Weekly Digest 85- (#262 - #265) (Patreon)

The Core Of River's Fork

The core was where Shanalorre said it was.

Or rather, the pile of rocks and dirt that supposedly blocked the way to the core was where Shanalorre said it was, under the first steps of the spiraling stairs shaped into the trunk of the dome's central tree.

"I have to ask," Rian said as Lori slowly claimed the earthwisps of the obstructing rubble with her staff, breathing in evenly out of habit as she began to fuse all the rock into one mass so she could move it all out of the way, "why exactly are cores hidden? I mean, if the Dungeon Binder dies suddenly, wouldn't that be a hindrance to someone claiming it right away and continuing the demesne?"

They stood surrounded by their escort of volunteers, who were supposed to be keeping watch but were occasionally glancing at what she was doing. Shanalorre and whatever his name was since Lori was too busy to check her rock were standing nearby, speaking to the some of the local people, probably those who were part of the demesne's previous organizational structure. Lori as vaguely aware of people watching them curiously, a few pointing at her specifically.

"If the Dungeon Binder dies a natural death," Lori said, only a small part of her concentration on the conversation as she had to focus on the Whispering she was doing, "then there would have been preparations made in advance for the successor. The way would have probably been opened by the Dungeon Binder themselves, and there would have been some sort of arrangements made. I recall reading years ago of a Dungeon Binder, Dungeon Binder Molrijo of Tyuray Demesne, who arranged a grand ceremony where he chose his successor, held a hedonistic celebration that lasted for half a week, and culminated with his trapping himself and his successor in the chamber with the dungeon's core, where in front of witnesses watching through glass he took his own life."

"How could you possibly remember that name and still not know the names of people you've been dealing with for almost a year?" Rian said, sounding incredulous.

"If they trap themselves in a room and kill themselves in front of their trusted friend and all their political allies, then maybe I'll remember their names."

"No, you won't."

Lori shrugged as she softened some of the stone whose earthwisps she'd already claimed, making them flow so that their surface area would come into contact with other earthwisps she hadn't claimed yet, accelerating the process. It was one of those tricks one learned over the years that were never officially taught. "No, I probably won't. I remember it because I could never understand why a Dungeon Binder would wish to kill themselves. What kind of twisted person would simply end their own life and actually choose lose all of that power?"

"Someone who doesn't want it and finds it extremely inconvenient to live with?"

Lori rolled her eyes at Rian silliness. "Continuing on, if a Dungeon Binder were somehow murdered, rare as that is, than making access to the core difficult serves as a deterrent to prevent their murderer from gaining the core, as they no doubt intended to, as well as punishing the demesne for allowing their Dungeon Binder to die and not doing more to prevent it."

Rian looked back from where he'd briefly been looking at Shanalorre. "I'm a bit doubtful as to that last, but I can see why some would interpret it that way."

Several references to the Dungeon Binder explicitly arranging matters so that the demesne would suffer from their death should it come about suddenly came to mind, but trying to arrange them in some sort of comprehensible order to tell Rian took too much concentration from claiming earthwisps, and she let it go. "Thirdly, in older demesne much infrastructure equipment is built around the core, such as wire connections to bound tools to power them in perpetuity. Such infrastructure needs to be isolated from sabotage, misuse, and even just idiots who might cause accidental damage." Left unsaid was how wire connections themselves were kept equally well-isolated, to prevent the limitless power of a core from being used to power some idiot's binding, or whatever it was they were making.

"Ah, that makes more sense," Rian said, nodding. "You don't want just anyone to be able to access a dangerous industrial power source, after all. Imagine if someone idiot made a heat binding that just kept getting hotter and hotter, and connected it to a wire to the dungeon core." He tilted his head. "Do you know of any pits made of molten rock that might suggest someone did that in the distant past?"

"Thankfully, no," Lori said absently as she claimed more and more earthwisps. "Heat would be trivial for a Dungeon Binder to destroy., though it would kill anyone else. The fourth reason to protect a Dungeon Core is to make it inaccessible to dragons. Dragons have some sort of capability to destroy the cores of dungeons, and in so doing kill their Dungeon Binder."

"I think I remember stories about that," Rian mused. "How, though? I mean… aren't cores supposedly made of pure magic in solid form or something?" He tilted his head. "Not unlike beads, really, but obviously there has to be something different, what with the floating in the air and the glowing and all that…"

"No one knows." Lori gestured with her staff like she was trying to sweep a broom through thick mud as she moved all the earthwisps she had managed to claim and bind. The softened stone began to flow, anchoring to surrounding rocks and dirt for leverage as she rearranged the shape of the stone to push it up from one end to get the stone out of the way. "Historically, whatever it is manages to kill anyone close enough to see. The event is relatively rare, even in ancient history, and is suspected to be self-inflicted. Some Dungeon Binders of the demesne that were destroyed are noted to have developed an interest in dragons, with some making arrangements to try to experiment on them. Hence why any gathering of data from dragons is restricted to passive observation only. In most demesnes, an accusation of trying to experiment on dragons is a very serious charge, since it could potentially end the demesne it occurs in."

In the one recorded instance someone was known to have planned to use rousing the attention of a dragon as a weapon of war, their own subordinates had turned on them. When that rebellion had almost been suppressed, the rebels had managed to get word of the plans to neighboring demesnes, which had resulted in all their neighbors allying together against them. That had been the end of Ertalann Demesne, its name only remembered as an object lesson.

Rian hummed. "I notice you don't have that law written down either."

"I don't have a law telling people to not set themselves on fire either. Like drinking molten lead, some things are simply no longer contemplated by any sane wizard."

"That doesn't rule out the insane ones."

And what as there to say to that? Obviously? "Obviously," Lori said sarcastically. "But you can say that about any profession."

Rian nodded. "True, true… "

"And of course, the fifth reason is that some Dungeon Binders know how to destroy the cores of dungeon's not their own."

Rian stared at her for a moment. "That should surprise me, but it doesn't because there's no depth of horribleness people won't eventually sink to given enough time," he said. It was a shockingly pessimistic thought to hear, especially from Rian. "Of course people would find a way to destroy the only thing keeping people safe. Why wouldn't they? I don't suppose anyone knows how?"

Lori shook her head as more and more of the stone moved out of the way. Steps downward shaped from tree roots were revealed, and she shifted her efforts towards exposing them. A path slowly formed. "No. At best, all that is known is that way exists, and is suspected to be possessed by Frado Demesne, Elisdoder Demesne, and Relren Demesne, among others. Suspected, but not confirmed. No one knows what they really used as the only survivors of the destruction, which usually collapses a sizable portion of the Dungeon the core is housed within, were the Dungeon Binders who caused it… and sometimes not even them."

"That sounds utterly terrifying," Rian said, his voice flat. "Thank you for giving me problems sleeping tonight." He frowned. "Unless you're going to tell me those are simply scary stories that get passed around and dungeons don't actually work like that?"

From the bottom of the path Lori had made, there was a glow.

"Enough talk," Lori said, pushing the stone to the side and deactivating the binding. "I need to investigate the core." She put her staff down on the steps, and was just able to claim the waterwisps of the moisture so she could turn them into mist. She wasn't going to fall on slippery steps.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Rian asked.

Lori waved a hand dismissively. "That won't be necessary. I simply need to visually confirm the core. Binder Shanalorre, begin prepare to make the announcement of your surrender and subjugation. We will commence once I have finished my inspection."

"Yes, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said, bowing slightly. "I have already begun informing people to congregate for an announcement."

She had? Well, that explained the people she'd been talking to. Good. "Good," Lori said. "I will be back momentarily." She descended the steps, moving carefully. The steps felt solid under her feet, but there was something disconcerting about how they felt through her boots. Too many bumps and contours, where she was used to professionally planed flatness. Many of the steps were growing small roots, and even though she couldn't feel them, it feltlike she should be able to, half-expecting the sensation of hairy tendrils under her feet.

And then she had reached the bottom of the steps, and there was a familiar light in front of her, a light she had last seen months ago. It filled a room that was similar to the cave she had initially lived in with her core, except the ground was made of flattened roots that looked like they had been merged and flattened with Deadspeaking. The walls might have once been smooth wood, but now they had the darkened, textured look of tree bark. Floating in the center of the small chamber, about the leng of two hands from the ceiling, was undoubtedly the core of the demesne.

The core looked similar to the one she was already connected to, and seemed of a like size, though her pride wanted to say hers was bigger. Everyone knew that size was what mattered, after all. It core floated in the air, glowing softly. Not a brilliant, radiant light, but a soft, diffuse light that emanated from its cloudy-looking surface, which had a luster like a wet tooth and lines like the grains on pale wood. From the bottom of the core, there were short growth that looked like… was that bone? It had been wrapped in with that looked like gold wire, which was secured by a band of some sort of substance that she couldn't identify but looked distressingly familiar…

Lori stared.

…

It… made sense she supposed. When she had made her core, she had been a Whisperer. She formed it using wisps from her body, anchored to materials from her and the surrounding area that she had collected. That had included lightwisps and firewisps. The heat from the lightwisps had melted her gold and lead, leading to the appearance of melted strands in her own core, while the lightwisps had shown brightly…

River's Fork's core, however, had been made by a Deadspeaker. The life that they tamed into meanings were inherently part of materials that had, at one point, been alive. Wood, teeth, leather, bone and…

Hesitantly, Lori stepped forward, claiming some of the lightwisps in the air and binding them. She reached up to her left eye with one hand and anchored the binding to the waterwisps on her fingers, and the binding glowed with light, brightening the space. Transferring the binding of lightwisps to one of the vibrating pieces of quartz on her staff, she shined her light on the jutting pieces of bone at the bottom of the core. Hesitantly, she reached towards the strange band holding the gold wire in place, and recoiled at the smooth sensation that finally let her place what the material was.

Fingernails.

A part of her mind said quietly that blood had probably been used at some point, perhaps hair. Maybe even muscle or some other flesh…

The rest of her shivered at the thought, and firmly resolved to not think about what parts of himself the late Deadspeaker had used to form his core. Yet it was with morbid curiosity that she raised up her hand and gingerly touched its surface. Despite the pattern that looked like wood grain, that wasn't the familiar sensation she felt under her palm. Instead, the surface was smooth as glass and cool to the touch. Almost, she had thought it would be warm and alive and disturbingly fleshy—

Repressing her shudder at that thought, Lori pushed at the core experimentally. It didn't move so much as a fraction of a chiyustri, remaining absolutely stationary despite—

Lori paused and, still keeping her hand on the core, began to walk around it.

—yes, it was completely unsupported from all sides, simply hanging in the air in defiance of the weight that's size and solidity would suggest. It did not shift under her hand, neither rotating or dislodging.

She wondered how Shanalorre had managed to touch the core to claim it. Had she used a stool?

…

Probably.

…

The core was exactly when she had been told it was. She had confirmed it. By the terms of their agreement, she was now the Dungeon Binder of River's Fork.

Turning, she left the core behind, knowing it would be there waiting for her when Shanalorre was dead.

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What Have You Done

"I would like to begin," Shanalorre began, "with an apology for my absence. I was not here to act as your Dungeon Binder and lead you over the past several weeks as winter ended. For that, I apologize." She stood on one of the higher steps on the spiraling stairs built into the central tree of River's Fork's dome to allow herself to be seen. Despite her size and the open space, she was able to make her voice carry.

The group that had gathered once Shanalorre had given the word looked small to Lori. From the numbers, she knew that River's Fork had only about a quarter of the people in her deme—in her primary demesne, but looking at them, there seemed to be even less. They also looked more disheveled than the ones in her primary demesne, with many people standing on the muddy ground without shoes. Others only had leather wrapped around their feet, not actually proper shoes.

Lori herself stood among the volunteers from her demesne, standing off to one side next to the wooden house that she remembered Shanalorre using as her office. Their position allowed her to keep both Shanalorre and the crowd in sight. Some in the crowd were glancing in their direction, probably curious as to why they were there, but most of their attention was on the Dungeon Binder. Or at least, the one they thought was their Dungeon Binder.

"However, you will all be glad to know that during this time, I was able to make an arrangement with Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre continued. "In light of our… deficient dragon shelter measures, Lorian Demesne has agreed to allow the children of our demesne to reside with them, to keep them safe in the event of a dragon." That caused a murmur of interest among those present. "I understand that many of you might be reluctant to allow you children to be away from you, so you need not decide immediately. However, know that it is an option. I am assured that any children sent to Lorian will be well taken care of while they are there. In addition, after some consideration I have decided to implement measures to curtail the rampant theft of our food that—"

"We need that food, you brat!" someone in the crowd yelled out. Lori followed the sound of the voice towards, predictably, somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

"I am aware people need food, which is why each family unit is provided with specifically measured—" Shanalorre began, and a stone flew out from the same general area of the crowd. Shanalorre stepped out of its way, and it struck the steps behind her,"—amounts that are enough to sustain everyone in the household."

"Ah…" Rian said tiredly. He rotated his wrist, spinning the baton in his hand. "Here we go. The unrest has once more stopped being civil." He glanced at Lori then shook her shoulder for some reason. "Look alive. I can't have you freezing on us."

She glared at him indignantly. "When have I ever frozen?" she snapped.

"Two times that something violent has involved Shanalorre," Rian said.

That… that… That was absolutely…

Lori turned away angrily. "Be ready to deal with this, unless you want me to set them on fire."

"Ah, yes, 'dealing with people'," he muttered as the uproar rose. Lori saw another stone flung, but instead of stepping out of its way, Shanalorre swept her hand, deftly sweeping it out of the air, then nonchalantly began bouncing the stone up and down in her hand. Huh. Impressive. It also must have hurt, even with the force partially mitigated by coming at it sideways, but it would be relatively trivial, and might also be something she could just heal away.

…

She hated it when he had a point.

Fortunately, there was something else she needed to deal with right now. While people were making exclamations, and many looked angry or disapproving, the people immediately near the source of the thrown stones were conspicuously not responding to whoever was throwing the rocks. In fact, some people on the outer edges of the crowd were being pushed back from getting to the middle of the crowd.

A third rock went flying, but now lord someone-someone was in front of her, and the rock struck which chest, to which he grimaced. Thankfully, the ground around the central tree didn't seem to have any very large stones.

Shanalorre took these attacks on her person with calm dignity that Lori was willing to admit she wouldn't have been able to equal if she had been in that position. "Are you quite done setting a terrible example for children, Master Sahil?"

"Rainbowed bellringer!" the same voice as before swore, and parts of the crowd seemed to ripple in outrage at the vile obscenity. "You think you can just come back after abandoning us? Where were you when we had to deal with the floods?"

"I was absent, but I never abandoned you," Shanalorre said, much more reasonably than Lori thought she should have been. On the one hand, she was being very calm about all this. On the other hand, if this was her usual response to people challenging her, no wonder her demesne had deteriorated to this state. "And as to the floods, I had already directed for the construction of flood barriers to begin. While the schedule was tight, it should have been finished in time provided all were assisting in construction as they should."

"You abandoned us! We've had to walk through floods for weeks, and where were you?-!" Some of Shanalorre's militia were wading into the crowd, trying to find the man talking, but were having difficulty getting through the crowd. "Run off again, leaving everyone else to—"

Shanalorre's arm blurred, the rock flew, and there was a sharp crack of impact. Lord someone-someone winced, one hand coming up to his throat. Lori's eyebrows rose at the implication of her target as cries of shock and surprise sounded from the crowd.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted, I have decided to implement measures to curtail the rampant theft of our food supplies that will lead to food shortages in the near future," Shanalorre said, as she began climbing down the stairs. "This is part of why I encourage, but do not require, that children be sent to Lorian Demesne to help reduce the strain on those supplies, along with a few upstanding individuals who are well-regarded by all to act as chaperones to ensure the children's well-being, for those who do not believe our mutual friends living there will be sufficient at doing so. Now, I must ask everyone to please make way. If Master Sahil's throat is not healed, he might choke to death."

The crowd parted, and Lord—Lori checked her rock—Yllian led the way, while other militia fell in behind and beside Shanalorre. When they reached the part of the crowd in the middle that had previously difficult to pass through, it parted with clear reluctance.

"Ah, Master Sahil," she heard Shanalorre say, her voice a bit muffled now but still audible. "I will not ask you to apologize, foul as your words were. Such an apology would have no meaning, in the face of what it see in your eyes. I will heal you, and then you will cease interrupting my announcements. We have delayed much because of your foolishness."

There was a pause. Presumably that pause was so that Shanalorre could heal the injury, because there followed an angry roar of "YOU BELLRINGING LITTLE—!" Then there was the meaty sound of an impact, and the words cut off.

"That was rude and ungrateful of you," Shanalorre said. "Lord Yllian, please have Master Sahil detained so that he may be disciplined. He will be kept in confinement until the morning of the day after tomorrow. In that time, he will be provided with water but nothing else. I am reasonably sure he will survive the experience."

There was a high-pitched cry, and Lori heard orders being given. She couldn’t see Shanalorre, but she could see Yllian as he walked out of the crowd, most likely at her side. The other Dungeon Binder stepped out of the crowd, and climbed back up to where she had been before. Lori glanced at her, but turned her attention back towards the crowd. She saw some militia seemingly dragging someone while others kept the way clear for them…

"I think she's trying to impress you," Rian said softly.

Lori turned to look at him. His eyes had narrowed, and he seemed… displeased. "What do you mean?"

"You've commented that you disapprove of the way she runs River's Fork," Rian said. "Not enough discipline. So I think she's trying to act the way you think she should have acted to try and impress you. Or at least utilize your ideas to see how effective they are."

Lori grunted. "Don't be foolish, Rian. She's a Dungeon Binder. She doesn't need anyone's approval."

Shaking her head, she turned back towards Shanalorre.

"Unfortunate as it was, Master Sahil has given me an appropriate example as to," the other Dungeon Binder was saying. "It has become apparent to me that despite my best efforts, I have failed as your Dungeon Binder. People are no longer safe for violence in my demesne, theft is rampant, our infrastructure cannot be maintained, and given how our food stores are being depleted, were are likely to starve to death before we can harvest our crops." She glanced to the side, narrowing her eyes for a moment. "Which I cannot even say has been properly planted and growing in my absence."

The crowd quieted, and Lori imagined them looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

"These failings are ultimately my failings," Shanalorre continued. "I was unable to properly enforce discipline and social order. I was unable to properly organize everyone to preserve our infrastructure. I was unable to properly instill the urgency of how much we needed food. In this and more, I have clearly failed in my responsibilities as a Dungeon Binder, and in so doing have failed you all. After much consideration, I have decided to surrender my position of Dungeon Binder of River's Fork to someone more capable and more worthy of leading you." That finally caught everyone's attention as the crowd, and in fact the militia, broke out into exclamations of surprise.

Next to her, Rian suddenly started to chuckle quietly. As she looked at him, frowning at his reaction, he met her eyes and snickered. "Look at Shana's uncle." Then, remembering that she didn't know what he looked like, he added, "The pale-haired man over there in front."

Lori gave him a bemused look, but looked, trying to understand what her lord found so amusing—

Ah. Now she realized. Shanalorre's uncle was standing straight and proud, a condescending smile on his face.

"He thinks she's talking about him," Rian said, then started chuckling quietly again.

"Idiot," Lori said, rolling her eyes.

"For once, I'm in full agreement. Ah, I think she's signaling that you need to step forward and show yourself soon."

Lori glanced back to Shanalorre, who was looking in their general direction and making a small, subtle beckoning gesture with her finger. "Follow me, then," she said, moving towards Shanalorre.

Shanalorre nodded, then continued speaking to the crowd. "In my place, River's Fork will have someone who is capable, knowledgeable and able to provide the leadership and care that we so desperately need."

At the front of the crowd, Shanalorre's uncle stepped forward… and his foot slid forward as he set it down on the muddy ground. He flailed his arms to keep from falling, and was barely able to catch himself as Lori walked past him. As she reached the foot of the stairs, Shanalorre began to step down. Once she reached ground level, she bowed to Lori. Lori inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement.

Had this been a theater production, everyone would have fallen silent at that gesture and, and then the musicians would have started playing a dramatic score, probably with a lot of wind instruments. Then she would have made a dramatic speech that would close the scene, and the curtains would fall, and then it was over except for getting through the crowd trying to exit the theater.

Here, no such thing happened. The exclamations of surprise grew louder, as Lori and Shanalorre faced them. The loudest exclamation of all came from Shanalorre's uncle.

"What have you done?-!"

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A Poll, Not A Vote

"What have you done?-!"

Shanalorre turned towards him as Lori gave him a disapproving glare. "I have surrendered and submitted to the authority of Dungeon Binder Lolilyuri," the other Dungeon Binder said, her voice still pitched to carry her words to the crowd. "It is she who now rules River's Fork Demesne. She has generously allowed me to continue to live rather than simply killing me so that she could claim my core."

"You…! You had no right to do that!" her uncle insisted, his face growing redder as blood rushed into it from the strength of his emotions.

"On the contrary, as this demesne's Dungeon Binder, I was the only one with the right to do this. If you believe otherwise, then you are incorrect." Shanalorre turned and climbed back up the stairs so she was once more visible to most of the crowd. Lori followed her, making sure to plant herself one step higher than Shanalorre, the exclamations of the crowd changing as they saw her in turn.

Shanalorre's was perfectly calm as she continued speaking, now facing the crowd again instead of just her uncle. A crowd that was murmuring to itself, the combined whisperers slowly growing louder. "It cannot be denied that Lorian Demesne exceeds us. They are more prosperous. They are safer. Their food stores are greater and more reliable, and they have more resources and facilities. All of which the people of this demesne need, and which as Dungeon Binder I must provide. And so I have in the only way I could. You've all heard what Lorian Demesne is like. Some of you are from there. You know how no one died there when the dragons came, how they were protected within their Dungeon. That is a security I cannot provide for you, try as I might. But Binder Lolilyuri can. And with our arrangement, she has agreed to do so. She will build us a shelter against dragons, provide us with food from their stores, and help us build the infrastructure we need to not simply survive, but thrive."

She gestured towards Lori as Rian and some of the volunteers took up positions between the base of the stairs and the crowd, her lord standing in front of Shanalorre's uncle. Lord something-something stood next to him. "I have sworn myself to Dungeon Binder Lolilyuri as one of her subjects. If you hold any trust in me, if you accept me as your Dungeon Binder and are willing to follow my will, then by our agreement, she will consider you her subjects as well, and with her power build up this demesne as she has built up her own."

"And if you choose not to obey, and hereby reject my authority," Lori said, one hand on a length of wood in her side bag, ready to quickly place a well-practice binding of firewisps on it and throw if needed, "then you are free to leave for a different demesne. Or die. It matters little to me what happens to those I hold no responsibility over."

"You did something to her!" Shanalorre's uncle said, pointing at Lori in what he probably thought was a dramatic manner, but was really just rude. Well, her mothers would have said it was rude. She herself couldn't see why simply pointing was considered a rude gesture. It did make her want to break his finger, though. "You forced her to say all this, just so you could take over our home!"

"If I wanted to take this place, I'd have simply killed her and claimed the core under the tree," Lori said disdainfully. Next to her, Shanalorre nodded in agreement.

Shanalorre's uncle opened his mouth to continue his rant, but next to him his wife sighed and slapped him up the back of the head. He whirled around on her angrily. "Oh, be quiet Las," she said tiredly. "You're making a fool of yourself again. Shana told me before she started leaving to help with the pregnancies that she was going to try to find a way to try to get Lorian's help with everything, and that she'd surrender if she had to. Well, it looks like she had to, so she did."

"You knew?-! And you didn't do anything to stop her?"

"She's the Dungeon Binder, Las," she said, in the much the same tones as Lori's mothers trying to explain something that made no rational sense, like sharing or making friends. It was… slightly strange to be hearing those tones and not have the pointless lecture be directed at her. "You should know, you’re the fool who talked her into it. Why would we stop her? It's her decision."

"It's a foolish, childish decision!"

At every word from the man's mouth, Lori felt the pressure inside herself build. Every expression of foolishness, every idiotic word from his idiotic mouth, practically demanded to be struck down, and she felt her hands tightening on the staff that could, would do it. The disrespect! Was he forgetting whose demesne this was? It certainly wasn't his! He was just one of the ungrateful parasites who lived in it! She opened her mouth—

"That's your opinion," Rian interjected, drawing the man's attention towards himself, and giving Lori pause. Rian's voice changed, becoming strong and carrying the way Shanalorre's had. "Does everyone else agree?"

"Stay out of this, outsider," the man snapped.

"No," Rian said, and the blatant cheerfulness in his voice, as well as the smile on his face, was definitely just to be annoying. Hah! She knew it! He turned sideways to look up at Lori. "Your Bindership… Great Binder… If I may advise? For dealing with the matter of this… person?"

…

Right. right, this was a 'dealing with people' matter. That was Rian's duty. She didn't actually need to talk to this idiot, and satisfying as it would be to inflict agonizing bodily damage upon him, he was a doctor—even if she was finding the possibility he was any good at it doubtful—and even with Shanalorre's healing on hand, a doctor would still be useful. Theoretically. "What do you have in mind now, Rian?"

Strangely, people seemed to quiet, as if they were actually listening. "The doctor has made his opinion known, your Bindership. He's against River's Fork Demesne subordinating itself to you. I propose we hear from everyone else."

…

Lori gave him a flat look as she realized his intent. "You want to put this to a vote?-!" she said, and only reason that her voice wasn't filled with disgust was because incredulity had gotten there first, managing to push back the outrage she'd been feeling.

"A vote implies the result will dictate policy for the demesne," Rian said, smiling widely. "No, I simply wish to hear how many of those who live here believes as the doctor does. A… poll, on whether others share the doctor's opinions. That their Dungeon Binder had no right to make this sort of arrangement with your Bindership. That Missus Vyshke, and possibly any others that Binder Shanalorre had made her intentions known to, should have stopped her. That this arrangement was foolish and childish. That they don't need a shelter from dragons, or food to keep from starving, or a place they can have hot baths, or all the things you can provide them."

"We don—!"

"Then I'm sure you have nothing to worry about and that we'll see that everyone else in the demesne will agree with you," Rian cheerfully interrupted.

"What do you propose, Lord Rian?" Shanalorre said.

"It's simple, really. If people agree with the doctor's opinions, then they simply need to stand next to him. And if they disagree…" he made a sweeping gesture towards Shanalorre, and by extension Lori herself, "then just stand next to the tree, away from him. You know, to make it easier to count. After all, there's no need to complicate matters."

He turned back with a smile. "Shall we begin?"

The glare on Shanalorre's uncle's face turned into shock as Shanalorre's aunt walked past him. Lori watched as she approached the stairs, looking up to Shanalorre and Lori. Then she dipped her head in a small, almost perfunctory bow, and turned back around to give her husband a disapproving glare.

"Ah, good, our first vote," Rian said, still sounding annoyingly cheerful. "Next?"

There was a moment of confusion and indecision. Then, slowly, the crowd began to move.

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"Fools! You're all fools! Can't you see she's just using you! She doesn't care about us! "

"Yes, call everyone you want to agree with you fools, that will change their minds," Rian muttered quietly next to Lori. "Excellent bedside manner doctor, I'm sure your patients all feel very safe in your care."

Surprisingly, Lord whoev—Lori remembered she had his name on a rock in her belt pouch and pulled it out to check it—Yllian chuckled quietly at Rian's words. She supposed he agreed with the sentiment, or at least found it amusing.

The number of people who had chosen to stand with Shanalorre's uncle was small, and seemed to consist mostly of non-northerners. They looked increasingly embarrassed as the man continued to harangue those standing near the tree. Two people had simply walked away from the man, finding a practical third option, while a few were clearly having second thoughts.

His most recent rant had been born from one of those who had initially sided with him choosing to walk over to the tree, why Rian had greeted the new arrival with a big smile and genial pats on the back. A couple of others had followed.

Normally, Lori would have been angered at his disrespectful words. Accurate, in many respects, but disrespectful. However, given how ineffectual he was, and how increasingly pathetic he looked as he became increasingly alone—the three left of those who had joined him were backing away behind his back—she couldn't help but be amused instead.

"Well, that seems to be everybody," Rian said cheerfully. "It looks like many people have chosen to put their trust in Bnder Shanalorre and Binder Lori, doctor. Ah, but it was very close. Clearly your opinions, while not reflecting the majority, have their own merit."

Huh. That was probably the cruelest thing the she'd ever heard Rian say.

She half expected the man to explode into rant, or possibly into hysterics as he trembled where he stood. Instead, he sent a hateful glare at Lori, but visibly gathered himself as he finally shut his mouth. With an attempt at dignity, he deliberately turned away from them—then paused, clearly confused as he realized there was no one behind him. He didn’t' let that surprise stop him, however, as he stalked away from them, his feet sinking angrily into the mud with every emphatic step.

"Where's hegoing?" Lori heard someone say. "His house is up there!"

The observation amused the crowd, and Lori found herself surrounded by chuckles.

Next to her, Shanalorre glanced up at Lori. "Shall I continue, or do you wish to make your will known yourself?"

Lori glanced back at her, then waved a hand dismissively. "Finish what you were going to say," she said.

Shanalorre nodded, then drew herself up. "Thank you, everyone, for your trust and understanding in this matter," she said, her voice once more carrying. "If you would all please return to your previous positions, we still have a few other announcements."

Slowly, the crowd trickled back into position. The mood had changed, becoming more relaxed, and when the crowd finally settled down, they seemed more willing to listen.

"Now then," Shanalorre said. "In addition to agreeing to allow the children of the demesne to shelter in Lorian, where they will have access to the safety of Lorian's Dungeon in the event of… anything that makes it necessary, as well as assisting us in the various problems we've been having with food, as part of her taking charge of River's Fork, Binder Lolilyuri has agreed to allow some families to move to Lorian to helped reduce the load on our supplies. In addition, we will be enacting some changes that have proven successful in Lorian, such as communal meals."

Murmurs arose at those words.

"Yes, I am aware that our first attempt at doing so did not prove very successful, or last very long. However, given the pressing certainty of death by starvation as our food supplies run out, I am sure the second attempt will be more successful, as otherwise we shall starve to death," Shanalorre said flatly. "Except, of course, for the children sent to live in Lorian, who will probably have no such worries. This means distribution of food rations will be stopped, as no one will need to cook their own food anymore because they will be receiving communally prepared food. If any persons wish to apply for the position of cooking for the demesne, please speak to Lord Yllian. This also means that all food rations currently possessed will need to be returned. Please bring all rations remaining in your homes to the site of the communal dining area so that it may be included in the coming meals today."

Lori gave the crowd a bland look. "In this instance, we will not be counting of how much rations is brought forward by each household. But only in this instance. Any subsequent theft of food supplies, or any other supplies, will be subject to discipline. And it will be discipline by my standards, not whatever soft measures Binder Shanalorre has been using on you all."

There were a few mutters at that, but not as much as there had previously been, and no one threw rocks or complained they needed the food this time, which was a marked improvement.

"I am told that the communal dining area has been in some disrepair," Lori continued. "So the first order of business shall be to make it usable. Binder Shanalorre, Lord Rian—" Lori checked her rock, "Lord Yllian, organize everyone for the project. I want the place usable by dinner at the soonest, because we are all eating there tonight, or not at all. And if I see any smoke rising from any houses because someone went home to cook, I am setting the house on fire as an example."

That caused more murmurs to rise, but before anything could come of it, Rian hastily said, "And what will you be doing, your Bindership? Do I need to assign anyone to help you?"

"I," Lori said, "will be constructing permanent cooking facilities. Unless whoever is going to be cooking actually wants to have to kneel down next to a fire to do it?"

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New Minions Require New Facilities

It rained just long enough to be wet and annoying, but not long enough to justify not working.

Lori was reminded of the year before, when they'd just arrived at the location they had to settled, and it had rained as they had worked. At the time, they had been glad for the rain, which had washed the Iridescence off them and kept beasts in whatever dens they hid in, letting the settlers work on the Dungeon and the water break around them to keep beasts away at night or when it wasn'training.

Now though, the rain was just irritating.

It was more so under the scraggly, half-grown dome over River's Fork. The branches and leaves above seemed to concentrate the rain, in some spots causing a steady trickle of water to fall down. Even wearing her hat and rain coat, the random falls of water were distracting. The fact the sun came out and shined down after the rain was added insult to injury, since the dome also blocked enough of the sunlight that the mud was unable to dry.

Thankfully, River's Fork's dining hall was covered.

While the ground was just bare dirt and therefore a bit soggy, it wasn't completely wet mud, and already people were sweeping out fallen leaves and other detritus from the area using brooms with heads made from bundles of vigas stems. The roof of the dining hall at least looked mostly structurally intact, though Lori noticed Shanalorre was pointing out spots of the structure to some people. Ah, right. now that they were in River's Fork, Shanalorre could use her connection to the core to find locations infected by mold or voids in wood where it was rotten.

Lori checked her rock. Yllian was directing people to move various benches and tables out of some houses where they had apparently been stored for the winter, and which were also being inspected for damage or mold. A few people tried to just sit around or not properly carry their end of a table, and was immediately spotted by the lord and chastised to work properly. Lori supposed he was capable, after all. Once all the tables and benches were brought out, they were given brooms—the demesne seemed to have a lot of brooms—and told to help sweep. Soon the swept area had extended around the dining hall.

Before she'd begun with the cooking facilities, Lori had, upon Rian's suggestion, made a few tools that were essentially rocks wrapped around one end of a long branch, with the end oppose the branch flattened into an even, broad striking surface. Those tools were now being used to pound down the dirt floor of the dining hall, flattening and compacting it to make it less likely to turn into mud in subsequent rains. This was what the people who'd tried to sit down and not work one too many times had found themselves being assigned, on the sound logic that since they were so well-rested, they had a surplus of imbuement for picking up the heavy tool nd pounding it down on the ground to flatten in.

Rian was directing people to bring rocks to her to use for building the cooking facilities. The dining hall used to have one, but now there was only a bare space, with only a little black traces of soot and ash to hint it had ever been there. Lori suspected it had been gutted for parts for the flood barrier.

"How much stone do you need?" Rian asked as buckets of the loose rocks that had been removed from the dining hall's floor and two carts worth of tailings from the mine—ones without any signs of blue or green ore—were dumped where she had indicated.

"I'll tell you went to stop," Lori said. "Dump the next batch over there, I'll be working on this pile." She pointed at a spot two paces away.

Rian nodded, exchanged nods with Riz who was standing with Lori, and went to supervise getting more rocks for her. The other volunteers were nearby, sweeping or pounding the ground, but Riz was specifically watching Lori, and conspicuously the only one not doing any sort of work. A few were actually directing looks at her about that, but Lori was not going to have her protector occupied by anything else.

The pile of rocks from the two carts, several buckets, and one litter was sizable, and while it wouldn't be enough for any serious building, it would do for a foundation. After all, she couldn't build straight on the mud. That would just be asking for trouble.

Out of habit, she tried to claim the pile of rocks through her core, but this wasn't her demesne. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice the little moment of inattention as she raised up her staff and put the metal-capped butt on top of the pile of rocks. One fingernail rested on that ran the length of her staff as she drew power from her core and made it flow outwards, passing it through her bones and out through her nails, channeled the magic through the metal of the wire and through that claimed the earthwisps in the pile.

An outside observer would have said that the rock her staff rested on began to distort like hot wax, flowing downwards as it touched more and more of the rocks beneath it. Lori was patient, however, as she methodically claimed the earthwisps in the rocks. Slowly, she made the stone flow as she altered their shape, and began laying out a foundation on top of the wet ground. Unlike in her own demesne, she couldn't just fuse the stone to be bedrock to stabilize the foundation.

The second batch of stone was placed where she had indicated, but the third she had dumped onto the foundation she was building to add mass to it. She had to move her staff so she could claim the waterwisps in the mud beneath the stone and draw the water out of the mud, allowing the dirt to compact properly. Once that was done, she claimed the dirt and stone and anchored them together, creating a foundation that ran deep enough it should remain stable through the subsequent rains.

That done, she took a moment to plan out the shape of what she was going to build, using her staff and Whispering to draw some lines on the foundation she had made. Since she didn't have the convenient of her core to make Whispering easier, she'd need to be methodical and plan the steps she would do. She'd already had a general idea of how she'd build this—all they really needed was a stove that could fit one of the old stone cooking pots on—but now that she could see what she had to work with, she could better visualize what she was trying to build.

The foundation Lori had built was three paces long and four paces wide, which probably seemed excessive, but wasn't just building a cooking surface, but also a roof to keep rain and other things off the food. She could probably set it up under the roof of the dining hall, but that would take up space for people, and she didn't know if there was already enough space for all the people of the demesne. Besides, if she set it up under the dining hall's roof, it would be in the way of the inspection and repairs of the structure, which would cause and delay and she'd have to be away from her demesne for even longer!

No, no, best she build this and have one less thing to do!

As a Whisperer, the best kind of roof covering she could make was what she'd already been doing, arching half-cylinder stone roofs whose own shape supported its weight. That required a wide structure if one wanted to be able to stand in it, however, and since she didn't have the option of digging down to get more head-height that way—too much mud and probably roots—she had to make the arch wide to give it more height.

However, that was for later. For now, she had to make a stove that could support the stone pot they had brought. With the copper pots that had made during the winter, the stone pots hadn't really been needed anymore and had been relegated to storing unmilled vigas grain because they had been convenient containers. Bringing the pot had been Rian's suggestion, since it was big enough to cook just enough food for everyone in River's Fork—especially when the children were moved to her demesne—making cooking communal meals easier. And it wasn't likely they really needed it. Lori could have made one in River's Fork when she arrived, but that would have taken more time, and they'd already had one on hand, so why bother?

Lori marked out a circle on the stone, using a cord and the markings on her staff to measure it out. That would be the size of the actual fire pit, where the fuel would be and where the pot would sit on top off. The dimension had been based on the size of the pot they had, so that it would both sit securely and be adequately supported. To that circle, Lori drew two parallel lines some distance apart representing where the firewood would be inserted from. She then added a large square than encompassed the other markings, to demarcate the overall dimensions of the firepit.

Once she was satisfied, she got to work. She had Riz help her move some of the rocks from the pile to the foundation, and when the next load of rocks arrived, she had them dump two of the buckets of rocks on the lines she had drawn, and then had them start dumping subsequent loads on the edge of the stone foundation.

For a moment, she debated trying to keep working with her staff, or perhaps her wand—she'd brought it along, but had left it in the Coldhold—but eventually had to admit that doing so would be inefficient. Sighing, she knelt down—wincing as her knees came to rest on the hard stone foundation—and put her hands on the stone piled on her lines, curling her fingers so that it was her fingernails making contact instead of her fingertips. Belatedly, she wished she hadn't trimmed her fingernails a few days ago, but what was done was done.

Claiming earthwisps like this always seemed faster than using her staff. There was none of the detachment of working through metal as she felt the stone under her hands being bound to her will. It was just soundignified, kneeling like a child playing in the mud and rolling balls of it around. Still, it couldn't be helped. It would be awkward, simply in a different way, to remain standing and try to build this by holding her staff in her hands and poking at the rocks on the ground until the changed shape. Faced with these two options, she chose the one that let her get work done faster.

Still, Lori couldn't help feeling childish as she grabbed rocks with her hands and added it to the softened stone she had claimed and bound, then shaped and place on the ground according to the lines she had made. She used her belt knife both as a leveling tool and a conduit to conduct magic as she methodically began raising up stone walls along the lines she had made. Admittedly, shaping the stone both by hand and using Whispering was faster than simply Whispering alone, and once she got used to working with her hands like this again, she was able to work fairly quickly. It helped that she could solidify the rock again once she was satisfied with it

She soon managed to fall into a rhythm that almost let her forget the ache of her knees as she knelt, raising up the shape of a stone cylinder along the lines she had down on the foundation. It wasn't a complete circle, since it needed a way to add in more firewood while something was cooking, but close enough. It got faster once she realized she could soften large stones taken from the nearby pile and roll them out into cylinders, then place the solidified rolls upright along the lines.

Once she realized she could do that, then she just had to make a lot of stone rolls to place all along the lines she had made, fusing them in place on the foundation to make walls. They weren't complete walls, since that would be too time consuming, but simply a form that she would then fill with rocks to fill in the spaces, softening some to fill in the gaps in the walls of the forms as necessary.

"Rian," she called once she had finished putting rolls along the outline of the stove.

"Yes, your Bindership?" Rian said promptly, a cheerful smile on her face. It was one of his face smiles, since the rest of his face looked tired. He was also sweaty, and from the shovel he was holding, he'd probably also been helping load the carts with stone to bring her. Idiot.

"I need branches," Lori said. She made a circle with her thumb and first finger. "About this thick or thicker, and at least a pace long, relatively straight, no protruding branches."

Rian nodded at the specific dimensions. "How many?"

Lori looked towards the outer outline of the stove she was making. "Enough to make a pace-long wall," she said.

"Ah, of course," he said. "Do they need to be dry? Peeled of bark? From a specific tree?"

That last was probably just him being facetious. Lori waved a hand dismissively. "No, my previous specifications are enough. I just need it as a support for the stove." It would certainly be faster than trying to make a small arching passage to the firebox of the stove.

"I'll ask Yllian, maybe they have some in their firewood stores that haven't been cut down to size yet," Rian said. "But can it wait until after lunch?"

Lori blinked, then looked up. Through the dome, what was visible of the sky was unhelpfully overcast. "It's lunch?" she said.

"About to be," Rian said. "They've been cooking up lunch for the demesne in the pot—" he nodded in a direction, and following his gaze across the dining hall, Lori saw the large stone pot over a fire, being held up by a triangular arrangement of large stones, "—and I've had some of the men cooking our own lunch from our supplies."

Lori considered it, then nodded. "Fine, after lunch will do." Her mouth was dry, she realized. Ugh, how long had it been since she'd had water? "Riz, with me. Rian, find me some water."

She still had a lot of work to do today, but hopefully she could get it done quickly. The faster she got this done, the sooner she'd be back home.

First, however, she was going to the latrine, and this time she had no intention of being attacked afterwards.