Demesne 381 - Projects (Patreon)

Lori gestured towards the Lori's Boat. "As I said, you are to study that. As a probationary project and assessment of your skills, you are to build at least five boats to the same dimensions and quality during that period." She paused. "Well, not the exact same modifications. Speak to Rian, I'm sure he'll have modifications in mind."

"And that's my cue!" Rian said cheerfully as he entered the conversation. Given the fact he'd finished with removing the outriggers some time ago, he probably meant that literally. "While I do have modifications in mind, I believe you should try to reproduce the Lori's Boat first, since it's a simple design and mostly straightforward angles."

Lidzuga blinked for some reason. "Its name is Lori's Boat?"

"Yes. Not to be confused with Lori's Ice Boat, that's the one made of ice covered in planks," Rian said, pointing at said boat.

"No one is likely to confuse those two, Rian. They have completely different dimensions," Lori said, shaking his head as she turned back to Lidzuga. "As I was saying, you are to make five boats during your probationary period, after you have done your regular duties. You will inform Yllian when those duties are done before you proceed with the boat-building project. In addition to the boats, I will also consider starting a new grove of fruit trees as a project for you to complete. The grove should have at least three trees of each of the fruits we have available. That project is considered completed once fruit can be harvested from the tree. Is that clear?"

"Five boats and a grove of fruit trees," Lidzuga confirmed. "The first boat will be a direct reproduction of… Lori's Boat, and subsequent ones will have modified parameters."

"Don't worry, they should be relatively simple," Rian said. "Most of them are modifications intended to get the boats to balance better without the outriggers. Even if they don't work as intended, we should still have functional boats." He turned to Lori. "What resources does he have to draw on, your Bindership?"

"Did you also deactivate the trees that grow firewood?" Lori asked.

"No, your Bindership," Lidzuga said. "The meaning on them isn't as taxing on those trees, it just makes them grow quicker and express it in certain areas so that the branches are easier to cut. This heat's hasn't caused as many adverse effects, and I was able to heal what I could and recreate the meaning."

"Then source your raw materials from there," Lori said. "Put meanings on more trees if you need to."

"I… see. Um… do I need to do the work all by myself…?"

"They are projects intended to assess your capabilities."

"Uh… can I borrow tools, then?"

"You may ask to borrow tools. However, no one will be under any obligation to lend them to you or assist you. These are your projects."

With each word, Lidzuga looked more and more pained.

"You need not complete these projects," Lori continued. "You need not even do them. However, then I will have no basis to do anything but refuse your requests for time off to do research. If you cannot prove that your productivity during the times you work is sufficient to cover the resources you will continue to consume when you're not working…" Lori shrugged. "That said, if you manage to complete all five boats, or the grove and two boats, before the end of the probationary period, I will consider your probationary period concluded. Each project you complete after that period will be rewarded with half a day off at minimum, at my discretion."

Lidzuga's gaze sharpened at that. "Really?"

Lori nodded. "If you manage to complete enough projects to end your probationary period early, then if you complete the remaining projects or project, you may have a full day off from sunrise to sunset once I have inspected the result of the projects and confirmed you have completed them to my satisfaction."

"Or you could not do the projects and just do your research at night," Rian said. "You have a light source now. You can stay up to draw as much as you want." As Lori gave her lord a flat look, Lidzuga touched his belt pouch, looking like he was giving the suggestion serious thought. Well, it didn't matter to Lori. As long as he contributed to the demesne when work needed to be done, she didn't care what he did at night.

She shrugged. "As I said, these projects are optional. You could simply not do them, and continue on your probationary period doing the bare minimum. Gather what samples you can, research and study at night. Be tired the next day. "

"…how many more days of my probation do I have, your Bindership?" Lidzuga asked, face set in a thoughtful expression

"As I did not properly assign you anything to do, the period begins today. You have four weeks."

Lidzuga nodded, face still thoughtful. "I can do that…" he said distractedly, before nodding again. "I'll have to borrow a saw…"

"Before you start sawing, you have maintenance to do," Lori said, pointing at Lori's Boat.

"Ah, yes, your Bindership!"

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They ate lunch in River's Fork. After all, if Lori was going to be traveling back to her demesne in the middle of the day, she might as well not do it on an empty stomach.

"Shanalorre, do you know where your predecessor's effects are being kept?" Lori asked as the two ate together. Rian looked up sharply at the question, and for some reason Riz sitting next to him winced.

She managed to eat two mouthfuls before there was a slapping sound. "Why do you ask, Great Binder?" Shanalorre eventually said.

"LIdzuga needs the flow diagram for the meaning that was tamed onto the fruit trees to be able to replicate it in a timely manner," Lori said. "If such a flow diagram exists, it would be in your predecessor's effects. If you know where it is, tell me so they can be searched for the flow diagram we need."

Lori managed to eat another two mouthfuls before there was a slapping sound. "The effects in question have been secured and stored in my house, which my cousin Verik should be maintaining twice a week. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, any written material wouldn't be there."

Lori frowned. "Where would it be?"

Shanalorre sighed quietly. "My uncle laid claim to all such material when he was attempting to teach me Deadspeaking, stating that he needed to study it before he could teach it to me. They should still be with him, unless he destroyed them."

Across the table, Rian groaned, resting is forehead on both hands as he slumped down.

Sighing, Lori continued eating. She was not going to be dealing with this problem on an empty stomach.

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“Excuse me doctor, but we need any papers or notes of Binder Koshay's in your possession,” Rian said with an amiable smile on his face, because this was exactly why Lori had him. “Shanalorre told us that you had them.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Shanalorre’s uncle said, splitting his glare between Rian and Lori. Next to him, his wife wore a neutral expression, sitting next to her husband but remaining relatively uninvolved beyond her gaze boring at Lori.

“We have a witness who says otherwise,” Rian said, still smiling. “Right, Shanalorre?”

“Otherwise.”

Standing behind them, Lori shifted her gaze to turn her unamused look towards her lord and her subordinate Dungeon Binder. Had they rehearsed that? No, she’d been with them both all though the meal when the subject was broached.

When she turned her attention back to Shanalorre's uncle, his glare had moved down to look at her subordinate, who met the gaze evenly.

“There you have it, Lasponin,” Rian said. “Now, I'd like to politely ask you to let us have the papers please, or—”

“Even if I had such papers, I’d have a right to them,” the doctor interrupted. “It’s right there, isn’t it, in those 'rights' you promised? I have a right to own property. You have no due cause, and nothing you can compensate me with!”

“—or,” Rian pressed on cheerfully, “are we going to have you charged with theft? As the previous Dungeon Binder’s property, it should, of course, go to the next Dungeon Binder. Or if you prefer, as Binder Koshay’s property, it should go to his next of kin. In both instances, that would be Shanalorre.”

“He was mybrother, you—”

“Why do you want Koshay’s papers?” the doctor’s wife asked, interrupting what sounded like a personal attack.

“We have reason to hope that among his papers is a flow diagram for the meaning he used for accelerating the fruiting of the fruit trees around the demesne, Mistress Vyshke,” Rian said, turning smoothly towards the woman. “If it’s there, Lidzuga would have an easier time with the maintenance he’s doing on the fruit trees. If it’s not there…” Rian shrugged. “Well, at least we looked and made sure.”

"And if what you're looking for isn't there?" the woman pressed.

"Then the papers will be returned Shanalorre as their rightful owner. They did belong to her parents, after all. She deserves her inheritance. Or do you disagree?"

The last was directed at the doctor.

There was silence for a moment as the man gave Rian a hate-filled glare, eventually interrupted by the sound of Shanalorre's hand slapping against her own cheek.

The doctor glanced at her with a frown, only to find the same even gaze as before. "Why is she doing that? What have you done to my niece?"

"I wish I knew," Rian said. "She does that every time certain subjects are mentioned, and unfortunately Yoshka's not around to stop her from doing it. So, are you going to have mistress Vyshke hand over the papers, or are we going to have to search your house?"

For some reason, the man looked past Rian to glare at Lori. What? She hadn't even said anything. All she’d been doing was keeping herself from punching him in the face very time he opened his mouth to say something idiotic!

The doctor, it turned out, did have several notebooks and loose sheets in his possession, several of which were wrinkled and generally shabbily treated. Fortunately, the papers were hardy and well made, and despite ill handling most of them were still whole and readable. Every book and sheet of paper was confiscated, despite the doctor's attempts to protest.

"Doctor, we have absolutely no reason to trust you," Rian said cheerfully. "We're going over each of these—with your wife's supervision, of course—to ensure that you haven't decided to hide anything. Don't worry, Yllian assures me he's familiar with the late Binder Koshay's handwriting. I assure you, we will return all of your papers and books back to you."

"This is an outrage! Those are my papers!"

"We know, doctor. Hence why we'll help you sort through them, since your papers seemed to have gotten mixed together with the late Binder Koshay. Don't worry though, Yllian will be as quick as possible. We have no reason to take any papers of yours, after all."

Sorting through the materials was quick. Once Yllian had identified several pieces of paper with Binder Koshay’s handwriting on it as examples, it was easy to set aside the ones that didn’t, have that handwriting. Lori was able to identify the flow diagrams herself. Despite the different notations used in Deadspeaking, she recognized the general appearance from her almanac, and immediately set those aside to peruse. With the three of them sorting through the papers and notebooks in Shanalorre’s office—and the Vyshke woman there to see they were hiding or trying to destroy anything, unlike her husband—Lori’s subordinate had wandered off because there was no more room in the building, presumably on some errand.

While she hardly knew how to read them, a few looked strangely incomplete to her eyes, with lines and arrows that just stopped. Some of those were likely scratch work as Binder Koshay worked out the flow order of something or other. A few seemed complete, although she couldn’t tell what they did, and the few notes weren’t helpful, reading more like reminders than explanations, such as ‘adjust metabolism’ and ‘test tomorrow’. Binder Koshay clearly hadn’t meant for anyone to read them but himself.

“Hey, Yllian, do you recognize who’s handwriting this is?” Rian suddenly said. “It looks like a there’s a third person’s notes mixed into this.” He held up a sheet of paper, passing it to the other lord.

Yllian glanced at the paper with a frown. “Ah, that’s Laven’s handwriting. I didn’t realize any of hers were in here.”

“That’s… Shanalorre’s mother, right?” Rian said, glancing at Yllian and the Vyshke woman. At their nods, he shrugged and set the sheet next to the ones they’ already identified as Koshay’s notes. “Well, these should go to Shanalorre too. Unless you have some sort of objection, mistress?”

“Give it to Shana—”

“Shanalorre,” Lori corrected, not looking up from the flow diagram she was looking at.

“—Shana. I’ll deal with my husband.”

“Thank you.”

“Do not misunderstand, young man. What I do, I do for my niece, not for you or your Dungeon Binder.”

“Noted. Yoshka is doing well, by the way. Thought you’d like to know.

“So Shana has already said.”

In the end, a smaller pile of papers and notebooks were returned to Shanalorre’s annoying uncle. The flow diagrams were given to Shanalorre—who had returned from her errands smelling like rotten fruit—who in turn gave the papers to Lidzuga. Everything else was carefully wrapped with a carry cloth, which Shanalorre carried back with her when they returned home.