The coming of winter was somehow still a surprise.

Lolilyuri had simply woken up one morning thinking that everything seemed comfortably cool, and had gone about her morning ablutions, washing herself and changing her clothes—as a bit of an indulgence, she'd put on a pair of the new socks, chest wraps and loin cloth and oh they had felt so thick and fluffy!—only to come down to the dining table carrying the sunk board to find Rian sitting at the table wrapped up in his blanket.

"Rian" Lori sighed, "what are you doing?"

"Currently, freezing," Rian said. "All right, I admit, I'm not actually freezing, but I AM cold."

Lori frowned. "Why?"

Rian stared at her, then blinked and… leaned down to lightly knock his head on the table. What? "Sorry, forgot you slept in the dungeon. I think we can officially say that it's winter." He jerked his head sideways in the general direction of her Dungeon's entrance. "You probably didn't notice, being in here and all, but shortly after dinner, it rained. And this morning, all that rain was frozen. Given the clear shift in weather, I think it's safe to say winter's here. We might start seeing snow in the coming week."

Lori nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. How long before the miners would have changed shifts?"

Rian made a face, and from the movements of his blanket he seemed to be counting on his fingers. "Maybe half a week? I sort of stopped really keeping track once I wasn't the one doing the ferrying anymore. I'll ask Clowee, but shouldn't be much more than that, probably less."

She hummed. "And the status of the Coldhold?" She checked and found it was currently outside of the demesne.

"Should be on its way back today," Rian said. "Especially if they felt the cold earlier than us. We'll have to think of a faster way to load water into the evaporator than manually using buckets, it's inefficient."

Lori tried not to be impatient. Her lord was raising a good point after all, and she herself was still thinking… "You said you were going to bribe River's Fork with salt. How is that coming along?"

"Well enough. They haven't slapped any toll fees on us, and according to the miners it's been very welcome in the demesne. The bread's gotten tastier and they've been using all the rest to salt-cure the meat they have. There's also been the not-subtle indications that they want more. I think we should sell it to them, before they actually do decide to charge us a toll or a customs duty just to get more salt."

Lori nodded. "And how have we been doing, in terms of salt requirements?"

Rian shifted, trying to pull his blanket tighter around himself. "Saturated, mostly. Most of our food's frozen, which already works pretty well, but some of the recently acquired meat was salted at my request, mostly to see how well it turns out and how it affects the flavor of the meat. At the very least it's a good preservation method that doesn't need your support, and it will probably be our primary food supply on the Coldhold and any other ships that will be away from the demesne for a long time. More compact and we don't need to worry about Iridescence damage. Uh, the tanners have all they need and a decent surplus besides, so at this point most of it is surplus and can be sold, though we'll need dedicated storage for it if we're going to stockpile it here before taking it to Covehold. Someplace that doesn't get wet. Though if we had a more efficient means of putting water through the evaporator, the Coldhold could leave here with an empty hold, sail straight to Covehold, and arrive there with a hold full of salt that they just have to unload. It's practically money for no work whatsoever, so it's nearly all profit!"

By the end of the assessment, Rian was grinning widely, and it was the first time Lori could actually call his expression 'avaricious'. Well, she could understand. Given the logistics of his plan, it was money for practically nothing.

Lori nodded again. "Very well. With the coming of winter our mining agreement with River's Fork has reached its conclusion. This will be the last batch of miners. When the Coldhold comes back, and you've taken measures against the cold, we'll take the Coldhold to River's Fork and make arrangements for transferring our share of the mined metal once I refine it, unless we choose to renew the agreement come spring. While you're there, I also authorize you to arrange to purchase their surplus grain and any still edible fruits in exchange for our salt."

Rian… groaned.

"What was that?" Lori said, a bit surprised at her lord's reaction. Usually he capped his complaints off at a sigh.

Rian dutifully repeated the groan, though seemingly with a bit more emphasis. "Oh, don't worry, I'll do it. I just… well, need to see if the tanners have any furs for me to keep from freezing to death on the way there. They and the weavers have been preparing winter clothes for everyone, but… " Rian groaned again. "I now fully sympathize with your stance of never wanting to leave the demesne again. You're right, it's a terrible idea, let's not do it."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"So you finally understand. You're still going to River's Fork."

Rian groaned a third time as Mikon slipped onto the bench next to him, nodding to Lori and not speaking to her as Lori placed the board between them. The weaver seemed to be wearing two skirts, and there was a thick shawl around her shoulders, while a scarf was wrapped around the lower part of her face and neck. "Good morning, Rian," Mikon said as she unwrapped the scarf. "I'll bring you the winter robe Umu and I made for you once I finish the last of the sewing. I'm sorry it's taking so long, but you did say we make the children and the pregnant women our priority."

Lori blinked. "We have pregnant women?"

Rian gave her a disbelieving look. "What did you think people were doing in the Um?" he said. "Some didn't even wait that long, I'm pretty sure we have a few women who conceived on the way here, or at least when we'd already picked this area to set up the demesne." For some reason, Mikon sighed, looking… wistful? "And yes, we should have enough supplies to have a good chance of not losing anyone to childbirth. It would be far, far better if we had an experienced Deadspeaker, but I knew your views on such things and rigorously complied with them. If babies die, they die, not your problem."

Lori almost flinched at the words. Almost. Mikon was not as controlled with her expressions, and looked at Rian with shock on her face.

"Well, make sure they have sufficient firewood, or whatever else they need," Lori said, waving a hand dismissively. "And have the doctors and medics compile a list of things they'll need in the event of a birth that we can build or provide in the demesne. If there's something there I need to do, I'd rather know sooner than later."

"Yes, your Bindership," Rian said dryly.

"Also, while you're in River's Fork, you are to prioritize continued access to Binder Shanalorre's healing over the grain and fruit," Lori said. "If necessary, narrow it down to healing for pregnant women and newborns."

Rian hesitated. "Respectfully speaking your Bindership, even if she agrees, that's going to be a logistical nightmare. The Coldhold will need far better internal heating if we want to keep those women, never mind babies, from getting sicker from the journey. And that's just if we we're bringing pregnant mothers over. Bringing a sick baby to River's Fork with the resources we have right now might as well be a death sentence. Even if we get them to River's Fork to be healed, given conditions it's very likely they'll just get sick again on the way back." Next to him, Mikon was nodding fervently.

"What do you suggest, then?"

Rian hesitated. "A simple solution comes to mind… but you're not going to like it. And will probably think it's some kind of disaster waiting to happen."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "Then why suggest it?"

"Because it's simple, viable, and you'd basically be the biggest obstruction to it getting done," Rian said simply. "You yourself personally."

Lori frowned. "What sort of insane solution have you come up with?"

"As I said, a simple one," Rian said. "If we need to have pregnant women and babies healed, then we invite Shana—"

"Binder Shanalorre," Lori corrected irritably. "Really Rian, stop making this mistake."

"She's not actually here to hear me say it, you know."

"It's a bad habit to get into!" Then she realized the rest of what he had been saying. "Wait, what do you mean 'invite'?-!"

Rian sighed. "Well, we invite Binder Shanalorre over to perform the healing here as needed in the event of pregnancy complications or a baby getting sick."

"Impossible," Lori said immediately. "She would never leave her demesne."

"We haven't asked her yet. There's a chance she'll say 'yes'," Rian shrugged.

"She'd never agree to something so personally dangerous."

"Uh, respectfully your Bindership, while many of the people who didn't like how you're running Lorian decided to leave for River's Fork, the people here don't actually have any animosity towards Binder Shanalorre. Closer to apathy, really. There's actually a lot of people here who know her and feel sorry for her, given all she's been through. She's actually far safer visiting here than you would be visiting River's Fork, and you already know not to walk around alone when you go there. Literally the only person who could have a reason to be a danger to her is you." Rian hesitated. "And possibly Landoor. He still thinks he's somehow your successor and will somehow gain magical ability if he claims a Dungeon's core. Or something. But if we take him to the other side of the river, he shouldn't be a problem. Well, unless the river freezes over and he tries walking on it."

Lori glared at him.

Rian shrugged. "As I said, it's simple, viable and you'd be the biggest obstruction to it. And remember, this is only in the event of complications during childbirth. There are other ways we can mitigate the risk for it. For example, we make arrangement with River's Fork to bring expecting mothers there when they're close to term. The trip is short, it's easier to keep the mother warm when she's not in labor, and there's no risk to them to go there because they're not you, and it's far easier and safer to make arrangements for the mother and child to stay there over the winter than it is to bring the child back. At that point, the relative logistics to keeping our own people fed and warmed for the duration is its own separate problem, but I'll leave it up to you to decide how the costs and difficulties to keep some of our people fed and warm in River's Fork while they wait for winter to be over, versus trying to convince Binder Shanalorre to just visit long enough to heal the baby and have a warm meal compare to each other."

Lori kept glaring at him. Her lord merely pulled his blanket tighter over himself.

Finally, Lori said, "If you somehow manage to convince Binder Shanalorre to agree to such a request, then you may inform her that I will guarantee her safety while she is in my demesne. I find it unlikely she will, but I suppose if someone can convince a child to leave the safety of her home it would be you."

"Please don't phrase it like that, you make me sound like a terrible person," Rian said blandly.

Mikon leaned against him, reaching across his back to give him a reassuring pat before giving his shoulder a squeeze.

Lori raised an eyebrow as Rian suddenly leaned into Mikon with a sigh, closing his eyes. "Ah… so warm…"

"R-rian?" Mikon stammered, surprised.

"Ahh, that's so nice…" The blanket wrapped around Rian shifted, and Lori saw his arm reach out and wrap around Mikon's waist, pulling the weaver to him. "So warm…!"

"Please don't do anything inappropriate at the table, I eat here," Lori said flatly.