Weekly Digest 86 - (#266 - #270) (Patreon)

They Know Where You Sleep

Lori was able to finish the stove and the roof over it by late afternoon. The lip of the roof was just under the roof of the dining hall, and with a raised lip on the outside curve of the roof, any rainwater shouldn't fall on the food as it was taken out. That night, the demesne was called out to the dining hall and told to bring bowls and utensils. The meal was stew, because that was simple and easy to make enough for over fifty people. There was some meat that had been packed in snow to preserve it, some vigas grains that were boiled in the broth, a few dried fruits and wild vegetables.

There was some grumbling as people had to line up to fill their bowls, but between the hot food, the lightwisps Lori had anchored—with difficulty, since she had to reach up with her staff while standing on a table—to illuminate the dining hall, and the little fires they'd put down around the perimeter of the dining hall that she'd bound and imbued the firewisps of to throw off increased heat, people seemed willing to stay and eat there rather than trying to take the food back to their homes.

"It's the light and warmth," Rian had commented as he finished reporting what had transpired. "It's probably pretty dark in their homes, since they can't really build up their fires too high. The dining hall would look far more welcoming. And having Shana there helping serve the food seemed to make an impression, though I hesitate to speculate exactly what. At the very least, it certainly made people show up to eat there. Now they just have to make it a habit."

Lori nodded. "And you'll handle tomorrow's part?" She still thought it would have been easier to send militia to go into people's houses while they were eating and seize any stored food, but according to Rian, who had heard from… Lori sighed and checked her rock, ignoring her lord's amused look… Yllian that not everyone had turned in the supplies as they were supposed to, with people claiming they'd already cooked it all in a big breakfast. Which was just another reason why her new idiots couldn't be trusted with food.

Rian said they couldn't just send their people to check the houses for food while everyone was eating, because that would result in broken trust or something. Didn't the fact people were stealing food from the stores mean that trust was already broken? Hence this plan that Lori though was needlessly overcomplicated. It wasn't that Lori couldn't understand the reasoning behind it—it was very simple reasoning, as befitting something that needed to be easily understood by her new idiots—it seemed needlessly pretentious. The systemic failings of River Fork's lack of proper discipline was well known and needed to be fixed, and this would fix it. It needed to be done, had needed to be done for some time, so why would they need an 'excuse' to implement it?

But Rian claimed doing it this way would act to curtail potential violence, while also implementing discipline. Yllian had reluctantly agreed, as had Shanalorre.

"Yes, the food stores will be audited, and when it inevitably comes up short, we'll have an excuse to inspect everyone's houses for food they technically shouldn't have," Rian said. He sighed. "Hopefully this doesn't get too ugly. At this point I suspect everyone has a little bit in their house to try and stave off the inevitable, so we'll only be punishing people with egregiously big caches of food. The rest will be allowed their little emergency supply—it's a good idea anyway, in case something happens that keeps people trapped inside like a storm or something—while being informed they shouldn't get more."

"Telling them so directly would be far more efficient," Lori said, "and taking them food from them equally efficient."

Rian waved his hands sideways in a strange sweeping gesture that managed to be ambivalent instead of dismissive. "Some people don't learn by being told. A more practical, tactile approach is sometimes necessary. Besides, one should never give an order one knows will be disobeyed, unless one actually wants it disobeyed. Doing so only weakens your authority. Besides, while you're the technically the supreme authority here—"

"I amthe supreme authority here." Her tone was flat, final and unamused.

"While you are the supreme authority here," Rian amended smoothly, "that authority isn't being backed up by the full destructive power and monopoly on force of a Dungeon Binder as it usually would. In practical terms, as an authoritarian you're facing the same limitations as a lord or lady who just happens to be a Whisperer: your subjects outnumber you in practical terms, you have limited militia that you can't really ask to do anything extreme because these people are their friends and neighbors—annoying as some of them might be for being troublemakers—and if you push them too far, they know where you sleep and everyone has to sleep eventually."

A shudder vibrated up Lori's spine at the way Rian emphasized that last item. She remembered the days when she'd slept alone in her room, separated from everyone else in the demesne by cracks just barely wide enough to provide her with air. Colors, had that only been… just a little under a year, at this point. Why had she stopped?

"Which is why I'll be sleeping in front of your door, just in case," he continued. "So please don't block out sound through the door again, because my dying screams might be the only warning you get. In which case, take that as my tacit admission that all my plans are wrong about everything and we should have used direct violence at the start. Granted, I don't think it'll come to that, since from what I've seen everyone's only self-centered and slightly uncaring of the people around them instead of actively malicious and hostile, but everyone thinks that until they're proven wrong."

Lori twitched. "You could have led with that," she said.

"I know, but keeping it last is well-respected oratorical tradition," he said cheerfully.

She glared at him, even as she grudgingly acknowledged his point. Somehow, that sort of expository structure always sounded more fun in the theater, or in a novel. In real life, it was just annoying.

––––––––––––––––––

The next few days were extremely irritating for Lori, though as the alternative was Rian's hypothetical scenario of someone trying to kill her in her sleep, she supposed it could be far worse. She had to spend that time outside her demesne. After the first two nights sleeping in her room in the Coldhold, she began setting a binding of airwisps to air it while she was gone since it was becoming stuffy. Doing so was a bit difficult because there was only one entrance, but she was able to make the airwisps flow through a twisting loop such that air was pulled in from the top of the door and pushed out from the bottom.

During those days, she built. An addition was added to the dining hall's cooking facilities in the form of a bread oven that would let them bake discs and coils of bread. While bread was quick to make, having a single facility cooking it for over fifty people was time consuming, and so it needed to be fairly sizable, as well as able to potentially roasting meat and other foodstuffs in future.

After that, she worked on the rest of the infrastructure that in her opinion the demesne desperately needed. Even before a Dragon shelter, the place needed secure food storage. She'd finally seen what River's Fork used for food storage, and it had been a literal root cellat. That is, an underground chamber that had been created by Deadspeaking, the wooden walls constructed from Deadspoken living roots that had been fused into solid panels, then lined with straw from the multiple harvests of vigas from the year before to act as insulation before wall panels of none-living, Deadspoken wood were put in place to complete the structure, as well as pillars to hold up he ceiling.

The structure was actually fairly spacious, and a fool might have thought it would have sufficed as a dragon shelter if they ignored the fact less than a third of a pace of dirt covered the structure; that the door to the food storage was a light, almost hollow-feeling door that hung on its frame by leather hinges fused to both by more Deadspeaking; that the door was loose in its frame as the leather had already taken a beating and as a result didn't lock properly; or the fact the door had claw marks from dragonborn abominations, one of which had broken through the door and left a hole that still hadn't been patched up. Granted, it was too small for bugs to get into, but still!

Lori considered it almost pure chance that the structure had been in an area high enough that flooding hadn't reached it, given that it seemed to have been made with a fanciful aesthetic rather than pragmatic utility in mind. It would certainly have fit what other examples of the Shanalorre's late predecessor's work she'd seen. While the storage room was mostly still functional, they were using it to store their meat supplies on ice, and the water had already started degrading the wood, and would inevitably lead to fungus and rot, possibly infecting any further food stored there. Thus she needed to build properly secure food storage, one that could be used to store food more securely, especially through a dragon. The fact the demesne hadn't lost all their food to abominations, or simply exposure and damage, was quite frankly absurd in her eyes, and not an absurdity that would probably happen again.

And that was just the start of the infrastructure she needed to build. In addition to the food storage that would hopefully keep out thieves in future, she'd also need to build supply storage for things like wood, firewood, leather, and other raw materials; a dragon shelter, which for the sake of convenience and survival should be connected to the food and supply storage; a water storage cistern; and houses more secure and longer-lasting than the ones the demesne was currently inhabiting.

That last, she knew, would by necessity would have to be temporary. While she was still working on Deadspeaking, it didn't take one to see that the dome was clearly suffering from its unnatural construction and lack of maintenance by a proper Deadspeaker. In addition to the tree whose trunk had shattered and which she'd secured with stone in one of her earlier arrangements with Shanalorre—had that been more than half a year ago already?—some of the other trees that had been integrated and interwoven into the dome seemed to be dead, or at least dying. Rian had shared his suspicion that some of the trees comprising the dome were parasitizing others, or at least drawing on more than their fair share of nutrients, behavior which would probably have been curtailed by a Deadspeaker who was sufficiently familiar with botany and plant behavior.

It was, in Lori's opinion, something of an indictment of the demesne's founder. While her demesne utilized a lot of Wisps that she had to constantly keep imbued, none of it was structural or, strictly speaking, necessary. It was part of why she built using pillar and arch structures, so that none of her buildings, and none of her Dungeon's levels, needed earthwisps to reinforce their structure. The lights, the heat, the running water? Convenient, of course, but if should all the imbuments run out one day, nothing in her demesne would become unusable. Cisterns and the water reservoir would still hold water, they'd just need to manually pour and lift it out with buckets. People would need fire for light and heat, but structures would still be solid. Her doors would stay in place, because they had been mounted with carpentry, even if she'd used earthwisps to set them into stone.

River's Fork, however… everything in it needed active maintenance by a Deadspeaker, Dungeon Binder or not. They used to have elevated houses on stilts, until those fell down from the dragons. While the buildings were solid wood, it was untreated solid wood, with no charring applied or oil brushed on to inhibit rot and decay. The central tree had homes built into it, but during nights, Lori saw very few of those homes with burning lights to indicate occupancy. She identified only four on the entire tree, and the two near the top she was fairly sure was Shanalorre and her remaining in-laws. For that matter, few of the houses at ground level had lights either. Was that from a lack of occupation or a lack of light?

While she was, of course, not going to die any time in the following century, because she would take command of her body's aging with Deadspeaking—once she figured out how to do it—if she happened to forget to maintain anything in her demesne, it would continue for function for as long as the stone stands, and given she used strong, solid stone as building material, that would likely be a long time.

It was almost… sad, really. All this construction, now going to waste because it hadn't been designed to be maintained by anyone but the one who had built it. No wonder Shanalorre had failed. She had been trying to lead people who lived in a place slowly dying around them. of course everything had degraded. People had literally seen the signs of it on the walls.

Well, Lori was here now.

After the cooking facilities, the food storage was next. She was building it in the copper mine, simply softening and excavating the stone from the walls near the entrance to clear open a large space. the stone she excavated was dragged outside to make a stockpile and to thicken the outside of the mine. Fortunately, there wasn't any signs of green and blue copper ore in the stone she excavated… mostly. The miners had followed a vein, and while there was more of the vein deeper in, right near the entrance of the mine they had extracted all that they could, leaving uneven wall supported by frames of wooden beams. The little patches of color she saw were too small and insignificant for her to expend the effort to try and separate it from the rest of the stone, so there was nothing to distract her from simply digging outward from the main shaft of the mine.

Riz and another two volunteers—she didn't know who they were beyond 'not Deil and Tackir'—stayed with her to protect her, guarding the entrance of the mine and the water wheel mechanism keeping the air circulating for her. She had been surprised it was still intact, and could only be smugly proud of the craftsmanship of her demesne's woodworkers as she claimed and bound the water in the trough to flow and turn the wheel once more.

While she had worked on the food storage, the inventory of the food storage was being conducted. The food was actually meticulously counted, both because they needed to know how much was there and to remove any doubt of a miscount. She heard the uproar as the results of the inventory came out and it was announced that people's homes would be inspected to search for the 'missing stores'. Lori wouldn't have literally heard it if she hadn't been coming out of the mine with a load of stone, which was seemingly 'pushing' ahead of her with her staff so she could maintain direct control off the earthwisps causing it to flow and deform to move it across the ground. There had been angry shouts and assertions as to the supremacy of the sovereignty of a person's home, which was complete and utter nonsense.

She had lingered worriedly for a moment, hearing the distant, unintelligible voices of Shanalorre, Rian and—a quick check of her rock—Yllian speaking, and occasionally shouting to the crowd. Eventually, she had gone back to work, but only after ordering Riz to unleash violence on anyone suspicious who so much approached the mine. Riz and two other people probably wouldn't be able to hold back an angry crowd long, but their dying screams would be her cue to bind the tunnel into a death trap as only a Whisperer could.

It didn't come to that, thankfully, even though she'd been wary as she worked for the rest of the day. She had heard the rest of what had transpired afterwards. Rian had offered to let anyone who could beat him or Yllian in a fist fight a pass on the inspection, and had even let them choose who they wanted to face. Most had chosen him.

Foolishly, it seemed.

"What were you thinking?-!" Lori had demanded once she had heard and managed to get Rian in front of her. "Offering to let people not be searched? By fist fighting you?"

"A lot of things," Rian said. "You weren't there—for which I was glad, because that meant you were safe—and you wouldn't have been able to recognize them by name or face if you had been, but nearly all those most against the search were known malcontents—"

"YesRian, that would have been blindingly obvious from context alone!"

"Uh, yes. So I figured I'm offer them an illusion of a chance to get away with what they'd done, all fair and in front of witnesses. If they win, they could get away with their theft." Rian's smiled gained an edge she'd never seen on him before. "Simple terms that everyone understood. We'd go to their house, and they could choose to let us in to look or fight me. If they won, we wouldn't inspect and move on to the next house. If I won, we go in." He shrugged. "When faced with the choice, most reasonable people chose to let us in, and we had random people in the crowd, as well as residents, come in to see that we only took the food and not anything else. Showed them we were being honest with our intentions. Those with only a little food we simply commended for having an emergency store to show were weren't being unreasonable."

"Most."

Rian shrugged. "Those that accepted were known malcontents, so them doing so wasn't unexpected. But it served to show that they were feeling guilty and had something to hide, especially when we did find food afterwards, and far more than they should have had."

"And you beat them. All of them."

Rian smiled widely. He hadn't lost any teeth, Lori noticed. "You're not the only one who's been feeling frustrated by selfish idiots," he said. "Yllian is older than I am, but also bigger, and everyone knows he used to be militia. I, however, am smaller and kind of scrawny looking." That… well, perhaps compared to Yllian. "So of course they chose to fight me instead."

"And you beat them."

"There's something about having an idiot who's making your life harder in front of you that lets you concentrate a lot of power into a punch to the face," Rian said. "And the gut. And the kidneys. And into the kicks to the side of their leg. Though Shana had to heal me up later. I'm good, but I'm not that good."

"I'm heard that you threw a man to the ground."

"He mostly threw himself down. I just helped. Enthusiastically."

––––––––––––––––––

A Belated Realization

It took Lori several more days to sufficiently excavate the mine and shape the excavated area such that it was fit for storing food. While she couldn't control earthwisps at a distance anymore as she could in her demesne, she had been a skilled Whisperer even before becoming a Dungeon Binder. It was all about knowing how the work would flow, and with her nigh-limitless magic due to her connection from her core, the pace of her work was no longer constrained by the rate in which she could breathe in magic to imbue her wisps.

The resulting space was rather plain, but it was well insulated because of all the stone, and copied the dimensions of the food storage facility the demesne currently had, meaning there was plenty of room to store food. She'd carved out little channels on the ground to divert the meltwater from any ice towards a little pool tucked away in the back corner that she'd dug out for the purpose of drainage. Once the space had been excavated, she made walls to partition off the space from the original mine shaft tunnel so that the only way to access the storage space was through a doorway... or, well, an opening in the wall, at any rate. A door would need to be installed later.

After that, she finally began construction of the dragon shelter.

While it had been proven that the mine could shelter everyone in River's Fork even without any expansion, the conditions in which it did so were terrible. She shuddered to think of what people had done to relieve themselves while they had sheltered here, though it seemed like the mine had at least been cleaned since that time, if only for the benefit of the miners who would have continued excavating afterwards.

The very thought of it made her want to build latrines on the spot, but no. She needed to excavate a space for the shelter first. That was done a little deeper into the mine. Originally she was going to start a pace past the edge of the wall of the food storage area, but after some consideration, she decided to conduct some measurements first, to be sure of where she was digging. Because of her lack of connection to the core, she couldn't just know how far away the surface was or whether there was space for her to dig. This wasn't her demesne—yet—after all, and so she was forced to be more meticulous.

After some measurement to ascertain that she wasn't going to break out the other side of the hill, Lori cautiously began excavating upwards. She was deep enough inside the hill that she had some leeway in every direction but back towards the entrance of the mine. While excavating sideways or downwards would be easier, it would be more difficult to remove the excavated stone that way, especially since she was doing it by herself. Besides, she didn't want to be too far away from fresh air.

She started with an upward oriented ramp, settling on one that was three paces wide to allow sufficient space for two-way traffic. It took her some time, since the initial angle was far too steep, but it was easier to build than stairs, even if it technically required more excavation of stone. However, making stairs would force her to do it almost by hand, since she'd need to get down on her hands and knees to properly for the steps, and she didn't have the stonemasons to do it for her. So… ramp it was.

It was on her second trip to bring stone outside that she realized she could use the stone to reinforce the ceiling of the mine shaft tunnel with arches rather than simply dragging it out.

––––––––––––––––––

"Sooo… Riz tells me she heard you screaming in frustration in the mine today," Rian said when he came to bring her lunch.

"I had a belated realization," Lori said stiffly as she picked one of the five bowls and one of the cups on the plank he was carrying. She sat on a little stone seat jutting out from the wall as Rian offered the other bowls to Riz and the two volunteers who'd been standing guard at the mines entrance while she worked. The latter two immediately moved farther down the tunnel, beginning to chat quietly once they were some distance away.

Riz glanced briefly towards then, then towards Rian, cradling her bowl. Sighing, she got up and went after them.

Lori raised an eyebrow at that as Rian took the last bowl for himself. There was no bread, since that would have been too difficult. Instead, little shelled and boiled grains of vigas floated in the stew. While hardly the most appetizing way to eat it, with the stew it wasn't intolerable. "Why isn't Erzebed eating with you? Did you do something to offend her? Compare her to one of the other two?"

Rian paused. "Did… you actually just say that? Did you actually just take an interest in my personal affairs?"

"Erzebed is currently guarding me," Lori said, stirring her bowl and assessing the firmness of the vigas. They were softer, but not yes waterlogged and mushy. Perfect. "I'd rather she wasn't distracted by—stop that or I'll give you something to really cry about!"

She glared at him as he theatrically wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. "I'm just so happy your own 'dealing with people' skills keep developing."

"Noticing that Erzebed isn't eating with you when she usually would doesn't need skill to deal with people, simply functional eyes, a working memory, and basic pattern recognition," she said flatly, spooning some stew and putting it in her mouth. It was hot, but not burning, and the vigas had a nice firm texture amidst the meat, soup and bits of tubers. Delicious.

"No, but your being concerned that I had offended her does, and suggesting a possible reason why shows understanding of what offends people."

"It's not understanding, it's simply remembering common and stupid reasons why characters argue in pointless romantic subplots."

"Still counts, since you managed to apply it to real people," Rian said cheerfully. "But to answer your question, no, I think she's simply reinforcing her militia-ness by commiserating with the other glitter crawlers instead of eating with us officers. And also no, I didn't compare her to someone else. How suicidally stupid do you think I am?"

"My allegedly expanding skill with people cannot understand that, so I'll take your word for it."

"Ah, job security," Rian said dryly. He stirred his own bowl, but seemed to find it still too hot. "So, what was the belated realization?"

Lori stared at him. "What belated realization?"

"The one that made you scream earlier."

Ah. Lori recalled the beginning of this conversation. "Just that I should have been using the excavated stone as reinforcement instead of bringing them outside."

"Yes, the piles outside are getting a bit big. Though personally I don't think the ceiling needs reinforcing. The beams seem to be doing a good job as is."

"You're not the one working here, you don't get an opinion."

Rian shrugged. "Fair enough, I suppose. Do you need help? We're running low on supplies on the Coldhold since we're only eating our own food, so I was thinking we needed to send it back for a supply run. We can get the stone masons and maybe some of the carpenters here to help you build what you need, since the locals are all busy finally getting their fields ready and doing all that maintenance Shanalorre said they needed to do."

Lori considered that. She glanced sideways at the partially complete ramp, which at the moment still lead to nowhere. "I suppose some assistance would be helpful…" she admitted. Then she blinked. "Wait, you're sending the Coldholdback?"

"Yes, I just said that. I figured tomorrow would do—"

"When were you planning on telling me you were sending our only means of getting home away?-!"

"I… just did? A little while ago?"

Lori twitched. "Why are you sending our only means of getting home away?"

"I… also just said. We need more food, since we're not taking from River's Fork's supplies. It'll just be a quick hop back a forth, the ship will be back this afternoon."

Lori gave him a long, unblinking stare. "Then I will accompany it," she said. "I'm going back home."

Rian frowned, opened his mouth, paused, and looked around. Eventually, he nodded. "Yes, I think that's a good idea. You've been working nonstop for days, and you haven't even had a bath since. Maybe you should spend the night there and come back in the morning."

Lori was torn between arguing that there's work to be done and the idea of going back to her demesne, where she wasn't constantly cold and had a wonderfully soft bed to sleep on. It had been… colors, how long had it been already? The monotony of the mines and the work had sort of blended together.

"How long has it been since we left home?" she said, voice soft as she realized she'd actually lost track.

"Uh, a week and a half? Also why we're running low on supplies, we were supposed to go home sooner, but you just kept on working here, so…"

A week and half. Half of three of the months, and more than a third of a red one…

"I'm heading back this afternoon," Lori declared. "After lunch. Get the boat ready. I want to be home as soon as possible."

Rian blinked at her in surprise, mouth opening as if to argue. However, before she could start glaring at him for questioning her, he closed it, humming thoughtfully. "Are we bringing everyone back with us, or just you?"

Lori opened her mouth, but then it was her turn to pause. She closed her mouth to hum thoughtfully. "What are the rest of our volunteers doing?"

"I have a couple guarding the old food storage from theft while allegedly everyone else is working on the fields. They've noted a few people, some of them the known malcontents, walking past far too often for it to be anything but them thinking to try their luck and aborting when they saw the place was now guarded. A couple are on the ship to make sure our supplies don't get stolen. And the rest are protecting your privacy."

Lori considered that. "Leave a few here under Yllian's command to keep guarding the food. We'll go home, you find people to relieve them, bring their replacements in, and have them back home by tonight. Tomorrow, we'll bring more volunteers, as well as the stone masons and some more carpenters to make the door for the food storage so we can finally get around to moving the food that's left." She frowned. "What's taking that door so long, anyway?"

"Well, they're still cutting all the wood for the door since they don't have a stock of pre-cut planks," Rian said. "So, yeah, it might be faster to have a door made at home and just bring it here. Hinges, too."

Lori nodded. "Tell them so once we arrive. I'll measure the opening for the dimensions of the door we need." She considered it a moment. "Inform Binder Shanalorre she'll be coming with us."

"What about her family? You said you intended that they move to Lorian with Shanalorre. Are we doing that now?"

She thought about that, then shook her head. "No. Not while I still have to come back here to continue work on the shelter. I'm not leaving her idiot uncle alone in my demesne unsupervised."

"And by unsupervised you mean you."

Obviously. "Obviously," she said.

"Can I at least finish eating first before I start doing all the running around this will entail?"

She impatiently waved a hand dismissively, and he started eating. She did as well.

The two ate in silence for a moment.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to go home sooner," Rian said quietly between mouthfuls.

She shrugged. "There was work to be done, and I lost track of time."

Rian's spoon paused for a moment. "Uh, have you been remembering to keep things back home imbued? You know, hot water, lights, that sort of thing?"

Lori gave him a withering look. "Of course I have." She had it written down on a list that she checked every morning. "What kind of fool do you take me for?"

"Ah." He sounded relieved. "Because I remember the first time we came here, and how everything had stopped working by the time we got back home…"

"Just eat, Rian."

"Eating, your Bindership."

Lori ate as well, her mind filled with thoughts of home as her hands moved the spoon on their own. Her bed. Her table. Her private bath. The perfect, ideal warmth around her that told her she was in her demesne…

She looked towards the incomplete ramp and sighed.

––––––––––––––––––

One Night's Rest

Leaving should have been simple. Rian should have only needed to tell some people they were going, everyone would have gotten on the boat in an orderly fashion, and she'd have been on her way back to her demesne. Even if she'd be leaving again the following day to get back to work on her new other demesne's dragon shelter, the rest would do her good.

It should have been, but it wasn't.

"There's no reason for you to leave with them," the woman Lori vaguely recalled was Shanalorre's aunt was saying to the other Dungeon Binder. She was using that annoying voice that people thought sounded like they were being reasonable but was clearly only condescending. "You're finally back home, and as I understand it there are no births you needs to assist with."

"The Great Binder ordered I accompany her," Shanalorre stated the obvious. "So I will. I'm under her authority now, mushka. We all are. That was the agreement."

"That's no reason for you to leave," the woman said as Lori gave the interfering the woman a flat look, force of habit from years of living in a demesne she didn't rule keeping her fist from striking the woman's face. The woman was holding Shanalorre's shoulders possessively, in a way that was probably starting to hurt. "You're… this is your demesne. You outrank her here."

"No, I do not. This is her demesne now," Shanalorre said, and apart of Lori was viscerally satisfied at hearing the other Dungeon Binder using the 'reasonable but really just condescending' tone. "The only reason I am not dead so Binder Lori can take the core is because she finds more useful alive than dead. I'll be perfectly safe, mushka. If the Great Binder wanted me dead, I would be already."

For some reason, this perfectly reasonable argument didn't immediately convince the woman with the incorrectness of her assumptions, because her hands visibly tightened on Shanalorre's shoulders.

"Mushka, that's almost painful," Shanalorre said. "Please let me go now, I do not think the Great Binder wants to be delayed any further. We will likely return tomorrow, or the next day at worst."

"You don't need to go," the woman insisted.

Before Lori finally stepped in and acted on the impulse to end her meddling with a swift fist to the face, whatsis-ian—Lori checked her rock—Yllian intervened. "That's enough, Vyshke," he said, voice quiet but sharp. "The Gre— Binder Shanalorre made an agreement with the Great Binder. We won't have you breaking it just because it's inconvenient for your mothering."

The woman turned to glare at him, and in that moment of inattention, Shanalorre was able to bend down, out of the woman's grip and with some dignity turned away to move towards Lori. The Vyshke woman tried to go after her, but Yllian stepped in to physically bar her way.

"Take care for things while we're gone, Yllian," Rian said as Lori began heading for the boat once Shanalorre had presented herself. "Someone's probably going to go try and steal some food tonight, so watch out for that, all right?"

"Your warning is noted, Lord Rian," Yllian said in a dry, flat voice, and Lori could hear the 'don't tell me something I already know' in the tone, even as he continued to bar the Vyshke woman's way.

Lori let the nonsense fall behind her as she started walking towards the Coldhold, a spring in her step at the thought of going back home. It was raining again, but she'd replaced the blood in the evaporator and imbued it, so any water that got into the boat could be taken care of. Water dripped onto her hat from the branches of the dome above, and she adjusted her collar to make sure none of the water went down her neck.

Shanalorre was wearing no such protection from the falling water, but she seemed unbothered, simply keeping pace with Lori as they continued heading down to the boat. "I apologize for my aunt," Shanalorre said quietly. "She is only concerned for my well-being." A pause. "Though I must ask, whyam I accompanying you back? I have no objections to doing so, but I am simply curious."

Because she didn't want Shanalorre out of her sight, because she didn't want Shanalorre to potentially plot rebellion with the people still loyal to her, because she thought this demesne was still likely to break out into violent uncivil unrest and she didn't want to lose her healer to that…

"Because I think this demesne is still likely to break out into violent civil unrest and I don't want to lose my only healer to that," Lori said bluntly. "I might not care to understand people, but I know enough to understand that resentment, selfishness, thoughtlessness, contrariness and spite don't just disappear in a week. The idiots who are more idiotic than everyone else will probably try something, and once we leave is a possibility."

"But if that's so, shouldn't we stay to mitigate it?"

"No," Lori said bluntly. "I have another demesne to take care of, one I like more because it actually has self-discipline and doesn't try to destroy itself as soon as my back is turned." Not actively destroy, anyway. "Besides, should anything come up, Yllian can deal with it better using violence, and if I—and you, I suppose—were here he'd have to divert militia towards protecting us rather than dealing with any foolishness."

"Our deal was that you treat the people in my demesne as you have treated your own," Shanalorre said quietly.

"And if any of them had reached this level of criminality, I would have treated them this way." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "Well, I'd have had Rian treat them that way, but Yllian is a fitting substitute. Do you assess that he is a needlessly cruel man?"

"No, of course not."

"Then no one should die unless they prove themselves to be an active, unreasonable danger to someone else," Lori said with finality. "At worst, you'll have a few broken bones to take care of tomorrow. Or do you feel that the people here are significantly more malevolent just to steal food?"

"I… understand your reasoning," Shanalorre said slowly, "but it still seems like we're abandoning the demesne."

"How is it abandoning them if we're back by tomorrow? A more logical case for abandonment would be my absence from my primary demesne for over a week, or your own absence during the early spring had that absence been deliberate. Compared to that, this is nothing. You are overestimating the importance of this place."

Shanalorre nodded slowly. "I… understand, Great Binder. Thank you for correcting my perspective."

Lori nodded. Truthfully, she wanted to stay more than a night in her demesne. She wanted, as always, to never leave. That wasn't possible, of course. There was work to be done, and she had responsibilities as this place's Dungeon Binder… miserable and soggy as this place was.

––––––––––––––––––

It was past mid-afternoon when they got back, and while Lori didn't have to participate in the far too lengthy reunions that were occurring, the way they filled up the docks and the stairs going over the flood barrier kept her essentially trapped on the boat until enough people had managed to get out of the way. She spent the rest of the time until dinner luxuriating in her private bath and doing her laundry, since she'd been wearing the same clothes for far too long.

When she went down to eat, it was finally wearing clean clothes, carrying her sunk board for the first time in a while. At her table, she found Shanalorre waiting for her, the other Dungeon Binder's hair still wet from what was obviously her own soak in the baths.

"Lord Rian asked me to inform you that he won't be joining us for dinner tonight," Shanalorre said. "He's returning to River's Fork with the new volunteers to relieve the people that were left there, and he said it was highly likely that the ship would not return until after dark. He also said that as he you were not answering knocks on your door, that he was accompanying the boat to use the illumination you gave him to help light the way, as you have both once more forgotten to put external lights on the Coldhold."

Lori paused as she took a moment to comprehend what her subordinate had just told her, then sighed as she realized that, yes, she had forgotten to put exterior lights on the Coldhold for navigating in the dark. Though to be fair, they didn't really travel on it at night… except in this instance… and actually, wouldn't they have needed to do so back when she had been injured an infected?

"Remind me to correct that tomorrow," Lori said with a sigh as she finally sat down and put the sunk board down on the table in front of her. She opened the container of stones she used to play and began to set the board. "Did Rian leave any other messages?"

"No," Shanalorre said, "though he did ask me to speak to people on your behalf in his absence. I'm unsure of what he meant."

The hand that was placing down stones stilled slightly. Oh, yes. She'd forgotten about that. Lori eyed Shanalorre, who looked back at her with tranquil inquisitiveness, clearly expecting, or at least hoping, for an explanation.

Finally, she said, "It shouldn't come up, but with Rian absent, I need you to be the one to speak to people and either tell them what I need them to do or find out what they need. Rian usually does it, but he's not here, and…" She frowned and looked around the dining hall. There were several flashes of pink hair, but many of them were over features of Mikon-faced women, and there was no sign of anyone whose face she could make out. "Do you know where Ezebed is?"

"Erzebed… Oh, you mean Riz," Shanalorre said. "I believe she accompanied Lord Rian and the new volunteers. I gather she will be remaining in River's Fork tonight to act as a squad leader for the volunteers on Lord Rian's behalf."

Ah. Well, the woman didn't want to be considered for the post anyway, but Lori had been hoping she could tell Shanalorre what she needed to do. "A pity." Lori put the rest of the stones onto the bowls of the sunk board and hoped Shanalorre wouldn't ask her for further clarification. She'd never actually had to teach someone to take Rian's place, since Riz had been nearby for long enough that she had a good idea of what the position entailed.

From the crowd, Mikon and Umu suddenly appeared. The former was using what looked like Rian's plank of wood to carry four bowls of food and some cups, while the latter was carrying a jug of water and a plate stacked with disks of bread. "Your Bindership," Mikon said with a warm smile as she carefully put down the plank. "I'm sorry for talking to you, but Rian asked me to bring you food while he was gone. Oh!" Her smile widened as she saw the sunk board. "Are we playing tonight, your Bindership?"

Lori simply moved the board between them in lieu of answering, taking one of the four bowls and a cup for herself, and her share of the bread when Umu put down her load.

"Here," the blonde weaver said with a gentleness that Lori had never heard before as she handed Shanalorre one of the bowls. "Rian asked us to get food for you too, Lady Binder."

Lori's eyebrows rose at the strange address. "Lady Binder?" she said. Her tone demanded explanation.

The gentleness vanished as Umu found herself the focus of Lori's attention. "Ah, w-well, people aren't quite sure what to call Binder Shanalorre, y-your Bindership," Umu said. "Calling her 'her B-bindership' too would be confusing when you two are together, and since she's a Binder but also sort of your lady, some people have been calling her that."

That… was almost sensible reasoning for her idiots. So much so that she was immediately suspicious. "Did Rian come up with that?" she said.

The two women opposite her looked at each other, clearly considering how they should answer and all but confirming it. "Yes," Mikon admitted.

"I do not mind being called such," Shanalorre said. "I suspect the alternative is being referred to as the Little Binder. And as a female subordinate of Binder Lolilyuri with standing at least equal to, and in the case of Uncle Yllian exceeding that of a lord but no longer equal to the Great Binder, I suppose it would be accurate for me to be a considered a lady."

Lori grunted. She eyed Shanalorre for a moment, but… well, the suggested nomenclature certainly helped with properly stratifying the hierarchy, and contextualizing Shanalorre's rather unorthodox position. "I'll consider it," Lori said. "Your move, Mikon."

As the pink-haired weaver enthusiastically opened the game, Lori started eating her food. One night's rest, and then… and then it was back to work. She'd need to finish the dragon shelter, make sure they had latrines that would keep waste properly isolated, make sure they had a water supply that wouldn't be tainted by those latrines, make sure they had reliable air circulation and lights, make sure they had a sturdy door to bar dragonborn abominations from getting into the mine …

Tomorrow, she'd do all that. Tonight though, she'd sleep in her own bed, in her own room, and rest.

––––––––––––––––––

A Restless Walk

After dinner, Lori should have been sleeping. Her bedroll was on her bed, and her pillow and blanket atop it, ready to give her a good night's rest. The only one she'd have for some time, given where she'd be going the next day.

Instead, she was restless.

Try as she might, Lori couldn't sleep. Despite not being hungry, all she could do was lie in bed, staring up at the names on the ceiling that she never seemed to get around to removing, even though she couldn't remember why it was there. The names themselves were stuck in her memory now, though except for Umu, Mikon, and possibly Deil and Tackir she wouldn't be able to tell them by face. And the last two she might get mixed up.

She tried reading her almanac, but Lori found she couldn't properly concentrate on the words. The book sat open on her lap, and she found she'd been reading the same opening paragraph over and over without remembering that it said. When she tried to switch to something else, a flow diagram for a controlled burn of forest undergrowth—she'd chosen it because it had been the only thing that had piqued her curiosity—she had ended up simply tracing the diagram with her fingers.

Eventually she put away the almanac, lest it be damaged by her carelessness. She got to her feet, thinking to walk about to, if not exactly clear her head, then at least expend so of the energy that seemed to be imbuing her. The dining hall below was quiet when she stepped down. The light were was bright as they always were since they were connected to the core, but the kitchen was oddly empty and still without any people bustling about there. She was so used to that area being occupied, full of people cooking or preparing to cook, that the lack was simply strange.

The doors of her Dungeon were closed, and she stared at them for a moment, before shaking her head. Pulling them open wasn't difficult—they weren't barred, though the wooden beam that would secure it lay to one side, ready in case of a dragon—and she would have left them open behind her when a thought occurred to her. She turned and pulled the doors shut. Even with the binding to keep bugs out of her Dungeon, there was the possibility of chokers or something smaller skulking about.

She took a moment to look at the illustrations made from lightwisps that she'd anchored to the walls of the entryway to her Dungeon, then sighed. While they had looked suitable when she and Rian had originally made them, now some of them looked blurry and slightly lopsided. The lines of the illustrations they'd copied were sharp enough that what they were depicting was easily identifiable, but still…

Lori shook her head, lest she start staring again, and continued walking. The air around her was pleasantly cool, a coolness that didn't change as she felt a breeze on her face, so it was probably colder. She could see a bonfire had been lit near the baths, next to the collections of benches to the side. There were people huddled there, talking among themselves. Huh. She'd have thought if people would be staying up late, they'd be doing it in her Dungeon.

She shrugged as she let herself wander, turning right past the entryway. To her left, the corners of the houses of her demesne glowed with lightwisps anchored to the stone walls. A little ways ahead of her, a lone house that was smaller than the others and looking like a child's drawing—it had a door in the middle of the wall facing the path, with two square windows to either side—was the last beacon of light. Beyond that house was darkness and moonlight, the red moon bathing the land in its colors. Past Rian's house, she could barely make out the shape of the food dehydration shed, though she could hear it faintly as it continued to circulate air even now. She wondered what was being dried in there. Mushrooms? Or had people decided to convert it to drying laundry while they were gone?

…

It occurred to Lori she hadn't really left anyone in charge of the idiots in her demesne while she was gone. Rian was with her, so clearly he wasn't keeping them in line, so who…?

…

She was just going to assume that Rian, who had always shown he was very capable, had thought to put someone in some sort of charge. For some reason, Umu came to mind. Lori could even imagine it: Rian would be wondering who he could leave in charge of the demesne while they were gone, to keep people from doing something stupid, and Umu would be right there saying, "I can do that for you, Lord Rian!" and of course Mikon would use the opportunity to try and ring Umu's bell by assisting her…

…

Yes, Lori was just going to assume that was how it had all played out, because she didn't want to think of the alternative and—she was going to have to inspect everything in the morning to make sure her idiots hadn't done something excessively idiotic while they'd been out of her sight, wouldn't she?

…

Well, she probably should anyway. Make sure nothing had broken unexpectedly or needed repairs, see to it no one was pissing in the unfinished excavations on the third level, that no one had turned the dehydrator into a clothes dryer…

Lori stood there for a moment, staring out into the dark past the shape of the food dehydrator shed. Even if this was her demesne… she wasn't going out into that. Not alone, in any case. She had far too many vivid recollections of that kind of darkness and moonlight hiding beasts. She turned around and began walking back, even as the sudden itching on her neck kept making her glance behind her. Silly, she knew. Her awareness of wisps told her there weren't any voids nearby that could be a beast, even a small one like a choker, but…

Her step quickened, and she didn't slow until she was back near the entryway of her Dungeon.

…

Why were so many people still awake?

It wasn't just the people sitting around the bonfire in front of the baths. Someone had also lit a fire near the short wall for the flood barrier, between the stairs to the laundry area and the stairs to the docks. Benches had been moved there, and people were sitting around waiting. Some of them were children, who seemed to have fallen asleep where they sat, the warmth of the fires letting rest comfortably.

A few seemed to be talking quietly to each other, probably in deference to those sleeping, but most simply sat there. one, a young man by his build, was pacing back and forth, occasionally turning to walk up the steps that led towards the dock, and then simply stood there as if looking out over the river before turning away to walk down and resume their pacing.

At the top of the stairs over the flood barrier, two women were standing.

Lori should nothave been able to tell who they were. From where they stood, their hair colors were unclear, and the skirts and shawls they were had nothing distinctive about them. She had nothing to use for reference to their height, and they were both standing still, not interacting with each other. The only movement about them was the way the night breeze played with their hair and clothes, blowing it back and forth. When one tucked a stray lock back behind an ear, there was nothing distinctive about the movement.

Despite that, Lori was almost completely certain that the pair was Umu and Mikon.

…

Were the two of them waiting for Rian to come back? That… seemed the most likely. Lori glanced at the other people waiting around the bonfires, especially the one who kept pacing and occasionally climbed up the stairs. Did that mean that these were the family of those they'd left behind this afternoon, the ones Rian should be returning with? All of them just waiting for the Coldhold to come with Rian and their families aboard?

…

That was probably what they were doing, wasn't it? They were all just out here, waiting for the boat to finish making the round trip back from River's Fork. A round trip that, Lori realized, would probably take a portion of the night to finish, since the Coldhold didn't have any light to navigate by except for the glowing rock she'd given Rian. They'd have to travel slower so that they didn't accidentally run into anything. And the rock wasn't exactly easy to hold out in front of you without fingers getting in the way of its light, so it was distinctly likely that Rian could drop the rock into the water.

Then the boat would be adrift in the dark, and they'd either have to stop for the night and continue on when there was light out, or try to continue with the moonlight, and hope the clouds didn't come in for a midnight drizzle.

…

It all sounded worryingly plausible in Lori's head. Had these people thought the same? Or were they simply waiting, impatient for someone in their family to come home.

…

Well, not her problem. That was a 'dealing with people' matter, and Rian wasn't here. Shanalorre was, but Lori didn't know where she was. Sleeping in the shelter, most likely, but it seemed pointless to wake her up for a matter that didn't actually need to be solved immediately. One way or another, it would be resolved with time. Either the boat would arrive later tonight, or it would arrive the following day since they had to stop and sleep.

…

Lori found a dark corner next to the entry way of her Dungeon and bound some earthwisps from the stone, pulling out a small ledge she could sit on. Closing her eyes, she reached through her affinity with her blood and the light from her eyes. Light… the Coldhold needed light. Exterior lights, at that. Unfortunately, all the lights she had given it had been interior, to illuminate the space within the hull. Why had she never considered they'd need lights outside? How had they managed during those weeks they'd been traveling to Covehold?

She found her connections, and became aware of the bindings of lightwisps and waterwisps she was distantly connected to. She began to imbue them as she considered her options. The bindings moving water through the water jet driver, she dismissed from consideration, though she still kept imbuing them. The ice that made the hull… she couldn't really affect that, not without being able to see what she was doing. The evaporator… no, nothing she could do to that which would be useful.

Could she make the interior lights brighter? Bright enough to glow through the hull, between the gaps of the planks? Perhaps that would help? Though… no, that was more likely to simply blind those inside, and it was even likely they'd covered up the lightwisps so they could sleep. She could try moving the lightwisps… but in what direction? Relative to what?

Lori rose and started to pace around in a circle, her restlessness moving her. She really should stop worrying about this. Rian would be back when he came back, and there wasn't really anything she could do to accelerate the process. She should just deal with her restlessness and then go back to sleep, and when she woke up, he'd probably be back, and she'd have skipped all the waiting. Being preoccupied about all this was simply pointless.

She had stopped pacing, thought the restlessness within her hadn't changed. Lori found herself staring up at the pale moon and its stark white surface. Even with only a wide crescent visible at this time of month, it was still bright, even if the light it cast seemed weak compared to the blood illumination of the red moon—

…

Lori's eyes widened slightly as an idea came to her. Perhaps… perhaps there was a way to give the Coldhold some light after all?

With the moons out and shining, the air was filled with lightwisps, even if it didn't seem like it. But they could see, so of course there was light. Through her connection to her core, through her demesne, Lori claimed those lighwisps, and began to gather them at the highest point of her demesne. Two and a third taums directly above her Dungeon, she bound those lightwisps together, gathering more and more lightwisps from the light of the moons and stars. There was nothing to anchor them to save airwisps, and that would simply blow them about, so Lori consciously held them in place with her mind as she imbued the simple binding.

Then she made the lightwisps shine.

High up above, a soft light suddenly came into being, glowing like a fifth moon. As people, those paying attention anyway, looked up in confusion, Lori altered the binding, making the light grow stronger. The illumination intensified, the fifth moon turning into a twilight sun, the darkness around her washing away.

Lori claimed and bound a second group of lightwisps next to the light above her Dungeon, shaping them into a wide disk and giving them directionality that caused them to reflect the light being generated. She wrapped that disk around the shining binding, limiting the direction the light could go. Not up and not down. The direction of upriver was also blocked off, as was the direction of both the river's shores.

Finally, all the light shone only downriver. The light was actually visible in the air, reflecting off minute dust and vapor, revealing a wide cone. Pulling it down to an altitude of merely two taums above her core, she was able to get a better sense of the direction the light was going as it created more lightwisps in its path. Carefully, she began to angle it downward, until the bottom edge of the of the cone of unclaimed lightwisps reached the edge of the surface of her demesne.

She wondered how bright that light was, to anyone looking towards it. It was only visible light, bright white and carefully stripped of any unseen light lest it become warm. Directed away from her, she only had a small sense of its intensity, but given it was lighting up the very air in a pale cone…

That should be able to give the Coldhold enough light to navigate their way faster… right?

Lori sat back down on her ledge, her limbs suddenly no longer as restless as they'd been before. She leaned back and closed her eyes, her mind focusing on keeping the binding of lightwisps imbued as she ignored the stares of the people sitting around the fires, and the gazes of Mikon and Umu…

––––––––––––––––––

"Lori?" a gentle voice said. "Lori, wake up. Your neck is going to ache if you keep sleeping like that."

Lori jerked awake. What…?

She tried to sit up, only to find she was already sitting up and her neck was annoyed with her because her head had been lolling to one side. Wincing, she blearily moved her head as she tried to relieve the aching muscles, as she rubbed her eyes of sleep sand.

Rian was crouched in front of her, one side slightly illuminated by a glow coming from his open belt pouch, smiling.

"Who died," she muttered in annoyance at being woken up, "and what are you doing in my room?"

––––––––––––––––––

Ah, A Sound Idea

The next day started as a perfectly ordinary morning for Lori. Specifically, it started with her in her demesne. When she finally came down, it was to a full dining hall, as she had come to expect on mornings, and which she found she had actually missed in the last week and half. Everything was as it should be, everything was as she expected it to be…

She was home.

The only thing to mar the occasion was the fact that when Rian came carrying breakfast to her, Umu, Mikon and Shanalorre, there was no one at his side. Lori found her gaze lingering slightly on the empty space next to the pink haired weaver, where Riz would usually be. Then she shook her head, putting her foolish sentiments to rest.

"Have you made the arrangements for the stonemasons to come with us?" Lori said. Talking about demesne matters in the morning over breakfast was also wonderfully familiar, and she'd even brought down the sunk board. As she made a move in response to Mikon's opening, she could almost pretend it was the year before…

"I told them we needed them to come with us before I left yesterday," Rian said as Shanalorre quietly ate next to Lori, "and we managed to talk again in the baths this morning. They're willing to come and can get all they need together right after breakfast, but they're not comfortable with the idea of being gone as long as we were."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Lori said as Mikon made her move. "Staying so long was a mistake. From now on, we will be doing four day shifts, with a day in between to arrange any new things we need as well as dealing with demesne matters here. Perhaps two if something urgent comes up."

Rian sighed in relief. "That would be wonderful. I'll tell them after breakfast. I haven't told the carpenters about needing a new door yet, so I have to take care of that before we leave. Are they still going to come with us, or will they build the door here?"

"At least one of them needs to come along to take measurements for the door, and to find out what work, if any, the carpenters in River's Fork has already done."

"It'll need to be one of the carpenters from there, then," Rian said thoughtfully.

"We also need at least one of the hunters to come along," Lori said as she reached over to the sunk board, her hand hesitating a moment before she picked up all the stones in one bowl.

Her lord paused at that. "To help get more food for River's Fork, right? They'll need some of the people from our regular hunting parties then, people who know how to get as much of the meat off the bone and packed up before the blood draws more predators— wait, maybe not…"

"What is it?"

"If you're willing, we can send the Coldhold and its crew to help with gathering food. All of us learned how to butcher meat quickly, and in the confines of the surface deck, if need be. It will limit the area they can hunt to along the river, but beasts have to drink eventually. If we add some extra people to help with dragging the carcass close to the boat, they should be able to manage it."

Lori frowned as she finished her move. The idea of the Coldhold not being there in case she needed a quick escape should uncivil unrest and violence erupt… "Are any of the other boats ready?"

Rian shook his head. "Not yet. Lori's Boat is still in storage, as far as I know, and Lori's Ice Boat is notably lacking in ice. And I don't think you've checked on their water jets lately, so those probably haven't been imbued." Shanalorre looked up at the names, her face confused for some reason.

Ah. Right. "We'll do that in four days," Lori declared as Mikon took a moment to consider her response. "Make arrangements for the wood to be inspected in the meantime, and have the carpenters prepare to make any replacements if necessary." She hummed in thought for a moment, then sighed. "Have one of the hunters come with us anyway, to see how viable the idea is. Also, have the potter begin production on large water vessels."

Rian blinked. "Large water vessels?"

"If there's a more specific name, I don't know what it is," Lori said flatly. "Regardless, we need something that can ideally be carried by one strong person that can hold a lot of water for the dragon shelter in River's Fork. While I can fill any reservoir I build in the shelter with water from the river, that water will need to be used and replaced, lest it become undrinkable. I know they probably have buckets and at least one barrel there, but that demesne will need a means of filling the reservoir with enough water for fifty people for at least three days in the few hours they might have before a dragon arrives. That requires vessels."

Rian sighed for some reason. "The barrel, you remember." He shook his head, then nodded. "I'll see what we can do. Though I think we've reach the point where we can actually make our own barrels now, which would be lighter and easier to move than clay pots, even when filled. I'll need you to authorize the use of the copper for it, though."

Lori considered that. "Shanalorre," she said as Mikon made her move, fingers dropping the stones into bowls one at a time as she went around the board. The other Dungeon Binder looked up from her meal, which was almost finished. "Since this project will be going to be for your demesne, we'll be taking the copper from its stores."

"Understood, Great Binder. How much will be needed?"

Lori turned back to Rian. "Find out how much copper will be needed to make five barrels to start with, then get it back to Shanalorre."

Rian hesitated, glancing at the other Dungeon Binder. "Uh…"

"If I may, Great Binder?" Lori turned back to her bench companion. "If Lord Rian can direct me to the person to ask, I can find out the details myself, as well as any others I might need to learn."

"What she said," Rian said hastily. "Not that I'm not willing, but I'm sure there are other things I'm going to need to be doing, and this will help familiarize her with the people of the demesne that she'll need to remember when it comes to these kinds of matters in the future."

Lori frowned. "Fine. Umu, take Shanalorre to meet the people in question after breakfast."

The blonde weaver gave a start of surprise from where she'd been leaning against Rian's side. "M-me, your Bindership?"

"If you don't want to," Lori said, her voice dry, "then I'm sure Rian can find a volunteer. Rian, you find someone to—"

"I-I'll do it, Rian!" Umu said immediately. "I never said I wouldn't!"

Lori's gaze happened to meet Mikon's. The other woman was smiling fondly. Lori simply rolled her eyes. Shaking her head, she made her move. "Well, with that dealt with, are there any other matters that need to be brought up?"

"Well, there was nothing immediately urgent," Rian said thoughtfully. "No one felt they had something they needed me to know right away, after all. But I'll probably find out some minor matters after breakfast, so I'll get back to you on that later. Ah! Five of the houses are finished now though, and the other three are almost complete. Does that mean those who petitioned for it can move in now?"

Lori waved a hand dismissively. "Fine, fine. I'm sure I can leave handling that matter to you. Do they have enough beds, or are they going to ask for having beds that fold into the wall?"

"The latter, I think, and maybe a loft floor to give them some more space to spread out and not crowd each other," Rian said.

"Fine, have the carpenters prioritize that for the moment. In the meantime, have them move in so we can clear some space in the shelter."

Rian chuckled. "At this point, the people in the shelter have more space than anyone else in the demesne, including you."

"Not for long. Over the next four days, we will be moving in the children from River's Fork."

"Ah. That… might be problematic. We might need to arrange for chaperones. At the very least, it would be very irresponsible for us to just stuff all those children in a building without any adult supervision to make sure they'll be all right."

"Won't the ones they'll be sharing the shelter with be enough supervision, if it's actually needed?"

"Spoken like someone's who's never had to keep more than one child out of trouble, or go to bed on time, or…" Rian shook his head. "If you'd be willing to have it be part of their apprenticeship, I'll ask some of the newlyweds to do it. It will be good for them to have experience dealing with children."

Ah, a sound idea. "Ah, a sound idea," Lori agreed. "Arrange it, and tell them to expect the children to arrive with us in four days or so."

"Ah, if I may, Rian?" Rian, and Lori both turned their attention towards Mikon. "If it's for watching over children, my aunt may allow some of my cousins to move into the shelter for that reason, especially if there are going to be fewer people there now." The weaver gave them a bright smile. "I'm sure they'll be eager for an acceptable reason to get them out of the house."

"We'll see," Rian said noncommittally. That seemed to satisfy the woman though, who gave one last smile and went back to her food.

"You're a lord now, you know. Nepotism is expected," Lori said, reaching for the sunk board to take her turn.

"I'm trying to start a tradition of ethical and non-nepotistic lordship. Granted, I know it's probably not going to catch on, but I need to at least make the effort."

"It's what people expect of their lords."

"Well, yourexpectations would be difficult to meet if I acted like that. A lord like that would be trying to manipulate you for his own convenience. I'd rather not be a dead man."

"Yes, you'd be hard to replace," Lori agreed. "Is there anything else?"

Rian tilted his head thoughtfully. "No… no, I think that's everything right now. It's been a year, people know what to do now, and you've pretty much built everything they really need. Anything after this is just to make things easier or to make money. You can probably rest up while we're getting things ready."

"In that case, I'll be at the docks. The Coldhold needs exterior lights."

Rian smiled for some reason. "Have I told you recently you're the best Dungeon Binder ever?"

Lori stared at him. "Not lately, no."

"You're the best Dungeon Binder ever."

"Yes, that's obvious. If there's nothing else, then finish eating, Rian. You have a lot of work to do."

"Yes, your Bindership!"