It was well after dinner and even the line of hopefuls at the Um had long dispersed, deciding they'd rather have sleep than sex. Riz had checked every room, having grown inured to the musky smells the people who used them left behind, to make sure no one was sleeping there overnight and leaving the doors open to air out. Tomorrow was cleaning day at least, and already she had a list of people to go press into carrying the beds out into the sun and scrubbing the floors so that it didn't stink. Everyone knew the Great Binder's conditions, but everyone always complained, as if she or the others who managed the Um didn't all take note of who went in for exactly this purpose.

Riz was putting away the waterclocks and catch jars for them into the shelf under the front table, throwing the water outside and trying not to think about what state people's hands might have been in when they'd touched the things when Mikon knocked on the front doors, looking freshly bathed, her hair a little damp and holding the small bucket that contained her soap, her scrubbing rock and her towel. "Tah," Mikon greeted her. "I saw the lights on. Are you done?"

"Almost," Riz grunted, putting the last of the catch jars under the table. Thankfully, none of the jars or clocks were cracked that day. Every day she thought of asking Gunvi to make one or two spares, and every day she just didn’t seem to have the time. There simply weren't enough hours for all the things she had to do. "There, all done."

They stepped outside and Riz closed the doors and shut it with a simple bar. Light shone from under the door, the Um's lights continuing to burn at all hours of day or night thanks to the Great Binder's power. The bar on the door wasn't really meant to keep people out, only to mark that the Um was closed, and to perhaps keep out bugs and chokers from nesting.

"You sure you don't want to take a bath?" Mikon asked as Riz slid the bar in place. "I can keep you company."

Riz tried to ignore how her sides itched. "I'll take a bath tomorrow," she said tiredly. "It'll wake me up. Now come on before you start complaining about how cold it is." Really, it was a perfectly warm for fall, but Mikon wasn't the only one who acted like it was the core of winter. The woman was always taking late baths, then asking Riz to walk her home because she was afraid of running into a choker in the dark. Tonight was another one of them. Really, the woman could be so helpless sometimes…

"You sound grumpy," Mikon said, holding her bucket in one hand as she wrapped her other arm over Riz's shoulders, sighing as she pressed herself again Riz's side. "Ah, so warm… another long day?"

Riz sighed, which was answer enough. Some days working for the Great Binder were worse than others, and today had been one of the more frustrating ones. There were people asking her to ask the Binder for land, for lights inside their houses, for magic to warm their houses, probably for beds stuffed full of beads if they thought they could get away with it. Well, probably not that last, they had more sense than that, but it seemed like it sometimes. As if this wasn't already more than what they had left behind in their old lives. "Maybe the Great Binder has a point," she said tiredly. "I don't want to talk to people anymore! They're idiots!"

"Is this about what I heard Etwart was saying about how the harvest should belong only to the farmers who've been tending to the crops?" Mikon said.

Riz let out a frustrated groan in reply.

"Ah…" the weaver said in sympathy, nodding and giving her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder. She leaned towards Riz. "Tell you what. It's late and everyone's probably already asleep. Why don't we go to Rian's house and use his bed…?"

Riz flushed, both at the thought and the feeling of breath on her ear from Mikon's whisper. "I thought you wanted to get home?"

"Consider this me paying you back for walking me home," the breath tickled Riz's ear again. "Come on, just a little while. You know it makes you feel better…"

Riz was suddenly very aware of how much she itched. "No, no, it's fine. You just took a bath, after all, and I haven't. I wouldn't want to get my sweat and dirt on you… "

"I can take getting a little dirty," that breath tickled. "Besides, I can't leave you like this. You'll probably stay up too annoyed to sleep and not get enough rest. Let me get you to relax. It's the least I can do… "

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Riz shuddered. "Well… all right… but just a quick one…"

Mikon smiled. "We can be as quick as you want… "

––––––––––––––––––

They didn't have a bedroll, so the bed was hard and stiff on her back and legs. Yet her head rested on a soft, warm cushion of guilty pleasures as Mikon's hand stroked her gently, and Riz released her frustrations.

Quietly. It was still the middle of the night, after all, and they didn't want to be caught…

"—so the fool was suggesting that they divide the harvest among themselves, then sell it to the demesne at the price they choose," Riz just barely managed not to rant. "As if they weren't going to ask everyone for help to reap the harvest for them, or be storing the vigas in a shed Binder Lori made, in jars that belong to the demesne! No, just because they put the stupid things on the ground and kept watering them—using water Binder Lori put there for the purpose!—he thinks that they—!"

"Calm, calm," Mikon urged her, gently stroking Riz's hair back from her face. Riz strangled the rant that wanted to get out, closing her eyes and focusing on the warmth of the weaver's thigh under her head. "Let it out gently."

Riz took a deep breath, sighed it out. "It's just… so frustrating. How did Rian deal with these idiots?"

"Very well, I think," Mikon said, and Riz had to think a moment before figuring out what the woman meant. She focused her eyes to give the weaver a flat look. After months of sitting opposite Binder Lori, she'd learned how to make her looks very flat. Mikon shrugged shamelessly. "Well, he did deal with it very well. What happened next?"

Riz grunted, closing her eyes as Mikon continued stroking her hair, her other hand on Riz's shoulder. "Well, he started talking about trading his grain to the demesne for land, and having the Binder make him a bigger house that he owned and not his daughter. I told him if he felt like that, then he should tell the Great Binder himself. The little slug started insisting that I do it, because that was I was here for. Too much of a coward to make his stupid demands to Binder Lori's face himself."

"So not only did he have a stupid idea, he knew it was stupid enough that he didn't want to be in front of Binder Lori when she found out?" Mikon said. "So you punched him?"

Riz sighed, closing her eyes as she recalled. "Oooh, yes…" Mikon's hand that was on her shoulder moved down and gently picked up her wrist, fingers gently stroking her knuckles. "Other hand." Her right hand fell on her chest as Mikon picked up her left.

"Did it hurt?" Mikon asked.

"Eh, his face was soft, it was like punching a pillow," Riz said, closing her eyes. That was a lie. Punching the man's face had hurt, mostly because she'd done it wrong. She was glad none of her friends had seen her throw that punch. It was embarrassing. "But aside from him, the other farmers were far more reasonable. So the demesne's harvest isn't going to be held hostage to try and blackmail Binder Lori." Riz snorted, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of the fingers stroking her hair. "Idiotic idea anyway… but I still had to deal with it…" The bed was still hard and stiff under her, but the night air was pleasantly cool, and the fingers stroking her were relaxing. She could feel herself growing comfortably drowsy.

"Feeling better?" Mikon said softly, rousing Riz before she crossed the line into sleep.

"Hmm?"

"You're feeling better. Come on, get up so you can sleep in your own home."

Riz groaned as she realized she had to move—it was so comfortable! "Just a little longer…" she muttered, turning to lie down on her side. The hard planks of the bed pressed against her arm, waking her up just as she realized her face was now buried in Mikon's stomach. Her nose was filled with the smell clinging to Mikon's clothes, a thick, musky scent…

She turned the other way, settling onto her back before Riz pushed herself upright, one hand on the wooden boards under her. The fingers stroking her retreated as she sat up, rolling her shoulders and straightening her back. In the dark of the house, with the only light coming from outside, she hoped Mikon didn't see her blush.

"What, do I still stink or something?" Mikon huffed.

"No, no, you smell fine," Riz said hastily. "I just… well, you're right, we should go home now…"

She hastily go to her feet, twisting her spine to soften it again after lying down on those boards. How had their Binder managed it? She'd been sleeping on that bed for months without a proper bedroll…

Mikon held up her hands. "Pull me up," she demanded. "My legs are asleep."

Riz sighed, and took hold of her hands, pulling her up. Mikon's hands were warm and firm, with calluses on her fingers from her weaving. She got to her feet, then stumbled as the leg Riz had been lying on folded, and Riz had to catch her before she fell.

"Oh… thank you," Mikon said, her breath blowing on Riz's ear as the weight of her arms settled on Riz's shoulders. "I guess my leg is still asleep. Hold me a moment."

"S-sure…" Riz said. She felt Mikon shifting in her arms as the weaver tested putting weight on her leg. This… this was flirting, wasn't it? Or did she really need help standing up? If their Binder could tell, shouldn't Riz be able to?

Eventually, Mikon gently pulled back, and Riz let her go as she turned and bent down to pick up her bucket from where she'd left it. "All right, I'm ready," the weaver said. "Take me home?"

"R-right," Riz said. They stepped out of Rian's house, Mikon closing the door behind them. The weaver put an arm around her shoulders once more, pulling her close for warmth again as they walked away from the empty house.