Demesne

Thankfully, before Lori left River's Fork she was able to build a means of keeping the demesne's binding sustained. It had involved making a stone bowl, taking a metal spoon that Yllian had been able to provide, and several of the beads they kept on the Coldhold for imbuing the salt water evaporator and other small bound tools on the boat. A thread of light was anchored to the stone bowl, the spoon was stuck into the stone, and the beads were poured in so that at least one of the beads would be touching the spoon at all times.

That many beads probably weren't necessary—Lori had been heavily imbuing the binding all day—but it was better to have some redundancy while Lori built a more permanent solution, or at least a better stopgap. Unfortunately, she didn't have any wire in her belt pou—bead purse, or else she'd have built something suitable already, but perhaps that as for the best. She had placed the bead bowl in Shanalorre's office, and had been planning to use a line of darkwisps instead of lightwisps so that it wouldn't be bright at night, but when she'd been putting the bowl into place on the desk Shanalorre had requested the change. Well, her prerogative.

The fact that the beads were in Shanalorre's office would probably deter casual interference or most thievery of opportunity, but Lori was half-expecting to hear someone had done something stupid—well, something stupid directly related to the beads in the bowl—so she would probably need to account for that for the more permanent bead receptacle.

"Maybe you can just run a thread from the dome to Lorian and connect the bindings to the core?" Rian suggested as they rode back home. He clearly noticed the expression on her face at those words, because the next thing he said was, "All right, how many wrong things did I just say?"

Lori tapped a knuckle with a thumb. "First, the Iridescence outside of the demesne will slowly cause the binding to degrade as they trap the wisps in the binding. Secondly, allowing something to have a direct connection to my core that is literally outside of my control is a terrible idea that's just waiting to be used against me. Thirdly, that's a lot of work, I don't want to."

"Ah. So I suppose my backup suggestion of just sticking the end of a line into the demesne so you can imbue it from home is equally unviable."

Lori gave him a flat look. Rian seemed completely sincere. "Yes."

He sighed, then looked thoughtful. "Would it still happen if you wrapped the light in darkwisps? Or ran the lightwisps underwater through the river? After all, isn't that why we made the cargo box, because water and darkwisps protects against the Iridescence?"

Lori hesitated as well. Actually, put like that… "That doesn't change the fact I don't want to do it."

Rian sighed again, sounding resigned. "Well, there is that. And I suppose it's probably not really viable on a large scale. I mean, if it were someone would have probably tried to do something like that. Never mind, it was a stupid idea…" He shook his head as if clearing his head of flows of thought. "So, what do you think of our new settlers?"

"They're idiots," Lori said bluntly.

"What, even the children?"

"They're the children of idiots."

Rian coughed, and fortunately he had the presence of mind to turn his face away from her. She shifted a little away from him anyway, just in case. "Fair point, I suppose. You sure you want to go back tomorrow? I could just bring Shanalorre more beads for the binding."

Lori waved a hand dismissively. "I need to be there to anchor the binding properly to the new bead receptacle. However, I will be returning quickly."

"If it's just a quick trip, can you take your shed boat instead of the Coldhold, then? We've already delayed sending the ship down to the ocean to get salt, and will all the new people we'll need to be supporting, we'll need it. Until we can expand the cold stores in the food storage, we might need to salt their meat to preserve it instead of freezing it." He sounded apologetic as he said it for some reason.

"I was planning on doing so in any case," Lori said. "I have other things to do that day, after all."

Rian nodded. "I think two trips will be enough to give us sufficient reserves for both demesnes. After that, we should pack up to deliver the beads we agreed on to Covehold Demesne. It will be our last chance to buy anything from there before winter sets in, and we might need more raw material for clothes, boot leather and boot soles, and metal for more tools and protective plating on the dragon shelter."

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Lori frowned at the list. "Do we really need all that?"

"I'm not sure what warm clothes our new arrivals have on them, and having more materials for new boots aren't likely to go to waste. Better to have it and not need it than need it and have no way to get it."

She grunted, then waved her hand. "Bring me a list for approval," she said. Her lord nodded again, and smiled or some reason. The expression instantly made Lori suspicious. "What now?"

"Just thinking I'll need to buy more ink and paper. Between that receipt trap and all the instructions you'll probably be sending to River's Fork to tell the new wizards what to do so you don't have to meet them face to face, we might actually need to start establishing a proper bureaucracy." He shrugged. "Something we can work on over the winter."

Lori gave her lord a flat look. "And that makes you smile?"

"It's either smile or cry, and I made a choice."

Once Lori was back in her room and had wire available, she quickly made a better bead receptacle for River's Fork. After a moment's hesitation, she reluctantly took one of the bound tool cores she had removed and added it to the base of the receptacle. A wisp anchored to white Iridescence wasn't notably distinctive, and the only thing that would seem unusual about bindings that were anchored to the substance was how it didn't simply dissipate once it was out of imbuement. In an active binding, especially one being imbued by a bead, it would seem completely unremarkable unless one knew what to look for and whether to look for it.

The finished product was basically a cylindrical jar with a lid—which had surprisingly been the hardest thing for her to shape—all of it made of bone. A platter-like copper bead receptacle lined the bottom, which was embedded into the bone. Lori also anchored a lightwisp on the outside to allow the receptacle to act as a wisplight.

The next day, she took the boat that she used for when she went to the edge of the demesne to make beads and returned to River's Fork to replace the temporary bead receptacle and give Shanalorre a supply of beads for it.

"Check the number and size of beads every day, both in the morning and before you sleep," Lori instructed the other Dungeon Binder as she placed the bead receptacle on the table that acted as Shanalorre's desk. She pointed at the shallow bowl sticking out from the base of the bowl. "Do not let anyone else touch it, most especially any of the wizards. Understood?"

"Yes, Great Binder," Shanalorre said dutifully.

"At noon, or whenever the light on the rock I gave you turns yellow, take the rock and place it here." Lori indicated where the thread of light that connected receptacle to the rest of the binding was visibly anchored. "Ensure that the thread of light is in contact with the glowing surface of the rock. You may retrieve it when the rock is no longer yellow."

It was wasn't much, but it was the best way she could think of to check on the integrity of the binding without actually having to set foot in the demesne. Shana's rock had lightwisps from her eyes, which she'd been using to imbue it from a distance. As long as she kept it imbued and aligned to herself, Lori could use it no matter how far away it was. And if it was in contact with the binding, Lori should be able to use it as a means to bind and claim the binding and check that no one had anchored any new bindings to it or altered the binding into something else.

"Yes, Great Binder," Shanalorre repeated.

"I will send you beads every couple of days to ensure you can maintain the binding. Do not allow the beads to run out, or allow the wizards to get their hands on any."

"Understood, Great Binder."

Lori frowned down at Shanalorre, somehow feeling that what she'd said was insufficient, but she honestly couldn't think of anything else… "I will not return tomorrow. You may authorize the wizards to leave the edge at your leisure. Remember that they are to sleep and maintain the dragon shelter." The papers with the instructions for excavating the mine passage and dragon shelter was already on Shanalorre's desk, waiting to be distributed. From the way the pages were disarrayed, Lori got the sense that the other Dungeon Binder had actually read them. Well, Lori hadn't told her she shouldn't…

"I will see it done, Great Binder."

A curt nod. "If you have any matters to bring up, now is the time. Otherwise I will be leaving until Rian reports there's enough stone on the site of the shelter to begin construction."

Shanalorre began to shake her head when she paused and frowned. "There… is a matter I would ask your opinion on, though I will understand if you have nothing to say."

Lori tilted her head. "What is it?"

"Karina has been seeling as usual, but for some reason she has been leaving a seel hanging on a hook on the washing line we use outside of my office. When I inquired about it, she just said it was for me, and seemed confused when I inquired further. I remember her doing something similar in Lorian Demesne, but I never inquired as to the reason for it."

…

Oh. That. "Oh, that," Lori said. "Karina is paying you her taxes."

Shanalorre looked confused. "Her taxes?"

Lori nodded. "It is likely that since she is residing in this demesne, she believes she is supposed to pay you taxes as you are the Dungeon Binder here."

"I see. What should I do with the seels, then?"

Lori shrugged. "Whatever you wish. She's giving them to you." A thought occurred to her, and she added, "As we have not yet begun official taxation, I will not be requiring a percentage of the taxes from you."

"That is much appreciated, Great Binder."