Demesne 173 - River's Fork in Winter (Patreon)

Putting on the winter robe was of immense help in staying warm. Worn over her normal clothes and with her rain coat underneath as well, it was quite comfortable… save for the fact her face and hands were freezing. However, unlike other people, Lolilyuri was a Dungeon Binder! And more important, she was a Whisperer. Her soul could touch the world to alter it to her will beyond just the reach of her physical body! As such, she spent most of the trip from the border of her demesne to River's Fork making a binding of airwisps and firewisps to wrap around her head and extremities to regulate her temperature, so that said physical body would stop shivering and being very inconvenient to be in.

By the time they arrived at their destination—far sooner than she remembered the trip taking previously—Lori felt suitably warm. True, the way the winter robe wrapped around her legs was a bit limiting, but if she tried to force it the robe would part open and let in the cold, so she had to walk with measured, dignified steps.

At least some good had already come of this trip. When they had checked the cargo boxes just before entering River's Fork's demesne, Lori pulling the darkwisps aside so they could see, they had found the contents of the boxes had lacked the light dusting of Iridescence that had been present on everything else on the boat.

"Well, that's something," Rian said, looking into the box, then at the sleeve of his robe. The Iridescence on the garment was far less than there would usually be since cold had an effect of retarding the crystallization of the colors, but it was still present. Even Lori's own clothes, skin and hair had a light dusting, and she could feel it slightly degrading the binding of warmth she had made around herself, but the objects inside the cargo box had none at all. "This will certainly expand the range of things we can buy, since we won't have to glass-box any of it. We'd be able to buy paper so that people can cover their windows next year without blocking out all light from getting into their houses."

Lori blinked. "What?" Did she hear that correctly? "Did I hear that correctly? You want to use paper to cover windows?"

Rian shrugged. "It's not my idea, it's how people who are too poor for glass cover their windows so they can block out drafts but still let in light. Pretty sensible actually. Lightweight, decent illumination, easy to replace, and if properly made and waxed getting a little wet isn't really a problem. Right now a lot of houses are dark because they can't open their windows to let in light, and unlike me, they don't have a glowing rock. People who need light to work or play board games go to the Dungeon, since it's warmer than the old dining hall."

She tilted her head, then shrugged. "Well, if it works, it works," she said. Lori had gone back to the small room to imbue her bindings some more before as the Coldholdcrossed the border into the other demesne.

River's Fork looked different as Lori held on to one of the wooden columns holding up the boat's roof deck, her other hand holding her staff securely so she wouldn't drop it. The overhanging dome of living wood was covered in white snow, and it looked like much of its leaves had fallen off. Beneath the dome, the streets and wooden houses that had been shaped by Deadspeaking looked dark and shadowed, and she saw more than one flickering light that might have been bonfires or braziers. Beyond the dome, the areas that Lori remembered contained the demesne's agricultural fields were flat and covered in snow. There were few people walking, and the few who were out seemed to be chopping wood.

Only a small group of people were waiting for them at River's Fork's dock. There were five who were probably of the demesne's militia, all wearing thick, heavy leather coats that Lori instantly coveted, with thick hats that covered their ears and scarves over their mouths. It was practically a uniform, despite the lack of colors or insignia. In their midst was the small figure of Binder Shanalorre, who looked absolutely swaddled. What looked like furs secured by cords were wrapped around her boots, she was wearing thick mittens secured by more cords that made Lori absolutely envious, a leather mantle that had fur peeking from the hems wrapped around her shoulders, and a long and surprisingly colorful scarf was wrapped around her neck, the end trailing down her chest. On her head was a large furry hat, the flaps so large they rested on her shoulders, too long to tie under her chin.

Lori felt Rian's hand on her shoulder, heard his voice speak gently into her ear. "The hat and scarf look too big to have been made for her, so they probably belonged to her parents. I wouldn't draw any attention to them if I were you. It might be a… sensitive subject."

She glanced sideways at her lord, wondering why he had decided that was something relevant to this. "Why is this relevant?" she said, keeping her voice low as well.

"Because you might bring it up, and I thought it would be a really bad idea if you did," Rian said. "Don't remind the child her parents are dead by pointing them out, all right?"

"She is literally wearing the very things on her person, I think she already knows."

"Look, just… trust me, all right? Just be aware of what they might be and don't allude to them in any way, shape or form, and even if she brings them up, just say they seem warm. As your official 'lord for talking to people', that's my considered advice, and if you decide to ignore it, don't say I didn't warn you."

Lori rolled her eyes. This was almost exactly like having her mothers with her as they forced her to attend some neighbor's funeral. Really, she hadn't even known the man, why had she needed to go with them just to see the vial containing the ashes of his heart? She hadn't even been allowed to bring one of her books with her…

The Coldholdslid into place alongside the pier, and Lori waited patiently for the boatmen to tie ropes and things, and for Rian to stop holding on to the back of her robe, before she stepped onto the little wooden bridge that connected the boat to one of its outriggers, from which she could step onto the pier. For a moment she looked down, regarding the young girl who was Dungeon Binder of this place at a mere… what? She could be anywhere from eight to thirteen for all Lori knew. And that didn't matter, did it?

"Dungeon Binder Shanalorre," she greeted.

The other Dungeon Binder, who had been looking up at her and probably thinking her own considering thought in turn, inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement. "Dungeon Binder Lolilyuri." Barring the accent, her name was barely mutilated at all.

"As per our standing agreement, I am here to refine and collect our share of all metals extracted from the mine," Lori said. "Forty-five parts out of a hundred. I would hear from you the estimate of how much material was extracted."

Binder Shanalorre was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Of course. I anticipated that you would wish to immediately proceed to the extraction process and have had an area prepared, with the ores stored nearby. Shall we, then?" The shorter Binder gestured and began walking. "We can speak of other matters on the way."

"What matters do you have in mind?" Lori asked, her longer legs allowing her to quickly catch up as Rian fell into step beside her and the other men with them fell in behind him as Shanalorre's own militia fell in behind her lord.

"After some consideration, we have decided that we will not have some of the raw ore refined," Binder Shanalorre said.

"Oh?" Lori said. "This would throw off the division calculations, will it not?"

"We are willing to use the raw weight of the ore in our share of the division to be calculated," Binder Shanalorre said. "I point out that such a conversion favors you, as you will be recipient of a greater weight of refined metal."

Ah. Well, that was certainly a reason for her to agree to it, wasn't it? Lori was just about to nod to this she felt a sudden impact to her left forearm. Her head snapped around to find Rian looking at her, and he quickly and sharply jerked his head in the negative. What…?

"What is it, Rian?" she demanded. This had better be good, interrupting a conversation between two Binders.

Rian looked like he wanted to sigh, but instead he leaned towards her and, whispering awkwardly because they were still walking, said, "Blue copper ore is used as a basis for blue dye. Green copper can be used for dye as well. Refined copper can't be used for either."

For a few moments, Lori just kept walking, staring straight ahead. Slowly, she turned to look down at the other Dungeon Binder, whose face remained… impassive.

"I would be amenable to not refining some of the raw ore," Lori said flatly, "provided we received an amount of the ore in question in proportion to our agreed upon division of materials."

Binder Shanalorre considered. "Very well. I suppose it was too much to hope for. Division will proceed unaltered."

Lori kept glaring at the smaller binder, annoyed at how she had almost agreed to the change. While she didn't know the exact value of dye, or if her demesne had the resources to produce dye, she didremember how much blue and green ink cost, back when she had to buy writing supplies for school submissions. She had never bought it because why, but the shock of seeing the price and how far more it cost compared to black ink was something she remembered.

"In future," Lori finally said, "any changes to an established contract is usually proposed and discussed well in advance, to give both parties the opportunity to analyze the costs and benefits of doing so. I will excuse this oversight for now, due to your relative inexperience with such matters. Should you have any similar changes to be made to future contracts, inform Rian and I will consider it at my leisure. Of course, the inverse is also true, but I have been satisfied with our contract until now. If you had not been, you should have said so."

"Noted, Binder Lolilyuri," Binder Shanalorre said.

The rest of the walk proceeded in relative silence, save for Rian's occasional sniff. A path had been kicked open for them leading to the dome, and while it was darker underneath the dome, there was also less snow. The crossed the covered space, walking at the edges to avoid the homes clustered together with seemingly no sensible order of streets, and Lori soon found herself at the other side of the settlement, near the side of the hill where the mine lay. She could see activity there, could see the water wheel still turning. The miners shift would be ending tomorrow, but it looked like they were still working hard despite the cold.

On the side of the hill was… well, piles of rocks. The only thing to distinguish them was that they were in shades of green and blue, though the former was more plentiful than the latter.

"These are the ores?" Lori said. Well, the colorful material certainly seemed like something that would be used to make dyes. They looked like they would stain. "How much raw ore is there?"

"An exact measurement wasn't possible due to lack of proper measuring equipment," Binder Shanalorre said, "but we estimate that we have four thousand sengrains of blue copper ore and somewhere between seven to nine thousand sengrains of green copper ore."

That was… significantly above their miners' estimates. Lori glanced at Rian, who shrugged.

"Better higher then lower, I suppose?" he said. He turned towards the man beside him, who Lori recognized as one of the blacksmiths. "Lanwei? What do you think?"

The blacksmith examined the piles. "Seems about right, Lord Rian. They've probably already powdered some of the blue copper, though."

Lori glanced down at Shanalorre. "Was it?"

"An amount of ore was ground down to powder to test its viability," Binder Shanalorre admitted. "And I cannot speak of how many rocks the children chose to keep for their interesting appearance. However, if you wish, we have been keeping a record of the daily output of the mine. The standard measurement is how many carts worth of stone where transported to the piles."

Lori nodded. "Please show me those records. Rian, retrieve the cart in question and begin loading it to simulate the accepted measure of one cart's worth of stone so we can get some idea of the standard of measurement. With your permission, of course, Binder Shanalorre?"

The smaller Dungeon Binder inclined her head slightly. "Of course, Binder Lolilyuri. I am sure you will find everything in order."

Lori wasn't, but then, that was why you always checked the product before buying it, didn't you? There was no getting around the fact their miner's estimates had been far lower than the number they were being told, but perhaps the miners had been inconsistent in their measurement. Or maybe they simply couldn't count. That seemed a distinct possibility.