn't much of an improvement, since he still said it in the tone of someone asking 'are you insane', but he did begin it with 'respectfully speaking'. "What if someone drops it over the side? Or just drops it and it hits the ice?"

Oh. Ah, ah… "Don't be silly Rian," she said, as her mind raced for a response. "The binding is set deep within the tube to prevent exactly that sort of contact. Besides, this is just the prototype. The finished version will be fitted on top of a container to conveniently gather the salt." Yes, that sounded sensible and plausible.

Lori nodded, accepting his apology, then paused. "Your boat?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it's most definitely not Lori's Boat in any way, shape or form, and you're always telling me it's my problem, therefore it's my boat," Rian said in a tone of smug assurance.

"Impeccable reasoning," Lori said, nodding. "I look forward to your paying the taxes on it. Please include the receipts for what you paid to the loggers, sawyers and carpenters."

"Of course, as a responsible citizen of this demesne, I'm donating my boat for the use of the government," Rian said hastily. "Please don't make me have to remember how money works!"

"The fact you imply that you've forgotten is concerning."

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With the reminder that the evaporator could be dropped by idiots, Lori set out to try and make it idiot-proof, which involved making it either too heavy or too inconvenient to move. She had the potter make a large vessel with a specially shaped lid for the salt and after firing that with firewisps in the kiln—should she make a kiln made from bound water? It would be wonderful at retaining heat…—she lined the lid with bone for some reinforcement. She wasn't sure it would work—Lori wasn't familiar with the relative strength of ceramic compared to bone—but it made her feel better about it.

The lid had a large funnel-shaped opening to pour the salwater into, as well as a side spout to release the vapor from, since it would be inconvenient for the person pouring water in to receive a face full of vapor. It wasn't as quick and convenient as putting the evaporator on the floor to turn the water into mist, but it was less likely to be lost over the side.

"Oh, that's nice," Rian said as she demonstrated. "But… um…"

Lori rolled her eyes. "What more work have you thought of to make me do?" she said.

"Well, since you brought it up yourself and asked me… If you could get this vapor to condense into another container, that would really help for drinking water when we reach the sea."

Lori stared at him.

"You asked! And we really do need it now that I realize it. I was worrying about how we'd be able to store enough fresh water for the sea-going portion of the tried and keep them from getting contaminated with salt water, but once you showed me that… and you asked!"

Lori sighed.

"You asked!"

"I did," she grudgingly admitted.

"You don't have to do it…"

"No, no, you make a good point. I'd forgotten that you couldn't drink sea water."

"Maybe I should recruit some Whisperers so that—"

"Don't you dare!"

"All right, all right, you command, I obey. Just remember that you told me not to recruit anyone when you complain you have to do everything around here because you're our only wizard."

"Yes, well, I have to make a vessel to condense vapor in so that you have something to drink," Lori said. "So try not to think of anything more I need to do in the meantime."

Rian, who'd been opening his mouth, abruptly closed it again so hard his teeth clicked together. He smiled blandly.

Lori looked at him suspiciously. "What?" she demanded.

"You told me not to think of anything, so I won't," Rian said innocently.

Lori glared at him. "Out with it," she said.

"Well, I was just thinking, there might be a use for the evaporator here in the demesne itself, and was wondering if you were willing to make more…"

Lori sighed. "What use?"

"Well, you see, the tanners, in addition to brain and salt, can use something else for tanning and softening furs and skins, but making it is a painstaking process because it has to be reduced and concentrated…"

Rian explained, and Lori was reminded why she had never, ever, ever worked in the textiles industry back when she was a student. It was absolutely disgusting.

Then she sighed and made an evaporator for people, mostly meant for ease of use, to piss into so it could be concentrated into a caustic substance for making their animal skins nice and soft and was that something that had been done to her boots…?!

As Lori reminded herself that her boots had probably been clean for a long time, the Coldhold continued coming together…