Weekly Digest 28 - (#84 - #86)

The Holiday Is Over, Back To Work

Lori didn't recognize who won at wrestling, but they were tall, big and heavy, which sounded about right for winning wrestling.

With the day so late, dinner preparations immediately followed. Lori decapitated the seels, and people set out to skin, gut and drain them. She had to help with that, as the blood had either frozen or congealed from being in blocks of ice while the wrestling competition ran its course, but once she was told it needed to be done to improve the flavor, she resigned herself to it. Admittedly, forcing water though blood vessels was a novel new experience. As there was no horrible taste in her meat, she presumed it worked.

Someone started playing music again, and Lori instinctively checked the sky. Not yet proper sundown. They had time before she had to make them—well, make Rian—stop doing that.

"A lot of people will probably go to sleep soon," Rian commented next to her. "They're full, since they've been eating a lot. People might actually look forward to regular food tomorrow." He looked at where the seels were still in the process of being butchered. "I better go make sure they're ready to store most of that. It'll be easier to get food out of storage if people want to eat some more than it is to put it in storage once it's been sitting around a while…"

"I need you to make another announcement while everyone is eating," Lori said.

Rian groaned. "My poor throat…"

Lori rolled her eyes. "If you can't speak the actual words, find someone who can. I need you to ask for volunteers for our part in River's Fork's proposal about the mine. Make it clear that they will still be part of this demesne, they're just working there."

"Can't that wait until tomorrow?" Rian asked.

"They'll be up late letting their stomach settle, they might as well have something to think about," Lori shrugged.

"You're giving them homework? You cruel, cruel monster you," Rian said with a small, amused smirk.

"A necessary cruelty, I assure you," Lori said.

The announcement was made, and the call for volunteers came out. Lori had decided on a maximum of thirty, but would be very surprised if that many people volunteered. She was hoping they'd get around fifteen. It would not surprise her if no one volunteered though, and she would need to find the people doing the least work—well, have Rian find the people doing the least work. There were always some, simply from human nature if nothing else—and somehow 'volunteer' them. Or at least entice them somehow…

Lori sighed as she realized she might actually have to do something she'd been putting off.

Still, the announcement was followed with an interested murmur in the crowd. Some people even went up to Rian to ask for details, very politely ignoring her completely and not bothering her as she ate. It wasn't like sitting at their usual table in the Dungeon. For one, it was windier, and as the sun set more, she had to make bindings of lightwisps and have them float in midair to illuminate where people were eating. Still, Lori and everyone else made no move to go eat in the dining halls.

Eventually, it had to end. There were disappointed sighs as Rian called for people to start moving tables and benches back into the dining halls. Not all the tables had been removed, but a lot of the benches had been, including a few that some jokers had put in the river for some reason. She hoped that hadn't damaged them.

Still, the return of the furniture proceeded smoothly enough. The tables all went back, but some of the benches remained for people to sit on. Well, not her problem. The benches at her table had stayed right where they were in the Dungeon.

As night fell, the music all fell away, leaving only the sounds of the songbugs, the sound of the river, the distant sounds the seels and voices raised in song. A drinking song at that, despite the lack of booze to accompany it.

Well, it wasn't music. Lori let it be.

After cleaning her plate with oil and ash, and giving Rian the stones of the pink ladies as well as other seeds she went up to her room to sleep.

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Lori lazily woke up to the now-familiar discomforts of sleeping on a wooden bed with nothing but her laundry and her raincoat to cushion her back. Was it her imagination, or did her clothes no longer provide the cushioning they once did? She very much hoped it was just her imagination…

With a sigh, she stiffly got up, stretching and getting to her feet. If she had a proper bed with any sort of softness at all, she might have been tempted to just turn over and nap a little more. That was not an option, however, since her bed was very uncomfortable as it was. She went to her bathroom for some water to wash her face of oil, then got dressed for breakfast.

She tried not to think about stealing Rian's bedroll of keeping it for her own use. Or wishing she'd managed to get the bedroll of someone who'd died when she'd had the chance. She didn't remember being this uncomfortable when they'd been traveling from River's fork… but then, she'd always managed to cut a nice pile of grass to lie down on.

Maybe she should start doing that again…

Grumbling to herself, Lori headed down, game board in her arms. Thankfully, the Dungeon's dining hall was rich in the smells of cooking, though it was strangely quiet as well. Many people seemed to be sleeping on the tables, waiting for the kitchen staff to declare that the food was ready.

The board had been set up by the time Rian came in, looking like he wanted to sleep more. He took one look at the board, lingered, and shrugged. "Eh, why not," he said, and sat down. "So how'd you sleep?"

"The same as I usually did," Lori said, which was true. She made the first move, taking stones from one of the bowls.

"Then you're in a good mood?" he said hopefully.

Lori sighed. "What do you want this time, Rian?"

"It's not for me," he said, affecting innocence. "It's for all your hard working, frustrated citizens."

"The weavers and ropers can start moving into the second level as soon as they can, as long as they keep their equipment contained in the alcoves," Lori said. "Make sure they know that in the event of a dragon, that's the alcove they and their families will have to occupy, so they need to keep themselves neat. I'll begin construction of the third level as soon as I've transferred miners to River's Fork and have researched the air circulation question. If that is successful, I expect you to prioritize boat construction."

Rian paused. "I'll be perfectly honest, I'm actually surprised you remembered about that."

"Why wouldn't I remember?" Lori said.

"As I probably once said already, I can't just assume things with you," Rian said. "I wasn't talking about that issue, though I'll get the word out. But no, I don't mean any of that. "

Lori sighed. "Of course you didn't."

"No, we have a different immediate problem," Rian confirmed. "Er, over the holidays, did you perhaps notice how people were… ah, how do I say this…?"

"How what?" Lori said blandly. "How people were sneaking off into the woods in twos and threes, uncaring if the children happened to stumble over them?"

Rian blushed. "Wait, threes?" he said.

"It was either that or they had a living seel with them," Lori said blandly.

"Threes," Rian nodded. "Wow."

"One group seemed big enough to be at least four."

"Were you watching?" Rian asked, looking aghast and horrified.

Lori twitched. "What kind of pervert do you take me for?" she said. "I could tell from my connection to the demesne. Nothing so sordid as actually seeing them with my eyes had to happen."

"I'm not sure if that's better or worse…" Rian muttered.

"Get to the point, Rian," Lori snapped.

"Right! I think people need a place to do… that," Rian said. "I know technically people can do it at home, but… well, a lot of them have children and relatives. It's just not normally feasible. It worked yesterday because the children were out, and I think—I hope—they took turns, but given the number of people in the woods… well, that wasn't an option for everyone."

"So you want me to build a brothel?" Lori said flatly.

"No, of course not," Rian said. "It's not THAT kind of place. Just… some place people can go to be private. You know, a place that's not 'public' according to how you're going to define your law so people can be as indecent as they want… within reason, no kids, purely voluntary and consenting people only," Rian said hastily. "It's going to keep happening, and unless and until people get bigger homes, it's going to be an issue due to lack of privacy, especially when winter comes."

Lori blinked. "Why 'especially when winter comes'?"

"Well, even if people manage to sufficiently fortify their homes," Rian said, "that's whole families with months at home with little to do. And it's not like we have any reading material lying around, unless we go buy some in Covehold… which I still need to build the boat for… "

Lori held up a hand to stop him talking. "I'll consider it," she said. "As it is, it's a much lower priority than anything else we have, and that include getting benches installed in the second level and no, I am not going to have people doing that in the second level alcoves." She recognized the thoughtful tilt of Rian's head.

"It's just a thought…" Rian said defensively.

"I will acknowledge it is an issue," Lori said. She sighed. "I'll consider it. Anything else?"

"Can you tell Umu, Mikon and Riz they don't need to make sure I go to sleep anymore?" Rian said. "I'll be sleeping normally again, so there's really no need for them to make sure I lie down and wait for me to fall asleep."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "I didn't tell them to do that."

Rian blinked. "Then why are they doing it?"

"Amusement, possibly?" Lori said blandly. "As you said, there is little to do here."

Rian groaned. "I'm going to have to start worrying about people pulling pranks on each other out of boredom, aren't I?"

Lori gave her lord a long, blank stare. "Go get the food," she said. "It should be done by now."

"I know you were getting your own food for most of yesterday," Rian said.

"Holiday logic," Lori said. "Normal logic doesn't apply."

Rian rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine." He went off to get food.

Lori stretched, then frowned, realizing Rian had never made his move after she did. Did that mean he forfeited and she won?

Rian came back, holding two bowls. Lori picked one and was about to start eating when she frowned. "Does the meat look like a strange color to you?"

"I think they seared it before they added it to the pot," Rian said, looking into his bowl. "Maybe they're trying something new?" He took a spoonful. "Tastes good, though."

Skeptically, Lori took a spoonful and put it in her mouth. It was a different texture than usual, but actually easier to bite through, and a bit more flavorful…

She was still considering whether she liked this change or not when someone sat down next to Rian.

"Good morning, Lord Rian," Umu said brightly. "Did you sleep well?"

Rian stared at her. Lori stared at her. She was fairly sure the people on the table on all sides stared at her.

Humming to herself, Umu started eating her stew.

For some reason, Rian looked at Lori.

Lori watched the blonde warily, but Umu seemed to have no intention of talking to her. Shrugging, the Binder went back to her food.

"Ah, Lord Rian, your dirty clothes have probably piled up, haven't they?" Umu said. "I'll take care of them for you later, all right? They'll be on your bed, folded and clean by the end of the day."

Rian stared at her, looking… guilty, for some reason. "Ah, you don't have to—"

"Nonsense," Umu said, turning to smile at him. "You obviously have no idea how to wash clothes, so I'll do it for you. Though you should really wash your bedroll too. Perhaps you can help me with that. We wouldn't want it to get washed away in the river, would we?" A smile, and Umu want back to eating.

Rian stared at her as she ate, then for some reason turned to Lori.

"What?" she asked blandly.

He didn't say anything just waved one hand in Umu's general direction.

"Yes, you should eat too," Lori said. "Or do you need someone to remind you to eat?"

Rian stared at her. He was doing a lot of staring instead of eating. "You're not…?" He didn't continue the thought.

"Not what?" Lori said, fighting back amusement. All right, it was amusing to see Rian so ignorant, but still…

Rian made a hand gesture in Umu's general direction again.

"Rian, use words, not whatever strange signs you're making," Lori said.

"You don't mind?" Rian said.

"Why would I mind where she sits?" Lori said. "Clearly there was no other space elsewhere." The empty space directly behind Rian proved that a lie, but he never looked there anyway. On the opposite side of that table from the empty space, Riz and Mikon were both glaring at the back of Umu's head. The people on either side of them shuffled away slightly, clearly remembering the table-leaping of days prior.

"Does that mean people can sit next to you now?" Rian said.

"You're jests are weak, Rian," Lori said. "Eat and put some meat in your stomach, and maybe you can think of better."

For some reason, Rian stared up at the ceiling. "Am I still asleep?" he said. "Is this some weird dream?"

Lori shook her head. Useless thespian.

She ate and got ready for her day.

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Unfinished Business and Experiment Preparation

Before her injury, Lori would have gone back to digging out the niches and alcoves of the second level, which were only partially done. It wasn't strictly necessary—people had slept on the floor before, and since they'd have their belongings with them, they could just lay out their bedrolls on the ground—but it would be more space efficient, getting sleeping people off walking and standing areas.

Now that had to be put on hold. Priorities had changed.

Her demesne needed metal. Technically, they already had it, but they needed a secured source of it, not just limited supplies. It was why they were so sparing with the metal stock they had. It was why Lori had agreed to Shanalorre's proposal. Metal was one less thing they would need to buy from Covehold, and could become something they could sell to Covehold instead.

Given she was still working on how to create beads—another gap in her education that in hindsight she should have remedied, if it could have been remedied—and it was extremely unlikely people would just part with the beads they had for buying supplies—if they still had any—they would need some products to sell. Lumber was not an option, as it weighed too much and was too big for any vessel they eventually made, and food was unlikely to be travel well. They had, at best, seel pelts and skin, although given how small the seels the children had been catching, the sale value was questionable.

But metal… metal traveled well, had good value and unless Covehold had managed to set up an actual regulatory body of some sort—which was unlikely—as long as they could find the right buyer they'd be able to sell it at a reasonable price.

That meant getting it out of the ground.

If River's Fork had been a demesne Lori controlled, that would have been simple. Earthwisps would have pulled it out of the ground easily, and refining would also be simple, since firewisps would reach the temperatures metals needed to start melting. Admittedly, that was as far as she knew where metallurgy was concerned.

She had Rian go see one of the smiths—or even all the smiths—to get the ore sample confirmed. "If they need it melted, tell me and I'll make time after lunch. There's no point in doing this if this is just useless shiny rock like gold."

"Gold is still… better than nothing?" Rian said hesitantly. "We can make lighter cooking pots with it. Well, relatively lighter. And it'll be useful once we have acids. Or even just for putting in people's mouths as replacement teeth, since it won't rust."

Lori tilted her head. "Huh," she said. "A sound point. I'd still prefer copper, though. It's hard enough for use in tools. Acid vessels are good, but nails, blades, needles and work knives would be better at this point."

"Hope for copper, got it," Rian said.

"And find out who had previously worked in the mine before the dragon occurred," Lori said. "If any of them survived, that is."

"That's morbid," Rian said. "What will you be doing?"

"Resource management," Lori said.

"Meaning?"

"I'm going to get the dragon scales that I had to leave behind due to my injury."

Rian gave her a flat stare. "You'll be taking Deil and Tackir along so you don’t decide to sit on it again. If you're too lazy to walk, have them carry you. In fact, I'll tell them that myself."

"I'm not going to sit on it," Lori said irritably. "I don't need minders."

"Yes, well, this is government at work: taking action to prevent something that's already happened," Rian said. "Don't forget to bring your hat."

"If you start acting like my parents again, I will sink you into the ground."

"The violence inherent in the system will not stop me from doing my duty to keep you alive."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. But not them. It'll be a waste of their time."

"You don't even know what they do."

"They smell like sawdust, they're either carpenters or sawyers." Lori tilted her head in consideration. "More likely the former, I don't remember seeing them in the sawpits. There's no need to remove two of our carpenters from work they need to do just to indulge your paranoia."

"I can accompany her, Lord Rian!"

Riz was suddenly there at Rian's other side, having scrambled over the table. "I'm sure I wouldn't be missed much," the former militiawoman said.

Behind Rian, Lori could see Mikon visibly thinking very hard if she should scramble over the table too.

Lori let out an impatient breath. "I'm going to get my hat," she said flatly. "If she's coming, she better be ready when I come down." She turned and went to get her hat and the map. Then went back to get her board and take it to her room with her. They hadn't even managed to play.

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She put on her coat this time, to physically protect her arms. Not that she'd be riding any rocks, but still. As Rian had joked, government's took action to prevent something that had already happened. And she was the government, after all.

When she came down, Rian was in the midst of giving Riz hasty instructions. The latter seemed to actually be listening, nodding at his words.

"—her uninjured, all right?" she heard as she approached. "It'll be embarrassing to go back to Shana after only three days to get her fixed again."

"You can' count on my, Lord Rian," Riz said. "I'll make sure nothing happens to the Great Binder."

"I won't hold you to that," Rian said with a sigh. "That's what the other guys said last time."

They looked towards Lori expectantly, but she just walked past them.

"Ah," Rian said. "Better follow her, she's not going to wait. I'll take care of bringing your bowl back for you."

Lori heard footsteps following after her.

Why did it feel like people were watching her go?

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She got back before lunch, completely uninjured.

Lori had gone straight to her previous destination this time. She'd only wanted to get the aggregation of dragon scales she'd made last time. That was it. No detours, no riding on rocks or whatever Rian was afraid she'd do. just go straight from Dungeon to clearing, gather all the dragon scales, and bring it back to store in the treasure room.

And as soon as Riz tentatively volunteered to read the map for her when they ended up in what turned out to be the clearing she'd been aiming for last time, they did just that!

Really, Rian was needlessly working about nothing.

She'd dismissed Riz, and extracted the dragon scales from their covering of packed dirt by herself, taking the materials to the treasure room. Technically, there were two treasure rooms. One that stored the ingots of metal, nails, and other material resources the other people in the demesne had brought, kept safe in the dungeon in the event of a dragon since metal was heavy and after the first time, no one wanted to try lugging them from their house in a hurry. This contained packets of nails, bar stock, ingots and other things, all neatly labeled and separated, with a stone tablet only Lori could alter recording who owed how much of what. Rian had half-jokingly compared her to a bank that didn't offer any interest to anyone.

She had to admit, that had been funny.

The othermore important treasure room contained the things that she had claimed. Dragon scales and altered materials touched by dragon claws, mostly. While many had been identified—iron, copper, tin, gold and now anatass—some were curiosities, like the black material that had once been a house's roof. She wasn't sure what she'd do with it, though a part of her was already resigned to parting with the iron and copper if they really needed it for anything.

The only consolation she had was her treasure room was fairly large. Certainly larger than the first one, although that was because she really couldn't stack things very high, since she was reluctant to alter their shapes—metal was hard to alter with earthwisps alone—and so she'd been leaving them on the floor and occasionally stacking things if they seemed stable. They often weren't. A lot of it was very irregularly shaped. Hence why her personal treasure room was so much bigger: she needed the floor space to lay out everything.

Still, it was a satisfying morning's working, completing something that had been left unfinished, and Lori was in a good mood as she met Rian for lunch.

"Are you doing anything this afternoon?" she asked.

"Yes, but it's not urgent," Rian said as he put down two bowls on the table. Lori picked one and he kept took the other. "Do you need me for anything?"

On either side of Rian, Umu and Riz both paused in their eating. Behind them in the next table, Mikon had a strange look on her face, and empty space on the bench around her.

"You're to take notes," Lori said. "You volunteered for it, remember?"

Rian's eyes widened, and a smile spread over his face. "Oh, you're doing it now? This afternoon?"

"After lunch, as soon as I get the equipment I need from my room," Lori confirmed. "After that, we'll have to see."

"We'll be doing it outside then, not in the Dungeon?" Rian said, looking strangely happy.

"You're not doing anything," Lori told him. "I will be conducting the experiment, you will simply take notes."

"I'll be learning," Rian said cheerfully. "That's not nothing. That's the key to making dreams come." He frowned. "I'm going to need a bigger plank. I don't want to run out of writing space just when things starting getting interesting."

"I think you're overestimating how much writing needs to be done," Lori said.

"It's not like we're using pens and paper," Rian said. "If I need more writing pace, I want to know sooner instead of later. Wood is heavy."

"Well, if you insist, you can put it in the boat," Lori said.

Rian blinked. "We're taking the boat?"

"We'll need to," Lori said. "I can't conduct the experiment inside the demesne."

Rian stared at her. Then he sighed. "See, this is the sort of thing that needs to be written in the experimental notes. 'Experiment was not conducted inside demesne'. Are we going to need the ladle and buckets?"

Lori opened her mouth to respond then paused for a moment. "Actually, yes, we think you will," she said thoughtfully.

"Well, I'm glad I found out now instead of later," Rian said blandly. "Otherwise we'd have needed to go back and get them."

"I don't think your laundry will be ready by the time you get back, Lord Rian," Umu said. "They're still a bit wet. Maybe tomorrow morning."

Rian blinked, as if remembering someone was actually sitting next to him now. "You really don't have Umu. Really, you don't."

"Nonsense, Lord Rian," Umu said. "If you actually knew how to do your own laundry, you'd have done it before now. Just leave this to me, all right?"

"Rian, focus," Lori said, getting his attention back. Reluctantly, he turned towards her. "Get the boat—"

"Lori's Boat?"

Lori rolled her eyes at the interruption. "Yes, of course that one, it's the only one we have right now. Get the wood you think we need and put it on the boat and get it ready to move. I want us on our way as soon as we finish eating."

"Is that your way of telling me to eat faster and then go get things ready?"

"It's my way of telling you to eat at all," she said, pointing at his untouched bowl. "Eat."

"Now who's acting like a parent," he said, taking his spoon and starting to eat.

"If I were your parent, I'd be giving you embarrassing advice for getting women to go to bed with you," Lori said blandly. He obviously needed it.

Rian nearly choked on his food.

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Experimental Preparation and Contextual Exposition

"Did your parents really give you advice for getting women to go to bed with you?" Rian asked later when they were alone.

"I was being facetious," Lori said as she carefully held the box of glassware on her lap. It was padded, but there was no sense taking chances. "None of the advice they gave me would have worked for you." She paused, considered her words, then amended them. "Little of the advice they gave me would have worked for you. I doubt you would look attractively arousing in a skirt that showed off your ankles, much less your calves."

"You've obviously never seen my legs," Rian said as he operated the tiller. He actually sounded serious. "How old were you when that happened? Because otherwise I'm going to have nightmares about you being given that advice at eight years old or something."

"It was when I started attending school to learn Whispering," Lori said. She sighed. Really, her parents had told her to devote all her time to studying to the unreasonable exclusion of all else with one breath, and encouraging her to charm boys and girls with the other. It hadn't been helpful at all. Quite the opposite. "Why? Do you need more advice on how to get women into your bed?"

"I think we can both agree it will scar my mind to hear it and reopen terrible wounds for you to remember it," Rian said. "So, how about we compromise and just never speak of it again?"

Lori considered. "I will consider it"

Lori's Boat moved lightly over the water. With just the two of them, the occasional waves and swells of the river seemed to affect the boat more. The front was certainly bobbing up and down a lot more than Lori was used to.

"You might want to slow down the boat," Rian said. "We're almost at the edge."

And so they were. Approaching them was the edge of the demesne, the curving line that marked the literal sphere of her influence. Beyond it were the glittering colors of death, shining in a multitude of shades and hues, twinkling like stars as they moved, as the wind made the trees sway, sending shining dust falling from its leaves and branches.

Lori wanted to tell him to keep going, to beach the boat on the river's edge outside… but movement caught her eye. Beasts, somehow so still the layer of Iridescence on them had blended with the trees around them, at least until one had blinked right when she'd been looking at it. Even knowing where it was, it was disturbingly easy to lose sight of.

Rian seemed to have seen it was well. "We might have to clear a safe area before we can do anything," he said. "By which I mean you, of great and powerful Binder, wielder of great and powerful magic."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Shut up and beach the boat," she said, reducing the speed of the waterjets.

"Couldn't we just stay here in the river until all the beasts are dead?" Rian said, looking worried.

"If we did, the boat would be dragged along in the flood," Lori said.

Rian blinked. "What flood?"

"The flood I'm about to cause."

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She caused a flood.

To be more precise, it wasn't exactly a flood. She claimed the waterwisps in the river, bound it to increase its viscosity and so it would stop flowing and start rising, made the water just short of boiling, and then threw it at the shore just outside of her demesne.

It was childishly satisfying to see all the Iridescence just… wash off of the trees, rocks and ground, revealing the admittedly muted tones and colors of what had been underneath. The beasts—there were surprisingly many of them—all let out cries of pain from the hot water and ran into the woods. A few stumbled into her demesne, but then started crying louder and stumbled their way back out again.

Rian lowered the spear he'd been holding. Lori wasn't sure what use he thought that would be, though she was glad he'd moved to stand between her and the beasts. "Well, that… worked? I think?" he said doubtfully. "Now what?"

Truthfully. Lori hadn't expected beasts. She'd thought they find a nice, cleared space to do their experiment, takes notes, and come back. She really should have known better. After all, hadn't they just come this way two days ago?

Not that she'd tell Rian that.

"Now, we clear a space where we can conduct the experiment without worrying about the beasts," Lori said.

"Please tell me by 'we', you mean 'you with me as a spectator'?" Rian said. "Because I don't think I have the tools to be of any help."

"Yes, yes, I'll do it," she said, rolling her eyes. "You just keep an eye out for beasts coming near."

"Right. I can do that. Though next time, I'm bringing a bow and arrows instead of this stupid stick. What was I thinking?"

"I could not possibly comment as to your private thought processes."

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She cleared a space.

It was more complicated and time-consuming than it sounded. The banks of the river were thick with growths of ropeweed, while behind them loomed tall, ancient-looking trees whose branches constantly dropped a rain of fine Iridescence dust from the small beasts and bugs that lived among their branches.

They wouldn't need to cut any trees, only a small patch among the ropeweed that they could comfortably stand in to conduct the experiments. Lori was glad of that. She wasn't quite sure how she'd move that much wood outside her demesne, especially with beasts nearby.

She'd cut the reeds along a stretch of the river at the border of her demesne with a narrow, powerful stream of water from the river, moving in a swift, cohesive line that punched through any matter in its way. Plays and stories made a big deal about bolts of lightning and fiery explosions, but that was only when a Whisperer didn't have any water nearby.

"Rian, what are you doing?" she said as she watched Rian start bundling the fallen ropeweed together.

"Not being wasteful," he said. "We need this stuff for rope and weaving! It grows fast, but we need every bit we can get."

"You realize there are beasts about, don't you?"

"You realize that if we build a boat, we're going to need a lot of rope for it?" Rian shot back. "Just keep the beasts off my back while I do it, it won't take long."

It took a while, and by the time Rian was done, their previously empty boat was half-full of ropeweed, which was extending over the front and back. Lori had to drive off beasts several times with arcs of hot water and steam from the river, and once Rian had to run back inside her demesne while she decapitated a beast that charged towards them on its two thick, heavy legs. While not one of the fast, sharp-toothed predators, its huge size and long tail meant it had still deal with it.

Draining the blood and encasing it in ice also took a while. They'd float it back with them to add to the food supply.

Eventually, however, Lori lost her patience and told Rian to leave the rest of the ropeweed be so she could get on with her experiment. She'd raised a flat-topped finger of stone to act as a convenient table for her, and used earthwisps to push it along the ground past the border of her demesne, about the length of her foot from the edge. She didn't need it to be far, only outside her demesne.

"Can you talk me through what you're doing?" Rian said, holding a plank of wood in one hand, and a slender branch the length of a hand and about a finger thick in the other. One end of the branch had been whittled to a rough point, and then set on fire to create a rudimentary writing implement. "For the record?"

Lori looked up from where she had opened the padded box of glassware on another stop finger she'd raised to act as another table. It was well inside the demesne, in case another beast became curious and overcame its discomfort at losing the iridescence within it and got too close. "I'm going to see if I can use my blood to imbue water."

Rian nodded, and wrote that down. "Great. Now, would you please have mercy on an ignorant, uneducated lord and give me the context for why and how you think this is going to work? So I can write it down for the benefit of future generations?"

Lori gave him an exasperated look. "Why? It would affect the results."

"But if you don't tell me, how will I understand how great and amazing and intelligent and full of genius the Dungeon Binder I serve is?" he said. His face was utterly innocent and guileless.

"You realize I know you're using base flattery, right?"

"So… you don’t want to explain to me how great and amazing and intelligent you are?"

"If tell you, will you stop with the ridiculous stage-performance baiting silliness?" she said, exasperated.

"Of course, your Bindership," he said. "You need only say so."

"So," she said.

Rian paused, tilted his head, and chuckled. "Good one."

Lori shook her head and picked out the glassware she was going to use. She closed the box, then put down her syringe case on top of it. filling the glassware with boiled water from her waterskin, she placed the syringe in it, and proceeded to make the water boil. "Whisperers," she explained as she watched the water bubble as it slowly turned into vapor, "manipulate the wisps in the world. We do this by taking in magic, passing the magic through parts of our body that contain the sort of wisps we want to manipulate, and then channeling the magic out of our body and into the wisps in question to bind them to our will."

Rian nodded. "All right, sounds simple enough."

"However, this poses certain difficulties," Lori said. "For example, let's say we want to bind the wisps in a pot of boiling water. We would have to touch the water in question."

"I've seen you control rock and water without touching them," Rian said.

"That is because we are a Dungeon Binder," Lori said. "We're different. To a Binder, the entire demesne is like their body. As long as it's inside the demesne, we are technically already touching it."

"But that's limited to inside a demesne," Rian said, nodding. "So outside, like in River's Fork, you need to actually touch something to use magic on it." He tilted his head. "Is that why you touched that rock to your eye when you made it light up? You need to pass light through your eye and even as I say it I realize why."

Huh. Once more she had to acknowledge her lord's intelligence. "Yes," she said. "Your eyes are where light passes through. Binding lightwisps uses the eyes. It's very inconvenient, really."

"What about the ears?"

Lori blinked at the nonsensical question. "What?"

"Your ears," Rian said, tugging at the flap of skin and soft bone in question. "Light sort of passes thought it right? Not like glass of water, but some light clearly passes through the other side if the light is bright enough."

Lori stared at him. "Don't get distracted," she eventually said, even as she was suddenly very conscious of minute amounts of lightwisps on the tips of her ears where they peeked out of her hair. "You were asking about the experiment."

"Right. A Whisperer needs to be touching something to bind the wisps in it, which is difficult if it's too hot, or something otherwise not safe to touch. A Dungeon Binder doesn't need to, because they're sort of already touching it already," he said. He frowned. "Wait, I've still seen you manipulate water without touching it even before you became a Dungeon Binder. So… there's another way."

Lori nodded. Was this what her teachers had felt like when she had, of course, immediately understood what they were trying to each? "Metal can conduct magic. It can act as a channel between a wizard and whatever they want to bind."

"The wires wrapped around your staff," Rian said instantly. "And the metal cap on it. It's not just to keep it from being damaged, it's so you can use your magi through it."

"Yes, yes, you're very smart and observant," she said. And he was, she supposed.

Rian's head turned to look towards Lori's Boat. "That's what the metal sticking out of the water jet is for! It's so you don't need to stick your hand into the water, just touch the wire!"

"Are you done?" she said.

He smiled nervously, clearly chagrined. "Sorry, teacher. Please keep teaching me?"

Lori rolled her eyes. "There are other factors, but those are the basics. A Whisperer needs to be touching something to bind and imbue it."

"Question," Rian said. "What is 'imbue'?"

"It's the process of feeding the wisps in the binding magic to be able to control them," Lori said impatiently.

"Fuel," Rian said, nodding. "Like adding firewood to a bonfire. You need to imbue, or the binding… doesn't work?"

"Say rather that the wisps immediately come unbound," Lori said. "Binding is in itself an act of imbuing, just as the act of grabbing something already puts pressure on it, but not as much as deliberately squeezing with all your might."

"Ah," Rian nodded, writing notes on his plank. Lori wondered if he was actually fitting everything in. "Thank you for clarifying. So binding would be like trying to start a fire, and imbuing is giving that fire something to burn."

"If that lets you understand it, then yes, I suppose that's close enough," Lori said. She glanced down and stopped boiling the water. "So, we have a problem."

Rian began writing again. "And this problem is?"

"Technically, we have two problems," Lori said. "The first is a means of powering the waterjet without me. I can imbue it with a considerable amount of magic, but that will still be a finite amount. If I'm not there to further imbue it, it will run out and the water jet becomes useless. Also, without me, the binding on the water jet is locked to the last thing it was set to do, meaning it will keep on trying to draw and thrust water, thereby consuming the magic it was imbued with."

"Question," Rian interrupted. "What happens if we take it out of the water so it's got nothing to draw and thrust?"

Lori blinked. She frowned, tilting her head. Finally, she shook it. "No, that won't work. It will just try to draw in the waterwisps in the air, and will still be using up energy at the same rate."

Rian sighed. "Well, it was worth asking," he said.

"It was," Lori agreed.

"Is there any way we can get the binding to… stop thrusting?"

"Yes," Lori said dryly. "It's called 'making a bound tool'. Something I still haven't managed to do."

"Ah," Rian said.

"I have thought about the problem, Rian," Lori said. "I don't actually like going to River's Fork so that I can be sure the waterjet doesn't run out of magic."

"Uh, you mentioned a second problem?" Rian said.

Lori nodded. "The second problem is the same as the first, but for a different kind of wisp. Binder Shanalorre asked for a way of providing air circulation so that the mine could be properly ventilated. That is an easy binding, but with a considerable problem."

"You can only imbue a finite amount of magic, and you can't make it stop to conserve power," Rian said.

"Exactly. It's the same problem. A limited power source used inefficiently."

"And… this thing we're about to test… it will solve that?"

"It should," Lori said, gingerly touching the syringe. A bit warm, but no longer boiling hot. "All that I've learned tells me it should work."

"Then… why are we testing it?"

Lori hesitated. She considered obfuscating. Lying. Ignoring the question.

Instead, she said, "I've never done this before."

"Ah," Rian said, nodding. "Good a reason as any. If the first step doesn't work, there's no second step to go to."

Lori began pulling her left arm out of the sleeve of her raincoat, exposing her skin there.

"Do you want me to take your coat?" Rian offered.

Lori hesitated, remembering the last time he'd made that offer. "Yes," she said, taking the coat off. "Put it on the boat."

As Rian turned to put her coat on the boat, Lori took the brass syringe, ascertained by the waterwisps in her body were her vein was, drew away the lightningwisps that conducted pain, took a breath to brace herself, and jabbed herself with the syringe to begin drawing blood.