"Good morning, Binder Lolilyuri."

"Good morning, Binder Shanalorre."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Then they both turned away and Lori took her usual seat in the middle of the table, Rian opposite her. Said lord was glancing between her and Shanalorre with another strange look on his face. Umu sat next to him, with the other two absent, so they were probably getting the food.

"Now, what's this about flooding?" Lori said.

Rian blinked at her for a moment, looking confused, before shaking his head. "Ah. Well, like I said the day before, from the looks of things we're definitely going to get flooded, and we should probably prepare the demesne while we can."

"Yes, but why are you so certain?"

Rian gave her a look that she was better able to recognize. "Your Bindership, how much of the demesne right now is literally covered with more than a pace of water? What happens to all that water when it starts getting warmer?"

…

Ah. When he put it that way…

Lori glanced towards the entrance of her Dungeon. Then she glanced towards the stairs leading down to the lower levels.

"Yes, exactly," Rian said. "Now, because of how you've been building, we shouldn't have too many leaks, but what leaks there will be only you will be able to seal up. If I'm right in my guess of how high the water could potentially rise, you might need to be ready to seal off all water pipes into the Dungeon."

Lori almost swore, and barely remembered there was a child a pace away from her. "Ah," she said instead, frowning. "Yes, I can see that. The current arrangement of the water hub shed is based on the normal water level of the river. If it exceeded that level…" Yes, she'd have to seal off their water reservoir. "How high do you guess the water will rise?"

"The riverbank gives a fairly good indicator as to how high the flood waters are likely to rise. I'm willing to bet the entire river bank is underwater when the snow thaws. Conservatively, I'd say that it might rise up about a pace above the average level of the river bank. Off the top of my head, our permanent structures that are likely to be affected by flooding are the old baths, the remaining shelter, the Um, the clay pit, the laundry area, the docks—although that's only a worry if they take damage—the mushroom farm, the bone pit, maybe the tannery, and some of the houses near the Dungeon. Oh, and my house, of course. If the other side of the river weren't more flat, I'd be more worried, but it's likely most of the water will spill over that way."

"You're… probably correct," Lori said as she remembered what little she recalled of how natural water tables worked.

"So… can I move into the Dungeon until spring?" Rian said brightly.

Lori paused and glared at her lord.

"What? The alternative is trying to build a new house on higher ground in the middle of winter. Given its more important to focus on flood proofing the Dungeon, I clearly have to be prepared to move."

Lori continued glaring at her lord. People were just going to keep living in her Dungeon, weren't they?

"And of course, there's making sure our vigas fields are protected from flooding, to make sure the grain that's been growing over the winter under the snow doesn't just get washed away," Rian continued. "I'm told that given how much snow is on top of them, we need to clear out the snow once it starts to thaw so the vigas doesn't get flooded and start rotting in the ground."

Lori sighed. "Well, I'll leave that to you then, you already seem to know what needs to be done."

Rian nodded. "We'll have to prepare to move everyone still living in the shelter into the Dungeon, just in case. And the furnishings of the Um, I suppose, though I think I can reasonably be sure in saying that people would probably want to leave that for last."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Of course they will."

"At best, you can probably seal up both and just open them again when the water recedes, but I'm not too sure how well anything left inside will fare. And given the back half of the bath house is made of ice, that will probably take a little of work."

Lori tapped the tabletop thoughtfully. "Rian, have a watch kept on the river outside to warn us of any possible flooding."

"Yes, your Bindership."

That should at least give them some warning, although by the time there were visible signs it would probably be too late to do anything substantial. Still, better than nothing…

––––––––––––––––––

Lori fell into routine as she considered of how to deal with her demesne flooding. The clay pit getting flooded wasn't too much of a problem. At worse they'd have to rebuild the kiln if something carried on the flood water struck it hard enough to break it, which was relatively trivial. The baths, Um and shelter had wooden fittings however, and while they'd been treated to withstand humidity, they probably wouldn't fare well to being underwater for hours, or possibly even days depending on the severity of the flooding.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Rian's suggestion to just completely seal up the buildings was looking like an easy, simple, viable solution, though it would mean the second bath house would soon find itself very crowded. The laundry area getting flooded would be problematic, though. Unwashed clothes would soon start being malodourous and eventually cause people to be ill, and people would likely start washing their clothes in the bath house all over again.

Either way, she might have to raise up flood barriers of some sort to divert water away from the area around the Dungeon. She'd have to go outside and move a lot of snow, but it was just water, that would be simple. At least what she'd have to build wouldn't be complicated.

As to people living in her Dungeon should the flooding reach the shelter and some of the houses… well, she'd resigned herself to it already. After all, it was only a few people, as opposed to the entire population of her demesne. And Rian would be there to keep them in line. She'd just have to… not just wander down into the third level without making a lot of noise, because with the Um either flooded or sealed to protect against flooding, that's where people will likely go to slake their lusts upon one another…

These thoughts and more occupied her as she rode with Rian and those two accompanying them out to the edge of the demesne. She could feel the wisps in the river below them, water flowing under the ice. Had that ice grown thinner? Should she be worried? No, no, it still seemed solid, and if need be she could bind it solid again. She might actually need to do that to control the river's flow. She'd never considered it before, but… well, she was a Dungeon Binder, wasn't she?

After she made the day's beads and left a binding of firewisps in the jar to grow more Iridescence, she made sure to bury it near a tree, well away from where she could feel the river bank under the snow. Just in case.

Once she returned and stored the beads in her room, she went out again to walk outside and evaluate what had to be done. She had to put on snow pads since she would be walking on snow, which made for an awkward gait, but it was the best way to not sink. Some people were lashing whole planks to their feet, but that made turning in the tunnels awkward, and putting it on by yourself difficult unless you did it on one of the benches in the dining hall.

The wind was only mildly cool on her face as she walked, Rian and Riz following her, though if she stood in one place too long the snow under her would start melting to slush and she'd sink, so Lori kept moving. She actually went out and walked over the river to get around to the other side of the hill her Dungeon was built into, since the overland path was still buried in ice and only reached up to the mushroom farm. That would probably be easier to seal up completely, then just open when the water receded…

On the other side, she recognized the area the children used to hunt seels at in warmer days. The snow might have covered the terrain and the trees were bare of leaves, but she could recognize the location well enough. It wasn't like it was a face after all, full of minute, insignificant differences that people expected you to be able to recognize at a distance after one glance, much less remember.

If she raised a low wall to divert water from here back into the river, that should hopefully be able to divert any floodwater away from the tannery. While the building was still mostly buried in snow—including the chokers that had been housed near there and were probably dead at this point—if a flood came the alchemical substances they had stored there would mix into the water and would both be a great loss to their ability to prepare hides, as well as possibility tainting the water downstream for some time. And since the Dungeon was downstream….

In addition, she was a bit uncertain how high the terrain of the usual path people took to get to this point was. There was a very real possibility that a small trickle of water might be able to trickle in on the path and be trapped behind any flood barriers they made, flooding them anyway, if much slower. So she had to raise some sort of wall here as well, just in case…

With another wall in front of her Dungeon, maybe one extending all the way past the laundry area, she might be able to keep water back entirely, so that they'd be able to keep things functional.

Of course, it's completely possible she'd underestimate how much floodwater there would be and the water would overtop her walls, so that the water would be trapped behind them once the water receded. Well, if that happened, at least she'd be able to completely seal off the passage into her Dungeon and open up a higher entrance. That should be easy enough. The outlet vent was already under water and shouldn't be bothered by having more water on top of it as well…

It would be easier to judge for sure if there wasn't so much snow in the way, though…

…

Well, she was out here already so…

Lori began to make a binding of airwisps…

––––––––––––––––––

"Thank you for your hospitality, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said at lunch later. "My stay here has been very pleasant. When you next come to stay in my demesne, I shall see about making your stay equally enjoyable." After two days and no indications that either mother or child had gotten infected or were becoming ill, Shanalorre and her militia were finally returning to their own demesne… at least until the next pregnant woman gave birth, which was apparently due in a few weeks, although with the human body it was uncertain and the birth could occur earlier and ugh.

"I'm glad to hear you regard my demesne so highly," Lori said. After a whole morning of being outside and using bindings of air to blow away snow into large piles so she could see the terrain and the ice of the river, even she was a little chilled and enjoying the warmth of her Dungeon. While it was possible the other Binder would be able to make good on her boast, Lori found it unlikely. "We shall keep the alcove prepared for you." No reason to move the bed, after all. And if the alcove was needed… well, some lucky family had a bed. She'd tear down the wall though, as it wasn't needed anymore.

"If there's any change in my patient, please call for me immediately."

"Of course, Binder Shanalorre," Rian said brightly, causing Lori to give her lord a look. Oddly, she noticed Lord whatever-his-name-was doing the same. "I'm sure Missus Keyyara and her daughter will be glad of the visit. Hopefully we won't need to, but you never know how things will turn out. Also, thank you for agreeing to check on all those people yesterday."

"It was the least I could do as a guest."

"What is this?" Lori asked.

"Ah, you were busy working in your room yesterday afternoon, you didn't see. Binder Shanalorre offered to heal some people who weren't feeling well." Rian's tone turned wry. "Mostly it was dripping noses and such."

"You were first in line, weren't you." It wasn't a question.

"I can't help the fact I'm sensitive to the cold!"