Demesne

It was, fortunately, a proper briefing: there was a concise plan presented, painstakingly laying out the steps they would follow. There were exact directions on how things were to be done which were very detailed and included those tangled scribble-like diagrams for how one was supposed to make the magic, and had always reminded Yhal of either a tree or a child's idea of what map directions looked like. The order in which things would be excavated was emphasized—mine passage, food storage, main dragon shelter, and finally water reservoir—was given particular emphasis, explicitly stating that had to be in that order—or at least how expanding the mine passage had to come first—so that subsequent steps were easier, mostly from having more space to move rock through. Each step was followed with why it was important, such as how expanding the main passage would allow more people through at a time when the shelter was used, expanding food storage would allow for more food to be stored in cold room conditions—wait, they had a cold room?—and expanding the dragon shelter would allow more people to be safe in the event of a dragon, especially since it had been designed to house only a fifth of the people currently in the demesne.

It was, unfortunately, a proper briefing: there was a concise plan presented, painfully laying out the steps they would follow, specifying exactly how everything was to be done or-else-the-ceiling-will-cave-in-and-kill-you-and-no-you-are-not-to-use-earthwisps-to-reinforce-the-stone-what-happens-if-some-lazy-slug-misses-a-day-no-this-ceiling-will-hold-up-without-any-bindings-to-reinforce-it, as well as much more detailed descriptions of how the screaming would sound when the collapse occurred, the smell of the blood mixed in with the rock dust, how many of those hurt would likely be children, and how everyone in the demesne would know to blame them because they were the ones who worked on it.

And like a briefing, there were so many items that someone had to be drafted—in this case Sulli—to write out all the items so that no items could be potentially missed. The Whisperer had written in light against the dark stone of the wall, and only the fact that Binder Shanalorre was visibly pacing her words to allow Sulli to keep up was letting the woman write everything down.

"—stone will be used to build the outside shelter that will provide everyone a more secure and insulated place to stay than simply tents," Binder Shanalorre said, pausing to let Sulli's finger finish writing on the stone. "Depending on how long it will take you all to finish excavating, there might be time to begin building individual homes for families. However, if the winter snows have already begun to fall, then that will have to wait until spring."

Now that he was actually listening to what she was saying instead of just thinking she was a child—the aches all over his body really helped with that—Yhal could appreciate her priorities. Though the way she was treating everyone like idiots who needed to be watched every moment of every day to keep them from cutting their toes off with their own shovel was slightly annoying. They were militia, they knew better than that!

… although, being honest, she was probably right to do so. Most of the time this sort of work was done by enlisted militia with tools, since wizards were better off doing something else or held in reserve in case of wild beasts, bandits, or simply emergencies. With the exception of those who were a part of engineering banners, wizards rarely did work like this, and never to this extent. Yhal… wasn't really sure how diligent they would be at it. After all, everyone liked to joked that most 'wizard work' was sitting around and staring at nothing, and the kind of constant and active magic that Binder Shanalorre was requiring them to use… well, it was something the wizards could do, but in short bursts. Not something sustained all through a working day. Not in his experience, anyway.

"Mentalists will assist with transporting the stone. If needed, cut them into narrower pieces to fit through the mine entrance. Their final shape does not matter, but we need the stone as building material, so do not simply throw them into the river. Do so and you will be retrieving those rocks by hand. Once transporting rocks is no longer needed, you will be moved to hunting parties for rapid movement of downed beasts back to the dome so they do not need to be butchered in the field."

Although, when you thought about it, there wasn't really any reason the wizards couldn't do it. It was just breathing and doing magic, which they did in their heads, so it wasn't actually tiring. It was just… magic, only instead of sitting around and staring at nothing, they probably need to walkaround as they stared at rocks, which was probably no big change. However, the way all the wizards looked like they were being asked to do it all by hand, perhaps they knew something he didn't. Probably.

"Deadspeaker duties will be divided as follows: assisting the maintenance of currently standing houses; acceleration of the growth of our crops, fruits and firewood trees; dealing with any Deadspeaking related to teeth, and all nuisance requests regarding healing. Unless it's bleeding wounds, broken bones, debilitating illness, or anything related to the health of the children, it's a nuisance I don't have time for. The demesne's resident doctors know what to handle themselves and what to bring to my attention. Also, I must emphasize that Doctor Lasponin has no authority of any sort whatsoever. Anything he says that isn't strictly about medical care may be safely ignored."

"…isn't he your uncle, Binder Shanalorre?" Rilianne said.

"Yes." Her tone said that was the end of that, though everyone no doubt tucked away the fact the man had some sort of falling out with his niece. "As already stated, beyond the initial survey, the Horotracts' primary duty is to expand the food storage vault so that all supplies can fit inside until it can be expanded with excavation. Once food storage has been expanded, you will be transferred to the baths so that you can expand its capacity until a larger bath can be built. Depending on the availability of raw materials, you might be required to maintain the latter until well into spring."

"Binder Shanalorre, can't we simply use wood as building materials for some things? Like a steam bath?" Fraks asked. The woman loved her steam baths, and had always found some way to make one in the field, even if it was just a literal cloud of hot mist that stayed at ground level, or a barrel covered by a canvas.

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"All carpentry tools will be occupied and in use," Binder Shanalorre said. "Unlike Lorian Demesne upriver, we do not have a saw mill, so turning logs into the planks necessary would take up time, manpower, and most especially space that we could ill-afford to squander. Given the average thickness of many trees in the area, not rendering them into planks before using their wood as building material would be an unconscionable waste of usable resources. And using whole trees would require the direct involvement of at least one Deadspeaker, who would be diverted from work that could be used to directly feed the demesne through the winter and into spring. What tools the demesne has will be in use to build tables, chairs, buckets, wheelbarrows for the transport of latrine black, and sheds for latrines." She paused, giving Sulli's writing time to catch up, then continued, "If one of the demesne's barrels goes missing, I will know who to blame. Those are used to store drinking water for the dragon shelter, and each one is accounted for."

Fraks chose not to respond to that.

"Now, for those of you who insist on spending time with your family…" Binder Shanalorre spoke the words as if they were a personal failing, like drinking too much or being sloppily dressed, "…I suppose there's no reason for them to not stay with you here. It will serve as greater motivation for you to not excavate incorrectly. However, the children will be staying where they are, as it is safer and will prevent nonsense about people trying to move into the houses due to them being under-occupied. As to the work schedule, it begins immediately after breakfast and ends at sundown. Before excavation begins, I have a document in my office for the Whisperers to read that will detail exactly how they are expected to excavate the stone according to the Great Binder's standards. You will read it, and we expect you to thoroughly understand it before you begin work." There was a longer-than-usual pause. "Do any of you have any questions?"

"Binder Shanalorre, the Whisperers won't be able to keep up that pace," Rilianne said immediately. "Even resting on Hope, Soll and Vont, that pace will be exhausting."

The little Dungeon Binder tilted her head in reply. "Firstly, who said anything about resting? No one here stops to rest on those days. There is far too much work to be done." There was a brief pause, before she added, "Additionally, we've mostly lost track of what the days are. It simply doesn't matter here."

"You force people to work every day?" Nansi said, aghast.

"I don't have to. Everyone knows there is work to be done and we do not have the luxury of spending days doing nothing while winter is approaching. If I didn't need to brief you all, I would be assisting Karina with seeling." The first actual expression came over her face, consisting of worry and concern. "If someone doesn't watch that girl, she'll try to catch a full-grown seel with her bare hands by jumping into the water after it."

"Does this mean we can choose to rest if we want to?" Yhim said.

The moment of humanity vanished from Binder Shanalorre's face, the frozen lake returning. "Actually do work before you start speaking of needing rest," she said. "So far, you've hardly done anything that you need the rest for."

"That doesn't change the fact that we'll need to rest eventually," Yhim pressed.

"You'll have all winter to rest. It's only two months away." She let out a frustrated breath. "I will make it clear: you are the only workforce capable of performing this task in a timely manner given the constraints that the demesne is currently under. While you are all assured of being able to sleep indoors because you are assigned to sleep in the dragon shelter, two-hundred and sixty-three people will not be, and they are waiting upon all of you to fix that. Even with the current population of the demesne, we do not have enough tools for them to break through solid rock and haul it out in a timely manner, nor are they skilled enough for them to conduct such a massive excavation without risking those excavations caving in. However, even if we had the tools, it would draw away labor from other areas where they can be utilized more efficiently, such as food production and logging. If you do not do this, none of my new residents save the children will be able to sleep indoors when winter arrives. And while that would probably make for a memorable winter, what with the inevitable deaths that will occur, I would rather we avoid the possibility. But if you believe regularly spending days at a time sitting around and staring at nothing while everyone else is busy doing actual work is more important, then I suppose you will do so." Binder Shanalorre let out another breath, and what little frustration on her face smoothed out. "Any other questions?"

"I have one," Makoi declared as he pointed at her. "All right, it's clear that you're the Dungeon Binder here, but why are you in charge? Actually in charge?" He waved at Yllian standing nearby, who had not interrupted once through the briefing. "Yllian has years of experience on you, knows what it takes to set up and run a camp, and actually has people's respect. If you want me to bow my head and call you 'Great Binder', fine, but with all respect to your position, 'Great Binder', you're ten. You have no experience dealing with logistics or command, and you definitely have no experience with medicine, so you have absolutely no medical authority to declare that someone is 'fine'. Just because you're the highest ranked person here doesn't mean you know what you're doing."

"That might have been true a year ago," Binder Shanalorre said, voice dry as metal left out in the cold, "but this place can change a person." She spread her arms in a gesture that… well, that Yhal thought people only did in the theater and not real life. "Your criticism was once valid but no longer relevant. And while my experience with medicine is rudimentary, my experience with water immersion and potential drowning is much more extensive. Your patient only had a headache due to water in his sinus tissues and nothing more. Had there been anything actually wrong with him, I would have intervened, just as I always have. I am the Dungeon Binder, after all. Our purpose is to keep you all alive. Not rested. Not happy. Alive. Only when you're alive can you have all the other things."

She turned away, picking up the stone that glowed with light and palming it with a practiced movement. "This briefing is concluded. As I said, the next half hour is yours so that you may see to your… concerns." Her tone made it clear she thought they were just being lazy. "Whisperers, the relevant construction plans and flow diagrams are with Yllian. Read it and sign the paperwork that you have read it, in that order. If you do not work today, you will receive no dinner, and poaching and hoarding food is punishable by beating. I leave you to make your choices as to what you will be doing. Make good ones, for the sake of two-hundred and sixty-three people around you." Giving them one last blank look, she shone the light towards the entrance of the room, her steps almost silent on the stone as she left.