Demesne Patron EX SS 6 - Riz's Sortie

Erzebed, Riz to most, washed her face to get the sweat off as she and the rest of the crew of former militia—in their hearts, though,, they were always militia—putting up the roofs and other fittings on what would be their new homes took a break for the midday meal. These would be the second new homes that year, though the first that they would actually be building. With the trees near their building site cut down long ago for the nearby sawpit, the sun shone down hot on them, and it made her sweat like a liar in front of an officer. She'd never thought there was such a thing as 'too hot', but this… this was definitely too hot. Still much better than too cold, but uncomfortable in its own way. She hadn't thought her body had this much sweat to lose, and the medic kept reminding them to drink water and get in the shade when they could.

Life under this new Binder was… different. Binder Koshay had been a personable sort, who knew everyone and always made time to talk to people during the day. He'd been right there with them when they'd planted the crops, when they'd done their first harvest scant days later thanks to his magic accelerating the growth of the grain they had planted, and again the next two times after that. He'd built the dome to help them block the heat and light after so many people, Riz among them, had trouble adjusting to the increasingly hot days. He'd worked tirelessly to finally brew them some decent booze from the local water, and had given all the aspiring brewers a little of his brewjelly so they could start fermenting their own.

Riz wondered if any of the brewjelly had survived.

Binder Lolilyuri was cold, distant, and avoided people as easily as breathing. When she walked, she walked alone, and her eyes didn’t seem to see the people around her, only some distant thing only she could perceive. The only person she seemed to even acknowledge, much less listen to, was Lord Rian. Which was probably how he'd become lord in the first place. But Binder Lori wasn't cruel, and made surprisingly few demands. Those few demands had been explicitly written down, and while people didn't know what she had against music, it was easily obeyed.

Face washed and having drunk a little from the basin of water that was constantly refilled from the river, Riz headed down for lunch. Most of her fellows headed for the nearby dining hall downslope, only a short walk away. It was close, the wind kept it pleasantly cool, and it was convenient for them.

That wasn't where Riz was heading.

The demesne's Dungeon was farther down the admittedly shallow slope, at the base of a hill partially worn down by the river next to it. She wasn't the only one going down there, since its dining hall was bigger, could fit more people and was much cooler. Many also claimed the food there was better, which… honestly wouldn’t surprise Riz. After all, the Great Binder ate there. She could well believe that no one wanted to find out what the woman would do if she was served bad food. Though in Riz's experience, the Binder ate anything that was in front of her.

The Dungeon echoed as she stepped in, the air being pulled in around her by some magic she didn't understand, keeping the air circulating and rendering it fresh and not smelling like sweat and whatever people had been working on that day. She hurriedly made her way towards one of the lines that was handing out bowls of stew for people. They moved with the quick efficiency of practice, and while the food was a bit bland and not very appetizing if you looked at it too long, it was filling, it was meaty, and it was just different enough day after day that it wasn't tiring just yet.

Also, she hadn't had to cook it, which was always nice.

Bowl in hand, she headed for her usual table.

Naturally, those two were there first.

"Mikon. Umu," she greeted neutrally, slipping into the space next to the former. They always got here ahead of her since they worked from their houses, which was closer to the Dungeon than the work site.

"Erzebed," Mikon said equally neutrally, though her usual small smile was on her lips.

Umu didn't even acknowledge she was there save for a side-eye look. The blonde seemed to take personal offense to the fact Riz was taller than her, never mind that Mikon was the same. Riz had stopped sitting next to her after one meal that had devolve into brutal elbowing at each other. Thankfully Lord Rian hadn't seen that, since he'd been playing that game with the Great Binder, but the Binder had, and had looked annoyed at someone interrupting her relaxation. So now the two kept Mikon between them.

Riz was perfectly aware of how this looked. All three of them were. Some people thought they were bead hungry, trying to seduce Lord Rian for some sort of power and influence. Others thought they were just silly women besotted with an exotic face, and arguing like children.

All right, she was willing to admit, there might be some truth to that last. He was certainly exotic compared to the pale men and women she'd grown up with, who all became very red in the sun and heat. And there was perhaps some truth that she had initially been attracted to him for a shallow, silly reason. But her mother had told her she should marry someone who would keep their mouth shut and listen when you talked without telling you what to do. It wasn't her fault that Lord Rian was one of the few people she'd ever met who had. It hadn't been for long, only until the Great Binder had arrived and made it clear she was unwanted, but he had listened.

Now she sat with two other women, both just as interested in him, to stare at his backside for the rest of the midday meal. The Great Binder clearly found them exasperating and pathetic, if her looks over Lord Rian's shoulder were anything to go by, but that was the extent of her reaction. And to be fair, the three of them weren't the only ones who enjoyed the sight of Lord Rian's backside. They were just the most blatant, and the most ignored.

It was almost enough to make her think the rumors that Lord Rian and the Great Binder were married were true. Or that Lord Rian preferred men and the Great Binder was a man. Riz had certainly never seen her in the women's bath, though some subtle asking on her part had informed her that the Great Binder used to bathe there when she had first built it. Now it seemed she bathed in her private quarters, which rumor whispered half-jokingly was built with glass and maintained by undead servants. It would certainly explain why no one had ever seen her doing her laundry in the women's bath house either.

Riz watched as Lord Rian and the Great Binder finished their third game of the midday meal. This was one of the rare days she actually managed to win, which was remarkable. On anyone else, the smug smirk on her face would have been irritating. Now, considering how intent and determined she looked after her first two losses, it was almost childishly adorable. Riz supposed it was one of the few pleasures the Great Binder had, winning at that game.

Her Bindership began to put away her stones and game board while Lord Rian gathered their bowls to be cleaned. Umu and Mikon turned their heads, wistfully watching him go.

Riz grabbed her bowl and stood up to follow him.

By the time the other two realized what she was doing and hastily scrambled to follow—to some amused snickering—Riz had managed to reach Lord Rian. He was walking with a preoccupied air, staring down at the ground ahead of him but not really seeing it. "Lord Rian?"

It took a moment for him to hear her, and he turned, nodding to her in acknowledgement. "Oh, Riz," he said. His smile was small and restrained, not like the big, wide smiles that people had once found suspicious. "Is something the matter?"

She shook her head, aware her time was dwindling. "No, nothing is the matter, Lord Rian," she said. "It's just… I was wondering if you know whether the Great Binder will be willing to conduct marriages."

Lord Rian suddenly stopped in his tracks. Then, with great deliberation, he carefully put both of the bowls he was holding in one hand, raised his other now-free hand, and let his face drop into his palm. "Idiot me," he muttered around the hand. "I should have remembered that." With a sigh, he took his hand off his face. "Does… anyone in particular need it any time soon, Riz?" He spoke in the tones of an officer expecting to hear there was an immediate emergency.

"Not that I know of yet, Lord Rian," she said innocently. "I was just wondering, is all. I could ask, if you'd like?"

"That would be very helpful, yes, please," Lord Rian said, looking relieved. "I don't think people would appreciate me asking those kinds of questions. I'll talk to her Bindership about it as soon as I can." Suddenly, he chuckled. "Knowing Lori, she might just ask them to sign something and have that be enough to declare them married."

"I'll do what I can, Lord Rian," Riz said helpfully. "It's the least I can do after I've made things more difficult for you."

Lord Rian waved a hand. "No, no, you did good. It's something I've overlooked when I shouldn't have and I'm glad you reminded me. There's no rush, though I'd appreciate it if you could let me know before the first pregnancy becomes obvious and other people start having strong opinions about whether the pairs in question should get married or not."

"You can count on me, Lord Rian," she said, trying to keep her smile restrained and non-victorious.

Rian nodded. "Good. And thank you for bringing this up, Riz. I maybe have just avoided getting surprised by something there. Was there anything else?"

She could feel  glares on her back. "No, that was all Lord Rian. I'm sorry my idle curiosity is troubling you so." She indicated his bowls. "Would you like me to take care of that for you so you can get back to work?"

He shook his head. "No, I'll take care of it. Might as well be good for something, right?" He turned and walked away, bowls in hand and now muttering to himself

A pair of hands fell on her shoulders, and Riz resisted the urge to throw the bowl into one face while punching the other as Umu and Mikon came into view. "Oh, hello you two," she said, smiling a too big, false smile. "How did you like lunch? Nothing like a good stew, is there?"

She was militia, after all. Riz wasn't going to let a pair of civilians beat her.