The continuing work excavating the dragon shelter was repetitive, the sort of repetition where time lost meaning as a result of the monotony. Lori had finally managed to dig the ramp upwards to the dragon shelter, as well as start clearing a space. Steps on the ramp to make them proper stairs would, unfortunately, need to be the last thing to be made, as the ramp made it easier to roll down her excavated stone.

While she had a general goal of 'excavating enough space', this time she also had a specific goal. Namely, to excavate enough space so she could make some latrines. She already had a spot in mind for them. They'd be against the wall the shelter would share with the mine shaft, so that next to the ramp there would be hatches that could be opened to shovel out the waste after the dragon had left, to make cleaning easier. No doubt when mining resumed, some lazy miners would use those latrines, but then it would also be on them to carry the waste out.

Building it was easy enough, she simply had to excavate a pace in from the wall of the mine—being careful around the support beams—so she'd have a trench, then just rebuild the stone wall again, this time with holes—with arch supports, of course—for getting the waste out later. Dividing the latrine site into separate stalls required raising stone walls as partitions, but that was easy enough. The rest would need to be done by the carpenters putting down benches with holes in them, and doors that shut both for privacy and to keep the smell in.

Once that was done, she went back to excavating in general, using the tunneling method she had used in building the third level to make sure the ceiling had proper supporting arches as she worked. The bindings of lightwisps that she had to remake every day and anchor onto the stone walls cast a bright, cold light around her. For much of the day the only sounds were her breathing, the ones the rocks made as she excavated them, and the quiet susurrus of the air being circulated by airwisps she also had to remake and anchor to stone every day. She was alone for hours, with only the times Rian came in to tell her it was time to eat marking when she had any human contact.

If it weren't for the fact she wasn't in her demesne, Lori would have called the working conditions ideal.

Meal times were… less than ideal. There was none of the pleasant murmur she'd gotten used to in her Dungeon's dining hall. Oh, a murmur existed, but it was either the quiet murmur of people tired from work, or the angry buzz of the malcontents being loud.

"—gets to be in the dry while we work outside all day—"

"—have to walk through mud and—"

"—getting rained on—"

"—hoarding all the good fruit for themselves—"

"If you all want to talk about something, then just sit at the same table!" Rian called out. "Don't try to have a conversation from across the dining hall. What are you all, children?"

"No, the children are all well behaved and eating," Yllian said.

"Ah, you're right, Yllian. I apologize to all the children, your manners aren't anywhere that bad!"

There was a small smattering of laughter, and the overly loud complaints of the malcontents quieted to sullen mutters.

Lori gave Rian an approving nod, and he nodded right back. "So, how's your work coming along?" Rian said at a more reasonable volume. "Can the mine be used as a dragon shelter yet?"

"It's already been used as one. Twice, in fact. So, yes," Lori said.

"All right, that was a bad phrased question on my part. Let me ask again. How long before it's up to your standards?"

Lori shrugged. "I still need to excavate more space, or else everyone will be crowded again. The ventilation to let out stale air hasn't been planned yet, and right now there's no water reservoir."

"I thought we were using barrels for water storage?"

"That will be for the drinking water. The reservoir will be for washing so that no one gets sick while crowded together in the dragon shelter."

"That implies the dragon shelter will have a washing area."

"Where else will people wash the dishes between meals?"

Rian smiled slightly. "Isn't that a bit… much?"

"This is my demesne now. If people wanted to shelter in a cesspit before, that's their business. But now that I run this demesne, we will do things properly."

"To be fair to Shana, she couldn't exactly build like you could, what with having no idea how to do anything but healing and no way to learn. "

"Rian, why are you talking like a theater narrator and saying the blatantly obvious? You're not in a play and there's no audience for you to remind of what had previously happened in the story."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"No particular reason," Rian said with that annoying cheerfulness of his as Yllian started to cough. Thankfully, he covered his mouth when he did so. Hopefully he wasn't catching something because of all the rain.

––––––––––––––––––

At the end of the four days, Lori had managed to excavate a space that… well, everyone in the demesne would be able to line up to use the latrines, but not much more than that. Technically, she wouldn't need to clear so much space since there was still more of the mine shaft for people to occupy, but if she was going to build a dragon shelter, then she would do so properly. Besides, given how wet the part of the mine near the entrance got, the lowest point of the mine was likely starting to flood, which would reduce the available space and start causing other problems as well.

…

She'd probably have to make something to keep the water out when she came back. Maybe a little rise to act as a flood barrier, or some kind of drainage channel near the entrance…

"Maybe you can ask the stone masons to do it?" Rian suggested as they rode back home. Lori didn't want to have to do any more work when she arrived back in her primary demesne, and as they had time during the journey, she was meeting with Rian now to make the most efficient use of the time. "It sounds like the sort of thing they might have experience doing, redirecting water out of areas. At the very least they can assess it and plan out the most efficient spot to deal with the problem."

"I suppose…" Lori muttered. "Very well, ask them to come with us when we return and inform them of what to expect."

Rian nodded, writing it down on his plank, where the carpentry work she needed for the latrines had already been listed down. "Do you mind if I get them started on planning a structure to protect the ventilation equipment? Even if you have to do the actual building, some kind of preparation might be helpful."

Lori waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, get them on that as well." She was willing to admit—only to herself, of course, since that was the only person that mattered—that she hadn't really thought of the matter, but the dragon shelter would been a way to do that, wouldn't it? Though since this was her demesne now, perhaps she could improve the current equipment? She already used bindings of airwisps to improve the circulation of air for her when she was excavating in the mine. Perhaps if she integrated a bone pipe to the ventilation tube to increase the airflow…? "Anything else?"

"Nothing significant to report so far, which I'm very happy about. Right now most people are still in the 'societal guilt' stage from hearing about Shana nearly killing herself for them. We'll see if this will motivate them to improve or whether they'll just bury this along with the rest of the guilt. Even the malcontents have quieted a little, relative to when we first took over. Pains in the neck they might be, but they all have children. We'll just have to see which part of human nature wins out."

"Those are all 'dealing with people' things, so I leave that up to you." A thought occurred to her. "Does Yllian—" she checked her rock. Yes, Yllian, "—know about this?"

"We've discussed it, and while he disagrees with me, he's agreed to go a little easier on them to encourage them to ruminate on the consequences of the act and what sort of people they are that they forced someone to such an extreme," Rian said.

"Again, I leave the 'dealing with people' things to you," Lori said, waving her hand again. "The food?"

"We're… holding," Rian said, frowning. "Grain's being used up in meals, of course, but I've already ordered an emergency seed crop be set aside in case of crop failure or damage. As to the meat… right now we look like we're breaking even, bringing in as much meat as we're using up, but I'd feel better if we had a buffer. With your permission, I'll ask another of the hunters to join us, see if we can maybe increase the amount of game we're catching, even if we don't manage to double the current intake"

"Why wouldn't it? It sounds simple to me. Two hunters, twice as much meat."

"Because if a second hunter went and hunted separately, they'd need their own volunteer crew to help them actually get the meat back from outside the demesne," Rian said. "And right now we don't have the people for that. Still, having a second hunter to help should present some improvement. However, it will cost us some of our own ability to provide food for ourselves." He started tapping his chin.

"But you have already had a thought about that, haven't you?"

"It's just a thought, but… why don't we move all hunting operations to River's Fork, and then use the Coldhold to transfer the meat back to Lorian? Not counting the meat that will be to feed River's Fork, of course. The beasts around Lorian might have gotten wary about being hunted, or at least need an opportunity to replenish their numbers. Near River's Fork, even with some of the hunting they did last year, there should still be more beasts. And we were planning to transfer people there in any case. This will help start integrating the two populations together."

"Won't that be problematic? I thought hunting parties needed a lot of people to be able to bring what they catch back?"

Rian nodded, but he still looked thoughtful. "I know. But it's an idea worth considering. Though it will mean we'll lose the Coldhold as a salt gatherer and trading vessel, since it will have to remain nearby."

"Given current circumstances, it's already not doing that."

Her lord nodded again. "I'll keep thinking about it and get back to you. We might be able to do it in a few weeks when the situation in River's Fork is more stable. Maybe it'll be more doable when the fields have been planted and we can assign people to do something else. Speaking of which, when do you want to transfer the malcontents to Lorian?"

"I don't want to," Lori said. "However, it needs to be done. We'll transfer them over when the rest of the houses are finished."

Rian raised an eyebrow. "Let them think the new houses are for them, then stick them in the ones that were just vacated? As your lord in charge of dealing with people, I feel I should tell you that's a nasty manipulation of their expectations." He sniffed theatrically. "You're learning so much. Granted, I'd prefer you learn how to be nicer to people, but this is still progress."

Lori shrugged. "It's standard sales technique. Raise the customer's expectations with a superior product, then say none more are in stock and have them settle for an inferior one."

"Please tell me you eventually stopped going to buy things in those kinds of places, that's a terrible business practice."