Weekly Digest 129 - (#407 - #409) (Patreon)

Rest And Regret

Lori wasn't sure when she woke up the next day. She had not bothered to go outside and look.

She wouldn't have left her bed, never mind the sweet blackness of unconsciousness, if it were not for the fact her gold water wanted to flow and her inner darkness was very insistent on being released, and while her bath was very usefull, it could not be used for dealing with human waste. So it was down her dungeon it was to use the latrines there. Thankfully the seats were clean, even if what was pillow it was still full of yesterday's unleashed darkness. Well, she supposed that meant even those who normally cleaned the latrines were doing as she had said and were staying in bed.

Actually, there was a very good chance they hadn't cleaned while the harvest had been ongoing either…

Well, the latrines were designed to have a large capacity for when a passing dragon lingered. It had more than enough capacity to still be usable if it missed a day or two of emptying.

Once she had divested herself of gold and darkness, Lori had returned to her rom to sleep some more.

When she next roused, it was to a gentle knock on her door. She had been sleeping lightly at that point, and had first thought she had merely imagined it, but the knock had come again. She thought the softness of the previous knock had been because she'd been asleep, but this next knock had been equally soft. Lori wait to see if they would knock a third time, waiting for Rian's voice to call out to her, but after the third knock there was only silence.

Growling, Lori got to her feet, her now-swept floor no longer gritty on her bare soles as she walked to the door, undid the latch, and pulled it open. "What?" she demanded.

Rian was already almost at the stairs down when she opened the door, and he gave a start at her cry before turning around. "Oh. You're awake. Uh… sorry, did I wake you up?"

"I am, and you did," Lori said irritably.

"Ah… Sorry. I knocked softly so I wouldn't wake you if you were still asleep, but I guess you're a very light sleeper."

No, Lori had simply been half-dozing, on the border between sleeping and waking, but she felt no need to exposit that to him. "What is it?" she asked.

"Uh, a few of us were thinking of making a little bread for a late lunch. It's just going to be a little salted flat bread and some fruit, since we don't want to try building up the oven for baking. Do you want some?"

Lori frowned. "Don't we have meat?"

"All of its frozen, and I'm not really sure about how to cook enough for everyone awake right now."

"I thought we've been making smoked and cured meat? Wasn't the fact that could be eaten without being cooked one of the reasons we make it?"

"Aren't we saving that for rations of the trip to Covehold and emergencies?"

"There's no meat for the Dungeon Binder to eat. That is by definition an emergency."

"We have bread and fruit, it's hardly an emergency."

"I'm the Dungeon Binder. If I say it's an emergency, it's an emergency."

"Ah. Perfectly sound logic. Well, I doubt anyone is going to complain about having meat, but as someone who ate a lot of it, you might regret this."

"It's meat, Rian. Unless it's completely bland or has too much vinegar, I'm not going to regret eating properly prepared meat."

––––––––––––––––––

As Rian had said, there were only a relatively small group of people in the dining hall. What he had neglected to add was that many of them were children. Shanalorre was also there, along with her cousin and Mikon's two cousins who helped the other Dungeon Binder tend to the children. She and the brat were working to keep the children in order, which mainly involved keeping them out of the kitchen, where Mikon, Riz, Umu and a few of her idiots seemed to be cooking.

Well, Umu and Mikon were cooking flatbread, being assisted by a third woman she didn't recognize, though she could confidently say she wasn't whatshername who named plants or her wife. Riz was preparing dough to be cooked along with someone else Lori didn't recognize, while one of Mikon's cousins were handing then out to the children as the other gave them fruit and a cup of water. Not many people seemed to be awake, though it was possible that they'd chosen to go to the baths first.

Even as Lori thought that, she saw some people enter her dungeon and looking towards the kitchen hopefully. From what she could see behind them and beyond the entryway, it was only a little bit past noon, probably not that far past the time she usually finished eating lunch. It was no wonder people were waking up. One would need to be injured or a truly special kind of lazy to still be in bed at this hour

"Just wait in your chair, I'll come back with some food before I go and get the meat," Rian said, not waiting for a reply as he headed towards where the bread and fruits were being passed out, conspicuously waiting his turn behind the children already there.

Lori had to wait for her food to arrive, but her chair had a backrest, so she was able to just lean back and close her eyes. While still a bit sleepy, she no longer felt exhausted. While her head no longer ached from the strain of having done Whispering for so long, she knew from experience that she still needed more rest, hence the holinight of the following day. If she was going to be resting in any case, she might as well enjoy herself.

Rian eventually turned with a plate—notable since the children just grabbed the food with their hands, though it at least the brat was making sure they washed beforehand—containing two disks of bread and some fruit. Two golden buds and two pink ladies, much more than what everyone else had gotten, but she didn't complain. Lori just started eating.

The bread was warmer than usual, no doubt because the bread was fresh from the pan, and there was just enough salt to keep it from being bland. After what seemed too soon, however, the bread was gone. Following the bread with the fruits provided the flavor the former was lacking, although they were all too brief.

As she ate, she considered her situation, idly noting that more people were entering her dungeon. Obviously she couldn’t just stop expanding the demesne, especially given how much better she was faring. However, she clearly needed to pace herself. No more week-long all-day expansions. Expansions sessions would have to be shorter. Perhaps three or four days of expanding the demesne, followed by one day of rest or only moderate Whispering? That would do for a start.

…

The day after tomorrow. The bindings she maintained would hold that long, so she could afford the rest.

With nothing more to do, Lori would have preferred to go back to room and nap again, or perhaps passed the time with reading. While she kept getting frustrated at the beginning primers and kept going back to the beginning of the books, the almanac was far less frustrating and full of random bits of trivia that were interesting to know, and thus entertaining. However, there was still meat to come, and she was going to rainbows get to eat that meat!

The smoked and cured meat weren't kept in the cold room, but instead with the jars of vigas that were stored in her dungeon, sealed in their own container. While the meat was meant to be an emergency food, the small curing and smoking shed they had could only produce a relatively small amount of dried meat, hence why most of it was reserved as rations for the Coldhold. The meat apparently had to be stored in a relatively dry place, and the binding she'd placed to keep humidity out of those alcoves—she made a note to place one on the newly excavated storage room—kept that storage area old storage area in that state. She supposed that with the new storage area those alcoves could be returned to their original purpose.

Eventually, Rian came back, and he wasn't alone. Umu, Mikon, and Riz were with him, each with their own bread, fruits and, most importantly to Lori, a bowl contained what were clearly thin slices of meat. A cursory glance showed her that other people had taken their places in the kitchen, but that wasn't important because meat.

"Here you go," Rian said cheerfully as he placed the bowl on the table between them. "Take your pick, your Bindership."

Lori stared at the meat. It was supposed to be meat, right? "It looks overcooked."

"It's supposed to look like that."

"And dry."

"It's supposed to be like that."

Lori tentatively picked up one of the slices. "And… stiff." She waved it back and forth, and the meat barely bent.

"That's how it's supposed to be."

Rian had an innocent expression on his face again, and Lori began wondering if she'd made some sort of error in judgement.

Still, it was meat and it was likely edible, as Rian had eaten it before. Lori raised it to her mouth, bit down and began to chew.

…

At least, that was the idea.

After a moment, Lori took the alleged meat out of her mouth. She could clearly see where she had bitten down on it, as there were wet teeth marks, and her mouth was filled with the taste of salty meat.

"Don't worry, it's supposed to be that hard," Rian said cheerfully. "How does it taste? Not bland, I hope?"

…

Lori met his eyes and once more bit down into the meat, this time as hard as she could, then pulled her hand back as she tried to rip a piece off. At first it resisted her, but she kept pulling as she ground her teeth back and forth, trying to tear through…

To her relief, the meat parted, and she ended up with a smaller piece of meat in her mouth that was she was finally able to maneuver the meat to her back teeth so she could start chewing in earnest.

…

Lori was regretting eating this meat.

Eventually, however, she managed to swallow the piece she'd bitten off, then glanced down at her hand. she was still holding a large amount of so-called meat there. "Thisis what we gave you to eat on the Coldhold?"

"Only when we couldn't catch something and butcher it," Rian said.

Lori stared at the alleged meat in her hand again. Well, it was certainly a strong incentive to catch something to eat. "Why are we making this?"

"Because it's meant to be a food preservation method," Rian said. "Did you know that dustlife can't grow without water? curing and smoking the meat dries it out, depriving dustlife of anyway to grow and keeping the meat edible."

"Thisis edible?-!"

"You ate it, didn't you? On the Coldhold we usually stewed it before eating it. Really helps soften it up to edible levels."

"It's not bad," Riz said. She'd gotten a piece right after Lori, and was chewing it with every indication of actual enjoyment. "Pretty good, actually. And it's warm and soft, which is always good."

Lori twitched as she glared at her lord. But… well, he had warned her that she would regret this…

"Rian, remind me to place a binding to keep humidity out of the new storage area the day after the holinight," Lori said. Then she bit into the alleged meat again.

"Wait, you're still going to eat it?"

Lori pulled the meat out of her mouth to reply, as she hadn't managed to tear a piece off yet. "Of course. We can't waste food."

Regrettable or not, food was food.

In the militia, Riz had learned to be aware of the smallest disturbance while she slept, while also not being so light a sleeper that she woke up for every little thing. If she'd woken up every time someone had gotten up to use the latrines, woke up crying from a nightmare of staring down a beast's teeth and nearly dying, or her bunkmates sneaking into each other's beds, she'd never have gotten any sleep.

When she'd started sleeping with Rian—and Mikon and Umu as well, since they were also there—she had needed to learn to sleep through new things. While she'd been with men before—and one disastrous time with a woman that had been so unpleasant it had killed any curiosity she'd had for the experience—the experiences hadn't involved sleeping next to each other after she'd had her bell rung. Most of them had been bellboys, and she'd had to leave after her time was up, maybe get checked by the militia Deadspeaker to make sure she didn’t get pregnant. Just some quick fun to wash of the colors when they weren't being sent out deal with bandits, keep the roads clear of snow, kill goldbloods that had managed to survive since the last dragon by preying on the local ausdeim flocks, and whatever else it was they were being made to do that week.

So despite everything, Rian was actually her first l… lo… lo… her first man, and the first one she'd actually shared a bed with.

Unfortunately, they weren't alone on that bed.

For the first few days, she'd kept waking up to Umu's arm shifting its position on Rian's chest. She also found the woman kept lifting up Riz's arm and trying to push it off, but she'd stopped the second time Riz had woken up as a result and glared at her for it. Rian would also wake her when he shifted slightly in his sleep, shifting from side to side but mostly staying in place. There'd also been how Rian's leg would kick up and down in his sleep, and she hadn't been the only one who'd woken up the first time that had happened, especially since his ankle had bounced down on her foot that first night. It hadn't hurt, but it had certainly roused her of what had otherwise been a tolerable good sleep.

In the following nights, the three of them had learned to just weigh down his legs by throwing theirs over them, and while Rian's legs would still occasionally shudder under them, it had gotten his kicking under control.

Getting used to Mikon had taken much longer, as the weaver had insisted she needed to press up against Riz's back or else she'd fall off the bed. Wrapping her arm around Riz's torso had also supposedly been absolutely necessary, lest Mikon roll over and also fall off the bed…

Suffice to say, Riz had gotten used to it, and had stopped waking up whenever Mikon had shifted her arm or moved her leg or started cuddling or began caressing Riz's stomach…

Then they'd finally started ringing bells with Rian, and Riz had needed to get used to it all over again, because the feeling of her bare sweaty back and Mikon's own bare, sweaty front had been new and disconcerting and that had been the only reason!

Eventually, she'd just gotten used to it again.

However, there were something things she'd learned to wake up for.

Riz immediately opened her eyes as she felt lips on hers.

"Good morning," Rian said quietly, as if afraid of waking people up. On his other side, she could just make out Umu already awake, the weaver rubbing at her eyes to get the sleep dust off.

"Good morning to you, too," Riz said, immediately breaking into a smile as she used the arm lying on his chest to pull his head closer to her. "Come 'ere…"

He obliged, kissing her again, and Riz let herself be lost in the moment.

Far too soon, the moment ended as she felt lips on the back of her neck and something grinding at her hips from behind. Without breaking off from Rian, Riz reached back and swatted something bare and warm and rounded to get Mikon to stop it. All she got was an "Ah!" and a giggle against her neck for her trouble.

Riz drew back from Rian with a sigh. “Mikon’s awake,” she said.

“I noticed,” he said, glancing downwards.

Riz followed his gaze, and saw a hand stroking his clapper through the loin cloth that covered it. He’d taking off his trousers after she and Umu had both complained about it being abrasive on their skin.

“Just getting it ready for Umu,” Mikon said from behind Riz, a giggle on her voice again.

Another hand came to rest on the loin cloth from Rian’s other side. “I can take care of that,” the woman in question said.

“It doesn’t need to be ready yet,” Rian said. His lips gently touched Riz’s cheek one last time before he raised his head up, supporting himself on her elbow, and looked past her. “Good morning, Mikon.”

The warm skin that had been pressing against Riz’s back pulled away, and she kept her head down as Mikon leaned over her. The two kissed above her head, and giggling from both sides. Rian could be strangely girlish sometimes.

But then, given how he rang their bells…

On the other side of Rian, visible past the arm he was using to prop himself up, she could see Umu fidgeting, no doubt touching herself. The woman had taken off her blouse and no doubt her skirt as well, and Riz could see her bare shoulders moving, glancing towards the still-kissing Rian and Mikon with an impatient pout on her face. When her eyes met Riz's gaze, the woman blushed and looked away, making Riz roll her eyes. For all her enthusiasm when she was getting her bell rung, the woman was still very timid before Rian had tended to her.

Rian and Mikon finally parted with one last giggle. "All right Umu, he's ready for you," Mikon said.

The blonde was quick to move at the announcement, sitting up and throwing her arms around Rian to tug him towards her. He turned to face her with a practiced movement as she fell back onto the bed.

With a sigh, Riz resigned herself to waiting as she reached down to touch herself. Her fingers were a poor substitute for Rian's… well, anything, but they were better than nothing as she lay back.

"Do you want to lay her head on my lap?" Mikon asked, laying down beside her as Rian and Umu kissed again as he reached down to touch the blonde's bell.

Riz glanced towards said lap and grimaced. "Not now that you'd been touching yourself there. I don't want to get that on my hair."

Mikon followed her gaze. "I suppose that's fair," she said. "Do you want me to do that for you, then? You know it feels better when someone else does it."

The other woman had made the suggestion so many times by this point that Riz no longer had the repulsed shudder that had gone through her the first time Mikon had made the offer. She just gave the weaver the same flat stare she did when she couldn't just ignore what Mikon was doing. "Don't you get tired of asking?"

"Of course I do," Mikon said as Rian began to move down Umu's body, continuing to kiss her skin as he did, his fingers between her legs as he tended to her bell. "That's why I only ask once, maybe twice a day."

"So, every time Rian tends to us," Riz said flatly. The Great Binder herself couldn't have done better.

Riz was answered by a wide smile and a kiss on her cheek that just made her sigh in resignation. "See? Not nearly tiring enough to keep me from asking if I can offer you a little help."

"Even if I keep saying no?"

"We’re both naked and waiting to get our bells run." The weaver somehow managed to sound almost prim. "It's only polite to offer. Maybe this time you'll be curious enough to change your mind."

"Not going to happen. I indulged my curiosity about that years ago, and I learned I didn't like it."

"Oh? What happened?"

For a moment, Riz said nothing as she pulled her hand away. She didn't want to touch herself while she was thinking about… that. Still… "If I tell you, will you finally stop offering to 'help' me?"

For a moment, Mikon was silent. "If it's something that's painful for you—"

"No, nothing like that," Riz said. "No one touched me when I was a child or held me down and raped me. It was… look, I was young, all right?"

Mikon nodded, recovering her usual humor. "All right…"

"I'd just joined the militia, we'd just finished training and gotten our first pay, and had three days off before we had to leave for our first posting. Me and a bunch of my friends decided to go and have fun since we were militia now, and we decided to become proper men and women. So we went to a bellhouse." Mikon nodded as if she'd been expecting that answer as Riz shifted to make herself comfortable, lying back and folding her hands on her stomach. Thinking back on it, they'd all been lustful young idiots who'd finally had the beads to indulge in the things their parents had cautioned them against, but she wasn't going to say that. Still, Mikon probably knew from the look on her face.

Next to them, Rian had reached Umu's bell, and the woman was squirming and moaning happily as he kissed it, his hands gently caressing her legs and sides.

"So what happened?" Mikon prompted, glancing towards the two of them, her grin distracted as she visibly enjoyed the sight.

Riz shifted uncomfortably, glancing there as well. All right, maybe it made her bell vibrate a little, but only from the memory of Rian doing the same to her. "Well, I'd heard that it hurt the first time with a man, so…"

"You asked for a bellgirl?"

"I thought it was a good place to start. A woman would know the best way to ring my bell, wouldn't she? Besides, I'd heard some of the older militiawomen talking about it, and… well, like I said, I was curious back then. My friend Mevt told me she knew someone who'd take good care of me, so I let her pick the bellgirl."

"Was she pretty?"

Riz paused, turning to look at Mikon… who she found quietly panting as one hand rubbed frantically. The woman was actually ringing her bell to this? "What kind of a question is that?"

"So, your first time was with an ugly woman?" Despite those words, Mikon's hand didn't slow in the slightest.

She rolled her eyes. "She was pretty enough, I suppose. She was older than me, dark hair like the Great Binder's, large chest…"

"Bigger than mine?"

"I don't really remember, it's not like I stared at hers or yours enough to tell. Do you want me to tell this story or not?"

"Sorry, sorry, go on. What happened?"

Riz snorted. "What do you think happened? It was terrible! The woman was tail-fisted, she pinched my nipples too hard, her idea of kissing was sucking on my lips like she was trying to drink them, she put too many fingers in my bell… my bell rang, but it was almost painful…" She shuddered just remembering it all. The liar had kept insisting she'd start enjoying everything soon, that all she needed to do was get used to it, but even as her bell had rung, things hadn't become any less painful or uncomfortable. "I left there as soon as I could."

"Oh, Erzebed… I'm so sorry…" Mikon said, and Riz was surprised to hear that she actually seemed to mean it. The weaver wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and Riz allowed herself to be pulled into what was probably meant to be a comforting hug. It was the sort of thing that she just sighed and tolerated, but that seemed cruel when Mikon seemed to be trying to—wait.

"Is that the hand you were using to touch yourself?"

"…it's not touching you?"

"Um… Riz…? Sorry for interrupting, but…"

The two blinked, Mikon pausing in reluctantly moving away with her hand held up, and they both turned towards where Rian was still between Umu's legs. The blonde seemed in her own demesne as she lay moaning and shivering from Rian's finger as he looked towards the two of them from where he lay on his chest, his legs hanging out over the edge of the bed.

"Yes?" Riz said.

"Your friend… the one who set you up with that woman…" Rian said hesitantly, "Is there any chance she might have been… glittering with you? You know, told the woman to do badly on purpose…? I heard that the militia did things like that to new recruits…"

Riz stared at him.

…

"Mevt, you glittering—!"

Before Riz could get beyond that, Mikon's hand was over her mouth, and Riz's first thought was to be thankful that it was the hand that was dry. "Erzebed, don't yell. You'll bother Umu."

Riz glared, even as she continued the tirade in her head. Eventually, she nodded, and Mikon lowered her hand. Rian had gone back to using his mouth, but he had one eye looking towards them. Umu didn't seem to notice.

"I'm going to kill her," Riz eventually managed to say. "I spent my own beads on that bellgirl, and she… argh!"

Fortunately, Mikon didn't cover her mouth that time. Instead, Riz felt lips gently touching her forehead. "I'm sorry, Erzebed," the weaver repeated, kissing her forehead again.

Riz shrugged. "Well, it was a long time ago. It doesn't really matter now…"

One more kiss, this time between her eyes. "So, you'll let me do that for you now?"

She gave the woman a flat look. "Weren't you listening?"

Another kiss, this time on the time of her nose. "I listened. Erzebed… do you think I would hurt you? On purpose?" Another kiss under her left eye. "I would never hurt you, Erzebed. I swear, if you tell me it hurts, I'll stop." Another kiss on her cheek. "Let me make you feel good like Rian does…"

Next to them, Umu let out a loud cry that sent a shiver down Riz's back.

…

"Only two fingers," she said with sigh. This felt… strangely familiar…

Lips touched her mouth gently. "Only two," Mikon promised.

Riz shivered again as she felt those fingers touch her bell, gently stroking the lip. For a moment, she was a young militiawoman again, lying down nervously on the overly fragrant mattress of a bellhouse room, waiting eagerly…

…

Oh. Oh…! Oh…!

Riz leaned her head back on the pillow and moaned, her voice rising to join Umu’s.

––––––––––––––––––

Probation's End

After the holinight, it was back to work. While the new wood curing and storage shed had been raised, it still lacked doors on either end. It wasn't needed at the moment, since most of the planks cut were going straight to roofing the sawmill, so that as all right.

Unfortunately, Lori had to remove the darkwisps over the fields, as Rian and Taeclas—according to the headcloth she was wearing—pointed out that it would block the light the crops needed. She'd considered keeping the shade on anyway and simply adding lightwisps to the binding to reproduce sunlight, but eventually decided that was a far too complicated binding, and far too inefficient to maintain on a regular basis.

The demesne went back to its previous routine, and Lori returned to expanding the demesne, but this time on her new schedule. Two full days of expanding the demesne, and then on the third day she stopped to rest, or at least do less intensive Whispering, such as placing the binding to keep humidity out of the new grain storage she'd made in the second level, as well as drawing out the moisture that might have made its way in already. She'd also dragged a few seels out of the river to be butchered and added to their food supply. While their supplies of meat was holding even, it was still depleting, and there was no reason not to replenish it. Then she'd gone back expanding her demesne again for two days. She hadn't felt any impending headache, but then again she hadn't really felt anything when she'd expanded the demesne for a week.

On the day she was supposed to rest, Lori debated adding a third day to expanding the demesne. She'd been fine for a week, so surely it was fine if she added one more day, right?

"So, are we going to River's fork today or tomorrow?" Rian asked.

Lori blinked, glancing up from her breakfast as her flow of thought was interrupted. "What?"

"River's Fork. Or, well, Lidzuga, really. He’s the Deadspeaker you assigned there? The probationary period you set ends… well, today. I figured we should talk to him to make it official." Rian tilted his head to the side slightly. "You didn't forget, did you?"

"Of course not," Lori lied as she frantically tried to recall what Rian was—ah right. Has it been four weeks already? "I was simply preoccupied and hadn't yet checked the tally I was keeping track of."

"Ah. As expected of her Bindership, not forgetting the important things," Rian said, nodding. "So, to sum up what he’s done, Lidzuga has managed to get three harvests of River’s fork’s crops, adjusted the meanings on all the trees, done repairs on all the houses, built two boats and I hear he’s got a third finished now, and set up the second fruit orchard. The last time I spoke to him before the harvest, he said that the second orchard was already starting to grow flowers. The trees might actually have fruit by now, so he might be due a half-day off.”

“Just like everyone else, then?” Riz said under her breath next to Rian, making Mikon laugh.

Rian's arm moved as he gently nudged her with his elbow. "So, back to the original question, are we going today or tomorrow?"

… well, today was supposed to be a rest day anyway. "Today, after breakfast," she said. "Be sure to bring your bow." Today is going to be the day that they finally spot that typhon beast early enough that they'd be able to shoot an arrow at it!

"By the way, about the drop hammer…"

"Is it ready to be installed yet?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. The smiths says they need more room around the drop hammer."

Lori blinked. "What? Why?"

"Well, they say that they need a forge near the drop hammer so they can work the metal, and there's not nearly enough room for one in the space allocated." Rian paused. "Also, it was brought up that having an open forge near so much sawdust—" He cut off Lori's hand snapped up to slap against her face in frustrated realization. "Ah, I see I can stop explaining."

"We'll have to make new plans for the drop hammer," Lori said. "We'll need a second water wheel."

"A water wheel for the river, or are you going to make something like the lathe the carpenters have?"

Lori paused. That… was actually a good idea. If nothing else, it meant they wouldn't have to build a new structure along the river. "Give me time to think about it."

"You're thinking about it, not considering it?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

Rian nodded with a serious look on his face. "Riiight… Well, beyond the location —or lack thereof, now—the components of the drop hammer are ready and usable. The miller said he has no problem with the gristmill beyond it being a little cramped, although now that we're not putting in the drop hammer, I suppose that means we can make the milling room bigger. Do you think you can make the walls for it?"

Lori looked at him suspiciously. "Why…?"

"It'll be a while before the sawmill can spare the planks for the interior walls, and until the walls are in place, we can't use the gristmill there unless you want sawdust in your bread." Rian paused again.

"I don't want sawdust on my bread," Lori agreed.

––––––––––––––––––

They did not spot the typhon beast and were unable to shoot an arrow at it.

"We'll get it another time," Rian said as they entered the boundaries of River's Fork's demesne. Riz and three of her friends were ladling water on themselves against the heat, while Lori gathered the water pooling at the bottom of the boat to apply to herself before throwing it over the side. They were riding Lori's Boat Three, which for some reason had only one outrigger on its right side. Admittedly, it didn't seem to need a second, and the lack of an outrigger on one side made it easier to get on and off the boat.

"In this heat, it's probably thirsty a lot, so there's a good chance we'll see it as we're leaving."

Lori didn't reply, simply sitting in dignified angry silence.

Why was Rian muttering about 'adorable'?

When they arrived at the dome, Lori saw sheaves of grain being dried in the sun outside, while other sheaves were being threshed—they also had the large saw-like comb—and winnowed. Outside the mine/dragon shelter was a large pile of loose rocks, no doubt the result of the copper mining. Well, it would probably be useful if she needed to build anything—

"This place is going to need a lot of work when the next batch of the Golden Sweetwood Company arrives," Rian commented as he started maneuvering the boat to the dock, making Lori twitch. "They'll probably need something like the shelters you put, and definitely need to expand outside of the dome—"

"Rian, stop talking," Lori ground out.

"Shutting up, your Bindership. Though we really need to talk about this before—"

"You're still talking."

Rian finally stopped taking as they pulled alongside the dock. One of Riz's friends stepped off the boat and onto the dock, and another threw her the boat's rope to secure it. By the time that Lori managed to step off the boat—she was used to stepping onto the narrow ramp between the boat and the outrigger, which was higher than stepping up from the bottom of the boat—Yllian had made his way to them. The man was sweating intensely, and Rian actually grabbed the boat's ladle to scoop up some river water, which he offered to the man.

Yllian took the ladle gratefully, taking off his hat and pouring the water over his head before putting his hat back on. "Oh, Great Binder, that feels good…" the man sighed.

"Yes, I know," Lori said blandly.

Her lord blinked, then coughed awkwardly. "Ah, sorry for my language, Great Binder."

“Perhaps you should resort to other forms of swearing,” Lori said dryly. “On your own time. Where is—” she reached into her pouch to check on the rocks there, “—Lidzuga?”

––––––––––––––––––

When Lidzuga arrived, Lori was examining the boat being held up on trestles that would no doubt become Lori’s Boat Four. She hated the design. Instead of a nice, neat box, the two long walls were at an angle outwards, and the bottom dipped down in th middle to form a triangular shape. It actually needed to rest on the trestles upside-down because otherwise it would keep flopping from side to side.  Off to the side, tree branches were in the beginning of being fused together to make more panels.

“It looks terrible,” Lori said.

“It’s meant to be self-righting,” Rian said, “And it's supposed to be a boat, not a box. Besides, it’s still symmetrical.”

Well, she supposed there was that. “Well, I suppose there’s that…”

“Lo—Rian?”

“Ah, Lidz, there you are!” Rian said as he turned towards the Deadspeaker. “I believe congratulations are in order.”

“Oh, thank you, but accelerating the crops isn’t really anything,” the Deadspeaker said in the tones of someone wanting to hear praise. “This is our third harvest, and—”

“Uh, no not that,” Rian interrupted. “Though yes, good job in getting the demesne a third harvest, that’s two more harvests than we would have managed without you. I meant your probation. Congratulations on reaching four weeks.”

“Pro—oh! Oh, that’s today?”

“That’s today,” Rian confirmed. “Congratulations of getting through your probation, even if you didn’t manage to build all the boats in the time you had available. However, of the boats you did deliver so far, we have no complaints, and Yllian has only good things to say about all the Deadspeaking work you’ve been doing. How’s the progress on the second fruit orchard?”

“The— oh! Actually, I’ve managed to get some of the trees there to start fruiting, although the trees themselves are a bit stunted because they’ve been growing for only… three weeks? I had to use grafts and transplants instead of growing from seedlings, but Tae said that's not really a problem. She said that shorter trees are easier to pick.”

"Um… while I wouldn't impugn on Tae's good name, she sort of… hates trees."

Lidzuga blinked. "Really?"

"Not fruit trees, or so she says, but she had a whole list of things she doesn't like about them—" Rian glanced towards her. "Uh, I'll tell you later. Just… probably take a moment to think about it before taking her advice about things like that."

"Um… now that my probation is over…"

"Yes, you can have days off," Lori said. "Or at least half days off. As you've no doubt learned by now, there are things that have to be done every day, so a full day off cannot be a regular occurrence."

Lidzuga grimaced, but nodded. "Yes. While Shanalorre—"

Lori just barelymanaged to keep herself from speaking.

"—handles imbuing everything, some of the trees still need little adjustments, even with the bound tools you've set in place to keep them cool, your Bindership."

She nodded. "However, we had an agreement. As soon as I can confirm that fruits are growing in the second orchard you've established, with the completion of this third boat you will be due half a day off for… well, whatever you want to do. All I require is that you inform Yllian the day before you take a day off so that he knows you will not be completely available. Have you settled on a specific topic of research yet?" When last they'd spoken, he'd seemed to have vague ideas about cataloging local plants, beasts and bugs, but that was unfocused and time consuming. The sort of research one conducted when they had a sponsor who wasn't too insistent on results.

"I… haven't really had a chance to think about it," the Deadspeaker said. "I've been so busy…"

"May I suggest not using your half day off to do that thinking?" Rian said. "That's just a sad waste of what you've managed to earn."

––––––––––––––––––

Mine Shelter Development Planning

The second fruit orchard was rather small compared to the one that they were currently relying on for fruits. As Lidzuga had said, most of the fruit trees were stunted. A few were clearly saplings that had been grown from seeds and even with Deadspeaking were probably still several weeks away from growing fruit, but a few appeared to be branches he'd cut off from other trees that he'd stuck into the ground.

"I induced root growth on the branches before I cut them off and planted them," Lidzuga explained when Lori had pointedly inquired about them. "Some trees do that naturally, so I got the idea to try it here. Thankfully, it seems to have worked successfully. They need to be supported until their roots grow bigger, though. To be honest, they're not really ready to start growing fruits in the quantities and sizes that are worth harvesting because it would unbalance them, but the roots should be ready in a few more days. The saplings… well, they'll need some more growing."

Lori nodded. "I will still consider this fulfillment of your project. For the moment, focus on stabilizing them. Inform me when I have to place to keep them cool."

"Yes, your Bindership."

"We'll be taking back the new boat," she continued. "Have you tested it in the water yet?"

The Deadspeaker nodded. "The other men helped me get it in and out of the water. It floats, and I tried riding on it, though I can't really say how much more stable it is compared to the boats I've been making before."

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to test it," Rian said. "It's not really complete without some weights to make it bottom-heavy."

"Rian, get the boat into the water and secure it," Lori said. "I'll be doing an inspection of the dragon shelter. Inform be when we're ready to go."

"The dragon shelter? You need help with anything?"

Lori shook her head. "Just something I remembered. With the mine now back in operation, there's nowhere for used bathwater to go. It will probably be necessary to excavate a catch basin for it, as well as a means for recovering that water. I'm going to see what else I might need to build."

"Ah. Yes, that seems… needed. You should probably put in a small water reservoir too, so that the drinking water isn't limited by the number of barrels is stored?"

She waved a hand dismissively. "I'll consider it."

"Thank you!"

––––––––––––––––––

The mine was a bit messy when Lori entered it, a binding of lightwisps anchored to her staff, the air still and warm. There were random rocks on the floor, probably dropped when carrying the ores and tailings out of the mine. The ventilation binding was deactivated, the large wispbead meant to fuel it removed… and just left behind in the little stone niche next to it. Lori twitched at the negligent attitude. The bead itself was sitting on a triangular wooden base to keep it from rolling, which… all right, she acknowledged that was a good design for supporting the large beads that were too big to simply be stored in a bowl.

Lori checked the beads she kept stored in the alcove just behind the final door, nodding in satisfaction as she saw those beads were still there as Riz and one of her friends waited to one side. She probably needed to make some more large beads for mine ventilation, which wouldn't be pleasant without her ice shed to work in. She was also going to feel unprotected without the shed's wall around her. Granted, the walls had been made of ice, but that just meant she'd see the beasts coming.

Shaking her head—that was a problem for the future, even if that future was perhaps this afternoon—Lori made a note to have the carpenters build a door to the alcove. She hadn't been able to seal the entrance properly when she'd left last time, and she wasn't going to repeat that mistake.

Past the alcove was the door to the food storage room, which she saw had been shut tight with a chain and a lock that she had never seen before. Presumably the lock was Yllian's, and had only been put in because there were no people to spare because of the harvest, since even the miners seemed to be assisting in the harvest. She supposed that answered the question of whether people still tried to steal food. The lock wouldn't be needed otherwise.

She continued walking.

…

"Erzebed, why are you practically breathing down my neck?" Lori asked, voice flat.

"Sorry, Great Binder, but you're the one with the light and we can't see the floor very well back here," the militiawoman said.

Lori rolled her eyes. "What's your spearhead mean of?"

There was a pause. "Uh, steel, Great Binder. You haven't made any spearheads from beast parts in a while, and all the ones you've made have already broken."

What, really? Well… Lori supposed it wasn't unlikely that the spearheads she'd made would break, especially if they were being used to hunt beasts. And if Rian hadn't seen the need to mention it for her to make more, then she apparently didn't need to. Still, that was inconvenient…

Lori swept her gaze across the ground, looking for a rock. Unfortunately, the rocks littering the floor of the mine were sharp-angled and looked uncomfortable to hold… although…

She bent down and picked up a rock, touching it with her fingernail to claim and bind it. It softened in her hands, and Lori let her staff rest on the crook of her elbow as she rolled and pressed the rock between her palms into a lopsided disk. Once she was satisfied with its shape, she dissolved the binding, and reached out one hand to claim lightwisps from the path of the light on her staff. Forming the lightwisps into a binding, she gave it a moderate amount of imbuement before anchoring it onto the stone and handing that to Riz. "There. Now stop being so close."

Not waiting for a reply, she continued on down the mine, the light in the militiawoman's hands casting Lori's shadow ahead of her. She reached the ramp that lead up to the shelter area proper, and found it full of signs of habitation. There were several packs stacked together along one wall, as well as a pile of rolled-up bed rolls next to a broom.

Lori took a quick look around, wondering if she should expand this room and add a few more latrines. While it was currently sufficient to the needs of the amount of people currently living in River's Fork, once the next—

No, no, she was not going to worry about that! She'll expand the dragon shelter to be able to house more people when those people new acknowledge her absolute authority of her demesne!

…

That being said, she needed to excavate a little to be able to fit in the water reservoir and catch basin. Unfortunately, as she had no connection to this demesne's core—Shanalorre was still too useful to kill—Lori couldn't be sure exactly how much room she had left to excavate before she went out the other side of the hill. Still, she knew she still had a lot of stone between her and accidentally digging out the other side of the hill, especially since the mine tunnel angled downward. So she should have more than enough space to at least excavate a small room.

Not today though. She didn't have enough time.

Hmm…when she did excavate the room for a water reservoir, she should probably have a door to keep people from pissing in the water. River's Fork was where the stupidest idiots of from her demesne had moved to, after all.

––––––––––––––––––

By the time she made her way back to the docks, the wooden hull that would become Lori's Boat Four was floating in the water, tied by a rope to Lori's Boat Three.

"We're ready to go, your Bindership," Rian said as she approached. "If we leave now, we should be back in time for a slightly late lunch. I told the kitchen to keep some food warm for us, just in case."

Oh! Well, that was nice. She had thought they'd have to stay for lunch… although given how River's Fork was still working on their harvest, perhaps they didn't have food ready? "Then let us be on our way, then." She turned to Yllian, who had been talking to Rian. "Yllian, I'll be back within the week to do some work done on the mine shelter."

"Understood, Great Binder," Yllian said. "Do you need me for anything else?"

Lori waved a hand dismissively, and Yllian left to continue assisting the harvest in progress. Rian got on the Lori's Boat Three, kneeling down on it and holding onto the dock—he visibly winced at how hot it was—to keep the boat steady as Lori stepped down onto the boat as well. She nearly fell as she did so, just barely managing to keep her balance and quickly sitting down to help maintain her equilibrium. Ugh. Why couldn't this boat had a ramp on its outrigger too?

Riz and her friends quickly got on the boat as well, dropping down onto the boat far more easily, the last one untying the boat from the dock. The two oars on the boat were taken up and used to push off from the dock, paddling to turn the Lori's Boat Three around since its prototype sliding switch kept it from having a 'reverse' setting. The paddling was faster than Lori using her staff to make some kind of waterwisp binding.

"Next time, we're taking one of the other boats," Lori said as the boat finally faced upriver.

"Agreed," Rian said as he gently pulled out the knob that activated the steam jet bound tool. The boat began to move forward, and Rian pulled the knob out further as so they could start making their ay upriver. Riz began pulling on the rope tying the Lori's Boat Four closer so that it was closer to them. "This is a great control mechanism, but I've too used to being able to move in reverse."

"Is the bow ready?"

Rian sighed for some reason. "Riz, could you…?"

"I know, I know, put on the bowstring."

As the militiawoman struggle to get the bowstring back on, Lori picked up the arrow with its beast-tooth arrowhead, checking the binding of lightningwisps still on it, then testing to make sure she still had affinity with those wisps so she could activate the binding from a distance.

When they spotted the typhon beast, she'd be ready to finally kill it!

––––––––––––––––––

They did not spot the typhon beast and she was unable to kill it.

"Look, I'm sure the hunters have a good understanding of its habits by now," Rian said as they approached the vicinity of her dungeon. "Why don’t we just give them the arrow, they can stick it in the thing, and then you can activate it from a safe distance?"

"I suppose that's an option…" Lori muttered.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll manage to find and kill it soon…”

“But I want it killed now!”

“I know… I know…”

Lori sul—that is, Lori thought deeply on how to make this goal of hers come true as Rian maneuvered Lori’s Boat Three next to the dock. Lori’s Boat and Lori’s Ice Boat were both on the other side of the river. It occurred to Lori she should probably build a proper dock there soon, and perhaps add an extension or even a second dock on this side. The number of boats they were in possession of was growing, after all.

These and other very important, Dungeon Binder-like thoughts filled Lori’s head as Lori’s Boat Three settled into place as she most definitely did not sulk.