"That was my fault," Rian said as soon as he'd come back from leading the two siblings away.

"Yes, it was."

"I should have helped him prepare what he was going to say. I knew the time off was going to be a contentious point, so I should have helped him present it in a way that wouldn't annoy you."

"Yes, you should have."

"Really, I should have made more of a point about how important you considered contributing to the demesne to be, and that he should have waited a few days after he'd shown how skilled and useful he was before asking for time off."

"That would certainly have been a good idea."

"Shana, if this is your way to trying to make me feel better, please stop. If it isn't, I wonder at your newfound vindictive streak."

"I was simply agreeing with all your statements. Why would I be vindictive towards you?"

"Oh. Well, could you please stop agreeing with me? It's making me feel worse."

"No."

There was a pause as Rian turned to stare at Shanalorre.

"Was that you not agreeing with me?"

"No, it wasn't."

That seemed to plunge her lord into deep thought. "Huh. This conversation is starting to get philosophically challenging."

Lori finally found her voice. "Rian…" her teeth gritted together. She was no longer almost violently outraged, but that merely meant she had calmed enough to speak. The outrage was still there. "What were you thinking bringing that idiot here?-!"

"I… admit that the way he introduced himself to you probably gave you good reason to think that, but I assure you that he came highly recommended," Rian said. "Of all our candidates, he'd been the only one with a regular job who wasn't also trying to pay back debts, and I saw some samples of his work. He was capable, and he was vehement about why he didn't want to be a Dungeon Binder, so he'd never be a threat to you by either trying to take your demesne, or an obstruction from him trying to set up his own. With all that, I figured we could have worked around any other issues."

"The Deadspeaker's desire to not work was not just an issue, it was basically him trying to take advantage of us!"

"It… well, it could have been better presented, but that probably wasn't his intention…" Rian sighed. "But that's not going to change your mind at this point, is it?"

"No."

Rian simply nodded. "Yeah, I'm not surprised. Well, I'm glad you decided to give him a probationary period instead of… well, something vindictive."

"You brought the Deadspeaker here. We might as well make use of him. Besides, it's been proven that idiots can learn with sufficient time in River's Fork."

Rian nodded slowly. "I suppose. And… are you really willing to reconsider the issue of giving him time off?"

"I said it, didn't I?"

"Hmm…" Rian said. "Well… if you're still unhappy with Lidzuga by the time we're ready to go back to Covehold Demesne, or if he's unhappy here and wants to go there, will you let him? That is, will you let him and his sister ride back with us on the ship instead of making him walk?"

"I will consider it."

Rian nodded. "As you do." He sighed. "Sorry for bringing you a headache so soon after arriving."

"As you should be."

There was a moment of silence as Shanalorre angled the bound tool she has holding to cast its breeze towards Rian, whose sigh changed tone as a result.

"All right," he said. "What thing happened while I was gone that I need to help deal with?"

"A typhon beast settled near River's Fork, which is repelling other beasts from the area and making it difficult for the hunters to provide meat for this demesne."

Rian paused. "I don't think I'm familiar with that one. Isn't 'Typhon' a—"

"Yes, the ones naming the new kinds of beasts have been going for fictional references. I'll show you the relevant pages of the almanac."

"Oh, you're finally letting me have reading material? Yay…"

"Great Binder?"

Lori turned towards Shanalorre, who had sat unobtrusively during the interview with the Deadspeaker and his sister. "What is it?"

"May I inquire if all of the new recruits will be residing here in River's Fork, or will one pair reside in Lorian Demesne?" Shanalorre said.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Lori twitched.

"I'm going to have to second the Lady Binder's question," Rian said. "I'd rather avoid the awkwardness and implied insult of asking them to move demesnes at a later time. Are we having them stay here, or do I tell Taeclas and Rybelle that they're coming with us to Lorian?"

She gave her lord a flat look. "Why do you assume I would choose Taeclas to come to Lorian?"

"Well, for one thing, she didn't annoy you so much you were clearly wishing you could sink her into the ground. For another, Taeclas is better with plants than Lidzuga, so it only makes sense that she be the one to take to the demesne with more crops that need to be taken care of and made to mature faster for harvesting."

Lori frowned, skeptical. "How can you be sure she's better with plants?"

"Because on the way here, Taeclas took care of tending to the seedlings, cuttings and plants we brought, and Lidzuga just assisted by helping with imbuing. The fact they showed preferences for such activities is a good indicator of something, and with conversation, I found out Taeclas' preference was because she was very good at it." Rian shrugged. "Then they talked, and there was a technical discussion I can't repeat and barely understood, but Lidzuga said that Taeclas was better than he was at meanings for plants."

"And you're relying on the Deadspeaker's opinion?"

"Well, he'd know than better than me about—" Rian stopped what he was saying and turned to stare at her. "Seriously? You're doing that? Now that's just petty."

Lori didn't reply, simply giving him a flat look.

"Come on, don't do that. That's actually disproportionately hurtful."

Next to Lori, Shanalorre tilted her head curiously, but said nothing, simply listening.

"This is extremely undignified behavior," Rian continued. "What he did wasn't that bad! I mean, yes, it's bad, but not something deserving of this from you.

Lori's response remained the same.

"Landoor didn't get this sort of response from you. He still thinks he's your heir and going to be a wizard and Dungeon Binder after you, and you don't go around pointedly not bothering to refer to him by name. Especially since calling him something like 'The Biggest Idiot' is available to you." Rian paused and turned to Shanalorre. "Please don't tell Landoor I said that? I don't want to hurt his feelings." Shanalorre nodded solemnly in agreement. "Thank you. Come on, what Lidzuga did can't rank nearly as bad as Landoor. He made an error in judgement out of enthusiasm. Landoor is… Landoor."

… all right, put like that she sounded extremely and unreasonably petty. Still, she was the Dungeon Binder! Twice over at that, technically. She didn't apologize for her pettiness, nor explain her pettiness, nor give excuses for her pettiness!

Though by that same logic, she also didn't have to apologize for, explain or give excuses when she stopped being petty.

"I'll consider it," she said with lofty dignity.

Rian nodded. "Well, with that tangent out of the way… am I telling Taeclas she's coming with us upriver or not?"

…oh yes, they'd been talking about that, hadn't they? "Is it really necessary?" Lori said.

"You were just telling me that there's been difficulties hunting because a new beast with an ominous name has settled nearby. If that's not a good reason to have the Deadspeaker who's better at growing plants in the demesne where we're growing the most crops…"

The feeling of hating that Rian had a point was… well, simultaneously comforting and annoying. Ugh.

––––––––––––––––––

Lori stayed for lunch at River's Fork, because it was noon and she didn't want to delay eating by going back to her demesne, because Rian needed to speak to Yllian, and because Rian had a letter from the rest of the Golden Sweetwood Company and Lori was going to find out what it said. She could respect that the contents of a piece of official correspondence was none of her business. However, once those contents were known to one of her subjects, she was going to have them tell her what those contents were!

"And you're going to be telling our new arrivals that they'll be staying in different demesnes, right?"

"Yes, Rian, I'll tell them that they will be in separate demesnes."

"And you'll refer to Lidzuga by name?"

"And I'll sink you into the ground if you keep annoying me."

"Can you just push me into the water? I don't want to get softened stone on my clothes, I keep getting looks from Mikon and Umu when I end up with stains ground into them."

"No. I know you like being in deep water."

"It's hot, of course I would!"

The two of them reached the outdoor pavilion that acted as River's Fork's dining hall. Thick wooden posts supported a roof of straight branches and straightened sheets of bark, keeping leaves and occasional small branches that fell from the dome above. The interior of the dome was shaded enough to be noticeably cooler than the area around it, but the same dome dulled breezes that might have moved the air.

The four new recruits were sitting at the same table, where Yllian, a vaguely familiar woman who was most likely his wife, and a young man who was… some kind of relation… were also seated. Yllian's probably-wife was talking to the three women, which Taeclas responded to so enthusiastically Lori could practically hear what she was saying. The Deadspeaker's wife was more controlled, but seemed to be as actively involved in the conversation, while whatever-her-name-was sat back and mostly nodded along. Her annoying brother was talking to Yllian, looking frowning slightly, while Yllian seemed to be explaining something at great length. Every so often, the Deadspeaker would look disbelieving, to which Yllian would just shrug and say a short phrase. After a brief pause, during which the Deadspeaker—she hadn't been told what his name was yet, after all—would look confused, Yllian would resume talking again.

Presumably Yllian was telling the Deadspeaker about the demesne and all the work that needed to be done and why he couldn't have any free time.

Shanalorre, sitting next to Lori on the bench, had brought the bound tool from the Coldhold and placed it on the table, angling it so that she and Lori were in the path of the air that it moved. Riz, sitting next to Rian, had forgone the usual method of claiming Rian's arm and had just wrapped hers around his torso, taking advantage of the fact neither Mikon or Umu were present on that side. Rian, for his part, kept both of his hands visible on the table, the only sign of him reciprocating the attention was how leaning slightly towards Riz.

Rian let out a long sigh. "Ah… it's nice to be back home. Well, almost home. I can't wait to have a bath where I won't have to worry about something in the water trying to grab my clothes in its mouth…"

"You can do that after you unpack the boat," Lori said.

There was another sigh… or perhaps it was a moan. "Then can I have a bath?"

"Don't take long. You need to properly report to me what happened, and you were the one who said we needed to have a long discussion."

A third sigh. "Yup… I'm definitely home… Well, I suppose home is the place where you have to fix the roof if it's leaking," Rian mused nonsensically. "I just wish it wasn't leaking all the time…"

Shanalorre nodded. "Welcome home, Lord Rian."

At his side, Riz clung tighter. "Welcome home, Rian."

Lori sighed. Was the food ready yet?