It took Lori several more days to sufficiently excavate the mine and shape the excavated area such that it was fit for storing food. While she couldn't control earthwisps at a distance anymore as she could in her demesne, she had been a skilled Whisperer even before becoming a Dungeon Binder. It was all about knowing how the work would flow, and with her nigh-limitless magic due to her connection from her core, the pace of her work was no longer constrained by the rate in which she could breathe in magic to imbue her wisps.

The resulting space was rather plain, but it was well insulated because of all the stone, and copied the dimensions of the food storage facility the demesne currently had, meaning there was plenty of room to store food. She'd carved out little channels on the ground to divert the meltwater from any ice towards a little pool tucked away in the back corner that she'd dug out for the purpose of drainage. Once the space had been excavated, she made walls to partition off the space from the original mine shaft tunnel so that the only way to access the storage space was through a doorway... or, well, an opening in the wall, at any rate. A door would need to be installed later.

After that, she finally began construction of the dragon shelter.

While it had been proven that the mine could shelter everyone in River's Fork even without any expansion, the conditions in which it did so were terrible. She shuddered to think of what people had done to relieve themselves while they had sheltered here, though it seemed like the mine had at least been cleaned since that time, if only for the benefit of the miners who would have continued excavating afterwards.

The very thought of it made her want to build latrines on the spot, but no. She needed to excavate a space for the shelter first. That was done a little deeper into the mine. Originally she was going to start a pace past the edge of the wall of the food storage area, but after some consideration, she decided to conduct some measurements first, to be sure of where she was digging. Because of her lack of connection to the core, she couldn't just know how far away the surface was or whether there was space for her to dig. This wasn't her demesne—yet—after all, and so she was forced to be more meticulous.

After some measurement to ascertain that she wasn't going to break out the other side of the hill, Lori cautiously began excavating upwards. She was deep enough inside the hill that she had some leeway in every direction but back towards the entrance of the mine. While excavating sideways or downwards would be easier, it would be more difficult to remove the excavated stone that way, especially since she was doing it by herself. Besides, she didn't want to be too far away from fresh air.

She started with an upward oriented ramp, settling on one that was three paces wide to allow sufficient space for two-way traffic. It took her some time, since the initial angle was far too steep, but it was easier to build than stairs, even if it technically required more excavation of stone. However, making stairs would force her to do it almost by hand, since she'd need to get down on her hands and knees to properly for the steps, and she didn't have the stonemasons to do it for her. So… ramp it was.

It was on her second trip to bring stone outside that she realized she could use the stone to reinforce the ceiling of the mine shaft tunnel with arches rather than simply dragging it out.

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"Sooo… Riz tells me she heard you screaming in frustration in the mine today," Rian said when he came to bring her lunch.

"I had a belated realization," Lori said stiffly as she picked one of the five bowls and one of the cups on the plank he was carrying. She sat on a little stone seat jutting out from the wall as Rian offered the other bowls to Riz and the two volunteers who'd been standing guard at the mines entrance while she worked. The latter two immediately moved farther down the tunnel, beginning to chat quietly once they were some distance away.

Riz glanced briefly towards then, then towards Rian, cradling her bowl. Sighing, she got up and went after them.

Lori raised an eyebrow at that as Rian took the last bowl for himself. There was no bread, since that would have been too difficult. Instead, little shelled and boiled grains of vigas floated in the stew. While hardly the most appetizing way to eat it, with the stew it wasn't intolerable. "Why isn't Erzebed eating with you? Did you do something to offend her? Compare her to one of the other two?"

Rian paused. "Did… you actually just say that? Did you actually just take an interest in my personal affairs?"

"Erzebed is currently guarding me," Lori said, stirring her bowl and assessing the firmness of the vigas. They were softer, but not yet waterlogged and mushy. Perfect. "I'd rather she wasn't distracted by—stop that or I'll give you something to really cry about!"

She glared at him as he theatrically wiped a nonexistent tear from his eye. "I'm just so happy your own 'dealing with people' skills keep developing."

"Noticing that Erzebed isn't eating with you when she usually would doesn't need skill to deal with people, simply functional eyes, a working memory, and basic pattern recognition," she said flatly, spooning some stew and putting it in her mouth. It was hot, but not burning, and the vigas had a nice firm texture amidst the meat, soup and bits of tubers. Delicious.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"No, but your being concerned that I had offended her does, and suggesting a possible reason why shows understanding of what offends people."

"It's not understanding, it's simply remembering common and stupid reasons why characters argue in pointless romantic subplots."

"Still counts, since you managed to apply it to real people," Rian said cheerfully. "But to answer your question, no, I think she's simply reinforcing her militia-ness by commiserating with the other glitter crawlers instead of eating with us officers. And also no, I didn't compare her to someone else. How suicidally stupid do you think I am?"

"My allegedly expanding skill with people cannot understand that, so I'll take your word for it."

"Ah, job security," Rian said dryly. He stirred his own bowl, but seemed to find it still too hot. "So, what was the belated realization?"

Lori stared at him. "What belated realization?"

"The one that made you scream earlier."

Ah. Lori recalled the beginning of this conversation. "Just that I should have been using the excavated stone as reinforcement instead of bringing them outside."

"Yes, the piles outside are getting a bit big. Though personally I don't think the ceiling needs reinforcing. The beams seem to be doing a good job as is."

"You're not the one working here, you don't get an opinion."

Rian shrugged. "Fair enough, I suppose. Do you need help? We're running low on supplies on the Coldhold since we're only eating our own food, so I was thinking we needed to send it back for a supply run. We can get the stone masons and maybe some of the carpenters here to help you build what you need, since the locals are all busy finally getting their fields ready and doing all that maintenance Shanalorre said they needed to do."

Lori considered that. She glanced sideways at the partially complete ramp, which at the moment still lead to nowhere. "I suppose some assistance would be helpful…" she admitted. Then she blinked. "Wait, you're sending the Coldhold back?"

"Yes, I just said that. I figured tomorrow would do—"

"When were you planning on telling me you were sending our only means of getting home away?-!"

"I… just did? A little while ago?"

Lori twitched. "Why are you sending our only means of getting home away?"

"I… also just said. We need more food, since we're not taking from River's Fork's supplies. It'll just be a quick hop back a forth, the ship will be back this afternoon."

Lori gave him a long, unblinking stare. "Then I will accompany it," she said. "I'm going back home."

Rian frowned, opened his mouth, paused, and looked around. Eventually, he nodded. "Yes, I think that's a good idea. You've been working nonstop for days, and you haven't even had a bath since. Maybe you should spend the night there and come back in the morning."

Lori was torn between arguing that there's work to be done and the idea of going back to her demesne, where she wasn't constantly cold and had a wonderfully soft bed to sleep on. It had been… colors, how long had it been already? The monotony of the mines and the work had sort of blended together.

"How long has it been since we left home?" she said, voice soft as she realized she'd actually lost track.

"Uh, a week and a half? Also why we're running low on supplies, we were supposed to go home sooner, but you just kept on working here, so…"

A week and half. Half of three of the months, and more than a third of a red one…

"I'm heading back this afternoon," Lori declared. "After lunch. Get the boat ready. I want to be home as soon as possible."

Rian blinked at her in surprise, mouth opening as if to argue. However, before she could start glaring at him for questioning her, he closed it, humming thoughtfully. "Are we bringing everyone back with us, or just you?"

Lori opened her mouth, but then it was her turn to pause. She closed her mouth to hum thoughtfully. "What are the rest of our volunteers doing?"

"I have a couple guarding the old food storage from theft while allegedly everyone else is working on the fields. They've noted a few people, some of them the known malcontents, walking past far too often for it to be anything but them thinking to try their luck and aborting when they saw the place was now guarded. A couple are on the ship to make sure our supplies don't get stolen. And the rest are protecting your privacy."

Lori considered that. "Leave a few here under Yllian's command to keep guarding the food. We'll go home, you find people to relieve them, bring their replacements in, and have them back home by tonight. Tomorrow, we'll bring more volunteers, as well as the stone masons and some more carpenters to make the door for the food storage so we can finally get around to moving the food that's left." She frowned. "What's taking that door so long, anyway?"

"Well, they're still cutting all the wood for the door since they don't have a stock of pre-cut planks," Rian said. "So, yeah, it might be faster to have a door made at home and just bring it here. Hinges, too."

Lori nodded. "Tell them so once we arrive. I'll measure the opening for the dimensions of the door we need." She considered it a moment. "Inform Binder Shanalorre she'll be coming with us."

"What about her family? You said you intended that they move to Lorian with Shanalorre. Are we doing that now?"

She thought about that, then shook her head. "No. Not while I still have to come back here to continue work on the shelter. I'm not leaving her idiot uncle alone in my demesne unsupervised."

"And by unsupervised you mean you."

Obviously. "Obviously," she said.

"Can I at least finish eating first before I start doing all the running around this will entail?"

She impatiently waved a hand dismissively, and he started eating. She did as well.

The two ate in silence for a moment.

"I'm surprised you didn't want to go home sooner," Rian said quietly between mouthfuls.

She shrugged. "There was work to be done, and I lost track of time."

Rian's spoon paused for a moment. "Uh, have you been remembering to keep things back home imbued? You know, hot water, lights, that sort of thing?"

Lori gave him a withering look. "Of course I have." She had it written down on a list that she checked every morning. "What kind of fool do you take me for?"

"Ah." He sounded relieved. "Because I remember the first time we came here, and how everything had stopped working by the time we got back home…"

"Just eat, Rian."

"Eating, your Bindership."

Lori ate as well, her mind filled with thoughts of home as her hands moved the spoon on their own. Her bed. Her table. Her private bath. The perfect, ideal warmth around her that told her she was in her demesne…

She looked towards the incomplete ramp and sighed.