Weekly Digest 12 - (#36 - #38)

The Aunt and the Niece

Lori had never seen Rian so nervous. It hasn't a state she associated with her lord. He was confident, charming, kind, oblivious to other's advances, could easily be mistaken for making advances, annoyingly insightful, straightforward, theatrical, helpful, determined, and had a strange fetish for voting, but never nervous.

He was nervous now as he explained the chain of events that had led to violence to her husband, being very careful to emphasize his non-involvement until it came time to heroically rescue the man from the clutches of betrayal and save her niece from the sudden attempt on her life in the process. The woman didn't speak, didn’t ask questions, just stood listening quietly with a stern look that seemed to imply that no matter what he said, he was in trouble. Lori just sat back and let it happen, and most certainly did not have terrifying visions of the times her mothers had made her explain herself.

The militiamen, for their part, looked slightly amused at the exchange, although Lori noted they made sure to stay behind the woman when they smiled.

"…and that's what happened, Missus Vyshke," Rian finished, shuffling and clearly needing to constantly remind himself to make eye contact rather than look down at his feet. "We had no idea he was planning to hurt your husband and niece the way he did, I swear! We just came here to help get wounded people back to our demesne with their families and claim the dungeon, back when we thought it was still unclaimed. We didn't even know your niece was the Dungeon Binder until Grem attacked her and her uncle intervened."

"That doesn't explain why she was upset," the motherly Vyshke woman said. "She said a woman was saying all sort of horrible things about beating people."

"That was our Dungeon Binder trying, in her own 'not-good-with-children' way, to find out how Grem was going to be punished," Rian said. "He's one of ours now, so we have a responsibility towards his well-being, even in he probably deserves everything that's coming to him."

The Vyshke woman turned her gaze towards Lori. Lori reached over, grabbed Rian by the top of his trousers, and pulled him in front of her.

The woman probably made a face, because Rian sheepishly said, "She's not good with older people, either. I'm here to answer any questions you have on her behalf."

"And this is the woman who leads your demesne?" There was clear skepticism in the words.

"She was the only wizard still alive when we finally had to build our Dungeon," Rian said. "I'm sure you know what it's like to not be spoiled for choice."

There was a tense silence.

"She made me niece cry," the Vyshke woman said.

"Mom– Ma'am! With all due respect for your niece's pain, her father had recently died," Rian said. "If she wasn't inclined to cry and be upset, I'd be worried for her sanity. It sounds callous, but it's true. We regret our part in making her cry this time. But we only asked questions that had to be answered to settle Grem's fate."

"Oh, him. I have yet to get to him," the Vyshke woman said.

"Can we come along?" Rian said. "We'd like to know what he has to say too."

There was a moment of silence. Rian was blocking Lori's view, so she couldn't see what the Vyshke woman was doing with her face.

"I'm sure someone will tell you," the Vyshke woman said.

"As his lord and Binder, if your Binder isn't going to give him a proper trial for what he's done, that we're obligated to," Rian said. They were? "And if you're going to couch this in terms of parental concern, then as the ones in authority over Grem, we're the ones responsible for him. That means getting his side of events. That's not an unreasonable request, is it? And if we go together, we can all be sure we're being told the same thing. I just punched the man repeatedly into unconsciousness, which is a first for me, and I'm not even sure if he's still alive. At the very least, I want to know why I had to do that. Wouldn't you?"

––––––––––––––––––

River's Fork Demesne didn't have an established jail, as apparently this was the first violent altercation that had necessitated it. Previous violent altercations, they had been told when the lack of facilities was explained, had all been in good fun and not required incarceration. The Vyshke woman led the way after a quick conversation with the militia guarding them. while no orders were given, the militiamen had suddenly said it was quite reasonable that they bee allowed to see Grem to hear his side of things.

Lori suspected that if nothing else, the Vyshke woman was much more respected than her husband.

In lieu of proper holding cells, Grem had been put in the nearest abandoned house, of which there was a surplus. It wasn't a large surplus, as many had been destroyed by the dragon during its passing, but given that the demesne has housing only a fraction of what it originally had, people were hardly wanting for sufficient shelter. There were more former militia guarding it, actual swords at their waists and grim expressions

The fact the door was open was slightly concerning.

"Vollis!" one of the militiamen in the group escorting them snapped, addressing one of the militia standing guard. "Why is that door open?"

The man's hand jerked as if to make an abortive salute. "Yllian, sir," the man said. "The Great Binder wanted to see the prisoner. Don't worry, Mylls and Yvenne are with her to make sure nothing funny happens." Then she glanced, saw the Vyshke woman, and swallowed nervously. "Missus Vyshke. D-don't worry! We made sure he was unconscious first! He still hasn't woken up from his beating."

Rian coughed. "Oh, that's… slightly concerning. I hope I didn't give him a concussion or brain damage or anything…"

The militiamen eyed him warily. Grem had not been a small man, and Rian, while fit, was not a large one. He, for his part, simply smiled at them, which seemed to make them nervous.

The Vyshke woman frowned, but stepped into the house. It was a small house, seemingly made from a single, living tree that had been modified with Deadspeaking to have internal hollows that could be used for a dwelling. Presumable recently cut parts of other trees had been added to it to give it mass, given that some of the bark on the outside had different textures. After a moment, Lori and Rian were allowed to follow. The house was a single large room, about six paces in diameter. Niches for bunks had been carved along one well, and there was some kind of firepit in the middle made from sand and rocks, blackened slightly from when it had been used.

Grem was lying, still unconscious, in one of the bunk niches. There were still bloodstains on his face, now dried dark brown. Next to him, with two men standing between her and Grem, was Binder Shanalorre, looking like some who'd been caught with a staff raised to club someone in the library. Not that Lori knew what that was like, of course.

"Shana," the Vyshke woman said. "I thought I told you to stay at home, while I found out what was going on." The tone, rather than being angry, was disappointed.

Lori could feel her heart writhing at that rainbowed colors tone, and she had to remind herself repeatedly this woman wasn't one of her mothers and had no power over her. From his expression, Rian looked to be doing the same.

The girl shuffled nervously, but held her ground. She drew herself up, not that she reached very high, and met her aunt's gaze. "I asked, and was told that ninong Grem had not yet been treated for his wounds," she said, managing to keep her voice even. "As the Great Binder, I am responsible for the health of all in this demesne, so I came to heal him. He had head wounds." Her lips quavered slightly. "Tyatya said headwounds always needed to be healed first, or it could be very bad, s-so that's what I'm doing!"

The Vyshke woman nodded, as if in understanding. Lori was instantly wary. Mothers were never understanding when they were disappointed, they were just setting you up for more guilt! "I see… well, you should have asked first. Especially since I told you to stay home."

"I am Great Binder n-now," Binder Shanalorre said, clenching her teeth and briefly blinking back tears. She hastily wiped them from her eyes. "This is my demesne. I don't need permission to go anywhere."

"That's as maybe, but if I didn't take care of you, your father will rise from the ashes to haunt me for–" the Vyshke woman began.

"Well, maybe that's what I want!" Binder Shanalorre suddenly exclaimed. The tears were back, and she rubbed at her eyes angrily. "I want tyatya to rise from the ashes! So stop taking care of me so he'll come back!"

For a moment, the Vyshke woman looked like she was about to retort back, just like one of Lori's mothers would have… but she kept silent, and waited as the young Dungeon Binder stood there and cried.

"We all miss them, Great Binder," one of the militiamen said tenderly, raising one hand to gently squeeze the girl's shoulder. The other man offered her his water skin.

Rian, for his part, looked incredibly awkward, staring up at the ceiling as Lori waited through the emotional drama and hoped she didn't have to contribute anything.

Eventually, the tears stopped. The young Binder still looked absolutely miserable, her stomach and shoulder still heaving from sobs, but there was a limit to how much water the body was willing to lose to tears. Finally, even those subsided, and Shanalorre took deep, steadying breaths that shook only slightly. She gave her aunt a wary, defiant look, then reached for Grem, putting her little hands on his head.

There was nothing to see as she used Deadspeaking. Nothing to hear, no great sonorous gong as it was often depicted with in theatrical performances. Lori didn't feel anything through the cloud of airwisps she'd surrounded herself with and spread across the room, no displacement as other imbued wisps made contact with them. was that because she was yet untrained in Deadspeaking herself? She thought she'd have at least felt something, now that she was a Binder… but no, it felt the same way as it always did whenever a Deadspeaker used their magic around her: nothing.

Yet clearly something happened. The livid bruising on Grem's face faded away, replaced with healthy skin tones, and that was probably the least of what she was doing. Lori had to wonder how it was done. General introductory texts, given to everyone so they could start learning how to breathe in and circulate magic, spoke of generally of what other wizards few their magic into. Whisperers imbued them into wisps, Horotracts used it to define vistas, Mentalists somehow put it into their thoughts, and Deadspeakers turned it into… life? The texts had been generally vague, and Lori while Lori had skimmed the parts not about Whispering in curiosity, once it became clear they were absolutely no use to her she'd put them out of her mind.

She was slightly regretting that now. Slightly.

Grem's breathing changed just as the young Binder drew back, and the militiamen with her, as well as the ones who had accompanied them, became more alert, all their eyes on the man.

Grem's eyes opened slowly.

"Good afternoon Grem," Rian said brightly, making Shanalorre jump in surprise. "Had a nice nap? Because it's been a long day and we'd really like to know what you thought you were doing this morning?"

"Lord Rian…?" Grem said, sounding disoriented. "Did you do it? Did you kill her? Is everyone safe now?"

Lori became aware of glares being directed towards them. She took deeper breaths, trying not to be obvious about it.

"I swear I have no idea what he's talking about," Rian said.

––––––––––––––––––

Grem Explains Himself

The Vyshke woman moved to stand over Grem, glaring down at him. As he finished blinking and came fully conscious, he stared returning the favor.

"Grem," she said curtly.

"Vyshke," he said in the same tones.

"Is there any particular reason you tried to kill my husband and my niece, or were you just extremely drunk again?" she said coolly.

"I am not a drunk, woman! You just can't hold your beer!"

This level of personal attacks did not bode well for the neutrality of this discussion.

Fortunately, Rian stepped in. "Grem!" he snapped, punctuating it with actually snapping his fingers in the man's line of sight. "Focus. We're not here for your nonsense."

Grem's gaze focused on him. "Lord Rian…" he said.

"No talking," Rian said curtly. "You'll have time for that later. For now, you'll listen. Is that understood, soldier?"

There was an abortive jerk of hand. It was only then that Lori noticed his hands had been bound by their wrists in some manner, and that he couldn't move them from his sides. "Yes, lord," he said instead.

Rian nodded. "This woman is going to ask you questions. You will answer them. There will be no nonsense with monosyllabic answers, no holding back information by omission, no refusing to answer. You will answer, completely and honestly. Is that clear?"

"And if I refuse?" Grem said.

"I'm your lord. You don't get to refuse," Rian said. "But since you're trying to wiggle your way out of this, then if you don't, we'll consider your actions as treasonous for unilaterally trying to force Lorian Demesne into war with River's Fork, revoke your rights and our authority over you, and leave you to their mercies. You'll have gained absolutely nothing beyond destroying your reputation and honor, and most likely a painful death, with two places that could have been your home instead becoming your enemies, united in disgust against you. All your life, in ruins, and no one will even be sad about you, because the last thing you did was seemingly to murder a child for no reason." There was a beat. "I could threaten you with mutilation and torture, but honestly, I think all that sounds terrible enough. Don't you?"

Despite keeping his face smooth, Grem's throat moved as he swallowed. Rian nodded and gestured.

"He's all yours, Missus Vyshke," Rian said. He gave Grem one last look. "Remember, be honest."

The woman nodded curtly as Rian stepped back. Lori looked at him and mouthed 'treason?' slightly incredulously.

Rian shrugged.

"You heard him, Grem," the Vyshke woman said. "So, out with it. Why did you attack my husband? Why did you make my niece cry?"

"It's Lasponin's fault," Grem said, sounding almost petulant.

"You always think things are his fault," she said. "You've never really liked my husband."

"I like him," Grem protested. "In small doses…after drinking… when his brother is around."

"But you blame him anyway."

"It's his fault! If he'd only waited… that man was always thought he knew better than everyone, that everyone around him was an idiot and if they'd just do what he said things would be better. We had a plan, and he turned around and did what he wanted as soon as we were gone!" Grem snapped.

"You left us to fend for ourselves," the Vyshke woman said.

"Because he insisted on staying!" Grem said angrily. "And only because he wanted to play at being Great Binder by taking advantage of his niece! We came back, didn't we? We were going to claim the core so that people could keep living here safely. But he just had to trick her into becoming one with the core, just so he could pretend to be in charge because he's her uncle, telling people what to do."

"Some would say he's in charge because he's one of the two doctors we have left, after you all took the rest," the Vyshke woman said.

"That means he's a medical authority, nothing else," Grem said dismissively. "Anything else is arrogance."

"Is that why you attacked him, then? He angered you, and now there was no Koshay to keep you both apart, so you attacked him?"

"Is that what he said? Hah! Even in this, he has to make himself seem important," Grem sneered. "I only attacked him because he got in my way. I was trying to get to Shana."

"Ah, yes, this." the Vyshke woman said. "Why were you trying to get to Shana? Trying to separate her from her foolish, self-centered uncle?"

"Because she was the Binder," Grem said. "She had to be. Her parents were Koshay and Laven. If there was someone to suddenly arise as a wizard who could be the Binder, it would have been her. So she had to die."

The room was completely silent then as everyone stared at the man with some mix of horror and anger.

Lori, however, was looking at the young Binder standing behind the wall of militiamen. She didn't look saddened or shocked, or betrayed, or even on the verge of tear. Instead, she looked... dead. Resigned. Broken. Like one of the corpses Lori had buried.

The little girl shook…. then ran out of the room.

Her aunt and Grem didn't notice, too busy glaring at one another. Huh. Usually Lori was the one who didn't register things like that. Three of the militament had gone to follow after her, looking concerned.

"Had to die? Had to die? Are you listening to yourself?" the Vyshke woman snapped. "She's a child! She isn't even a woman yet! What's going through the stupid head of yours that you think killing a child is a good idea?-!"

"The fact that without a competent Binder to protect this place, a real Binder, one who would actually know what they're doing, everyone who refuses to leave this place will die the next time a dragon passes us!" Grem snapped. "You were there, woman! Koshay couldn't protect us! Laven did, but she died doing so in her turn as our Binder!" What? "Now you want a little girl who doesn't have a single colors-tainted idea of what she's doing to be the Binder of this place? How will she protect us? She doesn't have any of her father or her mother's learning, and Lasponin is a fool if he thinks he can teach her anything to keep a dragon back from finishing this place off! The only way to save this place was to kill her and have a real wizard claim the core."

"I've met your 'real wizard'," the Vyshke woman said. "I am not impressed."

Lori twitched, directing her glare at the woman's back. Rian sighed for some reason.

"You'll live to change what you say," Grem said. "No one died in her demesne, and she lived through the dragon's passing. As much as it pains me to say, having Shana as the Binder of this place will just leave everyone to die the next time it happens again. I was saving lives!" He turned away from her, gazing passionately at the remaining militiamen and women. "You all know it's true! How many of you actually think she can protect you when another dragon comes? Koshay couldn't and he was a learned man, a man we all know would have done everything in his power he could to protect us! And the best he could do was to kill himself and pass the title of Binder to his wife, and even she died. Now the lesser brother is giving himself airs and trying to do what Koshay couldn't, and it will get people killed! What is one life compared to all the people who could be saved?"

"Then why didn't you kill her yourself?" Rian suddenly said.

"You saw how it happened, Lord Rian," Grem said. "Her uncle got in the way–"

"Liar," Rian snapped. "The doctor stepped in front of you, but when you tackled him, you hit him into the wall, even though Shana was directly behind him. You could have kept on going straight, slammed right into her, and taken as many hits as his dinky little knife as you needed to while you snapped her neck. Even if he cut your throat, as long as you got hands on her, you'll live long enough to kill her. But instead, you pushed him aside and left the way to her open. Open for us."

"I thought that if I kept him occupied, you could–" Grem began.

"Shut up!" Rian snapped angrily, and he was angry. Lori had never seen him angry before. "You coward, you just wanted us to kill her for you because you didn't have the balls to do it yourself! You started the fight so that we'd panic and go for what seemed like the nearest solution. You made sure we could pass through the door next to you, and that you had a plausible reason not to do it yourself because you were 'occupied'. This wasn't just about you killing a little girl, this was about trying to get Lori to want to claim this demesne so badly she'd be willing to kill a child for you to do it! It's why you kept bringing it up, why you kept trying to appeal to her desire to expand her demesne… all so you could keep your hands clean. Even thought it was your plan all along."

"I didn't–" Grem protested.

"You knew who the Binder was, but you never actually toldus," Rian said. "Not until she was right there in front of us and you'd already started a fight. I guess we were supposed to catch on that it was her when you told us to kill her. Just go with it and not think anything of the fact she was a child. Or if we did, you hoped Lori would be greedy enough to kill her anyway. Not that you said anything to that effect. What, did you try to kill her and then got cold feet at the last moment, so you hoped we'd take the hint and do it for you? You didn't just want to kill a child, you were also too much of a coward to do it yourself!"

The words hung in the air, and Grem said nothing.

Instead, as he lay there, he seemed to… deflate. Like a water skin fallen and leaking out its contents, he just seemed to get smaller. His eyes met Lori's gaze, and for some reason, there was hope there.

"What?" she said, meeting his eyes. "Are you still hoping I'll kill her? Why bother? You said it yourself. This place is doomed with her as its Dungeon Binder. I can just wait for the next dragon and claim this place for myself then."

Grem's jaw dropped open. "But… everyone here would die!" he pleaded.

"I fail to see why I should care."

––––––––––––––––––

Don't Mention Your Fetish

"Any idea what's going to happen to him?" Rian asked.

They stood around the outside of Grem's impromptu prison under the light of the late afternoon sun. It felt… strange… to Lori to not have any work to do at this time of day. Usually she'd be desiccating the contents of the latrines and emptying them to make more room, or checking on the various stone plumbing for leaks or blockages, or curing wood so they could be used within the next few days.

The Vyshke woman shrugged. "That is not my decision," she said coolly. "My niece is the 'great'–" Lori could feel the quotation marks, "– Binder now. As she does not seem to want to talk to me at the moment, I should go see to my husband. Good day to you Lord Rian. I thank you for your assistance, and for choosing not to murder my niece."

She turned and walked off, not even acknowledging Lori.

"Soooo…" Rian said, glancing at the militiamen around them. "Are we under arrest? Do we have to leave the demesne?"

"The Binder will have to decide," the man who'd seemed in charge said. "When she gets around to it."

"And if, hypothetically, she doesn't?" Rian said. "Purely in the spirit of inquiry, not pressuring her or anything."

The man grunted. "You're free to leave if you want. She hasn't said anything. But that one stays." He jerked his head at Grem's prison.

Rian nodded. "If we, uh, were to spend the night… do you have any objection to us camping out in front of here? Or would we be obstructing a public road?"

The man eyed Rian suspiciously, then Lori as well for some reason– why? She wasn't anywhere near as suspicious as Rian!– before grunting. "You can all stay in there," he said, pointing at another Deadspoken wooden structure within sight of Grem's prison. "No one is using it anymore since the family moved out. Just don't do anything stupid."

"Thank you Mister Yllian," Rian said, making Lori wonder who he was talking to before realized it must be the man's name and promptly forgot about it. "Uh, if something is decided about him, could you inform us? It's for paperwork purposes, need to witness what happens and all that." They did?

"Get out of here," the man said, shooing them off.

Rian did just that, walking back towards their boat. After a few moments, he turned around and started pulling Lori along after him. Having nothing better to do, she let him

"So… what now?" Rian asked. "About Grem, I mean."

Lori glanced at him. "I hope you don't expect some sort of foolhardy rescue mission or any sort of heroic nonsense like that."

"No, he can rot in there for all I care, but I've learned not to assume I know what you're thinking," Rian said. "So, in lieu of heroic nonsense, what kind of nonsense should I expect?"

"Why do you assume it will be nonsense?"

"You used the word 'nonsense' first, I just assumed it was a blanket term for any sort of plan we come up with."

"I thought you'd learned not to assume?"

"Clearly the lesson didn't stick very well,"

Lori rolled her eyes. "Let's get back to the boat and make sure the idiot didn't damage my staff. I need to think"

"And I need to find someone who will actually answer my questions about people who want to reunite with their families who are now at Lorian," Rian said, sounding exasperated.

"Do that after you find out if they're feeding us for the night," Lori said. "And see if you can get more bread."

"Yes, your Bindership!"

––––––––––––––––––

Thankfully the idiot didn’t damage her staff, although the butt was wet and covered in dirt from negligent handling. Each of the quartz also had a little dark stain. It took her a while it realize it was dried blood. The idiot Landoor also kept looking down at Lori through his nose until Rian had pulled him aside and told him that they weren't pretending he was a Binder anymore. Surprisingly, the idiot had protested until one of the other two, Deil, had kicked him hard in the shin, and there'd been a quick, frantic, three-way conversation that had Rian's hand on his face.

Lori had looked upon this and turned to the other sensible person on the trip, Tackir. "That idiot believed some weird story about how having my staff put me in his power, didn't he?" she said.

"Worse, your Bindership," Tackir said with a sigh. "He believed a stupid story about how a Binder's staff was the source of their power, so now he was your heir."

Lori nodded solemnly. Really, she was surprised this kind of nonsense hadn't happened sooner. "Feel free to foist off as much work on him until we get back to the demesne as you want, as long as it doesn't slow us down," Lori said. There was nothing in the rights about work distribution, after all.

Tackir blinked, then smirked. "Yes, your Bindership. Justice and discipline, coming up."

"Don’t hurt him," Lori reminded. "He has rights, after all. Just make him suffer."

"Yes, your Bindership," Tackir said, sounding much more cheerful.

Petty? Extremely, but that idiot needed to be dissuaded from believing in baseless stories, especially when thy made him rub his blood on Lori's stuff! He was a grown man, after all!

Lori watched in some annoyance as the boxes– made from valuable cut planks slotted together with joinery, when had someone found time to make them?– of preserved meats were hauled out of Lori's Boat to be given to whoever was in charge of the food at this demesne. Surely there was someone, right? Still, there was nothing to be done about it. Despite his annoying initiative in not consulting her about this use of their resources, it probably wouldn't hurt to try and buy cooperation and influence with food.

She sat on the boat, guarding the stuff they were definitely not giving away, one elbow casually resting on the metal wire poking out from the bone support strut. The bone was still in good condition, with no breaks or any structural problems, so she left that be, though she reminded herself to reinforce it when they set out. The water jet had bled off some imbued magic since she'd deactivated it this morning, and she took the time to imbue it again for the journey back. They wouldn't need much. At worst, they could leave early and get back to at least the border of Lori's Demesne by nightfall. That was actually a fairly convenient travel distance, all things considered. A part of her sighed in despair at not being able to claim this place for herself. Hopefully the probationaries had also brought grain crops with them and were even now planting it in her Demesne so they'd eventually have bread…

Huh, actually, she hoped they hadn't planted yet, she hadn't had time to consider a good site for a more established field. They had some plots for wild vegetable, but those were small, experimental things as people tried to figure out how to best grow them. An actual field for crops would be different… but wait, the probationaries probably didn't have that many on them to safely transport… did they? Ugh, she'll have to ask Rian and see if he knew how much the probationaries had managed to bring with them…

These regretful thoughts filled her as she sat back on the boat, imbuing the water jet and waiting for everyone to get back so they could unload the rest of the things on the boat for the night and finally let her push it back out into the river to sleep, because there was no way she was going to sleep in the same room as them. No, not safe, not safe at all. She might not be inclined to kill their Binder, but she wasn't quite sure the reverse was true. Although… sleeping in the middle of the river would leave her vulnerable…. Ugh, where could she sleep where she was safe?-! Maybe she could find an abandoned house in the middle of the night and sleep there? Though that left the problem of doing so unseen…

She was still considering the problem when Rian came back. "So, wonderful news," he began with a bright, happy smile.

"Bread?" Lori asked.

"Bread!" Rian sighed with pleasure.

The two grinned at each other before Lori coughed and looked aside, mindful of her dignity. "Ah, wonderful news indeed," she nodded, trying not to salivate at the thought of bread for dinner. "Was that it?"

Rian nodded. "Still no word on what's going to happen to Grem. Though I'm getting the impression it's being kept quiet right now. The only ones who seem to know are the two of us, Missus Vyshke, her husband, and those militia. I guess they don't want anyone taking matters into their own hands without their Binder's decision. Personally, I think they should all get together and come to a rational decision as a group–"

"Please don't embarrass me by espousing your ridiculous voting fetish to the people here," Lori said

Rian gave her an incredulous look. "You think I'llembarrass you? And it's not a fetish, it's a rational, intelligent way of making decisions–"

"It's a bizarre fetish the way you fixate on it," Lori said flatly. "Please don't encourage the power-mad uncle by enabling him with a childish fantasy of how a demesne could be run by ignoring the decisions of its Binder in favor of other people."

"Is that how you see it?" Rian said.

"A demesne that defies its Binder is already asking to get messily murdered by that Binder," Lori said. "A demesne encouraging another demesne to defy its Binder is asking for a war after the messy murdering. Let's not complicate Binder Shanalorre's life any further, shall we?"

"But–"

"Rian," Lori said sharply. "That's enough. Leave it be. You probably think you're helping. You're wrong. Whatever they decide to do here, we can't be accused of being part of it. Understand?"

Rian blinked. "Oh…" he said in a small voice. "This is one of those 'can't do anything because anything would look bad' situations."

"Finally," Lori said. "Yes, Rian. Theoretically, any sort of organized decision making will help… but we can't be seen to have influenced the formation of that organization. It would erode Binder Shanalorre's authority and credibility."

"Weren't you planning to let her die the next time a dragon passed by so you could claim this place?" Rian said blandly.

"I'd rather not set the precedent that people can erode my authority by gaining the support of another Binder and living to tell about it," Lori said. "So no 'innocently' telling people about voting, understood? If they come up with it, it must be by themselves. We have nothing to do with it." She paused. "That is not an oblique hint that you inform them so in secret. You are not to inform them at all. Understood?"

"Almost childishly clear," Rian said dryly. "Fine. So we just sit down, not get in trouble, let Grem hang to whatever justice they come up with, and go home, right?"

Lori nodded. "I suppose you can still look for those wounded left behind by their families," she said.

"Not left behind completely," Rian said. "The ones left have at least one family member staying with them, at least from what Grem told me on the way here. Though, since she's a healer, they're probably not wounded anymore. We might still have to take two trips though, probably three, depending on how many and how much stuff they have."

"I will, of course, leave you to take care of that," Lori said.

Rian rolled his eyes. "Of course. Do you want to go see the house we'll be staying in or do you want to risk sleeping out here. It's kind of bare, but it has an internal wall dividing it into two rooms, so I can help you barricade yourself in."

Lori blinked, considering. "Yes, I suppose that will do," she said. "You're sleeping in front of the door."

"You sure you trust me with that?" Rian said, with a twisted smile.

"Probably not, but you're all I have," Lori said.

"Your faith in me makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside," Rian said blandly.

"You should talk to a doctor about that, those can't be healthy symptoms."

"Should you really be irritating the man you plan to have guard your door?"

"I'll give you a little of my bread."

"How little?"

"Very little."

"Fine, I'll take it."

Feeling like she won and lost at the same time, Lori followed Rian to see where they would be sleeping for the night.