(Bi-)Weekly Digest 87 - (#274 - #277) (Patreon)

Suffering Marriage Problems

After installing the mounts for Shanalorre's shelves for when the carpenters finished building them, it was back to River's Fork after breakfast. Handing Yllian his rock—she'd carved his name on it so he'd know it was his, although it probably wasn't visible to him because of the glow—Lori then went back to the mine to continue excavating the dragon shelter. The stone masons were absent at the moment, since right now they would only get in the way as she excavated, and they had already finished with the food storage area.

Lori was moving a batch of stone outside when she heard the disturbance from the mine entrance. Riz's voice was being calm but firm, and an annoyingly familiar voice was being loud and angry.

"—will know what has happened to my niece!" the angry voice said as Lori approached the mine, the softened stone rolling and undulating in ahead of her and slightly to the side, the staff pressed against it so she could maintain her connection. "Where is she?"

"I've been telling you, she'd back in Lorian," Riz said. "Where else would she be? Now you know, so stop trying to bother the Great Binder."

Lori finally finished pushing the stone out of the mine, pushing it outside to the new stockpile she had started outside the mine's entrance.

"And I'm supposed to believe that?"

Setting the stone in place, she turned to head back into the mine and return to work.

"Well, if you're not going to believe anything I say, then there's no point talking to you further, is there?"

Before she left to go back home in a few days, she'd probably need to reform the stone to be properly thick and defensive— no, wait, she should probably enclose the water wheel so that nothing could fall on it. Perhaps find a way to keep dragonborn abominations from getting into the mine through the vent…

"I'm not here to talk to you, I'm here to talk to her! You! Where is my niece, woman?"

She continued on with her work, fantasizing about how easy this would be if she had a connection to the demesne's core—

"Don't ignore me, you glittering—!"

––––––––––––––––––

Lori hated eating in River's Fork's dining hall. The tables and benches were all slightly unstable, and she couldn't tell if it was because of the way they were made or because the ground was uneven. It was nothing like her nice solid table back home and her nice solid bench. The dining hall was cold and drafty, and if she didn't have a binding of firewisps around her it would have been far more irritating. In addition, the bread was slightly charred and smaller than the one they served at home, and the soup was a bit bland.

"There you are!"

This was not the end of the annoyances.

Lori turned to look from her food at the exclamation approaching her from behind her as Riz and Rian stood up from the bench across from her. She heard the bench at the table behind her scrape slightly before it sudden fell over, likely having caught something on the ground. One hand wrapped around her staff as she stood up, remembering how random attacks on Dungeon Binders were dangerously common in this demesne and why had she agreed to this again, ah, right, she had needed a healer.

It was annoying that she could finally recognize Shanalorre's uncle's face. Still, he clearly wasn't as annoying as Landoor, because she only knew his face and not his name. The volunteers who had accompanied them from her demesne stepped into his path, keeping him from getting any closer to Lori as people looked up from their meals.

"Where's my niece?-!" he demanded. He raised his hand and pointed dramatically, but Lori just stepped forward and wrapped her fist around his finger, clenching tightly to trap it in place. Using the leverage to twist his wrist palm up, she pulled his finger back so that it pointed down. "Argh!"

"I feel that a reminder is in order that I am not Binder Shanalorre," Lori said, her grip on his extremity forcing him to keep his arm outstretched. "I am not weak and inexperienced and lax with discipline. I will not suffer being addressed in that manner. Or at all, for that matter. If you have something to say, say it to Rian or—" she wanted to reach for her belt pouch and check her rock, but the one she did that with was currently holding a finger, and trying to reach with her other hand would be awkward, "—Yllian, and if it's in any way relevant they will inform me." Oh, she hoped she'd gotten that name right. People could be so unreasonable about their names being remembered correctly.

She shifted her grip, pulling his finger back even further as he let out a pained cry and tried to twist his arm sideways to a more comfortable position, and failed. "Now, you have my attention. Think very carefully about what you wish to say now that you have it, or I will break your knee, and it will be several days before Shanalorre returns to be able to heal it." She did not release his finger. "Well? What do you have to say?"

He glared at her, his teeth bared and gritted together as his other hand kept opening and clenching into a fist, though that was probably because of her grip on his finger. "Where is my niece?" he finally managed to say.

"In my demesne, obviously. Where else would she be?"

"And why is she there? Before, she always accompanied you, but now she suddenly decides to stay away from her home?"

"...she decided it was important that she see to the comfort and well-being of the children whose parents sent to live there for their safety, and so requested to stay so that she could see to it that they adjust to their new circumstances," Lori said flatly. "The children from here who would now be living away from their parents and might need reassurance? I believe she also didn't want to leave her cousin unattended."

He continued to make angry faces at her. "What assurance do we have that our Binder will remain safe in your demesne, then?"

Lori stared at him, something she'd only felt once before filling her. "What's your name?"

The man actually looked offended she had asked. "You know who I am, woma—ARGH!"

Lori turned towards Rian as she bent the finger back even further. "Rian, what is this absolute idiot's name?"

"His name's Lasponin, your Bindership," Rian said with a cheerful smile. Lori vaguely recognized it as the one for when he was being deliberately annoying.

The feeling attached to the name. Lori nodded, turning back to her captive, who'd tried to kick her in her moment's inattention and found his legs were coming up short. He'd continue to unless he was willing to endure more pain by bending his arm to get closer. "Congratulations, Lasponin. You've just declared yourself so stupid I need to remember your name to keep you away from anything vital and important." The man managed to sputter indignantly while still pained by the pressure on his finger. "To answer your question, since you are obviously not smart enough to deduce the answer yourself, there is no assurance that Shanalorre will be safe. The only reason she still lives is because she can heal. Once I have managed to deduce how to utilize Deadspeaking and do the same, I will have no further need of her, and will be able to finalize her submission and surrender by taking this demesne's core."

He gaped at her, then yelled out, "Did you fools all hear that?-! She said it herself! She intends to kill her! She's no different from Grem!"

Lori stared at him again. "Yllian," she said over her shoulder.

"Yes, Great Binder." Oh good, she had gotten his name right.

"Have you told Shanalorre's aunt how she made the proposal to surrender this demesne to me?"

"…yes, Great Binder."

Lori nodded, then turned back towards the absolute idiot. "I think your marriage is suffering problems, Lasponin," she said, "if your wife neglected to inform you of that relevant detail. However, for your edification, Binder Shanalorre slit her wrist with a knife as part of her offer to surrender this demesne to me." Lori shook her head. "I still don't understand why she did that. Her life is worth more than all of yours, so why be willing to lose it?"

"Perhaps," Rian said blandly, his voice stripped of the annoying cheer of before, "she was following the precedent set by her predecessors?"

Lori snorted disdainfully. "Precedent," she said, the word dripping with scorn. She took a deep breath, then shrugged. "Well, regardless of the reason, she was already willing to lose her life simply to have her core vacant for me to claim, simply so that I would have a reason to take care of all of you people. She lives only because I need a healer. When I have no need of her in that capacity anymore, I will take her up on her original offer." She tilted her head. "Well, perhaps that counts as some sort of assurance, after all."

"Probably not, your Bindership," Rian said. "He doesn't look very assured."

"Yes, well, he's an idiot. Obviously, these matters are above his capabilities to comprehend."

"Liar! That… she wouldn't—"

Lori had no problem with bending her arm without losing her grip on his finger so she could get close enough to give him a resounding kick in the shin. "Never doubt my word again," she snapped as he cried out in pain from his leg, then cried out again as his change in posture to take pressure off his legs caused him to put more pressure on the finger in her grip. "An idiot like you isn't worth lying to. Why bother, when the truth is clearly enough to baffle your limited faculties?"

A thought occurred to her, and she frowned. "How did you ever manage to become a doctor? I know it's not Deadspeaking, but doesn't it at least require functional thought?" Shaking her head, Lori shoved him away—by his finger, for one last burst of pain—and picked up her staff as he recovered himself, hefting it in her hands.

"Your Bindership, if you don't finish your food soon, it will grow cold and congeal," Rian said. "And you still have more digging to do on the dragon shelter, remember?"

Lori considered his words as she eyed the idiotic malcontent. Finally, she said, "Get out of my sight so I can eat and get back to work, or I will beat you to instill the discipline that Shanalorre clearly failed to."

"And we won't tell Yoshka you asked about if her cousin was safe before you even bothered to find out if she was alive," Rian said with that cheerfulness that was specifically for being annoying. "Though you should really do something about this blatant favoritism of yours. You're going to make your daughter sad if she ever finds out you clearly like Shana more than you do her."

There were some chuckles at Rian's words as Lasponin somehow still managed an indignant glare at Lori. "I'll have you know that I was a doctor in the militia."

"Lord Yllian, would this level of discipline pass muster in the militia?" Rian said loudly, his voice still filled with that annoying cheerfulness. "Especially for a doctor?"

"It would not, Lord Rian."

"Ah, I see. Hypothetically speaking, if the doctor were still in the militia, how would such a glaring lapse be corrected?"

"Well, officially, his superior officer would call him up and tell him exactly how much of an embarrassment to the militia he is. Normally, an officer would be expected avoid colorful language, but in such an instance, colorful language would be inevitable to illustrate exactly how deep in the shit pit he is. After this reprimand, he'd receive his punishment, which could start from typical labor so he stays out of trouble, but could go all the way up to beatings, lashings, canings, crucifixion…"

"Isn't that last one execution by a slow death from asphyxiation?"

"Not if you get him down before he dies."

"Ah. Good point. And unofficially?"

"That's only if he survives the beatings from who everyone who takes offense at his behavior and don't want the officers to think they just stood by and did nothing."

"Ah. Well, fortunately, for the doctor, he's a civilian now and doesn't have a superior officer… well, save for his wife, anyway. Still, by that reasoning, I suppose everyone should just get back to their food and let her deal with him." There was a pause. Lori hadn't taken her eyes of Lasponin. "Out of curiosity, was she ever in the militia?"

"Oh, course. They met there."

"Ah. Well, I'm sure she'll remember that the standards of militia discipline shouldn't apply here."

"…if you say so, Lord Rian."

Had this been a story, Lori would have contemptuously turned her back on Lasponin and gone on with her meal, confident he was cowed as he stared ineffectually at her back to show how weak he was. That even if he clearly desired to attack her from behind, he was too much of a coward to go through with it without complete surprise on his side, and he'd scurry away before there was a scene transition or something.

Lori, because she wasn't a fool, didn't do this. Instead, she reversed her staff so that the thick metal butt was pointed up, one hand holding the staff near the middle and the other gripping the staff lower down, near what would usually be its head. In this configuration, it was nothing so much as a very long, mace-headed club.

Still glaring at her, he hastily fled, abandoning the dining hall entirely to retreat out among the houses.

"Las, that's not the way back to your house!" someone in the crowd yelled out, and there was some more scattered laughter.

Lori lowered her staff, orienting it the right way around. In the table next to her, the volunteers all finally sat down. Glancing around at the scant few other tables, many of whom were still staring at her, she finally spotted Shanalorre's aunt, whose frown smoothed as she saw Lori looking at her. The Dungeon Binder turned to look over everyone again. Many were also still watching her, their expressions harder to make out, but none were smiling.

She claimed some airwisps, binding them to raise the volume of her voice slightly so that she would be heard. "In case you missed the specifics," she said, "Binder Shanalorre did not remain in my primary demesne because of some nefarious plot on my part to kill her, because I wouldn't need such a thing if that were my intention. She stayed behind to make sure your children are safe, properly supplied, and could adjust to living and sleeping in a place without you." She snorted. If their roles were reversed, she wouldn't have wasted her time doing such things on the behalf of these ingrates. Shanalorre is a far better Dungeon Binder than they deserved.

Not that she'd say that out loud.

Rian clapped his hands twice, cupping them so they made deeper sound. "All right, everyone, show's over," he said. "Let's all get back to our food and try not to think of the fact that your little Dungeon Binder nearly committed suicide to keep you all from dying of starvation because some of you were stealing your own food like greedy bugs. Don't think about it and just eat. Sahil, why don't you complain this isn't enough food, that will liven everything up."

Lori sat down, picked up her spoon, and went back to eating. She grimaced as the food entered her mouth. It had gotten cold, and already the feeling was gritty as things congealed. Sighing, she rubbed her hands together until they felt intensely warm, and claimed the firewisps that the friction had generated to reheat her bowl.

––––––––––––––––––

A Standard Sales Technique

The continuing work excavating the dragon shelter was repetitive, the sort of repetition where time lost meaning as a result of the monotony. Lori had finally managed to dig the ramp upwards to the dragon shelter, as well as start clearing a space. steps on the ramp to make them proper stairs would, unfortunately, need to be the last thing to be made, as the ramp made it easier to roll down her excavated stone.

While she had a general goal of 'excavating enough space', this time she also had a specific goal. Namely, to excavate enough space so she could make some latrines. She already had a spot in mind for them. They'd be against the wall the shelter would share with the mine shaft, so that next to the ramp there'd would be hatches that could be opened to shovel out the waste after the dragon had left, to make cleaning easier. No doubt when mining resumed, some lazy miners would use those latrines, but then it would also be on them to carry the waste out.

Building it was easy enough, she simply had to excavate a pace in from the wall of the mine—being careful around the support beams—so she'd have a trench, then just rebuild the stone wall again, this time with holes—with arch supports, of course—for getting the waste out later. Dividing the latrine site into separate stalls required raising stone walls as partitions, but that was easy enough. The rest would need to be done by the carpenters putting down benches with holes in them, and doors that shut both for privacy and to keep the smell in.

Once that was done, she went back to excavating in general, using the tunneling method she had used in building the third level to make sure the ceiling had proper supporting arches as she worked. The bindings of lightwisps that she had to remake every day and anchor onto the stone walls cast a pale, cold light around her. For much of the day the only sounds were her breathing, the ones the rocks made as she excavated them, and the quiet susurrus of the air being circulated by airwisps she also had to remake and anchor to stone every day. She was alone for hours, with only the times Rian came in to tell her it was time to eat marking when she had any human contact.

If it weren't for the fact she wasn't in her demesne, Lori would have called the working conditions ideal.

Meal times were… less than ideal. There was none of the pleasant murmur she'd gotten used to in her Dungeon's dining hall. Oh, a murmur existed, but it was either the quiet murmur of people tired from work, or the angry buzz of the malcontents being loud.

"—gets to be in the dry while we work outside all day—"

"—have to walk through mud and—"

"—getting rained on—"

"—hoarding all the good fruit for themselves—"

"If you all want to talk about something, then just sit at the same table!" Rian called out. "Don't try to have a conversation from across the dining hall. What are you all, children?"

"No, the children are all well behaved and eating," Yllian said.

"Ah, you're right, Yllian. I apologize to all the children, your manners aren't anywhere that bad!"

There was a small smattering of laughter, and the overly loud complaints of the malcontents quieted to sullen mutters.

Lori gave Rian an approving nod, and he nodded right back. "So, how's your work coming along?" Rian said at a more reasonable volume. "Can the mine be used as a dragon shelter yet?"

"It's already been used as one. Twice, in fact. So, yes," Lori said.

"All right, that was a bad phrased question on my part. Let me ask again. How long before it's up to your standards?"

Lori shrugged. "I still need to excavate more space, or else everyone will be crowded again. The ventilation to let out stale air hasn't been planned yet, and right now there's no water reservoir."

"I thought we were using barrels for water storage?"

"That will be for the drinking water. The reservoir will be for washing so that no one gets sick while crowded together in the dragon shelter."

"That implies the dragon shelter will have a washing area."

"Where else will people wash the dishes between meals?"

Rian smiled slightly. "Isn't that a bit… much?"

"This is my demesne now. If people wanted to shelter in a cesspit before, that's their business. But now that I run this demesne, we will do things properly."

"To be fair to Shana, she couldn't exactly build like you could, what with having no idea how to do anything but healing and no way to learn. "

"Rian, why are you talking like a theater narrator and saying the blatantly obvious? You're not in a play and there's no audience for you to remind of what had previously happened in the story."

"No particular reason," Rian said with that annoying cheerfulness of his as Yllian started to cough. Thankfully, he covered his mouth when he did so. Hopefully he wasn't catching something because of all the rain.

––––––––––––––––––

At the end of the four days, Lori had managed to excavate a space that… well, everyone in the demesne would be able to line up to use the latrines, but not much more than that. Technically, she wouldn't need to clear so much space since there was still more of the mine shaft for people to occupy, but if she was going to build a dragon shelter, than she would do so properly. Besides, given how wet the part of the mine near the entrance got, the lowest point of the mine was likely starting to flood, which would reduce the available space and start causing other problems as well.

…

She'd probably have to something to keep the water out when she came back. Maybe a little rise to act as a flood barrier, or some kind of drainage channel near the entrance…

"Maybe you can ask the stone masons to do it?" Rian suggested as they rode back home. Lori didn't want to have to do any more work when she arrived back in her primary demesne, and as they had time during the journey, she was meeting with Rian now to make the most efficient use of the time. "It sounds like the sort of thing they might have experience doing, redirecting water out of areas. At the very least they can assess it and plan out the most efficient spot to deal the problem."

"I suppose…" Lori muttered. "Very well, ask them to come with us when we return and inform them of what to expect."

Rian nodded, writing it down on his plank, where the carpentry work she needed for the latrines had already been listed down. "Do you mind if I get them started on planning a structure to protect the ventilation equipment? Even if you have to do the actual building, some kind of preparation might be helpful."

Lori waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, get them on that as well." She was willing to admit—only to herself, of course, since that was the only person that mattered—that she hadn't really thought of the matter, but the dragon shelter would been a way to do that, wouldn't it? Though since this was her demesne now, perhaps she could improve the current equipment? She already used binding of airwisps to improve the circulation of air for her when she was excavating in the mine. Perhaps if integrated a bone pipe to the ventilation tube to increase the airflow…? "Anything else?"

"Nothing significant to report so far, which I'm very happy about. Right now most people are still in the 'societal guilt' stage from hearing about Shana nearly killing herself for them. We'll see if this will motivate them to improve or whether they'll just bury this along with the rest of the guilt. Even the malcontents have quieted a little, relative to when we first took over. Pains in the neck they might be, but they all have children. We'll just have to see which part of human nature wins out."

"Those are all 'dealing with people' things, so I leave that up to you." A thought occurred to her. "Does Yllian—" she checked her rock. Yes, Yllian, "—know about this?"

"We've discussed it, and while he disagrees with me, he's agreed to go a little easier on them to encourage them to ruminate on the consequences of the act and what sort of people they are that they forced someone to such an extreme," Rian said.

"Again, I leave the 'dealing with people' things to you," Lori said, waving her hand again. "The food?"

"We're… holding," Rian said, frowning. "Grain's being used up in meals, of course, but I've already ordered an emergency seed crop be set aside in case of crop failure or damage. As to the meat… right now we look like we're breaking even, bringing in as much meat as we're using up, but I'd feel better if we had a buffer. With your permission, I'll ask another of the hunters to join us, see if we can maybe increase the amount of game we're catching, even if we don't manage to double the current intake"

"Why wouldn't it? It sounds simple to me. Two hunters, twice as much meat."

"Because if a second hunter went and hunted separately, they'd need their own volunteer crew to help them actually get the meat back from outside the demesne," Rian said. "And right now we don't have the people for that. Still, having a second hunter to help should present some improvement. However, it will cost us some of our own ability to provide food for ourselves." He started tapping his chin.

"But you have already had a thought about that, haven't you?"

"It's just a thought, but… why don't we move all hunting operations to River's Fork, and then use the Coldhold to transfer the meat back to Lorian? Not counting the meat that will be to feed River's Fork, of course. The beasts around Lorian might have gotten wary about being hunted, or at least need an opportunity to replenish their numbers. Near River's Fork, even with some of the hunting they did last year, there should still be more beasts. And we were planning to transfer people there in any case. This will help start integrating the two populations together."

"Won't that be problematic? I thought hunting parties needed a lot of people to be able to bring what they catch back?"

Rian nodded, but he still looked thoughtful. "I know. But it's an idea worth considering. Though it will mean we'll lose the Coldhold as a salt gatherer and trading vessel, since it will have to remain nearby."

"Given current circumstances, it's already not doing that."

Her lord nodded again. "I'll keep thinking about it and get back to you. We might be able to do it in a few weeks when the situation in River's Fork is more stable. Maybe it'll be more doable when the fields have been planted and we can assign people to do something else. Speaking of which, when do you want to transfer the malcontents to Lorian."

"I don'twant to," Lori said. "However, it needs to be done. We'll transfer them over when the rest of the hoses are finished."

Rian raised an eyebrow. "Let them think the new houses are for them, then stick them in the ones that were just vacated? As your lord in charge of dealing with people, I feel I should tell you that's a nasty manipulation of their expectations." He sniffed theatrically. "You're learning so much. Granted, I'd prefer you learn how to be nicer to people, but this is still progress."

Lori shrugged. "It's standard sales technique. Raise the customer's expectations with a superior product, then say none more are in stock and have them settle for an inferior one."

"Please tell me you eventually stopped going to buy things in those kinds of places, that's a terrible business practice."

––––––––––––––––––

Seeling Again

There were, as expected, people waiting for them at the docks.

Lori didn't know why people did it. It had only been four days! Surely not seeing someone for that was no cause for this kind of commotion. And all the hugging! Yes, she understood that it was nice to be held, she'd enjoyed receiving hugs from her mothers provided they were brief, but they did it for far too long with a lot of pointless swaying back and forth, and people held on far too tight, such that it looked uncomfortable.

She wasn't even going to get started on all the kissing.

"Rian!"

Umu met Rian at the docks, wrapping her arms around in him a tight hug. Her lord had almost been surprised, but his arms had come up to return the hug, even if he looked a bit embarrassed at doing so in public. Next to him, Riz was giving Umu a flat look that the blonde weaver ignored, sparing the militiawoman only the briefest of glares before turning her attention back to Rian. Kissing then commenced, and Lori had already resolved she was going to get started on that. Though it looked very awkward and—no, she wasn't getting started on that!

Sitting on one of the benches at the top of the Coldhold while she waited for enough people to get done so she could finally pass through, Lori took a moment to appreciate just doing nothing. She wasn't claiming anything, not binding anything, not imbuing anything… she was just sitting there. After the previous days of repetitive stone excavation, and the journey spent discussing matter with Rian—matters she hadn't been able to discuss with him during meals because she hadn't wanted her new idiots and the malcontents among them to hear—the rest was a nice break. Not far from her, two children sat huddled together on one of the other benches, clutching their own packs and glancing at her nervously, when they're weren't looking out over the town around her Dungeon.

Riz was letting out a huff and in the middle of shrugging when—

"Erzebed!"

The militiawoman stumbled in surprise as she suddenly found herself being wrapped in her own embrace courtesy of Mikon, who had come up behind Umu but hadn't been noticed because… well, she hadn't gone for Rian first. Riz swayed, momentarily losing her balance, and her hands came up to grab Mikon to stay upright. Thus, she was unprepared—though she really should have been, Lori thought—when Mikon punctuated her greeting with a kiss on the cheek. Then another. And another. And—

"S-stop that!" Riz stammered, drawing back slightly as Mikon started moving down from her cheek to the side of her neck. "W-what are you doing?"

"What?" Mikon said, fluttering her eyelashes in theatric innocence that no one believed. "You were missed too, Erzebed." She sighed. "We only had two blankets, and Umu didn't want to sleep close together, so it was so cold…" She lay her head on Riz's shoulder. "I'm looking forward to sleeping with you next to me tonight. It will be so warm…"

"Oh. So you only want me for my body heat," Riz said, sounding irritable.

Mikon smiled at Riz before giving her another quick kiss on the cheek again. "Not just that," she said cheerfully. "Besides, I'm waiting my turn to welcome Rian back, and didn't want you to feel unappreciated." One hand rose to stroke Riz's cheek, making the woman redden with further irritation. "Welcome home, Erzebed," Mikon said in a softer voice. She said something else in a softer tone that Lori didn't catch, not that she was eavesdropping or anything.

Whatever was said made Riz let out a huff—it was too fast to be a sigh—and pat Mikon on the shoulder. "Well, I'm back. Can you let me go now?"

In response, Mikon kissed her cheek again. "Is Umu done yet?"

"Umu, hurry up and let Mikon have a turn already!"

Some of the other people on the docks laughed for some reason as Lori started tapping her foot. While she was thankful for the rest, other parts of her were feeling restless. Well, let them. She was resting! When everyone had settled down and she'd be able to pass through, then she'd have to inspect that the Dungeon farm was the right temperature and humidity, check the far corners of her unfinished excavation to see if people were being unsanitary, see if she had to cure more wood… Lori sat back and enjoyed the brief respite.

––––––––––––––––––

After Mikon finally got her turn at Rian and enough people had vacated the dock, Lori was finally able to disembark, her tightly bound bedroll and pack in hand. They'd left right after breakfast after Rian had finished relaying instructions to Yllian—Lori checked her rock just to be sure—and the two new children whose parents were sending to the relative safety of her primary demesne had finally stopped crying and clinging to their mother's skirts,, so despite the overcast sky, it was probably only late morning.

To her surprise, Shanalorre was there seemingly waiting for her. Her hair was dry, which meant she hadn't just gotten out of the baths, though the skirt she was wearing was wrinkled in a way that suggested she'd girded it recently.

"Great Binder," she greeted Lori, bowing in acknowledgement.

"Binder Shanalorre," Lori nodded back.

"I see that more children have joined us," the other Dungeon Binder said, nodding towards were Rian was gently trying to get the two children on their feet. "With your permission, I shall take charge of these two and get them settled in my house."

Lori nodded in assent, then paused. She eyed Shanalorre. "How did you know about the children?"

"When you all left my former demesne this morning, I noticed that you had more passengers than you left with. Given how much smaller they were in comparison to everyone else, I deduced they were children."

Ah. Yes, Shanalorre had her own awareness from her connection to River's Fork's core, didn't she? "Very well, then. I'll leave this to you, Binder Shanalorre. We shall speak at dinner. You will join me."

The other Dungeon Binder nodded, then headed for the Coldhold, where the two children were looking nervously at the walkways to the boat's outriggers. "Nera," she called out. "Ardlia. Welcome to Lorian."

"S-shana!" one of the two children exclaimed, sounding relieved.

"Let me help you with that, it's easier to get off the boat when you're not carrying anything… "

Lori left her to it. She headed back to her room to put to down her things, then have a proper bath. After four days of excavating underground, sweating because trying to control the temperature with more than just anchoring strategically placed airwisps to blow air on her took up too much time to do, her bath practically called to her. Her clothes were so permeated she'd have to give them a preliminary soak and wash, lest they ferment in her laundry pile.

As she headed for the stairs leading up to her room, she noticed something hanging next to the door. It was a small seel, impaled though the neck by a hook carved from a branch. The branch was hanging from a little hole in the stone next to her door.

Huh. It looked like the brat was seeling again. She was improving as well since the seel's tail, with its fan-like webbed fin at the end, was trailing down to the floor. Thankfully, it wasn't dripping.

Shaking her head, Lori hurried past it so that she could take her things to her room. The seel was far too big for her to carry just then, and she didn't want whatever fluids were on the seel to get on her bedroll. Upstairs, Lori put down her things on the wonderfully elastic weave of her bad, then went back down to get the seel. It might be a bit too late to add it to lunch, but it would be more meat for dinner.

––––––––––––––––––

Lori didn't speak to Shanalorre at lunch. The latter sat at the table with the other children from River's Fork, as well as some of the other children, seemingly welcoming the two new children to their number. The normal murmur of the dining hall was punctuated by the happy, high-pitched commotion coming from that table, almost but not quite grating on Lori's ears. Normally, she'd be speaking with Rian about demesne matters to distract her, but they'd already discussed everything relevant on the boat ride home. Rian was also rather distracted, since Umu and Mikon were both making up for lost time. Riz had let the pink-haired weaver sit next to him to avoid Mikon's attentions, and was focusing on her food as the other two paid more attention to Rian than eating.

…

They should probably make Riz's position as some sort of militia leader official at some point. Despite her protestations about not being an officer, she was the one who spent the most time organizing people to do militia-like things. Even though the all their 'militia' were volunteers, Riz was always present and a willing, even if it was because of Rian. She'd have to discuss this with Rian later. It sounded like a 'dealing with people' matter.

The rest of the day went as Lori had foreseen. She checked the Dungeon farm's humidity, light and temperature, making a few adjustments to equalize and disparity, and altering the airflow caused by some airwisps. Inspected the unfinished tunnel to see if there had been any more storage accidents with dried waste, or if someone had started using them as latrines. Thankfully, the former hadn't repeated and the latter didn't seem to have happened, but Lori made a note to see about putting a latrine near the stairs up to the second level. She'd have to make bindings to ensure that the waste was desiccated on the spot so that emptying out wouldn't involve dragging waste through the rest of her Dungeon…

A check of the curing shed showed a lot of the wood had already been used. However, this meant that the remaining houses were almost done, with only a single house left to finish, and to her eye it would be done some time tomorrow. She supposed this meant they need to announce the housing assignments soon so that the families who would be moving into them could make the arrangements for the internal additions to fit them. A second raise floor or loft would probably be enough, though they need more wood for that.

Once those inspections were done, she took a moment to make adjustments to the water jet drivers of Lori's Boat and Lori's Ice Boat, converting them into steam drivers. The former has a relatively simple mechanism, simply a bone tube at the end of a piece of wood that was raised out of the water when not in use or the boat was being allowed to drift. Making the alteration that would add heat to the water so that converting the propelling liquid into steam without encasing the tube in ice was simple enough, and on the test run, the boat actually seemed to accelerate faster.

The latter was a bit harder, since she couldn't add the alterations to the where the water was accelerated by the binding. In the end, she attached the binding of firewisps and waterwisps near the output of the driver, well past the moving block that accelerated the water. When tested, the increased acceleration wasn't as noticeable as with Lori's Boat, but Lori's Ice Boat had far more mass to move. Lori decided to do more tests on it tomorrow if she had time.

At dinner, Shanalorre sat with Lori as she had been instructed. Lori looked in askance at Shanalorre's cousin sitting next to her, but thankfully the young girl didn't make a nuisance of herself. Instead, she seemed to be eagerly looking forward to the food, looking out towards the kitchen expectantly. Well, as long as the girl behaved…

"Report," Lori said as they waited for the food to arrive.

"A third of the children have bath buckets," Shanalorre began. "I have made arrangements, but the woodworkers couldn't make enough quickly. Between roofing the remaining houses, and the construction of the water barrels for River's Fork, the buckets were not a top priority. I decided not to press on the matter, and have utilized the available buckets to best effect. One bucket contains the everyone's soap, and the other buckets hold clothes and towels. I am told more buckets will be available in the next few days. "

Ah, right. She should have realized. Yes, the new barrels—made using River's Fork's supply of copper for the barrel hoops—were to supply them with water in the dragon shelter, and as such were being prioritized. "The delay is acceptable. What else?"

"The shoes are being made, but it is also slow. The cobbler isn't used to making new shoes, and we have no cordwainer, but he is the only one with the tools and experience to do so. Some of the adults with leather tools volunteered to help in stitching the shoes together. Thanks to them, about half of the children have shoes, and I am told the rest will have their shoes finished tomorrow or the day after. Unfortunately, they are not waterproof, so the shoes have been made slightly overlarge to allow for growth and shrinkage. The weavers were all kind enough to sew some foot wraps to help cushion feet within the shoes in lieu of proper socks."

Ah. She hadn't considered the matter of socks. "Good," she acknowledged. "The matter of proper socks will have to be deal with, but at the moment I gather we do not have sufficient materials?" As she recalled, all the fabric the weavers had made over the last year had been used to give everyone winter robes.

Shanalorre nodded. "The ropeweed is still growing. However, I believe River's Fork should still have a plentiful supply of the plant, especially up along the other river. I believe it will be in our interest to begin collection of the plant there as soon as possible."

Lori considered that. "Good idea. We shall discuss it with Rian when he returns. What of the tubers I assigned you?"

"We have begun trying to plant behind our house," Shanalorre said, "however, we were only able to use sticks and branches collected from the woods due to the proper tools being needed elsewhere, and it was what Karina was familiar with. I was able to secure a shovel for myself, but the size was awkward for me, and I am doubtful as to how helpful it was. Still, we managed to begin a small patch. With Karina's help, and the authorization Lord Rian arranged, we were able to acquire some tubers for planting. It was decided it would be best to start with a small batch to see if we could grow it in the conditions available to use before planting more, so as not to risk wasting the tubers. Karina was of great assistance in this."

Lori nodded. "I see. Do you think is the best way to conduct this assignment I gave you?"

"Yes," Shanalorre said. "While Karina was confident the tubers would grow, i wasn't certain, and I decided it would be more prudent to test the growing conditions before risking more supplies in potentially unfavorable ground. Once we have confirmed growth, we will begin planting more tubers."

Lori regarded her a moment before nodding. It was a cautious approach, but she was clearly prioritizing conserving resources. Lori could respect that. "Very well. In that case, prepare other sites for planting in the meantime."

"Yes, Great Binder. On the topic of food, however, I have been asked to bring a matter to your attention."

Lori almost groaned. Instead, she just hung her head in exasperation. Ah, she should have realized her idiots would try to use Shanalorre to try and bring up the matter of land again. "What is it now?"

"Karina would like to volunteer to join you when you return to Rivers Fork," Shanalorre said, and Lori's head snapped up. "She wishes to assist the demesne with its food difficulties by hunting seels for them to augment their food supply."

…

What.

––––––––––––––––––

Indecisions And Responsibility

"If she's volunteering, it would be a good idea to take her up on the offer," Rian said after Lori had finished choosing bowls and Shanalorre had related the matter to him. "I didn't want to bring it up, but people didn't really enjoy trying to go seeling late in the year. From what I gathered—mostly from Karina, admittedly—it took too many people too long to catch a single seel, though those were adult seels they caught. While she probably won't be singlehandedly feeding the whole demesne, more food is more food. That is, if you're willing to take her up on her offer."

It wasn't often that Lori found herself torn by indecision. Usually, when faced with two things she wanted to do—like going to see two different plays she had heard good things of, buying two novels, or getting two different jam rolls—her choice was 'both'… even if afterwards she'd have to work hard to restore her budget back to what it should have been for the month. This, however, as a rare situation, where her choices were truly mutually incompatible.

A part of her wanted to accept the brat's offer. She was willing and able—her tax payments had been consistent, when she could acquire them—it would help relieve the situation in River's Fork, and she might even be able to teach the children there how to do it themselves. If the terrain of the area had been what had made people cease trying to seel for food, then as someone experienced and enthusiastic about seeling, the brat could probably figure out how to adapt to the situation.

On the other hand… she had meant it when she said she didn't want the children to work. At least, not because they were made to. There was, admittedly, some ambiguity in situations like how the children were the ones who took care of the tuber plots, but as far as she could discern—she had asked Rian, and lurked in the third level, listening for complaining—that initiative had been on the brat's prerogative as she had gotten her younger siblings to help her with it, and she had managed to talk other children into helping them. however, as long as it was self-organized and no adults had been involved, then it was their own business.

For her to accept the brat's offer, however… it felt uncomfortably like putting her to work, especially since the brat wouldn't be paid. Well, no one was getting paid really, but there was something about how she wasn't going to be able to pay the brat that made the skin between her shoulder blades tighten uncomfortably… "I'll take it under advisement," she said, as she took a piece of bread a tore off a piece, dipping it in her bread. When it reached her mouth, it became the ideal, warm temperature.

"Well, don't be too long taking it under advisement," Rian said, tearing off his own piece of bread and dipping it. "I doubt her parent's know, so if you take her offer, she'll have to tell her parents, and you know how parents can be. One of us, most likely me, will have to talk to assure them we can keep their little girl safe, and she'll probably have to sleep with you in your little room because it's probably not a good idea to have her sleep with the rest of us in the main cabin of the ship."

He put the bread in his mouth, chewing a bit before taking a quick drink of water. He began to stir the bowl, obviously trying to get it to cool. "That's a whole day gone, and Karina will still need to make her own preparations, whatever those are. Unless you want to delay us leaving to wait for her?"

Lori twitched. Ugh, she hated it when Rian had a point. Though… surely so many factors made it a 'dealing with people' matter? "Do you think we need to accept her offer?"

"Yes," Rian said promptly. "It won't interfere with any other work in both demesne and it will allow us take advantage of an additional food source. Karina is known to the children of the people who moved there and thus might be able to re-establish her friendships with them and begin their adjustment and reintegration into society. It also sets a good example for others. We might need to have someone to accompany her, but we'd need to have someone do that anyway to help her with gutting and cleaning the seels she catches. At worse, I'd simply advise that we accept her offer, but bring her with us one shift later."

Lori blinked. "Why delay that far?"

Rian nodded towards Shanalorre. "Hopefully by that time the other children will be used to this demesne enough that Shanalorre will be able to accompany us back. I don't doubt that parents will want to know how their children are doing, and she can accompany Karina in her work. Even if she doesn't rule the demesne anymore, she'd be able to keep Karina out of trouble."

"I would be more than willing to return Karina's assistance in being my guide when I first came to this demesne," Shanalorre said. "however, if I were to do so, I would need someone to stay with the children, and especially my cousin, to chaperone them."

Lori looked towards Umu with a blank, flat stare, waiting for her to volunteer. The weaver was concentrating on eating her food—and leaning against Rian's side without obstructing his own ability to eat—looking very intent upon her meal. After a moment, Lori said, "Perhaps you can find someone willing to do that, Rian?"

"I'll ask around, since if anyone will be willing." Next to him, Umu began to open her mouth—

"There's no need for that, Rian," Mikon said. "My cousins Koyan and Kayas expressed their willingness the last time I asked, before the Lady Binder decided that all the children could live in her house. They'll still be willing since it gets them out of the house, even if it's only for a few days, and my aunt Kasco already gave them permission if it was for looking after the children. Though they might try to claim the bed, Lady Binder."

"The bed is for Yoshka and the other young girls," Shanalorre said. "However, if there is still room, then perhaps they can fit in. If your cousins are willing Ateh Mikon, perhaps they can stay tonight while I am present so that I may assess their interaction with the children."

"I'll ask them. Excuse me, Riz…"

Riz muttered, but slid aside to let Mikon swing her legs over the bench they were sitting on and get to her feet. She took a moment to orient herself, looking around—presumably for a table mostly filled with pink-haired women—before heading purposely towards Lori's left.

"Setting aside the matter of Karina's volunteerism for the moment," Lori said, scooping up some soup in her spoon, "what other matters occurred?"

There was a pause.

"Uh, are you talking to me now, or are you still talking to her?" Rian asked.

Lori put the spoonful in her mouth, swallowed. "Yes."

Rian and Shanalorre exchanged glances. Then he waved towards her.

"During your absence, there were no injuries that required my presence," Shanalorre said. "Though I believe that might change in the future. After we finished planting the tubers, and she instructed me that they needed to be regularly watered, Karina began seeling at the river."

"So I discerned."

"Some of the other children have joined her. I declined her invitation to learn at the moment, but some of those in my care accepted." Shanalorre paused for a moment, and a concerned expression came over her usually composed face. "I fear that she might soon do herself an injury. While the other children are seeling ones that they appear to be able to easily handle, Karina appears to be working towards catching larger prey. At the very least, her seels are always bigger than everyone else's."

"That's… concerning," Rian commented.

She nodded, seemingly in agreement. "I have been cautioning her, and to her credit, she seems to be perfecting her technique for catching adolescent so that she may seel them consistently. However, once that happens, I fear she will attempt to move on to much larger prey."

"I'll be careful!"

Shanalorre looked over her shoulder. "It is still worrying. I do not wish you to come to harm. I don't want anyone else to come to harm again." That last was spoken with surprising vehemence, even if the other Dungeon Binder did not raise her voice. She blinked, swaying slightly, then closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths in a way Lori was deeply familiar with. Eventually, her breathing returned to normal. "Beyond that, I have nothing more that I think needs to be reported, Great Binder."

Lori nodded. "Very well. Continue as you have been. Rian?"

"I've talked to the carpenters, and the last house should be done by tomorrow morning," Rian said. "It could have been done today, but there was no sense of urgency, especially with the other projects. Do you want me to make the announcement about them tomorrow?"

She nodded again. "Do it during breakfast. I want you to be present to coordinate the inevitable disruption that will result."

"I thought it would be something like that. Some of the barrels are also finished. I'm going to have them packed with food so that they're not just full of empty space when we take them to River's Fork." He sighed. "My biggest concern is someone decides to try fermenting booze inside them. I'm almost certain that part of the stolen food was being used to do that. Speaking of which though, I realized an oversight on our part. And I say 'our part' because both of us didn't think about it."

"Oh?" Lori said, her voice flat.

For some reason, Rian looked up at the ceiling. "Despite our proclamation of you now being in charge of River's Fork, it's only recently occurred to me that we—and by we of course I mean you—did not publicly update the demesne's legal code to reflect this." He pointed in the general direction of the list of laws near the door. "I mean, I know it's based on militia law, but I don't really know what that is. The specifics, I mean. From context, it's what the militia operate under, but I don't know it."

Riz grabbed her bowl and remaining bread, and stood up hastily.

Without looking, Rian reached out and managed to snag her sleeve. "It's okay Riz, I'm not going to ask you to tell us about it. Should we assume it basically covers the usual spirit of 'don't be horrible to each other' that most laws do?"

Riz glanced at him, then eyed Lori for a moment, before slowly sitting back down. "Basically," she admitted. "It's got specific punishments for things that are a bit more forgiving than civilian law, but it's kind of understood that if you break any of it, you're getting a lot of dangerous glitter-work where you'll be taking your chances more than usual. And your officer can also decide to hand you over to be punished under civie law. Depends on how he feels and how badly you've rainbowed."

"Hey, watch the language! There's children in the next table!" someone at another table said.

"We've glittering heard rainbowed swearing before!" a high-pitched, girlish voice said from the table full of children.

"Irla, don't speak that way. You know how delicate adults can be," Shanalorre said blandly. "And wipe your mouth."

"Sorry, Lady Binder!"

"Ah, the wild frontier, where the children swear like militia," Rian sighed, sounding theatrically nostalgic. "Anyway, I believe it would be in… well, your interest to at least integrate your code of law with the one that River's fork is familiar with. While I'm sure it would be easier to just replace it entirely with your laws, they might have more specific, situational clauses since it sounds more extensive. Of course, your laws take precedence, but it doesn't really cover something like, say, accusing someone of something they didn't do. Under your laws, that's technically not illegal, though the accusation will likely reach you or me, and you'll probably set some terrible punishment for wasting your time once we've settled the matter."

"If I may, Great Binder?" Shanalorre said. "I familiarized myself with our laws as a part of my duties as Dungeon Binder. With your permission, I can organize which parts of the legal code can logically be subclauses of the laws that you established, and present it to you for your decision as to which parts to retain or leave off? It will reduce the amount of decision making that need be done if examples of punishments for specific ranges of wrongdoing are already prepared in advance."

Lori and Rian both blinked and stared at her. She stared back.

"Shanalorre, no offense to you," Rian said, "but that's the saddest thing I've heard this year. The only reason anyone your age should be completely familiar with a demesne's laws is if Lori came up with it, resulting in a short list."

"It was my responsibility. What sort of Dungeon Binder would I be if I were not familiar with the laws we've established?"

Lori found herself nodding in approval. Despite her many, many, many failings, Shanalorre's dedication to her former position was undoubtable. "Very well. Do so. When you finish, give me the plank and I will peruse it for consideration. Rian, see to it she has a plank. A personal plank, since she will likely need to do more writing in future."

For some reason, Rian sighed. "Yes, your Bindership."