Weekly Digest 48 - (#153 - #155) (Patreon)

We're Home

"We're home!" Rian declared from the bench he was standing where everyone in the space in front of her Dungeon could see him, raising a wooden cup in the air. This banal statement was followed by cheers. "We've finally had a hot bath!" This time the cheers were mainly from the men who'd left with him, but they cheered very loudly. "With soap!" More cheers of agreement. "Now let's eat and just stay in bed tomorrow! No having go get up and get wet just to keep those stupid glittering colors  from getting into our brains!"

The sudden unexpected vulgarities earned a laugh, and then Rian was getting down from the bench and sitting down on it properly, sighing, then drinking the cold water from his cup like it was something stronger. He leaned against the stone wall next to Lori, his eyes closed, looking like he intended to just fall asleep. "Ah," he sighed in a more normal volume. "That's the stuff. Cold, clean, not-distilled water…"

Lori nodded in agreement. Heat distilled water tasted horrible.

There probably hadn't been a lot of organizing to do, but there was something about knowing that Rian was taking care of it that made the circumstances… better. At least, Lori thought so, and hers was the only opinion that mattered in her demesne. There was a festive, happy mood to everything that she didn't think would have been possible if Riz had handed things. People were actually dancing, but since it was getting dark, there was no music. Instead, people clapped to keep rhythm and sang together, which was still loud but at least didn't bring back horrible recollections of dragon shelter parties. Usually the confines had been too tight for that, so music had been the irritant of choice, and had mostly drowned out the singing. If anyone had danced to it, it hadn't been scarred into Lori's mind.

Riz came, bearing Lori's stone plate in one hand and a pair of wooden plates in the other, both of which contained cuts of roasted beast meat. The stone plate clearly had cuts of tail meat, as well as smaller cuts that Lori identified as choker tails. Lori took her plate and started eating as Riz sat down next to Rian, putting him between her and Lori.

"Hmm?" Rian 'hmm'-ed, opening his eyes and blinking as he saw the plate Riz was holding out to him. "You didn't have to do that…"

"I have been doing your duties for weeks," Riz said. "Take the plate, you deserve to not have to go and get it."

"That still means you had to go and get it," Rian pointed out, but accepted the plate.

"Yes, but the Great Binder promised this was a temporary position," Riz said. "You, however, are lord for life."

"Then… thank you," Rian said. He gave her a thankful smile, then started to eat.

The three of them ate quietly to the sounds of singing and dancing and absolutely no music.

"So… anything you want to say to me, your Bindership?" Rian said. "Anything you want to tell me to do?"

Lori finished chewing a succulently soft, fatty and absolutely delicious bite and swallowed. "Be quiet and let me eat."

"Aaandthat's my due diligence done," Rian said cheerfully, turning towards Riz. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"We had the harvest," Riz said. "And the Great Binder found a way to dry the stalks so we could thresh everything after only a day."

"Of course she did," Rian nodded. "And here I was thinking the part of the almanac I brought explaining how a Whisperer can do just that would have been important information to get here as soon as possible."

Lori looked up from her food. "That's in the almanac?"

"Maybe," Rian said, drawing out the word in an annoying way that reminded Lori of one of her mothers and crushing disappointment. The answer was never 'yes'. "I don't want to spoil the experience of reading the book and making amazing discoveries for you."

"Your almanac is probably useless and you got scammed," Lori predicted darkly.

"No, I kept asking random wizards if the book was legitimate and showing them the insides," Rian said. "So it's the real thing and you'll probably like it, so I'm not spoiling it for you. And what happened to 'be quiet and let me eat'?"

Lori considered it and agreed eating was more important right then. She focused back on her food.

"And that's us being ignored again…" Rian said dryly. "So, harvest… not enough to feed everyone?"

"Not even close, even if we don't take any seed vigas for the winter crop," Riz said. "We have tubers, and some wild roots that seem to be growing regardless of the season, but… well, we'll mostly be eating meat this winter."

Lori made a happy sound

"That is apparently not an unpleasant fate," Rian said dryly. "Well, if worse comes to worse, we can find a way to negotiate for vigas from River's Fork, unless people are willing to part with the grain they secretly have hidden."

"No," Lori said, wondering how he knew about the little bag of grain.

"You know about that?" Riz said, sounding surprised and guilty.

"This is the part where I'd say something like 'you just told me', but practically there was no way people would have left all the grain in River's Fork," Rian said easily.

Lori blinked as she realized what Rian was saying, and leveled a glare at Riz.

"Oh, don't blame her, you're the one who didn't think of what should have been really obvious," Rian said. "As if they'd leave all the food behind while they didn't know how far away our demesne was upriver."

"My demesne," Lori corrected. "There's more vigas?"

"It can only last for so long," Rian said. "Eventually they'll either have to plant it or eat it, especially since preparing food with it is pretty hard."

"Every house in the demesne had a fireplace now," Lori pointed out.

Rian blinked and looked around in the fading light. "Huh? Where?"

"In the back."

Rian stared at the houses, but all the doors were pointed towards them, so the chimneys weren't obvious, and none of them had smoke rising from them. "Huh… all right, that admittedly makes it easier…"

"Erzebed," Lori said flatly.

"Yes, Great Binder?" Riz said, audibly cringing.

"Your people. Deal with this."

"Yes, Great Binder… uh, how?"

Lori stared at her.

"Right, my job to figure it out…" She glanced sideways at Rian next to her.

"You're learning," Rian said brightly. "I'd offer to help… but if they didn't tell me before, they probably won't tell me now."

Riz sighed. "Are we going to be forced to give it to the demesne?"

"That's not the question," Rian said.

"It's not?"

"The question is… how will people react to finding out you've been holding back food that could have helped everyone… compared to how they will react when they find out because you bring it up yourselves. While it's your private property and definitely falls under the protections of our laws and rights… will people resent you for it when they find out?"

"You're here. This was supposed to be a temporary position until you got back…" Riz sighed.

"I could," Rian said, making Lori look up with a frown, as did Riz. "After you catch me up on how the demesne's been doing, you can stop. That probably falls under the definitely of 'figuring out how'. But do you trust me to do it right?"

Riz stared at him then sighed. "I'll talk to people…"

Rian smiled for some reason and turned towards Lori. "You know, you're very good at choosing lords. Certainly better than I am."

Lori raised her eyebrow. "Of course I am," she said.

"Any chance of making her permanent?" Rian said with a toothy grin as Riz suddenly went wide-eyed..

"No," Lori said instantly, making the pink-haired woman sigh in relief and glare at Rian for a moment. "This is a temporary arrangement for the duration of you being not being here."

"What about the next time I have to leave?"

"I'm locking you up in your house," Lori said.

"I'll help," Riz added.

"I'm not leaving until at least spring," Rian said. "I like the hot water bathing and cold water drinking far too much."

Lori nodded. "Then we're all agreed, you're not leaving. I'm sure Erzebed, Mikon and Umu will be quite happy with that."

Riz coughed and looked away.

"So, I see you finally put outdoor lighting everywhere!" Rian said loudly. "That's great! Everything's starting to look civilized, plus it's probably safer at night! People can see where they're going and without the cover of night, there are less likely to be inclined towards minor mischiefs that might turn into crimes. There's a reason lit streets are a mark of civilization, after all. It makes people stay civil."

Lori blinked. That… hadn't occurred to her. "Of course. That's why I did it," she said.

"Though I have to ask… what's this thing?" Rian said, knocking on the wall they were all leaning against.

"It's the defensible air intake we discussed after the last dragon," Lori said, mildly annoyed he didn't remember, especially since it had mostly been his idea.

Rian blinked, craning his head back to look up at the wall. "Oh… Okay, now I can see it." He looked around. "We might have to make a new space for these big public gatherings, especially when we get more people. maybe across the river? You could build a bridge… or maybe a tunnel, that might be easier. Just go under the river…"

"We'll see," Lori said flatly.

"Oh look, space to sit," and Mikon sat down next to Riz. She was holding a plank of wood that had five bowls of stew on it. "Stew, everyone? Also, Riz, you left your plank lying around."

"Did you erase anything?" Riz asked urgently.

"No, the bowls are on the side without writing, and I've been holding it all up," Mikon said.

Lori leaned towards the bowls. "Move," she said, and Riz and Rian leaned back, letting her reach past them and grab one of the bowls. She placed the stew next to her, got one of the drier-looking slices of roast meat—which wasn't really all that dry—and dipped it into the stew, getting it nice and covered before popping it into her mouth, the fatty juices mixed with the mushroom broth base to add new taste.

Riz and Rian also accepted bowls for themselves—"Thanks, Mikon. You didn't have to…"—and there was a moment's confusion as they all tried to juggle having a plate and a bowl before Riz just cleared a space on her plate and put the bowl there. Rian looked amused at that for some reason, but imitated her.

"Welcome back, Rian," Mikon said before she started eating her stew. "We missed you."

"I missed being home too," Rian said. "But I'm back now, so Riz can stop needing to do my job soon."

"It… wasn't just me," Riz admitted. "Mikon helped me a lot. I don't know how you manage to do it by yourself."

"I had some free time to be generous with," Mikon said modestly. She reached up and put a hand on Riz's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I was glad to help."

Rian eyed the hand for a moment, a bemused look on his face.

"Rian," Lori said. "Water."

Her lord blinked, glancing at her, then at his own cup. "Right, right. Hold on, I'll get you some…" He stood up and headed for a nearby table where the wooden cups and the jars of water were laid out.

"I'll reiterate, and Mikon, I'm officially warning you," Lori said. "I don't care what nonsense you get up to as long as it doesn't impede Rian from performing his duties properly."

"Yes, Great Binder," Riz said with a nod.

"Of course, your Bindership," Mikon said. "I would never have assumed otherwise."

Lori nodded. "Good. Carry on."

She went back to eating.

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Leaving The Silliness To Rian

"Thank you for the kind words," Mikon told Riz as Lori ate, ignoring them. "That wasn't necessary, but it was nice. But you really need to be more forward if you want to flirt with Rian properly. He's a bit dense."

Riz turned to give the other woman an incredulous look. "Are you actually giving me advice?"

Mikon shrugged. "I've been helping you so far, I see no reason to change that now."

"Does this mean you've given up on him?" Riz said hopefully.

"Why would I?" Mikon said with a cheerful smile.

Riz was making a very strange face. "I suppose this means we're rivals again," she said, sounding reluctant.

"Well, no need to start now," Mikon said. "So, about being more forward—"

"You're stillgiving me advice?"

"Do you not want it?"

Riz looked torn, then sighed. "Fine, I'm listening…"

"Now, my advice is to touch him as often as you can," Mikon said. "Appropriately, of course. Give him a pat on the back, on the shoulder, things like that. Get him used to you touching him casually."

Riz frowned. "How is that being more forward?"

"Well, you can skip ahead to holding hands, but do you feel confident enough to go straight there?"

"… all right, I get your point… " Riz said, then paused. She glanced at her shoulder with the hand on it.

Mikon gave her shoulder another squeeze.

Riz rolled her eyes. "Oh, very funny, I see the joke now." She sighed. "I almost believed you for a moment there."

Mikon leaned forward and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Believe what you will, Riz," she said, taking off her hand and going back to eat.

Riz stared at her, one hand snapping up her face, which was slowly reddening. "Okay, I've been ignoring it, but I think we need to talk about—"

She cut off abruptly as Rian came back with four cups of water and Umu in tow. "Water, anyone?" he offered as Lori grabbed one of the cups and started drinking. Ah, cold, clean water…

"Thank you, Rian," Mikon said, taking a cup herself and drinking from it. "Hello, Umu. Sit with us?" She patted the bench next to her.

Umu watched as Rian sat back down between Riz and Lori and seemingly tried to gauge if she would fit in the space next to Rian, before Lori put her cup there. The blonde hesitated another moment before sighing and accepting Mikon's offer, sitting next to the other weaver. Umu had her own cup of water and a bowl that seemed to be filled with both stew and cut pieces of roast meat.

People started eating again as the singing and clapping continued, the voices changing as those who'd been singing before grew tired. Lori finished the food in her plate and her bowl and debated whether to get more helpings… Or at least, make Rian do it. Or Riz, she was there too…

"So… about tomorrow, your Bindership" Rian began.

Lori blinked, startled out of her contemplation. "What?"

"Tomorrow," Rian said. "Riz said you suddenly declared tomorrow a rest day? Even though the threshing isn't finished yet?"

Lori shrugged. "Anyone who wants to continue threshing or doing any sort of work tomorrow may. For everyone else, it's optional."

"Officially optional," Rian said, nodding. "Ah."

Riz sighed. "I'll have to tell everyone that, won't i?"

It should really be obvious with how everything isn't finished yet. "It should really be obvious with how everything isn't finished yet," Lori said. She decided to let her stomach settle a little before getting more food and turned to Rian. "Besides, I'd have thought you'd want to have a day without work interfering to be able to talk to Erzebed about what you need to know."

"Ah. And what will you be doing?"

"Going through the things that you brought back," Lori said.

"I feel compelled to point out that some of that stuff was bought with beads provided by other people in the demesne, at their request and for their use," Rian pointed out.

"Noted. So I will decide if they will be requisitioned by the government."

Rian sighed. "As your lord that you put in charge of 'dealing with people things', I feel it's my duty to point out that's a terrible idea, sets a horrible precedent—and yes, I know how you feel about precedent but I'm mentioning it anyway—and would be bad for morale. Also, you have nothing they'd accept as restitution, except maybe land, and you've made your opinion on that clear."

"Also noted. I'm still going through them. Consider it a customs inspection."

Rian gave her a sideways look, literally and figuratively. "So… you're not requisitioning, you're taking customs duties."

Oh! What an excellent idea! Lori was glad she'd thought of it. "An excellent idea. I'm glad I thought of it."

Rian rolled his eyes for some reason. "You realize that means whatever item you take duties for, some more than half of it needs to reach the person who asked me to buy it, right? There's no customs duty that costs more than the actual product in question, after all. It's usually a percentage of the listed or assessed value. Also, I need a filter."

Lori blinked, then frowned in confusion at the unrelated sentence. "What?"

"I need a filter," Rian repeated patiently. "Maybe a very fine cloth or something. We need it to act as a filter for passing water through the evaporator, so that only water gets into the storage tank. Having iridescence start growing in the tank was expected, and passing through the demesne took care of that, but all sorts of little bits that had been floating in the water also fell in. Sorting it out by hand will be a mess. Much better to try to keep them from getting in in the first place."

"If it's a cloth, you have a pair of weavers right there. They would know better than I would," Lori pointed out. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, the ocean's not that far away…" Rian said. "All right, it's still pretty far, but in comparison, to Covehold, not that far. We had to go around a long peninsula first, and coming in from the water the mouth of the bay is kind of hard to see, which probably explains why no one else is around here except for River's Fork. But a day or two… three at most if the water jet driver isn't going on all holes, a day spent just filling up containers with salt, and we'd have enough for eating, tanning and selling to Covehold. Granted, it doesn't sell for much, but it's enough to make the trip worth it, especially since Covehold can't make it themselves. The water around them is too dirty. They dumped too much stuff into the water."

"Fascinating," Lori said blandly. "Tell me the rest in your report the day after tomorrow."

"Why then? Why not tomorrow?"

"Do you feel prepared to give me a concise report tomorrow?"

"The day after it is, then!"

Lori nodded. She was, she decided, no longer hungry. She finished the water in her cup and stood up. "Best use tonight to best advantage," she said. "I'm going to sleep. Heed what I said."

Rian blinked. "Wait, you're going to sleep?" He looked up at the sky, where three of the four moons were already rising. "Already? It's not even that late yet."

"Yes, well, I see no point in staying awake, or watching you deal with the silliness that follows," Lori said.

Rian frowned. "What silliness?"

Lori gave him a look at his revealing he hadn't stopped being any more of an idiot while he was gone, then turned her gaze towards the three women next to him. "Be civil," she reminded them again, leaving her stew bowl on the bench, and began heading towards her Dungeon.

After she passed, Umu promptly stood up and moved towards the suddenly free space next to Rian, taking hold of his arm and pressing it firmly against her front that she leaned towards him. "Welcome back, Rian," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

Riz, seeing this, pressed closer to Rian and then nervously placed a hand on his shoulder. She didn't say anything, simply kissed his other cheek determinedly, as if she could push Umu away by putting effort from her side. Behind her, Mikon rolled her eyes and reached over to correct the positioning of Riz's hand, placing her own hand atop it for good measure. She also leaned forward, pushing Riz up against Rian even more, while the weaver's other hand came to rest on the still-temporary-assistant's knee. That was all Lori managed to see as she rounded the edge of the new entryway and headed inside of her Dungeon to her room.

"So, Rian," Lori heard Mikon say breathily, though in practice the weaver was probably blowing into Riz's ear as she said it, "have you been thinking of us while you were gone?"

There was a surprised yelp from Riz. "That was my neck!"

"Oh, sorry, I missed," Mikon said cheerfully. "Move a little, please?"

Rian should be fine. He was a grown man. And if he was afraid of them ravishing him, well, he could jump into the river and avoid them with his strange ability to swim.

"M-maybe we should all sit down and t-talk about this like adults first? In private?" she heard Rian say, voice slightly muffled. "Please?

"I agree, we should talk about this!" Riz said before Lori was too far to hear anything over the sounds of singing, dancing, and now the laughter and encouragement that was coming from the rest of the crowd as they saw Rian's situation.

Humming to herself, Lori went up to her room, ignoring the people sitting around the dining hall and either doing their own rendition of what was happening to Rian or just playing board games. She took a moment to check with her awareness, but there was no one in the second or third levels, or anyone hiding in the cold rooms, or in the hallway with the treasure rooms. Good, there didn't seem to be any trouble going on. Anyone who were doing more seemed to be in the Um, their own home, or at least out of her sight. She'd… well, she wouldn't allow it, but she wouldn't bother to patrol for it right now.

She wondered if she should go and ask for that almanac Rian had mentioned. It would be nice to have something new to read before bed. Or anything to read before bed at all, save for that list on the ceiling for something or other. But it had been a long day, and she was tired. Sealing the hallway behind her, she closed her door, put aside her stone plate to wash later, and got ready for bed.

A thought occurred to her, and she considered putting it off… but no, if she didn't she might be forced to sit around waiting tomorrow…

Sighing, Lori put her clothes back on, pulled on her boots—which now felt uncomfortable since she'd just managed to get her feet out of them—and headed downstairs, again sealing the hallways behind her.

No one had suddenly started playing music just because she'd left, which… was slightly unexpected. She'd assumed they'd do just that, had left so she had an excuse not to hear it… but if they didn't, they didn't. She felt glad about that, for some reason.

The bench up against the outside of the entryway wall was empty. She frowned, looking around, then chided herself and looked towards Rian's house. Sure enough there was a light there, a bright, even light that stayed still and looked to be coming from the vicinity of the table in the house. Rian still had the stone she'd bound lightwisps to. Trudging towards it, she heard someone saying, "—never even kissed a girl before, much less held hands! Mothers and sisters don't count—"

She pushed open the door. "Rian," she said.

Rian cut off what he was staying, and everyone turned to look at Lori.

"Er, yes, your Bindership?" he said from where he was standing in a corner of the house, Riz and Umu arrayed in front of him, the three forming the points of a triangle as Mikon bustled about, retrieving Rian's bedroll.

"Just to be clear, I expect you at breakfast tomorrow," she said as Mikon put down the bedroll on the bed behind the three and began to unroll it. "Even if it is a rest day."

"Noted, your Bindership," he said as the two women in front of him exchanged exasperated looks, then quickly tore their gazes from each other.

She nodded, turned to leave, then paused. "Also, thank you for the board," she added. "It has been very enjoyable."

"Also noted, your Bindership." Riz was making a face that said she was trying to be patient, and was only managing to make face, while Umu was scowling with her arms crossed under her breasts.

Lori contemplated the tableau and shrugged. "Remember, you have no shutters and there are children about."

"W-we're just talking, your Bindership!"

"So there would be no need for me to obscure the windows so no one can see inside?"

Everyone blinked, Mikon looking up from where she was laying out the bedroll on the bed.

"Don't looked surprised. It's in my interest to ensure Rian has reasons to not leave the demesne," she said.

"Please your Bindership," Mikon said with a cheerful smile as she finished rolling out the bedroll.

"Wait, what do you mean plea—why did you make the bed?-!"

"So we have somewhere to sit, of course," Mikon said cheerfully. "Standing for a long, serious talk is so uncomfortable." She made a show of sitting at one of the corners of the bed, arranging her skirts modestly. She gestured towards the other corners. "Come on, let's all sit and talk about this after her Bindership leaves."

Lori finished binding darkwisps over the windows, preventing people from seeing inside but allowing sound to exit. She turned to leave.

"Wait, you're leaving?-!" Rian exclaimed.

"I'd rather not be around for this nonsense," she said. "It's the sort of thing that makes me dislike dealing with people. Physical attraction and the things people do because of it…" She shook her head. "It's all so absurd and pointless. I leave those things to you, Rian. Tell me in the morning how it goes."

"But…"

"And if any of you three touch him without Rian's express approval after this, I will consider that assault upon my lord's person and execute you all in the most violent manners I can imagine," Lori continued, her tone not changing. "I allowed you to express yourselves so that Rian would finally understand. He does. Now, you will convince him with words, because this is a civilized demesne. Is that understood?"

Silence.

"I said, is that understood?" Lori repeated calmly.

"Yes, your Bindership/Great Binder!" three women hurriedly exclaimed as Rian looked at her with a face she couldn't identify.

Lori directed her gaze towards the pink-haired weaver. "Mikon, is this understood?" she said, face utterly serious.

Mikon nodded stiffly. "Yes, your Bindership."

Lori nodded, then raised a hand and touched her thumb to the lowest joint on of her first finger significantly. One. "Good. Rian, I'll deal with your hypocrisy about this in the morning. In the meantime, I believe you had something to discuss?"

She left and headed back to her room.

She'd probably done something people thought was wrong. Rian would know. Her mothers would know.

She didn't care. This was her demesne—Lori's Demesne—and she could finally tell people what to do, so she would. What she knew was right would prevail now, not the nonsense that other people told her was what was right.

Still, as she lay in bed and dimmed the lightwisps after washing her plate, she found herself starring at her chatrang/lima/pincer game board and wishing she'd had one last game before Mikon started hating and avoiding her.

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First Morning Back

The next morning, Lori expected to be eating alone with only, at best, Rian for company.

Not that she cared. She was used to eating alone. There were no inane expectations of conversation that way.

The dining hall of her Dungeon was quiet that morning. There were the usual smells of food, but from what she could see not all the kitchen staff were there cooking, and there were only a few people sitting at the tables.

Lori walked to her table, stepping over the bench on her side so she could sit down. Not for the first time, she considered getting rid of the bench and getting a proper chair, with a proper back for her to lean on and a side-rack for her staff… but it was a lot of effort for something she always used for meals. So the bench it was…

She was in the middle of doing basic breathing exercises to pass the time and simply feel magic filling and flowing through her when Rian slipped into the bench opposite her. Lori focused her gaze on him, noting the slightly wet hair, and the same clothes from last night. "Rian," she nodded, letting the magic fill the breath in her lungs, bound to the airwisps there, expelled on her breath..

"Lori," he replied.

For a moment, they sat in silence.

"Can we both just back to sleep?" Rian suggested. "Because I really want to go back to bed to sleep in for my first day back."

"You can go back to sleep after breakfast," Lori said. "Though how you think you can go to sleep after taking I bath, I don't know."

"It's the principle of the thing," Rian insisted. "After coming back from somewhere, the next day is for recovering."

"Today isa rest day," she pointed out.

"Yes, well, it sort of defeats the point of resting when you wake up this early. You should be allowed to sleep in until noon. Midmorning, at the very least."

"You had all of last night t osleep," Lori said. She raised an eyebrow. "Unless you stayed up late and therefore did not get as much sleep as you could have?"

Rian didn't respond. The silence lingered.

"There's a lot of things I want to say to you," Rian finally said, staring down at the table's surface. "Some things I probably shouldn't. Some I probably should. I want to say you overreacted last night…" He sighed. "But when you walked in… I was literally backed into a corner."

"I saw. It was why I did it. Were you really so frightened of two women?"

"I… don't know anymore," Rian said quietly. "I wasn't really scared, more like I was… overwhelmed? Overwhelmed and trying to get away so I finally could think about it…"

"So, the whole time you were away, you didn't think about it?"

Rian blushed and looked away.

"You. Idiot." Lori declared.

"I was… no, nothing I say can make that look good," Rian admitted. "Yes, I was an idiot. I have no excuse. I just… I'd get my hopes up, then I'd think what I was thinking was stupid, I'd make excuses, and… well, it was easier on my mind to not think about it."

"You. Idiot."

"Yes, I am," Rian nodded. "But last night I finally thought about it and we talked about it and…" He blushed slightly, looking aside. "All right, first off, I want you to know officially that those three have my express approval to touch me. And so does everyone else in the whole world, from the beginning of time to the end, so please don't threaten to kill anyone like that on my behalf again. Please. It's the sort of thing that makes people terrified of shaking hands or helping me up if I fall or think that they'll be killed if they accidentally trip and nudge me. I can do my duty a lot easier when people don't have to be afraid of making physical contact with me, which translates as being more convenient for you."

Lori tilted her head, then nodded. "Noted then. I will not summarily execute people who touch you."

"I'm sure they'll appreciate that." Rian paused. "Thank you for speaking on my behalf. It was overkill, but that's how you do things. Still, thank you."

"Of course. You're my lord. I still have a use for you."

"I'll add I have no expectation of you not doing it to anyone who touches you," Rian said, "but as your lord in charge of talking to people, I strongly recommend that people you plan to kill at least get a 'get your hands off me' so they can save themselves. Maybe a 'get your hands off me or else I'll kill you' so they know you mean it. And make an exception for genuine accidents?"

"I'd have thought all that should be obvious," Lori said.

"Yes, well, after your declaration last night, I thought that it probably wouldn't be safe to assume," Rian said.

Lori considered that. "No need. Everyone is acting as they should. There's no reason to correct anything."

"Wow. That actually sounds like you don't think everyone around you are idiots anymore."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "Of course not everyone around me are idiots. Some of them are skilled craftsmen and craftswomen. And those who are idiots have been acting less idiotic."

"That's probably won't last," Rian said dryly.

"No, probably not," Lori agreed.

Rian smiled at that for some reason. "You know, sometimes I think you don't need me. You seem to do well with people when you need to."

Lori snorted derisively. "You're sounding like my mothers again. I'm the Dungeon Binder. If I don't want to, I don't need to, and I don't want to. That's your job!" That last might have been a little more vehement than she intended.

"Understood, your Bindership," Rian said cheerfully.

They sat in silence for a moment.

"Ah, I missed this…" Rian sighed. "You know, I made a horrible design decision when making the Coldhold. You need to be standing up to use the tiller, and since it was the one handling the steering…"

"Ah. That's a terrible oversight," Lori agreed. "How long before you decided to teach someone else to do it so you could sit down?"

"…I'll admit it was an embarrassingly long time and leave it at that," Rian said. "I'm having the carpenters put in a way to lock the rudder for times we're just going straight. And extend the overhead cover all the way to the back, because that stupid ball of fire in the sky is hot."

"Yes, it's known for that," Lori said dryly.

"But those are probably modifications we can do over the winter, because right now it's enough for going down to the ocean and getting salt and food."

Lori blinked. "Food?"

"Yup. There's a lot of… well, things that swim at the mouth of the river. We'll need to think of more efficient ways to catch them, but there's a lot to catch, and winter probably won't affect them too much."

Lori considered that. "I see… well, I haven't been there, so I'll leave it to you."

"Actually, I want to assign it to some of them men who went with me," Rian said. "If they're interested, I think they can be our dedicated rivermen, sailing up and down the river to the sea. And from what I learned, fresh food will definitely sell in Covehold, as will salt."

Lori frowned. "I'd have thought Covehold wouldn't have to worry about salt."

"Not Covehold, no," Rian said cheerfully. "But the demesnes further inland… well. Even with the salt tax Covehold imposes on independent salt harvesters selling at their markets, we'd still make a decent profit, and if we can come to an agreement with one of the demesne to sell directly to them, bypassing Covehold entirely, we'd be able to avoid that. And we might also be able to trade salt for vigas with River's Fork, to help supplement our food over the winter."

That… sounded very promising. "That sounds very promising," Lori said, nodding. "Tell me the rest in your report tomorrow."

Rian nodded. "Unfortunately, I might need to be the one to go to negotiate it."

Lori stopped and glared at him.

He shrugged. "Well, someone has to do it. It won't be now, but we're already planning another trip after winter to sell things and get the reply from the Golden Sweetwood Company, remember? Unless you trust someone else to do the negotiations on our demesne's behalf, it has to be me."

Lori closed her eyes. "Find me someone who can do it in your stead," she said evenly. "You have until spring."

"Already looking, but successful people like that are unlikely to be desperate enough to be all the way out here," Rian said.

"You're here," Lori pointed out.

"Yes, which shows just how successful I was."

She couldn't really dispute that.

Rian looked over towards the kitchen and stood up, heading for where the food was starting to be served. He came back with two bowls and two cups of water, and Lori picked on of each. He took the other one, and they both started eating.

"Have you considered adding a roasting area to the kitchen?" Rian suggested. "Then we can have roast in addition to stew even on normal days. Or at least, the can roast the meat before adding it to the stew."

"Is it really necessary?" Lori said dubiously.

"A roasting area can easily to converted to baking bread."

Lori paused. She gave Rian a suspicious look.

"Unless you'd prefer to eat vigas as a kind of boiled porridge?" Rian continued, smiling brightly.

Lori sighed and looked towards the kitchen. "I'll… find time," she relented.

"May I suggest practicing on the old dining hall?" Rian suggested. "Working there would be less disruptive."

Lori waved dismissively. "Fine, fine," she said, going back to eating.

There was a thump, and Lori looked up in surprise to see Mikon sitting down next to Rian, her hair damp as she smiled brightly. "Good morning, Rian," she said in an equally sunny tone. She leaned forward her lips lightly brushed his cheek. Mikon turned to Lori with a smile and nodded at her, then started eating.

Rian avoided Lori's gaze as he focused on his own food, eating intently. Lori directed her gaze towards Mikon, who smiled brightly again.

"I suppose you finally stopped being an idiot, then?" Lori said dryly.

"…yes…" Rian mumbled, not looking up at her.

"And you picked… Mikon?"

"… not exactly…" he kept on mumbling.

Lori raised an eyebrow and looked back at Mikon, whose smile no longer showed her teeth and had started humming. "Ah. Is this the scandalously extravagant hedonism of lords that I've heard of?"

"It's not like that!" Rian yelped, reaching a pitch he usually reserved for seeing her drawing blood with her syringe. "It's… we’re…"

"I don't care," Lori said, waving his words aside dismissively. "As long as you can do your duty unimpeded. Will Riz be joining us? She had still not been relieved."

She looked at Mikon when she said that, and the latter grinned again. "I believe she'll be here soon, your Bindership. We were up quite late last night, so she's taking a bath to wake herself."

"It's not what you think!" Rian interjected.

Lori raised an eyebrow. "You didn't stay up discussing your situation like adults and coming to a reasonable arrangement?"

"… uh, then yes, it is what you think…" Rian corrected himself. He bent down to stare into his bowl again, eating slowly as if each and every movement of his spoon required his full attention.

Umu and Riz approached the table, both carrying their own bowls and keeping a full pace between each other. They hesitated when they saw Lori, but she ignored them, going back to eating her breakfast. Mikon looked up and waved towards them, then slid a little away from Rian, making a space between the two of them on the bench, patting it invitingly.

Umu didn't hesitate, sitting next to Rian on the side away from Mikon. Riz sighed, but sat down between the two as Umu deliberately ignored Lori and kissed Rian on the cheek. It was stiff, awkward, probably wetter than it needed to be, and Rian looked like he had to physically keep himself from wiping it off from how wet it was as Umu sat right up against him and began eating, blushing furiously. Riz looked like she was about to do the same, but hesitated, then reached up and patted Rian on the shoulder. "Good morning, Rian," she said. "When do you want to meet for that report?"

Rian looked surprised, glancing at the hand. "Um, probably after her Bindership finished with her 'customs inspection' so I can get the things people asked for to them."

"Do you want me to help you with that?" Riz offered.

Umu's head snapped up. "I'll help you with that Rian!"

Lori, Mikon and Riz mouthed the words along with Umu, the other weaver looking fondly amused as Lori and Riz both rolled their eyes.

Lori was ready to mouth 'You don't have to do that' along with Rian, but to her surprise her lord hesitated. "If you want…" he said hesitantly. "Mikon, do you want to join us?"

Mikon made a show of thinking about it. "I believe I'll pass," she said. "I want to try weaving that fine filter cloth you asked about. But if I finish early, I'll go and find you all."

Rian blinked, while Umu looked around him and gave Mikon a suspicious look. Riz also stared at her. "Oh… that's… thank you."

Mikon smiled. "I might need a spin a finer thread for it, but for now I'll try with the yarn I already have. If it's only a small cloth, I shouldn't need much."

Rian hesitated. "Do… you need help with that?"

"If you want…" Mikon said with a coy smile as Lori shook her head and went back to eating. "Do you know how to spin thread?"

"Completely and absolutely ignorant," Rian said promptly.

"Ah. Well, I'm sure Umu and I can teach you everything you need to know…" Mikon said cheerfully. "Right, Umu."

"Yes…" Umu said, still looking at Mikon suspiciously.

Lori tried not to sigh. Well, she supposed it was a rest day, and she and Rian couldn't really talk about her demesne's issues before he was properly caught up by Riz…

Shaking her head, Lori focused on her meal, wondering what she'd find that was worth tak—er, imposing customs duties on…