The cold room was made colder after Lori dragged water up from the river, took out all the impurities she could, and solidified the water into ice. The Dungeon actually had two cold rooms: one where they put the food that would be used for cooking, and another, larger room that was slowly being filled up with meat for winter reserves. She'd have thought the amount of food in the latter was too much until Rian pointed out that they needed to feed over two hundred people for more than a hundred days.

That had gotten her to expand the winter storage cold room. Twice.

Thankfully, that wasn't their only food storage room, but it was certainly the one that needed her personal attention most, due to the need to keep it cold. The fruit mush was cooling in the other cold room though, along with a few cuts of meat that was likely intended for today's meals were it not for the sudden holiday.

That particular work done, Lori set out to finally do what was important: finding some place soft to take a nap.

Now that she was done with the ice and came back out to the river, there were already people frolicking in it. They were all in various degrees of undress. Some had gone into the water fully clothed, some had kept on trousers or skirt, some had some sort of loincloth on, and many were just fully naked. There were piles of clothes scattered about, some getting muddy from lack of forethought as to placement.

Someone had started a fire, and a large stone pot was being place over it. From the smell alone, she could tell it was mashed fruit. She saw some mushrooms being added in as well, as…. Huh. It appeared some people had managed to keep hold of spices and salt, and had decided this was as good a time as any to use them. At a nearby table bench, someone was cutting mushrooms.

Rian was supervising this, or at least trying to. It seemed he was having difficulty, what with the three women on him. He was also swaying a little, but that could have been because he was finally growing tired or because the two were leaning on him and one was making him lean on her by holding him from behind. He tried to ignore it, continuing to talk to the person stirring the pot, but all around him, people were amused and bemused.

Lori ignored all this as she started drawing more water, pulling it out upriver from all the people frolicking. While she didn't need the water to be completely clear, a part of her was repulsed by the thought she might be using water someone had done something unsanitary in. As the tendril of the large glob of unnaturally viscous water sat beside her, Lori bound airwisps and vaporous waterwisps, mixing them together in a binding, one she'd learned in school as an example of multi-wisp processes. Though there was no visual sign to mark it, air began gusting from a spot in midair, blowing so fiercely it was noticeably cooler than the air around it,

Lori took the water by her side and passed it through the binding.

There was a momentary jet of cold water before the airwisps dispersed it into a conical spray, and then white powder started blasting from the invisible binding. To the casual observer, it would look like Lori was simply make the water next to her turn into snow, ignorant of the waterwisps being used to compress and organize the structure of the water into ice, of the airwisps mixing in minute droplets and vapors of water to build around that little bit of ice, causing them to form into snow.

The spray of white blasted forward as Lori began drawing more water from the river to feed through her binding, before she aimed it at the side of the cliff face next to the river and just let it spray. It was best to let the pile form on its own. Trying to gather and manipulate it with waterwisps had an unfortunate tendency to turn it into slush and ice.

It didn't take very long. Soon she had a nice, shining white pile of snow.

Momentarily ceasing the spray, Lori reached down and tested the snow. Not quite like a natural fresh snowfall, but good enough. Lori stepped on it to test it, and her foot went down a ways before it finally stopped.

Thicker it is, then!

Bringing her bindings back to bear, Lori blasted out more snow.

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Lori woke from her nap on what had been a refreshingly soft and cool snowbank. Now it wasn't as soft anymore, having conformed to the contours of her body while she napped. Her rain coat, lain on top of the snow to keep her from being in direct contact with it, was chill under her, but it had kept most of the meltwater off.

In the distance, she could hear people still splashing in the water, loud noises that she tentatively identified as attempts at music. Enthusiasm was apparently being substituted for talent and ability, bringing back all sorts of horrible childhood memories about waiting for dragons to pass over their demesne…

Blinking, she pushed herself up, her raincoat sliding on the wet snow beneath her. The hems of her trousers and her socks were wet, having lain in the snow, and Lori sighed as she felt her shoes squelched. Still, a small price to pay for a good nap. A pity she couldn't replace her bed with a pile of snow, but that was far too much upkeep and water.

Sighing, she got up, squelching through the wet around her snow pile and putting her coat back on. As expected, she didn't feel refreshed but even more sleepy, as if her body wanted to go back to the nap that had been interrupted. But she was rested, and while she was perfectly willing to indulge in another nap, she could do that later. Unless she missed her guess, it should be about lunch time. The air was filled with the scent of wood smoke, and the fruity smell from earlier was gone. Instead, something else had taken its place, something that had the original fruity smell as part of it but merely as part of a more complex scent…

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Eh, as long as the meat was juicy, she didn't care.

As she rounded to cliff face, she was amused to find many people were using the laundry area in various states of undress, trying to get mud out of clothes that had been left lying on the ground. Many were doing it awkwardly while being spoken to or chided by someone else. She supposed the ones who usually did the laundry for their family decided it was a holiday.

There were more fires out, and on top of several were large pieces of dismembered beast slowly rotating on long wooden shafts. In others, there was meat being held over hot coals with smaller lengths of wood. Several of her new bowls were being used to hold sauce so that people could baste the meat they were cooking using bundles of reeds to act as a brush.

Hopefully someone was taking care of the head for its skull and teeth. She needed more teeth after all those bowls.

It looked like none of the meat was ready to eat yet, so she diverted into the Dungeon to take care of her socks.

Inside, she was surprised to find people using the kitchen. Instead of stew, however, they were using the stoves to cook… she sniffed. Yes, someone was frying mushrooms, vegetables, tubers, gourds and other things in seel fat. Many of the tables were also occupied, as people who decided they wanted to play games had claimed the tables as their demesne. There was a lot of excitement, competition, name-calling, cries of victory and groans of defeat. It almost made her want to ask if she could play.

Almost.

Finding an unoccupied bench, Lori took off her shoes, then her socks, resisting the strange urge to smell it. She knew it would smell like wet socks, so why did she always feel like doing it?

Carefully, she bound air- and firewisps together to gently blow hot air into her shoes to dry them. She'd long since learned her lesson of just ripping all the waterwisps out of leather shoes. The socks, she bound with waterwisps and slowly made the water boil before finally turning the moisture into steam.

It would still be a bit ripe, but at least it was warm and fluffy again. She put on the now-warm socks with satisfaction, followed by her now-dry shoes. Now, she just had to find Rian so she could get him to get her some food. Since they weren't using the kitchens anymore, she had no idea how they were doing the food distribution, so she had to find Rian so he could find out for her.

A thought occurred to her, and she stood up and headed down to the second level, which was still technically in progress. Her injury had delayed the weavers and ropers moving in, so the entire level was still empty except for Rian's pots of seedlings. When she reached the stairs, however, she heard people below. Climbing down, she found several children playing some kind of game that involved a lot of running and trying to tag one another, then going back to seemingly arbitrary positions to start again. Thankfully, when she checked the alcoves, no one was doing anything lewd in them. She did find some people napping in the wall niches though. Why they chose there, she had no idea, but at least they were using them for the intended purpose.

Her worry assuaged, Lori headed upstairs to find her lord, and found him directing some people bringing down tables from the outside dining hall, putting them near the cookfires. No benches, just tables. As per her orders, he wasn't actually carrying anything, as both his arms were still restrained. He seemed to be ignoring that now, and the people he was directing all looked amused at his circumstances. Riz, she noted, was helping carry one of the tables and looking displeased.

"Rian," she said, walking up to him. "Food."

He blinked at her brow furrowing, and she sighed. She looked at the Umu, who was closest. "Did he get any rest at all?"

"No, your Bindership," she said. "We've tried, but Lord Rian keeps saying he has things to do."

"And I do. Really, you should go enjoy the holiday without me," Rian said.

They all ignored him.

"Has he eaten, at least?" Lori asked.

"I'm right here. You can ask me," Rian said pointedly.

Lori looked at him. "Have you eaten?"

"I've been busy," he said.

"He hasn't had anything except for trying the sauce for the baste," Umu said helpfully.

"Rian, go and get something to eat, and then get some rest," Lori said. "That's an order."

"You are being surprisingly involved and insistent about my well-being today," Rian said. "Are you sure you're not still sick?"

"You tried to go on a beast hunt while lacking sleep," Lori said. "You clearly cannot be expected to take care of yourself right now, and I'd rather not have to find a new lord. Again. I still haven't replaced the last one."

Rian opened his mouth. Paused. Looked thoughtful. Seemed to realize something. Finally spoke. "All right, when you phrase it that way, you might have a point…"

"And you still haven't gotten any rest," Lori pointed out. She turned back to his minders. "Has he done anything to enjoy himself? Gone to take a dip? Played a board game? Just sat down and ate?"

"No, your Bindership," Umu said. Mikon settled for just shaking her head.

"There was work to do?" Rian said. "I mean, it's not like I can expect you to talk to people, present company strangely excluded."

"Oh? And what were you planning to work on next?"

"Making sure everyone gets something to eat," Rian said instantly. "Sure, the hunting party bought back four beasts, and another group went out to get more, but will that be enough?"

Lori nodded. "Perhaps next time don't plan a holiday in the middle of the night?"

Surprisingly, he frowned. "Yes, yes, it's my fault, rub it in, why don't you," he said, then yawned hugely, covering it with his hand.

"You're clearly too tired to be calm," Lori said. She looked at his minders. "I assume you know where he sleeps?" They nodded. "Take him there and make sure he sleeps. Sleeps, understand?"

"Yes, your Bindership," they said, nodding.

"I still don't get a say in this?" Rian said.

Lori gave him a long look. "Say something, then."

Rian opened his mouth, and a yawn came out. He covered it again.

"Succinct," Lori said.

Rian sighed. "Ugh, fine. I'm too tired to argue. There, I said it. Happy?"

"Not particularly," Lori said. "Get something to eat too."

"Isn't eating before going straight to sleep bad for you?"

"Only if you overindulge like a glutton," Lori said, rolling her eyes.

Umu, Mikon and Riz all nodded. Wait, when had…?

"And you three," she said. "Eat something too. Maybe it'll encourage him."

"Which is it you want me to do, sleep or eat?" Rian said. He tried to roll his eyes, only for his head to loll tiredly, and he rapidly shook himself awake. "Right, sleep it is! Guess I'll just have to hope there's still food when I wake up."

Lori watched the four go, reasonably certain she didn't have to worry about Rian being molested in his sleep.

She sighed. Now how was she going to get food?

"Wiz Lori?"

She looked down. The brat was holding a bowl filled with steaming beast meat, mixed fried things, and what seemed to be a tuber cooked in its own skin, slightly damp as if it had been dunked in water. It probably had. Tuber cooked like that was put in among the coals to cook.

"I thought you'd like something to eat," the brat said.

Lori accepted it gratefully. "Thank you, Karina," she said, relieved.

The girl nodded with a smile, bowed, and went off, hopefully to get more food for herself.

Perhaps this holiday had been a good idea after all.

Humming to herself, Lori went to find a bench so she could eat, giving serious thought to the idea of making the brat a Lady.