Demesne Snippets 11: Stone Setting
Added 2024-09-21 13:18:40 +0000 UTCTrees sometimes had uses. Maybe.
“Is this what you need?” Shana said, holding out a broken branch. It was slim, the bark still soft and the wood inside wet and pale. The stump was a brush-like mess, as the little girl—who also happened a Dungeon Binder, like something out of a story—had needed to pull and wrench at the young branch… because she wasn’t allowed sharp objects.
Taeclas tried not to think about why. “Yes, thank you!” she said cheerfully. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the life in the branch had been claimed and imbued and gave the little Lady Binder an extra smile of thanks. She’ll have to remember to give Shana extra when she finally made her winter candies! “This is just what I need.”
She had never been good at inert life, which was part of why it took her so long to do carpentry. Active life was her specialty, so if she had needed to try and make something, her best option was to take some still-living wood and reshape that while it was still active. That had been difficult back in Covehold Demesne, since it was hard to find any living plants outside of her garden, but here in Lorian Demesne—which despite the name was somehow NOT named after its Dungeon Binder and Lord—there were, ugh, trees everywhere, so that wasn’t a problem here!
Whistling, Tae overrode Shana’s prior claim, taking hold of the life in the branch. Gently, she manipulated cells, having them contract on one side and lengthen on the other. The branch began to bend, and she reached into her belt pouch to draw out the river rock that Binder Lori had given her. In the light of day, the glow from it was… well, less perceptible, as it was bright enough to light up the interior of a house. Patiently, she began to curl the still-living branch into a setting around the stone.
She wasn’t sure that she would mount the setting on. Tae had never really been the kind of person to carry around a staff, but given some of the things she was expected to do now, perhaps it was time? Having a glowing rock at the head of her staff was a nice image. Very theatrical.
