Because of her preparations, riding the sled to River's Fork wasn't as bad as she feared. While Lori would have liked to be holding on to Riz's waist instead of Rian's—because if she were holding onto Riz, it would mean her hand would be between the militiawoman's front and Rian's back, protected from the wind—the stone with the bindings of firewisps was some help keeping her back and legs warm.

Thankfully, there were no attempts at conversation, despite the bindings of air wisps she used to muffle the sound of the air jets. Rian was concentrating on steering the sled, and Riz should have been keeping an eye out for any beasts around them, in case one decided they were some sort of edible prey.

It was still a long, chillingly cold journey, and for once she actually wished she'd done what Rian had done and wrapped her towel around her face to keep warm. Or had gloves of some sort to wear on her hands. Riz had gloves, and while Lori didn't know the insulating value of old, worn leather, they looked like they at least kept the wind off.

Was there anyone in her demesne who could make gloves for her? She'd seen people with gloves, but she wasn't exactly a judge at being able to tell how old leather was…

These and other thoughts occupied Lori as they rode on the sled, following the curves of the river. On either side of them, trees flashed by, Iridescence growing in the shadows under the branches where the snow didn't gather. The snow beneath the trees seemed to glitter more than other places. Iridescence fallen on the snow, perhaps, dislodged by the wind? It was all strangely desolate compared to the riverbanks she remembered when she'd passed this way before by boat, the snow a deceptive blanket veiling the deadly colors almost, but not quite, completely.

Lori spent her time during the journey imbuing what bindings in her demesne needed imbuing, including the trapped Coldhold, since she didn't want the binding to dissolve and require having to be rebuilt later. After all, she didn't need to be physically in her demesne to have an awareness of the wisps in it, and since she had time, she did so. When she finished with that, she moved on to making a binding around her demesne so that she had something to expand with later.

Her concentration was occasionally interrupted as Rian turned the sled to avoid obstacles like trees and thick piles of snow, and she had to hold on and maintain her balance so as not to fall off the sled. Fortunately, there was usually enough space for their small sled to maneuver, thanks to the width of the river combined with the fact that unlike with a boat they didn't have to worry about running the bottom into hidden rocks or shallow water.

Lori was almost done with the binding around her demesne she was making when she noticed the quality of the snow change, becoming pure white instead of subtly glittering, and realized they had finally reached River's Fork. At that point, she set her claiming aside and simply imbued the binding so that it would retain its form until she could attend to it later.

Not long after, she stared at the white, seemingly perfect dome of snow rising above the trees in front of them.

As they got closer, the dome became less perfect. The snow hadn't been distributed evenly, and it seemed more had piled up at the base of one side than the other. There were also holes in the dome's surface that had been hard to see at a distance, since all the snow seemed to blend together. Up close, the little breaks of the surface were more noticeable. Smoke was rising up from several of them, and Lori wondered for a moment how much of the abandoned homes and smaller trees inside that dome had been cut for firewood.

Eh, not her problem.

As they drew close to the dome, the flaps on the air jets dropped, redirecting the stream of air upwards, leaving the sled moving only with its own momentum. Rian made a gesture, and few moments later the sled jerked, slowing down as the braking anchor Riz had dropped started to pull them to a stop.

Lori waited impatiently for Rian to stand up—they'd established that trying to disembark in any order but front to back was impractical, as much as Lori disliked the fact she always had to get up last—before she was finally able to stand. The air jet continued to roar as Rian hurriedly untied the sack with the salt and their emergency supplies so she could get her staff. Staff finally in hand, she carefully stuck the butt into the lowered flaps of the air jet and, holding her mouth close to the her staff such that her breath was striking the wire running down its length, deactivated the binding of airwisps.

Relative quiet followed.

"Well, they seem like they survived…" Rian finally said. "I wonder how warm it is under there, with the snow to hold everything in?"

Lori gave him a flat look. The cold was not helping her mood. "Rian, stop talking about nonsense and get moving so we can get indoors where it's warmer."

Rian sighed. "Right, right…" he muttered. "Well… thank you for the hot rocks, they're very warm right now."

"Of course they are, that's the whole point of them." Really, did he have to state the obvious?

Rian sighed again for some reason. "So, what approach do you want us to take to try and convince Shana to give us her help? Do you want me to open with abject begging on my own cognizance and absolutely not on your behalf?"

Lori frowned as she sat back down on the now-quiet sled, accepted the snow pads that Riz handed her and began securing them onto her own boots. "No, no, do that on your own time, when it's officially not officially on my behalf," Lori said as she began doing up the ties. Despite her binding, her hands were alternating from just a bit too warm to biting cold with every breeze, making securing the snow pads a bit difficult. "We shall have to adapt to her reaction, but I expect we will need to offer her more resources than just salt and honey to get her to agree. After all, Binder Shanalorre is unlikely to provide the only resource her demesne currently uniquely has access to for nothing."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

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"Of course, I would be perfectly willing to visit your demesne to assist in making sure no one dies in childbirth," Binder Shanalorre said as they sat in her office.

Lori blinked. "What?" she said, not sure if she'd heard correctly. "You will?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"You would be in my demesne. I could kill you easily there."

"You could kill me easily now, Binder Lolilyuri," Binder Shanalorre said as the man standing beside her—her lord, Lori thought, though she was fairly certain this was the first time she'd ever met the man—gave Lori a narrow-eyed look, "as you could have previously many times. I do not find it any more likely in this case, as it had not happened in any of the previous cases before. Besides, I will admit to curiosity. I had heard often of your demesne's warm baths, which are available for anyone to use. I was hoping to see them myself."

"I'm sure that can be arranged," Rian said cheerfully from slightly behind and to one side of Lori. Riz was outside with the sled. "Though you'll unfortunately have to bring your own towel to dry off with. I'm afraid we don't have any to spare. Though we might be able to provide you with a little soap. We can spare that much, I think."

"Of course," Binder Shanalorre nodded in acknowledgment.

Lori was still trying to comprehend the abruptly strange direction this negotiation had taken. All she'd had time to do was to present the situation they found themselves expecting soon. They hadn't even had to present the salt and honey! Speaking of which… "What do you wish in exchange?" she demanded, trying to get the discussion back to more sensible negotiations.

"Well, given how long childbirth is said to sometimes take, I would wish a hot bath and a place to rest should it take several hours," Binder Shanalorre said. "And meals, of course."

"Yes, yes, of course," Lori said dismissively. That was a given. "But what do you want? What will this cost my demesne?"

"Well, since you ask, some more salt would be appreciated," Binder Shanalorre said. "One can never have too much salt when it comes to preserving our food supplies, or so I am told."

"Ah, if that's all, we can pay upfront," Rian said. "How does a large sack sound?"

"Could you perhaps provide a specific weight?"

"One sack, large, full."

"That is very imprecise. How do I know it is as you specify? Perhaps we should measure it with our own sacks, to see if it is properly full."

"Well, we only have the one sack right now, and you'd be able to tell how full it is. Our sled didn't have room to carry much else. Though if you want, I can have our tanners sew up some standardized sacks."

"We can pay one sack now, and another sack of the same size—the same sack, in fact—for you to bring back for every instance of pregnancy in which you agree to intervene," Lori intervened.

Binder Shanalorre tilted her head sideways in an almost parodic gesture of thoughtfulness. She stayed like that for some time. Finally she straightened and turned to her lord. "Well, Lord Yllian? Your thoughts on this negotiation?"

"I think it's unsafe for you to travel, Great Binder, especially in these conditions," he said. "Besides, you're not really needed. Women give birth all the time, and they have more doctors in their demesne than we do. It's an unnecessary risk for, too little gain."

"Hmm…" Binder Shanalorre turned back towards them. "Who is giving birth?"

"Does it matter?" Rian said with a smile. "After all… at least a quarter of those living in our demesne came from here. There's a one in four, perhaps a one in three chance it's someone you know."

Binder Shanalorre's lord frowned, redirecting his annoyed look at Rian.

"I will need an escort," Binder Shanalorre said. "Lord Yllian, for example. Or perhaps my aunt."

"Our sled currently has a capacity of four people at the moment, five if we push it, but that might be unsafe or slow," Rian said. "However, it's always been our intention to build a sled with a greater capacity. That being said, we cannot guarantee it will be ready by the time of the birth. If all we have is the sled we came in just now, you'll have to pack light, and we'll only be able to bring one other person with you, provided they're not too big. However, if you're willing to come as early as the moment that the water breaks—" Wait, what? Lori had thought they were talking about pregnancy? "—we should have the time to bring two of your militia ahead of you so that they're ready to protect you when we come on the second trip. We will of course provide accommodation should this require you stay overnight. Though I must ask that any militia you send not be someone who had previously left our demesne to move here. Given such a history, I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate being back."

"Is that to your satisfaction, Lord Yllian?" Binder Shanalorre said.

"It still leaves you greatly vulnerable, Great Binder," Lord whatever-the-man's-name-was said. "I wouldn't feel confident in being able to protect you with only two other people."

"Really? I do it for my Dungeon Binder all the time," Rian said cheerfully. "If you need help, why don't you ask your friends living in our demesne to assist you? I'm sure they have plenty of time. It's not like there's farming going on or anything."

Binder Shanalorre nodded. "Yes, you do. I believe those will be adequate preparations for such a trip, Lord Rian. While I am sure Lord Yllian would be more comfortable with being able to bring more people to accompany me, I am willing to trust in Binder Lolilyuri that such will not be necessary."

She was? "You are?" Lori said.

"Of course. You have often placed your safety in my trust, even after I failed in adequately seeing to your protection. It is only fair that I return the gesture."

"Fair warning, you might need to sleep in the Dungeon if you need to stay overnight," Rian said. "But honestly, it's much warmer there anyway, so you might actually prefer it."

"I'm sure the accommodations will be more than sufficient," Binder Shanalorre said. "I look forward to your demesne's hospitality."

"Ah, that's wonderful," Rian said. "We look forward to having you visit. With adequate escorts for your protection, of course."

"Of course."

Despite herself, Lori found herself exchanging mildly confused, frustrated looks with Binder Shanalorre's lord whatever-his-name-was. Why was Binder Shanalorre agreeing to this so easily? Shouldn't be asking for more? A sack of salt as a down payment and another sack each time she was called upon was… well, it was actually still a lot, since they didn't exactly have rooms full of salt in her demesne, but they had been able to accumulate a stockpile that… actually, where had they stored their stockpile of salt? It wasn't in the second or third levels…

"Admittedly, some of the later payments might have to be deferred if we run out of salt," Rian said. "At least until the river thaws so we can get back to the ocean."

"Completely understandable," Binder Shanalorre said. "I'm perfectly willing to wait for late payment. For a suitable interest fee, of course."

Ah, there it was. It wasn't the payment, it was the interest. That made more sense. Behind her, lord whatever-his-name-was had regained his composure, and while he seemed not completely satisfied, he appeared be considering the situation.

Rian turned to Lori. "Will that be acceptable, your Bindership?" he said. "After all, we do still need salt for our own use."

Lori considered that. "One-twentieth interest per red moon," she said.

"Outrageous," lord whatever-his-name-was said. "A tenth on the storm moon."

Lori narrowed her eyes. Oh? Did this northern bumpkin think he could match interests rates with her? A Taniar Demesne woman? One of her mothers had worked for the Banking Authority, she had literally learned interest rates on her mothers' knees!

The haggling began…