At breakfast the next day, Lori was trying to find the connection between bound tools, glass and how bound tools function—all the bound tools she'd ever encountered had glass parts with wires from the bead receptacle leading into them—when Rian sat down in front of her and immediately said, "We have a slight emergency."

Lori sighed, her flow of thought interrupted. "Who died and who did it?"

"No one's died yet, but potential for death is very high."

"What is it then?"

"I talked to our doctors and medics, and they tell me that one of the pregnant women is likely to give birth soon. Sometime this week, at the very least. A week and a half, at most."

Lori considered that. "You want to try and re-establish contact with River's Fork," she said.

"I don't want to lose one of our people and her baby," Rian said as Mikon sat down next to him, greeting him with a smile and wrapping her arms around his waist as she leaned against him. Rian absently shifted his balance to lean back against her as well. "Re-establishing contact with River's Fork and finding a way to ask Shana to come here and assist with the birth and any healing needed is the simplest way of doing so." He sighed. "I wish we'd been able to do this sooner, but the storm happened. I was hoping to try and buy our way back to her good graces after that little audit. As it is, if we do manage to manage to reach River's Fork, I might have to do some begging and giving them some resources for them to agree."

"Oh? You made all those decisions about our resources so freely, did you?"

"Nothing without your approval, of course, but let's be realistic. The last time we saw each other it was over an audit. Even if it was justified and a lesson, it was still an audit," Rian shrugged the shoulder away from the weaver. "And it wouldn't have been much. Just some of the salt we've stockpiled to sell come spring and maybe a little of the honey. The salt is relatively easy to get more of once the river melts and we can get to the ocean again, and given how much River's Fork needs it, it's a good trade for them. I don't know if they have any sweetbugs, so if we give the jar to her directly, it might be sufficient apology and… well, hiring fee? To get Shana to come back with us to help during the childbirth."

Lori raised an eyebrow at him. "You intend to offer a young girl sweets so you can convince her to return home with you?"

"Please don't phrase it like that, you're making me sound like a terrible person again."

Lori shrugged. "Do we really need her for this?"

"Again, death at childbirth is a common theme for a reason," Rian said. "So yes, we need her. So please let me try and convince her to come? Otherwise the alternative is trying to bring a pregnant woman to them, and then having to support that woman and her child in River's Fork for a few weeks or even months until the infant is well enough to travel. Since we have more than one woman due to give birth this winter…"

Lori frowned, but had to admit that she had already made a decision on this matter a long time ago. "There is still the issue of transport," she said. "While transferring Binder Shanalorre with the air jet sled is doable, provided it is only herself and maybe one other, the sled as it presently exists will not be sufficient for transporting the goods that will be used to pay her fee. And given it is unlikely she will agree to be transported without sufficient escort, which the current incarnation of the sled cannot carry…"

"Maybe they'll have their own sled?" Rian suggested as Riz and Umu finally arrived, the other weaver sitting on Rian's free side, while Riz sat down next to Mikon. The pink-haired pulled back from her lord for a moment to peck Riz's cheek in greeting, which was accepted with an almost resigned air. "We'll have to see what she's willing to agree to. Regardless though, the first step is taking the sled, going back there, and asking her if she's at least willing to heal for us. If she is, then we'll have the problem of either finding a way to bring her here or bringing someone to her. Hopefully she's willing to come to us. Bringing someone to her will be a nightmare, and might just kill them if we do it too late and they're already in the middle of childbirth when we do it."

Lori sighed. "Very well. We shall go down to River's Fork after breakfast with a jar of honey and as much salt as we can carry. Hopefully she will be amenable."

Rian paused. "'We'? You're going?"

"As much as I'd rather leave such matters to you, if we are going to be trying to convince her to leave her demesne, then I should handle the negotiations," Lori said. "This should probably be a conversation between equals, and I will need to be present to offer her my guarantee of her safety."

"I don't think she needs it?" Rian said. "After all, we've already dealt with the one man in our demesne who wanted to kill her."

"I meant the safety of the sled she might have to ride if she agrees."

"Oh… right…" Rian nodded. "Yes, I suppose when she sees it's good enough for you, it might be good enough for her. If we can get her to agree, we'll have until Keyyara starts going into labor to find a solution to the problem of transport."

"Who?"

Rian sighed. "That's the name of the woman who's closest to giving birth, but don't worry, you don't have to remember her name."

"I never worry about silly things like that."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

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Thankfully, there was nothing that needed her attention, so after breakfast, Rian made preparations for the trip, which involved finding a way to transport salt on the sled without it spilling everywhere should they have some sort of bump. A sack was found, and after being checked scrupulously for tears, was carefully filled with salt, after which it was secured and then put into another sack, which hadn't passed the scrupulous inspection for tears but was still fairly sturdy. The honey was put in a wooden jar about a third the size of the jars they used to carry rations of stew. It had apparently been shaped a long time ago on the carpenter's lathe, because it was already polished and seasoned, with a well-fitted wooden stopper to seal it shut.

"Why do we have a wooden jar of this quality?" Lori said, glaring accusingly at Rian.

"I've been planning this months, of course I had this prepared in advance. Besides, it looks much nicer than the jars we use to carry rations while, and this is very important, holding far less."

Lori blinked and gave the little wooden jar a second look. Honey had enough water in it that she was able to get a sense of how much was inside the sealed vessel which… wasn't very much. The sides of the vessel were innocuously thick. In addition, there was some amount of air between the honey and the stopper…

"Ah. It looks pretty, but doesn't contain very much," Lori said, nodding in approval.

"The small size will also hopefully encourage her to keep it for herself instead of adding it to their communal food stores," Rian said. "If she actually enjoyed it for herself, she's more likely to think well of us."

Rian's ability to manipulate people was a truly disturbing thing. He explained it so casually and simply, and the way he said it made Lori almost think people could actually be understood, rather than being the illogical, self-destructive idiots that she knew they actually were.

Lori, for her part, did her own preparations, making sure that the bone tubes connected to the sled were intact and double checking the structural integrity of the surfaces. After that, she imbued the binding of airwisps anchored inside the tubes.

She also had to choose her clothes with care. While she'd gotten better at dressing herself for the winter since she went outside of her demesne's borders to make beads in the morning after breakfast, she had no illusions that travelling to River's Fork wouldn't be worse. Far, far worse. The last time she went there, it was on the Coldhold. She'd had her own room in the Coldhold, which, among other things, blocked out the wind and was a perfect insulator, so a little binding for warmth as all she needed.

The sled wouldn't have that. She'd be exposed to the wind and the cold, and it would be for at least an hour, possibly two… twice. She'd be freezing, and sitting in a pose that was already uncomfortable for the brief amount of time she needed to get from her Dungeon to the edge of her demesne. She wouldn't be able to wear her hat, since it would be blown off, and the hood of her raincoat would as well, unless it acted as a scoop to gather the cold air around her head to freeze her ears.

And so, measures had to be taken. She wore three shirts, because she needed insulation. She wore two sets of trousers, one over the other, and while it felt a bit constricting, she would be able to sit on the sled and it would be warmer than just one set of trousers. She carefully put on her winter robe, and used some cord—that she had to ask Rian to get from the ropemakers—to secure the sleeves shut so they would hold in her body heat better.

There was nothing to be done with her hands, since she had no gloves or knitted mittens. Those had to be wrapped in bindings of airwisps and firewisps to stay warm. The same with her head, especially her face and ears.

The rest of her was kept warm with firewisps anchored to wide, flat, rounded stones that she had to make and then hurriedly smooth so it wouldn't tear people's clothes… most importantly, her own. The warm rocks fit between her layers, though she needed to be careful lest they fall off, since clothes weren't really meant to be used as pockets for rocks shaped like already-used soap. she had to secure them in place with some of her chest binders so they wouldn't slip off, making her glad she'd had time to do her laundry recently.

She didn't know how Riz and Rian secured the rocks she gave them, but given how stupidly happy Rian looked, he found a way.

With all the preparations, it wasn't until well past mid-morning before they were ready to go—or at least, try to go—to River's Fork.

––––––––––––––––––

Lori stared at the sled. She'd expected the big sack with all the salt, which was tied to both the bed and the headboard of the sled, but the bed of the sled also contained what were recognizably folded tent canvas, some spears, a bow with no string and some arrows, rope, snow pads, and another pack. "Rian, what is all this?"

"In case of emergencies," Rian said as he and Riz checked the ropes tying things in place. "Or if we have to stay overnight in River's Fork for some reason, like a sudden storm. You, uh, might want to grab your bedroll and blanket, so we can pack it all in and distribute the load properly."

Lori sighed. "Is this truly necessary?"

"It's for emergencies, which we hope don't happen but need to be ready for in case they do. And I really don't want to have to sleep without a bedroll and blanket."

"I would have thought you'd be sharing with Riz if that were the case?"

Rian twitched as Riz smirked.

"If you think that, do you really want to be using my bedroll?"

It was Lori's turn to twitch. She turned and headed back to her room to get her bedroll and blanket.

Once her bedroll, blanket and staff had been packed along with everything else—and she tried not to think of it being in the same pack as Rian's bedroll—it was time to get on board the sled. This time Lori had to sit directly behind Rian, her arms around his waist as she leaned back against the sack of salt and their bedrolls. "Why do I have to sit here?" she sighed. "Can't I stand in the back?"

"Do you know how to throw the braking anchor properly?" Rian said as they both tried to be comfortable… or at least, secure enough not to fall off. "Are you used to standing on a sled and holding on for dear life for hours on end?" He tested the rope that raised and lowered the flaps of the air jets.

Lori had to concede that.

The sled started to move, people wearing snow pads pushing them to get them moving. They picked up speed, and Lori activated the air jets on either side of the sled. There was a roar of wind and a blast of snow as they started accelerating, the people who'd been pushing them falling behind as Rian turned the sled to follow the river. Once they were properly on course, Lori increased the force of the air jets, and they proceeded to accelerate further.

Lori continued to imbue the air jets all the way until they reached the edge of her demesne. In a wave of biting cold, they had moved beyond, into the mostly white, vaguely glittering winter snows, following the path of the river towards River's Fork.

She hated all this already. Argh, why did she keep thinking it was a good idea to leave her demesne? The only consolation was that if they were successful, at least it would be Shanalorre coming to them. Lori didn't know what they'd have to negotiate to get the other Dungeon Binder to agree to leave the safety of her demesne, but it would probably be more than simply some salt and honey.