Weekly Digest 83- (#256 - #258) (Patreon)

Getting The Boat Ready

When the water level of the river finally receded to close to normal levels a few days later, Lori decided it was safe to retrieve the Coldhold from where it was stored inside a stone cube next to the dock where it usually floated.

"There hasto be an easier way to do this," Rian muttered as he watched her carefully open the stone container, then slowly fill it with water to allow the boat float up the level of the river. As the water within the container rose, the boat of ice and wood began to shift as it began to displace water and started to float. "Maybe we can excavate the river here so it's deep all the way to the flood barrier, then build a covered stone shelter for all our boats? That way we can keep it maintained all year long."

"'We'?"

"Well, yes, mostly you, but I'm perfectly willing to help, and so are other people."

Lori rolled her eyes and focused on raising the Coldhold up to the river's level, one hand keeping her hat in place against the wind out of habit. When the level of water in the container was on par with the river, she lowered the sides of the container some more, until one a hand's length of stone remained above the water, keeping the boat isolated from the river's current. She turned and nodded at Rian. "All right, it's ready."

Rian nodded, grabbing the plank next to him on the stairs that she'd build on the riverward side of the flood barrier. She could probably open a hole in the barrier, but the thought of undoing all the work that had gone with it didn't sit well with her. this meant she didn't have to rebuild it next year. Rian was able to maneuver the plank so that one end rested on the dock and the other rested on the lip of the remaining stone container that had been around the boat, creating an impromptu bridge. That done, he turned to retrieve a coil of rope that he'd left next to the flood barrier, and tied one end to the stone post that they usually used. Letting out some rope from the coil, he slipped the rest of the coil through one arm. Wearing the coil of rope, he carefully began crossing over the plank.

Lori couldn't help but wince as she saw the plank flex slightly with his every movement, but Rian didn't seem to care, instead moving slowly over the plank until he reached the walls of the container. Resting one foot on the stone, he carefully stepped from there to the outrigger of the boat. Visibly sighing, Rian moved quickly, slipping off the coil of rope and tying it around a thick wooden post on the boat.

"All right, we've secured," Rian called out. "You can drop the rest of it now."

Lori nodded, and moved the rest of the stone downwards to join the stockpile under the dock, ready to encase the boat again in the event of a dragon. No longer isolated from the river's current, the boat would have begun to drift away from the dock, but Rian began pulling on the rope, tugging the boat closer to the dock before the current could properly take hold. He loosened the knot around the post, then tied it again with the rope shorter. The boat was just close enough that one could take a long step onto the walkways on the outriggers from the dock.

The boat drifted with the current slightly until rope grew taut, keeping it in place. To her eyes, the boat looked completely fine. "The boat looks completely fine."

"Yes, but we probably have to replace all the containers of your blood. It's been a while, they might have gone bad or something."

Lori blinked and frowned as she realized it had been some time since she imbued the bindings of the Coldhold though her blood rather than through her connection to her core. Ugh. She hated it when he had a point. "Ugh, I hate it when you have a point. Yes, I suppose it would be best to replace the blood."

"We have to check the insides of the water jet driver too," Rian said. "It might have deformed from moisture, or there might be cracks. It's technically a pressure vessel, so any cracks—"

"I know how pressure vessels work, Rian!"

"Hence why we need to check over everything, like I said."

"Fine…" Lori grumbled. "Get on it then."

Rian nodded. "I'll have someone tell you when we're opening the driver. Maybe we can seal any gaps or cracks with bone or something."

"When you get around to sailing it—" was it still called sailing when the boat didn't have a sail? "—take it outside the demesne for a moment. It will let me know if I really do need to replace the blood."

Rian nodded. "Yes, your Bindership."

Lori turned away, leaving Rian to his own devices. Near them, the laundry area was full of people washing clothes, and had been ever since the water had receded enough for people to walk around barefoot with trousers legs and skirts pulled up. It reminded Lori she needed to do the rest of her laundry. Her pillow, blanket, her bedroll…

Shaking her head, she headed up to where the second row of houses were under construction. Beams had been placed to support the roofs, and workers were in the middle of putting together other beams to give the roof its shape. Already one of the houses had been roofed with planks, and a second house was a quarter of the way covered. The roofs in question were angled to let snow slide off in the winter and dump them behind the house so that people were less likely to be trapped in their house by snow.

The high angle of the roof also meant that Lori had needed to raise the walls between houses more to be able to support the roof beams, which she had done over the past few days. It was annoying, having to redo work she'd considered finished, but it hadn't realized what having roofs at such angles had meant.

She spent the rest of the morning making holes in the walls for windows and fitting in the few doors that the carpenters had managed to make, sinking their hinges into the stone and adjusting the stone to form a proper doorframe, and helping fit and secure wooden beams into the stone walls by reshaping them with earthwisps. It was all minute adjustments that took up more time than they seemed as she went from place to place, adjusting the stone, then climbing to the next place where the stone needed adjusting. The stonemasons could probably have done the same, but it would have taken more time, and people had been needed to help move beams and planks, and so they were working there in the meantime.

They worked until lunch, prioritizing placing the beams so that most of the construction could be continued without her. Once the beams were placed, all she'd need to be involved with would be placing the doors and the frames for the window shutters. After that, she'd be mostly able to step away from the project, allowing her to deal with River's Fork. Any other things that needed her intervention could probably be done after she came back. By that point it would mostly be installing the rest of the doors and window frames.

At lunch, Rian was slightly sweaty as he sat down across from her, putting down a plank full of writing in black char on the table in front of him. Riz seemed equally sweaty, but that was normal, since Lori had seen her assisting the carpenters with carrying the beams and planks. Her new lord—Lori checked her rock: Yllian—was the same, since he would have been working with the wood cutters. Lori wasn't as sweaty, since she hadn't needed to carry anything heavy today, but climbing up to the beams so she could properly see the stone she needed to reshape had still been an exertion. Umu and Mikon, for their part, were equally disheveled. She'd seen the two of them in the laundry area earlier, doing laundry together.

Shanalorre seemed the freshest among them, sitting quietly with her fingers laced together and her back straight in a way that made Lori remember her mothers chiding her about her posture and once more made her wish for a backrest. Lori herself was mildly sweat-stained from climbing up and down ladders to be able to get to where the beams met stone walls. While firewisps changed the temperature of the air around her, that didn't actually change the uncomfortable feeling of humidity on her skin as moisture was trapped in her sleeves and her body sweated from exertion.

The feeling of the air on her skin was wonderfully refreshing as Lori laid out her raincoat and hat on the bench next to her before she sat down. "So, is the boat usable?" she asked Rian.

He blinked at her, glanced at the plank, then turned to look towards the kitchen. "Uh, could that wait for a moment? It's my turn to get the food."

Lori stared at him blankly for a moment. Then she sighed. "Fine. Go get it and come back."

Rian nodded, getting up to make his way towards the line where food would be distributed, followed by Riz.

Yllian glanced after them and grimaced, making to stand up.

"Stop," Shanalorre said. "Stay here and rest, Uncle Yllian. I'll go and get the food for us."

Yllian, who had paused immediately, let his weight settle back on the bench as Shanalorre rose and followed the other two as Lori frowned after her.

"Something the matter, your Bindership?" Yllian said blandly.

Lori moved her gaze towards him, her frown deepening for a moment, but… well, he wasone of her lords, after all. She supposed this was a reminder that he was still loyal to Shanalorre, and that her authority over him was because the younger Dungeon Binder had ordered it of him. Best she remember it.

Rian, Riz and Shanalorre soon came back with food, Lori taking a bowl from the five presented. Shanalorre placed one of the bowls she was carrying in front of Yllian before walking around the table to put down her own bowl and the plate of bread, only then seating herself.

As Lori began eating, Rian glanced at his plank again for a moment, frowning thoughtfully as he visibly weighed and summarized his findings in front of her. Finally, he nodded as he came to some conclusion. "Regarding the usability of the boat, we're still checking over everything, but so far it looks good. Some of the planks that are supposed to protect the ice from impacts had things growing on them, and a few had mold, but so far none of that seems to have spread to the structural parts of the ship. However, it means it will take a bit longer than we thought since we'll need to thoroughly examine everything."

Lori frowned, swallowing what was in her mouth. "How long?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. If we focus on checking all the major structural beams for damage, we should be able to make it to River's Fork in a few days, but I don't feel comfortable going out to sea and going to Covehold until we do the more thorough check."

Next to her, Shanalorre was roused from her meal, her head coming up. "If I may interrupt, Lord Rian?"

Her lord blinked in confusion and glanced towards Lori. She shrugged, allowing the interruption as she started eating her soup. "Uh, go ahead, Great Binder."

"Because of the nature of our housing, mold and other causes of wood decay has been a concern for us as well," the other Dungeon Binder said. "While I cannot do anything about the matter, as I do not have the adequate training or knowledge, I have been able to discern the difference between wood that has been infested with mold and wood that is untouched. The life between the two contrasts enough for me to be able to distinguish between them. I can also identify subsurface rot to a degree by the voids left behind. Once the Coldhold is within the boundaries of River's Fork, I believe that I can assist in identifying any structural defects in the wood of the structure."

Tearing some bread to dip in the soup, Lori found herself staring at Shanalorre. That was… She hadn't thought about it, but on consideration, that would be something the other Dungeon Binder could do with her connection to River's Fork's core. Even if she didn't know how to do anything with the life in her awareness besides heal, there would be a difference between the life of something alive and the life of something that wasn't anymore. Lori remembered that much, even if it was from some novels she had read years ago…

"Uh… huh," Rian said as he seemed to take a moment to comprehend her words. He turned towards Lori. " Ah, is that all right with you, your Bindership? After all, she's volunteering, so it doesn't go against your views of making children work… And she and the Coldhold will both be in River's Fork at the same time in any case, so…"

Lori frowned, pausing in dipping the bread in her hands. "Fine. She may assist in identifying potential points of failure. However, the whole boat is still to be manually inspected, in case there are defects she is unable to identify. What else?" She dipped the brea in her soup.

Rian looked awkward for a moment. "We, uh, also need your help airing out the inside of the boat. There's a bit of a smell down there that… well, honestly I was sort of hoping it would go away over the winter, but that didn't happen. Thank you for keeping the light imbued, by the way. It was really helpful."

Lori grimaced, but… well, an airing would probably be good, since she'd be traveling inside the Coldhold herself. Best that it be tolerable to do so. As to the smell, well, time and airwisps could deal with that—wait a moment…

"I might be able to assist with that," Lori said thoughtfully. "There was something in the almanac for removing smells… I'll look it up later."

"That would be helpful, if there is such a thing. All in all… call it half a week at most?"

"Hmm…" She pointed.  "Rian."

"Eating, your Bindership."

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Necessary Maintenance

She found the article in the almanac that she had recalled, a way of removing scents by exposing an area to unseen light. It had taken a while to find it because it was an article on the uses of unseen light, not a flow diagram. While it had many suggestions for utilizing the various forms of the phenomenon, it also had a lengthy list of reminders of its deleterious effects on the human body, which presumably extended to other bodies as well, such as beasts, bugs and fursh. Some of them, like blindness and growths of the skin similar to mild forms of blight, could be mitigated by a capable Deadspeaker… but they didn't have one of those.

Some of the things there she already knew, like how it killed dustlife—which was the same phenomenon that caused the illnesses from long exposure—but according to the article, it also killed mold with enough exposure. While removing mold would probably be beneficial, Shanalorre's suggestion for finding possible structural defects in the wood relied on the contrast between living mold and dead wood.

"Unless you can tell the different anyway?" Lori asked the following day after she had checked the almanac.

Shanalorre tilted her head thoughtfully, clearly considering. Finally, she shook her head. "No, I do not think I can. While it might be possible to differentiate between the two, it would probably take a more experienced and knowledgeable Deadspeaker to do so."

"You might still be able to use it," Rian mused. "Mold on the surface would die, but the damaging kind of mold is the kind that's gotten under the surface of the wood. That would probably still survive even when the surface mold dies." He shrugged. "And killing surface mold would probably be a good idea in any case. That can make a person sick, especially in an enclosed space."

Lori considered this.

Work on the interior of the Coldhold paused for the day as all the hatches were opened and Lori placed a binding of airwisps to create a turbulent flow of air within the boat, in addition to a binding of lightwisps to fill it with unseen light of the right variant. Yes, the place definitelyneeded airing, smelling of old food and old sweat, and since she'd be traveling in it soon, it was in her best interest to make the place more livable. To prevent possible blighting, Lori concealed the boat with darkwisps, blocking out the emanations of unseen light that might leak through the ice and any openings.

When all the bindings were deactivated after lunch, Lori herself checked the insides of the boat, and was gladdened at reduction of the odors. Some of the sweat would probably be introduced back in from all the people working inside it, but there was no helping that.

As the inspection of the boat continued, so did the construction of the new houses. The first of the new houses were finished while the Coldhold was in the middle of being inspected. It wasn't much. There was the door, the two windows on either side of it, cold stone walls, and the beams and planks of the roof several paces up. The fireplace was empty, the chimney built covered to prevent rain from entering.

"Tell those who petitioned for group housing that their groups can move in once two of the houses have been finished," Lori told Rian over dinner. "And that if they assisted with the construction, it will be done even faster. "

"Two so that there's no fighting over who gets to move in first, I take it?" Rian said. His bowl was conspicuously half empty of soup, and he was just getting started on dipping his bread into it.

Lori nodded. "And it motivates them to assist in getting construction done sooner—are you crying?"

"Oh, don't mind me," her lord said as she realized too late that those were theatrical tears. "I'm just seeing the day you don't need me anymore looming closer and closer as you learn how to deal with people. You'll be able to understand how people feel yourself—"

"Even if I can, I refuse," Lori said flatly.

Well, at least I'll always have work," Rian mused. "Now, if only it came with some kind of wage."

"You have a house, a boat, and soap, food and medical care are provided for. Stop being greedy. Next you'll be demanding land."

"Fair point, fair point… speaking of which, some people have been expressing resentment that the malcontents we intend to move here will be getting to live in the nice, new homes instead of people who've stood by you and have been loyal and hard-working subjects."

Lori frowned. "Why would…?" Oh, right, she had discussed this with him in her house. And given the timing, it made sense for them to come to that conclusion. "Please make it clear to them that the new houses are not for the malcontents. The malcontents will be residing in the shelter until such a time as residences can be found for them."

"Hear that?" Rian said loudly, glaring around at the tables around them. "Those houses aren't for the ones who left the demesne to live somewhere else! She said it, not me! Now will you all stop bringing it up and go back to complaining about other things that we can deal with?"

Somewhere in one of the tables, someone said, "But who are all those houses for, then?"

"People of this demesne who need them," Rian said in exasperation. "Go back to eating, Enso. You'll find out soon enough, anyway."

A grumbling voice faded away into the usual murmur of the dining hall as her lord sighed. "I'm going to have to check the houses to make sure the unfinished ones don't happen to have leaky roofs or something, won't I?"

"None of our people are that shoddy with their work, Rian," Lori reminded him. "To my knowledge, none of the houses built so far had been prone to leaks."

"People don't report things like that to you, they tell me," he pointed out. "And we've definitely had some leaks, which have been sealed with creative woodcraft, wax, and tree sap. Or possibly resin. I'm not sure what the difference is."

He probably had a point there.

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Lori had to be there to inspect the waterjet driver as it was opened up—she'd deactivated the bindings beforehand—and the blocks of wood constituting its parts inspected for any damage or deformity. While there were no cracks, some of the bone that she had coated the interior of the driver's tubes with had become worn from the water that had constantly been flowing through the driver.

In some places, the bone had been eroded down almost to the wood beneath. Had the bone actually been penetrated, the wood underneath would probably have swollen from absorbing the water, deforming and pushing at the bone coating from underneath, which would have resulted in damage that would expose more wood to water, which would also absorb water and swell…

Lori recoated the tube with bone twice as thick as what she had originally used, making sure to add even more bone to the spots where it had been very worn, hardening the bone as much as she could without actually needed to keep it strengthened with a binding of earthwisps. She'd probably still put a binding on earthwisps on it when she remembered, but the bone had lasted up until now, so it should be enough to keep the boat functioning until next winter.

She'd have to remember, or have Rian remember, to inspect the driver every two seasons for wear on the bone coating. Especially with the changes to the water jets she planned to make…

With the river now stable, Lori's Boat and the wooden frame and components for Lori's Ice Boat were also inspected for any damage, with Lori personally checking their water jet drivers. Their bone tubes were also worn and had to be repaired. The wear wasn't as severe as with the water jet driver on the Coldhold, but it was concerning nonetheless, especially considering how much the boats had been used in the previous year. If they had seen continued use during the winter, they might have failed…

The thought made Lori shudder. Such an equipment failure would have been an ironic death sentence, with whoever had been riding on them becoming trapped in the water until they had drifted to shore. Potentially safe from the Iridescence in definitely, but trapped where they were, unable to return to the demesne unless the risked leaving the water and trekking back over land. And if that had happed to the Coldhold while it was out at sea, collecting salt…

She shuddered again. Maybe she should make Rian put sails on the thing, in case the driver failed. Or perhaps oars…

In addition to the wear on the water jet drivers, the Coldhold also had some components that had become lose with wear, such as some of the planking, rails, and a few of the wooden components that regular got wet when they were gathering salt. Those were tightened, refitted, and replaced as needed. Once everything had been checked and the water jet driver rebuilt and resealed, Rian and those who had previously regularly used the boat to gather salt tested its functionality.

The crowd seeing them off was small, since many people had to work and the novelty of seeing a boat made of ice and wood moving seemingly without impetus had clearly faded. Still, there were some people watching. Some children were there, and Lori was aware that if the test was successful Rian would probably allow them to ride on the boat for a lap or two. She'd sometimes seen the children riding on the smaller boats when they crossed the river, though that could also have been because they had volunteered to help load and unload gathered materials.

Lori was there to watch the boat go as well, but it wasn't because she was concerned or anything like that! It was merely out of professional interest! She watched to see if she needed to adjust the output of the water jet to overcome the river's current, since the water still seemed to be moving swifter than it usually would. Her concerns were empty, however. The Coldhold proved itself capable of fighting against the current and progressing upriver as planned, although from the foam that appeared behind the boat, and a quick check using her awareness of the demesne's wisps, it had to move all the tubes of the waterjet driver into position and use its maximum capable thrust to do so.

Hmm, she might need to adjust the output of the water jets after all. While it was making its way upriver, it was quite slow in doing so, and that was just with the weight of its normal amount of passengers. If they loaded more people onto it to act as guards for herself, as well as Shanalorre and the people who had come with her…

Perhaps now would be the time to try the idea she had considered for the sled when she had been considering fueling its propulsion with snow, before the discarding the idea as currently impractical…

That would require tests, though. Such expansion would turn the water jet tubes into a pressure vessel, so they'd need to be better reinforced…

She'll have to think about this.

But later. She still had to pay attention to the Coldhold so she'll know for sure if she needed to renew the vials of her blood on the boat.

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Water Jet Improvement Test

"Oh, grow up, Rian," Lori said as she finished using her syringe to extract blood. Some distance away, Rian was twitching, averting his eyes and shuddering far too energetically to be simple theatrics, especially since it was just the two of them. He really didn't like the sight of her syringe being used.

"You grow up," he returned rather childishly.

"Surely you can conceive of a wittier reply," she said as she reversed the flow of the syringe, filling the hastily-cleaned metal vial with fresh blood. She had been lazy over the winter, neglecting to imbue the bindings she'd placed on the boat through the blood she had left in the vials. It had been easier, after all, to simply imbue it through her connection to her core, and she'd been so busy all winter… so of course the blood had lost its affinity with her—or was it her affinity with the blood?—requiring she put in new blood. They'd probably have to make this sort of maintenance a regular occurrence.

"We probably have to make this sort of maintenance a regular occurrence," she said distractedly as she sealed the vial close before putting the piece of plank back into place in front of it and moving the ice around it to bury the vial again.

"If it were me, I'd suggest doing it once a blue month, but we probably can't afford to spend that much time on it," Rian sort of agreed. "Do you think it would survive two red moons without something breaking?"

"It lasted three seasons, even if it was inactive through one of them," Lori said as she stood up. That was the last vial, so she wouldn't have to put up with Rian's childishness anymore. She'd still need to make the lightwisps bindings, but that could wait until after they came back and the Coldhold started going downriver to the sea for salt. Losing sight in her eye, even if it was only briefly now, was a disorienting experience she'd rather avoid for now. "So that should probably be a reasonable maintenance schedule. Inform all parties that need to know that we will be heading for River's Fork tomorrow. You have the rest of today to arrange matters and get the necessary supplies loaded onto the Coldhold."

"Can we push it back to the day after?" Rian asked. "The supplies are one thing, but volunteers for possibly fighting in River's Fork are another matter."

"You've had five days."

"I was busy making sure our ride wouldn't sink and take us with it. I'll need at least a day to dedicate to finding people willing and able to potentially without being worse than useless," he countered. "The only people we have with any sort of proper fighting experience are from River's Fork, and might be a bit reluctant to engage in violence. At best, I might be able to find people willing to come along provided we're not the aggressors and are just there to help the local militia deal with any unrest from the announcement. And even then, they'll be reluctant."

"They're militia. Fighting is what they do."

For some reason, Rian winced. "Please never say that in front of any of them. That's part of the thoughtlessness they left their demesne to get way from. Militia are people too, and people general don't want to fight. Sometimes they need to, but they don't like it. And no one wants to have to fight people they know, which is who the people in River' Fork." He sighed. "Consider it a 'dealing with people' matter and let me handle it. Please?"

Lori scowled, but… well, explained that way, she supposed he had a point. "Fine then. I needed to do a test to see if I can enhance the water jet's effectiveness anyway."

Rian perked up, looking cheered. "I'll go grab my pla—"

"No."

He stiffened in the middle of turning around, one foot dangling in the air. "N-no?" he said.

"No," she repeated. "You said you needed a day to convince volunteers So you will obviously not have any time to take notes for me. Go do that instead and have our contingent ready."

"C-can't I do both?" Rian asked pitiably, finally remembering to put his foot down.

"If you could, you would obviously have been able to both inspect the Coldhold and find suitable volunteers," Lori said, and he winced. "I gave you the time you asked for, so put it to use. Get moving."

He sighed. "Yes, your Bindership."

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After Lori had cleaned her syringe, made sure the needle was clear—it wouldn’t do to have some sort of obstruction inside it, especially one that may rot—and put the instrument away in her room, she began building the components she needed for her test. New bones were showing up in the bone pit now since they'd started hunting again, and she made sure to pick the ones that already looked like they'd been boiled for bone glue by the carpenters.

She was amused to note all the skulls had been set aside, possibly to make sure they weren't used for anything else, and made a note to check the state of the demesne's shovels, as well as to collect the teeth and claws later.

She formed that bone into a tube, forming it as solid as possible for structural integrity. While the water jets were technically already pressure vessels, she was worried that what she intended to do would drastically increase that pressure catastrophically. Lacking in measuring instruments to determine if the materials she was using could withstand the increase of such pressure—and admittedly to training to use such instruments in any case—Lori would simply need to take a 'do it and see' approach to the matter.

Of course, for it to be a proper test, she needed to take notes… or at least, needed someone to take notes for her.

Her options for that were limited. She could take the notes herself, but that would be awkward while actively experimenting, and anyway, she was a Dungeon Binder! What was the point if she couldn't have someone else take her notes for her?

However, she didn't actually know who in her demesne could write. It was probably safe to assume the astrologer—she was sure they had an astrologer somewhere, unless he had stayed behind in Covehold when Rian had gone there—could write, but… well, Lori didn't actually know where he was. She assumed he worked somewhere, but as to what that work was…

That left her only other alternative. Returning to her room to grab her own plank—it probably wasn't safe to assume he'd have his own, and besides, she'd need the notes for later anyway.

Then she headed out to the woods. Fortunately, she didn't have to wander around for long, since the group cutting down trees were easily visible. A large trunk was being dragged along the ground towards the sawyers with ropes and rollers, men moving back and forth from back to front to place the rollers on the ground. Other men were digging up stumps and pulling them out of the ground to clear it for planting. A few trees stood isolated and left alone by the loggers, and Lori recognized the profile of happyfruit trees. Just the sight of them made her mouth water. she hoped them managed to harvest a lot of them this year. A small, pale-haired figure standing off to the side was identifiable as Shanalorre, jar that was probably filled with water next to her. Lori twitched as she saw only a single wood cup…

In hindsight, she probably needed a way to be able to quickly determine Shanalorre's location. Perhaps Lori could give her a rock with a binding of lightwisps on it as well…

The other Dungeon Binder caught sight of her first, turning and giving a small bow. "Binder Lolilyuri," she acknowledged.

"Binder Shanalorre," Lori greeted. She reached into her belt pouch, moving aside some beast teeth and quarts before she found her rock. She checked it. "Where's Yllian?"

Shanalorre turned and pointed. Yllian was one of several men wielding a large saw—though not as large as the one the sawyers used to cut beams and planks—as they moved together to cut down one of the large trees that loomed up. She debated calling out to them, but they were already moving in rhythm, and she knew better to interrupt work in progress. Best to wait for the tree to fall.

However, while she was here…

"Rian tells me you want to apprentice under the doctors and medics," Lori said.

"Yes," Shanalorre said. "I believe I should augment my healing meaning with useful support skills in addition to diagnosis, such as bone setting, and perhaps suturing in preparation for reattachment of limbs."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "Is that even within the ability of your meaning?

"I do not know," Shanalorre said. "However, learning the skill is still useful."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you making yourself to skilled and useful to conveniently kill?"

Shana tilted her head, seemingly surprised. "I had not considered that. I was merely trying to optimize the uses of my ability to heal. Within the confines of this demesne, my ability is hampered without my awareness of other's life."

"Now you know how difficult it was for me to be in your demesne," was her very flat reply.

"I apologize in retrospect for the inconvenience, and thank you for the quality of your work despite it."

The men trying to fell the tree stopped sawing, and Yllian stepped back, wiping his brow as the saw was repositioned. He turned towards Shanalorre and stopped, the smile that had been on his face vanishing as she saw Lori there, his posture straightening as his back stiffened. Lori gestured for him to come towards her, and walked towards her.

"I have need of you," she said, handing him the plank. "Rian is occupied, so you'll be taking notes for me instead."

He blinked. "Notes, Gr—your Bindership?"

"Yes, notes. Just write down what I tell you to write down and you'll be fine."

The man—Lori checked her rock—Yllian looked confused, but followed Lori as she headed back down to the river.

She'd considered doing these tests at the retting tank, which was currently unused as they waited for more ropeweed to grow, but that had only a limited amount of not very clean water. If she needed to do multiple iterations of her test, she'd need more.

It wasn't until she got to the river that she realized that Shanalorre had come with them.

"You ordered Lord Yllian to remain near me at all times," she said. "If you require him, that means that I must move to stay near him."

Ah. Right. Silly of her to not realize. "Very well. Stay back and out of the way."

Lori grabbed some of the stockpiled stone under the dock for protecting the Coldhold in the event of a dragon and used that to create a mount for her bone pipe at the end of the stone dock. One end of the pipe was submerged in the water, while the other stuck up diagonally, pointed further away from shore towards the middle of the river. Using a binding of waterwisps to pull some water up the length of the pipe, Lori anchored waterwisps to the inside of the bone pipe and bound them into a water jet binding.

"All right," she said absently as she stepped back from the water jet so she'd have a better view of what happened. "First control experiment, using a water jet binding that will remain unchanged through all subsequent experiments. Angle of inclination, force of output, and volume of water utilized will all remain unchanged in all tests."

"What was that, your Bindership?"

Lori blinked, remembering she had someone else who wasn't Rian writing for her. She huffed in annoyance, but repeated herself. "Write this down: first control experiment, using a water jet binding that will remain unchanged through all subsequent experiments. Angle of inclination, force of output, and volume of water utilized will all remain unchanged in all tests. Did you get all that?"

"I'll need you to char the end of this stick for me, your Bindership."

Lori let out a sigh and briefly wondered if she should have gotten Rian to take notes for her after all. "Give it here," she said irritably.

She waited impatiently as—she checked her rock—Yllian wrote with the freshly charred stick. "Done?" she said when he stopped writing.

"Yes, your Bindership," he said.

"Read back what you just wrote."

Yllian did so. It… sounded like what she'd said… right? Ugh, Rian would have realized he needed to write it all down!

"Commencing control experiment," she said out of habit as she activated the water jet binding. A stream of water erupted from the elevated end of the tube, which arched out over the river.  Annoyingly, the wind was blowing towards them, sending spray into Lori's face for a moment before she sighed and bound the airwisps to block the wind from interfering with her test and affecting her experiments.

"Did the notes get wet?" she said, glancing at Yllian.

"No, your Bindership, your notes are unharmed."

She nodded in satisfaction. "Write this down. At current angle of inclination, the stream of water reached a height of…" she gave him her estimate of the height of the apex of the arching water, as well as her estimate of how many paces out it reached. She had him repeat the numbers to her, just to make sure. Rian would be able to review the numbers later. Maybe he'd still enjoy the numbers changing even if he didn't write them down himself.

Once she was certain the notes had been recorded accurately, she turned back towards the tube and deactivated the water jet binding, then added a new binding of waterwisps to the ones already in the tube. She placed it just inside the submerged portion of the tube, anchoring it in place by connecting it to the other waterwisp bindings, which wouldn't affect their function unless she made them too intertwined. Those waterwisps, she bound to turn water into steam.

"Beginning first experiment," she said after she'd stepped back from the bone tube, again out of habit, then shook her head a she remembered. She turned towards—she checked her rock—Yllian. "Write this down. Second test, additional variable, binding to convert water into steam to increase volume. Hypothesis, increased volume will result in increased force and therefore thrust. Read that back to me."

She waited until he finished writing and repeated what she had just said. Nodding in satisfaction, she first activated the binding that converted water into steam, then activated the water jet binding.

A plume of steam shot out of the upraised end of the bone tube, and Lori briefly realized that she hadn't actually thought this experiment through very well. Steam didn't arch down, after all.

However, the plume began to sputter as if it wasn't getting enough water. As she watched, frowning in consternation, the plume eventually disappeared soon after. What?

Cautiously, since she didn't want to have a face full of steam, Lori deactivated the bindings before approaching the bone tube. As she approached, she saw why the steam had vanished.

The end of the bone tube that had been submerged under the water was blocked by ice.

Huh.

…

Oh right, that would have happened, wouldn't it? She hadn't added firewisps, and the water wasn't all that warm to begin with…

"Yllian, write this down," she said. "First experiment failed due to unforeseen and unaccounted for variable."

This… would be a problem…