Demesne 244 - Binder V Binder (Patreon)

On the day of the holiday, Lori woke up to the sound of a louder than usual din coming from outside of her room, immediately reminding her of the planned occasion. Sighing, she considered just staying in bed, imbuing bindings and expanding the demesne. It would keep her away from all her loud, annoying idiots and spare her poor ears from the noise that would probably be echoing across her Dungeon from having everyone holding a holiday in it.

Her stomach disabused her of that notion, however. Once she finished going down her list of bindings, Lori had a quick wash—reminding herself to change the bone filter in the water hub shed and find a way to keep slugs clear of the intake—put on some fresh clothes, and headed downstairs. It was louder in the dining hall, and even with a casual glance, it was clear many tables and benches had been moved aside to make a space. No one was dancing, and there were no terrible attempts at music yet, but Lori knew it was only a matter of time. Most of the tables already had game boards laid out on them, with people of all ages already playing.

Along the walls were little blocks of darkness, where she had anchored darkwisps and firewisps the night before. People had set up rocks and tripods around the blocks, placing wide pans and preparing grills made of peeled branches over them. A few were glancing towards her and back at the blocks, some putting their hands close but not quite into the bindings of darkwisps. She wouldn't have put it past a few to actually put their hands inside despite what she had told Rian to tell them, though. Some of the tables and benches near them had what looked like wooden plates and bowls full of meat, many of which were still covered in frost from the cold room.

The smell of bread in the air was tinged with sweetness, making Lori's mouth water at the thought of honey bread as she sat down on a bench that had been placed near the stairway up to her room. She sighed in relief as she leaned back on the wall behind her, letting her put her weight on it and slouch a little. Eyes closed, she just enjoyed the feeling of being able to lean back on something while sitting.

The bench she was sitting on shifted, and there was a dull thud as something was set down to her left. Opening her eyes, Lori saw Rian sitting down on the bench with her, a plate of honey bread between them, along with a cup of water. "Good morning, your Bindership," he said cheerfully, sliding the plate a little closer towards her.

Lori grunted, reaching for the honey bread. She closed her eyes again as she bit. Ah, warm, sweet, soft, sticky…

"That's all that the kitchen's preparing for breakfast, by the way," Rian said. "If you want to eat anything more, we kind of need heat for roasting…?"

"Yes, yes…" Lori said, waving a hand dismissively before bringing it to her mouth to lick the honey on her fingertips. "Tell them to get back from the bindings before I activate them. I'm going to assume there's no water or anything dropped into the binding that could explode."

Rian nodded and rose, stepping forward a little and raising his hands to call people's attention. "All right, everyone, get back from the black things her Bindership made. If anyone dropped something into them, now is a good time to say so before it explodes!" People backed away from the bindings as ordered, and if they had dropped in anything, they weren't saying so. The buzz in the air took on a tone of excitement and expectation as Rian looked at Lori and nodded. "They're all clear, your Bindership."

With a thought, Lori activated all the bindings she'd made and placed the night before, and she heard the exclamations as those closest to the bindings felt the heat wash over them. She'd done her best to replicate the heat of a cook fire with Rian's assistance, with firewisps emanating heat from within the darkwisps that marked the boundary of the binding. Most of the heat had been set to radiate upwards, towards any food that needed to be cooked, while a small amount of heat bloomed outward to inform people of the presence of the binding.

"All right!" Rian said loudly as it became obvious that the bindings had been activated and people began milling around them. "The very belated winter holiday has officially begun! I hope everyone enjoys themselves, and please remember that the lima tournament will be starting soon!"

There were some sporadic cheers at the announcement as Rian moved back towards her bench and sat back down with a relieved sigh.

"Lima tournament?" Lori asked as the first, rhythmic sounds that probably tried to be music began to rise.

"We have lima this morning, chatrang this afternoon, and pincer for the children at about midday," Rian said. "Prizes are hard, since we don't really have much of anything we can hand out as a treat, so unfortunately all the winners get today are bragging rights and the titles of 'winner of the winter holiday board game tournament' in their game. Hopefully next year we'll have something better. Maybe we could buy fruits from River's Fork in advance and make the winners a little fruit pastry next time. "

Lori grunted, reaching for another stick of honey bread.

"Fine, fine, I'll go and leave you alone," he said with a smile as he stood up. "Want me to get you some more honey bread? I'll be back later to bring you a plate of good cuts and tail meat once the meat is ready."

Lori took the last stick of honey bread and nudged the now-empty plate towards him.

"Right, more bread it is," Rian said, picking up the plate. He turned and seemed to vanish into the crowd.

She focused on eating the remaining bread slowly, trying to make it last as Lori savored the taste, the flavor, the sweetness and the feel of the bread in her mouth, but all too soon she was swallowing the last bite, and there was nothing but an aftertaste in her mouth and sticky fingers.

Lori was about to start licking her fingers again to get the taste and stickiness off of them when her bench creaked again. She glanced sideways to find Shanalorre had sat down on the bench with her, seated at her customary distance of a pace away. Lord whatever-his-name was some distance away on another bench, his gaze intent on the two of them.

"Good morning, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre greeted.

Lori nonchalantly lowered her fingers from her mouth. "Good morning, Binder Shanalorre," she answered as she picked up the cup of water and subtly dipped her fingers in, rubbing her fingertips together to get the stickiness off. "I apologize if the holiday isn't enjoyable just yet. We've only just begun to cook the meat."

"I accept your apology, and look forward to the meat," Shanalorre said. "I've quite enjoyed the food you've provided me during my visits to your demesne, and I'm sure your holiday fare will be no different." She paused a moment, before adding, "What do you usually do during these holidays?"

Lori shrugged. "Eat my fill of food. Sit around all day. Remind myself that I agreed to let people play music during the day to keep myself from making them stop. Wait for the day to end so I can go to sleep."

Shanalorre blinked. "That's… it?"

"That’s it," Lori confirmed.

"Don't you do anything to enjoy yourself?"

"That is what I do to enjoy myself." Was that not clear? "Was that not clear?"

Shanalorre gained a strange expression on her face. "But… why not go dancing? Singing? Spend time with your friends? Play games?"

Lori twitched with every mentioned suggestion, but she maintained her patience. "I do not find dancing or singing enjoyable. I have no friends, and even if I did, I would not find spending time with them enjoyable. As to playing games…" Lori looked around, then shrugged. "Those I would normally play chatrang or lima with are usually to occupied enjoying themselves during holidays." Mikon would most likely be busy flirting with Rian or Riz, and the brat would be off doing brat things. Rian… he'd probably be busy making sure things ran smoothly, and likely frustrating Mikon, Riz and Umu as he made flirting with him difficult.

"Oh. I see…" Binder Shanalorre trailed off. "Well, if you have no one to play with, I could play with you."

Lori glanced at her, then shrugged. "If that's what you want. I suppose we can play a game or two." She frowned at a realization, then looked around. "Where's your guide?"

"She's eating with her family right now," Shanalore said. "We will be meeting later, and she offered to show me what was fun to do during a holiday. Until then, I'm free to play with you."

"Ah. I see." Lori glanced at her for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I'll get my game board, then. Do you have a preferred game you wish to play?"

Shanalorre shook her head. "We can play whatever you want," she said.

When she went up to her room to get her game board, which had been lying on her table for weeks, Lori was very tempted to just get back in bed and sleep. After all, she had no work to do today, and sleep was the best form of rest, after all. Still, she picked up her game board and the box that contained all the game pieces, laying the second atop the first and carrying the board with both hands as she returned to the bench.

The board was big enough to rest between them on the bench. Lori sat with her back to the wall, her head turned as she started putting the chatrang pieces on the board. Shanalorre, in contrast, straddled the bench, her legs on either side of the plank as she leaned forward, her hands on her knees.

“Which side do you want to play?” Lori offered.

“Can I play white?” Shanalorre asked.

“Are you sure? If you play as black, you get the first turn.”

Shanalorre shook her head. “White, if you please.”

Lori shrugged. “Very well, then,” she said, reaching down to move one of her militia. “Your turn.”

Shanalorre picked up her Horotract and moved it over the line of militia in front of it. Ah. Well, at least she knew what the pieces did properly.

Lori hummed thoughtfully. “Where did you learn how to play?” she asked as she moved another militia to open a path for her Whisperer.

Shanalorre moved one of her militia as well. "I… learned from my mother," she said, her voice trailing off, as she stared blankly at nothing. The younger Binder twitched, and her left arm rose and slapped herself on the cheek. She blinked, then shook her head.

“Ah. I see.” Lori moved her Whisperer. “Do you play much?”

Shanalorre paused, then shook her head. “No. I simply know how to play. You will be my first opponent.”

Lori couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. Had Shanalorre simply watched her mother play? Lori herself had learned over a game when she had asked one of her mothers to teach her while they had been taking shelter during a dragon’s passing. It had been her first loss among many, a memory that made Lori twitch still, indistinct as it was from time and age.

When Rian returned, he was carrying another plate of honey bread, a pitcher of water, a cup and a wooden stool. Humming, he placed the stool down, then placed the plate, the pitcher and the cup on top of the seat. “The meat’s cooking, and the first batch should be done soon,” he said cheerfully. “Do you have a preferred cut, Great Binder?”

Shanalorre glanced towards him, then towards Lori. Lori waved her hand dismissively. “Something soft and tasty?” the younger Dungeon Binder asked. “Please?”

“Got it,” Rian said. “How about you, your Bindership? Need anything else?”

Lori waved her hand again, focusing on the game board as she tapped her Whisperer, then took one of Shanalorre's militia within the piece's range out of play…