Weekly Digest 80- (#245 - #247) (Patreon)

Holiday Excitement

Shanalorre, Lori found, played very conservatively. She kept her pieces close to her core and mostly used them to keep Lori's own forces at bay, and deny her Horotract the ability to move freely. She was also very adverse to risk, opting to withdraw pieces that were threatened instead of attacking, and only attacking when there was no way for Lori to immediately retaliate.

Lori was far more forward, and would relentlessly chip away at targets of opportunity among Shanalorre's militia, forcing the other Binder o expend a turn using her Deadspeaker or her Dungeon Binder to bring the piece back. They weren't playing under official tournament rules, so there was no limit on how many times the militia could be brought back, but Lori was fairly certain this was the first game she had ever played where someone had brought their militia back more than ten times.

Occasionally, however, Shanalorre would move to take one of her pieces, forcing Lori to back off or otherwise temper her aggression. This led to a relatively slow game, as Shanalorre took her time considering what move she could make with the least risk to her pieces, while Lori had to consider how she could keep chipping away at Shanalorre's defenses. It wasn't exactly a boring game, but the much slower pace compared to her games with Mikon—she really should start bringing her board down to dinner again—gave her mind time to wander.

Still, there was no need to rush. Nothing urgent was going on, after all.

Every so often, Rian would come by to bring them more water, honey bread, or freshly roasted meat while looking increasingly sweaty. Given that Lori saw him awkwardly dancing with Umu, Mikon or Riz…or more likely, from the way they'd occasionally stop, move aside, and the woman in question would demonstrate something, learning to dance. He seemed enthusiastic, if nothing else, and clearly getting better as time passed. His movements were smoother, in any case.

"Binder Lolilyuri?" Shanalorre asked quietly.

Lori looked up from the board. "Yes, Binder Shanalorre?"

"I wish to thank you for continuing to accommodate us, despite our lack of contribution to your demesne," Shanalorre said as she reached out and moved one of her lords, occupying a space that Lori's Horotract could have moved to, though she hadn't been considering doing so. "We have stayed far in excess of our intended duration."

Lori waved a hand dismissively. "The fault is ours. After all, it's not as if you have the capability to return yourselves to your demesne. Your continuing to be here is because we are currently incapable of fulfilling our part of our agreement to return you safely to your demesne." Lori shrugged. "Besides, having your people spending their time in our baths is hardly a strain on our resources."

"Yes, that is quite clear," the younger Dungeon Binder quietly. "Your demesne is quite prosperous."

"Thank you," Lori said, accepting the compliment as she reached out and moved her Dungeon Binder, moving it like a Horotract position it to take Shanalorre's Mentalist on her next turn.

"What would we need to do to share in that prosperity?"

Lori raised an eyebrow. "I do not see how you could. It is our prosperity, after all. I have no intention of sharing."

"And if our demesne became subservient to you? Could we do so then? "

"I am not going to kill you, Binder Shanalorre. If I intended to, I would have done so well before now."

"I do not doubt it, Binder Lolilyuri."

"So you need not fear my taking your life, core and demesne any time soon."

For a moment, Shanalorre's gaze rose up, a strange expression on her face. For some reason, she sighed. "And if I were to give my demesne to you to rule over as your own? If I surrendered my demesne to you and all my authority over it, and swore to become one of your subjects?"

…

What?

"What?" Lori said, staring at the other Dungeon Binder.

"Was my wording unclear?" Shanalorre said.

"Quite possibly," Lori said. "I'm sorry, I must not have been paying enough attention and misunderstood. Could you please repeat you words?"

Shanalorre nodded gravely. "What if I were to give my demesne to you to rule over as your own? What if I surrendered my demesne to you and all my authority over it, and swore to become one of your subjects?"

…

"You're lying," Lori said, even as she stared. "Or making some joke I don't understand."

"I am doing neither. I am asking if my demesne could share in your prosperity if I surrender control of it to you, and surrendered myself to become one of your subjects."

…

"Why would you do such a thing?" Lori asked. It made no sense. It wasn't something a Dungeon Binder did. No one just surrendered their demesne without a fight, not when it meant death so that their conqueror could claim their core and subordinate it.

"You said I need not fear my life being taken from me, and you have shown that you are a woman of your word" Shanalorre said calmly. "And so I surrender myself to you, and hereby place myself and my demesne under your authority."

…

This was a 'talking to people' matter, wasn't it? Why was she dealing with this by herself?

In a daze, she claimed and bound airwisps. "Rian!" she called out as she rose to her feet, her voice echoing across the first level of her Dungeon as the binding increased the volume of her voice to cut through the noise and sounds people were making. "Get over here!"

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Rian, to his credit, came running to her side, or at least moved as quickly as he could through all the people between them. He wasn't able to beat Lord whatever-his-name-was though, since the other man had been nearby keeping watch over his Dungeon Binder. Lori ignored him as he loomed behind his Dungeon Binder, waiting for her own lord to finally arrive. He did so by skidding across the stone floor, and had to slow down by catching himself on the wall behind her.

"All right, I'm here," he said, covered in sweat and sounding like he was fighting the urge to cough. "What's the matter? Are you hurt?" He glanced at Shanalorre and whatever-his-name-was, scanning over the other Dungeon Binder as if looking for injuries.

Lori faced Shanalorre, resisting the urge to put more space between them. "Repeat—" she began, and winced at the loudness of the word. Ah, right. She dissolved the binding or airwisps before repeating herself. "Repeat what you just said."

Shanalorre's face was smooth, almost serene as she said, "I surrender myself to Dungeon Binder Lolilyuri, and hereby place myself and my demesne under her authority."

Had this been a story, all noise would have stopped. Everyone would have ceased dancing and turned to bear witness, turning a scene of frivolous merriment into one of quiet import. Nothing of the sort happened, because only those closest to them could hear the words Shanalorre said, but those who did paused and turned to stare, even as those trying to make music hesitantly began playing again after cutting off abruptly from her summons.

Rian stared at the smaller Dungeon Binder, who was still seated straddling the bench. "Huh," he said, as if that was all the reply he was capable of. He turned towards Lori. "And you needed me here because…?"

Lori waved in Shanalorre's general direction. "Deal with this!"

He was silent for a moment as the people around them whispered and murmured and quite audibly began telling each other what had previously transpired. Distantly, she heard the attempts at music cease. Rian looked up at the ceiling for some reason, before sighing. "All right, all right, fine. Your Bindership, look at Binder Shanalorre and repeat after me: 'Why are you doing this?'."

Lori stared at him for a moment. He stared right back with a blank, if sweaty, expression on his face.

Eventually, Lori turned back towards Shanalorre. "Why are you doing this?" she said.

"Because I need to save the people of my demesne," Shanalorre said calmly. She stood, awkwardly swinging her leg over the bench so that she could get on her feet properly as she continued. "When we first settled the demesne, we were able to grow several accelerated harvests of vigas. Even at the time, the intention was for that amount to feed the full population of the demesne for only four pale months at the most, supplemented by the accelerated fruits. During this time, the demesne was intending to establish its infrastructure, including greatly expanded vigas fields and fruit orchards, without having to worry about growing food. Because of the dragon, this expansion did not occur.

"Due to the greatly reduced population of the demesne, we have been able to subsist on those initial harvests, supplemented by hunting and the fruits that continue to be accelerated. However, it will not last. We only managed one harvest before winter began, at which point our supply of fruits and meats ceased, and our reserves grain reserves began dwindling. Unless we secure alternative sources of food, we will not survive to harvest later in the year, especially since my aunt sent that the division caused by my absence has led to delays in the spring planting.

"We need the assistance of Lorian Demesne if we are to continue to live. And so I surrender and place my demesne under your authority and rule. River's Fork is yours. I give you our mine, what little tools and resources we have that you do not. I give you myself, and all that I am capable of, as one of your subjects. I swear to obey you as my Dungeon Binder. In return, all I ask is that you treat the people in my demesne as you have treated your own."

Facing Lori, Shanalorre knelt, her head bowed deeply.

Lori stared at her. They were managing to maintain the accelerated growth of their fruits?

"Huh…" she heard Rian say next to her. "And you, Yllian? You're awfully quiet right now."

The lord's lips pressed together, his face otherwise blank as he looked down at the kneeling form of his Dungeon Binder. Then he stepped forward and knelt down as well. "I… agree with the Great Binder in this," he said, and his voice was of a tired man. "While it might be possible to survive until the harvest with care and rationing, our current circumstances make that difficult to enforce. And that is not taking into consideration the coming of storms and dragons. We beg you, your Bindership. Rule us."

People began to mutter. They sounded excited.

"Well… so there, I guess…" Rian said. He glanced towards Lori. "You're heard them, your Bindership. What do you say?"

Lori took a deep breath, then another and another, until she was breathing in a steady, familiar rhythm to calm herself down. "No."

The muttering all stopped. Lord whatever-his-name-was's head snapped up to stare at her. Next to him, Shanalorre let out an exhalation.

"Wait, 'no'? What do you mean, 'no'?" Rian sounded the most shocked he'd ever heard her.

"No," she repeated, stepping back from Shanalorre, then doing so again, until she judged she was out of the range of any sudden lunges from the smaller Dungeon Binder. "I will not be fooled. This is clearly some kind of trick. No Dungeon Binder would simply subordinate themselves to another!"

"I never wanted to be a Dungeon Binder," Shanalorre said, head still bowed. "I do not wish to usurp your position, Binder Lolilyuri. You are safe from me, I swear."

"Of course you'd say that," Lori snapped. "No one would actually admit to wanting to usurp the Dungeon Binder! That's exactly what someone who wanted to usurp me would say!"

For some reason, Rian had both hands over his face and was groaning.

"I believed you when you said I did not need to fear you taking my life, Binder Lolilyuri. Why will you not do the same?"

"Then you're a fool," Lori snapped. "I could have been lying! Lying about not doing something is the easiest way to do it! Everyone knows that."

"Uh, your Bindership," Rian began, "maybe we should take a moment to calm down and—"

"Is that what you doubt?" Shanalorre said, rising to her feet and stepping towards Lori. "My sincerity? Is that all that stands between you and saving the people in my care?"

Lori took a step back as Shanalorre's hand reached towards her waist. The taller Dungeon Binder's eyes followed the movement, and they widen as the hand reached a belt knife that hung there. She hadn't noticed it at all during their game. Had Shanalorre been wearing it this whole time?

With a practice drawing movement, Shanalore held a naked blade in her hand. It was a small blade, barely the length of Lori's middle finger, but the point looked sharp and threatening and—

Raising her left arm, Shanalorre held the blade to her wrist. "If doubt my sincerity, then let us remove it from the negotiations," she said.

The blade cut and blood began to flow.

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Worth More Than Anything

As Lori stared in shock, people started yelling and moving.

Lord whatever-his-name-was, the closest to Shanalorre, moved first, knocking the belt knife out of her hands. The sound of it hitting the ground and bouncing under the bench they'd been sitting on was strangely loud to Lori's ears .

"Medics! Doctors!" Rian cried as he leapt towards the other Dungeon Binder, taking hold of her forearm. Already blood was trickling down, painting her skin dark, almost brownish red. "We need bandages, there's bleeding from the wrist! Does anyone have a cloth that's not sweaty?"

"Shana, heal yourself!" Lord whatever-his-name-was said, digging through his belt pouch and pulling out a small roll of bandages, followed by some cord.

"No," Shanalorre said, turning and somehow twisting her bleeding arm out of Rian's grip, leaving his hands slick with blood. She held that arm to her chest, griping it with the hand of her undamaged limb and crouching down as blood began to stain her clothes. Despite all this, her gaze was still intent on Lori. "I offer you a sign of my sincerity, Binder Lolilyuri. If you do not trust me, then you need not trust me. You need not break your word. Simply allow me to die as you've waited for, and claim my demesne."

"Stop being so dramatic," Rian snapped as he tried to regain hold of the bleeding arm, but Shanalorre kept twisting out of the way. "Someone grab her and make her stop moving! If all this agitation keeps up, she's going to bleed out even faster!"

People were start to crowd around them now as if trying to get a better look at the bleeding. Others recoiled, moving away and grabbing nearby children to pull them back. Shanalorre's blood was beginning to stain her shirt, the dark fluid creeping downwards as she surprised Rian with an aggressive and well-aimed punched to the face that had him recoiling in surprise and clutching at one eye. Lord whatever-his-name-was tried to take advantage by grabbing the outstretched limb, but she managed to parry him on the backswing, twisting out of his way and somehow moving closer towards Lori.

So much blood… how was there already so much blood? It had been only a few short moments, but already Shanalorre's arm was welt, and drops of blood were smearing across the floor, from Shanalorre trying to avoid the two men. Rian hand thrown himself bodily at Shanalorre, trying to tackle her while Lord whatever-his-name-was kept her hemmed in, but she somehow managed to avoid him, jumping over him as he slammed into the ground where she'd been. The younger lord let out a pained groan, then a cry of complaint as Lord whatever-his-name-was' foot struck him in the shoulder. In the struggle, the stool holding the now-empty plate of food fell over, the wooden cups bouncing and splashing water everywhere as the pitcher hit the ground and broke, sending more water everywhere.

It… it was convenient, really. Yes, this would perfectly deal with her objections to this suspicious proposal. After all, Shanalorre could not betray and usurp Lori if the other Dungeon Binder was dead. Hadn't she just been waiting for Shanalorre to die all this time? To the dragons, to the winter, to random chance? And here she was, bleeding to death. A death from cut wrists was far slower than opening the veins on the neck, but Rian was correct. All this movement and agitation, the quickened heartbeat that would result from it, was no doubt pumping more and more blood from the young girl's body, hastening her death.

All Lori had to do was sit back and wait. She simply had to sit back down onto the bench next to her and wait… not all that long. Perhaps a tenth of an hour or so. As long as the wound was not properly bandaged and treated—

Lori blinked as she realized someone was calling her name, and had been doing so repeatedly. "What?" she said distractedly, focusing on Rian. Shanalorre's arm looked painted, trickles of fresh blood keeping the color from darkening as it would normally have the way the blouse she was wearing was doing. So much blood…

"A little help here?-!" he cried as he was getting to his feet, his feet sliding a little on the wet floor and nearly falling over again. His teeth gritted and one hand rubbing at his shoulder, trying to quickly alleviate the pain. "Tell her to stand down and stop moving so we can treat her!"

Lori's mouth parted open in a tangle of instincts. Words chastising Rian for speaking to her in such a way tangled with the words to tell Shanalorre to stop and to stand down, words accepting her surrender, words telling Rian to not fall for whatever trickery this was to manipulate them, words telling him to leave her alone and deal with this…

Really, this was a simple choice. She could accept this suspiciously generous surrender of a still-living Dungeon Binder's demesne, ostensibly to save its residents because they were supposedly running out of food and wouldn't last to produce more on their own, and no doubt inevitably be betrayed. Or she could simply do nothing and simply waiting for Shanalorre to die of blood loss, succumbing to her wounds, and then taking the demesne's core, claiming power and authority over the territory in the traditional, established method.

Obviously, she would do the latter. It was the intelligent, sensible, rational thing to do. There would be no possibility of betrayal or usurpation, and she would not have to worry about any unexpected attacks from people in Shanalorre's employ if she was dead.

She would not be breaking her word. She would not be taking Shanalorre's life, simply letting it slip away. Indeed, she really had no power to prevent it. After all, despite her efforts and study, she still had no skill with Deadspeaking, and therefore no ability to heal, so really the only one with the ability to save Shanalorre was herse—

Lori's stream of thought stopped at that realization, as if slamming into a wall. And as with slamming into a wall, the force of her thoughts was redirected sideways at a reversed angle.

Shanalorre was capable of healing. Shanalorre was the only one capable of healing. Certainly, they had doctors and medics, but those there only, when you go down to it, specialized scholars with knowledge of how to tear the body open and put it back together. They couldn't actually heal, not the way a Deadspeaker could, simply put the piece back into place and wait for the body to heal itself.

And while Lori would have liked to say at as a Dungeon Binder, she was the only one they needed to perform healing… she was willing to admit that even up to now, Deadspeaking eluded her as surely as Horotracting and Mentalism. While her demesne could function without healing, and incident serious enough to needhealing would be have a small but undeniable impact on her demesne's productivity. The impact would increase drastically if the affected party was someone with an uncommon but highly useful skill, like the potter, the roper, Rian or… herself…

Shanalorre, as a healer, was an important resource. As a Dungeon Binder and a potential threat and danger to her, however…

But then, any wizard would always be a danger to her, wouldn't they? That's why she had given Rian orders not to recruit any wizards to join their demesne during the expedition to Covehold. Any of them would have had the ability and motivation to kill her and usurp her position as Dungeon Binder if they couldn't find a location that appealed to them for setting up their own demesne. Or even if they did find a location that appealed. After all, why have only one demesne when you can have two?

Shanalorre, however….

She was savant. She knew how to heal and only how to heal… and, admittedly, how to claim a dungeon's core. However, beyond that, she would know nothing. Not how to affect the life in Lori's body to make her ill, not how to cause growths to swell in her organs, or how to stop her heart from beating. On consideration, she would be the safest wizard in all the continent for Lori, as any danger to she posed would have to be through commanding her subordinates to do Lori harm… something Lori could mitigate with more subordinates or simply not coming out of her room…

Lori looked down, really looked down, into the eyes of the smaller Dungeon Binder who, even though her attempts to evade Rian, her own lord, and others who were beginning to become involved, would turn her gaze at Lori, awaiting some kind of response. Her movements were starting to slow, but whether from tiredness or blood loss, Lori wasn't sure.

She opened her mouth. "Tell me—" Lori began, then frowned as her words were swallowed up by the sounds of people yelling, of Rian and Lord whatever-his-name-was both trying to convince Shanalorre to stop moving so the bleeding in her wrist could be staunched and bandaged, of people trying to replicate Rian's attempt at bodily throwing themselves to catch the savant and instead replicating his crash onto the floor as she continued to evade them. Lori bound airwisps.

"All of you, enough!" she snapped, the deafening sound of her voice sweeping over everyone, her words just barely not blending together into unintelligibility. Rian and the others paused in mid-movement as they tried to surround Shanalorre, giving her the opportunity to duck under their arms and stand smoothly to face Lori, still cradling her bleeding arm to her chest protectively. Only Lord whatever-his-name-was still moved as he tried to get around the hesitant men and women and towards her Binder, only to trip on some blood on the floor, falling painfully on his face.

In the short lull that followed, Lori faced Shanalorre. Irrationally, she wished she had her staff in her hands. It would have been useless, but she wanted it anyway. "I believe you have sufficiently shown your willingness to die."

"Have you reconsidered your position, then?" Shanalorre said calmly even as her blood continued to flow, droplets falling from her elbow.

"That your death would be useless to me if I were unable to claim your demesne," Lori said. "If you are truly intend to die as a demonstration of your sincerity, then tell me: where is your core and how do I reach it?"

"That'swhat you're asking her?" Rian exclaimed incredulously.

Lori ignored him.

"The core is located under the central tree," Shanalorre said immediately. "The entrance is an opening among the roots underneath the stairs, currently buried by dirt and rocks to obscure the signs of an underground cavity. You can access it easily."

Lori stared at her for a moment. She stared back just as impassively.

"Fine. I will accept authority of you and your demesne under two conditions," Lori said.

"Which are?"

"First, confirmation that your core is, in fact, where you say it is."

Shanalorre nodded. "And the second condition?"

Lori pointed. "Heal yourself. Your value as a healing savant is worth more than anything else your demesne contains. You will live and be useful."

Shanalorre hesitated for a moment. Her arm was drooping, growing weak as she lost more and more blood. "Understood," she said eventually. "I will comply." There was a beat. "It is done."

"Finally!" Rian exclaimed, his face twisted in a pained expression.

"Show me," Lori ordered.

For a moment, Shanalorre looked around, and only then seemed to spot the spilled and broken pitcher, the pottery vessel lying on the ground next to the upturned stool. With solemn dignity, Shanalorre raised her wrist to her mouth and spat on it, then used her other hand to the fluid on the blood staining her limb. She presented her wrist to Lori, revealing smooth, unblemished skin surrounded with red-stained flesh.

Lori grunted, continuing to stare down at the Dungeon Binder. "You place yourself and your demesne under my authority?"

"Yes, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said. "All those who previously obeyed me, I shall order to now obey you, and only you, as their Dungeon Binder." A brief pause. "Those who did not obey me, I have no authority over."

… technically true and correct. Lori suddenly very strongly reminded that a portion of the current population of River's Fork had originally been from her demesne, and had left to no longer be under her authority. How problematic for them.

"Does this mean you're also going to help keep the people who live in River's Fork from starving now?" Rian said, sighing heavily as he sat down on the bench next to them. Lori noticed that the game board that had somehow managed to remain in place.

Ah, yes. There had been that condition, hadn't there? Authority in exchange for sustaining Shanalorre's subjects—those who had formerly been Shanalorre's subjects—through their oncoming difficulty. "The problem will be dealt with," Lori said. "However, we have more immediate matters." Lori turned to look at whatever-his-name-was and frowned. "Rian, what's his name?"

Rian sighed as he put a hand on his face for some reason. "Yllian, your Bindership. His name is Yllian."

Lori nodded, facing the man. Except for how his shoulders moved as be breathed in from his exertions, stains from the water and blood on his clothes and hands, the man looked calm and composed as he stood with his hands loose at his sides. His eyes, however, kept looking between Lori and Shanalorre. "Yllian," Lori said. "You heard Shanalorre. Do you obey?"

The man looked between her and Shanalorre one more time. Slowly, he bowed his head. "Yes, Great Binder," he said, voice flat.

"Excellent," Lori said. "From now on, you are assigned to guard and monitor Shanalorre at all times, with an emphasis on ensuring that blades of any sort are to be kept out of her reach. Is this understood?"

"Perfectly, Great Binder," he said, straightening.

"Make your own arrangements as to how she is to be monitored in the baths," she said. "Rian, see to it my new subjects here are moved to more permanent quarters at the shelter. As they are now under my authority and are therefore no longer guests, have their alcove put back in order and start assigning duties to the men who came with her."

"Uh… shouldn't that wait until we can get them back home to their families in River's Fork?" Rian said.

"No," Lori said. "Those who don't work don't eat. Tomorrow, they start earning their keep in the demesne." She looked down at Shanalorre. "Including you. No more all-day baths."

"I understand… Great Binder," Shanalorre said, bowing her head in submission.

Lori reminded herself it as hardly the best time to luxuriate in the feeling of having a Dungeon Binder bow down to her as a superior. No, not the time, not the time. "Shanalorre… you made this mess," she said, gesturing at the mix of blood and water staining the floor. "Clean it up. And gather the shards for repair." There were only a few pieces. While broken pottery was usually given to the potter to render down into material for future pottery, the pieces were large and whole enough she could easily fuse them back together with earthwisps.

"Yes, Great Binder," Shanalorre nodded, then paused, looking around uncertainly.

Lori ignored her, moving to sit at the end of the bench, which was just out of range of the mess of blood and spilled water. She leaned back, resting against the stone wall behind her, and waited for her heartbeat to calm down.

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The Horrified Light Of Realization

"You need an office," Rian said as Lori paced back and forth. "You know, a dedicated room for discussing matters about the demesne's well-being in private, maybe with chairs for both of us, shelves to put all the notes and records on, maybe speak with people in private in it, that sort of thing."

"I don't need an office," Lori said dismissively. Step, step, turn, step, step, step, step, turn, step, step—

"If you keep pacing like that, you'll wear out the soles of your boots, and we can't replace those."

Lori paused mid-step, but eventually remembered to put her foot down. She looked down at her boots. Agh, were those cracks? How long had it been since she had oiled her boots? No, no no no no… she had a spare pair, but she had only the one! What would she do if she needed new boots again?-!

She shook her head to clear it, and deliberately turned around to sit on the stool in front of Rian's table, taking care to take long, careful steps to minimize wear.

"So…" Rian said, tucking his feet under him as he sat on his bed. He was no longer wearing the bloodstained clothes from earlier that day, and had on a clean shirt and a pair of loose trousers of the sort that Lori usually saw worn by Mentalists, both on the theater stage and in day to day life. "You wanted to talk about something? Otherwise I was going to go to sleep.

"Lori grunted. "Do we have enough resources to sustain… however many more people there are in River's Fork?"

"We should," Rian said, "We're planning to expand our agricultural fields here, and once we harvest the winter vigas, we'll have refilled our stores. With some hunting, the fruits that their own demesne produces, as well as their own reserves, they should be able to last that long, even if food might be a little lean." He sighed. "Of course if it were as simple as tightening belts, Shana probably wouldn't be so desperate she was willing to kill herself to get your help."

She frowned. "How do you know that?"

"I spoke to Yllian and the other people with her when we were moving their stuff to the shelter, how else?" Rian said. "You of all people should know that the Binder doesn't necessarily know everything going on in her demesne. That's the lord's job."

Well, that was true. "What did you find out, then?" Lori asked.

"That you might be looking at civil unrest," Rian said, then frowned. "Wait, that's misleading. You're looking at uncivil unrest. The violent kind of incivility, where they don't know when to stop being uncivil."

"Rian, stop with the wordplay and get to the point."

Rian sighed. "Fine, fine. Right now, there are two kinds of people who live in River's Fork. The first kind are either members of the Golden Sweetwood Company and their families who think the place can be revived when the company sends more people and resources, Shana's family, or friends of her family who feel that she needs their assistance. The second kind are people who originally lived in our demesne and managed to survive traveling to River's Fork when they, for one reason or another, decided they didn't want to live here anymore."

At the other end of the bed, Riz snorted. "Civilians," she said, her tone heavily derogatory. She, Umu, and Mikon were all sitting near the head of the bed, and only the latter looked comfortable.

"Everyone in this room but you is a civilian, Riz," Rian said, and the woman reddened at the realization. "But if you change the word, I'd agree." He sighed. "So, I'm not sure if you noticed, but despite their size compared to us, River's Fork doesn't do centralized communal meals. Shanalorre tried implementing it, but many people kept cooking at home, so people stopped attending. Because of this, they continued using a system of rationing where a central quartermaster gave people a rationed weekly amount of raw ingredients, originally instituted back when the demesne was first founded and were capable of growing more resources. Now, however, it's resulted in hoarding, and Shanalorre was unable to curb people getting more than their share of the supplies."

Lori frowned. "Wait… so this is all because people have been hoarding supplies?"

"Partially," Rian sighed again. "From the impression I've gotten, some people have also not been sticking to the rationing, using up the supply they were given early and demanding more, which they were given to help sustain them until the next time they were supposed to be supplied. However, this led to people complaining about other getting more than everyone else. The first time, Shanalorre issued the same amount to everyone else as additional supplies, but it happened again and kept happening because some people figured out that if they claimed they'd used up all their rations, they'd be given more. This resulted in them going through reserves faster than expected, which led to people hoarding food while at the same time demanding larger rations because they were afraid the supply would be depleted faster from people demanding larger rations—"

"I understand the circular illogic," Lori groaned, rubbing her head.

Rian nodded. "When Shana tried to instill discipline by refusing repeat offenders, it resulted in them trying to obtain food from other people, which if they'd been following the rationing meant they didn't have enough food, which just meant who needed to ask for food was getting passed around. So little irregularities like that kept perpetuating itself over the winter, since people assumed that they had enough supplies to sustain the behavior."

"Didn't you just say that people were demanding more rations because they thought the supply would be depleted?"

"Yes. Amazing how people can think two completely opposite things at the same time, isn't it?" Rian said dryly. "And they did have enough stored supplies… over the winter. However, if that behavior continues into this spring, and there's no reason to think it won't—"

"They will soon deplete their own stores and be effectively in a famine situation, while some people will be sitting on a hoard of food that they selfish acquired," Lori nodded. "And while the situation could be resolved by releasing the hoarded food to everyone, you mentioned people consuming more than the amount that was rationed to them."

Rian nodded. "According to their calculations, they should have had food for three more months or so after winter, but when they last did an inventory check, food had gone missing from the stores, which they suspect happened while River's Fork's flood barriers were being built and most strong able bodies had to be on hand to help with the work. Given how little was taken, they suspect someone sent their children to steal from the stores. With how long Shanalorre has been away, and how busy the place must be if they're working to get ready for spring…" he shrugged. "Their stores could be half empty, or they might be in the middle of starving to death as we speak because some idiot tried to turn all their grain into booze or something."

"And as a savant, Shanalorre didn't have the necessary knowledge of punitive measures to just force people to comply," Lori mused.

"She had her militia for that kind of thing," Rian pointed out. "It's just that they couldn't be everywhere, and as some of her most able-bodied people, they'd usually be more busy working than doing guard duty. And that's not even counting the fact that she couldn't exactly sustain having a quarter of her population constantly monitoring and disciplining another quarter."

"Hmm…" Lori mused. "Well, unlike Shanalorre, I have no problem with instilling discipline."

"What do you mean 'we'? I'm the one who takes care of discipline around here. And speaking of discipline, there's still the second problem we now have to deal with."

Lori frowned. What second problem? "What second problem?"

"Is Shanalorre still a Dungeon Binder? Officially, I mean, even though she's subordinated herself to you."

What kind of stupid question was that? "What kind of stupid question is that? Of course she's still a Dungeon Binder."

Rian nodded. "Ah, good to know. Because when you had her get on her knees to clean blood off the floor earlier today, in full view of everyone else in the demesne, after she'd already publically begged you to basically conquer her… well, if you weren't planning to utterly humiliate her as if she was no longer a Dungeon Binder and just some random little girl, then you couldn't have managed it better if you'd actually tried."

Lori stared at him.

"Of course, I'm sure you already knew all of that when you did it, but continued anyway because of some cunning plan on your part I'm not privy to—"

"No, I didn't," Lori said, still staring at him. "I didn't realize at the time."

He blinked. "Wait, you're… you're actually admitting… " Rian shook his head. "So why did you do it?"

"She made a mess! I made her clean it up in order to discipline her into notmaking such a mess in the future!"

"Absolutely no mention of how she gave herself a life-threatening injury that severely drained her off blood, such that she's going to need bed rest for the next few days to recover?"

"The source of the mess didn't matter!"

"Of course it doesn't," Rian groaned. "Not to you, I see… well, regardless, in the eyes of everyone in the demesne, you completely humiliated her, and now they're probably wondering how they're supposed to treat her. Do they go as they have before, being respectful? Is she just another random girl they ignore? Because given how you treated her, the latter seems to be the precedent."

"Well, we don't care about things like precedent in this demesne, remember?" Lori snapped. "Tomorrow, announce that Shanalorre is still a Dungeon Binder and is to be treated with the respect she deserves."

Rian nodded. "And now she's a part of this demesne, right? I mean, she's bent knee to you and literally shed blood to be under your authority, so…"

"Yes, we've established that. What are you getting at, Rian?"

"Can Shana give me orders now, then?"

Lori blinked. "What?"

"She's a Dungeon Binder, an exalted position far above a mere lord such as myself," Rian stated the obvious. "And now that she's under your authority, she's obviously no longer an outsider. Does that mean she has authority over me now? Does she have authority over everyone else?"

"Of course not! You're my lord!"

"So despite being a Dungeon Binder, she has no authority over me. Does she have authority over anyone else?"

Lori opened her mouth to snap the first answer that came to her mind and paused as the secondanswer arrived. Her eyes widened again.

"Ah, there we go, the horrified light of realization. Let's continue seeing how big this problem is, then. Is Lord Yllian still counted as a lord? Does he have authority over other people? Are he and I equals? Is he actually trusted to make and implement any decisions? Is he no longer a lord because you very publically essentially made him Shana's jailer and suicide watch?" Rian leaned forward slightly. "Do they still sit to eat at your table?"

Lori twitched at that last question.

"It's pretty fortunate that both of our demesne have fairly simply hierarchies," Rian said, "but nevertheless, we—and by 'we' I mean you, because these aren't things I can decide—have to decide how we're integrating the established authorities of their demesne? Are you completely dismantling their organization? Integrating it fully? What authority will they have?" He shrugged. "In my opinion, it's a far, far more immediate concern for you than the one Shana nearly killed herself to ask us to solve, and one will have to be answered soon, before something unfortunate happens."

Lori groaned, clenching her fist in frustration. After taking a few deep, calming breaths, she looked up to give Rian an annoyed look. "And you have a solution, I presume?" Lori said. "You usually do."

At her words, Rian smiled brightly. This smile had some sincerity to it, but she was fairly sure it was mostly to be annoying. "Well… this situation counts as a mess, doesn't it?"

"You know it does." Lori knew only Shanalorre's lord, but given he was here with her, she likely had more people with some kind of authority back in her demesne. The person in charge of those food stores, for one thing…

The smile became a grin. "Didn't you just say that the person who made the mess should clean it up?"

It took her a moment to understand what he meant. When she did, Lori blinked, staring at him. "You can't be serious."

"Yes, I can't. I'm Rian," he said with annoying cheer. "Look, with how drained of blood she is, you can't really assign her any demanding work, and anyway, she technically counts as a child. So you might as well talk to her and have her explain how her demesne is organized so you know how much of the structure to keep and how much to get rid of." Rian coughed. "Personally, I'd recommend keeping Yllian on as a lord on a probationary basis. I've been waiting months for you to assign another lord, and we have someone who has experience at the job and dealing with the people of River's Fork. In fact, with the influx of new people, you can even use it as a pretext to finally raise someone else up to be a lord or lady to help with all the work."

Behind him, Riz jumped up to her feet, startling Mikon who'd been partially leaning against her. In seemingly the blink of an eye, she'd run to the door and swung it open, running out into the dark, fortunately not rainy, night.

Everyone stared at the door as it swung partway shut.

"I think that was Riz's way of politely asking she not be considered for such a position," Rian said.