Weekly Digest 125 - (#395 - #397) (Patreon)

Resuming Expansion

At the end of the week, Rian had a gathered a small group of men who decided that working the whole day in a shaded mine was preferable to working until it was too hot to stay outside. The morning that they set out to River's Fork, there was another crowd at the docks, which caused the usual delay, though to Lori's surprise the delay seemed shorter than usual. While there was hugging, there didn't seem to be as much crying?

Were her idiots becoming… rational?

No, that was probably too much to hope for. More likely people just didn't want to stand out on the stone dock under the very hot sun.

…

Should she heat the dock when she wanted people hurry up and get moving? Something to remember.

The Coldhold left with the miners also carrying a new wooden hand cart—the wheel was wooden and not stone, so Lori didn't even have to do anything—several new buckets, two of the wisplights bought from Covehold Demesne because they were hardier than the ones Lori had made, three coils of rope, and a pair of wooden pulleys. Lori had to assume that the mining tools were somewhere in River's Fork and in a usable state.

Rian also had a sack of beads for all the bound tools, as well as to replenish the demesne's own supply of beads. Lori had taken two days to make new beads—as well as six new very large beads—to replenish their own supply of beads. She had long since made placed bindings in her little ice shed to counter the heat of the summer while she amalgamated beads. Lori had even taken pity on Riz and her friends and anchored some bindings of airwisps on the outside of the shed to keep them cool, as Riz had revealed she'd been finding it harder to find people willing to join her escort because of the heat.

She'd made beads enough for both their intended next trading trip to Covehold Demesne and their own use for several weeks. Learning that the Golden Sweetwood Company would be arriving relatively soon had forced her to reassess her priorities out of, admittedly, panic. Still, it had been a controlled and rational panic if she did say so herself, and hers was the only opinion that mattered. This reassessment, as well as the lack of work she actually needed to do—even her listing of bindings she needed to imbue was much reduced because of the rudimentary bound tools she was making now—was what had led her to resume working on expanding her demesne.

Hence why she had spent two days making beads, as the expansion of her demesne would render her ice shed too far inside of her borders of her demesne to be usable. Lori wanted to have a good surplus so that when she next needed to make beads, she'd have time to build a shed to keep cool in.

For Rian's sake and to measure her demesne's expansion, she stuck two sticks into the ground, each a pace apart, right at the border of her demesne and the Iridescence outside to mark its current dimensions.

The first day of resuming expanding her demesne again was slow as she had to slowly get used to the procedure once more. Sitting upright in the little recess she'd made next to her bed, her bedroll beneath her for cushioning against the stone, she worked solely through her connection to her core. It was mentally intensive as Lori spent the morning and half of the afternoon making successive spherical shells of bindings around her demesne. Every so often she'd shift in her seat to keep parts of her from growing numb, but beyond that simply sat with her eyes closed or half-lidded.

During lunch, she was able to take a small break, switching from making shells of bindings around her demesne to imbuing the ones she'd already made. That was less distracting, but Lori found herself eating a bit slowly, and once or twice realized she was just sitting there staring at her food.

"Great Binder? Are you well?" Shanalorre asked from beside her.

Lori blinked down at her subordinate. Apparently her distraction hadn't gone unnoticed. Across the table, Mikon, Umu and Riz were all eyeing her, as were… whatshername and her wife, Lori couldn't be bothered to check her rocks at the moment. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm simply… pre-occupied."

Shanalorre's frown persisted. "Do you need healing?"

Lori have a hand dismissively. "That won't be necessary. My mind is simply occupied."

"I… see. Very well, then, Great Binder. But if you find yourself suffering from headaches, please do not hesitate to inform myself or Wizard Taeclas immediately."

Did she look like she had a headache? Huh, that as new. Usually when people bothered her they asked why she looked sad. Which she really didn't understand, as she was usually only lost in thought. "Of course."

Shanalorre stared at her for a moment, and didn't stop staring until Lori resumed eating.

Once she finished eating, it was back to her room to continue the preparations for expanding her demesne after Lori splashed a little water on her face and hair. Being in her demesne meant the temperature of everything around her was always comfortable, but the wetness felt good in any case. Sitting back in her little recess, Lori continued imbuing the shells she'd already made, finally remembering to connect the bindings together into one large binding to allow her to imbue it all simultaneously. That made the imbuing go faster, and let her focus on only a single thing.

At midafternoon, Lori ceased imbuing the shells and disconnected them from each other, then began expanding her demesne, making the outermost shell of bound wisps expand beyond the boundaries of her demesne, to the familiar feeling of the binding's imbuement being devoured by the Iridescence, even as she kept imbuing. Once the entire shell had been pushed out beyond the boundaries of her demesne, she dissolved the binding holding all the wisps of the shell together, then immediately bound the Iridescence beyond her demesne to her will.

Lori let out a satisfied sigh at the familiar feeling of her demesne's boundary's expanding. A part of her had been half-afraid she'd remembered this wrong, but that had been an irrational fear. After all, she'd done this for most of winter, and a little bit into spring. She was simply… out of practice.

The second expansion progressed much more smoothly as slightly stiff work habits and routines were put into practice again, and the third was even smoother still. By the time she finished with the seventh and last expansion for the day, Lori was feeling comfortable with the process again.

It was a marked contrast to the discomfort she felt as she straightened up from the recess she'd been seated at. Her legs felt stiff from sitting down so long, even with the cushioning of her bed roll. Lori had to lean her weight against the wall for a bit as she made her way downstairs to use the latrine. Thankfully, they were clean.

Once she'd finished her business, Lori stepped outside to check the time and to get some more feeling back in her legs. The sun was relatively low, indicating it was late afternoon, and the Coldhold was already secured at the dock. Checking her bindings, she found the rock with lightwisps anchored to it that she'd given Rian somewhere in the third level. He was probably helping water the crops or something.

She had some more time before dinner. Briefly, Lori debated going back to her room and making more shells to help her expand, but… well, she did have a mild headache. Perhaps it would be better to rest for a bit.

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Lori woke to someone knocking very loudly on her door.

"—ri? It's dinner time! come on, the food's going to get cold! We have fresh fruit!"

She perked up at that last, sitting up from her bed. The stone floor was cool on her bare feet—huh, she needed to sweep up here, the floor was gritty—as she padded towards the door, unlatching it and pulling it open.

"Oh. Sorry if I woke you up, but the food's ready," Rian said as he met her half-lidded, still sleepy gaze. "Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine," Lori said. "Just had a minor headache. Fruit, you say?"

"Yeah, the fruit trees are producing again. You had a headache?"

She waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. It was only a minor headache. I'm fine now."

"Are you sure? Shana—"

"Shanalorre."

"—Shanalorre can give you a quick healing when you get down. Headaches are usually a symptom of something worse, and we reallywouldn't want you to get sick. Did you remember to drink enough water? The headache could be a sign you’re dehydrated."

"… I'll consider it. Let me put on my boots, and I'll be down shortly."

"Don't you have tsinelas? They're really much more comfortable than boots in this weather. Less constricting, easy to slip on, and really soft."

"I have boots. They're comfortable enough."

“Fine, fine. I’ll convince you of the relative merits of tsinelas over boots at dinner.”

“I need a broom.”

Rian glanced down. “Yes, you do. Huh, for a woman so obsessed with hygiene, your floor is filthy.”

“It’s just dust and dirt tracked in by my boots, Rian.”

“And how much of that was tracked in from the fields and third level, and used to be latrine waste?”

…

That was a horrifyingly disgusting thought, and now it wouldn’t go away and it was all over her feet—!

“I’ll see you downstairs for dinner,” she heard Rian call behind her as she rushed to her bathroom, scooping up her boots on the way. Ugh, there was dirt caked onto the bottom of her boots…!

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There were only two bowls of stew waiting when Lori finally came down. Everyone save Rian was already eating. A large jug of water was also prominently placed in front of Lori’s chair, which made her roll her eyes. Still she did pour herself and glass and pointedly drink it, simply because she was thirsty, before she picked one of the bowls and took some of the bread and fruit remaining.

“I’ll get a broom and a dust pan for you after dinner,” Rian said as he took the last remaining bowl.

“Good,” Lori grunted. The food was delicious as always, but it was all she could do to not hurry just so she could get to eating the new fruit. “By the way, measure the demesne tomorrow, will you?”

Rian blinked. “What?”

“Measure the demesne tomorrow. You like seeing exactly how much it’s grown, don’t you?”

“W-wait, wait, you’re expanding the demesne again? And you didn’t tell me?”

“I just told you.”

“Well, yes but… Argh! I didn’t mark where the previous edge was!”

“I marked it. You can find it near the shed at the border.” Lori waved a hand dismissively. “Go watch your number go up.”

“Hey! Knowing how much the demesne growing is important!”

“No, the demesne growing is important, and knowing the total growth is useful. The exact numbers of the rate it’s growing and the average growth rate and all the other derivatives you calculate are simply for your own satisfaction.”

“They’re valuable data for future analysis!”

Next to Umu, whatshername the Deadspeaker turned to Shanalorre sitting next to Lori. “The demesne is expanding? Really?”

Shanalorre shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. The Great Binder doesn’t tell me anything about that.”

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Rian in Trouble

After sweeping her floor after dinner—Rian had insisted on doing it himself, since he said she probably wouldn't sweep under her bed, which… was fair—a promise of new footwear, and begging for Lori to not expand the demesne before he could measure how much the demesne had expanded, Lori went to bed.

"Five paces!" Rian declared cheerfully the next day as he finally arrived for breakfast. "Well, five paces lest a yustri, but still! I think that's a record for you!"

Lori gave him a flat look, then turned toward Riz. "Erzebed, did you accompany him?"

"No, Great Binder," Riz said, turning to frown at him as well.

Lori nodded solemnly, then turned a glare at her lord. "Rian… did you go to the edge by yourself? Alone? Before sunrise?"

Rian froze. "Uh… um…hmm…" He looked deep in thought for a moment before nodding. "Absolutely nothing I say is going to keep me out of trouble, is it?"

"No," Lori said, and she found herself being echoed by Umu, Mikon and Riz.

Next to her, Shanalorre stood up. "Come on, Yoshka. Let's sit at the other table this morning."

"Eh? But we're already sitting here, Shasha—AH!"

Shanalorre put her hands under her cousin's armpits and lifted her up and over the bench in a smooth motion, turning around and walking towards the end of the other table's bench. The children sitting their hastily shuffled aside to make room, and Shanalorre put down her cousin on the bench.

"Yay! Shasha, do that again!"

"Later. Make room, Yoshka."

Rian looked forlorn for some reason. "She abandoned me… Shana—"

"Shanalorre," Lori corrected.

"—I thought we were friends!"

"Dungeon Binders don't get involved in this sort of nonsense," Shanalorre said as she sat down.

Lori nodded approvingly, then continued glaring at her lord. "You went alone! While it was dark! What if you'd encountered a beast?-! Even a choker could have significantly hurt you in the dark, and if you'd been injured, there wouldn't have been anyone to help you and get you back to my Dungeon! Were you even armed?"

"And it was at the edge!" Riz added, also glaring at him. "You know the local beasts still haven't really learned not to step into the demesne! What if there'd been leapers out there! If you'd woken me up, I could have at least gone out with you to keep watch!"

"I didn't want to bother yo—"

"It's not a bother, it's just common sense not to go to the edge of the demesne alone! And don't mention the hunters, they always tell each other where they're going out, and when they plan to be back!"

"You didn't even leave a note," Mikon said, her face set in a disapproving frown that somehow made her face look like she was pouting. "Even though we have that writing slate in the house. If something had happened to you, we wouldn't have known until you didn't come home tonight!"

"You didn't wake us up!" Umu said, then blushed and ducked her head.

"That too!" Mikon agreed.

Lori immediately threw away the first thought she had of why that was a complaint, and then the next three as well just in case.

"Not the point, you two," Riz snapped, and the other two women looked chagrined for a moment. Lori threw away her thought as to why. "That was reckless! You're the highest-ranked officer in this demesne, especially since the Great Binder doesn't seem to want to raise any more lords or ladies. If something happened to you, it would break the flow of command, andthere'd be no one who'd be able to talk to the Great Binder!"

Lori nodded fiercely. "You can't just go off alone," she said. "You're the lord of this demesne. If you need to go somewhere dangerous, you can and should wake up people to go with you. Whether or not you want to bother anyone is irrelevant. Your safety and usefulness supersedes any irritation or bother they might feel…!"

The four-way scolding went on for most of breakfast. Whatshername—the one who named plant—and her wife for once chose not to be affectionate and simply ate quietly, something Lori was relieved about. The scolding was only interrupted when Lori realized she was hungry and that no one would be going to get food because… well, everyone who would get food for her was either scolding or getting scolded. Sending Rian to get food—finally getting to go get everyone's food as he kept asking for—let them all catch their breath, and the water he brought let them soothe their throats.

There was a brief silence as they all took a quick moment to eat and drink. The food was a bit cold, likely because they were the last bowls left, but Lori was able to warm hers, and the other seemed to have no trouble eating. Rian sat with his head bowed and eating as quietly as possible, as if trying not to draw their attention again.

Lori finished her food quickly, eating the last of her bread and pushing her bowl aside. "What do you have to say for yourself?" she said. On the other side of Umu, whatshername and her wife looked at each other, picked up their bowls and cups, and left the table.

Rian visibly flinched, his hands hesitating on his food before her set his spoon back in his bowl. "Um, I promise to not go to the edge, or even just the deep woods myself?"

Lori raised an eyebrow, and proceeded as her mothers had done unto her. “And?”

“…and if I have to, I should bring people with me even if it would be bothering them…”

“And?”

“…and I shouldn’t risk myself, because it would be inconvenient for you.”

“And?”

“…”

Lori let out a disgusted snort. “And you going off alone sets a bad example for the children,” she said, pointing over her shoulder, where she could still here the children sitting. “You will not do this again, is this understood, Rian?”

“… yes, your Bindership.”

“Good. If it happens again, there will be consequences. I believe there are leaves to be swept and latrine waste needs to be hauled.” Rian visibly winced at that. “For now, I will trust you to learn from this. Do not betray my trust.”

“… yes, your Bindership.”

Lorin nodded, rising to her feet. She nodded at Umu, Mikon and Riz. “I have work to do, so I leave the rest of his scolding to you. Consider your displeasure to be my displeasure in this matter.”

Rian blinked, staring at her. “Wait, you’re… delegating this?” He sounded aghast and disbelieving.

“I’m still displeased but have no more time to spend on this matter.” Lori nodded at the three. “Theydo. Discipline him with my blessing, you three. Erzebed, leave any violence to be done to the other two, they don’t know how to kill or maim a man with their bare hands. If anything happens to him, I'm giving you his job.”

Giving the three one last wave, she headed up to her room to work on expanding the boundaries of her demesne.

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The next day’s expansion was easier as Lori slowly got back into the rhythm of things and in so doing remembered the little tricks and efficiencies she’d been using to make the work easier for her, and more important when she should apply them.

When it was time for lunch, the knock on her door calling her to the meal was soft as if hesitant, and she opened the door to find a Rian lacking his usual cheerfulness. “The food’s ready, your Bindership.”

Lori looked him up and down. “Have you asked Shana to heal you yet?” she said.

“I’m happy to say things didn’t progress in that direction,” he said. “Do you want the details, or are you going to trust the people you delegated to have it handled?”

She tilted her head in thought, then waved a hand dismissively. “Will any of them be leaving you?”

Rian was silent for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said. “I hope not. I…” He shook his head. “No, you don’t want to hear, right?”

"You should have married them," Lori said. "I technically haven't actually made a complete divorce procedure yet. Until I do, they wouldn't be able to leave you properly."

A laugh emerged from Rian. "No, no you haven't," he said, still chuckling. "How's the expansion going?"

"I'm still getting back in practice, but it is already progressing smoothly," she said. "It seems easier now as well. That might be because of the increased concentration of Iridescence on the ground because of the heat."

Rian nodded as they began walking downstairs. "Doesn't that mean that the best season to expand the demesne is summer, not winter?"

Lori twitched. "I'll consider it," she said, then realized that made absolutely no sense.

"Huh… so that does mean 'I know you're right, but won't admit it'…"

"No, it doesn't! It means a manner requires my careful consideration!"

"Then why did you say it just now?"

"Oh, shut up, Rian!"

"Shutting up, your Bindership."

Lunch was quiet, which was a pleasant surprise. Whatshername—Lori checked her rock—Taeclas and her wife Rybelle didn't engage in their usual affectionate behavior for some reason. Still, the four seemed to have gone back to their usual rotation, because Umu and Mikon were the ones to get the food. Still, there was none of the usual flirting. Umu didn't press against Rian's side, and Mikon was sitting on his other side instead of Riz. While they sometimes traded places, Riz was pointedly paying attention only to her food, and Mikon was flirting with no one.

It all reminded her of the pointedly polite periods when her own mothers had quarreled over one thing or another. During those times, she'd simply kept quiet, stayed out of their way, and made airwisps to muffle the sounds when they eventually reconciled.

"Rian, what's the status of the sawmill?" she asked.

"It's coming along," he said. "We're almost done securing the beams and purlins, so we'll be able to start roofing soon…"

Lori nodded, listening to the report as she ate. After making sure there was nothing she had to take care of and telling Rian to eat his own food, she went back to her room to get back to work.

By the end of the day, she’d managed to expand her demesne nine times, though she wouldn’t know how much that was in comparison to yesterday without Rian measuring. Not that it really mattered, but she needed to confirm that she was actually expanding the demesne more now than she had during the winter.

At dinner, everyone seemed to be back to normal. Whatshername—Lori checked her rock—Taeclas and her wife were sitting closer now, and Umu was leaning against Rian again, though only slightly. Riz was also casting glances his way, and Mikon was humming happily, still sitting between the two of them and alternating leaning against both.

"Erzebed," Lori said, and the woman's attention turned to her.

"Yes, Great Binder?"

"Rian will be going back to the edge tomorrow. Make sure there isn't a repeat of this morning."

"Yes, Great Binder," Riz said firmly as Rian simply nodded, seeming resigned.

Lori nodded. "He'll probably be going every morning from now on, so account for that."

Riz gave Rian a level look. "I will, Great Binder." Mikon put a hand on the other woman's shoulder as if trying to calm her, and Riz actually did seem to relax slightly at her touch. "Don't worry, I'lll make sure he doesn't go unaccompanied again."

"Good. Rian, is there anything that needs to be brought to my attention?"

Rian looked relieve at the change of subject. "Uh, you asked me to inform you when the when the smiths would be free to assist you in running some more alloy experiments?"

Ah. "Ah. Are they free, then?"

"Tomrrow," Rian confirmed. "It will be a good chance to try out the new crucibles we brought back from Covehold Demesne."

Lori nodded. "Good. I expect you to be present to take notes."

It was time to continue her experiments on copper-white Iridescence bound alloys.

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A Third Alloy

The next morning, Rian and the three women seemed to be back on their usual terms. at least, Umu was back to leaning against him, and Riz was sitting next to him once more.

"I take it you've resolved your issues?" Lori said blandly.

Rian glanced sideways at the women on either side of them. "We're in the process of resolving issues."

Lori stared at the wide smile that had appeared on Mikon's face. "I see. Well, this is a 'dealing with people matter', so—"

"—yes, yes, you'll leave it to me. We grew almost seven paces, by the way. How many times did you expand it last night?"

"Really, Rian? Isn't your number going up enough for you?"

"Nope!" Rian chirped. "I need to do the math for the average growth rate too."

"Your fetishes are bizarre, Rian."

"It's not a fetish, it's simply collecting raw empirical data! Come on, please tell me! It's to quantify the difference between summer and winter expansion!"

"The first is great than the second."

"Yes, but by how much?"

"Rian, focus. We're conducting alloy experiments after breakfast, remember?"

"I can focus on both!"

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After they had alloyed the copper and white Iridescence, that hadn't been the end of it. Lori had the idea that if she could anchor wisps to the white Iridesence being alloyed, it would result in a binding that would be set and unalterable.

The first experiment that they had done some time in spring had been to heat some copper—they had used a binding of firewisps to do so quickly—until earthwisps had appeared at the metal. Lori had claimed and bound the earthwisp, forming them into a binding that reinforced their structural integrity, the same binding she once used to reinforce the stone of the ceiling of her Dungeon against collapse. Then fine ground white Iridescence was poured over the glowing-hot metal, still in the crucible. Once it had all settled, Lori anchored the binding of earthwisps to the white Iridesence to keep it intact before increasing the heat further until the metal had liquefied and the white Iridescence had dissolved into it.

The earthwisps slowly disappeared as the metal liquefied, and the white Iridescence on top of it dissolved into the molten metal. She had been afraid this meant that the experiment had failed, and had already begun formulating a second experiment involving heated copper shavings—so that they would manifest earthwisps—being used in the binding instead of a solid piece of copper as the metal was poured into another mold.

However, when the copper had cooled into a thinner panel than the original ingot they had melted down, instead of being springy and quickly reverting back into shape when bent—as it would have if the experiment had failed, and the result had been 'merely' a copper-white Iridescence alloy—the thin panel of copper was very stiff, heavily resisting deforming when they secured it to a vice and tried to bend with the tongs. A chisel also couldn't mark it as easily as normal copper, and trying to puncture the alloyed copper with a spike-like smithing tool and a heavy hammer resulted in the copper panel shattering like poor cast iron.

The smiths had confirmed that the alloyed copper was significantly harder and stronger than before, although it broke like it was brittle instead of deforming, though the alloy was apparently not as hard or strong as cast iron. Melting the copper down again and cooling it rid the sample of these properties, the same way that melting down the initial copper and white Iridescence alloy had, and Lori had been able to replicate the effect. Her attempt to use heated copper shavings had also been successful, although the resulting alloy had not been any different from their initial sample. At least, not in any way that could be measured or discerned with the tools they'd had on hand.

It had been a good proof of concept and confirmation that this line of research would be fruitful, though it also made her wonder where—'if' was a silly question in this instance—such metal and white Iridescence alloys were used. She was ignorant of any such instances, but that only meant she'd never encountered such metals. Or perhaps she had and simply hadn't known or realized at the time.

Further experiments had been interrupted when Rian had made a comment.

"You know, this would be a good way to add reinforcement to the dungeon's doors," he had said. "Especially the dragon shelter in River's Fork—" since at the time the shelter was still being made, "—since they don't have a moat in front of the door. Wood is sturdy and all, but enough beasts with enough claws and teeth could theoretically gnaw or tear through it."

Lori had stared at him.

Further research had been halted as they worked out how much of their remaining copper was needed to clad the doors of her Dungeon and the dragon shelter in progress. The redsmiths, more familiar with copper in its base state, had calculated how much of the metal would be needed to clad the doors with a two-and-a-half-chiyustri thick layer of metal cladding. Fortunately, since Lori had been the Dungeon Binder of River's Fork at that point, she'd used their copper stockpile for the dragon shelter's cladding.

Lori and the smiths had spent days alloying the copper together, and in the process learning the intricacies of working it. Among other things, they'd learned that heating the alloy allowed it to be worked properly. It also turned out that actually forming the binding into one that reinforces the metal's structure was not actually needed. Simply having the earthwisps be bound was sufficient. Forming the earthwisps into a binding to soften stone also did not affect the result of the alloy.

She also learned that the less white Iridescence they used, the less hard the alloy became, but after a certain point adding more white Iridescence did not make the copper any harder. The saturation point seemed to be somewhere around 1/7th of the volume of the copper in white Iridescence. Beyond that, adding more of the white Iridescence did not increase the hardness any further. Even at maximum saturation, the alloy was harder to work than copper but easier than iron, so the smiths had no problems, but the need to keep it hot so it could be hammered into a sheet had complicated the process slightly.

After they'd finished making the alloyed cladding, Lori had become too busy to continue the line of research, since she'd needed to make beads, the large beads, and all the bound tools that relieved her of the need to continue imbuing many of her bindings.

It was only now that she'd found the time to continue that line of research, and most definitely not because she forgot! At all! It would be wrong and very silly to think that!

"Did you buy that notebook in River's Fork?" Lori said, looking pointedly at what Rian was holding, along with a small bottle that no doubt contained ink, and one of their demesne pens. The cover was simply leather without stiffening, with an attached cord to secure it. She herself was carrying a small glass bottle—thankfully she had a funnel—filled with the white Iridescence that she had left from when they had made the new bound tools recently.

"Of course not," Rian said. "But we have a lot of paper and we have a bookbinder in River's Fork. I asked Kutago to sew together a couple of notebooks for our research stuff, since I'm an optimist and thought we'd need multiple books for multiple separate lines of research."

Lori stared at him. "I'm keeping those," she said. "I can't risk the research data being taken."

"So you're going to transcribe all the notes into it yourself?"

"…" Lori '…'-ed. "Transcribe them quickly, clearly, concisely and completely. Don't use your abridged writing."

"Yes, your Bindership!"

"Now put those away and get a slate and chalk. It might catch fire in the smithy, or at least smudge the pages."

"…yes, your Bindership."

By the time Rian back to from his house with slate and chalk, the copper was already heating in the crucible. It was a small piece that had been hammered off a much larger ingot, as well as a few odds and ends left from the when they'd made the Earthwisp-anchored copper alloy sheets.

"Ready to write, your Bindership," Rian announced. "Third copper alloy experiment notes, ready!"

Lori nodded, most of her attention on the copper in the crucible as it got hotter. "Good. Note this down. Today's experiments will involve attempting to alloy copper with white Iridescence on which firewisps are anchored. As some of the copper being used today was originally alloyed with white Iridescence on which earthwisps were anchored, we will be melting the copper to a liquid state to return it to base copper, after which we will allow the molten copper to cool and solidify."

Lori checked the copper again, noting that earthwisps had started to manifest. She noted that some of those earthwisps were seemingly anchored to something, and many of them were still bound, although as with the experiment of wisps anchored to white Iridescence that was dissolved into water the bindings were all pulled and warped, no doubt from whatever it remained anchored to being agitated by the liquid copper and pulling the binding in strange ways. It was exactly the same as the previous instances of anchored-earthwisp copper alloys.

Once the copper melted, the slag was scooped out, and the pure metal was allowed to cool in the crucible just enough to solidify, Lori poured in the white Iridescence, then claiming, binding and anchoring the firewisps in the solidified copper to it. Then she began heating the metal again, this time indirectly though the firewisps in the air in the crucible, as well as in the crucible itself.

This time, observing the wisps through her awareness of the wisps in her demesne was more enlightening then trying to do so during the second set of copper alloy experiments. She felt the binding of firewisps shift as the metal liquified again and the white Iridescence dissolved into it, very similar to when the same had been dissolved in water. Lori observed the binding a bit longer, watching as it flowed and distended, likely in response to the molten copper flowing and bubbling. It was actually behavior she’d seen before in bindings of waterwisps in a boilng water, but it was notable because firewisps didn’t usually act like this.

Lori recited all these observations to Rian, trusting him to note it down, and deactivated the bindings of firewisps before signaling for the copper to be poured. The mold to be used was placed on top of the crucible to heat up and get rid of any moisture—otherwise there was a risk of steam explosions from small amounts of airborne waterwisps, and therefore water, clinging to the surfaces of the mold—before being placed on the ground. The crucible was picked up with tongs and the copper was poured into the mold.

They all watched as the copper flowed out across the ingot mold—which was far too big for the amount of copper poured into it—solidifying… and then instantly darkening as it cooled.

“Is it just me…” Rian said, “or did that happen faster than it should have?”

“It’s not just you, Rian,” one of the smiths—he had the name ‘Lanwei’ burned into the leather of his apron—said. The other assorted smiths nearby nodded in agreement, all of them frowning at the now-solid once-puddle of copper.

One of the copper smiths—the name burned into his apron was ‘Duvar’—picked up the copper with a smaller set of tongs and dropped it into a bucked of water nearby that had been prepared for that purpose. Splashed into the water, but there was no sizzling of water evaporating into steam, no bubbles from that steam rising up.

The firewisps in the copper had disappeared the instant it had entered the bucket.

Lori looked towards the mold in confusion, but the firewisps there were still dangerously hot, even for her.

“It’s not bubbling,” Rian narrated the obvious as everyone craned their heads to see into the bucket, which did more harm than good as some people blocked out the lightwisps anchored to the ceiling.

They all moved out of the way when Lori stepped forward, and while people called out ‘Wait—!’, none actually stopped her as she reached into the bucket and pulled up the copper with her bare hands.

It was cold to the touch, but warmed very quickly as she held it, firewisps quickly manifesting first where her skin touched the metal before quickly filling the entire lopsided metal flatbread.

“Rian,” Lori said, “give me your hand.”

As Rian hesitantly held out his left hand, Lori grabbed it by the wrist and slapped the copper down on it. Rian, of course, tried to pull his hand back, but her grip was firm, keeping him and the copper in place.

Finally, he said. “Oh, it’s cool already.”

Lori nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“Was it really a good idea to force it to cool like that?” She released his wrist and he started turning the metal over in his fingers, the soot on the copper’s surface rubbing off. “Or do we not care about any deformities in the metal?”

“I didn’t force it to cool. It cooled quickly on its own.”

“What.” Despite the clear question, it was said in the tone of a statement.