At the end of the week, Rian had gathered a small group of men who decided that working the whole day in a shaded mine was preferable to working until it was too hot to stay outside. The morning that they set out to River's Fork, there was another crowd at the docks, which caused the usual delay, though to Lori's surprise the delay seemed shorter than usual. While there was hugging, there didn't seem to be as much crying?

Were her idiots becoming… rational?

No, that was probably too much to hope for. More likely people just didn't want to stand out on the stone dock under the very hot sun.

…

Should she heat the dock when she wanted people hurry up and get moving? Something to remember.

The Coldhold left with the miners also carrying a new wooden hand cart—the wheel was wooden and not stone, so Lori didn't even have to do anything—several new buckets, two of the wisplights bought from Covehold Demesne because they were hardier than the ones Lori had made, three coils of rope, and a pair of wooden pulleys. Lori had to assume that the mining tools were somewhere in River's Fork and in a usable state.

Rian also had a sack of beads for all the bound tools, as well as to replenish the demesne's own supply of beads. Lori had taken two days to make new beads—as well as six new very large beads—to replenish their own supply of beads. She had long since placed bindings in her little ice shed to counter the heat of the summer while she amalgamated beads. Lori had even taken pity on Riz and her friends and anchored some bindings of airwisps on the outside of the shed to keep them cool, as Riz had revealed she'd been finding it harder to find people willing to join her escort because of the heat.

She'd made beads enough for both their intended next trading trip to Covehold Demesne and their own use for several weeks. Learning that the Golden Sweetwood Company would be arriving relatively soon had forced her to reassess her priorities out of, admittedly, panic. Still, it had been a controlled and rational panic if she did say so herself, and hers was the only opinion that mattered. This reassessment, as well as the lack of work she actually needed to do—even her listing of bindings she needed to imbue was much reduced because of the rudimentary bound tools she was making now—was what had led her to resume working on expanding her demesne.

Hence why she had spent two days making beads, as the expansion of her demesne would render her ice shed too far inside of her borders of her demesne to be usable. Lori wanted to have a good surplus so that when she next needed to make beads, she'd have time to build a shed to keep cool in.

For Rian's sake and to measure her demesne's expansion, she stuck two sticks into the ground, each a pace apart, right at the border of her demesne and the Iridescence outside to mark its current dimensions.

The first day of resuming expanding her demesne again was slow as she had to slowly get used to the procedure once more. Sitting upright in the little recess she'd made next to her bed, her bedroll beneath her for cushioning against the stone, she worked solely through her connection to her core. It was mentally intensive as Lori spent the morning and half of the afternoon making successive spherical shells of bindings around her demesne. Every so often she'd shift in her seat to keep parts of her from growing numb, but beyond that simply sat with her eyes closed or half-lidded.

During lunch, she was able to take a small break, switching from making shells of bindings around her demesne to imbuing the ones she'd already made. That was less distracting, but Lori found herself eating a bit slowly, and once or twice realized she was just sitting there staring at her food.

"Great Binder? Are you well?" Shanalorre asked from beside her.

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Lori blinked down at her subordinate. Apparently her distraction hadn't gone unnoticed. Across the table, Mikon, Umu and Riz were all eyeing her, as were… whatshername and her wife, Lori couldn't be bothered to check her rocks at the moment. "I'm fine," she said. "I'm simply… pre-occupied."

Shanalorre's frown persisted. "Do you need healing?"

Lori have a hand dismissively. "That won't be necessary. My mind is simply occupied."

"I… see. Very well, then, Great Binder. But if you find yourself suffering from headaches, please do not hesitate to inform myself or Wizard Taeclas immediately."

Did she look like she had a headache? Huh, that was new. Usually when people bothered her they asked why she looked sad. Which she really didn't understand, as she was usually only lost in thought. "Of course."

Shanalorre stared at her for a moment, and didn't stop staring until Lori resumed eating.

Once she finished eating, it was back to her room to continue the preparations for expanding her demesne after Lori splashed a little water on her face and hair. Being in her demesne meant the temperature of everything around her was always comfortable, but the wetness felt good in any case. Sitting back in her little recess, Lori continued imbuing the shells she'd already made, finally remembering to connect the bindings together into one large binding to allow her to imbue it all simultaneously. That made the imbuing go faster, and let her focus on only a single thing.

At midafternoon, Lori ceased imbuing the shells and disconnected them from each other, then began expanding her demesne, making the outermost shell of bound wisps expand beyond the boundaries of her demesne, to the familiar feeling of the binding's imbuement being devoured by the Iridescence, even as she kept imbuing. Once the entire shell had been pushed out beyond the boundaries of her demesne, she dissolved the binding holding all the wisps of the shell together, then immediately bound the Iridescence beyond her demesne to her will.

Lori let out a satisfied sigh at the familiar feeling of her demesne's boundary's expanding. A part of her had been half-afraid she'd remembered this wrong, but that had been an irrational fear. After all, she'd done this for most of winter, and a little bit into spring. She was simply… out of practice.

The second expansion progressed much more smoothly as slightly stiff work habits and routines were put into practice again, and the third was even smoother still. By the time she finished with the seventh and last expansion for the day, Lori was feeling comfortable with the process again.

It was a marked contrast to the discomfort she felt as she straightened up from the recess she'd been seated at. Her legs felt stiff from sitting down so long, even with the cushioning of her bed roll. Lori had to lean her weight against the wall for a bit as she made her way downstairs to use the latrine. Thankfully, they were clean.

Once she'd finished her business, Lori stepped outside to check the time and to get some more feeling back in her legs. The sun was relatively low, indicating it was late afternoon, and the Coldhold was already secured at the dock. Checking her bindings, she found the rock with lightwisps anchored to it that she'd given Rian somewhere in the third level. He was probably helping water the crops or something.

She had some more time before dinner. Briefly, Lori debated going back to her room and making more shells to help her expand, but… well, she did have a mild headache. Perhaps it would be better to rest for a bit.

––––––––––––––––––

Lori woke to someone knocking very loudly on her door.

"—ri? It's dinner time! Come on, the food's going to get cold! We have fresh fruit!"

She perked up at that last, sitting up from her bed. The stone floor was cool on her bare feet—huh, she needed to sweep up here, the floor was gritty—as she padded towards the door, unlatching it and pulling it open.

"Oh. Sorry if I woke you up, but the food's ready," Rian said as he met her half-lidded, still sleepy gaze. "Are you feeling well?"

"I'm fine," Lori said. "Just had a minor headache. Fruit, you say?"

"Yeah, the fruit trees are producing again. You had a headache?"

She waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes. It was only a minor headache. I'm fine now."

"Are you sure? Shana—"

"Shanalorre."

"—Shanalorre can give you a quick healing when you get down. Headaches are usually a symptom of something worse, and we really wouldn't want you to get sick. Did you remember to drink enough water? The headache could be a sign you're dehydrated."

"… I'll consider it. Let me put on my boots, and I'll be down shortly."

"Don't you have tsinelas? They're really much more comfortable than boots in this weather. Less constricting, easy to slip on, and really soft."

"I have boots. They're comfortable enough."