Lori closed her eyes, sighing. "I do not have the time to correct the no doubt mistaken impression Rian has given you of that incident," she said. "Rian, tell—" No, wait, not Rian. He was the one who misinformed them in the first place! "Binder Shanalorre, please properly explain the circumstances regarding my conquest of your demesne, as Rian seems to have chosen to amuse himself by humorously mispresenting events."

"Yes, Great Binder," Shanalorre said.

The two women blinked and turned towards the other Dungeon Binder.

"You're Binder Shanalorre?" Taeclas exclaimed. She turned to Rian for explanation. "She's Binder Shanalorre?"

Rian actually looked apologetic. "It's not the sort of thing that's believable until you actually meet her. I mean, a child Binder is the sort of thing that comes up in stories for children. It's usually a sign that the story is for children."

"I assure you, Binder Shanalorre is the former Dungeon Binder of River's Fork," Lori assured them. "Since she surrendered to my authority, she has become my subordinate until further notice. She is also not relevant to this discussion. I believe I must know what Rian promised you, to either confirm or deny it." She gave her lord a glare. If he could no longer be trusted…

"I didn't lie or mispresent anything," he said. "It's just some things are hard to believe unless we present actual, verifiable empirical evidence for it, like the fact Shanalorre is a Dungeon Binder. Or your own… extremely idiosyncratic approach to engaging in social contact."

"I don't engage in social contact."

"Exactly!"

Lori sighed and turned back towards her new subjects. "As should be obvious now, Lord Rian considers himself witty. It's best to simply ignore it."

"Rian is a lord?" They were the first words that Taeclas wife—what was it… Ri-something… Ribere? No, wait, Rybelle—had spoken in her presence.

The man in question shrugged. "It wasn't relevant when we first met. Actually, it's not relevant at all in day to day living, unless you have something you want to complain about. Then it's 'Lord Rian, do something about this', and 'Lord Rian, something needs to be done about that'."

"You should have quit back when you were only a temporary lord," Lori said dryly.

"Ah, to think the mistakes of my youth would haunt me like this. I shall never forgive you, Rian-of-a-year-ago!"

She rolled her eyes. "See? Best to ignore it. Now, what has he told you?"

The two women glanced at each other. They both had strange expressions on their faces, like they were trying to smile through constipation. "Ah, w-well," Rybelle said, "Rian—Lord Rian, I mean—promised that there were homes available that were rent-free…"

The woman's face returned to normal as she enumerated what exactly Rian had promised her and her wife, and Lori breathed a small sigh of relief. It seemed that Rian at least hadn't misled about that, though he had still made omissions.

"All that is broadly accurate," Lori confirmed once Rybelle had finished. "However, even if the use of our available housing and other facilities is free, they still come with obligations. Or rather, the require that you will contribute to the demesne. Those who don't work don't eat."

"That's fair," Taeclas said readily, nodding. "What sort of contributions?"

"Assisting in food preparation, gathering resources from the woods, resource refinement…" Lori waved a hand dismissively. "Rian would be better able to inform you where any assistance is needed. In your particular case, your most useful contribution would be using your Deadspeaking to assist in increasing the yields of our crops. Healing and carpentry assistance would also be appreciate, though at the moment, the sanitary measures we have taken has significantly lowered the likelihood of disease. Until now, the doctors and Shanalorre have been sufficient at seeing to the health of my subjects."

Taeclas blink, regarding Shanalorre again. "She can heal?"

"Yes. It has been to our benefit that Shanalorre is a savant. Her healing meaning has been most useful, especially when it came to caring for the newborns we had over the winter."

For the first time, Taeclas looked alarmed. "W-what?"

"Is something wrong, Taeclas?" Rian asked.

Taeclas took a deep breath. "W-well… If it was done last winter, then it's probably too late…" she said, fixing a frown on Shanalorre. "You two probably wouldn't know, since from what I've seen you used to be a Whisperer Binder Lori, and if Shanalorre here is a savant as you say—"

"Binder Shanalorre," Lori corrected pointedly.

The woman paused in her flow of thought. "What?"

"Even subordinate to me, she is still Binder Shanalorre and will be shown the proper respect as such," Lori said sternly.

"But… you don't call her that…" Taeclas said.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Naturally not. She's my subordinate. I outrank her."

Rian leaned towards the two women. "Just go with it," he said in a theatrical whisper. "Besides, she has a point."

Taeclas and her wife both made one of those strange expressions Lori couldn't identify on their faces. "My apologies, Binder Shanalorre," the Deadspeaker said eventually. For some reason, the two women reminded Lori of her mothers in the way they were looking at the younger Dungeon Binder.

"I accept your apology," Shanalorre said with a nod.

"… Rian said you used to have a Deadspeaker, but they're no longer with you. Did they leave before the babes were born?" Taeclas asked.

"They died well before the babes were born, yes," Lori said. Next to her, Shanalorre twitched for some reason.

"Oh…" Taeclas said, in a softer voice. "Well, I suppose that's why Sha—Binder Shanalorre here wasn't informed then. Not all meanings are safe to use on babes. Though if they've managed to survive since winter without developing notable deformities…" She paused. "They haven't developed any noticeable deformities, have they? Have any died?"

Lori and Rian looked at each other, the former inquiring and concerned, the latter mildly panicked. "Uh… No, none of them have died. As to deformities… not that I've noticed," he said, even as he was visibly going over his memories. "The mothers, doctors and medics haven't mentioned anything to me…"

In the awkward silence, there was a loud sound of impact as Shanalorre's left arm rose and slapped her cheek hard, making Taeclas and Rybelle start and turn to look at her. She stared back impassively as she lowered her hand.

"Then… well, Binder Shanalorre's meaning probably didn't harm them, but it would be best if I examined them, just to be sure," Taeclas said. "If some harm has been done, I might be able to identify and correct it."

Lori scowled. She wanted to keep the woman here in River's Fork, but with that sort of concern raised… "I shall get a second opinion from… what was his name, Rian?"

"Deadspeaker Lidzuga, your Bindership," Rian said, still looking preoccupied and trying to remember.

Lori nodded. "I will speak to him and get his opinion on the matter. However, to continue our discussion, while your greatest unique contribution to the demesne would be the application of your skills at Deadspeaking, assistance in other matters would also be useful. I can't think of what those other matters might be, but I'm sure Rian has a list somewhere."

Taeclas frowned, but eventually sighed. "Right, right… if they're still healthy now, a few more hours won't matter…" she said quietly. "I… well, I'm good at meanings to increase yields, but I'll need to see your crops to say how useful it would be. Meanings like that need to take effect for most of a day or longer to be much good, and that means a lot of imbuement. It's more efficient to put it on a single plant that yields a lot, since I would have to imbue the plant myself." She glanced sideways at Rian. "Rian's been hinting there's a way get around that problem, but he hasn't really said anything."

"To be honest, it's just a thought," Rian admitted, "but could someone, say, imbue a plant, and then you just step in and use the imbuement to make a meaning?"

"That's not how it works," Lori said, and was surprised to hear Taeclas echoing her word for word. She glanced at the woman, before continuing. "In Whispering, at least, forming a binding requires that you bind wisps to your will after claiming it. While you can imbue wisps that you have claimed but not bound, doing so will cause the imbuement to very quickly dissipate after you've surrendered your claim. For the wisps to properly retain the imbuement, you need to bind the wisps to your will, with or without forming them into a proper binding."

Rian stared at her for a moment. "Does it ever get confusing using the same word for two different steps in the process?" he said.

Lori blinked at the strange tangent. "What is there to be confused about? Binding to your will and forming a binding are completely different things."

For some reason, he glanced at Taeclas, Rybell and Shanalorre in turn, who returned his look. "I suppose it's a wizard thing…" he said. Rybelle and Shanalorre both nodded for some reason.

Lori found herself meeting Taeclas gaze, and they both shared an exasperated look and a shrug. Why did people keep asking that?

"Uh, to build on L—Binder Lori's explanation," Taeclas said, "the same thing happens with life, whether vital or inert. Simply claiming and imbuing life will cause the imbuement to dissipate if you don't bind it to your will. For your suggestion to work Rian, someone would have to bind the life, and if they're going to do that, they might as well tame it into a meaning."

Rian nodded. "All right then. Thank you for the correction."

"You're welcome!"

"Since I'm not a wizard and don't know, I have to ask, can a Deadspeaker also deactivate their meanings, the way a Whisperer can deactivate their bindings? And does doing so allow the meaning to retain most of their imbuement for an extended period of time?"

"Oh, yes. It's very useful for when you want to imbue a meaning with a lot of magic."

Rian nodded. "So… is it possible for you to just make the meaning, then deactivate it, and then have someone else come along to imbue the meaning?"

"Oh, yes, that's perfectly doable," Taeclas said. "Although the correct term is 'tame'. A craftsman makes, a Whisperer forms, a Horotract defines, a Mentalist arranges, and a Deadspeaker tames. Are you thinking of having me just tame the life into meanings and Lidzuga will imbue them? That's certainly doable, but it will still come down to imbuing all the crops by hand. I suppose if we had a wire we could tie all the crops together and imbue them simultaneously… but if I had a wire, I could tame all the life in the crops into meanings and imbue them."

Rian glanced at Lori. "We have the wire," he said.

"We'll see," she said.

He nodded and turn back to Taeclas. "Actually, I was thinking that if you could tame meanings into the crops but leave them deactivated, Binder Shanalorre might be able to imbue them for you. That would solve the problem of imbuement being the limiting factor."

Lori and Taeclas both turned towards Shanalorre, who nodded. "Lord Rian is correct. I was able to imbue the meanings still extant in the demesne. I have no doubt that I can imbue any meanings that Wizard Taeclas can tame, since my connection to River's Fork's core will allow me to override her claim." She frowned. "However, all those meanings were already active. While I would be able to imbue any deactivated meanings, I would not be able to activate them. As a savant, I have not been taught how. That step would have to be initiated by someone else."

Rian cleared his throat. "I think this discussion is one we'll have to continue later with Lidzuga present," he said. "He might have something to add."

Lori considered it, then nodded. "Yes. We shall have to curtail this discussion until then. This is a matter of work logistics. If you have no more questions at the moment, Rian can lead you to where you can have lunch."

"Come on, you two," Rian said, gesturing for them to follow him. "If you have any questions, ask me. I should be able to answer most things. After lunch we can get you moved in, then Yllian can show you where the baths are." He nodded to Lori. "I'll bring back Lidzuga, your Bindership. Think about what you're going to say to his request."

"It was really nice meeting you, Binder Lori! You too, Binder Shanalorre!" Taeclas said before she turned and began following Rian, holding hands with her wife after they had stepped off the boat.

Lori let out a small sigh of relief. Ugh, she hated talking to people.

Well, she only had to do it one more time, and then she'd be able to go home today. Just a little longer…