"I'd like to apologize for what I said yesterday, and for being tardy with my apology. While I still believe my course of action was prudent at the time, despite later events, how I went about it was needlessly cruel and deliberately hurtful. While I don't expect you to forgive me, know that I deeply regret my words."

Lori looked blankly at her lord, then sideways at Shanalorre, whom he was facing. What?

The other Dungeon Binder regarded Rian coolly as her cousin looked between the two of them curiously. Lori was surprised the young girl was actually awake this morning. Most of her recent memories of the girl had her napping at the table.

"You need not apologize for your tardiness," Shanalorre said. "I was deliberately avoiding you. As to the rest of your apology… it is noted."

There was a moment of silence as the two simply stared at each other, while Lori, Mikon, Umu, Taeclas, and Taeclas's wife all looked back and forth between them. Only Riz seemed to have some idea what was going on, as she merely sat back and watched.

Eventually, Rian nodded. "I understand. I will not trouble you further then. Good morning to you, Binder Shanalorre."

Shanalorre merely inclined her head.

Lori sighed. "Rian, what are you talking about?"

"Just personal matters, your Bindership. Nothing for you to worry about. Oh look, the food's ready! I should probably—"

"No, you stay here and speak with her Bindership," Mikon said, her hand coming down on Rian's shoulder from the other side of Riz. "It's not your turn, remember? Honestly, Rian… Erzebed, keep him here, will you? Umu and I will get the food."

Rian sat there, looking uncharacteristically awkward as the two women left, accompanied by Taeclas and her wife. Lori glanced between him and Shanalorre again, then simply sighed and decided to leave the matter be. If it was important, she'd find out one way or another. With a shrug, tossed the matter aside and faced her lord. "Rian, what is the status of the demesne?"

He took a deep breath, then let it out. "Right, right… except for the crops, we're pretty much recovered from the dragon now, and can get back to normal activities. The sawmill is operational, and we're going to start cutting down some of the dead trees. Kolinh and I discussed it, and we think it would be best to move towards making winter preparations for the village in case the snowfall is the same as last year. To that end, we intend to make more snow shovels, more snow pads, more snow skids, and if Lidz is up to it a few sleds for getting between the two demesnes in the winter. Larger ones this time."

"And how do you intend to move these large sleds?" Lori said dryly.

"We get on our knees and beg you for the favor of your power?"

"I will take it under consideration. Shouldn't you also be preparing for the next trading trip to Covehold?"

"Yes, but that's something I can leave to Kolinh and the others. They were the ones who did the original preparations, after all." He tilted his head. "Actually, wouldn't now be the best time to go? The dragon's just passed, so we shouldn't have to worry for a while…"

They stared at each other for a moment, then Rian sighed. "I'll get preparations to leave started after breakfast. Next week should do it, I think? How many beads will we be carrying?"

"We'll prepare three thousand beads. That should be more than enough."

Rian nodded. "I'll ask around for what everyone needs and present you with a list so you can decide what we should buy. Should we buy a new almanac? You know, in case there have been any recent useful discoveries?"

----------------------------------------

They continued to speak on this topic until the women arrived with the food, at which point Taeclas brought up the subject of optimizing the arrangement of their fields so that they could fit in one further harvest before winter set in. With one or two exceptions, they were all mostly matters that didn't really need Lori's input, only her awareness and authorization.

Of course, there were the exceptions.

"So, while we have a gristmill in the mill building, I think it would be advisable to also improve the gristmill we currently have in the second level," Rian said. "In winter, the mill building will be inoperable most of the time, and it would remove the risk of the flour getting wet if we milled the grain in the second level during the winter. At the moment, it's \ our most labor-intensive chore that could be done far more efficiently with your assistance, especially since our flour consumption increases during the winter due to the need to ration meat. It will require having to temporarily dismantle the gristmill, so it’s a good thing we have another one in the mill building."

The words made Lori grimace, even as she looked down at the drafted plans before her. Whatsisname—she checked the rocks in her belt pouch—Kolinh and the carpenters had even sketched out not only a diagram for the water wheel but also a proposed pipe layout for the water that she would need to bind to power the wheel. It was a more compact design than the water wheel that the carpenters currently had to power their lathe and rotating saw, able to fit into the alcove that had more or less permanently become the milling room, with a wall that would separate the wheel and water from the rest of the room to keep the flour from getting wet.

Another matter that would need her to act was Rian's proposal to resume the proper expansion of the third level, including fully excavating the plots for the dungeon farm.

"We're storing a lot of things in the side tunnels, and two of them are already permanently for tubers and sweetgrass," Rian said. "Honestly, if we let it stand like that for much longer, that's going to become the permanent configuration of the third level. It's already going to be difficult for you to remove the excavated stone given all the plots already established between the far tunnels and the stairs. You could try completing it this winter, but that would only be the excavation. We'd still need to wait until spring for the ground to soften enough for us to be able to dig up dirt to fill the plots."

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Lori grimaced, but had to agree that the third level had been delayed for far too long. Only a quarter of it had been properly dug up, though about two-thirds of the already excavated area had become farming plots. Or at least, that had been the size she'd intended. In hindsight, that was clearly far too big, but there was always a use to be found for dungeon space and excavated stone.

"Speaking of that, there's also the matter of the demesne's boats," Rian continued relentlessly. "Back when we only had your boat and your ice boat, storing them in the dungeon wasn't a problem. But since we've been having Lidzuga make more—he's almost finished working on the latest one, by the way—storing them has become an issue. I think it might be necessary to have a building specifically for storing all the boats during winter and when a dragon passes overhead, including the Coldhold—which you need to get out of the water for so we can inspect it for the trip to Covehold, by the way. Carrying so many boats down to the third level is no longer practical."

Lori frowned. "A storage facility for the boats can be built easily enough, but the Coldhold is far too big. There's a reason why I sink it in the river."

"And while effective, it’s a method that is clearly not practical in the long term," Rian said. "Actually securing the Coldhold is a relatively slow process, and requires you to both sink and unsink it. Both phases are also something only you can do, forcing your attention away from other preparations. I think it might be time to consider a different, less Dungeon Binder-intensive solution."

"Which is?"

"A boat house, basically," Rian said. "A covered and reinforced building along the river itself that we can use to store the boats in all weather. I don’t know if you noticed, but when it rained back in the spring, we had to bring your boat under cover in the entryway since all that moisture wasn't good for the wood. Part of the reason we had to do such extensive checks on the Coldhold before we set out was to make sure there was no rain damage that had developed into something worse in the interim. While we have Taeclas and Lidzuga now to make repairing any such damage easier, preventing damage would significantly extend the time between repairs." He shrugged. "And if you're going to be finishing the third level, then there'd be a sufficient amount of building material for such a reinforced building. We could also make it out of wood, but then it wouldn't be possible to reinforce it with Whispering. Having such a large reinforced building would also give somewhere we can store other tools in the future without having to bring them into the dungeon. "

Lori frowned. "What tools?"

"Well, nothing right now, but if we expand our fields out because of all the trees we're clearing, it would probably be prudent for us to invest in a plow," Rian said. "Without undead or domesticated beasts, it would have to be pulled manually, but that would still be more efficient than trying to till the land with hand tools. And… well, so far the hunters have been building their own tannery buildings, which have been doing well in providing us with leather, but it's probably about time they get something better. With your permission, I'll have Kolinh get started on building them more sturdy facilities. I was hoping you'd be willing to build a side extension to the entryway where can keep any chokers and any other beasts we're trying to domesticate. Ralii and the rest put so much effort into trying to tame them, but they keep dying because it's not safe to bring them into the dungeon…"

"A side extension?" Lori said. Already this long list of things was making her weary.

Rian sighed. "Yes. It… well, it will probably have to entail a second entrance into the dungeon that will need to be sealed completely during a dragon, so we don't have to bring the chokers in through the entryway and risk them getting loose in the dungeon. After all, we can't just throw them into a room. Any domesticated beasts will need to be fed and watered, their waste dealt with to keep dustlife from breeding and infecting the rest of the dungeon, if they lay eggs we'll need a way to collect those eggs…" He trailed off and shrugged, giving her apologetic look for some reason. "Sorry. It's a lot of work, I know. Some of it we don't actually need, but I thought I should bring them to your attention."

"As you should. You're my lord, after all." It was frustrating, but she could see the need for all of it. Even the tannery. She actually felt a twinge of guilt at the reminder that the tanners built most of their infrastructures themselves. Yes, there were the evaporator jars for collecting goldwater and distilling it to alchemical concentrations, but beyond that… well, she'd been providing a shameful lack of support towards important workers. "Prioritize constructing the tannery facilities. I'll… see about constructing a place that any domesticated beasts can be placed for next time." She frowned. "Are they even willing to attempt doing so again?"

"They managed to be a bit more successful this time. The hunters have always been trying to get the chokers to the point they'd lay eggs. Tae confirmed that three of them are fertilized, so now those are being incubated as best as we can. I'm told it's preferred, since they can raise the beastlets without the influence of parents. They'll still be trying to catch and domesticate more for bloodline variety, though."

"… what was that about eggs?" Lori said.

"The chokers didn't produce nearly enough eggs to be worth adding to the food stores," Rian said. "The hunters hardboiled the ones that weren't fertilized and that's what they ate when they had to go hunting and miss lunch."

Lori twitched. That… sounded logical but… eggs! How long has it been since she'd eaten eggs?-!

Well, another reason to finally build that beast pen extension for her Dungeon. Eggs…!

Lori shook her head to rid herself of those distracting thoughts. "I'll add it to the list of things to be done." Meaning she actually had to go upstairs and list these matters down so she wouldn't forget them. "Is there anything else?"

Rian considered the tablet next to his now-empty bowl. "Well, we really need to finally get around to teaching the children how to read and write, but that's nothing you have to worry about directly. I think that should be all for now, your Bindership."

Lori nodded in acknowledgement and made to rise.

"Um, your Bindership?"

Sighing, Lori let herself drop into her chair. "What else now?"

"Nothing, nothing! It's just… there's no reason to get started now. They'll keep for a few more days. Why don't you rest for a bit? Relax, do some reading…"

"Rian…" Lori said slowly. It had finally happened. Her lord had lost what little sense he'd had and become a true idiot. "We have just spent all of breakfast talking about all the work that needs to be done."

"And I'm saying they can wait for a day as you rest. When was the last time you had a rest? Real doing nothing but enjoying yourself, not doing any work rest? As your lord, I am strongly recommending you take a day or two to do just that. The work will still be there." He tilted his head. "Don't you have notes to go over?"

Lori twitched at the reminder. The stack of notes was upstairs on her table, still bound tight after she'd done her laundry…

"Go and read," Rian said gently. "Lock yourself up and lose yourself if you want to. The work will still be there. I'll be sure to remind you of that."

She glanced up her room, then nodded. "All right. I suppose I could use a rest." Staying up to make all those bindings and only three had been used for their intended purpose. It had been so frustrating… "Yes, I think I will rest."

Nodding to herself once more, Lori stood up and headed upstairs.