Weekly Digest 84- (#259 - #261)

Uncovered Results

It was, indeed, a problem.

Normally, dealing with something like this was easily amended by adding in some firewisps to generate heat for the water to draw in when it changed state. And sure enough, when Lori added firewisps to her binding the next experiment worked as intended, with the area surrounding the binding no longer losing so much heat the water outside the tube started congealing into ice.

The resulting plume of steam was hot, long, consistent and forceful… but honestly, Lori really couldn't tell if the steam resulted in more force than simply the water jet. All she'd learned said it should. The expansion from water to steam should impart more force from the expansion than simply having the waterwisps move the water, which should theoretically move any boat it was attached to faster than simply water alone.

Should. Empirically proving it, however, much less making it practical for the boats they had…

She tried to put a rock on the end of the tube and see which version of the jet's output launched it farther—a very good way of measuring which configuration generated more force—but putting one on the end of the tube proved annoyingly difficult. The initial force from the tube wasn't the most powerful, so those initial results were useless… and slightly counter intuitive. The rock propelled by the water jet went further than the one pushed by the steam jet, but she attributed that to the water having more mass than the steam. The rocks also weren't the same size, making the results invalid.

Rather than giving in to the temptation of trying to redesign the bone tube to be able to slot a rock into the path of the tube in either configuration—the thought of getting wet or getting a steam-scalded hand also helped block that flow of thought—Lori decided to simply change the configuration of the experiment. The bone tube was secured completely under the water line of the stone dock, and she activated the water jet binding, then sat there for some time trying to visually assess how fast the water was moving, both with her eyes and by how fast the waterwisps were flowing in her awareness. Then she activated the additional binding that turned water into steam, first without firewisps, and then with.

The results were interesting. With the tube fully submerged, the surrounding flowing water moved too fast to freeze into ice without the added firewisps, although the surrounding bone quickly became very cold. The steam jet, as she surmised, seemed to displace far more water from its path, at least on initial inspection, and even more when she tested it with the binding of firewisps activated to inject heat into the water so that it wouldn't need to draw heat from its surroundings.

By all indications, a steam jet would in fact propel their boats far faster than simply using a water jet. And from the fact that the bone tube hadn't cracked and started spewing bubbles of steam, the pressure within it hadn't increased so greatly that the tube had ruptured. While the wide openings on both ends probably prevented the tube from becoming true pressure vessels, it had been a concern for her.

Unfortunately, the results made it clear altering the bindings of the Coldhold's water jet driver into a steam driver would me more than she could reasonable do in a day. While the smaller boats might be converted into steam jets, since their configuration mean they'd be able to draw sufficient heat from their surroundings so that ice wouldn't form—or at least, not form and block the intake—the same couldn't be done with the larger boat.

Between the large driver being in the inside the boat and being fed water through pipes, and the fact she didn't want to risk killing herself by extracting some of her body's, converting the Coldhold's water jet driver into a steam jet driver that had firewisps to add heat to the water to assist in converting it into steam wouldn't be feasible. The only other possibly configuration would be to move the binding that turned the water into steam at some point after the water jet driver before the stream exited the pipes to provide thrust and that was just as unfeasible. The bound ice would be useless for providing heat, meaning the water would probably freeze into ice and block the pipes. And of course, there was the possibility that the increased pressure would damage the surrounding ice.

"So I'll have to simply increase the rate in which the water flows through the water jet driver of the Coldhold," Lori finished explaining to Shanalorre, who nodded earnestly, a fascinated look on her face as she watched Lori pull the bone tube up from where it had been secured. The other Dungeon Binder had asked what the point of her experiments and notes were, and she felt there was no harm in explaining. "Otherwise the boat might not be able to return upstream in a timely manner, and it would be disconcerting that to have to camp out in the Iridescence if we don't have to." The stone that had been holding the tube in place was returned to the stockpile under the dock.

"Would not adding more water jet tubes also work?" Shanalorre asked.

"It would, but they cannot simply be attached at any point of the boat," Lori said. "The Coldhold's water jet driver is designed to be controllable and allow the boat to stop when needed without interrupting the bindings providing it with propulsion. Adding further external water jet tubes, while allowing the boat to move faster and be better able to travel against the current of the river, would also not be connected with these control mechanisms. The boat would not stop until the imbuement on the external tubes were depleted, which would be inconvenient when one wishes to stop because they have reached their destination."

"I see…" Shanalorre said, glancing towards the Coldhold next to them. "Will you be building a new boat that will take advantage of the results you have uncovered?"

"Eventually," Lori said. She bound the waterwisps of the water clinging to the bone tube, binding them to turn into vapor. The air around her hands holding the tube became very cool, though the feeling quickly dissipated. "However, such a boat will require a different arrangement of components. Providing heat to assist in the conversion of water to steam will be the primary necessity." That would probably require metal components. Well, more metal components. Tubes instead of wires, perhaps even pressure vessels…

She paused, then looked sideways at Shanalorre. "Does River's Fork contain possible deposits of iron?"

"There were traces found in some of the nearby hills," Shanalorre said promptly. Nearby, her new note writer looked up from his plank. "Indeed, traces of possible deposits in several nearby hills was the reason that location was chosen to found the demesne. To prevent possible taint of the local water from vitriolic or caustic substances, it was previously decided that the extraction of most of the seams would be delayed until the demesne had more equipment, alchemists and Whisperers to safely facilitate the process."

Lori nodded. Concern about the release of such substances into the local water was why mining was conducted with care. While the copper ore that they had mined only needed smelting to be extracted, not all metals were as convenient or safe to handle. She vaguely remembered that there were metal ores that existed as amalgams of metal and crystalline vitriol, though it had only been mentioned in passing when they had been showed how to separate water and oil of vitriol in one of her classes a long time ago.

Huh. She was surprise she'd remembered that little detail. Perhaps she was starting to utilize Mentalism? She remembered that some aspects of it became usable without need for conscious thought as simply breathing in magic enabled it…

…

No, no, best not to get her hopes up. Remembering random trivia more memorable than someone's name wasn't unusual. There was no reason to think she'd done some unconscious Mentalism or anything like that…

––––––––––––––––––

"So, how did the tests go?" Rian asked immediately as he sat down across from her at dinner.

"They went well," Lori said. She'd taken the time to leave her rain coat and hat in her room after drying them, and the air flowing over her previously humid arms was a welcome relief. Thankfully it hadn't rained until after her experiments were completed. The notes hadn't been ruined, thankfully, but the handwriting wasn't as legible.

"Define 'well', please? Did you find out something useful? Are we going to have to delay a few days to put some new thing on the Coldhold?"

"Yes. No. Did you manage to get enough volunteers? Will we be able to go tomorrow or do you still need a day?"

Rian hesitated, then sighed. "Yes, but not enough. Unless you feel safe with only six other people coming with us, not counting Shanalorre's original party?"

Six would put them at parity with Shanalorre's contingent. She didn't want parity, she wanted to outnumber them, and have enough people to put between her and any violent malcontents in River's Fork so she could use her Whispering for violence! "Of course not. Get more tomorrow."

"That was the idea," he said dryly. "So… besides Yllian, have you considered appointing more lords? Or ladies?"

"No."

"No, you haven't considered it yet, or no, you're not going to?"

"Yes."

He slumped, then sighed. "You realize you're going to need to appoint at least one more, right?"

"Oh? I need to, do I?" Lori said flatly.

Rian pointed across his body towards… Yllian… sitting some distance past Umu on his other side. "Unless you change his orders, he'll have to stay here with Shana to keep an eye on her. So you won't have an authority to represent you in River's Fork. Of course, given he has family there, he might just resign his lordship so he doesn't have to stay here away from them. In which case, you'd need to appoint a new lord anyway to replace him, because I can't run two demesne at the same time!"

That last sounded nearly strangled as Rian leaned towards her emphatically.

Lori tilted her head. "I suppose you have a point," she said. "I'd rather you stayed nearby to deal with things here, so someone else will have to deal with River's Fork…" Admittedly, she hadn't really thought that far ahead, concentrating on more immediate events. Getting the boat ready to go to River's Fork and assert her authority over it—after ensuring the core was where she had been told it was—suppress any dissent, move the malcontents away and then begin moving people in to best exploit the demesne's resources…

Ah, wait, she'd need to build infrastructure first. Shelters, baths, a better communal kitchen, better food storage…

Just thinking about it made her hear feel like it was being clenched in her chest, which was whyshe hadn't really thought about it. It was like trying to found a demesne all over again, except with less people, and she'd have to do it without the convenience of her core…

Perhaps she could still change her mind. Just bring Shanalorre to River's Fork and leave her there… but no, then she'd have to go back to fulfill their agreement to build a shelter for the demesne, among other things. Unless she didn't…

But she had given her word. And while she one day intended to break her word… it would be for far greater gains than simply avoiding an inconvenience. A very annoying inconvenience. A very annoying, stressful inconvenience.

…

Well, ruling two demesnes was never going to be easy. All the biographies and histories she'd read agreed on that.

Hopefully, she could avoid the common failure of overly focusing on the well-being of one at the expense of the other. It was almost always the same point of failure as well, where the Dungeon Binder was just too distrustful and didn't do the sensible thing and place a subordinate in charge of one of the demesne so that the Dungeon Binder… wouldn't have to… keep dividing their focus and resources… between the two…

…

She hated it when Rian had a point.

Lori glanced at her rock. "Yllian," she said. "If the malcontents were removed, could you manage River's Fork's day to day affairs and not starve yourselves to death?"

"That would be doable, your Bindership," Yllian said.

"Maintaining the trees that need to be maintained? Switching everyone to communal meals and enforcing it? Preventing theft from supplies? Farming?"

"Not all of it," he said immediately. "We won't have enough manpower. The work, at least. We should be able to switch to communal meals."

Lori stared at him. "Fine. Once we travel to River's Fork, I'm leaving you there as lord. You'll be reporting to Rian, who will come at random so that you can't simply present a convincing farce in his presence. Your goal is to implement communal meals to control and regulate food expenditures while maintaining the plants that have meanings on them, and whatever else can be done with the manpower you have. Once I am satisfied with implementation… we shall see."

She turned towards Shanalorre. "I will assign someone else to watch you."

Shanalorre nodded. "Of course, Binder Lolilyuri."

"Your Bindership… A request," Yllian said suddenly.

Lori stared at him, but gestured for him to continue.

"I would like to ask that you move all the children in River's Fork to Lorian before you transfer the malcontents."

Across from her, Rian suddenly straightened in surprise.

"I am nottaking hostages," Lori said flatly. History was a bit mixed as to the results of that—sometimes it ended with better diplomatic relations, sometimes it resulted in one demesne knowing exactly how to destroy another—and so she didn't want to risk it. "If this is your idea of trying to advise me—"

"Uh, your Bindership?" Rian interrupted, and she turned to glare at him. "Perhaps ask him why?"

She stared at him flatly, then turned back to Yllian. "Why?"

"So that we'll know they'll be safe in the event of a dragon," Yllian said. "Take them, let them live here, and we will do anything you ask of us with gratitude."

"Join us, we have hot water," Rian murmured. "It would work. It removes a similar amount of people from the demesne as removing the malcontents, but without the loss of any able bodies…"

Next to her, Shanalorre twitched. A strange look came over her face. "I… should have thought of that…" she said quietly.

Lori glanced between the three of them. Yllian's face was unreadable, which… well, wasn't unusual for him, or for her. Rian nodded at her, likely seeing this as a useful means of manipulation. The strange look on Shanalorre's face became clearly distressed.

She took a deep breath. "Fine. But if I feel that River's Fork is not properly under control—" or rebellious, "—then they shall be returned to you. Understood?"

"Yes, your Bindership. With luck, we might even be able to impose some discipline on the malcontents before they're transferred."

"If you could, you'd have done so already," Lori said.

For the first time, Yllian smiled. It was a grim smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Yes, but this time… we won't have to worry about the children."

––––––––––––––––––

To River's Fork Once More

More of the row of houses came closer to completion over the day Rian had asked for. There would probably be more work done on it as the new residences asked for help to modify it to suit them. Most would probably want to add a second floor, or at least an elevated platform to take advantage of the height. A few of the previous row of houses had such things, but they'd been limited by the height of the ceiling.

During this time, Lori made plans. Well, not just made plans. Since she'd be sitting in one spot and thinking, she decided it was a good day to run the curing the shed and dry all the wood that had been filling it. So far they'd been drawing on the stockpile of cured wood that they'd had stored in the second level, but that was rapidly dwindling with the construction of the second row of houses. So she sat there on a stone seat, an additional stone overhand to keep most of the rain of her, adjusting the balance of firewisps and lightningwisps as they cured the wood inside the shed, and thought.

She hadn't really thought of the further practicalities of having two demesnes, but Rian's point last night, as it often was, had been annoyingly undeniable. And while… uh, Y-something… might be able to tend to River's Fork—she found it highly doubtful, since he hadn't been able to before—the fact that they were distant from her meant that they'd have a worrying amount of independence. Historically, that much independence led by one not completely loyal to the Dungeon Binder resulted in rebellion as they took advantage of their relative disconnection from the center of power.

In the immediate future, she could mitigate that personally, reminding them of her authority with her very presence as she conducted infrastructure construction projects, but that couldn't continue indefinitely. For one thing, it would involve her having to leave her demesne often, which… no. Just… no. it would have be all right if she had claimed River's Fork's core, allowing her to feel more secure in the demesne, but until then…

Since she'd rather not go herself, a representative of hers would have to do it. Unfortunately, the only one she had was Rian, and while she'd like to think that he'd be able to manage both her demesne and her new demesne, even Rian probably had his limits. Perhaps if he were a Mentalist he'd be able to do it, moving under his own power between the two demesne, his memory allowing him to remember all essential details about both. There was a reason Mentalist becoming bureaucrats was a common stereotype, equal only to the stereotype of them becoming academics.

But if he were a Mentalist, she wouldn't want him anywhere near her.

Fortunately he wasn't a Mentalist, but that still meant that while he was her best choice to send to keep River's Fork under her control at a distance, it would mean limiting the time he had to handle her demesne. So she would have to assign a new lord or lady after all, as he had said.

Her first thought was Riz, as she'd already acted as a temporary Rian, but she had made her refusal clear often enough. There was possibly Mikon, but while she might be capable, Lori hadn't really seen any indicator she was capable of working at the same scale Rian and even Riz had managed. Or at the same pace. She seemed content with her very, very slow progress. Perhaps if Riz were present to assist Mikon, the two of them mightbe able to make almost a functional Rian, but as Riz had made her refusal known…

Unfortunately, that left Lori unable to think of anyone else even vaguely capable of taking the position. And she had to be able to think of them, even if she didn't know their names, otherwise they clearly didn't leave enough of an impression of any sort of competence to stand out among her idiots.

Well… that wasn't quite true. There was the brat, who clearly had some sort of influence on the other children. And she paid her taxes, at least, when she was physically capable of procuring payment. But… she was a child, and making her a lady would essentially be putting her to work. It didn’t sit well with Lori to do that. Children shouldn't have adults forcing them to work just because they were conveniently present…

She adjusted one of the stream of lightningwisps running through the wood being cured to keep the distribution of heat even, and the firewisps that had been generating around it became less concentrated. There would be no spontaneous combustion on her watch! she hadn't caused a curing shed fire before, and she wasn't going to start now.

Lori settled back into the flow of her thoughts. She supposed Rian could recommend someone, but… no. The last time he'd taken such a recommendation from him, he'd suggested a child murderer. She didn't want a repeat of that. While he hadsuggested Y-something remain a lord, he had technically be Shanalorre's choice…

Hmm… Shanalorre. Well, as a Dungeon Binder she should be familiar with the administration of a demesne. Clearly she wasn't very good at it, given the state she reported her demesne being, but it was probably a good start. And Rian would mostly be present to oversee her when he wasn't traveling to River's Fork to oversee them. She only really needed to be present to deal with things while he was gone. In addition, Lori herself would be there to mitigate Shanalorre's influence, preventing subversion of her own demesne while Rian was absent to deal with people for her.

She'd have to bring it up with Shanalorre later, once she'd checked River's Fork's core was where it was supposed to be and transferred River's Fork's children to her demesne. They'd have to live in the shelter, at least until Rian made some sort of arrangements for them, probably asking friends of their family to take them in. The rest… well, she'll tell Rian to make sure they didn't have to stay in the shelter long.

––––––––––––––––––

When the appointed day came, Rian had gathered several volunteers, many of whom Lori vaguely recognized as friends of Riz's. Riz was of course there, bring their number up to eight. In addition to the people operating the Coldhold and two of the medics, they outnumbered Shanalorre's numbers three to one, which should keep her reasonably safe while on the boat.

It had been relatively quiet during breakfast, the mood in the dining hall subdued as Lori had eaten and listened to Rian's inventory of the supplies that the Coldholdwas carrying. Salted and smoked meat, tied and hung up since they didn't have paper to wrap them with. Lori intended to shine unseen light on the meat before they ate it to kill any dustlife it might pick up, and let Rian know. Dried mushrooms, for stock and flavor. Flour, sealed into containers that were tightly stoppered, for bread. Salt, for both cooking and other uses. A small bottle of the antiseptic they'd purchased in Covehold, which would hopefully not be necessary.

After breakfast, it was time to get ready to leave. Rian had already made arrangements beforehand, and after breakfast people started to pack the Coldhold with their personal effects, since it was unsure how long they might have to stay in River's Fork, thought it wouldn't hopefully not be long. The packs were brought to the docks, and the men who operated the Coldhold carried it all aboard and packed while people waited outside for their own turn to board.

Lori herself had packed her pillow, blanket, a change of clothes and socks, and her bedroll, the latter of which made for a decently big bundle by itself. Her side bag was full of lengths of firewood, and for the first time in a long while, she had lightningwisps stored in the quartz imbedded into her staff, as well as coals in her coal charms. It had been a while since she'd worn a coal charm on her wrist, and the once-familiar weight felt strangely intrusive.

Lori waited impatiently, carrying her own pack and bedroll. She wasn't letting anyone else pack those. There was no big crowd seeing them off, no speech from Rian. People were too busy, trying to get as much work as possible done before it inevitably rained. Still, there a few people lingering, watching the others waiting to board. Some of the latter carried spears, as well as a club-like lengths of branches. Mikon and Umu of course were there, speaking to Rian and Riz. She paused as she saw the brat was also there, talking to Shanalorre. She watched the two curiously, then shrugged. Well, as her guide, Shanalorre probably made friends with the brat or something.

Eventually, the packing was finished, and one of the men on the boat signaled down to Rian. It took a few tries to get his attention, because Umu had leaned in very close to him and was being very distracting. Once Riz had interrupted their conversation—but not before Umu had grabbed Rian and kissed him very enthusiastically, if sloppily—Rian had taken his leave a bit unsteadily and began directing people aboard.

"You first your Bindership, your room is waiting for you," he said, gesturing for her to board first.

Lori nodded curtly, allowing him to take her pack and bedroll for a moment so her hands would be free to step onto the walkway attached to the outriggers on the side facing her and climbing onto the boat. Rian handed her pack and bedroll back to her once she was in. "Tell Shanalorre she will be traveling with me in my room," she said. She supposed the other Dungeon Binder deserved to not be crowded by having to travel with the others.

Rian tilted his head. "Is that an order or optional?" he asked. "I think she might like to stand on the top deck and watch the view as we move away down the river."

Lori gave him a bemused look. "Why would she want to do that?"

"It's a suspicion I have based on my ability to understand people," Rian said brightly.

Her look continued to be bemused. "Fine. If she changes her mind, tell her she can join me."

"I'll tell her if she seems like she's had her fill of the top deck," he nodded.

Nodding, she turned away to climb down below.

Downstairs, lightwisps shone from where they were anchored to the hull's ice as she walked along the length of the boat, such as it was, to the small private room in the front. She made herself comfortable, removing her side bag for a moment to relieve herself of the weight and pushing her pack and bedroll into a corner of the bench that also served as the bed. Then she turned just sat and waited.

Soon, they'd be in River's Fork again. River's Fork, and her first… conquest. Somehow, she had expected more armies of militia when she first conquered another demesne, with herself floating at their head with Mentalism, laying waste to the forces that opposed her while protecting her own forces from harm. Not simply floating up on an admittedly absurd boat made of ice and wood with their still living Dungeon Binder and telling the demesne's population that they were under Lori's authority now because the one that ruled them had surrendered to her.

Lori found she wasn't actually looking forward to the conquest all that much. Instead, her thoughts were of her nice, cozy room, and her bed with its ingenious woven cords in place of wooden slats. She thought of getting this… this choreover and done with. Probably not the kinds of thoughts a conquering Dungeon Binder should be having. Lori knew she should probably be looking forward to the expansion of her demesne, the increase in safe usable land, plan how she would extract and utilize the new resources available to her, an think of how she would pacify and subjugate those who resisted her rule.

Despite knowing all this, all she could think of was how she just wanted to go back home.

––––––––––––––––––

Arrival

The trip to River's Fork was uneventful, save that Lori suddenly became cold when she passed through the border of her demesne and into the world outside. Argh, why did she keep forgetting about that? She hastily claimed some firewisp from her coalcharm and made a binding to keep herself farm. Fortunately, the little room retained heat very well since the bound ice around it was a pefect insulator, so it grew warm quickly, but it was still annoying to forget.

She spent part of the trip idly looking for a good way to anchor the firewisps to herself, and settled for putting on her raincoat and anchoring the binding to the darkwisps that came to be underneath. Her arms and back were pleasantly warm as a result, and she was working on adding some airwisps to the binding so she'd have some warm air around her legs when the door open slightly and a hand reached into to wave at her.

For a moment, she was annoyed at the interruption, until she remembered she'd put up a binding of airwisps to muffle the sounds of people talking in the next room. Out of habit, she willed the binding of airwisps to deactivate before remembering she couldn't do that anymore and awkwardly reaching for her staff. It took her a moment to remember how to reach through the wire wrapped around her staff and deactivate the binding of airwisps. Immediately there rose an annoying din of conversation from outside. "What?" she demanded, wincing as a sudden rush of sensation from her posterior told her she'd been sitting on it for too long.

The door opened the rest of the way. "Ah, I thought it was something like that," Rian said as he stepped inside and closing the door behind him. The din wasn't all that muffled by the gesture, hence why Lori had put down the binding. "When you weren't responding to people knocking on your door… well, anyway, we're here. Or at least, we've entered the boundaries of River's Fork's demesne and will be reaching our destination soon."

Already? Well, she supposed that from the feeling of her posterior enough time had passed. "Very well. And Shanalorre? She hasn't come down yet."

"She's been enjoying the view from the top deck," Rian said, smiling absently. "Was almost acting like a child again, the way she was just looking at everything, even if it was the Iridescence. I guess she's been stuck under that dome for a long time, and there's not really much to see when you're sledding in winter the way she was… "

"…she's safe, then?" Lori said, shaking her head as a strange sensation seemed to crawl up her spine. "She didn't fall off the boat in her foolishness?"

"Yes, she's still alive. No children were harmed on this trip, they simply enjoyed themselves."

Lori rolled her shoulders, trying to ease a strange tightness on her back. "Good, good," she said absently. "Well, tell everyone to get ready." She reached for her side bag of firewood and began to tie it back onto her waist.

––––––––––––––––––

The skies threatened rain as Lori climbed up from inside the Coldhold and the thought idly occurred to her that if it rained, there would be no way of keeping water from getting into the interior of the boat. They'd probably have to fix that when they got back…

Her first view of the center of River's Fork was a miserable sight. The foliage on the dome of woven branches was uneven and seemingly random, with some parts covered with new growth while other parts were still bare and dead. The leafless branches seemed even more of a pointless decoration than usual. Directing her gaze lower, she found a pile of rubble. It took a moment of staring before she realized this was River's Fork's attempt at a flood barrier. It… well, it looked like a pile of rubble laid out to make a crude wall. Rounded river rocks, debris from the mine, what looked like mud and attempts at packed dirt, even buried and muddy hides…

Lori had to wonder how successful that had been, since it currently looked like… well, a pile of rubble. She vaguely remembered some mention of them covering it with clay and lighting fires atop it to try and bake the clay solid. That would explain some of the less identifiable debris that didn't look like rocks.

It hardly looked like a prize worth conquering. Indeed, it hardly looked like it was worth anything at all.

For once, their arrival was slow to be noticed. Only now were people stopping what they were doing to look towards them, a few moving in their general direction. Already, the militia who had accompanied Shanalorre had disembarked, walking towards some of the people heading towards them. From the enthusiastic way one of the departing militia had started to hug the group he'd approached, they were probably family.

Shanalorre was standing there next to—Lori fumbled under her rain coat for her belt pouch, eventually pulling out the rock—Yllian, looking out over the dome with a slight frown. Next to them, Rian waited with a relaxed air, looking like he had nothing better to do but stand there all day. His sword was on his belt, but for some reason he had a pace-long length of wood—the curves and dimensions made her think it was a formerly a tree branch—in hand, one end resting on the ground like a cane. Riz stood next to him, also frowning out at the dome.

"Rian, why do you have a cane?" Lori said.

"Technically, it's a baton. Though if you think it's too long to qualify, a club will do," Rian said cheerfully.

"Noted," Lori said flatly. "Again, why?"

"In case there's trouble," he said. "These are our people now, and historically, only the really bad rulers turned their swords on their own people. This way if something happens, I can get involved without having to use a sword." He tilted his head. "Didn't you notice we were carrying staffs down in the hold instead of spears."

She hadn't, actually. "I left that sort of planning to you," she said. Lori turned towards Shanaloore. "We're wasting daylight, and I'd rather we not be caught in the rain. Show me the core so we can get started."

"Yes, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said. She glanced sideways at… at Yll… Yllian? Probably Yllian. "Lord Yllian"— ah, Yllian, she was right! "—I regret interfering with your reunion with Auntie Erisha, but may I ask you to accompany us a little longer, please?"

"Of course, Great Binder… your Bindership," he said, nodding first to Shanlorre, and then a bit belatedly to Lori herself. She met the almost lapse with a flat, unamused look.

"Into the dome, then, I suppose?" Rian said. He glanced up towards Riz. "Riz, could you ask everyone to come up and get ready to escort everyone ashore?"

"Yes, Lord Rian," she said, and Rian winced for some reason, even as she looked amused. Still, she moved around Lori with alacrity, heading down the ladder into the lower floor of the boat and calling out that everyone was to get ready to move, get moving you glitter crawlers, has civilian life made you fat and slow?

As Lori waited for their escort to come up, a man and a woman approached the boat. Shanalorre glanced towards them, then turned towards Lori. "May I disembark, Binder Lolilyuri?" she asked. "I need to greet my Aunt and Uncle."

Lori frowned. "Why?"

"Because she probably actually likes her relatives and missed them while they were separated?" Rian said.

She directed her frown at Rian. "Her uncle, by her own admission, has worked to undermine and usurp her."

Her first lord gave her a bland look. "What does that have to do with anything?"

The two stared at each other for a moment. Lori waited for Rian to smile or make some indication he was joke, but he simply returned her stare. Was he actually serious?

…

Well, there was really no reason to keep Shanalorre safe aboard… "Fine, you may go down," Lori said, waving her hand dismissively. "Be ready to accompany me to the core when the escort is ready."

"Yes, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said, bowing briefly to her before she moved with alacrity over the walkway to the oat's outrigger, and from there to the dock. Lori checked her rock as… Yllian, glanced at her, but she waved him off, and he also disembarked from the boat, moving towards one of the women who'd approached the boat.

Lori watched the other Dungeon Binder idly as she moved lightly over the broken ground on her way to meet the pair of people who were probably her aunt and uncle. The woman moved to hug the Dungeon Binder, which supported her supposition, but to her surprise the man did the same. What?

Her confusion abated slightly as, after the affectionate greeting, the man started scolding Shanalorre. That seemed more in line with the man she vaguely remembered. She watched, but unfortunately Shanalorre didn't move to beat him for his insolence. Well, it was to be expected. Shanalorre wasn't as strict with discipline as she should be, after all.

By the time their escort of volunteers was ready, all armed with long staffs not unlike the ones they'd used in the quarterstaff competition during the holiday months ago—and why did that memory come so easily to her when she hadn't thought of it in literal months?—a small crowd had finally gathered. The ones among them carrying spears had relaxed when—Lori checked her rock—Yllian had gestured for them to stand down, ground the butts of the spears and standing more relaxed and simply curious.

Others in the crowd, however, were not as disciplined. While some had only come and were looking curiously, a few were making displeased faces. They did nothing, didn't approach, but simply stood there and glared. Lori noted they seemed to be glaring at both her and Shanalorre equally. Some of the malcontents then, though their lack of action implied they were using the Lori and Shanalorre's arrival more as an excuse to shirk work than anything else.

Lori disembarked from the Coldhold, the escorts moving to surround her as Rian conferred with Riz, and then gestured towards… Yllian? Probably Yllian. Probably Yllian seemed to sigh and excused himself from his probably-wife with visible reluctance, moving towards Shanalorre. He interrupted the scolding her probably-uncle was delivering—she had been quietly unmoved, putting up with the nonsense with stoic patience from what Lori could see—and there was a brief exchange of words with the probably-aunt. For some reason, the probably-uncle looked up to glare at Lori, then reached down to grasp Shanalorre's shoulder.

Shanalorre glanced at the hand on her shoulder, then then said something. Her probably-uncle responded with a scowl as the probably-aunt gave him a disapproving glare, and then Shanalorre was grasping the thumb and twisting it outward, removing his hand from her shoulder  as she stepped away, walking towards Lori. Yllian fell into step beside her, glancing towards the probably-uncle, who the probably-aunt had grabbed and was starting to scold. The two started arguing where they stood as Shanalorre and the lord approached Lori.

"Shall we go see the core then, Binder Lolilyuri?" Shanalorre said, gesturing behind her towards the dome.

Lori nodded impatiently. "Yes. The quicker this is finished, the quicker we can start getting to work on my new demesne."