The work on the sawmill had progressed in her absence. The rest of the carpenters had mounted the water wheel on the fixtures she'd set into the stone foundation, as well as the wooden shafts that transferred the wheel's rotational force, and the frames to support the sawmill's doors had been raised and secured. Lori had been more than willing to let someone else take care of handling the sawmill's walls, even if it would take them a lot of wood.

Fortunately, near the site of the sawmill were thick growths of old trees that the loggers hadn't cut down yet because it was downhill from the site of the sawpit, and there were more convenient trees to cut. With the new sawmill, those trees were ideally positioned to be cut down and transported to the sawmill to be turned into planks and beams. Once the circular saw was installed into the shaft connected to the water wheels and the proper gears were installed, the sawmill could begin making those planks and beams, even without walls or a roof.

"Though the roof is the first thing they're going to finish," Rian said over lunch the day after they'd brought Lori's Boat Two home. "After all, you're not keeping your shadow in place anymore, and with the stone foundation… well, it's really hot to work there."

"Hmm…" Well, Lori could understand their priorities, at least. Still… "Will such a structure really be able to withstand a dragon's passing?"

"I defer to the carpenters on this one. However, with you protecting the demesne, the biggest dangers to the sawmill are something big falling on it, getting set on fire, or some kind of dragonborn abomination that has an inexplicable desire to destroy wooden buildings for one reason or another. Every building in the demesne runs those risks, even the dungeon."

"How is the dungeon at risk of fire?"

"Copper-sheathed or not, the front door is still made of wood. Anyway, many structures in Covehold were made of wood, and they seem to be doing well enough, assuming they faced the same passing dragons that we did. Tae?"

"Huh?" Taeclas looked away from where she was feeding her wife. The latter was actually partially seated on the Deadspeaker's lap, and the two were all but kissing between bites of food. Lori had been avoiding looking directly at the sight, lest she become nauseous at the mother-like behavior. "What was that, Rian?"

"I was saying that the buildings in Covehold Demesne were mostly made of wood, but seemed to have been holding up well enough to passing dragons."

"Oh, it all depends, really. The last dragon set the rickets on fire, but that was because they use cheap wood. Our house only had a few cracked roof tiles and some scorched wood." She sighed. "I still had to spend two days fixing it all though."

"Well, you'll have plenty of help if anything like that happens here," Rian said.

Lori grunted, acknowledging the implied point. Still, a part of her couldn't help but feel that making essential structures out of wood wasn't very secure. "I can't help but feel that making essential structures out of wood isn't very secure."

"You've seen how big the sawmill is intended to be. Do you want to make all that out of stone?"

It wouldn't be the first time she'd made large stone structures. Still, she was willing to admit she would rather not. "It wouldn't be the first time I've made large stone structures. Still, I'll admit I would rather not."

For some reason, Rian chuckled. "So… after a year, has the shine of the absolute power of being a Dungeon Binder dulled a little? When you first made your core, you insisted on building everything with Whispering."

"That was a situation where infrastructure was urgently needed! The situation is no longer like that, so construction is no longer such a priority."

Rian nodded solemnly. "Of course, of course."

Lori rolled her eyes. Her lord said the strangest things sometimes. "Do you have an estimate on how long it will take for the roof to be finished?"

"It will depend on how well the new sawmill cuts, but the carpenters and sawyers estimate it should be mostly in place in a week or two. It really depends on how much work they can get done before they need to come in from the heat."

That was a lot longer than Lori wanted to hear, but to be fair the floor area of the sawmill was very large, on the order of ten paces by fifteen, at least. It would be the largest roof to be covered in the demesne so far, so she supposed it would take more time to cover. "Well, setting that aside, how long before the other attachments to the water wheel are ready? The drop hammer and the gristmill."

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"You remembered that? Wow, maybe you are finally coming into your Dungeon Binder Mentalism."

"Focus, Rian. The drop hammer and the gristmill?"

"Um, the latter is kinda waiting on you. We need a grindstone for the gristmill, and you're the only one who can really shape one in a timely manner. Well, the stonemasons could shape one too, but that would take longer, and they'd need to find a stone of the right size. You could just make one."

"Why not just use the one we already have?"

"Well, we could, but while it's being altered and prepared for installation onto the water wheel's shaft, we won't be able to make any flour for bread."

She nodded, taking a piece of bread to wipe the remaining stew from her bowl. "I'll make a new grindstone after lunch. How is recruiting for miners progressing?"

"Much better once I could honestly tell them you'll be providing a bound tool that makes a nice little cooling breeze so they wouldn't be sweating hot when they sleep at night. Honestly, it's probably something you should integrate into the dragon shelter's ventilation system anyway. Why have a system do only one thing when it could do two with a little rearranging."

"I'll consider it as something to pass the time when the next dragon comes along," Lori said flatly. "Will you be able to begin mining by the end of the week?"

"I can if I force it. However, given that work on the roof of the sawmill will be easier if we have more people working on it, I think we should wait until it's done first. We'll need all the men we can get when it comes to pulling up all the materials for the roof up there. Once the roof is finished, the working on the walls won't need so many people." Lori gave him a displeased look at that, so Rian hastily added, "However, I think I might be able to recruit more people from River's Fork."

"Didn't Binder Shanalorre ask for labor force from us because River's Fork couldn't spare people to work the mine?" Lori said flatly.

"That was before. However, now that hunting around the vicinity of the demesne isn't really possible because of the presence of the typhon beast, the demesne has a few men to spare. And with Lidzuga in the demesne, they're able to do multiple harvests again, especially since it's easier for Shana—"

"Shanalorre."

"—Shanalorre to imbue the meanings there. I think River's Fork will actually be able to grow harvests faster than we will, simply because the turnaround between imbuing and activating the meanings is far, far shorter."

Taeclas nodded as her wife wiped off a little bit of stew from the corner of the Deadspeaker's mouth with a finger and—Argh, no! Don't put it in your mouth! That's disgusting and unhygienic! "Yes, I talked to Lidz about that. He sets the meanings in one day, leaves it overnight for the little Lady Binder to imbue, and then activates them the next day. They should actually be having a second harvest soon, if I remember the timing he told me about correctly."

"River's Fork isn't self-sustaining yet, but they're probably going to be able to build their own winter grain stockpile now," Rian added. "So let's hope we only need to ship meat from now on. And when we finally manage to deal with the typhon beast, they can go back to hunting which will make them almost self-sufficient."

Lori tilted her head. "Almost?"

"Well, they need beads now, and that's not really something they can provide for themselves. Salt, too."

Ah. "Ah," Lori nodded. Yes, that was the case, wasn't it? The cold box in food storage, the wisplights, the ventilation and protections for the dragon shelter—

…

She'll have to remember to render the bound tools tamper-proof by the time the Golden Sweetwood Company's Whisperers arrived. Even if they wouldn't be able to make any because they have no source of white Iridescence, the Whisperers would be able to extract and alter her bound tool cores, which she couldn't allow! At this point, Lori already had some thoughts as to how to accomplish that, but she'd need to set aside time to do it with proper documentation.

And the smiths. She needed the smiths, since they're the ones who knew how to use the necessary tools properly…

"Oh yes, speaking of resources," and for some reason Rian turned to Taeclas, "how do you feel about trees, Tae?"

"They're a blight upon the land that block out sunlight that should be shining down on crops and vegetables," Taeclas said cheerfully. "Trees drop leaves everywhere that always need to be cleaned up or else they'll cause a fire hazard, their roots always need to be dug up, falling branches are dangerous, and they make it hard to get anywhere by growing where it's inconvenient. The only good tree is a fruit tree. Everything else should be cut down for firewood and the land they were taking up be used to grow crops."

Rian and Lori stared as the Deadspeaker smiled brightly at them. Her wife rolled her eyes indulgently as if at a little eccentricity.

"Ahem," Rian 'ahem'-ed. "Well… that's… an opinion. Um, so if I asked you to start growing some saplings so that we can plant them in areas that have been cleared but can't be used for farming yet…"

"I'd do it but I wouldn't like it," Taeclas said with a pout. "Weren't you listening?"

"…while I can sympathize with some of what you said, the sad fact is wood is too useful a resource to not cultivate and produce," Rian said. "So… please? We need to make furniture and roofs out of something, and to be perfectly honest, we're not successful enough at hunting to make it out of bones." Rian paused. "Although, do you really want to sleep under a roof made of bones?"

"I suppose not…" Taeclas huffed. "But can we put the trees somewhere they won't get their leaves all over where people would need to sweep them, or near our crops?"

"I'm sure we can find someplace like that," Rian said. "After we clear the trees from around the sawmill, we can figure out a good arrangement. And I promise you never have to sweep any leaves… unless you do something that merits mild disciplinary action."

"Eh?-!"

"That's fair," Taeclas' wife said.

"Eh?-! But I don't wanna sweep leaves! That's the most pointless chore ever! There'll just be more leaves on the ground tomorrow, why even bother?"

"That's why it's a disciplinary action."

"I'll be good! Please don't make me sweep leaves!"