Demesne 327 - Three For One (Patreon)

Lori spend the rest of the day making wispbeads just beyond the upriver edge of her demesne. It was a familiar tedium that she didn't have to think too deeply about, and allowed her to get lost in her thoughts and simply wait. Since she spent it sitting inside her shed made of bound ice, she wasn't uncomfortable even though she was technically sitting outside of her demesne. The binding to circulate cool air inside the shed saw to that.

The tray she used was a pace long and half that wide, with columns of little wooden trenches arrange in rows atop it. A copper sheet on the tray acted as a contact point for all the trenches, and a copper wire extended from one side of the tray all the way down to a another sheet of copper that was secured to a small plank of wood about the side of a large book. One of Lori's bare feet rested on that copper plate, channeling magic through the metal contact to the beads. It had been the best solution to the problem of how to best keep contact with the copper sheet to imbue the amalgamating beads while keeping her hands free, and after all this time of using it, she was forced to admit it was an intelligent solution to the problem.

It freed her hands to put shards of Iridescence on the trenches of the tray and anchor heavily imbued bindings she plucked from the half of the shed that was within her onto the tray next to the shards. If nothing else, learning how to mass produce beads had done wonders for ability to perform multiple tasks at once. Well, in stages, in any case. Place fragment on the tray, removing binding she'd anchored to a convenient rock in arm's reach, anchor binding onto bone edge of trench where it contacted the fragment, touch both with finger to begin amalgamating the two into a bead. Repeat previous steps to make the next bead, all the while channeling magic through her foot and the copper pad it was contacting to imbue the beads that were already in the middle of forming.

When she wasn't making beads, Lori had to wonder how it was actually done in the large, established demesnes of the continent she'd just left. She couldn't imagine how a bound tool could possibly be used to replicate this process, much less allow it to be done by anyone who wasn't already a Dungeon Binder. Perhaps imbuing the growing beads could be left to other people, but actually beginning the process itself? That would probably just result in the world's smallest dungeon…

… which, come to think of it, might actually be what was occurring in the old continent. Did established demesne have little demesnes bare yustri wide at its edges, their growth forever constrained by the far, far larger demesne they were already abutting? Were there people who had claimed those miniscule cores who worked in perpetuity to create beads?

It was a disturbing thought that would sometimes arise when she wasn't forming beads, which had sufficiently distracted her when she had first conceived it that she'd accidentally interrupted the flow of imbuement, ruining some of the batches she'd been working on. The very thought, the sheer plausibility of there being Dungeon Binders in such circumstances… it made her heart want to squirm in discomfort, especially considering what she was doing.

It had taken her three days to stop thinking about it, and now the thought only came up when she was lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep after a long day's work.

Occasionally, she'd stop everything but the imbuing and look up to listen for Riz and her friend, who were outside ostensibly keeping their eyes open so that some beast couldn't just come up behind her shed and smash the shed while her back was turned. The two were outside, taking advantage of the shade of the tree Lori had built her shed under. It was a little bit less shady from the damage inflicted by the dragon, but more than enough for the two former militia to shelter under and basically relax even as they kept a watch. they were just far enough away from the entrance of her shed that their words were background sounds she had to concentrate on to decipher.

Fortunately, it was an unremarkable day, and bead production proceeded uninterrupted. The trough next to her filled with wispbeads at a constant pace as the amalgamating beads grew until they were lifted up from the copper contact at the bottom by the angled sides of the trench the cloudy white perfect spheres were forming in.

She stopped well before late afternoon so that beads could be scooped up into a large leather sack for transport back to her Dungeon. When she had originally started mass bead production, Rian had wanted to count how many beads in total in a day, but that idea had been rejected after the one time they had tried to do that accounting. The way he'd moped at not having a new number to watch grow bigger had been both amusing and exasperating.

He'd still gotten his wish to eventually count how many beads there were in total—she'd conceded they needed to know how much stock they had available—and the number he'd reported was… well. She hadn't quite realized she'd made that many.

Of course, since they were making use of bound tools now—rudimentary as they were—there had been beads expended… but production had far exceeded expenses. Granted, she had to maintain production so that they'd have a supply to send to River's Fork in the winter, but that was no great difficulty.

Lori headed back downriver to her Dungeon, operating Lori's Boat herself as they headed down for dinner, the wooden boat weighed down by the three of them, the bead production tray, and three large leather sacks of beads. The sacks weren't all the way full, and could hardly be said to be bursting… but they were three sacks nonetheless.

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Dinner was a stark reminder of Rian's absence.

The spot on the bench opposite her was empty, and Riz was pointedly refusing to slide into it, as if doing so would be some sort of tacit move of acting as a temporary Rian again. As a result, there was a gap between Umu and the others… or there would have been if Mikon hadn't pointedly sat down next to the blonde-haired woman and started inquiring about when they should launder the bedrolls and blankets.

Lori ignored the mundane, if awkward, conversation as she ate the stew that Riz and Mikon had brought to the table. Despite Rian's absence, the two still seemed to be bringing food to the table, for which she was glad. Around her, the dining hall's conversation sounded subdued.

When she finished eating, Lori remained seated, leaning back on the backrest of her chair as she waited patiently. Ah, she was never going to tire of being able to lean back when she sat!

"Karina, could you take Yoshka to the baths? I'll meet with the rest of you there later, I just need to speak with Binder Lolilyuri."

"Sure, Shana. I'll take care of things while you do Lady Binder things. Come on everyone, let's take a bath…!"

As the happily cheering children marched out of her Dungeon, clearly looking forward to the prospect of a bath, Shanalorre walked around to the opposite of the table from Lori and sat on the bench in front of her next to Riz. "Great Binder," she said as Mikon and Umu rose, vacating the table, presumably to also head for the baths.

"Binder Shanalorre," Lori acknowledged. While she was still wary and reasonably suspicious of the younger Dungeon Binder, in her time in Lori's demesne as a subject, Shanalorre had been punctilious in the fulfillment of her responsibilities. These responsibilities had consisted of acting as the caretaker of the children from River's Fork who had been sent by their parent's to Lori's demesne for their safety and comfort, as well as compiling the numbers of what stocks they had in storage every week for Rian.

She was probably the one who'd had to compile the final count of the wispbeads, poor thing.

Lori had learned from the last time Rian had left to go to Covehold. Riz had proven… insufficient to the task of doing his duties, even with assistance, but the woman hadn't been completely useless. She'd done quite well when Lori had told her exactly what to do and what to arrange. Organizing something more complicated on her own initiative, however, had left the woman lost beyond the border, and had shown she lacked the aptitude for overall authority that Rian had.

There were currently no outstanding projects in the demesne, with the sawmill having been deferred to after Rian returned so that they'd have the assistance of the Deadspeaker he returned with, as well as his own presence. However, there were current endeavors to maintain such as the mushroom farms, the logging for materials, maintaining the fields, gathering ropeweed… even with Lori's assistance to manage the heat, she had still needed to agree to allow people to stop working from late-morning to mid-afternoon because off the heat.

However, Lori still needed someone to talk to people so that she wouldn't have to do it herself, and in that Riz was just barely suitable. She could work with that.

Once Shanalorre was seated, a man who'd been lingering at a nearby table approached and nervously sat down on Shanalorre's other side opposite Riz. Lori immediately reached into her belt pouch and pulled out, rather wide rock. Rian had felt she needed far more than simply a name in this instance. On the tablet was written: 'Kolinh. Retired Captain, formerly of Lomabuyar Demesne'sMilitia Engineering Banner. In charge of all building projects in the demesne (on my authority)'. It was all carved in what she recognized as Rian's rather awkward handwriting, though that might have been the material in question. Next to it was a simple caricature of a face that, Lori was amused to see, was actually identifiable as the man across from her.

"Engineer Kolinh," she acknowledged.

The man nodded carefully. "Great Binder," he replied, even as he resolutely kept his gaze directed at something just past Lori's right ear.

Lori took a moment to consider this arrangement. Riz, to talk to people and have them talk to her, and to be sent to do things for Lori directly. Shanalorre, to keep track of what they had and what they needed. And—Lori checked her rock—Kolinh, who'd see to organizing what things needed to get done.

It was slightly disturbing to think that Rian did do so much she needed at least three people to substitute for him, and that was merely a tentative minimum. She knew he was capable—very much so—but quantifying it like this…

Lori chose not to think about it.

"Riz, what have people bothered you with since we've come back?" Lori said.

"I've gotten complaints that the baths are crowded, Great Binder, but everyone thinks that. It's why some people have been bathing in the laundry area again. They're clothed," Riz hastily assured her. "They splash their clothes too so it soaks up the water and maybe gets some of the sweat off. So nothing too serious. The medics haven't reported anyone fainting from the heat today, so we're good there too."

Lori nodded. "Binder Shanalorre, are there any deficiencies we need to be aware of?"

"Nothing beyond the usual expenditures so far, Great Binder," Shanalorre said. "Intakes of seel meat continue to dip from the effects of the heat on the seels and those who hunt them with Karina, but we are managing to make up for it with increased beast hunting."

"Will that be sustainable?"

"I do not know, Great Binder. Unlike with the seels, I am unaware of the particulars of beast hunting. However, Karina has stated her intention to wake up before surprise while it's still cool to try and take the seels by surprise."

"Remind her that she's not allowed to do so without someone there to get her out of the water if she should fall in. Riz, find out if the hunters think if they can make up the difference the lack of seel meat is going to cause."

Reluctantly, Riz pulled out her knew bone tablet, writing something with a burnt stick. "I'll ask, Great Binder."

Lori turned back to—she checked her rock—Kolinh. "Engineer Kolinh. Are there currently any deficiencies or problems in any of our ongoing projects that need to be brought to my attention?"

"Nothing beyond the heat, Great Binder," the man said. "We've shifted to waking up before dawn so we can get as much work done before the sun rises properly again, just as we did last summer, and have done what we can to do a little work in the evenings when it's cooler, but given the lack of true urgency some have elected to simply sleep through the heat." He spoke confidently, likely aware she'd already discussed this matter with Rian. "It helps that the dragon's passing caused so little damage to buildings."

Lori nodded. She'd done what she could to ameliorate the heat where people were working, but due to a lack of stationary objects she could anchor them to, bindings of darkwisps to cast shade on work areas wasn't really viable when she wasn't actively maintaining them, and she had better uses for her time. The best she'd been able to do was anchor bindings of airwisps and firewisps to make cooling breezes, but even that was of limited utility. She couldn't put those on their fields, for example, where the farmers were still working to ensure that their crops were continuing to grow. The soil had turned slightly caustic, and they were working to address the imbalance lest more of their crops die. "Very well. Tomorrow, I'll be going to River's Fork to begin construction there. Riz, Shanalorre, the two of you are coming with me…"