The second fruit orchard was rather small compared to the one that they were currently relying on for fruits. As Lidzuga had said, most of the fruit trees were stunted. A few were clearly saplings that had been grown from seeds and even with Deadspeaking were probably still several weeks away from growing fruit, but many appeared to be branches he'd cut off from other trees that he'd stuck into the ground.

"I induced root growth on the branches before I cut them off and planted them," Lidzuga explained when Lori had pointedly inquired about them. "Some trees do that naturally, so I got the idea to try it here. For the ones where that didn't work, I dug up some lengths of root and grafted them to the branches. Thankfully, it all seems to have worked successfully. They need to be supported until their roots grow bigger, though. To be honest, they're not really ready to start growing fruits in the quantities and sizes that are worth harvesting because it would unbalance them, but the roots should be ready in a few more days. The saplings… well, they'll need some more growing."

Lori nodded. "I will still consider this fulfillment of your project. For the moment, focus on stabilizing them. Inform me when I have to place bindings to keep them cool."

"Yes, your Bindership."

"We'll be taking back the new boat," she continued. "Have you tested it in the water yet?"

The Deadspeaker nodded. "The other men helped me get it in and out of the water. It floats, and I tried riding on it, though I can't really say how much more stable it is compared to the boats I've been making before."

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to test it," Rian said. "It's not really complete without some weights to make it bottom-heavy."

"Rian, get the boat into the water and secure it," Lori said. "I'll be doing an inspection of the dragon shelter. Inform me when we're ready to go."

"The dragon shelter? You need help with anything?"

Lori shook her head. "Just something I remembered. With the mine now back in operation, there's nowhere for used bathwater to go. It will probably be necessary to excavate a catch basin for it, as well as a means for recovering that water. I'm going to see what else I might need to build."

"Ah. Yes, that seems… needed. You should probably put in a small water reservoir too, so that the drinking water isn't limited by the number of barrels is stored?"

She waved a hand dismissively. "I'll consider it."

"Thank you!"

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The mine was a bit messy when Lori entered it, a binding of lightwisps anchored to her staff, the air still and warm. There were random rocks on the floor, probably dropped when carrying the ores and tailings out of the mine. The ventilation binding was deactivated, the large wispbead meant to fuel it removed… and just left behind in the little stone niche next to it. Lori twitched at the negligent attitude. The bead itself was sitting on a triangular wooden base to keep it from rolling, which… all right, she acknowledged that was a good design for supporting the large beads that were too big to simply be stored in a bowl.

Lori checked the beads she kept stored in the alcove just behind the final door, nodding in satisfaction as she saw those beads were still there covered in stone as Riz and one of her friends waited to one side. She probably needed to make some more large beads for mine ventilation, which wouldn't be pleasant without her ice shed to work in. She was also going to feel unprotected without the shed's wall around her. Granted, the walls had been made of ice, but that just meant she'd see the beasts coming.

Shaking her head—that was a problem for the future, even if that future was perhaps this afternoon—Lori made a note to have the carpenters build a door to the alcove. She hadn't been able to seal the entrance to her sleeping space properly when she'd stayed there last time, and she wasn't going to repeat that mistake.

Past the alcove was the door to the food storage room, which she saw had been shut tight with a chain and a lock that she had never seen before. Presumably the lock was Yllian's, and had only been put in because there were no people to spare due to the harvest, since even the miners seemed to be assisting in the harvest. She supposed that answered the question of whether people still tried to steal food. The lock wouldn't be needed otherwise.

She continued walking.

…

"Erzebed, why are you practically breathing down my neck?" Lori asked, voice flat.

"Sorry, Great Binder, but you're the one with the light and we can't see the floor very well back here," the militiawoman said.

Lori rolled her eyes. "What's your spearhead made of?"

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There was a pause. "Uh, steel, Great Binder. You haven't made any spearheads from beast parts in a while, and all the ones you've made have already broken."

What, really? Well… Lori supposed it wasn't unlikely that the spearheads she'd made would break, especially if they were being used to hunt beasts. And if Rian hadn't seen the need to mention it for her to make more, then she apparently didn't need to. Still, that was inconvenient…

Lori swept her gaze across the ground, looking for a rock. Unfortunately, the rocks littering the floor of the mine were sharp-angled and looked uncomfortable to hold… although…

She bent down and picked up a rock, touching it with her fingernail to claim and bind it. It softened in her hands, and Lori let her staff rest on the crook of her elbow as she rolled and pressed the rock between her palms into a lopsided ball that she squeezed down into a disk. Once she was satisfied with its shape, she dissolved the binding, and reached out one hand to claim lightwisps from the path of the light on her staff. Forming the lightwisps into a binding, she gave it a moderate amount of imbuement before anchoring it onto the stone and handing that to Riz. "There. Now stop being so close."

Not waiting for a reply, she continued on down the mine, the light in the militiawoman's hands casting Lori's shadow ahead of her. She reached the ramp that lead up to the shelter area proper, and found it full of signs of habitation. There were several packs stacked together along one wall, as well as a pile of rolled-up bed rolls next to a broom.

Lori took a quick look around, wondering if she should expand this room and add a few more latrines. While it was currently sufficient to the needs of the amount of people currently living in River's Fork, once the next—

No, no, she was not going to worry about that! She'll expand the dragon shelter to be able to house more people when those new people acknowledge her absolute authority in her demesne!

…

That being said, she needed to excavate a little to be able to fit in the water reservoir and catch basin. Unfortunately, as she had no connection to this demesne's core—Shanalorre was still too useful to kill—Lori couldn't be sure exactly how much room she had left to excavate before she went out the other side of the hill. Still, she knew she still had a lot of stone between her and accidentally digging out the other side, especially since the mine tunnel angled downward, so she should have more than enough space to at least excavate a small room.

Not today though. She didn't have enough time.

Hmm…when she did excavate the room for a water reservoir, she should probably have a door to keep people from pissing in the water. River's Fork was where the stupidest idiots of from her demesne had moved to, after all.

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By the time she made her way back to the docks, the wooden hull that would become Lori's Boat Four was floating in the water, tied by a rope to Lori's Boat Three.

"We're ready to go, your Bindership," Rian said as she approached. "If we leave now, we should be back in time for a slightly late lunch. I told the kitchen to keep some food warm for us, just in case."

Oh! Well, that was nice. She had thought they'd have to stay for lunch… although given how River's Fork was still working on their harvest, perhaps they didn't have food ready? "Then let us be on our way, then." She turned to Yllian, who had been talking to Rian. "Yllian, I'll be back within the week to do some work on the mine shelter."

"Understood, Great Binder," Yllian said. "Do you need me for anything else?"

Lori waved a hand dismissively, and Yllian left to continue assisting the harvest in progress. Rian got on the Lori's Boat Three, kneeling down on it and holding onto the dock—he visibly winced at how hot it was—to keep the boat steady as Lori stepped down onto the boat as well. She nearly fell as she did so, just barely managing to keep her balance and quickly sitting down to help maintain her equilibrium. Ugh. Why couldn't this boat had a ramp on its outrigger too?

Riz and her friends quickly got on the boat after her, dropping down onto the boat far more easily, the last one untying the boat from the dock. The two oars on the boat were taken up and used to push off from the dock, paddling to turn the Lori's Boat Three around since its prototype sliding switch kept it from having a 'reverse' setting. The paddling was faster than Lori using her staff to make some kind of waterwisp binding.

"Next time, we're taking one of the other boats," Lori said as the boat finally faced upriver.

"Agreed," Rian said as he gently pulled out the knob that activated the steam jet bound tool. The boat began to move forward, and Rian pulled the knob out further so they could start making their way upriver. Riz began pulling on the rope tying the Lori's Boat Four so that it was closer to them. "This is a great control mechanism, but I've too used to being able to move in reverse."

"Is the bow ready?"

Rian sighed for some reason. "Riz, could you…?"

"I know, I know, put on the bowstring."

As the militiawoman struggle to get the bowstring back on, Lori picked up the arrow with its beast-tooth arrowhead, checking the binding of lightningwisps still on it, then testing to make sure she still had affinity with those wisps so she could activate the binding from a distance.

When they spotted the typhon beast, she'd be ready to finally kill it!

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They did not spot the typhon beast and she was unable to kill it.

"Look, I'm sure the hunters have a good understanding of its habits by now," Rian said as they approached the vicinity of her dungeon. "Why don't we just give them the arrow, they can stick it in the thing, and then you can activate it from a safe distance?"

"I suppose that's an option…" Lori muttered.

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll manage to find and kill it soon…"

"But I want it killed now!"

"I know… I know…"

Lori sul—that is, Lori thought deeply on how to make this goal of hers come true as Rian maneuvered Lori's Boat Three next to the dock. Lori's Boat and Lori's Ice Boat were both on the other side of the river. It occurred to Lori she should probably build a proper dock there soon, and perhaps add an extension or even a second dock on this side. The number of boats they were in possession of was growing, after all.

These and other very important, Dungeon Binder-like thoughts filled Lori's head as Lori's Boat Three settled into place while she most definitely did not sulk.