Weekly Digest 71- (#218 - #220)

A Clear Hazard

After lunch, and binding the warming stones for Rian, Riz and whichever friend Riz had invited to join them for protection to put on, Lori went out to the edge, her test bowl in hand. She'd started carrying a kit with her whenever she went to make beads at the edge. The jar for carrying beads, a wooden spoon, her belt knife, and a new pair of copper tweezers. The smiths hadn't needed her assistance, but she'd found herself watching anyway as they tempered it to be able to snap back into shape. So simply-seeming, yet she knew if she tried doing it, all she'd end up with as a waste of good copper…

By now, everyone knew the routine. Even Riz's friend, despite the fact it was seldom the same one in a row. They reached the edge, and two would keep an eye out for beasts while Lori retrieved the jar she had left well beyond the edge of the demesne, its location marked by a stick. Inside, the binding of firewisps she'd left the day before would be gone, the wisps entrapped by the Iridescence that had crystallized inside, fueled by imbuement and heat.

Being so close to the Iridescence, much less actively breaking off pieces—which wasn't that hard—to use to amalgamate beads still made Lori's spine shiver, and made full use of her authority as Dungeon Binder to have Rian do it most of the time. If he felt the same reticence and disgust, he hid it well, acting like he was simply getting salt from the jar. The only potential sign of discomfort he showed as washing his hand on the snow every so often.

"If you want to get rid of it, just go back to the demesne and step back out again," Lori said as she nudged as small, glittering measure of Iridescence into a packed mass in the upper part of her new bowl, holding it such that any potential moisture rolled downward, away from the colors. At least it wasn't actively snowing today. Less chance of some snow melting and dissolving the Iridescence, and she'd never thought that would actually be a problem.

"I'm fine," Rian said as he stood over her, holding his note plank as an impromptu roof in case anything did fall into the bowl. "We're never out here long enough for it to be a problem, anyway. Come on, I want to see if this works!"

Lori rolled her eyes, and she distinctly heard Riz and her friend chuckling.

"What? There's not a lot to do when we're all cooped up in the Dungeon. Seeing how this works out is the most interesting thing to happen today!"

"Sleeping with me isn't interesting?" Riz said as Lori reached her hand into her demesne and started gathering wisps there. She didn't need everything, which was good since there were no convenient source of earthwisps about.

"We shouldn't talk about that at work," Rian said hastily as Lori carefully anchored the winding to the stone on the edge of the bowl, making sure it intersected the Iridescence. All right, first test, imbue the biding through the metal contact…

"Oh? Riz, are you so boring the other two are more interesting?" All right, imbuing through the contact was successful. Now, to imbue the binding enough so that it wouldn't be completely amalgamated immediately and make a bead the size of a pebble. Well, not that small. She had a good volume of iridescence on the bowl. Normally she did this inside the crystallizing jar, but... well.

"Move those eyes, we don't want the Great Binder getting eaten by some beast! Save the chatter for later, you know how the Great Binder feels about noise!" Oh, now Riz remembered. Grumbling to herself, Lori continued imbuing the binding, drawing power from her connection to her core and sending it out through her limbs, down her fingers, into the ingot of metal at the bottom of the bowl and to its final destination.

Lori imbued until the binding was contained to form at least a low-denomination bead. Even in the event of failure—which was likely if she got the timing wrong, since this was her first attempt—at least some kind of useful bead would result. Once more ,she wished she could do this in some kind of permanent structure, but with how she expanded the demesne every day, unless she built very far beyond the edge, anything she built would be within her demesne in a week. At least she got to sit on the sled while she did this.

Breathing in and out, calming herself with the familiar ritual even if she didn’t really need it to do magic anymore, Lori took control of the binding she had imbued, detaching it from the earthwisps it had been anchored to. The Iridescence had started to crystallize again, trapping wisps and drawing imbuement from the binding, and Lori carefully observed it until she was sure the spoonful of glittering powder had come together into a single mass. Carefully holding the rectangular bowl, adjusting her grip to something more comfortable and making sure her fingers were touching metal, she began the familiar process of making a bead.

She failed immediately.

Well, technically, the process was a success, as the Iridescence and the binding amalgamated into a wisp bead—it immediately went into the jar so she wouldn't lose it—but the test she was running failed. Her fault. She had thought she'd have time to resume imbuing once the amalgamation began, but no sooner had she started when there had been a bead rolling around in her bowl and no binding for her to imbue. Stupid. She should have remembered how fast the process was, and she should have realized that initiating it might move the binding such that she could no longer imbue it!

After getting Rian to put more Iridescence into her bowl and packing the powdered rainbow tightly once more, she tried again. Bind wisps, move to bowl, imbue…

When she began the test again, this time she made sure she was actively imbuing the binding beforeshe began amalgamating it into a bead. For a moment, she thought it had failed as a bead quickly formed, only to realize that no, she was continuing to imbue, even as the bead rattled around in the bowl and—

The connection cut off abruptly. "Rainbows," Lori snapped.

"What?" Rian asked.

"It bounced when it rolled down the bowl and lost contact with the copper," Lori muttered as she took out the second bead and put it in the jar with the first. .

"Ah. Guess you need to be careful then. Why not put it in the bottom? No snow's falling right now, take the risk."

Lori nodded irritably, holding the bowl out to him. "Put more on."

Rian obliged, sticking the wooden spoon into the crystallization jar and coming out with a slightly bigger spoon of Irridescence than before. "In case it snows," he said cheerfully. Lori rolled her eyes as he carefully dumping the glittering colors into the bowl for the third attempt. If this didn't work, she was going to cut her loses, push back the test until tomorrow, and just make beads normally.

This time Lori packed the Iridescence in the bottom corner of the bowl as she held it tilted. That way it would be nestled and not roll around. Bind wisps, move to bowl, imbue…

This time the bead didn’t roll or bounce and break contact with the copper. The bead formed quickly, as it would, but didn't form all the way. Or at least, whatever… curing? It was called curing in workshops when they waited for alchemical coatings to dry and set… whatever curing needed to occur so that she could no longer imbue that bead hadn't happened yet. It was strange, as if her claim on the wisps had been challenged and she was almost, but not quite, overwhelmed, as if she was just on the edge of the binding falling out of her control.

"Ooh, is it working now?" Rian said eagerly.

"Yes", Lori said tersely, "It's formed but I'm still imbuing it."

"Success, then," came the cheerful reply. "Alright, notes then. Would you say you're imbuing it at your maximum possible rate?"

"No," Lori said. "Definitely not." The rate she was imbuing it was a slow, steady pace, one she had defaulted to because it was what she had used for years when she had been working as a student.

Rian nodded, writing that down, then peering down at the bead. "Its width is… call it sixteen, seventeen chiyustri wide or so?" He glanced at his smallest finger, holding it up as if comparing. "I can't say I can tell if it's growing."

Neither could Lori. "I'll increase the rate of imbuement," she said. "Perhaps that will cause a change."

"You just don't want to wait in the snow for it to get bigger."

"Of course."

"Yeah, me neither. All this impatience on our parts is bad scholarship."

"I'd rather be a bad scholar than a cold one. If we have suspect results, we can repeat the tests when it's warmer."

Lori increased the rate at which she drew magic from her dungeon's core and passed it through the metal contact of the ingot. Immediately, the bead began to grow. It was still slow, but readily visible to the naked eye now.

"Well, that's a result, then," Rian said. "Shall we call the test successful, then?"

"It was already successful when I was still able to provide imbuement to the bead despite it having amalgamated," Lori said.

"True, I suppose." Rian hesitated. "Uh, before you stop imbuing the bead—are you still imbuing the bead?"

"Yes," Lori said, frowning slightly as she tried to reduce the imbuement rate.

"Ah, good. Well, before you stop, there's one thing I want to try doing, with your permission?"

If Lori wasn't worried taking her eyes off the bead would impact her concentration, she'd have given her lord a look. "What now?"

"This is purely for the sake of knowledge, I swear," Rian said. "Can I touch it?"

Lori couldn't help it. She looked up and gave her Lord a confused look. Thankfully, she managed to keep imbuing. "What."

"The bead. Can I touch it?"

"Rian, you've touched beads before."

"Not when it's in the middle of being formed I haven't! Come on, please?"

Ugh, fine. "Ugh, fine. Press down only so it doesn't stop making contact with the metal."

"Yes, your Bindership!" Rian said cheerfully. Carefully, he reached out and touched his finger to the bead, pressing down on it. Lori felt the pressure in her hands as he did.

Rian frowned. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what? You pressing down? Yes, obviously, I did."

"No, not that! The bead! It deformed when I pressed down on it!"

Lori blinked, looking down at the bead, which had increased in width past twenty chiyustri. It looked perfectly spherical. "It looks perfectly spherical."

"I know what I felt! You press down on it, see what happens!"

Lori gave her lord a flat look, but carefully adjusted her grip on the bowl such that she held it in one hand, then pressed down on the bead with the other.

It was firm and solid under her finger, but ever so slightly it gave, as if she was pressing down on her thumbnail, only firmer. Eyes widening, Lori pressed down firmly, and she was rewarded with the sight of the bead squashing, deforming as if it was trying to maintain its round shape even as it was crushed down, matching the contours of the corner of the bowl…

Lori stopped imbuing the bead in progress.

The feeling under her pressing finger suddenly hardened, becoming as stiff as stone or glass. Cautiously, Lori removed her finger, and both she and Rian peered at the bead.

Or at least, what should have been a bead.

It remained pressed into the corner of the bowl. Carefully, Lori tilted the bowl the other way, and the bead came off easily. It had a  three-sided triangular corner, two of them textured like stone, as if someone had taken a ball of warm wax and… well, pressed it into the corner of the bowl. Rian gently picked it up and ran his thumb over the surface. "I can feel the marks your finger probably made when you were pressing down on it," he noted. "Well, I think we know how they get denomination marks onto beads now. They must use some variant of what you just did and have the beads grow in molds with the markings. Though it makes me wonder why they let it be spherical. If they can press it into a shape, why not a cube? You know, so it doesn't roll around on a table. Literally any shape with a flat surface would be an improvement! Make little discs or something."

"Wide shapes and shapes with edges would probably be difficult and dangerous to swallow," Lori pointed out.

Rian stared at her for a moment before an expression of realization came on his face. "Oh! Right, I forgot, you swallow these too. I suppose that's an important consideration, and round spheres make it easy. Do it for long enough, it becomes a tradition, and you don't just change tradition, not matter how sensible it would be."

"You've never needed to swallow three beads a day. You don't get an opinion on their shape." Looking at the non-spherical bead they had made, Lori winced at the thought of putting it in her mouth, much less swallowing it. That three-sided point was a clear hazard. Still, she dropped it into the jar with the other two.

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An Outrageous Offer

Lori repeated the test, just to confirm it had worked as intended. That included pressing down on the amalgamating bead with her finger to deform it. After that, she used the rest of the Iridescence in the jar as normally, forming beads of various sizes. It was at that point Lori realized that she could prepare the bindings in advance inside her demesne and imbue them completely before taking them out and amalgamating them to the colors.

Stupid. She should have done that sooner! It would have increased the number of beads she could make, even with small shards of Iridescence to work with! Well, she knew it now, so she could start doing it that way tomorrow…

By the time they returned to her Dungeon, Binder Shanalorre's message was ready and one of the militia who had accompanied her was waiting to be taken back to River's Fork. Lori had to imbue the sled's bindings again, and even dropped some beads into the new receptacles on top of the tubes, just in case it wasn't enough.

"Well, get going," she told Rian as she pushed the wooden stoppers back into place.

"How much longer are these warming stones you gave us going to last?" Rian asked.

Lori rolled her eyes. "Yes, they'll last until you get back. Get going already." Lori started imbuing the warming stones, which were running a bit low on imbuement…

Once Rian was on his way, Lori barricaded herself back in her room once more, putting the bowl with the ingot on the bottom on her table and dropping the beads she'd made into the receptacles for them, sorting them by size as she imbued the warming stones Rian, Riz and Riz's friend were wearing, up until the point they left her demesne.

Once that was finished, Lori could finally spare her attention to considering the results of her experiment. Rian's impromptu test had revealed surprising information, once she'd have to test later. Still, it was nice to know how it could be possible to add denomination markings to her beads. More importantly, however, her test of forming beads through a conductive metal meant that with the right mold and sufficient Iridescence, she could greatly scale up bead production. So far the most time consuming aspect had been how each binding that amalgamated with the colors needed to be made and imbued individually, given she'd need to be outside of her demesne and she only had so many hands. If she could imbue through metal, however…

Lori pictured it, a grid-shaped mold where each square had a bit of Iridescence and a binding, and the bottom of the mold was made of metal that she could conduct magic through. Even if she had to activate each binding individually, if she could imbue it while the bead was forming instead of beforehand, she'd be able to save time on the preparations for the beads. And… actually, if she was imbuing the bindings through conduits, then she didn't actually have to be the one to imbue it, right? After all, she had beads now…

For a moment, she allowed her mind to wander, imagining herself creating a binding that she imbued greatly to create an extremely large bead, then connecting that bead to the metal contact point of the mold, so that all she'd need to do was start the amalgamating process and the forming beads would initially draw imbuement from the large bead until she could take over the imbuing directly. Or she could draw a wire from her core all the way to the edge and use that instead…

It was a silly fancy. They didn’t have anywhere near enough metal for a wire that long. Well, something to work towards in ten years or so…

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Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to talk to Rian about their findings over dinner because of the presence of their guest and her militia. Even if it was very unlikely that Shanalorre would understand what they were talking about and be able to replicate their findings, simply revealing such information to another Dungeon Binder would be foolish in the extreme.

However, since they couldn't talk about sensitive matters, that meant Lori was free to focus on playing chatrang with Mikon!

She nodded to Shanalorre, already sitting at the bench—thankfully this time it looked like the people who had come with her had finally recognized the pattern of events and hadn't tried to sit on her bench—as Lori put down the board and the box with the pieces and started laying them down. Across the table, Rian was speaking with the interloper. From the sound of it, he was inquiring about their accommodations and if they needed anything more. Lori tuned it out. Nothing she cared about.

"Good evening, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said.

Lori blinked, turning to look at the other Binder. "Good evening, Binder Shanalorre. Is something the matter?"

"Everything is well, for now. My compliments, Binder Lolilyuri. You have a wonderful demesne and an extensive dungeon. I must admit to a degree of envy."

Ah… well, Lori could find some time to listen to compliments. "Thank you for saying so, Binder Shanalorre."

"All this construction must have taken some time."

"I have been working since we established the dungeon's core," Lori admitted as the other three joined them, Riz immediately putting her head down the table and settling in for a quick nap as Mikon awkwardly found herself sitting between Rian and the interloper as they talked. "And it's still not finished. Several parts are very lacking."

"Lacking? I cannot see how, though is probably my ignorance talking."

"Oh, we are still very much lacking. The third level has barely been prepared for proper farming due to a lack of resources and time, and we always need more food and food storage. And unlike your own demesne, we are dependent on random dragon scales for metal, which is unwise to rely upon." They'd been lucky the first few times, but given all the possible alchemical substances, it was only a matter of time before something deadly dropped on top of them. At least it was unlikely to be blightstone. So far, there has been no historical record of a blightstone dragon scale, and Lori hoped that trend continued.

"Ah. If that is the case, have you considered renewing our mining agreement when spring arrives," Shanalorre said, and Lori immediately focused on her, the two men opposite hesitating in their conversation. "While it will not be for some time, as I am here I thought I should take the opportunity to discuss it with you."

Lori glanced mournfully at her game board. On the one hand, she could understand the other Dungeon Binder's reasoning. On the other hand… "Given such an extensive subject, could it not wait until tomorrow morning?"

"Tomorrow would suffice," Shanalorre said. "You've doubtlessly been working hard all day, and I would not interfere with your rightful rest. Will after breakfast tomorrow suffice?"

"I suppose," Lori said. "I will have you informed when I am available, as I have duties in the morning I cannot put off. Is that the only matter you wish to discuss?" The unspoken hope was that it was. The unstated expectation was it would only be the start.

Expectations triumphed over hope. "Unfortunately not. In addition to the matter of renewing our mining agreement, there is also the matter of my demesne's Dungeon."

Lori blinked. "I thought your demesne didn't have one?"

"Yes. That is, in fact, the matter. We need a Dungeon, one that can act as a proper protection in the event of any future dragons, and an emergency store for our supplies. I would like to inquire as to your price for assisting us in rectifying this lack."

"Given your summary, it is hardly in my interests to—"

"I am willing," Shanalorre interrupted, "to make an opening bid of healing for all in in your demesne for the rest of my natural life, as well as afterwards should I become able to extend it. That will include my coming here in winter, or any other time, to assist in childbirths and severe injuries where the patient cannot be safely brought to my demesne for treatment."

Lori stilled. Everyone on the other side of the table turned to stare.

"Is it in your interests now, Binder Lolilyuri?"

"Well… you have my attention, at least," Lori admitted. "Shall we discuss this tomorrow?"

Shanalorre nodded. "Unless my patients' health turns, my schedule tomorrow should be clear. I look forward to continuing to discuss this and other matters with you, Binder Lolilyuri."

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Lori had not been able to play chatrang over dinner. Indeed, everyone but Shanalorre—and Riz since she'd been napping for it—had seemed pre-occupied after the announcement. When they had finished eating, Shanalorre had risen and left sedately after a polite "Good night, Binder Lolilyuri," her lord walking next to her slightly bent over and whispering furiously.

Since, unlike Shanalorre, Lori didn't have an office, Lori had followed Rian to his house for a quick discussion.

"There is something very wrong with that little girl," Rian muttered as Mikon cheerfully placed four set of bed rolls on his bed and readied four blankets atop it. Umu was hastily removing the clothes that had been hung to dry in front of the fireplace, and Riz was absent, having gone to take a bath.

"Binder Shanalorre seems like a perfectly reasonable and rational person to me," Lori said as she sat on the only chair next to the stone table

"Yes, that's what I mean about there being something very wrong with her. Children are many things, but reasonable and rational aren't usually on the list. She actually reminds me of someone I used to know, and we never let her go off alone without her cousin to mother her. "

"You make Binder Shanalorre sound addled," Lori said. "How does someone acting reasonable and rational disturb you?"

"When it's because they're clearly acting like you."

Lori rolled her eyes. Now Rian was just being wrong-headed and silly. "Now you're just being wrong-headed and silly," she said. "What do you think of her offer?"

"I think we're going to need to semi-permanently station someone in River's Fork to let us keep out own records of how much ore is being extracted from the mine, and come up with some sort of standardized way of measuring the ore so we have something to record," Rian said. "And that you should agree to her offer for the construction of a dungeon, or something dungeon-like, anyway. The offer is just too good to turn down, especially when so many people heard her make it. Though I bet Yllian it trying to talk her into changing her mind, or at least narrowing the terms."

"So you think we should accept?" Lori said.

Rin shrugged as Mikon started laying out the pillows. "This opportunity won't last forever. Once the Golden Sweetwood Company starts sending more supplies and people, they won't need us to work the mines or help them build a dungeon anymore. I suggest we take it while we can. Even if we're not using it now, we'll needthat metal. Once our food production is sufficiently secured that we have a surplus of vigas, we'll need that metal to make pipes, cooking implements and fittings for things to refine that surplus into a more high-value product."

"Rian, I know where booze comes from, and I'm not having it in my demesne."

Rian shrugged. "If you ban it, they'll make it anyway. And if it's banned, you can't tax it, which is just lost revenue for you once we have taxes again. Besides, once distilled enough, it has its uses, like antiseptic for wounds and cleaning surgical tools. More importantly, we need the healing she's offering. It will let people operate with more peace of mind, knowing they have a Deadspeaker willing to heal them if they get injured, and not just until the end of the year."

"I dislike being dependent on another demesne for such an important matter," Lori said as Mikon started helping Umu roll up and put away the laundry.

"Well, that’s your own fault, since you wouldn't let me recruit any wizards when I was in Covehold," Rian said bluntly. "Honestly, do you how any idea how easy it would have been? The standard of living in Covehold is expensive enough that I could have gotten us any number of reasonably educated wizards just with the offer of a rent-free residence and warm baths. It would not have been that hard to find a Deadspeaker who was willing to work and had no ambitions of having a demesne of their own. Or any other sort of wizard, for that matter."

Lori flinched, then glared at Rian for making her flinch. "They'd have been a threat to my safety," she said. "What sort of wizard would come to this continent if they didn't have ambitions of being a Dungeon Binder?"

"The kind who came because they wanted to be with their family and keep them safe in a possibly dangerous place?" Rian said. "The kind who just needed an ocean between them and any troubles they were leaving behind? The kind who understands the economics of having a seller's market due to high demand and low supply?" He shook his head. "Well, you've made your decision, and now we have to make the most of it. Though I should point out that there is no possible way Shanalorre is the sort of wizard you're afraid of."

"Of course she isn't," Lori said. "She's not actually a wizard, just a savant."

"True, but not the point I was making. She didn't come to this continent because she had ambitions of being a Dungeon Binder, she came here with her parents," Rian pointed out. "Remember, her uncle had to maneuver her into somehow taking control of their dungeon's core." Rian frowned for a moment. "Actually, is it still a dungeon's core if by her own admission they don’t actually have a Dungeon? Shouldn't it be a demesne's core instead?"

"A dungeon's core is a dungeon's core, Rian," Lori said. "It doesn't matter if it's inside a proper defensible dungeon complex or in a wooden box, it's a dungeon's core. Still, I suppose you have a point about Shanalorre…" Not that she would relax her guard around the other Dungeon Binder. That would be foolish. "But it's still a terrible idea to be so dependent on another demesne for something so important. History is rife with such examples, followed by market collapses and war when the other demesne used their position to betray the one depending on them."

"I'm willing to bet those happened after a Dungeon Binder was replaced," Rian said. "Probably violently. Established governments, as a rule, prefer stability, and market collapse and war aren't exactly stable."

All right, Lori had to give him that. "I still don't like it."

"Then add some sort of escape clause," Rian said. "One that lets you back out of the agreements at any time. We're the ones with the really fast boats and are the ones who will actually be providing transport. They can't exactly force us to come to them if we don't want to. Remember, healing was just her opening bid. That means we can negotiate for more."

"Such as what?" Lori asked.

"Well, off the top of my head, don't they have more kinds of fruit trees than we do? That will greatly help vary our diet and will be good for morale."

Lori blinked, tilting her head thoughtfully.

The door opened and Riz came in, her towel wrapped around her head and her coat held closed with one hand, bucket in the other. She saw Lori and froze. "G-great Binder? W-what are you doing here?" For some reason, the northerner turned to glare at Mikon, who looked amused for some reason.

"Speaking to my lord," Lori said. "Don't worry, I won't be staying. You can progress to your group fornication once I leave."

Umu suddenly straightened where she was putting clothes on shelves, Mikon grinned widely, and Rian's hand slapped into his face.

"That's not what we do!" Riz protested.

Lori raised an eyebrow, giving Rian a sideways look. "Ah. Rian, do you want me to tell you the advice my mothers gave me about what to do in be—"

"Is there any other business we need to talk about, your Bindership?" Rian interrupted loudly.

Lori chuckled. "No, I suppose we're done for now. I'll see myself off." She headed towards the door, a red-faced Riz stepping out of her way. Truthfully, she'd forgotten most of her mothers' advice, besides remembering they sounded disgusting and unenjoyable, but if Rian really needed it she could perhaps force out one or two…

The door closed firmly behind her, and Lori headed back to her room, thoughts centering on the possible discussion tomorrow and remembering how delicious the fruits from River's Fork had been…

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Project Negotiations

This was a terrible position from which to negotiate.

When negotiating, one must never let the enemy know you intended to say yes to their demand. Even if they were the only source available, and had an absolute monopoly (sigh…!-!-!-!-!) on a valuable commodity, the position of being willing to not accept their deal and maintain your current position regarding resources, implying you didn't need what they had, gave you bargaining capital of a sort. She'd learned this from her mothers, back when she had been younger. They were lessons that every Taniar Demesne girl learned. After all, Taniar was the financial capital of the continent, and maintaining the exchange rates of nearly all the civilized demesne of the known world made them a convenient trading hub.

However, the opening bid Shanalorre offered was strategically too enticing for Lori to pretend they didn't want it. Even worse, given how publically she had made the offer, everyone else in her demesne knew about it.

The fact she had made such a bid, however, also showed how desperately Binder Shanalorre wanted this. She had set no minimum requirement beyond a dungeon—or rather, because it wouldn't have the core inside it, it was correctly a shelter—that could protect against dragons in the future—which would not be certain, because dragons were unpredictable and had many different ways to make the places they were traveling over unlivable—and an emergency store of supplies. While that would be corrected during negotiations, had Lori agreed on the spot it would have left her open for lazy, low-effort work.

This was also a transparent bid to keep Lori invested in her survival, since she had cited that the agreement would only last for her life. Not that River's Fork had anyone to replace her, but still! And even if she died, they would still have the shelter!

Granted, if she died, Lori would by their agreement take River's Fork's core, so it would be her shelter, but…

Argh!

Fortunately, when Lori came to her table for breakfast, Shanalorre didn't bring up the subject, simply greeting her with a simple, ''Good morning, Binder Lolilyuri." Thankfully, her… lord? Yes, Shanalorre's lord had learned his lesson and was seated on the other side of the table.

"Good morning, Binder Shanalorre," Lori said. "How have your accommodations been?"

"Very well, thank you," Shanalorre said. "You have been an excellent host, and your demesne has been quite hospitable towards us. I'm very glad to see that those who chose to leave River's Fork have found a better place to settle."

"How kind of you to say," Lori said. The empty platitude was the sort of thing one said in this situation, right? "I hope those who chose to leave my demesne in favor of yours have found things to their satisfaction."

"I cannot say for sure. They are very vocal in their complaints, though strangely they blame you for their difficulties."

"I have no idea what they're talking about, but then their complaints are no longer my concern. They chose to leave, after all."

"Yes. Given what I have seen of your demesne, I have to wonder why they would."

Rian started coughing for some reason.

"Rian, if you're sick, stop spreading it around."

"Sorry, your Bindership. Some spit went down the wrong tube while I was breathing," he said, sounding a little hoarse.

Lori glared at him.

"If you wish, I could try to heal him, just in case?"

"That would be appreciated."

"Uh, that's all right, I'm fine, really—"

"Rian, shut up and be healed."

"Yes, your Bindership."

Shannalorre stood and walked to the other side of the table, moving to stand behind Rian. She was breathing in with deep, even breaths, though Lori was fairly certain that was just to get her in the proper frame of mind to heal. It wasn't like the other Dungeon Binder needed it. Lori was always connected to her core when outside her demesne, even in River's Fork, and she assumed so was Shanalorre.

Seen from the outside, being healed by a Deadspeaker wasn't particularly impressive. Well, unless there were large, gaping wounds on your person, or wide swathes of obvious burns on your skin. Then it was probably impressive. When you were watching someone with some unspecified and possibly absent illness that was completely internal with no dramatic symptoms, there was really nothing interesting to see. Shanalorre pressed the back of one of her hands on the bare skin on the nape of Rian's neck, most likely to claim the life in his body, and they stood like that for a few moments.

Then the younger Dungeon Binder let go. "There," she said. "Are you feeling better now, Lord Rian?"

"Uh…" he said, voice still sounding a little hoarse, "not significantly more than before, I think? I really can't think of what you'd need to heal from coughing." He moved slightly, then tilted his head. "Huh. I think that did help. That ache I had on my back is gone. Thank you."

"You are welcome, Lord Rian," Shanalorre said, moving back to her side of the table.

Fortunately, after this Shanalorre no longer seemed to want to converse, letting her discuss the demesne's matters with Rian. The wood storage shed was filling up, so she'd need to give it a quick cure to make sure the wood was properly dried and could be used for fire wood. The waste desiccator seemed like it needed to be opened and emptied again. The weavers were inquiring whether they could grow some ropeweed in the dungeon farm when the thaw came, as a steady supply of material and as a seed crop if the plants didn't start regrowing naturally. Rian also suggested they start adding vigas bread to meals to supplement the meat, the supply of which had now significantly decreased, as well as to help people start building up some fate stores for the work to come when the thaw came.

"Also, I think we need to have another community meeting before winter ends, while we have the convenience of time," Rian finished. "So we can discuss the broad plans for the demesne's development in the coming year."

"What broad plans for the demesne's development?"

"Yes, exactly."

The two stared at each other.

"All right, I see your point," Lori said blandly. "I know you already have a list of things planned, so prepare to hold the meeting in a few days."

"As you command, your Bindership."

"You WILL tell me what those things are before then," she said.

"Of course, your Bindership."

––––––––––––––––––

Eventually, breakfast was finished.

"I am now amenable to discussing the subject you broached last night, Binder Shanalorre," Lori said, gesturing across the table from her. Rian, very quick to understand, immediately vacated the position. "If you will please take a seat, we can begin the discussion."

Shanalorre blinked. "Should we not be discussing this in your office?"

"I don't have an office," Lori said. "I don't really need one." Technically, her room was her office, but she didn't really want to bring Shanalorre in there.

Shanalorre looked at her in surprise, but rose and walked around the table to sit where Rian had been as Rian moved to stand next to her.

"I suppose we must begin with your outrageous offer," Lori said. "The rest of your natural life, was it?"

"There will be conditions to be met first, of course," Shanalorre said. "A required minimum size and depth for the dungeon to be constructed, for example." Ah. So she had thought of that, or her lord had suggested it to her. "In truth, after seeing your own demesne, it is not the only structure I wish built in my demesne as well, but it is the most needful that I and mine cannot build in a timely manner."

"You have had months and haven't built anything like it at all," Lori pointed out. "At least, not that I know of."

"As you may have suspected, the mine was supposed to serve that purpose, which is part of why we resumed its operation," Shanalorre said, "but because of the nature of mining, it is not very well organized or spacious, and was highly problematic to occupy in a sudden emergency. In speaking with several of your people, however, they informed me of your impressive rate of construction."

"I am a Dungeon Binder, not a day-laborer," Lori said, unable to keep herself from mentally adding, 'anymore', if only in her own mind. "Why should I?" It was bravado, since she had resigned herself to agreeing already—the person who might need healing might be her!—but she couldn't just let herself agree.

"It will greatly simplify future interactions, and you will no longer have to keep negotiating healing from me," Shanalorre said. "I am willing to sacrifice future income to increase the likelihood of my demesne's survival in the event of a dragon. Besides, I have a personal investment in keeping a not-inconsiderable portion of your demesne's population alive. Just because they left my demesne before it became my demesne does not mean I do not wish them well. This will ensure that I do not simply violate our agreement when you finish your part in it."

Next to her, Rian was nodding thoughtfully for some reason.

"Additionally," Shanalorre continued, "as I said, this was merely my opening bid. I am prepared to negotiate any other payment you require for this task should you decide to go through with it, within reason." As if she didn't know Lori would need to accept in any case.

"IfI agree, you will need to shoulder the expense of housing and feeding myself and anyone I deem necessary for such a project," Lori said. "This is non-negotiable. After all, it is not as if you will have anyone left to spare to assist me."

"Very well. Though I hope you will be understanding when the accommodations do not match what you have provided here," Shanalorre said.

"Well, it must have, at minimum, be indoors, clean, with adequate warmth and hot food."

Binder Shanalorre nodded. "That, I think we can reasonably provide."

"Secondly, you will be the one to provide all raw materials," Lori said. "Whether that's wood, stone, metal fittings… the materials will be sourced by your demesne."

"Of course."

"Thirdly, myself and my labor force will each be paid to the amount of two sengrains of fresh and good quality grains or fruits, outside of the provided food."

Shanalorre blinked. "What?"

"You likely do not have beads, so we will accept tangible goods as payment," Lori said.

"Two sengrains is far more than what any one person will need per day, especially if they're already being fed," Lord whatever-his-name-was protested.

"Of course. The food will be to feed their families. You don't expect men and women to work to feed simply themselves, do you? If you do not have the scales to measure the amount exactly, I'm sure I could build something."

"Agreed, provided the shelter is constructed in two weeks or less, according to the specifications I will provide," Shanalorre said.

"And those specifications are?"

"A minimum of a hundred and twenty square paces of living space, food storage space of fifty square paces, fifty square paces for a bathing area, and storage for twenty square paces of emergency water. Beyond that point, food payments will cease, and meals will only be twice a day instead of three."

"Three weeks," Lori countered. "With construction to begin only after we have finished all the spring cleaning and preparations for the coming year."

"I'm pretty sure the river's going to flood when it thaws, so we have to ready our Dungeon for that at the very least," Rian said.

Lori… hadn't known that. "As my lord has said, such preparations must take priority, if I agree to this."

"And if a dragon passes by before you can begin construction?" Lord whatever-his-name-was said.

"Then you'll either be dead, and I won't have to care, or you'll continue to live and we'll continue as agreed upon," Lori shrugged. "The situation resolves itself for me either way."

"You can't really expect us to worry about our commitments to you over our own dungeon possibly getting flooded, do you?" Rian asked, most likely rhetorically.

Lord whatever-his-name-was frowned but didn't answer.

"Two and a half weeks, after you have finished your own preparations," Shanalorre said. "With my offer of healing only becoming active after construction begins, save for our already standing agreement to assist with any pregnancies."

Lori considered that and nodded. "Fourth, guaranteed passage through the section of river you control."

Shanalorre blinked. "Aren't you supposed to stop at three points of negotiation?"

Lori gave her a flat look. "Why?"

"I… cannot rebut that. However, I would like to set aside the issue of river traffic as its own separate discussion."

Lori considered that. She'd thrown in the issue to see if she could get away with it, but… "Very well," Lori said. Well, she had negotiated the issue of labor pay, materials, lodging and feeding… ah, yes. "Fourthly then, I will have the right to claim all materials I excavate in the course of this construction, such as ore."

Shanalorre frowned. "I… will agree to that," she said slowly. "Though you will have to set aside and store the material yourself, if you want to take it home."

Lori nodded. That took care of any lucky finds she might run into. "Finally, there will be a flat down payment of five barrels of grain, well preserved and adequate to use as seed crop."

"Aren't we already paying you food?" Lord whatever-his-name-was said.

"This is the fee for designing the shelter in question," Lori said. "Unless you already have a design you know for sure can be built in two and a half weeks? I will not begin construction without a finalized design, lest constant changes drag out the length of construction to my detriment."

Why was Rian looking at her like that?

"That is… reasonable," Shanalorre allowed. "Very well. However, I will have input on the design."

"Naturally. I can begin once the site for construction has been chosen."

"Does that mean you accept, then?"

Lori made a show of thinking about it. "That," she said, "will depend on the resolution of the river traffic issue."