There was a restlessness in the air as Rian finally got people to pay attention to the next item in whatever unknown list he was working through. Lori ignored the looks people were giving her as she sat back down and went back to being disinterested, even as she enviously eyed the children who could at least play games during this boring, pointless meeting.
"All right," Rian said, sounding reluctant. "As you know, but some people might need reminding because they don't care to pay attention to the things going on around them–" For some reason, there were chuckles at this. "—there have been some complaints about the new houses in progress further from the river."
He paused. "I'll admit, I don't remember all the particulars of the complaint. There were a lot. So why don't we have Etwart explain them to us? Come on up here Etwart."
The man who'd so tastelessly tried to steal from his daughter stood up, walking towards the front of their table, and in front of everyone else as well. He had the same look many people had, of having lost weight and only recently regaining it again. His skin was sun-darkened, no doubt from working the fields as he'd so recently mentioned, and he had a small work knife at his waist.
"Lord Rian," the man said, "something–"
"Stop," Rian said, and the man did, looking frustrated. "You don't need to explain to me, Etwart. I heard you the first time." Rian pointed. "You need to explain to everyone else."
The man Etwart hesitated, then reluctantly turned, facing the other people sitting in the benches of the dining tables.
"Well, go on," Rian said. "Tell everyone what you told me. I'm sure that it would be best if they heard it from you."
The man looked around nervously. Clearly he thought he'd be directing his words toward Rian, with everyone merely watching. Hadn't he realized he'd already be speaking in front of everyone in any case? Why did having to face them make any sort of difference?
"If you don't want to, you can sit down and we can move on to the next matter," Rian offered. "We still need to talk about the new bathhouse and the expedition to Covehold, so if you have nothing to bring up, please sit down."
The man hesitated a moment more, then turned to face everyone. "A-as I told Lord Rian, something needs to be done!" he said, his voice shaking and nervous.
Somewhere at the very back of the crowd, someone called out, "Speak up, we can't hear you!"
There were some more laughs, and the man flushed. "Something needs to be done!" he cried just short of yelling.
"About what?" someone else called out.
"About… about newcomers who've only been here a short time being treated better than the good people who settled this demesne and sweated to make it what it is now!" the man said, some actual enthusiasm in his voice as he got to his subject.
Lori found herself nodding. Finally. It was about time.
"While we live in little shacks, they live in large houses like rich townsfolk, and don't have to forage for food in the woods," the man continued. Wait, what? "They–!"
Lori ignored what he was saying from that point on, as he apparently hadn't been talking about her. Well, she supposed the ingratitude would continue. At least it wasn't total ingratitude. The brat paid her taxes. That was something.
The game board thief droned on, talking about nothing important as Lori wished she had her hat to cover her eyes so she could sleep. Maybe she could just dim the lightwisps?
She sighed and let her mind wander. Where would she put the mushroom farm? It would need to be connected to the main Dungeon so they could access it during a dragon—and winter, she realized—but it had to be separate. A door? Or would she just open and close the opening as needed? It would definitely need a second entrance so it could be accessed from the outside without passing through the dungeon, so mushrooms could be brought in and people could tend to them. And it would need to be humid so the fungus could grow, without the humidity affecting the rest of the dungeon. And if she was doing that, she might as well put in a binding of airwisps to keep the spores out of the dungeon for the times the door was opened. Actually, the door might need to be made from bone, since a wooden door would soon have mushroom growing on it…
"All right!" Rian said, and Lori blinked, realizing she'd dozed off. "Thank you Etwart, that was… voluminous. I'm sure you left no opinion and thought unspoken. Why don't you sit down?"
Huh, how long had she been dozing? The board thief was sweating, and his voice was a bit hoarse when he said, "Yes, Lord Rian," and moved to go back to where he was sitting. Then had to find somewhere else to sit when he found some other children playing with his daughter, and watching the game as Lori discretely rubbed her eyes.
When she was finished, she found Rian turning to look at her. "So, how much of that did you hear?" he asked.
"Absolutely nothing," Lori said.
There was laughter at her words, but Lori didn't let herself be offended. Let other people waste their time with nonsense.
"All right, let me explain again," Rian said, then paused. "No, that would be too long. Let me sum up. You remember how you built the original homes before the dragon arrived?"
"The ones that took a strangely long time to get finished, yes," Lori nodded.
"Well, most of our original settlers live in such homes, except for the ones like me who still live in shelters because we don't have families or only have a spouse," Rian said. "And because we were all working like crazy so we don't starve, building the houses took a while, because we only had some of the carpenters and volunteers who'd show up if they felt like it."
Lori nodded.
"Then the dragon happened and some houses had to be rebuilt again, and there were even fewer workers because of all the other things we had to fix," Rian said. "Then the people who used to live in River's Fork arrived. And while not any more experienced with building roofs than some of our people, they were willing to work, knew how to use tools, some had experience in the militia's engineering banners, and weren't already doing anything else. So thanks to them the houses were finally finished and the people on the list for them were finally able to move out of the shelters."
"Yes Rian, I'm aware, I was there," Lori said impatiently.
"So of course, we marked the next group of houses for these people who'd done so much for us by helping other people build their homes," Rian said.
"Yes Rian, I was there as well, I built the colored walls," Lori said. "Why is this worth wasting my time about?" Everyone's time, really, but her time was what was important, since it was hers.
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"Well, since the next group of houses they'd be building would be their own, they decided to put a little more effort into it to make it nicer," Rian said.
"Yes Rian, you've already explained this yesterday," Lori said, getting annoyed.
"I'm explaining for the benefit of the children who might not know," Rian said.
Lori was about to retort they were smarter than that and weren't listening, but she saw the brat paying attention and relented. "Fine, what happened next?"
"Well, then some people became jealous that their own house wasn't as nice," Rian said.
"Of course," Lori said. "The houses were never meant to be nice, they were meant to be livable. If they want their house to be nice, they need to put in actual effort. As it is, I don't think any of the houses are currently ready to face winter. Did people even remember to put in windows?" Murmurs rose at that.
"Not that I can recall," Rian said mildly. "However, some people have raised an excellent point. The new houses are consuming more wood than the old ones, since more building material is being used for all the added features, which is unfair allocation of resources."
Lori considered that. "Who are the sawyers and the ones cutting down the trees for the sawyers?" Lori asked.
"You want their names?" Rian sounded surprised.
"No, of course not, what would I do with their names?" Lori said. "I asked who they are."
"I don't see how I can do that without telling you their names."
Lori sighed. Sometimes, her lord was just useless. She decided this was one of the rare times she wouldn't try explaining so he could handle it for her. "Everyone who works in the sawpits and those who have been part of the logging group in the last month, stand up," she said.
There was a tone of confusion to the noise people were making, but one by one various people who looked vaguely familiar from her time curing wood in the storage sheds stood up.
"As the ones actually doing the work in cutting, gathering and sawing the wood in question being used, do you agree with the opinion that it is unfair the new houses are consuming more wood?" Lori asked. "If you don't, sit down."
The men and women all looked at each other, and one or two hesitantly almost sat down before standing back up again.
Lori almost rolled her eyes. Groups could be so stupid. "Very well. As the ones being directly impacted by this, and consider yourself aggrieved, you deserve to be compensated." She turned to Rian. "The ones who did the work on the roofs and are the ones doing the building on the new houses. Do they have a leader, someone in charge?"
"That would be Captain Kolinh, retired, formerly of Lomabuyar Demesne's militia engineering banner," Rian said. "Kolinh, would you please stand up?"
A man stood up who also looked vaguely familiar, and Lori was at least able to recall him from those planning meetings Rian had insisted she had with the masons so she could make a more structurally secure Dungeon. "Yes, Great Binder?" He had a softer, more relaxed voice than Grem.
"Engineer Kolinh," Lori said. "In order to repay these men and women for the added work they will be putting in to provide materials for your construction, you and your group will, at their request, provide assistance in renovating their current houses, within limits." She ignored the buzz of conversation that arose as she pointed at the people still standing. "Those limits are that the modification must be based on one of the finished constructions—I assume that the homes are not all identical?" Kolinh nodded. "—based on one of the finished constructions. In short, in exchange for the materials they provide, you will provide labor to assuage their envy. But ONLY upon request."
She gave the sawyers and loggers a look. "Your renovations will not begin until their homes are completed, at Rian's discretion and scheduling. I suggest you take the time to consider with your families if you really do want or need to live in the shelters again for however long it takes for the renovations to get done. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Great Binder." "Yes, your Bindership."
"Wait!"
Lori looked towards the sound of the protest. "What?" said sharply.
"What about the rest of us?" a man demanded. He was also vaguely familiar looking.
Lori tilted her head in confusion. "What about you?"
"What about the rest of us? What about our houses?" the man persisted.
Lori gave him a long, level look. "You are not being affected by the work being done. You're not a sawyer, who has to cut more planks, or a logger who has to cut more trees. You are not impacted by this. Therefore, you have four options," Lori said flatly. "You accept the house you're living in now, that you didn't have to build. You ask Engineer Kolinh and his workers nicely in a few weeks, and arrange with them to have your house renovated after some exchange of services, provided they're willing and have forgotten who you are." Lori paused. "Somehow I doubt that, people waste so much effort remembering faces. I could reduce your house back to dirt and rocks, recover the wood used on the roof for something else, and you can live in the shelters again, knowing that I am annoyed for having wasted the time. Or you can move to River's Fork, which have many unoccupied houses last I checked. Perhaps if you're lucky, they'll still be available. Does anyone else want to come forward and declare their greed?"
Her gaze swept across the tables, wondering if anyone was actually stupid enough to stand and be recognized. Fortunately, no one left in her demesne appeared to be that stupid, not even Landoor. "Very well. You may all sit down now."
They sat.
"Look everyone, I know it seems unfair, but can you really fault people for putting more effort into building their own home compared to working on someone else's house?" Rian said. "This isn't a competition, it's about making sure everyone has a roof over their head and their own space. If you want your house to have a second floor and balcony too, why not ask and find a way to work it out?" Rian paused. "After, you know, apologizing a lot and meaning it, if you need to."
A few people shuffled at that, looking aside.
"We can't have any grudges here, people," Rian said. "I know it's hard bordering on impossible, but we just can't. There are three things keeping us all alive." He held up three fingers. "The demesne. The fact that Binder Lori actually knows how to work for a living. And that everyone here works together and shares. This demesne will literally die if any of those three things stops working." He fixed his gaze on them. "Can you imagine how much worse off we'd be if Binder Lori suddenly stopped doing everything she's been doing for us? No lights. No stone buildings. No hot, running water. We'd have wood, sure, but it would all still be green without Binder Lori around to cure it. We wouldn't have ropeweed, because the children might still not have mentioned it. We'd have no winter supplies, since we wouldn't have ice and cold rooms to store food."
Yes. Praise her, praise her!
"Imagine if people stopped working together and only did things for themselves," Rian continued. "If the children all kept the seel catches for themselves instead of giving it to the community to share? If those with saws and axes didn't let anyone else use them? If Binder Lori only built things for herself and left all of us to live in tents and whatever sticks we can pick up and rip out of trees because people aren't lending each other their tools? You all remember living in tents, right? I sure do. The shelter now might be like living in a cave, but it's a dry, warm cave, full of people I trust not to rob me or hurt me when I'm asleep."
Ugh. Go back to praising, Rian.
Rian stood and gestured, in full 'dramatic hero speech' mode. Lori kept herself from rolling her eyes. "I trust you. I trust everyone in this room. I trust the sawyers to keep cutting the wood, because they know everyone needs it. I trust the children to keep going out, day after day, and bringing us back seels to eat as long as the seels are there to catch. I trust everyone to wake up every day and contribute to the demesne however they can. I trust Binder Lori to watch out for us in her own way, especially when she thinks we're being idiots who need to be looked after." All right, Lori had to roll her eyes then. Useless thespian. "I know some ways of thinking are hard to shake. That if someone is getting more, you think it means you're getting less. That we have to keep track of what we're 'owed', and if we don't get it then we feel cheated. I know it's hard. It's hard for me too, since it's how I was raised. But setting that aside and working together is how we built this demesne."
"And if you can't do it," Lori interrupted, because the dramatic speech was getting long, "then River's Fork is downriver. Can we get on with this, Rian? The matter's been settled, so move on."
For some reason, Rian looked up and sighed. "She's just taking care of us, in her way," he said.
"No, I'm impatient and want a nap," Lori said. "Get on with it."
"See? Sleepy and still wants to get work done. She really is watching out for us," Rian said brightly.
"Get on with it!"
People laughed at Rian being scolded for his slander as he referred to his notes. "All right, now that the house thing is settled, I have an update on the third bathhouse…"