Shana—Shasha to a few, Great Binder or Lady Binder to most, Shanalorre to Binder Lolilyuri—had quite enjoyed Lorian's Demesne's mid-winter holiday, at least up until the point she had needed to prove her seriousness to the other Dungeon Binder. While River's Fork had been well-prepared for the winter—after all, the winter had been quite mild—they hadn't the resources or infrastructure for such a thing, although some families had taken turns visiting each other.
She had moved into her office once she had judged it was far too dangerous to keep climbing up the stairs to… her house near the peak of the dome's central tree. Most of the day she just sat in the gloom, covered by every blanket she owned, and rousing herself enough the make bland bread and chew on smoked meat once a day. Sometimes uncle Yllian, mushka Vyshke or one of… her family's friends…
…
…
…
…would invite her to share their fire and a meal, but it soon became impractical to keep leaving her house. And then Rian had arrived invoking her agreement with Binder Lori, and she had stayed in Lorian for the rest of the season.
She was aware that she had ruined the holiday with her actions. However, given the path that negotiations were taking, there had been little choice.
The holiday they'd had back in spring had been enjoyable. There'd been roasted meats in various cuts and sauces, board game competitions, and a strange race where children had sat on their parent's shoulders trying to balance a piece of fruit on a spoon.
Shana hadn't gotten the chance to roam at the time, because she'd been told to sit on a bench—which had at least been shady—and people had made sure no knives or any sharp objects were anywhere near her. Her meat had come to her already cut, which she'd had to eat with a spoon since she wasn't even given a fork.
It had still been enjoyable experience, and Karina and Yoshka had been there for company. The other children had greeted her as well, but they hadn't stayed, opting for more fun diversions such as the contests that Lord Rian had led. Despite the fact that Shana had needed to remain where she was, she'd found herself participating as some of the challenges Rian had set had been things like, 'bring me a Dungeon Binder's favorite fruit' or 'tell me a Dungeon Binder's favorite color'. As even the children knew better than to bother Binder Lori—even if they were the only ones she'd tolerate doing so—they all went to Shana.
It had been fun to be included.
Now, however, a new holiday had been announced in celebration of the small harvest that she and Wizard Taeclas had been able to induce on the dungeon farm's crops. In the larger fields of crops on the surface a long strip on the edge of the fields were maturing and would be ready to harvest in a day or two. Already a rope was being laid to separate the matured vigas from the ones that were still to be accelerated, to try and prevent accidentally reaping immature stalks.
That, however, was none of her concern, especially not today. It was a holiday, after all.
Because of the summer heat outside, the holiday was being held in the dungeon. Shana had thought that it would be similar to the holiday that had been held during the winter, with improvised grills along the walls heated by Binder Lori's Whispering, dancing and music while it was still daylight out, and board games being played on many of the tables.
That… wasn't how the holiday was planned.
After breakfast—where they had honey bread in addition to salted leavened bread, the sticky green-glazed treats leaving stains around Yoshka's mouth—nearly everyone settled down to rest. Many went down to the second level to nap in the empty alcoves, bringing bedrolls from their homes or sometimes just pillows to lay their heads on. It was a marked difference from the demesne's day to day routine of regular work, even if the summer's heat had made the work slow by midday.
Still, even if no one was working, that didn't mean that no work needed to be done. The plates, utensils, cups and jars for drinking water all needed to be washed, as did the large copper cooking pots and the trays used to bake their bread. The floors needed to be swept, the tables needed to be wiped, and any scraps taken out to the compost pit.
And in her case, she needed to make sure all the children in her care were accounted for.
After all, they would be going on a trip today.
"Is everyone ready, Shana?" Rian asked, calling down from the deck of the Coldhold.
"Shanalorre," Binder Lori off-handedly corrected as she always did.
"Shanalorre," Rian 'corrected', meeting Shana's eyes and winking.
Her lips twitched slightly in a small smile. She wasn't sure if he did it to deliberately bait Binder Lori to correct him, or if he was simply so used to addressing her casually when Binder Lori was absent.
As to his question…
Shana turned to where all the children in her care had gathered around one of the two bound tools that had been hung from the ceiling, which Binder Lori had converted into a combination of wisplight and weak air jet, all trying to be in the range of the breezes being generated. She'd made sure that all of them had washed their faces of any sticky honey and that they'd all gone to the latrines beforehand. She turned back to Rian. "Everyone is accounted for and sitting down."
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"We're ready to go, then. Riz, could you please switch the steam jet driver to reverse?"
"Reversing, Rian!"
Sitting next to the controls of the Coldhold's bound tool driver, pulling it down to reverse, Ninang Riz moved the control lever into position. Shana felt the subtle vibration of water beginning to be drawn through the long tube that ran through the ship, which began to move.
"We're on our way, your Bindership!" she heard Rian's voice report from above her.
The Coldhold wasn't being controlled by its usual crew on this trip. Rian hadn't wanted them to be away from their families, and had been planning on trying to control everything himself, but Ninang Riz had of course volunteered to accompany him, and as there was no reason for them not to—there was no work to be done, after all—Mikon and Umu had asked if they could accompany him as well. More surprisingly, Binder Lori had allowed it, though she'd given that glare she sometimes did and warned the two women from distracting Ninang Riz and Rian as they had operated the Coldhold.
Shana had been more surprised that Binder Lori was accompanying them. The woman made no secret of how much she disliked leaving her demesne, and today's holiday was an excellent reason for her not to. Still, there had to be some sort of reason. The older Dungeon Binder never did anything without a practical, utilitarian reason. Once, Shanalorre had tried to do the same, but now… well, she was no longer a Dungeon Binder who needed to tend to her demesne. She no longer had to learn.
Normally, Binder Lori would be staying in her private room at the front of the Coldhold, even with the heat. She could make bindings of firewisps and airwisps to destroy heat and circulate the cooler air, after all, and put a binding outside of her door to block out the sounds of the children. So why was she sitting in the cabin above? Well, Shana supposed she was keeping watch on Mikon and Umu so they wouldn't distract Rian as he steered the ship…
The trip downriver was uneventful. True, the children tried to play in the limited space available, and kept asking to be allowed up onto the deck to be able to look around—Binder Lori vehemently denied that request—but that wasn't eventful, that was just dealing with children. To be honest, she was glad that Binder Lori had denied them. It was all Shana could do to keep the children settled down without Koyan, Kayas and Karina to assist her.
When they arrived in River's Fork, the children's parents were waiting. Despite her best efforts, some of the children ran from the boat onto the docks and towards their parents, but fortunately no one fell into the water. She watched from the cabin, seeing a smile on her uncle's face as Yoshka ran up to him and he picked her up and spun her around.
Once the children were out of the way, the supplies they'd bought from Lorian for River's Fork's own holiday—she and Wizard Lidzuga had also managed to induce an accelerated harvest here as well, after all—was unloaded. It was mostly chunks of cold but not frozen meat, and jars of honey for baking honey bread, and the men and women of River's Fork moved quickly to unload them.
"Do you want to stay to spend time with your aunt and uncle?" Rian said as the last of the food was unloaded.
Shana shook her head. "My presence would only aggravate my uncle. Let him enjoy spending time with Yoshka without my presence reminding him of more than that."
"I'm sure your aunt could—"
"Rian… please drop the issue. Please?"
It was redundant, but Rian sighed and did as she asked. "Fine. Promise me you'll try to have fun."
Shana nodded. "I will. I shall spend the holiday with Karina, if it will not be intruding."
"You know, Lori only talking to me is because of her personal issues with talking to people. Karina doesn't need to be your only friend."
"Noted."
"Your Lori-like response isn't as reassuring as you might think it is…"
Shana turned towards the hatch leading down into the ship. "I shall retrieve the bound tools so we can use them up here."
She heard Rian sigh.
Soon, the Coldhold was reversing from River's Fork's pier, its prow pointed upriver as Rian had Ninang Riz set the steam jet driver to its maximum speed. One of the bound tools had been hung at the back, where Rian, Umu and Mikon sat, the latter two sitting on the deck near the hatch down into the hold below as Mikon kept Ninang Riz involved in the conversation. The other was hung at the cabin, positioned to blow air where Binder Lori was sitting. Or rather, Binder Lori had sat where the bound tool was blowing its air.
Sitting nearby, Shana saw Binder's Lori's eyes were focused on the shore on one side of the river. More concerning, however, was that the older woman was holding an arrow. One end was fletched with beast feathers, while the other was tipped with what appeared to be a reshaped beast tooth. One of Binder Lori's fingers rested on the arrowhead, and the way she was breathing in a familiar pattern—despite not really needing it—suggested she was imbuing the arrowhead.
Shana didn't ask why. Instead, she simply sat next to Binder Lori, enjoying what breeze made it around the older woman, and simply watched the shore as well, even as she took the opportunity to imbue the bindings that remained on the firewood trees in River's Fork. The meanings on the fruit trees remained what she recognized now as deactivated, including the fruit trees hidden in the secret platform that existed at the peak of the dome's central tree.
It had been difficult to help Wizard Lidzuga climb up there in the space of an afternoon during one of the times she'd found a pretext to visit her former demesne so he could deactivate the meanings on them, but at least it meant that rotten fruit was no longer piling up there.
Shana sat there, distantly aware of the low-voiced but unintelligible conversation occurring at the other end of the boat, enjoying the relative quiet and peace after a morning of keeping children in line. Today was a supposed to be a holiday, after all. Resting and relaxing was supposed to be what she was doing.
She felt it when they left her demesne. By now, she was familiar with the feeling of seemingly being torn in two as the life in her body left the embrace of her demesne's borders. Her awareness of the dustlife on her clothes, of the hidden bugs in the ship, of the ships planks and hidden beams vanished. The disconnection still made her shudder slightly, but only just.
Next to her, Binder Lori straightened, then leaned forward, gaze and expression intent as she stared out over the now glitter-covered shore. Her finger still rested on the arrowhead.
The journey back to Lorian was also uneventful, something Binder Lori seemed dissatisfied about. She had a frustrated look on her face soon after they entered the bounds of Lorian's demesne, as opposed to her usual relieved sigh.
Shana didn't know what that was about, and didn't ask. If Binder Lori thought she needed to know, she would be told.
It was not an unpleasant start to the day's holiday.