Demesne 249 - You Just Want To Eat Our Food (Patreon)

Lori tried to listen as Shanalorre, Rian and… uh… the one whose name she was trying to learn and it was written on her notes, so it was fine if she couldn't really recall it now… discussed River's Fork's organization. With only between fifty and sixty residents—closer to fifty now since Shanalorre and her escorts were in her demesne—they apparently needed less organization than her demesne did, and had less specialization. Unfortunately, when they started mentioning names—as if those were more important for identifying people than, say, what they actually did—her eyes started to glaze, and started ignoring the irrelevant details.

Still, she was able to discern that in addition to Lord Iri-something, River's Fork had a quartermaster in charge of keeping track of their resources—and was apparently unable to keep those resources from being stolen—as well as help assign people to go gathering resources such as wood, fruits, and trying to hunt beasts for meat. They had a few farmers who tended to their fields with the assistance of any able bodies, who were under the authority of an overseer who was himself a farmer.

While they only had two carpenters, many men had experience working with wood from their time in the militia, and so could be assigned to work with the two as needed. The same for the demesne's single blacksmith, who had apparently been working all winter to repair their damaged tools and turn the demesne's refined metal into more tools. Hunting was done on a volunteer basis with no central authority to organize it, only requiring hunters to provide their catch to the quartermaster for cold storage, and while the demesne's inhabitants had also tried to catch seels, it had not been as successfully implemented.

Shanalorre's aunt also held an unofficial position, being the one many of the adults spoke to with their concerns in the belief that she had influence over her niece. From the sound of it, the woman had an almost Rian-like position, though it was clear that Shanalorre only took her words under advisement.

Lori didn't think she'd let the woman keep that position.

From the sound of it, some people had also been hoarding food for far longer than this winter, collecting fruits from the dome's trees and keeping most of it in their homes instead of surrendering it to the quarter master for drying and storage. They had tried to keep back meat as well, but the lack of salt early on had led to some families falling ill from improperly preserved meat, and so most of the meat usually reached the demesne's cold room that Lori's payments of ice had managed to make feasible. When River's Fork had gotten access to salt, Shanalorre had managed to prevent a reversion of events by keeping the salt closely guarded, which had mostly prevented people from stealing it and using it to preserve food only for themselves.

The more Lori heard, the more she just wanted to leave those idiots to their own devices so they'd die out on their own. It was only a small fraction of the people in River's Fork, usually those who had left her demesne, but they were clearly having a deleterious effect on morale and discipline, as they couldn't be harshly punished without severely affecting the demesne's available manpower—

"You're a healer. Why not just break their bones, allow them to experience agony, and then heal them?" Lori interrupted.

"Because the doctors refused to be complicit in such a thing," Shanalorre said, turning to face her to explain, "and while the one meaning I am capable of is able to mend broken bones, it does not align bones together. Without properly aligning broken limbs, healing in such a state would result in permanent disfigurement."

"So beat them until they're bruised, don't break any bones, let them suffer, and thenheal them," Lori pointed out.

"It was suggested," Shanalorre said, "but failed because no one was willing to be the demesne's designated torturer."

"Disciplinarian," Lori corrected. "If it's for your own good, it's not torture, it's discipline, not matter how terrible and seemingly unreasonable it is."

Rian gave her a flat look. "Something your parents said?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Shanalorre stared at Lori for a moment. "Regardless, at the time I decided that such measures were not necessary. By late summer we had managed to impose an acceptable level of discipline on the rebelliously insubordinate, curbing their behavior. However, during the winter the relative isolation people experienced due to having to remain indoors, aside from their going to the quartermaster for supplies and gathering wood for the use of themselves and the blacksmith, allowed enforcement of discipline to lapse. And unfortunately, militia with too much time on their hands are known to allow such lapses, beginning the slow misappropriation of food supplies."

Lord something-iyan actually looked uncomfortable. "I had intended to deal with the matter before spring properly began, and had been taking measures to curb it," he said hurriedly, "but because circumstances led to our being detained here, the situation has no doubt managed to progress."

Lori frowned. "So you don't actually know if your demesne is going to be lacking in food supplies?"

"According to the last inspection and audit by our quartermaster, the supplies we had at the time would just barely allow us to last until the harvest," Shanalorre said. "However, that was at the time we were last in our… in River's Fork demesne. Before we left, one of the children confided to me that he saw someone sneaking into the supply depot. If that behavior had continued unchecked up to now, the supplies would obviously be more depleted."

Lori nodded. She already knew that from Rian. "Should I deem it necessary," she said, giving Shanalorre a flat stare. "I will be breaking some bones and you will be healing them. Such short-sightedness in the face of survival cannot continue. If those idiots are going to be my responsibility, they will learn proper behavior. Our agreement was that I will keep your people from starving to death. There were no specifications as to their well-being beyond that."

"As your lord in charge of dealing with people, it's my job to tell you that arbitrary corporal punishment like that is a bad idea," Rian interrupted whatever reply Shanalorre would have made. "Terrible for morale, not as good for discipline as you think, and will probably just make things worse."

Lori turned and glared at her lord. Her first lord? She technically had a second—technically her third—right now. "Taking from supplies like that is clearly theft, and a punishable offense. Beating them until their bones break clearly falls under the established punishment of public humiliation and flogging. And how can teaching them that actions have consequences not instill discipline?"

"Because this sort of violent response on your part is exactly the sort of thing they were afraid of enough to move to another demesne for. If these people were the sort to let themselves just be browbeaten into compliance by authority, they wouldn't have left their old demesnes to come to this continent, or left our demesne to more to Shanalorre's when they had the chance. While I agree that they need to be straightened out, that's also my job. Whatever offenses they might have committed, it was under Shanalorre's reign, not yours." He glanced at the other Dungeon Binder, looking almost apologetic. "Given that they have not been punished by her, nor has any action really been taken against them, their actions are, by implication, not a punishable offense."

Shanalorre tilted her head thoughtfully. "I… cannot deny that logic. While River's Fork's legal framework is based on militia law, it is true that their actions contrary to it have not been prosecuted as assiduously as should have been the case, to the demesne's detriment. By allowing them to continue their actions while I prioritized other matters, I have likely led to this very breakdown of discipline."

Next to her, Lord something-something—Lori checked her notes again. Yllian—didn't say a thing, but he wore a very parental 'I-told-you-so' expression. Lori probably wouldn't have wanted to hit him more if she didn't find herself agreeing with the sentiment. "That's as may be, but River's Fork is under my authority now."

"Theydon't know that yet," Rian pointed out. "If they knew they were doing something to make you mad, they… well, they might still do it, but they'd be doing it with that in mind."

"Ignorance of my law is no excuse."

"But surely a short transition period to let people be aware of the change in authority so they know to adjust their behavior is only reasonable, right? After all, they should be given the time to find out what laws they're operating under now and adjust their behavior accordingly. Sure, those who used to live here know what those are, but what about the rest? And even for the former, how would they know if you've added any new laws after they left? You didn't but they don't know that yet either."

Lori glared at him, but she supposed he had a point about River's Fork's original residents not being familiar with her laws. "Fine. I'll give the demesne two days to become familiar with my laws and adjust their behavior accordingly. But no more than that."

"I'm sure that should be enough," Rian said. "Though speaking of which, we need to discuss how we're going to break this news to those in River's Fork without, you know, everything breaking out into open violence. Off the top of my head, the people who thought we'd captured Shanalorre will all think we actually have and this is all under duress, general malcontents will be generally malcontent, and people like Shanalorre's uncle will—not unreasonably—think we've been influencing her and question the legitimacy of the news."

"I have confided in my aunt and some of the senior militia that I might surrender the demesne to Binder Lolilyuri for the sake of our survival," Shanalorre said. "Over the winter, it has become an increasingly more palatable option to those I have discussed it with in light of Binder Lolilyuri's capabilities, as opposed to the slow degradation and sudden death of the demesne's residents through increasing public disorder."

"I think you need actual violence in the streets for it to be considered public disorder," Rian said. He glanced at Lori. "Remember what I was telling you about how we can attract people to live in our demesne because we had hot water? This, right here? This is basically recruiting people to live in our demesne because we have hot water."

"It can't be just that," Lori said.

"The stable infrastructure, secure buildings, general morale and secured food supplies were also a factor," Shanalorre admitted.

"So you just want to eat our food," Lori said blandly.

"Yes," Shanalorre said in the same tone. "And live in easier to repair and more convenient buildings like yours. And have a Dungeon that can shelter us against dragons like yours. And be as prosperous as you are. You already rule over most of those who survived the first dragon to pass over River's Fork. This is simply adding the rest. As to announcing the change in authority, I will simply inform them. As I said, all those who previously obeyed me, I shall order to now obey you as their Dungeon Binder, which should suffice. I have had the militia who accompanied me on my trips to assist in childbirth relay their experiences in this place to as many others as possible to help make the idea of being under your authority more desirable. After all, in the same amount of time as River's Fork has existed, you have managed to create a far more stable and comfortable demesne. By any comparison, your rule has been far superior."

Lori smiled smugly at the compliments. They were all true, after all.

"Somehow, I don't it'll be that easy," Rian said. "If people were reasonable, then yeah, that's probably what would happen. But if they were reasonable, you wouldn't have this food crisis in the first place."

Shanalorre blinked. "Ah. I… cannot refute the logic of that."

Rian turned to… Lori checked her notes… Yllian. "In your opinion, how many people are liable to react violently to this change in leadership?"

"Lasponin, for sure," Yllian said immediately. "About a dozen people as well, mostly from the new immigrants. The likely disciplinary cases and thieves, and their families whom they lead or cannot refuse them."

"Who's Lasponin?" Rian asked. Wait, there was a name Rian didn't know?

"My uncle," Shanalorre sighed. "He has been sharply critical of my leadership, sometimes with good reason. However, his arguments are undermined by his insistence that he would make a better leader. I leave disciplining him to my aunt."

"Ah. My condolences on your difficult family situation."

"Thank you."

Lori twitched upon hearing this. Still, it wasn't her prob—wait, yes it was! Now, at least. "Such disrespect will not be allowed to continue," she said. "He will be included in the disciplinary action."

"It's not against the law to criticize you," Rian said. "If it was, you'd have written it down."

"No, but undermining her authority is surely treason."

"You didn't write that law down either."

She hadn't? No, surely she had! Hadn't she?

Lori frowned, got up, and went to check the list of laws and rights near the door.

She stared at the list inscribed into the stone for a moment.

Then she turned and headed back to the table.

"It's there," she declared as she sat back down. "It falls under 'theft of property' and 'murder', as attempting to take away the Dungeon Binder's demesne is clearly theft and clearly and attempt to murder her."

"Ah. Well, at least wait for him to do it again before you punish him," Rian said. "Shana didn't punish him, so during her reign, by implication… you know."

Lori turned to Shanalorre. "If your uncle attempts to undermine your authority, and by extension mine, he will be punished."

The younger Dungeon Binder nodded. "I will see to it he is warned, Great Binder."