Demesne 314 - The Dragon Arrives During Lunch (Patreon)

They were in the middle of having lunch when Karina began to hear a faint sound. It sounded vaguely like a distant dry branch being snapped, but it must be loud if they could hear it over the sounds of everyone talking and eating heartily over the long-delayed meal. Karina looked around in confusion, as did the other children around her.

As she did, she noticed Shana was shaking. Her friend was holding her spoon and fork in clenched fists, and there was a little mess on the table where food seemed to have spilled, which Karina gave a disapproving frown at. She dutifully took her spoon to scoop up the spilled food and ate it, then ran her finger along the tabletop to scoop clean up what was left of the smear. There. No food wasted!

That done, she put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. Shana was completely tense, all her muscles clenched tight. Tears were starting to well from her eyes, and her chest was starting to heave. Karina could hear air whistling as it went in and out of Shana’s nose far too fast.

“Shasha? Are you all right?” Yoshka asked from Shana’s other side as Karina heard movement and a bench scraping across the floor behind her,

Karina reached around and very, gently rested her hand on her friend’s left cheek, then started shaking Shana’s from side to side to get the other girl’s attention. Her eyes, meanwhile, were watching Shana’s hands, especially the way they were both still tightly clutching their wooden utensils. If either hand looked like it was going to move…

She’d seen Shana slap herself in the face before, when she seemed to be having nightfrights in the middle of the day, and right now she was still holding a spoon. So she put her hand on the side of the face Shana hit and shook her to get her out of the nightfrights without any slapping.

After a while, she felt the tense muscles in Shana’s shoulders relax, no longer as tight as pulled cords. “Karina, could you please stop doing that to my face now?”

“You’re not going to slap yourself?”

Karina felt hot breath on her wrist as Shana sighed. “Yes, I won’t slap myself. The panic attack seems to have passed.”

After one last look, Karina drew back her hand. On Shana’s other side, Yoshka grinned and put her hand of Shana’s face, because it had probably looked like fun. The young girl mashed her cousin’s cheek with her palm, giggling as she did so.

“Please stop that Yoshka, you’ll get food on my face,” Shana said. Her cousin giggled one last time, but put down her hand. “Thank you.” There was a moment’s pause as Shana glanced down at her utensils, then at the table. “Karina, what happened to the food I spilled?”

“I ate it. It was going to waste.”

Shana sighed in a way that was actually verylike Wiz Lori, usually when she was muttering about people being idiots. “Karina, I keep telling you, you’ll get sick eating food right off the table. Stop doing that! The demesne has plenty of food, there’s no need to get sick eating a spoonful to keep it from going to waste.”

“But it’s wasteful!”

“It’s even more wasteful if you get sick!” Another sigh. “Come here!”

Shana put her hand sideways on Karina’s forehead, the way she’d seen the aunties, medics and doctors do to check for fever. Karina stayed still expectantly, but just like the times Shana had done it before, she didn’t feel anything.

“There,” Shana said. “If you still feel pains in your stomach after this, or it feels like your stomach is bubbling, tell me right away, all right?”

“Yes, Wiz Shanalorre,” Karina said, in the same tone she’d say it to Wiz Lori.

“Binder Shanalorre. I’m not a wizard, just a Dungeon Binder.”

“I thought you needed to be a wizard to be a Dungeon Binder?”

“I can state confidently that’s not the case. I wasn’t, after all.” Sighing, Shana pushed away her food. “Excuse me a moment. I need to find Lord Rian.”

“I think he already knows the dragon is here,” Karina said, glancing over her shoulder at the table behind them. The bench directly behind them was empty—even with her gone, no one sat on Binder Lori’s bench—while across the table from the empty bench, Ateh Mikon and Ateh Umu were eating along, a space between them where Lord Rian usually sat. "Finish your food first. Lord Rian is probably busy right now."

Shana frowned for a moment, but her face smoothed and she nodded. "Yes, you're right. Lord Rian doesn't need me to inform him that…it…" She trailed off, so Karina put her hand on Shana's face again and shook her.

"Ah!" Yoshka cried. "Can I do it, Ateh Karina?"

"All right, Yoshka," Karina relented. "Don't press too hard."

Karina took her face off Shana's face, and Yoshka proceeded to mash her palm on her cousin's cheek.

Shana blinked. "—has arrived over the… Yoshka, would you please kindly stop doing that?"

Yoshka grinned, but didn't stop.

With a patient expression on her face, Shana gently took hold of her cousin's wrist and pulled it back. Yoshka pouted, but drew back her hand. "Shasha, peel this for me!" she said, holding out the mican she'd pick for her fruit with the meal.

Shana took the fruit, scoring it with one of her nails until she could get a finger underneath and started peeling, making the rind open like flower.

From outside, Karina could hear the sounds of whatever the dragon was doing growing louder. It no longer sounded like a branch snapping, or even several branches snapping one after another. Instead, it sounded like someone was striking a thick metal pot like a drum repeatedly. Possibly with a hammer in either hand, from how fast and loudly the sounds were being. There was also a smell like rain in the air and… something else…

Karina glanced towards the door, and it seemed like she wasn’t the only one. She couldn't actually see the door, of course, since there were other tables in the way, and she didn’t want to try to wiggle out of the bench just to look. "Ateh Koyan, can you see what's happening?" she asked.

Ateh Koyan looked very similar to her cousin Ateh Mikon, and had the same pink hair and similar yellow eyes, which she shared with all her sisters. However, unlike Ateh Mikon, unless Ateh Koyan made an effort to smile she always looked like she was glaring, even when she was asleep. Fortunately, she was often smiling when she helped take care of the other children. The woman was also looking towards the door, a concerned expression on her face. It made it seem like she was glaring. She glanced at Karina for a moment, who gave her an encouraging smile, and Ateh Koyan smiled back.

"Lord Rian has his ear to the door," the weaver said. "He's gesturing to Master Kolinh… some of the volunteers are moving to sit next to the door, but they're not getting their spears. Ah, they're eating. So perhaps Lord Rian doesn't think it's anything to worry about right now."

Indeed, not long after—Karina had finished her own food and was in the middle of eating her fruits—Lord Rian made his way back to his table and announced in a loud voice that, "All right everyone, go back to eating. Weird sounds coming from outside when a dragon passes by is normal, and since the door isn't being battered down, I don't think it's any worse than the screams from last time." Karina considered that, and found herself nodding in agreement, and several people seemed to be doing so as well. "We should be safe for now. Binder Lori put in a lot of work to have the Dungeon better protected. So when this is all over, let's all thank her when she comes back by giving her what she wants most: no one talking to her and pretending she doesn't exist unless she talks to us first."

There were laughs at that. Karina thought it was one of the weirder jokes Lord Rian liked to make. It wasn't what people did, after all. When they saw Wiz Lori, they stepped out of her way and gave her a bow, not ignore her.

"And on the note of special things we're doing for our Dungeon Binder… Onezto, how's that chair coming along?"

Uncle Onezto called out, "It'll be ready by the time she gets back, Lord Rian."

Lord Rian nodded. "Great. As to everyone else… like the bed, don't tell her we're making her a new chair, all right?"

"Yes, Lord Rian," Karina said, her voice mixing with everyone as they said pretty much the same thing.

Lord Rian nodded. "Good. Hopefully when this is all over, all we have to do is fix a few roofs. From the sound of it, we'll be losing some crops again—" Karina sighed at that, and she wasn't the only one, "—but that's why Binder Lori has been making more plots in the Dungeon Farm." He clapped his hands together, smiling at everyone. "Now, everyone finish eating so we can wash up, and then start taking turns at the baths. Be sparing with the water, but at least take a bath to wash up after all today's lifting. And then…" Lord Rian began to chuckle. "Well, Binder Lori's not here, so… I won't tell her if anyone wants to start playing music."

There were more laughs at that, but Karina saw some people look happier at the reminder.

"All right everyone, that's it! Eat up and remember: Binder Lori is probably going to forget to do anything about the lights downstairs, so have a clean cloth to cover your eyes when you sleep!"

There was some confusion, followed by groans as people realized that Wiz Lori probably wouldforget to dim the lights so people could sleep. Karina looked over her shoulder, watching as Lord Rian sat back down and accepted a cup of water from Ateh Umu. He looked tired.

Next to her, Shana had turned as well. "Karina," her friend said, "I need to ask you a favor."

"Sure," she said instantly.

"I need you to take care of the children for me while one of the Ateh and I sleep," Shana said. "Least one of us needs to be up at all times because it's hard to tell if it's day or night, so we'll need to take turns."

Karina nodded. "All right."

They didn't say anything for a moment.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I want to go to sleep first?"

"Not really. But… why do you want to sleep first?"

"Because this way, I'll be up when Lord Rian is sleeping, so I can give him a chance to sleep too."

"Oh! That's very nice of you."

"You are very kind to say so." Shana turned back to the table, and Karina did the same, and saw Ateh Koyan and Ateh Kayas playing alistaya, clenched fists pumping up and down twice before revealing an open hand, two fingers, or still a clenched fists. As they watched, Ateh Koyan dropped a fist and Ateh Kayas had an open palm. Ateh Kayas let out a hiss, smirking victoriously as her twin sister sighed.

"Very well," Shana said. "Ateh Kayas, please get our bed rolls ready after we bring in our dishes for cleaning. I will speak with Lord Rian and join you." She turned to her cousin. "Yoshka, I'm going to sleep after lunch. Do you want to keep playing, or will you join me?"

"But it's too early to go to sleep!"

"Then you can stay up," Shana said. "But when you go to sleep later, I won't be going to sleep with you, since I have to be awake then."

"Eh?-! But… can't you sleep later?"

"Unfortunately, I need to sleep now."

Yoshka let out a whine. "Fine…! But I'm not sleepy yet!"

"That's fine. You can just lie down next to me until you are. Here, have some of my golden bud." Shana gave her cousin a few of the yellow wedges of fruit. The younger girl brightened immediately, happily accepting the fruit as she was distracted from the fact she had an earlier bed time. Yoshka still had trouble sleeping without someone she trusted next to her, so she could only sleep comfortably next to Shana.

Karina scrapped her spoon over her bowl on last time, to get the last of anything left there—her mother had told her she was too old to lick the bowl clean anymore, so the spoon it was—then took her bowl, utensils, cup, and the plate for the bread and got up to bring it to where it would be piled up to wash. "All right everyone, clean your bowls and follow me. Don't leave any food in your bowls and drink all the water in your cups!" There was a sudden rush to drink.

Shana also stood up, taking her own dishes and Yoshka's as the younger girl sat there and enjoyed her last wedges of fruit. "Yrria, Tena, are you done eating? Ah, good. Follow me, I'll show you were we bring the dishes to be washed."