Weekly Digest 108 - (#341 - #343)

Worth The Price

The bound tool had been covered with a canvas sheet, and a bench was next to it, probably because it kept people from propping things up against it otherwise. Still, while the canvas had acquired the light dusting of sawdust everything does when carpentry is being done, when Master Yhosed pulled off the sheet the bound tool underneath was in good condition.

Something clattered as the sheet was pulled off.

Master Yhosed looked down and sighed. “Edjrond, you left your chisel on the bound tool! I told you to check here! Get over here man, and next time I tell you to check somewhere, you colors check there!”

As Master Yhosed verballing castigated the carpenter who’d apparently left his chisel on the bound tool, I examined the device in question. It was vaguely lathe-shaped, and to my surprise the table that held it up had the look of new wood. Had the bound tool been dismantled o it could be brought aboard the ship that had taken them here? Well, if they could, they probably did. Standing at about stomach height, it was supported by widely spaced legs. The legs had boards on the bottom on which rocks had been placed, weight down the tool and making it hard to move or tip over.

A rectangular metal frame was supported on the table, anchored to the wood by bolts. The frame was half a pace wide and two paces long. On either end where the lathe mounts, one of which could be moved by a crew that ran the length of the frame. Alone one long side of the rectangle was another track, on which a vertical track that a round device was mounted. From the pivot and markings, the device could be angled up and down as well as raised and lowered. On one side of the frame was a recognizable bead receptacle, while next to it was a coil of what I recognized as wire sheathed in deadspoken leather. That would be the contact a Whisperer—or whichever sort of wizard was needed to imbue the bound tool but it was often a Whisperer—would use to imbue the bound tool in lieu of a bead. Just behind of the stationary lathe mount on one end was a semi-circular protrusion on a relatively flat, table-like section.

I was still examining the bound tool when Master Yhosed finished with his little disciplinary matter. “Sorry about that,” he said gruffly, making me look away and meet his gaze.

“It’s fine, I understand,” I said. “Can you talk me through what your bound tool can do?”

Master Yhosed nodded. “This part,” he gestured to the semi-circular protrusion, “is a saw, for cutting beams and planks down to size. The rest of it is, at heart, a lathe.” He gestured towards the mountings. “We can turn a length of wood up to thirty yustri wide as well as core it out, and with this head,” he gestured to the track on the side, “we can also do boring, routing and drilling.”

That…was actually pretty good for making a water screw. “What do you usually use it for?” I asked.

“Cups.”

I blinked. “What, really?”

Master Yhosed nodded. “About once a month I get young Remia to come over so we can use this, and we do a run of cups for a traveling merchant. It’s fast enough that it’s worth it to pay the wizard for the day. The rest we spend trimming down what we can for the month while she’s still on the clock.”

“Huh… I can see it. You’d think people would be more careful with cups, though.” I glanced at the bound tool. “If you had the beads to run it full time, what would you use it for?”

“What we planned to use it for,” Master Yhosed sighed, giving the bound tool a frustrated look. “Turning, drilling, mortising and cuttingg. We have a treadle lathe that can also be used as a saw, but it ties up two people to use, and the hand drills and saws are slow. With this…” he sighed.

“All that but faster, and not needing as many people,” I said, nodding. “Do many other carpenters have a bound tool they can’t use?”

“Vov a few shops down has one that’s a saw and planer. We all chip in a little so we can hire young Remia or Lastrin to run it once a week for getting everything we need ready. A few streets over, I hear they have a saw too, though I can’t recall the name of who has it at the moment.” He let out an annoyed breath. “If I’d known how little use I’d get out of this thing, I’d have sold it for more tools.”

“Last year, I heard that the only beads accepted here were Covehold-issued beads and old continent beads” I said, “but from the sound of it, Covehold really isn’t issuing its own beads, is it?”

“Oh, that. They’ve been saying that since I came here ten years ago, but so far the only new beads anyone sees come in on the ships from the old lands. I suppose none of the Dungeon Binders there wanted to share how it was done.”

We both shook our heads, probably for different reasons, but the same sentiment.

“Well, here,” I said, handing him the wispbead Lori had made. She was going to be so smug when I confirm that at least the Dungeon Binder of Covehold hadn’t figured out how to make beads. “Let’s see if everything needed for our commission is working.”

Master Yhosed hesitated. “Are you sure you don’t have anything smaller, Master Rian?”

“It’s fine. This one doesn’t have any denomination marks anyway, so it’s not good for anything but bound tools and being swallowed,” I said.

The carpenter sighed the sigh of a man who’d done what he could to keep his conscience clear and took the bead from my hands. He slipped it into the bead receptacle, and the bead rolled down to the bottom where the metal contact was. I watched as he moved the switches on the bound tool, activating the driver on one of the lathe mounts, the driver on the track-mounted drill, router and borer, and, once he flipped over the protective cover, the driver on the bound tool’s circular saw, which all began to turn rapidly. Each driver activated only briefly, likely so as not to consume the bead more than necessary,

I watched as he handled the operated the bound tool, paying particular attention when he turned some knobs which seemed to increase the speed at which the driver on the side track rotated. That… all right, I’ll have to tell Lori about that, because I had noidea how she might possibly replicate that with the bound tools she was making. Though there weren’t any glass components visible on the bound tool, so I had to wonder why she kept insisting that was necessary, but maybe it was an internal component I couldn’t see.

Master Yhosed moved all the switches the other way, apparently deactivating all the drivers, then tipped back the bead receptacle so that the wispbead would roll back to the wider end and be scooped out.

“Thank you,” I said as I accepted the bead. “I think you have exactly what I’m looking for. Do you have an office where we can discuss details?”

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Master Yhosed didn’t have a proper office, but there was a room above the shop where, as I had surmised, he, his family, and some of the other carpenters slept. At the moment, it contained his wife and his daughter, who was getting the food ready for everyone’s lunch. The two glanced at us curiously, but apparently this wasn’t an unusual occurrence, because they went right back to cooking. I found myself salivating slightly at the smell of something that wasn’t just stewed beast or seel meat.

The carpenter led us to a table, where I sat, while he drew out an abacus, a leather sheet, and a charred stick before he joined me.

“Now, how big do you need the waterscrew to be, Master Rian?” Master Yhosed said.

“Actually, I have an apology to make, Master Yhosed,” I said, laying the bead we’d just tested the bound tool with on the table. “You see, I needed to speak to you in private about something else. As much as I’d like to bring home a water screw—” we could probably used it one the third floor to make it easier to fill up buckets, or eliminate at least one of the bindings Lori had to maintain in the baths, “—we don’t really have the budget for it.” I placed the bead in my hand between us. “Please accept this for your bound tool along with that apology, to make up for your time.”

Master Yhosed as frowning now, but he glanced at the cloudy white wispbead between us, picking it up warily.

“It’s unmarked, so you can’t buy anything with it, but you’ve seen it’s a real bead and you’ll be able to use it to run your bound tool downstairs,” I said.

“Then what did you come here for?” he asked, looking at the bead critically as if worried I’d switched it when he’d been looking for his implements.

I took a deep breath. There really wasn’t a way I could get around to this without revealing some measure of the truth. “As far as I know,” I said, “that bead has never been in a Whisperer’s stomach, nor has it been used to power a bound tool until we used it downstairs. My Dungeon Binder gave it to me like that.”

Master Yhosed’s frown deepened, and he looked intently at the wispbead. The very smoothwispbead.

“If I had to guess,” I mused allowed, “back when people were still being free with using beads for their bound tools, they probably used the wispbeads that were small and small-mid denomination, because those would be worth the least compared to everything else. Mid-large kinds of beads, no matter the size, might be too valuable to use. So the beads used for the bound tools would have been large small-mids at the most… Does that sound about right, Master Yhosed?”

The carpenter nodded slowly, his gaze finally coming back to me.

“That’s a large bead, but since it doesn’t have any denomination markings, I can’t use it to buy anything” I said. “Since I’m not a Whisperer, all I can do with it is find someone to home it’s worth something.” I tilted my head. “How much work can your bound tool do with a large wispbead, Master Yhosed.”

“A large bead would last the bound tool a day or more, used sparingly,” Master Yhosed said in a slow, contemplative voice. “Half that if we kept it working the whole time.”

My head bobbed in a nod. “Would a large small-mid bead be worth the price of running your bound tool for two days, used sparingly?” I asked.

“It might…” he said slowly. “Only two days?”

“It’s all I have on me,” I said. “If you need more… well, we can meet again in a day or so, once you’re more sure the beads are worth the price. Perhaps tell you friends about how sure you are, so they can come with you?”

Master Yhoed glanced down at the wispbead I’d given him again. “I’ll have to see if they work on the bound tool first,” he said. Yes, he was clearly concerned I’d switched the bead for glass.

For the first time since meeting the man, I let myself smile.

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A little while later, I stepped out of the carpentry workshop, my belt pouch two more wispbeads lighter and a heavier by a small talkbead. I had been pleasantly surprised when Master Yhesod had insisted on paying more for the two beads once we’d proven on their bound tool that they were the real thing. Multaw and Cyuw were waiting outside, some mican peels kicked to the side as they tried to stay under the shadow of the workshops overhang.

“You done, Rian?” Multaw asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Come on, I’ll tell you how it turned out later.”

I needed to find a quiet corner to get more beads out of my pouch and slip them into my handkerchief. The day wasn’t over yet, and there were more workshops around. Not Vov a few shops down, he was too close, but perhaps a few streets over?

Cyuw handed me a mican. “Why don’t you eat first, Rian?”

I took the fruit, nodding in agreement. “All right, eat, then I tell you how it turned out.”

Up above, the sun told me how much longer it was before we were to meet with the others on the Coldhold.

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Rian Is Betrayed

The sun was low in the sky by the time Multaw, Cyuw and I got back to the thoroughfare that faced the bay. It was high tide, and I could see that the cove was full of small boats. Many seemed to be making their way towards the river mouth, some moving surprisingly fast considering they had no sails and only seemed to have oars. Since some of the boats I saw earlier no doubt had a Whisperer aboard, perhaps they were propelling their boats so they could get home faster.

In their midst, the Coldhold seemed to rise out of the water like an island, significantly larger than the little boats around it. Thankfully, they hadn't hung any of the wisplights outside—I hadn't remembered to tell them not to show those off—but hopefully they were looking this way.

I held up my rock with the binding of lightwisps on it, the glowing side facing the ship, and waved it back and worth as Multaw and Cyuw watched my back. We'd been fortunate enough to avoid getting into trouble, though I'd caught some folk following us for a little bit. It hadn't escalated to anything, but I was glad for the reminder before we'd gotten into any real trouble. I'd have to rethink how I wore my belt pouch, since I couldn't just keep it so inaccessible forever.

The shadow that was the Coldhold began to move towards us. Fortunately, there weren't any other boats in the way and the water level was high because of the tide. The ship was able to come in and turn so that the outriggers came close to the thoroughfare. The three of us took a running leap onto the wooden walkway from the outrigger to the rest of the boat, and once we were aboard Yhorj stomped twice on the deck. The was the signal for Cottsy to activate the bound tool driver, and we all reached for the railing as the ship began to move.

"Where are we going, Lord Rian?" Yhorj asked as he steered the ship out of the bay. Fortunately, there were no other boats coming in, so he was able to aim for the middle of the opening at full speed.

"We'll need to find someplace else to anchor for the night," I said. "I don't want us getting swarmed by boats tomorrow morning. As soon as we're out of the cove, turn right and keep an eye out for someplace that looks good. Has anyone started on dinner?"

"Hans is downstairs preparing the meat, and we have some water boiling," Yhorj said, pointing towards the pot on the stove bound tool in the cabin.

Ugh, I must have been really tired if I'd missed that. It was right there! I nodded, making my way to the enclosed cabin in front and sitting down heavily on one of the benches there. Ugh, my feet! They hurt so much! "So, have you all worked out who's going to be staying up with me to keep watch?"

"Lord Rian, I don't think you should be one of those staying up," Cyuw said. "You've been talking to people all day, and you have more things to do tomorrow. You should rest."

Normally, this was when I'd protest that I was fine and that I could keep going, but… ugh, my feet! However, eventually I found the energy to say, "I'll think about it and tell you after dinner. Maybe I'll be feeling better by then. Cottsy, I'm sorry for asking, but can you bring the wisplights up so we can see where we're going?

"Coming, Lord Rian!"

The wisplights came up, already glowing with light. The bead receptacles were sealed with a wooden stopper so that the beads wouldn't accidentally go flying from a sudden movement. Multaw got up and hung them on the hooks that had been added when the Coldhold had been refurbished, then tied the cord on the wisplight to the hook as well, to be doubly sure they wouldn't accidentally fall into the water. While both of them were the same shape—a stone base to let it stand, an enclosed copper bead receptacle, the core that made the thing work, a circle of bone, a wooden ring on top to hang it from, and a cord that trailed from the ring—one of the wisplights shed light in all directions, while the other directed its light in a cone in one direction, the better to see what was in front of them in the dark. The wisplight that sent light in also directions also moved air, allowing them to circulate and cool the air below the deck where they slept. It was a bit bright, but nothing they couldn't sleep through, especially with something over their eyes.

On either side of the entrance to the bay, the two lighthouses were beginning to shine, light glowing from their peaks. The white, even light was definitely Whispering. I saw someone watching us from one of the towers, outlined in the light and hard to see. I waved to them anyway, and they waved back.

Beyond the protection of the bay, the ocean was an ominous plain under a darkening sky. Fortunately, the waves were relatively mild, so it was an easy trip as we Yhorj guided the Coldhold back the way we'd come that morning. Along the shore, we could see light in the various sheds. Light, and…

"They're still working?" Yhorj said. Even with the setting sun, dark shapes were walking down the shore towards the water, carrying buckets that they filled and struggled to carry back.

"Probably getting a start on tomorrow while it's still cool," I said. "Or maybe there's a day shift and a night shift. It's a lot harder for them to get the salt out of the water compared to us, and they need to get all the stuff that's not salt out of the finished batch too. And then there's how hard it must be to gather enough salt to make a profit and not just break even."

I wondered how hard that life must be, how many people might be using those sheds. Did people even live in them? Or did they have to make their way from wherever they lived to the shed, then have to travel all the way back once their shift was done? How close was the nearest dragon shelter? I… hadn't actually ever learned if Covehold had dragon shelters…

We should probably ask about that. Yes, we should definitelyask about that.

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Eventually, the shoreline we were passing became bare of sheds, the rocks taking their place, and they began to search for a good place to anchor.

The water was clear enough that they could see almost to the bottom once they angled the directed wisplight down into the water. It was a great help in finding good places to anchor.

Once they were anchored, everyone took turns stripping down and using the ladles to take a bath. Usually they wouldn't do that so late, but given the time they'd spent in town, it couldn't be helped. At least no one lost their soap this time.

By the time they finished scrubbing off the sweat and assessing whether their clothes needed to be washed in salt water again or could stand another day, the food was ready. The meat had been fried in some seel lard and its own juices, which had been quicker than stewing and much more flavorful.

They all ate in the cabin above, Multaw and Cyuw taking it in turns to tell the others of what they'd seen in Covehold's streets, while the men who'd stayed on the boat relayed what had happened as they'd waited.

"We had some of the little boats trying to come up to us," Liggs said as I listened. "But they only got close enough to give us a yell and ask where we were from, and if we were the 'ice boat' that came around a couple of seasons ago. One kept trying to get close, and but Yhorj kept our distance, and eventually they gave up and went back to gathering salt."

"Did you notice if they had a Whisperer on their boat?" I asked.

Liggs shook his head. "Sorry, Lord Rian. I couldn't really tell."

"Well, keep an eye out next time. If someone was feeling nasty, a Whisperer could destroy the ship with a touch if they could tap any of the ice. I don't know how well Lori would be able to tell someone was trying to do it, or if she'd be able to respond."

The men looked alarmed, and I quickly tried to calm them down. "Don't worry, don't worry, it takes a special kind of evil to want to do that to men just minding their own business, but… well, be careful, all right? Even if they broke the boat, I'm sure the other little boats would come to rescue you. But if that happened… well, we'd have to look for a way back home overland, and we'd lose all our goods, notto mention the bound tools. And Lori would be really annoyed at me. You'd all be safe though, she doesn't know who any of you are."

That… probably wasn't as reassuring as I'd hoped it was.

"Anyway, tomorrow we'll be meeting with Ravia and he'll be picking up our salt and other trade goods. Once we have beads to spend, we can focus on our other priorities," I said. I held up my hand to illustrate. "First, we need to sell as many of Binder Lori's beads. I was able to sell a few today, but doing it that way takes too long, so I'll have to find a way. Secondly, we need to recruit those Deadspeakers Lori said we could finally look for, which will mean doing the rounds on the bars and placement offices. Third, we need to buy the things that the demesne needs. Oiled paper for everyone's windows, Deadspoken thick leather for boot soles… everything. We can probably get Ravia's help putting that order all together, so that's actually the simplest thing we need to do."

It wasn't as daunting as it sounded but it would take time. And while I could theoretically take as long as I needed, or at least as long as we had enough food and beads to make the journey back to Lorian, unless Lori had radically changed her mind there would be no additional projects in the demesne while I was gone, which meant my absence would be delaying the construction of the sawmill. That wasn't counting any new problems that might come up. While I had faith in Riz, Kolinh and Shana's capabilities—even as the thought of someone like Shana actually needing to be competent like this made me want to cry—I had slightly less faith in their ability to understand what Lori meant, or being able to tell Lori 'let's try something else' when she might have an idea that would be inadvisable.

And I honestly not sure where they would fall if Lori decided it was time to kill Shana and claim her core—including Shana.

"Will we all be going out into the town and looking for what we need, Lord Rian?" Cottsy asked, pulling me away from my musings.

"It would be faster," I said, "but I'm not sure how advisable it would be. Now that there are other boats in the water…" I sighed, and shook my head. "No, some of us will have to stay here to guard the ship."

"Then only you and two other people will be able to go out into the town every day," Yhorj said. "Well, that settles it. You can't stay up tonight to keep watch, Lord Rian. Or any night while we're here, for that matter."

I blinked. "Say that again?"

"Well, you'll probably be out every day talking to people and handling the buying and selling," Yhorj said, and everyone else nodded in agreement. "So you need your rest to keep your wits about you, and you need to get an early start so that you have as many hours of daylight as you can. Any of us can stay up and keep a watch out, but we're not as good as you are at talking to people and making deals." More nods all around.

I opened my mouth to protest—

"So, all who vote that Lord Rian get as much sleep as he can and not need to keep watch?" Yhorj said. He raised his hand over his head. "I say aye!"

"Aye!" everyone else chorused, raising their hands as well.

"The votes are in, Lord Rian," Yhorj said with a grin. "Off to sleep with you after you finish eating."

…

Well, if they were so insistent, what else could I say?

"I've been betrayed!" I declared dramatically. "You're all voting against me? How could you?-! After all I've done for all of you, you turn on my like this?" I mimed being stabbed in the heart.

"You could just do what Binder Lori does and do what you want?" Cottsy said with a grin.

"Don't tempt me. Fine, fine, you can all have the night the watch. It can't be whoever's going to be coming with me tomorrow, though."

"We'll sort it out, Lord Rian," Yhorj assured me.

I made a big show of sighing and turning back to my dinner, pouting theatrically to hammer home my 'defeat'.

As the men began discussing who should come with me and who should stay up on watch—they'd also have to make sure the boat wasn't drifting towards shore—I wondered how everyone was doing back home.

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A Lorian Interlude

In the middle of the day, work ground to a halt, the heat too great for anyone to sweat through except perhaps the uncles and aunties working on the rebuilt outdoor mushroom farm where it was shady. And ever since Wiz Lori had put up a thingy to keep bugs from eating the mushrooms they were growing, they hadn't needed to keep an eye on them as much, letting them do other things or in this case take a midday break with everyone, since even the magic winds Wiz Lori had set up weren't enough to let people overcome the heat. Even the seels thought this time of day was too hot, diving into the water and swimming in the depths of the river to stay cool.

Most people who usually worked outside stayed in the Dungeon at this time of day, or soaked in the baths—the water was no longer kept hot—or did laundry, since the water kept people cool, and with so many people sweating there was always laundry to do. The ones who already worked in the Dungeon, the uncle carpenters and auntie weavers, kept working, but they had more people to talk to or help with spinning thread. Well, Wiz Lori was probably working, building a bath in River’s Fork with Ateh Riz and Ateh Mekari, but that was Wiz Lori. She was always working.

The children of the demesne had other plans.

Her skirt still girded from the morning's seeling, her shirt still on to keep her skin from getting burned, Karina's bare feet pounded on the hot stone on the dock. The burning heat under her soles drove her faster towards the end of the short walk, and then she was jumping through the air and she had a heartbeat to pull her knees up to her chest and brace—

Splash!

The heat that had been pounding on her from above was replaced by cold, cold water that engulfed her, replacing the air. Karina let out a small exhale to keep the water from going up her nose as Lord Rian had taught her, felt the hem of her shirt billow up, letting the water flow up the skin on her back.

Karina felt her feet and posterior touch the bottom, and she opened her eyes. The waters of the river were clear, and ripples of light were dancing across the riverbed as she kicked off, rising up to the surface faster than she had sank. Karina broke through the water, and for a heartbeat she was half in the river and half in the air, her vision blurred from the water in her eyes. She took a greedy gulp of air, her cheeks puffing out as she clenched her teeth tight to keep the air in as she felt back down.

Her feet kicked in an alternating rhythm, just like she'd been taught, as she used her hands to pull her back up to the surface. As her soon as her head was in the air, one hand darted up to push air out of her eyes as she blinked so she could see again, even as she began to move to the side, knowing it was only a matter of time before someone else jumped down from the dock.

All around her, the other children in the demesne played in the water. Some were a bit further downriver, sitting on the shallow riverbank in front of the laundry area, sitting with water up to their shoulders and occasionally dunking their heads under the surface. Others were running around despite all the pebbles there, splashing through the water and using their hands to throw water at each other. Because of the risk of getting sunburned, everyone had their shirts and blouses on, and a few were still wearing kerchiefs to protect the back of their necks.

There was another splash as Yhalta and Matoy both jumped into the water, holding hands as they did so. To the side of the dock where the Lori's Ice Boat was usually tied up, Big Yerart was floating on his back, eyes closed, ignoring the small waves that washed over his head as he kept his nose above the water. Phami, Tazel, Ardlia, Galef and Bharelli were all daring each other to see who could swim out furthest into the river. It wasn't very far, since as soon as the reached the river's current, the colder water had them turning back with excited shrieks.

Only Shana wasn't in the water. Still wearing her loose trousers and skirt, with her wide-brimmed reed hat to keep the sun from burning her skin, the girl sat to one side of the dock, kicking her feet back and forth as she watched over everyone, but especially her cousin Yoshka, who liked to keep diving down into the water next to the dock to look of smooth rocks. Already there was a small pile of them next to Shana, now dry from being exposed to the sun.

"You sure you don't want to join us?" Karina said as she swam close to where her friend was sitting. "It's already really hot."

Shana shook her head. "Someone needs to be watching in case there's trouble," she said. Her eyes flickered back down to her cousin, who was underwater and trying to swim down to the bottom again. It wasn't all that deep, but Yoshka had an awkward way of diving so sometimes she stopped halfway and came back up for air.

"You need to have fun too."

Shana waved a hand in a Wiz Lori-like way. "I'm fine. I can go swimming later."

Karina sighed, sinking down a little so the sigh came out as bubbles. It was more fun that way. "I'll hold you to that!" she said.

She turned and swam away.

Moving a bit further out into the river, just short of the cold current, Karina turned to face upriver. Then she took a deep breath, and threw herself forward. Her feet kicked, propelling herself forward as her fully extended arms moved in the circular movements that Lord Rian had taught them was the best way of moving through the water. She held her breath as long as she could, slowly letting her breath bubble out through her nose before turning her to the side at the right time to take a breath through her mouth.

After a count of twenty movements, Karina arched her back, tucked in her knees to her chest, and twisted her body so that she was facing back the way she'd come. Her feet kicking on nothing but cold water, she continued swimming. Lord Rian said swimming was something you needed to practice to get better at, so that was what Karina was doing. She was going to become the best at swimming so she didn't have to worry about falling into the water anymore! If she became really good, she'd be able to get to the rocks in the river where the big seels slept and catch them when they weren't ready for her!

Karina swam back and forth, enjoying the feeling of the water flowing around her as she did so. It was a completely different feeling than when she waded in, the water pressing against her front with every step, slowing her down. There was none of that when she swam. She felt like she belonged in the river when she swam like this, no longer hindered by the water's weight.

It didn't last. Her arms and legs began to ache as she worked them, until eventually she slowed down, letting herself sink into the water for a moment before she kicked up to see where she was.

She'd drifted out into the river again, but that always happened. Moving with her arms, she turned to face the dock, then kicked with her feet as she began to swim towards—

Pain stabbed into Karina's left leg, and her practiced movements faltered as her limb made its desire to lock up became known. Her arms briefly flailed in panic, before she managed to push herself up and out of th water long enough to let out a cry and fill her lungs.

Then she let herself sink into the water, holding her breath and trying to stay calm as she reached down to try and massage the cramp in her leg muscle. It was the one at the back of her leg, between her ankle and her knee, the muscles pulling into a painful knot that didn't want to loosen.

Karina told herself not to panic. She had a full breath and she'd been able to yell. Once she managed to ease the pain in her leg, she could use her arms to pull herself up and get another breath, then just float until the pain went away. Lord Rian had warmed about this, and he'd said that they needed to keep calm when it happened, or else they'd injure themselves or even drown. So she needed to stay calm, and remember that despite the pain, she wasn't bleeding and could use her arms to pull herself up.

She was just starting to think of doing just that so she could take another breath when she felt someone grab the back of her shirt. With a sudden jerk, she was suddenly being pulled backwards. Her head broke through the surface, and she released one hand from trying to massage her leg to keep herself afloat enough to take another breath. To one side, she saw a pair of legs kicking through the water.

The cramp was still tight and painful, and she tried to keep her leg outstretched to minimize it, but that was painful in its own way.

Eventually, her posterior touched the familiar, pebbly ground of the river bank, and she forced herself to sit up, wincing at the pain the shift caused in her leg.

Splashing through the water, a soaking wet Shana moved in front of her and knelt down to raise up Karina's cramped leg. Her hat was gone, and her pale hair was clinging tightly to her head and neck.

"Give me your leg," she said, and with a wince, Karina did so. Instead of the pain suddenly disappearing, as she had expected, Shana's hands methodically felt at her limb from the knees down until she reached the point that had cramped. "Here?"

Karina nodded, embarrassed.

The other girls sighed, sounding exasperated. "Karina, stop swimming so hard. This is the third time this has happened." Her fingers began to massage the leg. "And you wonder why I don't swim at the same time you do anymore. All is well, everyone. Karina just gave herself another cramp."

"Sorry," Karina said.

"Your legs are probably too tense," Shana said, still massaging. "You know Lord Rian said you're not supposed to do that or this happens."

"Sorry…"

"If you wish to apologize, rethink the way you swim." Slowly, Shana's massaging fingers began to loosen the cramp. Karina wanted to shrink on herself in shame, but with Karina doing this, there was no one watching the others now. She kept watch as the muscle slowly relaxed, making sure everyone was in sight. Thankfully, Yoshka was no longer diving next to the dock but was instead sorting through the rocks she had gathered.

Finally, Karina was able to get to her feet. She did so gingerly, half-expecting her leg to stiffen up again, but except for some tightness, her leg was fine. "Thank you," she said, though she wondered why Shana hadn't healed her the way she had before.

"You're wondering why I didn't just heal you, aren't you?" Shana said, getting to her feet. At Karina's nod, she said, "I didn't heal you because you were safe and there was no immediate danger. Let the feeling remind you to not push yourself so hard. If I'd gone into the water as you'd suggested, I might have missed your cry. No one else realized you were calling for help."

"I'll be more careful," Karina said, chagrined. "Thank you for saving me."

Shana nodded. "I'm a Dungeon Binder. It's what I'm supposed to do. Now, since I'm wet already, it's your turn to keep watch while I swim. You can wear my hat."

"Eh?-!"

Her friend gave her a flat stare, then looked pointedly down at her leg.

A sigh. "Fine. Go swimming."

"Don't pout. You're the one who said she would be holding me to having fun."

"I'm not pouting!"

Only grumbling a little, Karina walked with a slight limp towards the dock with a little help from Shana, who let her rest a hand on their shoulder. Taking the hat that had been left on the dock, Shana handed it to her. Once it was on and Karina had sat down on the dock, Shana jumped into the water.

Karina dripped water onto the stone surface, cooling it enough so she could sit comfortably as she began to sweep her gaze back and forth, glancing every so often at Yoshka to make sure she hadn't started diving again.

Well, at least Shana was in the water having fun now. Although…

Shana floated back up, and immediately lay on her back, her eyes closed as her arms and legs splayed out in the water.

…did her idea of swimming have to be so boring?

One hand massaging her leg to try to get rid of the remaining stiffness, Karina turned her gaze back to the others playing in the river. Well, she needed a rest anyway.

She wondered how long it was until lunch…