Demesne 316 - Shana Speaks To Rian (Patreon)

Dungeon Binder Shanalorre, Shana to some and Great Binder or Lady Binder to most, waited patiently as Lord Rian spoke to Kolinh about the organization of the all-but-militia volunteers for the duration of…. the duration.

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Shana found herself blinking, coming back to her senses as the disruptive emotions receded. After Karina and Yoshka had made their dissatisfaction with her means of bringing herself back to full wakefulness clear, she had begun to forego it, relying on them to rouse her from her apathy, but that meant she tended to stay insensate for periods of time when they were absent.

It seemed she had not been insensate for too long. Lord Rian was finishing talking to Kolinh as the volunteers were moving to the benches that had been carried in from outside of the Dungeon. While only a few were actively on shift, most of the volunteers were resting nearby so they would be able to respond quickly in the event of an emergency. It wasn't an arrangement that she had used in River's Fork when she had ruled there, but she'd hardly had the level of resources and infrastructure that Lorian Demesne always seemed to have on hand.

That was her fault though. If she were a better Dungeon Binder, she would have found a way to create matching infrastructure and resources.

When the two finished speaking, Shana stepped forward. "Lord Rian," she greeted.

"Shana. You know you can just call me Rian, right?" He sounded tired, even with his smile and energetic tone.

"Noted, Lord Rian. I'd like to speak to you about your condition."

For some reason, Lord Rian sighed as uncleKolinh standing nearby turned and gave him an amused look. "Is this about me needing to rest? Because I already got that from Mikon, Umu and Kolinh."

"It's about you needing to rest," Shana confirmed.

"If you must know, I was in fact going to rest for the afternoon, once I've made sure everyone's settled in and people weren't overcrowding in the baths."

"Actually, I was going to propose I assist you by taking the night shift so you can rest properly instead of trying to force yourself to function on little naps," Shana said. "When does that begin? Karina told me that last time there was a dragon she—"

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She blinked, then shook her head, pushing down the irrelevancies. Perhaps she should go back to slapping herself for the length of this conversation, to reduce delay. Opposite her, Lord Rian waited patiently, badly-concealed pity in his eyes. Shana simply picked up where she'd left off. "—she was asked to keep time by watching a water clock, so I assume you have begun that as… are you well, Lord Rian?"

Lord Rian's head was bowed, and one hand had risen to grasp his face. "I knew I forgot something…" he said from behind his hand. "Thank you for reminding me, Great Binder. I'll see if I can get someone on that… and for the night shift as well, I suppose."

"You are welcome, Lord Rian. Will you be accepting my assistance, then?"

"I'm… not sure I should, Great Binder. You're the one who's been up longest of all of us. If there's anyone who needs sleep, it's you."

"I agree. However, I intend to sleep directly after this conversation to rest and prepare. I shall wake up at dinner, and we can exchange information and shifts then."

"I wouldn't want to impose on you…"

"There is no imposition. I had already resolved to follow this sleep schedule to ensure someone is supervising the children at all times, especially since there are two new children with us."

"Yes, I saw… Just two?"

Shana nodded. "Yes. Just two."

He sighed. "I'm both surprised and not surprised… Do they need anything?"

"They already have their ration of soap, they just need their own bath buckets, tsinelas for their feet, and possibly toweling. I am unsure if they have any, but the likelihood is low. Beyond that, they only need to acclimate and unlearn bad habits acquired from my mismanagement. Beyond that, Yrria and Tena are well."

"Hmm… Yes, I remember them. They were nice girls."

"They are," Shana agreed. They'd always been willing to tell her about what their parents had been doing, even after the spate of thefts from their food stores had begun. All the children told her anything they noticed when she had asked. It had been one of the few ways she'd been able to stay informed of the goings on of her demesne, since even Lord Yllian had been reluctant to report some things to her, most likely out of some sense of trying to preserve her childhood innocence.

She had not been so cruel as to invite him to consider the implications of being aware of the activities of every living thing in her demesne.

"I shall go rest now, Lord Rian," Shana said. "We'll speak again at dinner."

"I haven't agreed to this yet!"

"With all due respect, Lord Rian… you can't stay awake indefinitely. If no one else, Ateh Mikon and Ateh Umu won't let you," Shana pointed out. "You're swaying on your feet already."

Lord Rian stood straighter, stiffening his legs. "I'm fine. I was just… making excuses for the fact I'm really tired… " he sighed. "I really wish it was anyone other than you. This isn't something someone your age should have to deal with."

Shana considered all her possible responses and simply stared at him, her face blank.

"And that's a face out of my nightmares," he said. "Fine, I accept your offer of you taking the night shift. But if anything happens, if an abomination so much as scratches at the door, you wake me up and have me deal with it, all right? Lori might not like to think about it, but we can't risk you. If anything happens to her…" He fell silent, a pained, ashamed expression on his face.

"I understand, Lord Rian," she said. And she did. It was why she had been the Dungeon Binder of River's Fork, after all.

Short of bringing in a stranger from Covehold, if Binder Lolilyuri died from being in River's Fork, Shana would be the only one capable of claiming the dungeon's core to re-establish the demesne. She even had experience doing so, having done it before.

She checked on the concentration of life she knew to be Binder Lolilyuri, ensuring that all the life in her body was functioning as it should, and that she—and anyone else in the demesne—were not injured. The inert life that made up her clothes and her staff were distinctive, and Shana had long since learned to recognize her. From her pose and the concentrations of inert life being added to her mass, she seemed to be in the midst of eating. Lunch was delayed, though given that River's Fork had probably been able to have breakfast, it might not have been so pressing for them.

Fortunately, no one seemed injured, so Binder Lori hadn't needed to enforce her views of public order. At least, she thought so. All the life seemed to be as they should, and she'd spent enough time using this one of the few abilities she had as a Dungeon Binder to know what even mild bruising looked like in her awareness of life.

She realized she'd been standing there quietly enough that Lord Rian would not unreasonably conclude that she was having one of her episodes, and made a show of tilting her head thoughtfully. "Binder Lolilyuri and Ateh Erzebed seem well," she said to assure him, knowing those would be his priorities, "as are everyone else. Whatever defenses Binder Lolilyuri established, they appeared to be secure and holding."

Everywhere were else besides the areas Binder Lolilyuri had secured were being damaged, the life being… there was probably a technical term for it, but she was not aware. From her awareness, however, what she could perceive of the trees and plants and bugs and other living concentrations of life in her demesne was slowly being… disordered was the best she could describe it, the life slowly becoming inert. It was a random change, occurring at different points of different concentrations of life to seemingly no rhythm.

Lord Rian didn't sigh this time, but his shoulders relaxed slightly. "That's… good to know."

"You shouldn't worry, Lord Rian. Binder Lolilyuri has more than merely luck to protect her from harm. I'm sure she will keep herself and everyone else safe." The fact that Binder Lolilyuri could somehow make wispbeads of various sizes was a badly kept secret that, in consideration for her sworn Dungeon Binder's wishes, she pretended not to know of. She did not know how this had led to Binder Lolilyuri making strange bound tools, and she had not asked.

"I hope so." He sighed now, then shook his head. "You should probably get to sleep. I just need to check on something, and I'll go find someone to keep a watch on the time and maybe finally sit down." Lord Rian paused, then amended. "Take a bath and then sit down. It's been a long day."

Shana nodded. "Very well. I shall inform Ateh Mikon and Ateh Umu about our conversation, then I shall retire. What do you need to check on?" she asked as she prepared to turn away.

"I'm just going to check on what's making the noise," Lord Rian said, beginning to turn away himself.

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Shana blinked as she realized she was now gripping Lord Rian's wrist in as tight as grip as she could manage, her lungs panting at the sudden panicked exertion. "That's dangerous," she said, trying to be calm and instead being forceful as disruptive emotions affected her rational thinking. "You'll die."

"Please let go," Lord Rian asked politely, and Shana surrendered her grip, drawing back her hand. It wanted to clench tightly, but she didn't let it, relaxing and letting her hand fall to her side. "Thank you. I realize it's dangerous, but this is the first time we don't have any abominations tapping on our dungeon door asking to be let in, which is already proving the effectiveness of our defenses. I should be safe enough to see how what it's going on."

Shana shook her head in opposition. "It's never safe," she said vehemently. "And this is nothing like the previous incidents." She felt the familiar sensation of disruptive emotions rising, about to bring her rational thought a halt at the mention, but other emotions dominated, and at best it made her words stutter for a moment. "Whatever is falling out there, it has no life, inert or otherwise." She had her uncle to thank for that bit of terminology. "It is not living or once-living, neither beast, fursh, bug or plant."

"What about mushroom?"

Shana blinked at the sudden question. "What?"

"You mentioned beasts, fursh, bugs and plants, but what about mushrooms? Or slugs? Graspers? Where do dillians and islandshells and their kind come in?"

"They are not those either," she said flatly.

"Wow, you said it exactly the way Lori would have. That's both impressive and very, very disturbing."

She nodded to herself, pleased a correctly reproducing Binder Lolilyuri's inflections. "Please do not distract me with humor, Lord Rian. I will not have you die out there. This is clearly a sign of your tiredness."

He hesitated. Lord Rian visibly had to think about it. "Maybe you're right…" he said hesitantly. Eventually, he sighed. "Fine, not today then. Though I think I should still see what's out there… but yes, not now. If I need to, I can look tomorrow…"

"No," Shana said firmly. She turned her gaze. "Captain Kolinh, please ensure that Lord Rian does no such thing, and that he adheres he his stated itinerary of finding someone to keep watch over the time and then sitting down to rest after taking a bath."

"Yes, Lady Binder," Kolinh said in the same tones he used when saying "Yes, Great Binder" to Binder Lolilyuri.

"It's a good thing Lori's not here," Lord Rian muttered. "She'd definitely overreact to hearing you two talk like that."