"We'll need to work closer with the smiths," Rian said as they ate lunch. "Unless we learn more that says otherwise, after it's alloyed working it will probably be more normal metalwork than anything else."

Lori frowned, but nodded as she had a spoonful of stew. She chewed and swallowed thoughtfully. "How long before my tray is finished? If we're going to be utilizing it like this, we'll need to produce more."

"A few more days? The carpenters are doing their best, but it's involving a lot of precisely shaped parts, not to mention they have to integrate the copper sheet, which you only made today. I'll ask them for a more exact timeline after lunch, but you would know better than me that trying to hurry skilled workers never ends well. If you actually do manage to get them to work faster, what you get is never as good as if you'd given them the time to do it properly."

"Yes, Rian, and the sky is blue."

"What about at sunset? It's more like a purple pink, when it's not a nice—"

She pulled back her foot to kick him under the table, paused, looked underneath, adjusted so she wouldn't accidentally hit Umu, and kicked.

"—orange with tones of yellow, and— OW."

"Don't be annoying, Rian," Lori said. "I might kick Umu by accident."

"Noted, your unamused Bindership."

Umu blinked and glanced down under the table, looking concerned. She visibly debated moving away from Rian. She didn't, but the thought clearly entered her mind.

"So," Rian said as Lori ate, "what next?"

She swallowed. "We need to test what the rest of the capabilities of the alloy are. While its new elasticity is useful, the full extent of its properties needs to be recorded."

"Just give it to the smiths. They'd know better than us what properties pure copper is supposed to have, so they'll be better suited to comparing the two." Then Rian blinked. "Huh. I just had a thought."

"And the sky is still blue. What now?"

"Does it only work with metal, or can you use it to alloy stone?"

Lori gave him a bemused looked. "Why would you think that?"

"Because if we could alloy it with stone… well, we'd end up with rock that would have increased elasticity, and maybe less prone to shattering on impact. That might let us make boats with stone hulls. Less maintenance heavy than ice boats."

An urge to sigh rose up within her, and Lori gave in to it, letting a tired breath leave her. "Rian… why do you keep trying to make boats out of anything but wood?"

"Because we still don't have enough material to waterproof the hull of a wooden boat bigger than a rowboat for crossing the river," Rian said. "Just something to think about."

"Noted." Internally, she signed and shook her head at her lord's strange thoughts, then resigned herself to doing that later. Ugh, would the crucible they had even manage to hold something that hot?

"Where's your curiosity? Anyway, consider this: can we make alloyed glass?"

Lori blinked, tilting her head.

"Oh, now you're interested. See, if we can make alloyed glass, it might make the bound tools you want to make more sturdy."

"We need to test it," Lori said firmly, her eyes slightly unfocused as she considered the image Rian had given her. All this time, she'd had an image of white Iridescence embedded, suspended in glass, with a metal wire touching it to channel magic from a bead, a binding anchored to the white iridescence somehow. Now…

Lori closed her eyes. There was so much she still didn't know. She'd made progress, made prototypes that were almost passable bound tools, but… for all the sophistication of their components, what she'd made were still barely more than classroom demonstrations. Any Whisperer could alter the bindings she'd made anchored to the white Iridescence of each prototype. That, really, was part of why she really couldn't consider what she'd made proper bound tools. In all the bound tools she'd ever used—when she'd been hired to imbue one because someone didn't want to use a bead for one reason or another—all she could do was imbue and operate it. The wisps, the binding on the other end of the contact, had always felt like they'd been claimed by someone else, unalterable.

She needed more information. She needed to do more research.

She finished her food, and started peeling the golden bud next to her bowl. So much she needed to do. Not expansion, no matter how much she wanted to. Expanding would require her to keep moving her shed and workspace for mass producing beads after each one, which would make bead mass production more difficult. She needed to make some bound tools to install in River's Fork's dragon shelter, to make them more likely to survive. As convenient as it would be for her for all of them to simply die, she was responsible for them now… unfortunately…

"Lori?"

Lori blinked, realizing her hands had stilled in the middle of peeling. Fingers moved as she continued pulling the rind off the fruit. "Yes?"

"Are you all right?"

She waved a juice-covered hand dismissively. "A momentary distraction. What is it?"

"Will you be needing me for more notes this afternoon? I didn't think this morning would be so interesting, so I had planned to go around the demesne to check up on everything, but if you still need me…"

Lori opened her mouth. Paused. Closed her mouth. Frowned thoughtfully. Shook her head. "No, you can go," she said. Keeping her demesne functioning should be her priority. "But give the smiths the sample and tell them to test it."

Rian looked around. "Huh, none of them are close enough to hear. After lunch, then. Is that all?"

She waved a hand dismissively, then went back to separating her golden bud into wedges. "Yes, I probably won't need you for the rest of the day."

Her lord nodded, then suddenly slapped a hand onto his forehead. "Oh, I forgot! I got that piece of copper ore you asked me to get. Well, not on me right now, but I can get it to you later."

Lori frowned, trying to remember… Ah, yes, Rian had suggested surrounding a setting like the first prototype with unrefined metal ore that could be manipulated by earthwisps. She'd have to test that… but she'd need a piece of white iridescence on a setting without a shell first.

And then there was still the thing she had to do.

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After lunch, Lori retreated to her room and began transcribing the notes on all their white Iridescence experiments to bone. It was a way of refreshing herself about what they had learned, some of which had slipped her mind. All right, many of which had slipped her mind, but that was what notes were for! Like the detail that bindings anchored to white Iridescence somehow remained bound even when the sample they were anchored to had been dissolved in water.

Lori wondered if that would work when the white Iridescence was used to alloy metal or glass. Could that be a way of permanently anchoring a binding inside metal, anchoring a binding to white Iridescence before using it to alloy metal? She'd have to explore it when she tried alloying white Iridescence and copper again…

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As she worked, rereading their notes and transcribing them from the stone tablets to bone, she took notes of other ideas like that. They were few and far between, but she didn't want to forget them, even if she was unlikely to be able to test them any time soon.

The stone tablets whose contents had been transcribed, she set aside. They were no longer important.

By the time she finished with all the notes about their white iridescence experiments, her hand was aching from having to carve so many words onto bone. Lori flapped her hand back and forth in a futile attempt to deal with the pain, wincing as she did so. While it would stop hurting in a little while, the pain would come back once she started using her arm again. She wished she could have a Deadspeaker just heal the pain away, but those were expensi—

…

Oh, right.

Lori left her room to find it was mid-afternoon outside, hoping Shanalorre had kept her rock with the binding of lightwisps on it on her person. Fortunately, she had, and Lori found the other Dungeon Binder working among some tuber plants in a large plot behind her house. She wore a hat on her head that seemed woven from strips of ropeweed, shading her from the sun above that was still bright and probably hot. With a stick in hand, Shanalorre was poking at the soil at the bases of the plants. Occasionally, doing so would disturb a bug, and by a criteria Lori didn't know, the other Dungeon Binder left some of the bugs unmolested after that and ruthlessly crushed and killed others with the stick she was holding.

The other Dungeon Binder glanced towards her and bowed shallowly. "Great Binder," Shanalorre said. "May I help you with something?"

Lori glanced over her, but there was no knife hanging from the other Dungeon Binder's belt. The stick had been shaved smooth, and the ended had been given blunt, curling ends, lacking the ragged edges of a cut. It didn't look like it could be used for self-harm. "I need you to heal me," she said holding out her writing hand.

"Ah, certainly, Great Binder." Shanalorre hurried towards Lori has as much as she could while stepping carefully between the tuber plants. "How were you injured?"

"Transcribing notes."

Shanalorre paused, looking at Lori curiously. "Ah. Your hand aches from writing too much."

"Yes."

A strange expression came over the other Dungeon Binder's face. "And… you want that healed."

"Yes. I still have more things to do, and putting up with it would be inconvenient."

The strange expression persisted. "… At this point, I would usually tell someone to go to the doctors and medics so it can be assessed whether healing is actually warranted."

"Shanalorre."

"Yes, Great Binder."

"Heal my aching hand. Now."

"Yes, Great Binder."

When Shanalorre was done, Lori mimed holding a stylus and writing a few words. The muscle aches that had built up from those movements were gone, and she nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you. You should get inside. It's far too hot to be watering the plants at this time of day."

"I… should make sure there are no more bugs molesting my crops…"

Lori gave her a flat look. "Fine. But don't get yourself sun-addled by staying in this heat. Come with me and drink something."

Shanalorre hesitated, but nodded. "Yes, Great Binder."

The two walked away from the farm plot, and Shanalorre turned to where water poured down from the aqueduct onto a stone basin, washing her hands first under the basin's overflow before scooping water up to her mouth to drink.

Lori turned and headed back to her Dungeon. Shanalorre might die, but it wouldn't be now. They needed her healing.

At her table, Lori took the stone tablets whose contents she had transcribed to bone. The tablets were unnecessary now, simply raw materials that could finally be used again.

She used them for just that, fusing tablets together to form sheets, and then shaping those sheets to form bowls…

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It was almost dinner time when she came down stairs, carrying her basket made from bone. It was… well, it was four beast skulls fused together and thinned out to make a larger—and relatively lighter—container, with a curving handle also made from bone. She hadn't had an opportunity to use it yet for its intended purpose, but hanging from the crook of her arm, it was relatively comfortable to carry, though on consideration, it was more like a bucket than a basket, since it was whole and without openings.

The basket also banged against the side of her leg, but try as she might, no matter what the configuration of the handle, that just kept happening.

The fruits had been stored in the cold rooms that contained the food they would be eating soon, which was kept at a relatively warmer temperature than the winter storage cold rooms. They were right in front of the doors, technically the warmest spot in cold room. Fruits had already been brought out to warm so they could be eaten with dinner, but Lori ignored those. Instead, she went to the ones still in the cold room, ignoring the looks of the men and women cooking at the kitchen. Carefully, she began filling her bone basket with fruits, making sure there was an even mix of all of the ones available. The fruits were chilly in her hands,but not uncomfortable, the frost on them melting into water at her touch. Once her basket was full, she headed back to her room.

She had to come down and get more fruits since the amount in her basket wasn't enough, and by then people were coming in to sit at the tables and wait for dinner.

When Lori came back down again her table was full. Shanalorre and her younger cousin sat at her bench, the latter talking excitedly to the former about… something, who listened attentively and nodded every so often. Umu, Mikon and Riz sat to either side of Rian, looking eager and impatient and trying to control it, which just made Lori sigh. Well, she supposed some self-control was laudable.

The din of the dining hall around her was the noise of the familiar as she passed through it, walked between the tables to her customary place. At the table behind where she sat, the children Shanalorre was in charge of gathered, talking to each other in excited tones as two Mikon-faced women sat with them, both looking tired for some reason.

As Lori stood behind her customary positon at the table, Rian glanced at her and nodded, but he continued listening attentively to Shanalorre's cousin, who seemed to be talking about how she had seen a choker catch and eat a bug earlier that day.

"—and then it swallowed the whole thing, but a little piece of wing got caught in its mouth, so it was standing there with the little wing sticking out," the younger girl narrated, using her hands to mime where the wing had been hanging from. "And then it started panting, and its mouth was hanging open, and you could see its tongue get fat and red! But then it ran away."

"It's good that you weren't hurt," Shanalorre said. "You were far too close to be safe."

"Don't worry Shasha, I wouldn't have gotten hurt. I know not to eat big bugs!"

Rian let out a small chortle, seemingly amused at the reasoning.

Lori just sighed. "Rian."

"Ah, I have that ore, your Bindership. Do you want me to give it to you now or after dinner?"

"Later. I need you to gather the four smiths who worked on the first two prototypes, as well as the smith we worked with this morning."

"Oh, sure. When?"

"Now."

Rian blinked. "Uh, all right. Where?"

"Here."

He stared at her for a moment and sighed as he got to his feet. "Yes, your Bindership."

Lori nodded in satisfaction. "Erzebed, come with me."

The woman glanced at Lori at the mention of her name but nodded, standing up as well. She followed behind Lori as they headed back to Lori's room.

At her table were five stone bowls. They were plain-looking and uneven, no two of the same exact size or dimensions despite Lori's best efforts. Each of them was filled with fruits.

Lori put one of them in her bone basket and held that out to Riz. "Carry this and two other bowls, and bring it back to the table."

"Yes, Great Binder," was the ready reply. The basket on the crook of one arm and a bowl in each hand, Riz made carrying them look easy.

Lori, for her part, struggled to get a hand under each bowl to be able to support them, holding them against her body to have something to stabilize them with. She walked cautiously as she traversed the stairs so that none of the fruits would fall off the bowls, something that Riz didn't even seem to need to bother with. By the time Lori managed to reach her table, Riz had already divested herself of her load and was sitting down again.

Around the table, five vaguely familiar men stood, and Lori was glad to recognize the smith from this morning. She didn't know his name, but at least she knew his face.

"Ah, the smiths you asked for, your Bindership," Rian said by way of confirmation.

Lori nodded, then put down the stone bowls she was holding next to the other three on the table, removing one from her bone basket. A mican and a pink lady had fallen into the bottom of the basket, which she ignored for the moment. "Good." she said. "Each of you, please pick a bowl, with my compliments. Your work was very fine, even if some things were unplanned. Not a word, Rian."

Rian closed his mouth, probably about to say something about a fruit-based economy again.

Mildly bemused, each of the smiths picked up a bowl and the fruits therein.

"I realize it's strange compensation for your work," Lori said, "but at the moment, paying you in beads would be a worthless gesture. Better something you can enjoy. Keep the bowls. I'm sure they'll be of some use." Perhaps they'll need someplace to put more slag in the future.

"Thank you, Great Binder."/"Thank you, your Bindership," the men said in a staggered chorus, bowing towards her with the bowls in their hands. The bemusement had turned to smiles and considering looks at the bowls in their hands.

Lori nodded. "Now, go and eat dinner."

As the men left, making their way back to wherever they'd previously been seated, Lori finally sat down on her bench. She reached into her basket, pulling out one of the two fruits that had fallen there, the pink lady, and held it out past Shanalorre to the other Dungeon Binder's cousin.

"What do you say?" Shanalorre said as the fruit was snatched from Lori's hand.

"Thank you very much, Great Binder!"

As Lori put the basket on the bench next to her, pulling out the mican that was had been left in it and starting to peel it open with her fingers, she saw Rian smile.

"You know, someday soon you're not going to need me anymore," he said. "Even if you don't think so, you actually handle 'dealing with people' matters pretty well."

Lori snorted. "I don't want to. You're still doing it."

Rian just kept smiling. "Yes, your Bindership."

Why was she annoyed even when it wasn't his 'to be annoying' smile?

Shaking her head, Lori continued peeling her mican as they waited for dinner.

Around her, her demesne lived on.