Weekly Digest 54 - (#171 - #175) (Patreon)

Lori's Demesne In Winter

Lori was surprised at how day to day life seemed to remain largely the same, even when it finally started snowing.

Oh, there were changes. Their meals became more of a soup than a stew, becoming a bit more watery but warmer, and the addition of the salt was obvious. There also seemed to be a bit less meat and a bit more tubers, which wasn't an unpleasant change in Lori's opinion, and hers was the only opinion that mattered. She supposed it was in response to the cold, a more warming dish that was just as or even more filling than before, with their bowls now usually filled to the brim.

The children spent more time in the second level, helping with the spinning, tending the planter boxes full of tubers or playing games in the third level when they thought they could get away with it, despite them clearly being audible. The seels had also disappeared from the river, having migrated away as Rian had predicted, with the few that had remained being quickly caught, skinned, gutted and butchered into food. Smoke rose from all chimneys seemingly constantly, and all the houses now had shutters that were secured and shut, probably rendering them very dark…

Beyond that, however, people still worked as hard as ever. Lori had thought it was only people in the city who were up and about in winter because of all the sources of heating and the inexorable needs of finances and industry leading for year-round work, and that a small place like this in the middle of nowhere would be idle and lazy as people slept or played in the snow, waiting for winter to end. Apparently not. There was firewood to be gathered and cured, ropeweed to go in the retting tank and removed when they were done, latrines to be emptied out, soap to be made, the fields tended and patrolled to make sure the chokers didn't dig up the seed crop and eat them. She'd have thought that with the cold the chokers would… well, die or something. Surely beasts weren't meant to survive in this sort of weather? It was barely fit for humans! Supposedly the chokers would be less of a problem when enough snow had fallen that the little beasts wouldn't be able to dig through it to reach the planted seeds.

At least she assumed so, as Lori didn't really feel it. Even when it actually started to snow, indicating that the temperature was definitely cold enough to turn water into ice, all she felt was a moderate cool, as if it were a pleasant night. The only indicator of the cold for her was the cloud formed by her breath as the moisture in it condensed. But Rian said it was 'cold enough to keep the Coldholdfrom melting', while shuddering almost comically until the heat in her Dungeon finally managed to warm him, and as the one in charge of telling her how cold it was, he would know.

Lori received a lot of sideways looks from when she walked around to cure the wood in only her usual clothes, though she wore her raincoat to keep the snow off lest it melt and get her clothes wet, as well as her hat to keep the snow out of her hair. If anything, she found conditions to more irritatingly wet than cold. She left slush in her wake as snow she stepped on warmed, and if she stood still long enough she could find herself in a puddle of mud. It was extremely unpleasant, and the only way to counter it as actively controlling the firewisps around her to no impart heat inter her environment, which needed her concentration, or willing the firewisps to deactivate, which left her suddenly freezing. Lori got very good at moving quickly, stepping carefully, and only standing where there was solid footing.

She had more work to do. The smithing area needed to be enclosed, bindings of lightwisps placed so the smiths could see what they were doing, airwisps to circulate the air to keep it from being too hot or letting suffocating air linger, and the outflow of the furnace needed to be siphoned out and vented elsewhere. Lori ended up combining the outflow of the smith's furnace and the kitchen and venting it out through the small water reservoir in the water hub shed. She added more lightwisps to her Dungeon's entryway so it wouldn't be so dark, and bound firewisps to start warming the air passing through there so that it would be a comfortable temperature once it entered her Dungeon.

Lori also assisted the potter in firing an array of strange pots, which she later learned was for heating water inside people's homes. Now that it was winter, it seemed people wanted to drink their water warm, and they had apparently managed to find a weed that grew quickly enough that people had kept a small pot with on in their home for the purpose of adding the leaves to boiling water to make a sort of tea, as well as using other leaves they had found, gathered and dried over the warmer months. So far, no one seemed to have gotten sick, delirious, or poisoned from all this, and some had actually been mentioned in the almanac as being suitable for exactly that purpose, though Lori didn’t think that would last. Sooner or later someone was going to find a weird leaf…

What people were wearing also changed. First children, then some women who Lori had thought had simply gotten fat but in hindsight had probably been pregnant, began wearing what Lori assumed were the 'winter robes', long-sleeved, encompassing robes that were worm over regular clothes, and held closed in front with a belt, sash or ties of some sort, finally explaining where all the fabric she'd seen being woven for months had gone. They seemed padded with some sort of stuffing, mostly likely consisting of the down fibers and feathers from beasts that had been collected thus far, making the winter robes thicker and likely more insulating. The sleeves were sometimes wrapped closed by cord or cloths along the forearms, just below the elbow, though that seemed to be a matter of preference. Most walked with their hands folded in front of them, stuck into the opposite sleeve, especially the children. There were also hoods made from furs, or on occasion furry hats with flaps that came down the back and sides, and might as well have been hoods in practice.

Even Lori received such a winter robe, given to her by way of Rian… and notably after everyone else in the demesne was already wearing one, which was… annoying but logical. When she finally opened it up and examined it, she found it to be a largely square garment, as if someone had taken a large padded square, folded two of the edges together to meet in the middle, stitched along one end so it wouldn't fall off your shoulders, and added sleeves. There was a sash included, which was apparently meant to hold the shut. It was long enough to be comfortably used as a blanket, which was apparently exactly what it was used for at night. She had to admire the ingenuity of the garment, intended to keep one warm at all hours of the day. Together with her blanket, it made for a comfortably cozy cover, even if the firewisps around her rendered it largely irrelevant. Still, there was a difference between comfortably cool and comfortably warm, and with her winter robe and blanket, at night she was the latter.

Though she had to wonder how people kept warm while their winter robes were being washed… not that they seemed to be doing much laundry anymore, since the laundry area was always empty…

…

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"Umu," she said flatly, staring the blonde weaver straight in the eye over her bowl of soup, "answer me: are people doing their laundry in the bath house?"

Instead of being nervous, Umu just looked awkward. It might have had something to do with the fact that Rian had both arms wrapped around her waist and was pressing up against her back, which was an awkward pose when they were sitting next to each other, forcing Umu to lean forward slightly with her elbows on the table. While most people opened their winter robe or even took them off in the dungeon, Rian not only kept wearing his at all times, but often supplemented it with his blanket. "Uh, yes, your Bindership," she said, blushing.

Lori nodded. "And has it made the bath house more crowded, and harder to take a bath in?"

"Uh, a little," Umu admitted. On Rian's other side, Riz was partaking of her soup with great enjoyment, glad to finally be able to eat, as Rian had only just let go of her. For someone who had seemed so uncomfortable for weeks when the three had started becoming openly physically affectionate with him, he seemed to have shed all such inhibitions once he realized that such affection was very warm. Literally. "The laundry area is just… well, too cold to use right now, so we've all been washing clothes in the morning and just bathe at night, uh, your Bindership."

"How do you dry the clothes?" Lori asked intently.

Umu glanced over her shoulder at Rian, who simply had his eyes closed. Then, almost reluctantly, she looked towards her fellow weaver, looking at her pleadingly.

Mikon smiled at her, then reached out towards Rian and nudged. "Rian, your food is getting cold," she said. "Let Umu talk to her Bindership and eat so you can get to work."

"Awwww…" Rian sighed, but reluctantly let go of Umu. He looked at his bowl, then at his hands, and Lori literally saw the moment when he wondered whether he could stick his hands into his bowl…

"If you stick your hands in the bowl, you'll need to wash them." Evidently, Mikon had seen the same thing. "They'll just be cold again."

Rian sighed again. "So cold," he pouted, but began to eat, blowing on his spoon before swallowing, though soon he stopped with that, sipping the warm food straight.

Umu sighed in relief and sat up straight. She still looked embarrassed as she answered, "We hang them in front of the fireplace at home, your Bindership," she said. "Some we hang in front of the windows to block out the cold and the occasional draft when we're sleeping."

Lori considered that. "Not the second level?"

Umu shook her head. "Too windy, your Bindership. While it's warm now, if we put up washing lines, it would block the air and clothes would likely fall off, so we'd need to wash them again, and the wetness on the clothes will cool the breeze."

Lori sighed and made a note to enclose and heat the laundry area. Or at least enclose it and leave people to handle the heating themselves. "Noted, Umu. Rian, why didn't you bring this to my attention?"

Rian gulped down his current mouthful of soup. "Because I'm not a woman and didn't know?" he said. "I've never seen anyone doing laundry in the men's bath beyond a stained shirt, and usually only when it's a stubborn stain they know their wife will be annoyed about."

Lori pursed her lips, but nodded, accepting the reasoning. She glanced sideways at Riz, but dismissed her. While she assisted Rian, it wasn't in an official capacity that Lori recognized, and as she recalled the woman didn't have the sort of initiative to report such a thing. That glance shifted to Mikon, at the end of the line opposite her… but telling Lori such things wasn't the woman's job, was it?

There was something disconcerting about finding out something by herself when she should have reasonably have heard it from other sources first, only those sources had good reason not to inform her until she brought it up. Perhaps this was something that Rian would have found out later that day and informed her about?

"I'll see what I can do about making the laundry area usable again, given current conditions," Lori said, "though given those same conditions, it will probably still be necessary for the laundry to be dried in your homes. Rian, remind me when we—" Lori shuddered "—get back from River's Fork."

"Yes, your Bindership," Rian said. He had a towel over his shoulders, which he had wrapped around his neck and mouth in place of a scarf. To be fair, he wasn’t the only one who did that, and not just with towels. Lori actually felt sympathy for the person she'd seen with what was clearly a sock wrapped around their mouth.

Lori didn't want to leave her demesne. She very, very much didn't want to. In her demesne she controlled all the wisps, she had her awareness of them. Outside of her demesne, the only benefit she had from her connection with her Dungeon core was that it afforded her boundless magic without having to draw it in with her breath. Which… admittedly, was still a significantadvantage… but it wasn't an overwhelmingadvantage.

Still, she had no choice. Part of the deal with River's Fork was dividing the mined copper between them, and… well, River's Fork hardly had the resources to extract the metal from the ore. Not in any sensible timeframe, anyway. Trying to transport their share of the metal in the form the raw ore was nonviable, even with the Coldhold. So the ore needed to be smelted and refined, and one of the terms of her contract with Binder Shanalorre was that she would assist in doing so by providing the heat. It was either that or load the ore into the Coldhold, and not only would that be inefficient, they would also need to hope that the unrefined metal in the ore had been properly divided evenly.

True, Rian had asked some of the miners to keep track of how much ore had been extracted so they had their own count, but the numbers were inconsistent and often didn't agree, which Rian said probably owed to the miners being busy with… well, mining. Still, putting the miners' counts together gave them an average of seven thousand sengrains of raw ore. Which was… not inconsiderable, but not nearly as much as the total amount of metal they had collected in dragon scales. However, the miners were all certain that this was a rich vein, and with more men and better equipment far more could be extracted…

Lori sighed and focused on eat her breakfast, hoping this wouldn't take long but already not very confident. Hopefully she'd at least get some bread out of this.

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Traveling In Winter

"Aren't you going to put on your winter robe?" Rian asked as he put the carefully wrapped bundle of Lori's bed roll into the special cargo box in the hold of the Coldhold. The bedroll had been wrapped up and secured by a pair of cords that Umu and Mikon had hurriedly stitched to the bedroll itself at Rian's suggestion, 'to keep them from being misplaced when they're needed'. Since it was on the nominal underside of the bed roll, Lori had just shrugged and left them to it. The bedroll was followed by her blanket and her pillow.

Lori frowned at him. "Why?" she said, handing him the winter robe in question, which had been secured with the sash that came with it so it wouldn't get loose and unfold. She'd gotten used to using the garment as a second blanket, but beyond that…

Rian shrugged, sniffed, and disgustingly wiped the drip from his nose with the towel near his face and argh! "All right, as you please," he said, putting the winter robe on top of her bedroll in one of the cargo boxes. They were new, simple boxes whose corners were covered in blocks of bound ice that were inserted into recesses between the planks of the floor to keep them from sliding around that they were using as a test. After all, while glass was impervious to darkwisps, ice was not. Inside the boxes were Rian's own bedroll, blanket, pillow and a change of clothes, as well as the bedrolls of those accompanying them: one of the blacksmiths, three other people to help carry the hopefully to be refined metals that they would be bringing back, and the men who had become the regular crew of the Coldhold and took it down to the ocean to collect salt. Most of the hold was empty for exactly that purpose, save for a store of firewood that would be burned on the new, very carefully secured braziers to keep them warm, not that Lori needed it.

It was unlikely that Lori would actually need to stay overnight at River's Fork, but Rian had advised her to bring her sleeping equipment 'just in case'… and Rian readily admitted that 'just in case' was to avoid her taking his bedroll, pillow and blanket, which he had also packed 'just in case'. While Lori had learned that refined metal was left to cool overnight, possibly over several days if it was very hot, she had no desire to stay for that, which was why they were bringing people that they could leave behind to watch the metal so that River's Fork wouldn't be tempted to abscond or be creative with the recordkeeping of the metal.

"All right," Rian declared as straightened. "Food's on board, lots of space for cargo, we all have room to sleep, I've had what used to be the brig refurbished into a private room for you so you can have privacy, and the latrine seats have been cleaned. You'll need to put in a light yourself since there aren't any windows, though. We're ready to go. Are you sure you don't want to put on the winter robe?"

Lori waved dismissively. "I don't need it."

Rian shrugged. "All right then. Well, all the cargo's in. We can start the experiment now." He said it eagerly, and Lori had to wonder if he followed the Mysteries of Alknowledge. Rian never said it, but she wouldn't be surprised, and it would certainly explain why he was knowledgeable about so many disparate things.

Lori deactivated the bindings of lightwisps that supplemented the illumination in the space inside the Coldhold before she reached out to the small room at the front of the boat and bound the darkwisps that lingered there. They streamed out of the small space, darkening the hold as she carefully began to bind them around the boxes. It was trickier that it would have normally have been. The containers were made of wood, and treated to keep out water, so she had not earthwisps to bind the darkwisps to. So she had to bind the darkwisps to the blocks of water beneath to anchor them to the containers. After that, she covered the side of the containers and made the darkwisps close over the top, doing so for each container. When Lori was finished, each of the experimental containers had the appearance of a square of night-like, opaque blackness that were laid out in an orderly line along one wall.

"We'll have to remember to check it before we River Fork's demesne," Rian mused as Lori opened her mouth to allow darkwisps from within her lung emerge, combining them with each boxes binding so that she could imbue them once they were out of her demesne.

"Yes Rian," Lori said in withering tones as she applied the darkwisps and made sure they were fully imbued before she reactivated the lightwisps, raising the illumination back to reasonable levels. "As I was the one who formulated the parameters of the test, I remember this."

"I'm simply reminding myself, your Bindership," Rian said, switching to a cheerful tone. "After all, I wouldn't want to forget and have to do this experiment all over again. Best to do it all right the first time."

Well… she couldn't fault that kind of thinking. It kept them from wasting time, after all. "I can't fault your reasoning. Best not to waste time. Tell them we can begin to move."

"Yes, your Bindership!" Rian said, his cheerfulness seeming to change, becoming… well, morecheerful, somehow. "You heard her, everyone! Cottsy, get the driver ready! Multaw, get ready to back us out! Everyone else, sit down and hold on so you don't fall off!" Rian looked back towards Lori. "You might want to sit down in your room, your Bindership. All the swaying takes some getting used to, and you usually sit when we travel, right?"

Lori glanced towards the foremost room of the boat as Rian made his way up. While the original plan had been to demolish the walls after it was no longer needed to contain anyone, letting them expand the rest of the space in the hull of the boat, they'd never really gotten around to it. Doing so would have required them to remove the ice of the internal wall, then the carpenters would have needed to carefully remove the wooden beams. Rian had mentioned the men were using it to store their sleeping paraphernalia, food and supplies so that they'd be away from the salt, and that was probably the best use for it so they wouldn't have to rebuild the boat again. Now, however, it was her own personal room, in case they had to stay overnight in River's Fork for some reason. Lori hadn't suggested it, hadn't even thought of it until Rian had informed her so.

She recalled the cramped, crowded conditions of the boat she had taken to travel across the ocean, shuddered and entered headed for room, her staff beating a familiar rhythm on the floor panels and ice as she walked. Entering the little room, Lori looked around. On the wall opposite the door were three beds that folded into the wall, the middle one already folded down as a sort of bench. Lori sat down, making herself comfortable and she claimed and bound what few lightwisps were streaming in through the open door and imbued them, anchoring them to some ice between some planks to illuminate her new temporary quarters. It was very cramped, and was more an oversized closet than an actual bedroom. The beds ran down the whole width of the room, and with the bed down it seemed three fifths of the available floor space was occupied.

Really, it was all wonderfully comfortable and cozy. She felt sorry for Rian, needing to sleep crowded outside while the three prisoners had enjoyed such wonderful accommodations.

The movement of the boat changed. It was slightly disorienting, feeling the shifts in balance when her eyes told her she was standing perfectly still in a room where nothing moved, but she supposed she'd get used to it. Sighing, Lori set down her staff on the bench against the wall and lay down next to it, stretching out as she closed her eyes and began running through the bindings she had to maintain, checking her connections to all of them and imbuing them…

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Lori was in the middle of a light doze when her eyes suddenly snapped open and she let out a scream.

COLD! Cold, cold, cold, COLD… WHY WAS IT SO COLD?-!

She tried to get up, and nearly fell off the bed—bench, whatever!—as the boat swayed. Lori fumbled at the door, managing to turn the latch, wrenching it open—

Rian stood on the other side, holding her winter robe in his arms out to her. "This what you're looking for? I knew you forgot about how you'd be cold when you left the demesne."

Lori grabbed it from his hand, snapped it in the air to unfold it open, and hastily tried to get her arms through the sleeves.

"I'll go and tell Cottsy to put the driver in reverse so we go back into the demesne, shall I?" Rian said, sounding so cheerful Loi wanted to punch him in the face.

"Do it," she managed to growl out through gritted teeth as she finally managed to get an arm into one sleeve, only to nearly stumble and fall as she stepped on her own hem.

"Careful, those things are long!" Rian said, still annoyingly cheerful as he walked to the back of the boat.

When he finally came back, he found Lori holding the robe closed with her hands, only one arm through a sleave as the other one pulled at one of the robe's flaps from the inside, binding the firewisps at her fingers to very slowly, carefully warm those extremities without raising her temperature so high that she did herself an injury.

"When the ship gets back inside the demesne and you're feeling warm again," Rian said, "Do you want me to help you put that on properly? You need to use a sash to pull up the hem and double it up around your belly so it doesn't trail along the floor." He reached into the sash around his waist and drew out the sash in question.

"You… you…" Lori was barely able to articulate, never mind the thought she was trying to accuse him of. "You…!"

"Hey, I didtry to warn you to put on your winter robe," Rian said, shrugging. "You were the one who kept saying she didn't need to. I mean, I sort of suspected you might not be as warm outside of your demesne, but you were so insistent I figured you knew something I didn't."

Lori glared at him until she suddenly found herself 'moderately cool' instead of 'freezing from the very air around her' and let out a sigh of relief as her jaw stopped wanting to clench and fingers stopped wanting to be set on fire.

"Feeling better?" Rian said.

"Much," Lori said curtly, finally letting the flap of the robe got and letting it hang open. She knew the irritation at Rian was irrational but… well, it was irrational, but she didn't care. "Did you find that amusing, listening at my door and waiting for me to start freezing?" she ground out.

"At little," Rian admitted easily. "But don't worry, no one else did. Everyone else except Cottsy is outside around the brazier, and the driver makes so much noise I doubt Cottsy heard you. So your dignity is safe."

Very irritated. But… "Thank you," she muttered sullenly.

"No problem. What are lords for, if not to keep people away from you, tell you how cold it is, bring you food, make farms in your name…" Rian shrugged. "Now, raise your arms for a moment so I can get this on your shoulders properly, then I'm going to need you to hold the front so you can adjust the length… "

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River's Fork in Winter

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 premeditated 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. "Have you?"

"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.

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Punitive Measures

"Well?" Lori asked Rian later that day as she sat in her small room on the Coldhold, imbuing the light there as her lord leaned against the door frame. It was almost afternoon, and lunch sat in Lori's stomach.

"Well, on the one hand," Rian began, "They have records at least, with entries that at least seem regular and consistent, and counting all the entries and factoring for the productivity lost because of the dragon and the delay in our checking if they were still alive, all the days when the miners were working are accounted for. So they have a solid basis for saying they have between eleven and thirteen thousand sengrains."

"Why the discrepancy? Two thousand sengrains is a lot."

"That was counting the ore that had other rocks attached to it," Rian said. "Given how heavy rock is, two thousand sengrains worth of probable error is actually pretty easy to reach. As for why our numbers were so low, well, our men our miners, not accountants. Sometimes they forgot. It was nothing more than a possible minimum, anyway." He hesitated, then sighed. "On the otherhand… the daily counts is measured in full loads of a cart, and it doesn't seem to make any distinction about how full the cart is, or whether it's the same cart each time., so we couldn't really tell if the amount of raw ore they showed us corresponded properly to the amount they said they excavated, not short of measuring it all, since the piles aren't a specific weight or volume or anything. The best we could do is interview our miners, who said that the amount of ore in the piles has remained consistent."

For the first time, Rian actually looked frustrated. "So if they're cheating us and are hiding an amount of the ore somewhere else, it's not so much that our miners could notice. Given how much ore hasbeen excavated, that might amount to a cart or three, five at the most. That's still less than one in a hundred of the overall numbers they're claiming. They've probably lost about that much from ores falling off the cart in transit and getting kicked around or the whole life to the mine."

Lori nodded. "In your opinion, are we being cheated?"

Rian looked down, actually frowning in thought. "I'm inclined to say 'no', if only from how clumsy everything has been. I don't know if the ploy was all her idea, but I'm willing to bet she didn't know that the ore could be used to make dye when she originally made the agreement. I certainly didn't know the ore could be used for that until a few days ago, when I was asking the smiths which of them were willing to come with us to help supervise the refining and they brought it up. Given she's been straightforward with us before, there's a good chance she was convinced to try it like that, and she went along with it not realizing the consequences. If they had secreted any amount of ore, it would have been in their best interest to not bring any attention to any possible abnormalities and just get you to start smelting everything. Instead, Shana brings up the ore question. Technically, that wasn't them cheating us, it was simply not telling us how much more valuable the ore could be as a dye component than as a metal. They were still perfectly willing to abide by the ratio set by the agreement. They even implicitly offered to increase our share of the refined metal."

Lori frowned. "So you feel we should go forward with the refining."

"No." Lori blinked at Rian's blunt declaration. "Even if they might not be cheating us, they certainly tried, even if only by trying to be coy about wanting to keep some of their share of the ore in an unrefined state. It's a slippery slope from little games like that to secretly hiding substantial amounts of the ore so they get more than the share we agreed upon. It's a betrayal of trust, minor as it was."

"What trust?" Lori said. "They're another demesne. We don't trust them."

"We trusted them enough before to leave our people's lives in their hands, provide them with the water wheel ventilation fan, trade with them, supply them with ice, and essentially look the other way while they no doubt asked our miners to help in the post-dragon reconstruction and repairs," Rian said. "I know you knew about that, even if you didn't say anything."

She glared at him. "What does this have to do with anything?"

"I think someone might have come to the erroneous conclusion that just because we've trusted them before means we're idiots," Rian said. "That thing with the ore might be something they just thought to throw in at the last second in all innocence, or it might be them testing how far we can be pushed. While you obviously still trust them, either way we've reached the point we need to push back a little."

"I don't trust them," Lori insisted.

"Lori, we've stayed so late trying to confirm the amount of ore that we'll likely have to sleep over and you don't seem to be worrying they'll attack you in your sleep."

Lori blinked, then her eyes widened as she realized what Rian was saying. "Do you have any reason to suspect such a danger?"

"No, I don't, but shouldn't you have?"

Lori waved a dismissive hand. "If you think it's not a possibility, then there's no need to worry about it."

Rian, who'd been in the middle of saying something, blinked, his mouth hanging open. He looked at Lori strangely tilting his head sideways. Then he shook his head. "W-well, regardless, we need to show them our trust have limits, and I feel they've just pushed it. I suggest we force them to deal with the consequences of damaging that trust. It acts as a punitive measure to express your displeasure, while disincentivizing doing any action to damage that trust again in future."

Lori tilted her head slightly. "My displeasure, you say?"

"Well, it's not like you're pleased, right?"

"Are you suggesting I sink Binder Shanalorre into the ground?"

"No, of course not. Mostly because I think her people will kill us all, but partly because that can't be as easy for you outside your demesne. No, I'm suggesting doing something really unpleasant."

"Such as?" Lori asked.

Rian smiled, or at least showed his teeth. "We show her how much harder it is to do business with someone who doesn't trust you."

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Late that afternoon, Lori met with Shanalorre in the latter's office. The small space was surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, warm, and the windows were covered with what appeared to be oiled or waxed cloth, which let in some amount of light. Given the dome above and how much snow was on it, that amount wasn't much, and so the majority of the light was emanating from the binding on the end of Lori's staff, because while other people might have to tolerate the choice of darkness or flickering hot flame-light, she didn't have to.

"You wish to change our contract?" Shanalorre said.

"An addendum," Lori said, "in light of recent matters. Due to how much of the ore being removed for rendering to powder was not recorded, we are left uncertain with how much of the ore is, in fact, still left." She struggled to maintain the wide smile on her face. Honestly, how did Rian keep doing this for so long? It felt so strange on her face, and the muscles she needed to contort for it felt strange. "And while your records were thorough, your storage practices are sadly not of an equal standard. We cannot be certain, for example, of how much ore is in every freestanding pile. "

"The total amount of the ore is specified in our records."

"Unfortunately, due to your storage practices, that can't be confirmed," Lori said. "The amount in each pile is unspecified. Thus, we wish to extend the contract slightly, and ask you to continue to house, feed and warm our miners, as well as ourselves, as they go over each pile to measure how many carts of ore in total are present. Fortunately, today's total isn't in doubt. I'm sure it will take no time at all to have all the piles be measured to see how many carts of ore they contain to ensure that the total corresponds to the amount in your records." Lori could feel one of her cheeks starting to twitch as she forced herself to keep smiling.

"Could you not simply rely on the records we've kept?"

Ah, good. There was one of the cues that Rian said meant she could stop smiling. She did so, her face settling back to her usual tranquil expression. "We could… but that is currently not prudent. After all, you've recently acted duplicitously with regards to the ore. It would be best to independently confirm the amount of ore in question."

"You think we've stockpiled ore in secret," Shanalorre said flatly.

Shanalorre's lord and the two militia to either side of her stirred slightly, realizing along with their Binder what was being implicated. Standing next to her, Rian made an exaggerated show of relaxation in response, as did the other two men of theirs with him.

Lori ignored them, staying with the line of discussion Rian had suggested. "Not at all. However, we note that nowhere in your records is it mentioned exactly how much ore you… tested for viability."

"The amount was negligible."

"And I'm sure a thorough accounting of how much ore is in the piles will confirm that," Lori said. "Unless… there's some reason you don't want your records confirmed?"

For a moment, Shanalorre sat there silently. "And if I refuse to accommodate this… addendum?"

"Why would you wish to refuse such a perfectly reasonable request? Besides, this ensures a more exact division of the metal and ore."

"That does not explain why I should not refuse to accommodate this addendum," Shanalorre said.

"Ah, so you will have your own people perform the labor necessary properly account for the amount of ore in the piles? Well, I have no problem with that. I simply assumed you did not have the labor force necessary for it, since you needed to hire workers from our demesne to perform the mining."

"I do not see why such an accounting is necessary. We kept careful track, and the amount is in the records we showed you."

"Which cannot be verified," Lori said flatly. "Due to your storage practices. And so it becomes necessary to go over the ore once more to account for the amount present. Unless you were excessively zealous in your testing for the viability of converting the ore into dyes?"

For a long moment, they both stared at each other, the lord and militia on Shanalorre's side of the room looking tense, in stark contrast to Rian's relaxed pose. Truthfully, Lori could have done with Rian being a little tense himself. Her grip on her staff was tight, and the chunk of ice hiding inside the light at the end of her staff, surrounded by the illumination provided by the binding of lightwisps so as not to be seen, was ready to explode into steam.

Finally, Shanalorre said, "I will need time to consider your proposal."

"You have until tomorrow morning," Lori said. "At which point, we shall simply take our share of the ore and leave. Of course, without an exact accounting, we might find ourselves unknowingly excessive in our zeal to transfer what belongs to us onto our boat. But don't worry. I'm sure the discrepancy will be negligible."

"I find that doubtful."

"Oh? Do you have some sort of reason to doubt my word, when I say that the discrepancy will be negligible?" Lori said. "Have I recently tried to trick you in some capacity, to make this distrust warranted?"

Shanalorre did not reply.

"I shall leave you to your considerations, Binder Shanalorre," Lori said, rising smoothly from her seat. At least it wasn't a short stool this time. "Please have your answer ready by tomorrow morning. Good day to you."

Rian's solution was simple enough: make River's Fork literally pay for their breach of trust by forcing them to continue to provide housing for their miners, as well as Lori and her group, which essentially doubled the number of people to feed, as the miners sorted and measured the mined ore.

Since River's Fork's records had merely counted the number of carts of ore, the process of accounting was, essentially, having them stack the ore in the biggest cart River's Fork had—because, as Rian had pointed out, the records had also not specified which cart was used—to more or less count how many carts worth of ore had been stockpiled.

Such a task was unlikely to be finished in a single day, or even two, and while River's Fork likely had the grain reserves to continue feeding that many people, having to feed so many people for what was, essentially, an extended inventory with no direct benefit to the demesne would be punishing… as intended.

For while Lori might have been willing to accept such lax records from someone of who could be relied upon… Shanalorre's ploy that morning had cast doubt on that reliability. Thus, this punitive measure, which consumed both their time and their resources, and in the end would only grant them exactly what they had agreed to already. The general outline of her words had been planned by Rian to emphasize this, and while she was loathe to just repeat what she had been told, Lori had to admit that Rian was better than she at using words manipulate others, to emphasize that this was a direct response to what Shanalorre herself had acknowledged had been 'too much to hope for'. That the hope had not only failed, but had added piss to what had once been an impeccably clean reservoir.

Of course, if Shanalorre refused, then they would do as she had said: pack the ore into the Coldholdand leave. This would, of course, take multiple trips. But surely River's Fork could not deny them their due, after already denying them their reasonable request for a proper accounting…

At that point, both Rian and herself foresaw only violence in one form or another. Both had come to the conclusion that it would be a costly but assured victory. After all, they had more people, and they had Lori, whose magic would be far better disposed towards violence than Shanalorre's savantism. And Shana would know that.

As she left her counterpart's office, Lori hoped, very quietly and very strongly, that the other Dungeon Binder would take the logical course of action.

Having everything break out into violence would be so tiring, after all.

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An Accord

The following morning, after a breakfast of stew that tasted very salty, with the tubers being hard and almost underdone—eh, she had eaten worse—Lori met with Shanalorre, in her office once more. Unlike yesterday, when they had both had militia with them, this morning it was just them and their lords. Shana's lord, whatever his name was, looked stern and impassive next to the smaller Dungeon Binder as he watched Rian and Lori, while Rian stood at her back, leaning against the wall to keep her and the door in his view.

"I am willing to consider the addendum," Shanalorre said, "But I must request a reduction in numbers. If it is merely an accounting of the ore, then it isn't necessary to retain all of the miners. Half of the current number should be sufficient to the task, would it not?"

"While that would normally be the case," Lori said smoothly, "it is winter. Unlike mining, my people will be exposed to the elements. Thus, they will need to work in shifts to prevent sickness and injury from the cold. While half of the number of the miners currently present would be sufficient to the task, under these conditions it would be cruel to expect them to do so outdoors for the whole day. Shifts will be necessary. This will need to be done in a rush as it is, before truly heavy snowfall begins. Only after the accounting can we begin the smelting of the ore into refined metal that we can divide between ourselves."

Shanalorre frowned minutely. "What about the crew aboard the Coldhold? Surely some of them can return to Lorian Demesne, due to their presence being surplus to requirements?"

"Such as myself and my lord?" Lori said. "No, we will be staying to supervise the accounting to be sure it is performed correctly, and in order to prepare for the smelting. The Coldhold needs to stay as well, so that I have a place of rest, and all aboard it are essential to its operation."

The younger Dungeon Binder let out a small sigh. "I see…"

"Pardon me, Great Binder," Rian interrupted, "but are your concerns perhaps logistical? Does your demesne lack the supplies needed to feed a few more mouths for a few days more?"

Shanalorre tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment.

"As a matter of fact," Shanalorre's lord said, "our supplies are—"

"Stop."

The word was a firm, sudden command, and Lori's eyebrow rose as the older man stopped speaking immediately. "Our supplies," Shanalorre said, continuing the statement, "are more than sufficient to the task, as we have grain to spare. Though, in the interest of disclosure, we are running a bit low on salt. I'm afraid that with the coming of winter, most has been used in preserving food for a winter dragon, and the rest is being used for bread."

Lori glanced over her shoulder. "Rian?" she prompted.

"We have some salt on the Coldhold, your Bindership," Rian said with easy cheer. "I'm sure we can part with some for our beleaguered neighbors here."

"Arrange it, then," Lori said. She turned her gaze back to Shanalorre. "I'm sure you can have more salt when we make another journey to the ocean, once this matter has been dealt with and the Coldhold can go about its usual activities."

Shanalorre tilted her head and nodded. "Very well. Then I must ask that this accounting be done in reasonable haste. After all, should the cold grow in intensity, such a thing becomes less vital than being properly home."

"Of course, Binder Shanalorre," Lori said. "When has our work been anything but thorough?"

Another nod. "Then we have reached an accord. Lord Yllian, please pass and confirm the order. Our hardworking guests will be staying a little longer. Lunch will be ready for you and yours, Binder Lolilyuri. Should we both be available, shall we have a meal together?"

Lori tilted her head and nodded. "That would be acceptable, Binder Shanalorre. I shall look forward to it."

"Then our business is concluded. I will not delay you any longer."

Lori nodded again and rose, heading out the door, activating her bindings of firewisps as she did so. Rian followed after her. Bereft of firewisps bindings, he simply wrapped his towel around his face again, and Lori tried not to image the parts he had wiped his nose one being the same parts touching his mouth.

Outside, her volunteers—not proper militia, just big, strong men Rian had asked to accompany them—were standing with Shanalorre's two militia, the two groups standing in silence. Rian could probably tell what the mood was but she had no idea. Instead, she just walked past, Rian at her side between her and the militia as their two volunteers fell into step with him.

They'd gone some distance before Rian made a sound, a hum. It was one of those 'pay attention to me without me having to tell you to' sounds, pitched just low enough to sound like thoughtfulness, and Lori had to surpress a shudder as memories of pointed, leading questions from her mothers over dinner came to mind. "What?" she snapped.

"Yllian's not leaving the office yet," Rian said quietly.

"So?"

"Despite Shana giving him an order to pass and confirm that should really have him going somewhere else."

Lori blinked and finally deigned to look back. The two militiamen were standing in front of the repurposed house they had just left, looking straight back at them, but she ignored them. She couldn't see anything through the paper-covered windows, no dramatically cast moving shadows…

"I understand Shana not leaving yet, if she's tidying her desk so nothing gets lost, or putting out the brazier so it doesn’t burn the place down," Rian said quietly, "but Yllian should be going to convey her message, right?"

"Perhaps they are discussing us," Lori said dismissively.

Rian kept staring towards the office. "Awfully long discussion when he already has something he's supposed to be doing."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Then what do you think they're doing?"

"Arguing?" Rian suggested. "Maybe? A man that age can't be completely comfortable just taking orders from someone that young, Dungeon Binder or not."

Why not? "Why not?" Lori asked, disbelieving.

"His age making him think he knows better just because he's old?"

Hmm… yes, that would do it.

"Idiot. He should know better than to argue with his Dungeon Binder," Lori said.

"He probably thinks Shana can't really do anything to him," Rian said. "It's like he's forgotten how petty and vicious children can be."

Lori shook her head. "Come. We have things to do. Get the miners organized while I prepare the heat and smelting vessels."

––––––––––––––––––

Apparently all the miners had been provided with heavy work coats and furs to wrap around their legs at some point. She supposed that given the lack of heating in the mine, only ventilation, such clothing had been necessary when it had started getting cold, even before the onset of proper winter. As Rian began to divide the miners into two groups—there were ten in this shift—Lori began to make bindings to warm the air in the work area.

She was annoyed to find herself slightly out of practice when it came to using her staff to form bindings, finding herself trying to default to reaching through her connection with her core to bind the wisps… only to be abruptly reminded this wasn't her demesne, which resulted in an internal screaming fit and reminding herself that she'd used a staff for years and knew how to use one, so USE IT.

Fortunately, it was firewisps she was binding, so she could have magic flow from any warm point of her body to align it to the wisps in question. What snow there was on the ground also worked to her advantage since she could anchor the binding of firewisps to waterwisps instead of earthwisps. That meant the magic could also flow from any point in her skin. Getting some firewisps was as simple as rubbing her hands together to create some through friction, even if she didn't already have some bound around her body to keep her hands, face and feet warm.

By the time Rian had managed to divide the miners into two groups, Lori had managed to get a binding that emanated warm running. She'd needed to use darkwisps to define its area instead of lightwisps—dealing lightwisps was always annoying given how close things had to be to one's eyes—to keep people from simply walking into the invisible binding and harming themselves, but an area of darkness in midair was usually disquieting enough that it probably worked better than lightwisps to discourage people from walking through it. Firewisps were not bonded to a material the way earthwisps, waterwisps and airwisps were, and just because she couldn't actively reach into someone's body to bind and imbue the wisps there did not mean those wisps couldn't be imbued or affected by other wisps. Walking through active and imbued firewisps was dangerous and potentially fatal, especially when it was generating heat well above her core body temperature.

People should probably know this already even if just from stories, but she had told Rian to mention it to people anyway, emphasizing the 'horribly death from your insides catching fire'—though not really, since the heat the firewisps were bound to generate was well below a body's ignition temperature—and to not walk through the hot darkness, or even touch it. She expected someone to at least try to stick their finger in though, and get horrible scalding that would perhaps discourage people from doing it again, but they had snow around them, and they still—admittedly tentatively—still had their agreement with Shanalore to provide healing if someone were so foolish.

Rian directed their miners to perform the rudimentary audit of the ore. The cart larger of the carts that had been used to transport the ore from the mine to the location they'd been stored was retrieved, and the miners used shovels to pile the cart with ore. Once it was full, as the miners reckoned such things, the cart was pushed a little under the dome to where Lori was and dumped onto the ground, accounted for and ready to be smelted.

Off to the side, a woman she vaguely remembered—some relation of Shanalorre's? The woman made Lori think of bread for some reason—was keeping track of the number of loads on River's Fork's behalf, just as Rian was doing for Lori. If the amount of carts of ore matched the record the demesne had kept, then wonderful! All was as it should be, and the demesne had learned a valuable lesson in properly attributing and measuring things in storage. If it exceeded it… well, then surely the original count was somehow wrong or inaccurate, and every had come upon an unexpected scalefall from which they could benefit.

If it was significantly below the amount recorded by the demesne…

Well, then surely they had been a touch overzealous in testing for viability, and the lack would be deducted from their share of the ore. After all, any inconsistency couldn't possibly be anyone's fault but their own. The miners had been busy working, trusting in their hosts to properly account for the ore, and Lori hadn't entered the demesne in months. Any discrepancy would clearly have their hosts at fault, since the accounting was being done with the demesne's own tools.

Rian had said that he believed that no such significant lack would exist, and that any discrepancy could be accounted for by some days having recorded carts as full when they were comparatively less as a convenience, but one aspect of the punitive measure was to make River's Fork worry that the ore would be found lacking. It was a frustrating social interaction that Lori was willing to have her lord handle the minutia of, even as she understood the broad flow diagram of it.

But that was all for later. Now that the heat sources had been placed to keep her miners—simply workers now, since they weren't mining anymore— her part was preparing to smelt the ore. Smelting wasn't a simple as providing heat until the metal melted into a liquid. As she had learned from one particularly talkative blacksmith during a job when she had been close to finishing her education, smelting ore sometimes also involved having the substance comprising the ore alchemically reacting with other substances so as to isolate the metal itself. Even though this still required an intensive amount of heat, certain kinds of ores also needed the correct additives for the ore to react properly, or at least efficiently.

It was a bother, since it meant she couldn't simply have an open vessel that they could just keep adding ore to at the top while the refined copper flowed out the bottom. Annoyingly, the almanac had been lacking in any information about smelting when she had looked it up, which made an annoying amount of sense. Most of the information in it either had to do with processing commonly available material resources, or ways to more easily survive while constructing a new settlement. Information about smelting, however, would provide an industrial advantage to everyone who had access to metals, which was NOT a commonly available material resource. The closest thing it had to helpful advice on the matter had been the section on quarrying advising using explosions to break up rock, and that was general advise useable for all rock.

The book was similarly bereft on information about papermaking, glassmaking, dye making, the refinement of vitriolic fluids, and other such subjects. It DID contain a page-long recipe and procedure for making soap, but once Lori had read that, she had to agree that the materials for it were hardly uncommon, and it was probably a survival necessity.

Fortunately, Lori had her experience, and she had a Rian to extract any pertinent information she didn't have from their blacksmiths, who had experience in smelting copper, even if more common to use metal stock. With those two, she had devised a method of smelting.

As the workers from her demesne made an accounting of the ore, Lori went down to the river, staff in hand, the case containing her syringe in her pocket.