When the time for lunch came, there was no stew. Shana wasn't surprised, because Rian had announced the itinerary beforehand, but it was still a marked difference to the day's routine. She supposed that was the point. A holiday, according to the lord when she'd asked, wasn't just for the sake of rest. It was also important that a holiday be a break from the monotony of a normal day, so that people didn't just find themselves of thinking of the work they would be doing when the holiday was over.
In this case, it meant that at lunch, a different set of volunteers were bustling about in the kitchen. The aunties and uncles who usually cooked were able to take their ease, and someone else would also be washing the dishes and utensils.
The honeybread and fruits that they received for lunch was delicious but would not have been filling under normal circumstances, but it was an enjoyable, if light, repast.
She ate at Binder Lori's table this meal, the two of them sitting and eating quietly on their side while those on the other side of the table flirted. Wizard Taeclas and Rybelle were sitting strangely—it took Shana a while to realize the latter was sitting on her wife's lap—as they fed each other, which seemed to be inspiring Ninang Riz, Mikon and Umu to do the same. While none were sitting on Rian's lap, they all held spoons and tried to feed him.
Binder Lori quickly finished eating. "Rian, tell me when sunset is near," she said. "I'll be in my room reading."
"Will you actually come down, or will I need to spend an hour knocking on your door telling you to put away the book and come out?"
There was a very long pause.
"Uh, your Bindership?" Rian eventually prompted.
Finally, her Bindership sighed. "I'll leave the door unlocked. Make sure I come out on time."
"Yes, your Bindership! Enjoy your afternoon reading!"
Binder Lori made herself scarce, heading to her room to presumably rest in her own way, and Shana finished eating soon after. The food was sweet, the fruits were tart and flavorful, and Shana appreciated the variety, but she didn't wish to linger. Without any children to watch over, Shana allowed herself the luxury of a nap after she ate, finding her assigned alcove and simply lying down with her head cushioned by her folded hands. She took her reed hat and laid it over her face to block off the perpetual light of the second level. The hat smelled of heat and sweat, but those were familiar smells this summer.
Shana let herself relax and doze, too full and not tired enough to truly fall asleep. The stone of the sleeping niche was hard under her, but it was cool, and as long as she stayed on her back she was comfortable. The dungeon was quieter after lunch, with the children taking naps themselves, the adults speaking in low voices to not wake them and thus shatter the tender peace.
––––––––––––––––––
Still, eventually the minor discomfort of the stone beneath roused her to move. Despite not truly falling asleep, Shana felt lethargic, and actually more sleepy than when she'd been laying down, but that feeling went away as she stood and began moving around.
Upstairs in the kitchen, meat was being prepared, cut into slices for roasting. Fruit was being cut and mashed to make what sauces the demesne had, and the dough was being made, even as more was being left to rise. Shana watched in passing, but she knew she wouldn't be allowed to help there. People took Binder Lori's prohibition of sharp objects very seriously.
Outside, people were milling about, taking firewood from the curing shed and arranging them into piles for cook fires. While it was still hot, the late afternoon air was markedly cooler to than it had been at noon, and people weren't working as hard as they could be. Over at the laundry area, Shana saw people washing mushrooms, no doubt freshly picked from the mushroom farms.
She headed for her house to retrieve her bath bucket so she could take a bath while it still seemed like the baths weren't crowded.
When dusk came, the holiday truly began.
At night, the outside of the dungeon was mostly well-lit, with light glowing from the corners of most buildings, both near the dungeon's entrance. Tonight, it was even brighter. More lights glowed high on the walls of houses and other buildings, and while no one would mistake it for day—not with the darkness above with the moons and stars—or even the insides of the dungeon, no one was likely to be tripping in the dark. The latter was a fact the children were taking full advantage of as they ran around between the houses, moving between light and darkness.
The piles of firewood were lit, making cookfires—it was warm enough people had no need for heat, and bright enough they had no need for firelight—and people started roasting meat in many different ways, filling the air with delicious smells. Some people stated singing, clapping their hands to keep time—as they were no longer allowed to play music—as other people began to dance, holding hands, and stepping in rhythmic patterns together.
"Ah, there you are!" Karina said as she suddenly appeared in Shana's view. "I've been looking for you."
"And you've found me."
"Wiz Lori asked me to find you. Come on," her friend said, beginning to walk, and Shana followed after her. She didn't bother asking if Binder Lori had told Karina why. Binder Lori didn't do that unless prompted by Rian.
They found the older Dungeon Binder sitting on a bench near the entrance of the dungeon, her back against the wall. Shana wondered why she didn't bring out her chair. Perhaps she wanted the space to lay out her plates? There was a cook fire nearby, and Shana recognized some of the cuts being cooked on it as beast tail meat, which she knew was the woman's favorite. Binder Lori was staring at the cooking meat intently, almost visibly willing the meat to cook faster.
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Binder Lori's gaze turned towards them as they approached. Her face was seemingly set in a disapproving frown, but Shana knew that was just what her face looked like in repose. "There you are," she said. "Come here and raise your arms over your head. Karina, check her pouch for knives and other such objects."
"Yes, Wiz Lori," Karina said. "Shasha, can I borrow your belt pouch?" At Shana's nod, the other girl opened the belt pouch at her waist, looking inside. The pouch was filled with light from the rock that Binder Lori had given her, and so it was easy to see that the belt contained only the rock, some cord that Shana had braided out of ropeweed, several spare wispbeads for the wisplight and bound tool in her house, and a roll of linen. The linen was a spare chest wrap of hers, which she carried as an emergency bandage.
Not for her, of course. She had no intention of injuring herself, but she had it as an emergency bandage. The same for the cord.
"No knives or pointy things, Wiz Lori," Karina said helpfully as she put everything back inside the pouch and closed it, making sure to wrap the pouch's cord around its button. "Sorry, Shasha."
"It's all right, Karina," Shana said. Perhaps she hadn't thought through her gesture of sincerity very well, but at the time, it had seemed like her best option. She hadn't expected all this scrutiny afterwards, but she had no one to blame but herself.
Binder Lori pointed at a spot a pace away from her on the bench. "Sit there," she said.
Shana sat and found that air was flowing down on the bench in a refreshing breeze, something that Binder Lori had probably anchored to the wall behind them. "May I ask why you summoned me, Great Binder?"
"Yes," Binder Lori said.
"Why did you summon me, Great Binder?"
"To make sure you weren't unattended or acquiring a sharp object."
Yes, the scrutiny would never end.
Shana had expected Karina to leave now that she'd fulfilled Binder Lori's orders, but to her surprise Karina came back carrying three wooden cups of water and handed one to her.
"Thank you," Shana said as Karina handed another cup to the other Dungeon Binder.
"Thank you," Binder Lori said as she accepted the cup, taking a sip from it.
Karina sat on the bench next to Shana, and for a moment the three of them just sat there.
"Don't you want to go play?" Shana said eventually.
Karina shook her head. "I did that already, and I'm hungry. I'm just going to wait for the food."
"Wouldn't you rather hunt it down yourself?"
"It's not safe to hunt in the dark. You could hurt yourself doing that, and it's hard to see what you're hunting."
Slowly, Shana turned towards her friend. "Karina… did you try hunting at night or something?"
"It wasn't at night! It was at dawn. Lord Rian said I shouldn't, though. He was right, it's really hard to see the seels in the water that early."
Shana kept staring at her the way she knew Binder Lori would.
"…he also told me to not hunt chokers too…"
She maintained the stare.
"I don't! No hunting at night!"
"Good," Binder Lori said. Shana glance behind her to see that the woman had also been giving Karina the same stare. "You should never work when it's too dark to see what you're doing. That's always very unsafe."
"I already know that!"
Shana sighed. "And people keep sharp object away from me… "
"Despite Karina's dubious choice of work times, she's never deliberately injured herself with the full intention of doing so," Binder Lori said, which Shana couldn't really refute.
The three settled back, Karina pouting slightly but the pout soon vanished in curiosity as Binder Lori reached down onto the bench next to her. At first, Shana thought it was a plank, until she realized it was Binder Lori's game board. There were some dark stains along one side that Shana recognized as her blood, darkened with time. A small box that contained the boards game pieces rested on in.
"I would invite you to play," Binder Lori said, "but I require your assurance that this game won't end the same way our last one did."
"I assure you I won't cut my wrist open again, Great Binder."
Binder Lori nodded in satisfaction, and began setting up the pieces.
"Hey, Shasha…" Karina said, and Shana turned towards her. "Can you teach me how to play chatrang too? Then we can play together."
Shana hesitated, then glanced at Binder Lori. "Great Binder, do you mind if I teach Karina as we play?"
Binder Lori waved her hand. "As you like."
––––––––––––––––––
It was a restful holiday. While there was dancing and singing, Shana spent her time playing chatrang with Binder Lori as they ate. Well, she and Karina played with Binder Lori, her friend suggesting moves and Shana diligently doing as directed. They weren't very good moves as first, but Shana didn't mind, and Binder Lori didn't seem to either. They lost, of course, but that was all right. Binder Lori liked winning, no matter how unskilled her opponent was.
They played more games, eating as they went. Rian passed by at one point, but he didn't linger, merely asking if they needed anything else as he brought them some fruits. Karina and Shana started playing together, discussing what moves to do, the former having learned from some of her choices of moves in previous games. While they didn't win any of the games, the two of them slowly started to last longer and longer. Karina was easily baited to take pieces when she could, but that was fine, because Binder Lori was like that as well. Watching the two play, one could be forgiven for thinking the point of chatrang was to take as many of your opponent's pieces as possible instead of taking your opponent's Dungeon Binder and core.
Despite losing so much, Shana enjoyed herself as she watched the two play.
Eventually, the last game was played, the food was all gone, the fires were put out, and the utensils were being washed so they could be used the next morning. Binder Lori left, carrying her game board, to return to where she slept in the dungeon, and Shana went to take a bath and do the same.
With all the children in her care gone back to River's Fork, she found the door of her house open and movement within. As she entered, Shana drew out the rock that Binder Lori had given her, illuminating the confines of her house. "Koyan, Kayas," she greeted as she closed the door behind her.
"Lady Binder," Koyan said, her unfortunately-set face giving Shana what most would think was a malicious smile if they didn't know the woman.
"Lady Binder," her sister echoed with her own smile. Both looked so much like Mikon one could be excused for thinking they were sisters rather than cousins.
"Since Yoshka isn't here tonight, I believe the three of us will be able to fit in the bed together," Shana said as she felt around her pouch for her smallest wispbead, and put the bead on the receptacle for the bound tool that moved air. soon, a refreshing breeze was blowing through her house as she oriented it towards the bed. "There's no need for you to sleep on the floor."
The two women glanced at each other. They lived in Shana's house in exchange for helping her look after the children in her care, and part of the arrangement was the two women taking turns sleeping on the bed with her and Yoshka. "I don't think we'll fit, Lady Binder," Kayas said.
There was a knock on the door.
When Shana opened it, she found Karina there, holding a small pillow. Behind her, Shana could seen some of the other children of the demesne. There were Karina's younger siblings, Cif, Jivoy, Malli, and Siithia. There was Big Yerart, hiding those behind him; Yhalta and Matoy were standing next to each other, holding hands as usual, and more behind them that Shana couldn't identify at the moment.
"Can we sleep here tonight?" Karina asked.
"What, all of you?" Shana said.
Everyone outside her door nodded. "We thought you'd be lonely since Yoshka's away," Big Yerart said.
For a moment, Shana just stared. Then she shook her head, stepping back with a small smile on her face. "Make yourselves at home."