2024 Demesne Anniversary Special: Good Night (Patreon)

It was well after dinner and even the line of hopefuls at the Um had long dispersed, deciding they’d rather have sleep than sex. Despite the strangeness—and once you know why it was called that, silliness—of the name, people actually had taken to calling it that. Perhaps it was just to humor the Great Binder, or perhaps the name was just silly enough to be amusing to say. At least it was better than calling it a bellhouse or a belfry. The Um wasn’t that sort of place at all, and as a member of the militia—retired—Riz could say that with certainty. After all, she’d been to a few to get a clapper to ring her bell for a little bit, and the Um really wasn’t anything like those places, if only because no beads changed hands and people bought their own bed cushions.

Fortunately, that was none of Riz’s business, as she wasn’t on Um duty that night.

Normally, that meant she was at home either being tended to by Rian or waiting until it was her turn again, but to her disgruntlement that wasn't the case. The paper screens on the windows that were normally closed for privacy were all open, letting the unnatural breeze from outside enter and pass through the house. It was admittedly a nice change from the warmth and sweat, but Riz couldn't really enjoy it.

She lay on one side of the wide shared bed, wearing only the long shirt she'd been planning to wear the next day, her head on Mikon's lap. It was by far the most comfortable pillow on the bed except for Rian, but he wasn't available at the moment. On the other side of the bed, Umu was making use of far less comfortable non-Mikon pillows, clad only in her skirt and a blouse that she'd put back on after she'd unwound her chest wraps. Riz didn't need to look to know that the woman had an impatient pout on her face. It was a feeling she shared, except she wasn't pouting because she was a hard and tough militia woman!

Sitting with her back against the head of the bed above Riz, Mikon's own blouse was just loosely thrown on, only a single wooden button keeping the front closed, and the skirt beneath it wasn't even properly worn, the laces hanging loose to let her sit more comfortably. Riz knew the other woman didn't really care if her chest was bare, but she'd put the blouse on in consideration for Riz and the open windows. She knew the weaver was only indulging her sensibilities. After all, she'd seen Mikon naked most nights since the three of them had finally convinced Rian into bed, so the woman's skin was no mystery, but… well, it was the principle of the thing.

She glanced down towards her feet, in the same direction that Umu was pouting. At the other end of the house, Rian sat at the altar-like stone table. Their man—as much as she was annoyed to acknowledge the fact he was 'theirs' and not simply 'hers'—was hunched over slates and bone tablets and scrap leather, reading over notes from the carpenters, the smiths, the kitchen staff, the latrine cleaners, the farmers, the Lady Binder, and more of the same from old Yllian over at River's Fork by the light of the rock that the Great Binder had given him. As he read, he wrote on one of the slates that he'd brought back from his trip to Covehold Demesne, either making numbers bigger—as the Great Binder kept poking at him for—or making notes of things he had to tell the Great Binder and other people tomorrow.

There was a pile of the things he'd already read over on one end of the altar-table. While the pile was bigger than what was left, Riz knew it would still be a while before he could come to bed. It was just her luck that he was doing this on a night she didn't have Um duty. While she knew this was important to keeping the demesne running and providing everyone with what they needed, she couldn’t help but be impatient for him to finish so that he could tend to her. Or them, she admitted reluctantly. Rian insisted on being 'fair', and only tended to them when they were all at home together.

"Rian, are you done yet?" Umu asked, her heels thumping on bedrolls beneath her

"Almost done, Umu," Rian said, sounding tired. "Just a little bit more…  Ugh, why did I think it was a good idea to have so many people write reports that I had to check on…?"

"Why don't you take a short break, Rian?" Mikon suggested, voice innocent. Back in the militia,Riz would have said she was guilty of something. "Join us for a moment and lie down, put a pillow on your back, rest your hands…"

She cut off as Rian made a sound that seemed actually physically pained. "Mikon, please… if I get more tempted to stop and do any of that, I'm never going to go back to work, and I'm already nearly done. It's just a little bit more…"

"You shouldn't have to do this much by yourself," Riz found herself saying.

Rian sighed, sounding like he was only partly paying attention as he no doubt continued reading. “Well, until I can get Lori used to the idea of Kolinh being capable so that she’ll promote him, I have to.”

“I think she’s forgotten who he is by now,” Mikon said. “All of him, not just his name and face.”

His head slumped. “Ugh, I was hoping… at this rate, the only ones available for promotion would be Karina, Yoshka, and you three, and Riz already made it clear she doesn’t want to be in charge of anything more important that putting together an escort for Lori. Unless…”

“I like you Rian, but I’m never changing my mind about that,” Riz said. She wasn’t meant to be an officer!

Rian didn't reply save for an acknowledging hum, going back to work so he could finally finished. For a moment, silence descended, broken only by the wind passing though the open windows. At this time of night, the summer air was no longer hot—a novelty that had quickly stopped being fascinating and have become uncomfortable on the first night—but the breeze was made it cool enough to be comfortable.

Eventually, Riz head a sigh and the sound of a slate being set down. The sigh turned into a groan as Rian sat up straight, stretching with his arms over his head. He let out a yawn as he let his arms drop and pushed himself up to his feet. "Finally done," he said, sounding relieved as he turned towards them with a smile, then pause. "Uh, I'll be right back."

Sitting up from Mikon's lap, Riz watched in concern—and admittedly some amusement—as he rushed out the door. From the speed Rian was moving, he was headed for the latrines, which meant he'd no doubt be making a stop at the baths afterwards. For all that he teased the Great Binder about her notions of hygiene, he was very fastidious person himself. But then, given what they planned to do now, it was probably him being thoughtful.

"Well, why don't we close the windows while we wait for him to get back?" Mikon suggested, moving to get up.

"I'll do it," Riz said, waving her down as she sat up herself. She knew that that other woman's legs would be a little stiff from sitting still with a head on her lap for so long.

"Oh, thank you Erzebed," Mikon said, giving her a thankful smile. Riz glanced towards Umu, not really expecting any gratitude there, and found the woman watching her, looking away as their eyes met. Wordlessly, the woman rolled out of bed and moved to close the windows at the back of the house.

Walking to one of the windows to the sides of the door, she checked outside for chokers out of habit before reaching through opening and pulling the shutters closed, needing to keep them from slamming against the window frame as the wind pushed them shut. She did the same for the other window, feeling her skin prickle from passing through the binding that the Great Binder had placed around the building to keep bugs out. It was the only reason they'd been willing to leave the windows open, breeze or no breeze. She’d had her share of bug bites in the militia, and she didn’t want any more if she could help it.

Once she was finished, Riz sat back down at the foot of the bed to wait, facing the door as she and the others waited for Rian to get back. Eventually, there was a knock on the door before it opened again to admit their man back in. It was silly, since this was his house, and it wasn’t like the three of them had anything to hide from him. “All right,” he said as he latched the door shut behind him. “Sorry for making you three wait so long. Just let me—”

“Rian… do you want to just go to sleep tonight? You look tired.”

Riz’s teeth clicked shut, aborting her own offer of the same as she glanced to the side to look at Umu. The blonde was looking at Rian worriedly without any of her usual possessiveness. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mikon nodding in agreement, though she looked a bit reluctant.

“Don’t worry, I’m all right. I was just sitting and reading, after all,” Rian protested as he sat down on the bed as well, slipping off his tsinelas, and she didn’t need to listen to hard to hear the reluctance in his voice.

Riz shuffled from the foot of the bed, moving next to Rian and taking his arm. It wasn’t her usual side, but she had no problem getting used to doing it from this side. “Rian, we’re all supposed to enjoy it when you ring our bells,” Riz said bluntly. Past Rian’s head, she saw Umu wince at the direct language, while Mikon grinned for a moment before she smothered the expression into something more serious, though the corner of her mouth kept twitching. “You feeling sleepy is supposed to come at the end. If you’re sleepy, then it’s time to sleep.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I can still stay up…”

“If you’re claiming you can stay up, it’s not going to stay up,” Riz told him bluntly.

Rian burst out into laughter, though it was weaker than his usual laughs. He wastired, then. “Well, if you’re all sure…”

“We’re not forcing you, Rian,” Mikon said gently, moving to Rian’s other side as Umu put her arms around him from behind, and placing a quick kiss on his cheek. “It’s perfectly all right for you to say ‘not tonight, I’m tired’.” She smiled at him and winked. “There’s three of us, after all.”

For a moment, the four of them just sat like that. Then Umu began pulling at him gently. “Now come to bed properly,” the blonde said. She glanced sideways, sighing as she met Riz and Mikon’s gazes. “The two of you too, I suppose.”

Riz reluctantly let go, then stood up and began pulling off her shirt, folding it twice before turning to put it in her bath bucket with the rest of the clothes she planned to wear tomorrow.

“Erzebed!” Mikon protested, letting go of Rian’s arm to stand up and take the shirt from Riz’s hands. “Honestly, you’re not the one washing these… no, no, you get to bed next to Rian, I’ll fold this so you’re not walking around with a wrinkled shirt tomorrow.”

Riz rolled her eyes even a she turned back to the bed, where Umu had pulled Rian just off the center and was helping him put one of the pillows under his head. “No one’s going to care my shirt’s a little wrinkled, Mikon.” She lay down on the bed, turning over so that she a was pressed against Rian’s side, her arm on his chest as her chin pressed against his shoulder. On the other side of him, she knew, Umu was doing the same, though her arm was draped over his stomach. She felt his arm under her curl and pull her against him, his fingers squeezing briefly against the side of her waist.

“That’s what you think,” she heard Mikon mutter. “I’m not going to have people saying I’m not taking proper care of you…”

“Riz, be nice,” Rian chided, already sounding half asleep, eyes already closed. “Mikon and Umu put a lot of effort into making sure we have clean clothes. The least we can do is be grateful and appreciate it.”

Well, she supposed it was ungrateful of her…

When she felt Mikon settling into the bed behind her, the weaver’s chest pressing against her back, Riz muttered, “Sorry.”

She felt fingers part her hair and lips kissing the back of her neck. “Apology accepted,” Mikon’s breathy voice said against her ear. “Good night, Erzebed. Good night, Umu. Good night, Rian.”

The arm around Riz loosened briefly, and she felt it move up her back, squeezed between her and Mikon as the latter grasped it affectionately. “Good night, Mikon,” Rian said, sleepily.

Riz closed her eyes, enjoying the warm feeling over Rian against her and, despite herself, Mikon behind her.

“Rian?” she heard Umu say.

“Hmm?”

“Will you wake us up tomorrow?”

Riz opened one eye, watching Rian’s face. Past him, Umu was blushing, and when she saw that Riz was looking sent her a challenging glare.

“Sure,” Rian said, eyes still closed. “Just have to sleep first…”

Ignoring the glare, Riz smirked at her before closing her own eyes, already looking forward to waking up to her bell being rung in the morning.

A breath, two, and then she was sinking into the darkness behind her eyes…