Weekly Digest 121 - (#386 - #388) (Patreon)

Shana's Breakfast

Shana had a quick bath as Karina went to collect her brothers and sisters from Shana's house. The bath was mostly because Shana would be sitting next to Binder Lori this morning as the work hadn't been that intensive yet. Karina hadnt even broken a sweat. The baths were full this morning, as they'd been all summer. Many inside weren't taking a full bath, but rather simply pouring a few ladles of water on themselves and giving their faces a quick wash to remove morning oil and quickly cool them.

She entered the dungeon, feeling the cooler air inside blowing around her as she passed through the entrance, the familiar sensation of the binding meant to keep out bugs making her hairs rise and tingle. Inside, she nodded in greeting at people she knew—which was everyone, because unlike Binder Lori she had no problems remembering people—as she made her way towards Binder Lori's table, which was only not officially known as 'Lori's Table' because Binder Lori had apparently not seen the need to officially name her table. Still, if she did, everyone was sure it would be called that.

Binder Lori and Rian were already sitting at the table, the former leaning back on her chair and clearly enjoying the backrest. They were in the middle of some kind of discussion as Shana walked to the small bench next to the chair and sat on it, keeping her back straight. She nodded towards Rian, who nodded back but didn't break off what he was saying.

"—where the sawmill would be. When will you be able to put in the stone foundation?"

"If they're really done, I can do it after breakfast. Are the fittings for the saw ready?"

"Been ready for a while now. They're ready to install it as soon as there's solid ground to put them on. It will take a couple of days, I'm told, and some of the beams will need to be buried into the foundation to secure them."

Binder Lori scowled, but that was all. "Is there a plan for how the fittings will be installed?"

Rian nodded. "A basic one. Once the site had been finalized, the carpenters have been preparing the beams to accommodate the site's dimensions. There's only so many ways you can attach a water wheel to a circular saw, after all."

Lori grunted. "Is this sawmill really necessary? We've done well without one before now. "

"Did you need to become a Dungeon Binder? You've done well as a Whisperer before then."

Binder Lori glared at Rian, who simply smiled brightly at her. "That doesn't answer my question," Binder Lori said with gritted teeth.

"You already know all the benefits setting up a sawmill, and eventually a gristmill and drophammer will give us. If you want us to cancel the project and have all the work the carpenters and smiths go to waste, just say so."

If anything, Binder Lori's glare grew more intense. Rian just kept smiling as Wizard Taeclass and Rybelle passed behind him before sitting down on the bench a bit away from Rian so that Umu would have somewhere to sit. Their hair was still wet from their bath.

"Good morning, Shana…lorre!" Wizard Taeclas managed to add before Binder Lori corrected her. "Good morning, Rian. Could you tell her Bindership I wish her a good morning too?"

"Tae wishes you a good morning, your Bindership."

"Noted."

"Good morning, everyone," Shana acknowledged as she settled down to wait for the food to be ready, watching the kitchen past Mistress Rybelle.

The slight movement of Binder Lori's head might have been her acknowledging Shana's greeting or merely adjusting her seating position. Her gaze was still focused on Rian. "And you're sure that the sawmill side is above the spring flooding?"

Rian sighed. "Yes, it's above the flooding. You checked. If you're still dissatisfied, you can just keep adding rock to the foundation until it's as high as you want."

"That was never in question."

"Then why—no, no, not going there…" Rian shook his head. "Do you have enough stone or are we getting new plots excavated in the dungeon farm?"

Binder Lori visibly considered that, looking towards Wizard Taeclas, who smiled at her and waved. "Given the increased productivity of the dungeon farm, expanding its infrastructure now would be prudent."

"Should we try to add the metal contacts Taeclas spoke of to the new plots? After all, if we're going to be building new ones anyway… "

"Did a dragon drop gold on us that I'm unaware of?"

"No, not like that. You know those poles that Taeclas and Shana—"

"Shanalorre," Binder Lori corrected. Shana was sure she'd heard her full name more times in the past year than she had all her life before then, and all because of Binder Lori.

"—Shanalorre use, right?" Rian said as Ninang Riz, Mikon and Umu arrived. "Why don't we make one sized for the farm plots downstairs? One big wooden frame that can cover a whole plot, with wheels and ropes to raise and lower the wire lattice. That way, Tae and Shanalorre can have the convenience of having metal contacts without us needing to use as much metal. The stone walkways between the farm plots can take the weight of something like that, unlike the fields outside—"

"Stop," Binder Lori interrupted as Mikon reciprocated Wizard Taeclas' enthusiastic greeting, while Umu did the same with Rybelle. Rian stopped. "Rian… I will not be entertaining any new projects at the moment. Making new farm plots is strictly for the purpose of excavating more stone. Right now, focus on completing the sawmill so that it's well underway and you can be spared to go to Covehold Demesne."

Rian sighed. "Yes, your Bindership," he said as he shuffled to the side slightly to make room for Umu as Ninang Riz and Mikon sat at his other side.

Binder Lori nodded, then turned to Wizard Taeclas. "Would his suggestion of a large lattice actually be useful?"

"Good morning, your Bindership!" Wizard Taeclas said cheerfully.

She received a flat look in turn. "You said that already."

"I know, I just wanted to greet you properly! Let's see… well, if the lattice has enough wire, it will probably help. The problem will be moving it from plot to plot. Rian said something about wheels, and… I suppose that will work. Having people carry it will probably be tiring work, since they'd need to hold the frame for both me and Shana… lorre. I think Shanalorre and I will work faster using just the poles, as long as it's in the dungeon farm. Something like what Rian described might be better for the fields outside. Right now we're having to walk around the outside of the fields. Those crops will start maturing when I activate their meanings, and then they can be cut and we can start claiming and imbuing the crops behind them."

Wizard Taeclas shrugged. "As it is, your Bindership, while we're slowly making the crops mature faster, I don't think it will be in time to plant another crop for a second harvest. At least, not if we try to do all of the fields."

"What do you suggest, then?" Binder Lori said as Shana saw that the kitchen was starting to serve food.

Sliding from her bench, she went to join the line. She was soon joined by Mistress Rybelle, Mikon and Rian, the latter two bickering good-naturedly.

"—don't need to do this, Rian," Mikon said. "I can get the food."

"We have a schedule, it's my turn," Rian said. "Besides, she's still talking to Tae. That should keep her occupied. You two go first, Shana, Rybelle. You and Tae have been up longer than most of us, you need your food."

"Thank you, Lord Rian."

"Thank you, L—I mean, Rian."

"Shana, you know you don't need to call me 'lord', right? You're a Dungeon Binder, you outrank me."

"Noted, Lord Rian."

Rian shook his head, yet he smiled as he did so. At least he didn't say anything about how the demesne had the most adorable Dungeon Binders.

They waited only briefly in line, despite Rian's protests and attempts to keep people from letting them go ahead of them. Shana agreed with him in principle—she was perfectly willing to wait her turn—but if she was being allowed to get to food faster… well, she had a little cousin to take care of.

"Rian, come on and help me pick up Binder Lori's food," Mikon said, nodding in acknowledgement at all the people letting her pass. "You were just saying it was your turn, remember?"

"It's still wrong," Rian muttered, even as he nodded at all the people letting him pass. "They got here first, they should get their food first."

"We're not getting food for her Bindership, Rian," one of the men in line—Bonn the chandler—said. "A happy Binder Lori is a happy demesne."

"She's never happy, you know that. The closest she gets is 'not annoyed' and 'asleep'," Rian retorted, but he was smiling as he said it.

Breakfast was stew, bread—unleavened, either to let the culture recover or because it was faster—and a selection of fruits, all dripping water and slightly bruised from the cold in which they'd been stored. Shana took only enough for one since she didn't have to get food for Yoshka, but she did take one of the jars of chilled water to bring back to their table so that Rian and Mikon would have less to carry.

When she returned to the table ahead of everyone else. Binder Lori and Wizard Taeclas were still talking.

"—reorganize the fields to optimize the Deadspeaking we have available," Binder Lori said. "We'll lose a little surface area to the pathways, but the accelerated growing cycle should mitigate the loss."

Shana set her food on the table, placing the jug of water on the table where Binder Lori could reach it. Giving thanks to the Dungeon Binder for the bounty before her seemed nonsensical when she was one of the Dungeon binders in question, though since there was seel meat in the stew, she mentally gave thanks to Binder Lori and Karina, who were the ones most likely to have caught it. Then she began eating.

Next to Shana, Binder Lori didn't cease speaking to Wizard Taeclas even as she chose one of the bowls of food covered with a disk of bread that Rian had put in front of her. "Could you still use the poles if the wire lattice is a bit larger? The reorganized fields can be as long as they need to be, the limiting factor will be their width since each row will need to be wide enough for you to claim with the poles."

"I don't think it's a good idea to make the pole any bigger, your Bindership," Wizard Taeclas said, glancing at her wife and giving her a grateful smile as Mistress Rybelle put down the bowls of food she was carrying, before reluctantly turning back towards Binder Lori. "I might be able to carry it, but Shanalorre wouldn't be able to."

Binder Lori blinked, before turning and looking at Shana. She seemed to see Shana's arms for the first time as Shana stopped eating in case Binder Lori addressed her. "Perhaps she can get someone to assist her?"

"Karina is already helping her in the mornings," Rian said, and Binder Lori turned her attention on him. Wizard Taeclas took the opportunity to turn and give her wife a quick kiss and a half hug, pulling her close, before quickly turning towards her food and starting to eat. She usually didn't need to rush, but this morning it seemed Binder Lori wished to speak to her, and Wizard Taeclas was one of those people who gave her food her undivided attention—unless her wife was involved. Shana usually lost awareness at that point until they noticed and restrained their behavior slightly. "If the pole is any bigger and heavier the two of them wouldn't be able to handle it anymore."

"Why is Karina assisting her?"

"Because Shana has trouble handling the pole since it's so much taller than her and she only has two hands, obviously."

Binder Lori looked towards Shana again. After some time, she sighed. "Very well, we won't try to change the poles."

Shana returned to her meal.

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More Of Shanalore At Work

After breakfast, it was back to work imbuing the fields.

Shana went back to her house to retrieve her reed hat and a towel. Unfortunately, the pale skin on her arms were going to burn under the sun—her skin didn't tan like Karina's, instead becoming more red, and then starting to peel—but that was what her meaning was for. The towel was soaked in water and laid over her shoulders dripping wet. Such a thing would be dangerously harmful in the northern demesne she'd been born in, but in this heat it was a relief.

Karina met her where they'd left the pole outside of Rian's house. They picked up the tool, and then it was back to where they had left off earlier that day, to imbue more meanings. While they had been inside the dungeon for breakfast, the fields had become hot, and would only get hotter the more the day wore on. Still, it was a way to contribute that she could do that didn't involve making any decisions. Her decisions had not been the best.

The constant breeze from the binding of airwisps Binder Lori had made near the beginning of summer helped cool them, even if it made their hats flap, but they were used to that. The breeze actually seemed cold today. Had Binder Lori finally decided to add firewisps to it to destroy heat? Shana hoped that was the case. Still, even with the cold breeze, the sunlight was hot where it touched them as they continued working.

The rest of the morning was hot and repetitive as Karina supported the pole on her shoulders, switching sides as her shoulder started to get sore. The wet towel on the other girl's shoulders helped cushion the weight, even as the water in it dripped and it slowly dried.

They weren’t completely alone as they worked. The mushroom farmers went to check on the old mushroom farm, making sure that the fungus there was growing well, and trays of mushrooms were carried to the desiccator shed to dry. Not so far away, they could hear Wizard Taeclas singing some song about looking for fortune and love. When they eventually reached the corner of the field, they were actually able to see her as she worked. Unlike Shana, she was holding her pole by herself, though the butt end was resting on the ground.

Shana watched the other Deadspeaker work as she imbued. She was singing absently, with some verses of the song becoming 'nah nah nah nah' or 'dah dah dah dah' as she either forgot or didn't try all that hard to remember the words. Unlike Binder Lori, who just stared intently at whatever binding she was, occasionally lightly touching things with her fingers, Wizard Taeclass seemed unable to sit still when she was taming life into meanings, hence the singing. In the beginning, she also swayed from side to side where she stood, but that had quickly ceased, presumably because it moved the pole and made her lose contact with the life in the crops.

They worked at more or less the same rate now. Wizard Taeclas used to be ahead of them, but Shana and Karina had gotten better at working together, and while Shana needed to heavily imbue the meanings on the crops, it wasn't exactly complicated. She simply needed to make sure that the imbuement was sufficient to last the crops for their full accelerated growing period. Wizard Taeclas no doubt needed to do… well, things Shana didn't understand about Deadspeaking to make the meanings on all the dozens of individual crops that the Deadspeaker was claiming.

Still, given the number of crops that needed to have meanings applied to them, Wizard Taeclas was undoubtedly skilled to be able to tame so many meanings in the time it took Shanalorre to imbue about the same. She hadn't been able to compare her speed to Wizard Lidzuga in River's Fork—she only imbued the meanings he put in place, not having the time to observe how quickly he worked—but she was curious how he compared to Wizard Taeclas.

Of course, Rian had said that she was skilled with meanings involving plants, so that probably played a factor in any comparison, but Shana was curious regardless.

They worked through the rest of the morning as it slowly got hotter and hotter. Despite Karina and her best intentions, they had to take a few breaks to drink water and get their towels soaked again. No one's towels stayed wet for long this summer. Once they had wet themselves, it was back to work imbuing crops. However, there reached a point when not even towels and hats were enough to ward off the heat,

"We can do another pace, it's not that hot yet," Karina said, even as she panted and sweated.

"No, Karina," Shana said firmly, holding up her arm, which was red enough to look burned. "My sunburn is starting to hurt. We're going back inside so I can heal and we can drink water before we start getting headaches."

"Ah, right, that's why my head hurts…"

Shana sighed and reached towards her friend, following her instincts to claim, bind, and tame a meaning, imbuing the meaning just enough to do what it needed to. It should mitigate whatever was ailing Karina until they could cool her down and get water in her. And herself for that matter. While her head didn't ache yet, she recognized the signs of an oncoming one. "You go and get into the baths to cool off, I'll handle putting the pole back in the tool shed. No, don't argue. You don't have long before your headache comes back. Remember, drink, then soak yourself in water. Wizard Taeclas!" she called.

Further along, the Deadspeaker turned towards them.

"We're heading back!"

Wizard Taeeclas nodded and gave them a wave of acknowledgement, then flicked her hand in a sweeping gesture to tell them to get going. The woman would probably be done soon.

Shana had to tell Karina to go ahead of her, rather than linger and try to help with the pole regardless of what they'd discussed. Without her friend, handling the long tool was awkward. Shana had to rest it on her own shoulder and hold the pole with both arms extended so that she'd have enough leverage to control it and keep it from bouncing as she walked. The wire somehow managed to keep digging into her shoulder, despite her attempts to turn the pole so that it wouldn't.

By the time she managed to reach the baths, Shana could feel her own headache threatening, and she quickly had her fill of the drinking water coming from the spigot on the wall. Once she had enough that all she needed to do was wait for the symptoms to abate, Shana quickly stripped off her clothes, finding an empty shelf to put them on, and headed into the baths.

Since it was the time when the sun heat was peaking, the bath was crowded as usual, full of women talking about the day's work, gossiping and discussing the coming harvest and when the next one would be now that Taeclas and Shana were at work. Shana nodded as people greeted her, answering when she could.

"Good morning, Lady Binder. Hot today, isn't it?"

"Finally coming in, Lady Binder?"

"Working hard again today, Lady Binder? You should take a rest or else you won't grow tall!"

"Lady Binder, do you need a new hat yet?"

"Shana! Over here!"

Shana answered as she could, even as she turned towards the call of her name. Karina waved the ladle in her hand towards Shana from a spot near the basins. Her friend looked much less overheated, and her arms and face were noticeably darker than the rest of her. Shana in contrast simply looked redder in those areas, and her limbs were already starting to hurt from the sunburn.

As it was her own injury, it took only a moment to use her meaning on herself, ridding herself of the sunburn. Her arms and other areas would still peel, but it would no longer be painful when it happened.

Shana gave Karina a grateful nod as she squatted down onto the space next to her friend and closed her eyes as the other girl poured water over her. The water was refreshingly cooling, the heating deactivated as unnecessary at the moment. While her threatened headache did not immediately recede, her head immediately started to feel cool, and Shana let out a sigh of relief.

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When Shana and Karina came out of the baths, they were still wearing the same clothes, much cooler but already starting to sweat. Downriver they could vaguely see the site of the sawmill, well past the laundry area, what seemed like a strange shadow in the air above it to mark its location. Their hats on their heads, they headed into the cool of the dungeon. Inside, lunch was being prepared, the large copper pots resting on the cooking fires and the stew inside bubbling away, while trays of bread were baking underneath.

"Thank you for helping me again today," Shana said once they were out of the heat. Even the short walk between the baths and the dungeon was enough to get her sweating, though the damp towel around her shoulders wiped that away.

"You're welcome," Karina said. "I told you, any time you need help to grow food, you can always ask me!"

"I… didn't ask you, though?"

"No, but you need the help, so I'll help you."

Shana couldn't really deny that.

It was a pleasant surprise to see the children from River's Fork who were her responsibility sitting at their usual meal table. The table had three jugs of water and many cups on it—traveling was very thirsting in this heat—and they were talking to the children who'd stayed in Lorian about their respective holidays. Three had brought board games, and enthusiastic games of pincer were being played.

"Shasha!"

"Yoshka," Shana greeted as her younger cousin rushed at her with a hug and…ah, her arms had been sunburned. "Give me your hands." She raised her voice. "Everyone who'd been sunburned, come here and form a line!"

Yoshka obediently held out her hands as the other children lined up behind her. Not all of them needed to be healed, but all had reddened skin from being out in the sun. Shana could understand. No one wanted to be in the cabin of the Coldhold in this heat. Up on the deck and risk of sunburns it was.

“Shasha, we saw a beast on our way back!” Yoshka said as Shana finished healing her. “It was as big as a tree, and it had these things on its back, and—!”

Yoshka continued regaling her with the story of her sighting of what sounded like the typhon beast. Shana made a note to inform one of the hunters later, to add to what they knew of the beast. The other children also chimed in with what they knew, although it wasn’t much more than the fact that they’d seen the beast drinking from the river.

Once everyone was healed, Shana let them get back to what they were doing and sat next to Yoshka. Karina took her leave to find her own brothers and sisters to make sure they were behaving themselves. Despite the din of all the children chattering, drinking, and playing bard games, Shana found herself folding her arms on the table, laying down her head, and falling into a light doze as she waited for lunch.

It had been a long morning, after all. Even a Dungeon Binder needed to rest. So Shana did, waiting for lunch to be served.

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Shana's Afternoon

Shana ate at the table behind Binder Lori during lunch, as the children she was responsible for always needed her attention after coming back from River's Fork, and she had to make sure they ate and remained within acceptable limits of behavior. The latter was more for the benefit of the other tables around them, as Binder Lori didn't really seem to care how loud the children were, but adults would use the pretext of 'disturbing her Bindership' to try to get the children to behave. Best to just avoid all that before Binder Lori took umbrage at people trying to usurp her authority or however she was likely to interpret it.

In addition to the children, Koyan and Kayas also ate with her, helping her deal with the children so she wouldn't been overwhelmed. Most of the time it wasn't needed, but Shana could only direct her attention in so many directions at once, so their assistance was invaluable.

Thankfully, this time such assistance wasn't really necessary, and they were able to eat lunch without incident. Well, no more incident than was usual for lunch.

"No, Yoshka," Shana intervened, "Don't put so much stew on your spoon. Only a little bit so it doesn't drip. If you waste food, mushka will get angry at you."

"Aww…"

Behind her, Binder Lori and Rian were discussing the progress of the day's work on the sawmill's foundation. From the sound of it, while most of the foundation had been set in place, the top-most layer would need to be leveled to Binder Lori's satisfaction.

"You know, given how much stone would need to be leveled, could I suggest having the stonemasons and maybe the plasterers do the work for you instead?" Rian said. "Just as a test?"

"…who or what is a plasterer?"

"You don't…? Ah, probably not much call for a Whisperer in the field of plastering. Plasterers… well, they plaster walls, which helps in insulating it from the cold, as well as giving it a plumb, smooth look that you'll probably like. Usually they use specially formulated mud, but their tools shouldbe sufficient to shape softened stone, provided it's sufficiently soft."

“I’ll consider it.”

“Could you finish considering by the time we finish lunch so I can tell them whether they’re working or can spend the afternoon indoors where it’s nice and cool?”

Normally, Shana would have spent the afternoon helping Wizard Taeclas in the dungeon farm, imbuing the meanings she'd tamed, but with the recent harvest most of the dungeon farm's plots were empty of crops. The soil had been tilled and fertilized, and grain had been cast on the plots, so they were waiting for them to sprout and take root before putting any further meanings on them. All the other crops in the dungeon farm had already been tamed with meanings, even the tubers.

Short of going back outside and working in the heat, there was little Shana herself could do. And despite Binder Lori clearly intending to work through the afternoon, the older woman had no problems with the heat, and she seemed to have made some shade for those working on the sawmill. Even Karina wouldn't work in the heat of the afternoon, and she was very devoted to getting food for the demesne.

…

Well, Karina wouldn't work in the heat of the afternoon anymore, but as soon as it wasn't so hot Shana knew she'd be right back at it.

Still, Shana looked for Wizard Taeclas in case the Deadspeaker needed her assistance to imbue anything. She found her in one of the second level's alcoves, sitting on the floor next to some branches of various lengths and thicknesses, a bucket of dead leaves, another basket of straw from the recent harvest, and a mallet that seemed to have been borrowed from the carpenters. A cloth was spread out in front of her. Sitting on a bench in the alcove, Rybelle was using a short length of cord to bundle together lengths of straw from her own basket, most likely to make a broom. All over the second level, people had similar baskets of straw next to them as they made brooms and brushes.

"Wizard Taeclas," Shana greeted.

"Oh, hello, Shana! How are you? Did you have a good lunch?"

"I am fine, and lunch was adequate. Thank you for asking. Do you need any assistance? Actually… what are you doing?"

"Well, my lovely wife here is making brooms, and when they're as tightly bound as she wants, I'm going to fuse them together to cut down on cordage," Wizard Taeclas said, looking lovingly at Rybelle, who smiled backk. "While I'm waiting for them, I'm seeing about something to help keep the sun off me when I'm working out in the fields in the morning. I could make ones for you and Karina too, if you want?"

That piqued Shana's curiosity. "How can I help, then?" If Karina was going to insist on continuing to assist her in the mornings, then the least Shana could do was get her something to keep the sun off.

"Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather play?"

Shana sighed. "I am not a child, Wizard Taeclas."

"You are, though?"

"I am also one of the few Deadspeakers we have available. Please, allow me to assist. Anything you do will go much faster if I take care of the imbuement."

"Well… I suppose… but if you want to take a nap or something, then just tell me and go, all right?"

Shana nodded. Truthfully, she did want to take a nap, but if there was something that needed to be done... well, she could delay her nap until later. "What do we do?"

"Well, first off, help me start putting these leaves on this cloth."

It was not simply a bucket of dead leaves. Rather it was a bucket of wet leaves, as the bucket was also filled with water.

"Why?" Shana felt compelled to ask.

"Leaves start becoming brittle because they dry out," Wizard Taeclas explained as they began pulling out leaves from the bucket. They were wide—a little smaller than Shana's palm—and fairly thick, but had already yellowed. "I've been soaking these leaves for a couple of days, and now we're going to fuse them together using Deadspeaking. Here, let me show—oh, right." Wizard Taeclas sighed. "Well, no matter. As I said, we'll be fusing them together. Since these leaves are dead, the meaning is going to be fairly simple. So what we're going to do is…"

Wizard Taeclas held several leaves in her hands, letting the water on them drip back into the bucket as she concentrated. Shana noted that the Deadspeaker was holding them such that she was touching the leaves along their edges, clearly claiming and taming the life in the leaves. After a few moments, Wizard Taeclas handed the leaves to Shana and reached into the bucket for another handful.

Shana took the handful of leaves in one hand, overriding Wizard Taeclas' claim on the meanings on the leaves, and began imbuing them. With her other hand, she started laying out leaves on the cloth—"The cloth is to keep the wet leaves from sticking to the floor!"—putting each leaf down so that their edges overlapped slightly. She moved unhurriedly, both to give the leaves in her hand more time to be imbued and so that she could place each leaf down precisely.

Once Wizard Taeclas had made several handfuls of leaves with meanings on them, they changed roles, with Shana taking the handfuls of leaves and imbuing them while the Deadspeaker began putting down the leaves Shana had already imbued. Once Shana had imbued all the leaves, the two worked together to put down leaves on the cloth.

When most of the cloth had been covered by a layer of leaves, Wizard Taeclas rested her hands on the layer. The Deadspeaker started taking deep, even breaths—

"Oh, right," Wizard Taeclas said suddenly, sounding chagrinned. Her breathing returned to normal, even as her face changed into an expression of concentration as her hands began to slowly slide across the sheet, pressing the leaves down on each other. Where her hands pressed, the leaves flattened and stayed flat, fusing against each other. Under the Deadspeaker's hands, the leaves quickly became a single large sheet. The sheet wasn't completely uniform. The veins that had been on the leaves were still there, standing out on the surface of the sheet, and the sheet was thicker where the leaves had overlapped.

Wizard Taeclas carefully pulled up the corner of the sheet of leaves, separating it from the cloth. "All right, that should be enough," she said cheerfully. "Now to try and make a frame for it…"

The sheet of leaves was carefully placed on some of the slender branches so that it wouldn't stick to the floor as the excess water dripped out.

Constructing the frame as Wizard Taeclas imagined it was less intensive. After choosing which of the branches she would use, she bundled up some of the more slender branches together, tamped them down, then laid the bundle on its side and pressed her palm against the tamped down end. The branches were slender enough that she was able to touch all of them at once when she did so. After a few moments, Wizard Taeclas picked up the bundle again, tamped down the opposite end, and pressed her palm against that.

"All right Shana, your turn," the Deadspeaker said. "It doesn't need much, just enough that I can stick them against each other."

Shana nodded, pressing her palm on the branches as the other woman had done. Unfortunately, the difference in size between their hands meant she needed to use two hands. Overriding Wizard Taeclas' claim, she imbued the meanings for a count of five slow breaths, then removed her hand.

Wizard Taeclas touched the ends of the branches, testing the level of imbuement before nodding. "A bit more than necessary, but that's fine." Tamping down the bundle of branches, they repeated it on the other end.

Taking four of the imbued branches, Wizard Taeclas took a longer, thicker branch and laid it on the floor, then pressed the end of one of the slender branches to the end of the longer branch at a right angle. Holding it in place with one hand, she pressed a finger to the end of the slender branch. It took longer to fuse the wood together than it had taken to do the same to the leaves, so Shana took the opportunity to stand and walk back and forth to ease her legs.

Eventually, the four slender branches were fused to the end of the longer branch in a slightly lopsided cross shape.

"All right!" Wizard Taeclas said, carefully laying the wooden construct on a bench. "Now, let's get the leaves!"

The sheet of leaves was carefully removed from the branches it was resting on and laid down on the cloth again, where Wizard Taeclas rested both hands on the sheets. Slowly, her hands moved, moving across the surface. Her hands made one circuit over the sheet before she removed them. "All right, Shana. Could you imbue this too? You only need to put in as much as you did on the branches."

Shana nodded, resting one hand on the sheet. She suspected that Wizard Taeclas was perfectly capable of imbuing the meaning on the sheet—which seemed to encompass the whole sheet now—and was mainly doing this to allow her to be involved. Still, it was a productive way to pass the time, so Shana didn't mind. "Done," she announced.

"Thank you," Taeclas said, standing up and picking up the fused branches. "Could you please hold this steady?"

Shana remained seated, holding the fused branches upright by the thick branch and doing her best to do as Wizard Taeclas had asked as the Deadpseaker picked up the sheet of leaves. From her point of view underneath, Shana watched as a corner of the sheet was carefully pressed to the end of one of the extending slender branches with one of Wizard Taeclas' fingers while the Deadspeaker's other hand adjusted the orientation of the sheet.

It took a while as Wizard Taeclas adjusted the sheet back and forth before finally fusing the sheet to the end of one of the slender branches, and carefully pulling the sheet taut to fuse it to the end of the opposite branch. Shana did her best to hold the branch steady as the Deadspeaker secured the sheet to all the branches.

"All right, that should do it!" Wizard Taeclas said cheerfully as she fused the sheet to the last branch. "Not bad for my first rainshade. Well, sunshade, technically. I'm not sure it will work well in the rain. Here, let me take that so you can stand up."

Shana let Wizard Taeclas take the sunshade, and got to her feet. The Deadspeaker happily held the… sunshade, and Shana could see how it could be used to, as the name implied, shade one's self from the sun and its heat.

Though…

"It looks like it would be difficult for Karina and I to use while also handling the lattice pole," Shana commented.

Wizard Taeclas paused. She stared at the sunshade in her hands. "Maybe if you should wear it on your back?" she said. She did not sound very confident.

"How?" Shana asked.

Wizard Taeclas stared at the sunshade some more and sighed. "I… might have to rethink this idea."

"Flowerpetal, if you're done with your little project, could you fuse these bundles together please?" Rybelle said.

"… yes, moonlight," Wizard Taeclas said. She glanced at Shana. "Uh…"

"Shall I return when you have rethought your idea?"

"I'd be thankful, yes."

Shana left to take a nap.