"Huh… that's a lot of people who'd need to be picked up from Covehold…" Rian said, sounding thoughtful.

"Picking them up from Covehold Demesne won't be necessary. The ship will make for the bay at the end of the river directly, and the colonists will make their way here as we did."

Rian frowned. "Wait, they know where the river is?" he said.

"Yes. We didn't start out from Covehold except to pass through and get the ship cleared of the colors. Koshay had us go along the coast to look for a site to settle, and we found the bay at the end of the river by chance. "

"Ah. Of course. Well, there goes our relative secrecy. If nothing else, eventually people are going to start wondering where that ship goes, and the sailors on it can spread the knowledge of where the bay is." He turned towards Lori. "Maybe it's time to go back to expanding the demesne?"

"I will consider it," she said.

"Because now is actually a pretty good time since the sawmill has reached the point where—"

"I will consider it."

"Leaving the matter alone now, your Bindership. Yllian, change the subject, quick!"

Yllian rolled his eyes, but glanced down at the letter again. "The number will probably be less than the three hundred settlers. I informed them of the difficulties we've been having with growing food without Koshay, so they should be bringing in food for the winter as well."

"Is there any indication that they intend to found another demesne?"

Yllian hesitated. "The arriving settlers will be coming with far more wizards than we did, and if they followed my recommendation many of them will be Whisperers. Beyond those and the Deadspeakers who were intended to teach Binder Shanalorre, there will also be Mentalists and Horotracts."

Lori twitched again. More threats, and ones that Rian hadn't even interviewed. "And they will be coming here?"

"Here to River's Fork, yes. At the time I wrote my letter, it was clear that we needed better infrastructure than what we had and that Koshay was able to make with his Deadspeaking. Given what I had heard of what the Great Binder was able to build, I thought that if we had our own Whisperers we could start building infrastructure without needing the intervention of a Dungeon Binder."

At the very intent look Lori gave him, Yllian added, "Of course, this was seasons ago, when circumstances were substantially different. Matters have greatly changed since then."

"You're going to want to keep all those wizards here in River's Fork, aren't you?" Rian said. "You barely trust Taeclas, and she's Taeclas. The woman only wants to grow plants and be with her wife, and you're still worried she'd want to take your demesne."

"She's a wizard," Lori pointed out. Did Rian just not understand?

"Yes, but she's a wizard who has absolutely no desire to be a Dungeon Binder! It's specifically the kind of person you had me look for, I found her, and you still think she's a danger to you?"

"She could have deceived you, or change her mind in the future."

Rian took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Yllian, what else did the letter say?"

Yllian scanned the letter again. "Much of it is informing me of what supplies they'll be sending along and asking if there's anything we need specifically, which I'm supposed to send back with the ship when they arrive."

"And when will that be?" Lori demanded.

"Mid-summer at the earliest, but late summer or even early fall at the latest."

"So they could come any day now," Rian said. "River's Fork will have to play host to six times the normal number of people at worst."

"It won't be so bad," Yllian said. "They will be well-equipped with tents, so there won't be any reason to worry about finding places for people to stay. There's flat land nearby for them to set up, and since it's within the demesne, they won't need to clear so much of the space, since there aren't any large beasts nearby. And if there are, those can be hunted."

"And hygiene?" Rian asked.

"Many of these people will be seasoned militia and their families. They know not to shit near the river, and the camp will be well-organized. There will be no risk of tainting the river water so close to the village."

Rian nodded. "Was there anything else in the letter? Is the Golden Sweetwood Company running low on funds?"

"No…although…" Yllian glanced at Lori, an apologetic expression on his face. "They requested we scout for further possible settlements, if River's Fork is not yet grown to be able to support the next batch of settlers."

Lori twitched.

"Well, that sounds like a problem for next-year-me," Rian said brightly. "Today-me has enough to worry about right now. So… we're due for at most three hundred people."

"And supplies," Yllian added.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Ah, thank you Yllian. Yes, and supplies. How much of that is likely to be food?"

"One of my recommendations in the letter I sent was to bring enough supplies to last the winter, as we wouldn't be able to replicate growing multiple harvests in the spring, summer and fall without a capable Deadspeaker. They should be bringing the necessary food to last them the season."

"'Should', you say?"

Yllian nodded.

"So… River's Fork, which I believe is now no longer in danger of starving to death—" Lori glanced at Rian, who nodded, but also shrugged and held his thumb and forefinger about a yustri apart, —"will once more be in grave danger of starving to death again."

"It shouldn't…" Yllian trailed off as Lori gave him a level look. "But I suppose it is a possibility, Great Binder."

"Then when they arrive, you will check whether or not that possibility is, in fact, the case. If they arrive thinking they can just eat our food, we're not letting them in."

"Except the children, of course," Rian said. "Iridescence is very unhealthy for growing children, probably."

Lori rolled her eyes. ""Fine, the children can come in, but that's it. No one else can come in until they've gathered sufficient food to last through the winter."

"What about checking if the children are doing well? We don't have the parents coming over every week because it's too far, and you wouldn't allow the boats to be used for it, but if the settlers will be made to wait outside of the demesne they can just walk the distance."

"Fine, they can come in to check on the children. But they're not allowed to eat when they do it!"

Rian nodded, then turned to Yllian. "More relevant to the two of us, do you think they'll respect River's Fork's current arrangements and structure, or do you think they're going to supplant you as this demesne's lord due to… well, not being a majority?"

"It shouldn't be an issue. As the most senior member of the Golden Sweetwood Company on the continent, they should respect my authority, and I'm sure I can explain how matters stand to any other senior members who arrive."

"You're a lord. They will do so regardless," Lori said. "To do otherwise is to defy my authority as the one who ratified your continuation in that role."

"While I of course completely agree with your Bindership," Rian said, "this sort of 'dealing with people' matter is exactly the sort of thing that your lords are for, isn't it? So let us handle this when they arrive. Please?"

As if she was actually going to talk to those people herself!

––––––––––––––––––

She left the two alone to discuss demesne matters as she went to look for—Lori reach into her pouch, checking the names—Taeclas and Lidzuga. Riz and the rest escorted her, all of them sweating as Lori went to where the fruit trees were, which should be where the two Deadspeakers were. As she walked, she considered what she'd learned.

Having more people arrive to settle in her demesnes… it wasn't that she was opposed to the idea, but three hundred? That was more than her combined total population, which would require doubling… well, everything! Housing, food production, baths, laundry facilities, water storage, food storage, Dungeon space… well, probably not that last, she had that many open alcoves in her Dungeon. But she'd probably have to expand the space just a little more, to give her more leeway for growth… or more sudden arrivals.

Lori also acknowledged that she would likely need to do what Rian had been bothering her to do and finally raise another lord or lady, possibly more. Any new additions to her demesne would be completely unfamiliar to Rian, and he likely wouldn't have the time to learn how to manipulate them if he was already busy with prior work.

The problem was, of course, that she didn't have any candidates to raise.

…

Well, it was a 'dealing with people' problem, so she'd leave it to Rian.

Lori found the two she was looking for standing around one of the fruit trees—she didn't know what sort it was—each with a hand on the trunk. Taeclas was frowning, eyes not really looking at anything in particular as Lidzuga seemed to be in the middle of explaining something.

"—so it's all generating even more heat," said Lidzuga. "And because of the weather…"

"Yes, I see, I see," Taeclas said, "And while we can mitigate this by altering the meaning to induce the growth of more leaves, that's going to compete with the fruit production. Though we might need to do that anyway. The tree is going to need the increased nutrient production…"

"But that's going to generate more heat!"

"I know!"

"Where is the heat being generated?"

The two Deadspeakers jumped in surprise, turning towards her. "Your Bindership?" Lidzuga exclaimed.

"Good morning, your Bindership!" Taeclas greeted cheerfully. Why did she keep doing that?

"Where is the heat being generated?" Lori repeated.

"Uh, as I explained, your Bindership, it's mostly the leaves. It's where the most energy-intensive vital processes are, and they've been getting hot because of the meaning on the tree combined with the summer's excessive heat."

Lori looked up at the tree in question. "All the leaves or specific ones?"

"It's most of the leaves that are growing from the older branches of the tree, your Bindership," Taeclas said, waving vaguely at the tree. "One of the things the meaning does is to grow leaves that have been altered to produce more nutrients faster, which are the ones that get hot. Because of the past year of growth, the meaning is no longer where it needs to be to induce these leaves to grow, which is a different problem, but the leaves it does induce aren't as efficient as they could be because of a lack of adjustments. It's result in the leaves being warm, which would normally not be a problem, but with this heat…"

"So the leaves are evenly distributed?" Lori said, looking up at the trees above.

"For now, your Bindership. The leaves on the ends of the newer branches don't grow to have those induced changes."

Lori nodded absently, beginning to walk around the tree as she stared upwards, noting which direction the wind was blowing. The tree didn't feel particularly hot… but then again, it wouldn't. The trees were tall, and any heat would simply get higher unless it was a strong radiant heat. "Beyond the issue of the hot leaves, what are the other issues that have prevented the reactivation of the meanings?"

"It's mostly been needing to extend the meaning to the newly grown parts of the trees and deactivating it in the areas that aren't really suited for it anymore, your Bindership," Lidzuga said. "I've had to go slow, especially since I've needed to keep referring to the notes and flow diagram examples."

That implied the adjustments were something he had little experience in, or were far more complicated than what he was used to. "Taeclas, do you concur?"

Taeclas nodded. "Lidz was just showing me the differences between a tree he's had to adjust and one that still needed adjustment. The meaning's really fiddly and I can see why Lidz needs the notes. It's nothing I can't do, though, but the heat is still an issue."

Lori waved a hand dismissively. "Never mind the heat. How many trees do you think you can adjust today?"

Instead of answering, Taeclas frowned and stepped away from the tree, moving over to a different tree and laying her hands on it. Her gaze became vague again as she concentrated on the meaning that she was perceiving in the tree. "Uh, most of the time would be in claiming the life in the newer parts of the tree that would need to be included in the meaning… maybe between seven to ten before I have to stop for dinner, depending on the trees' particular adjustments?"

Lori nodded. "Get to work, then. Lidzuga, with me. I need wooden poles."