Demesne

Just because Lori told us—well, wrote to us—to go outside didn't mean we did so immediately. For one thing, just because she thought it was safe to come out didn't mean it was. I distinctly remember stepping out of the dungeon and finding an undead islandshell—an infant one, fortunately—trying to eat us even though it no longer needed to. Fortunately, it had eventually run out of imbuement, proving the superiority of procrastination over other problem-solving methods!

I always wondered why she didn't just turn the islandshell's… shell into a boat. I was fairly certain she could use earthwisps on it—or use the earthwisps in it, however it works—to reshape the shell into a hull, and it would probably be easier for her since she'd be able to anchor her bindings to it as well, but apparently she had other plans for it. Perhaps she wanted her own undead islandshell infant, which… all right, that was fair, I understand that. Though if she ever did somehow manage to learn how to use Deadspeaking, would the islandshell still be in a state fit for converting into an undead? Or converting back into an undead, I suppose.

When we had first opened the dungeon's doors that first time, it said something that while Lori had removed the moat full of boiling water from the entryway when she had told them to go outside, the stone wall that was meant to block access to the entrance of the dungeon was still in place, save for a person-sized opening in the middle. On seeing that, Kolinh hadn't even waited for my orders to have one of the tables laid in front of it to block off the entrance, with more tables and benches set in place to brace it.

Fortunately, there was still the balcony above the doors of the dungeon, where I'd place that little cup of water back when I'd noticed the air was getting cold. While the cup itself had never frozen, the frost that had collected on the walls of the entryway beyond had been visible through the slats of the air vents, confirming that Lori had placed some kind of binding on the vent to warm the incoming air, even if it was still a bit cold coming in. I suspect she didn't account for the cold of the entryway's walls spreading to the balcony.

From the balcony, one could see out past the entryway, although the view was a narrow one. There was the ground in front of the entryway, a view of the old shelter and the Um, and past that was the aqueduct. Beyond the aqueduct were the trees.

Icicles hung down from the far end of the entryway ceiling. The ground outside was covered with a thick layer of what looked like snow or might have simply been ice, glistening in the light of the entryway ceiling that Lori didn't seem to have deactivated. The curving roof of the shelter and the Um were similarly covered, though they didn't glisten in the overcast sky. Beyond the entryway, everything seemed dim, but not dark enough for night, implying the clouds that had long abandoned us this season had finally returned, and probably explained why the snow—or perhaps ice—had remained for so long even if the dragon, according to Shanalorre, had been gone for three days already.

We had closed the dungeon's doors again to prepare, arm, and wait for brighter conditions, but a day later the outside hadn't looked much brighter, even at noon.

"We need to go out," I declared when I met with Kolin, Shana, Tae and Lidz after lunch the day after Lori had opened the dungeon. "Dark or not, it's been quiet so far, so hopefully that means there's nothing in the immediate area. We need to go out, make sure, and then get started on getting one of the boats out into the water so we can retrieve Lori from River's Fork. If there is something out there, we need to find out what it is so we can start figuring out the best way to deal with it, or decide we don't need to deal with it to send out a boat to retrieve Lori."

"Uh, Rian?" Tae said,

I turned towards her. "Yes, Tae?"

She pointed at herself. "Why am I here?" On the other side of the table, Lidzuga looked like he was asking the same thing.

"Because you're one of our few wizards, and I'd value your input," I said.

"What, really?"

"Tae, if anything happened to Lori, you are literally one of three people who could keep this demesne alive. But since we're all going to hope nothing happens to Lori, you know more about Deadspeaking than I do, and what I know comes from plays, hearsay, and what I learned while working at a lumberyard. Maybe you know some kind of meaning that could be helpful to our situation. The same for you, Lidz."

"Ah. That makes sense," Tae said, nodding.

"Also, you and Lidz need to decide who among you will be coming with us outside."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, Shana can't come to be our emergency healer," I said, gesturing towards the girl who unfortunately was a Dungeon Binder. "Look at her."

"I do not see why not, Lord Rian," Shana said as Yoshka took a post-lunch nap, the little girl's head lying down on her lap and the rest of her laid out on the bench. "I am perfectly capable of acting as emergency healer. Wizard Taeclas and Wizard Lidzuga can stay here if they aren't comfortable venturing out beyond the dungeon."

"While I'm… very disturbed by your willingness to just risk your life like that, Shana—Shanalorre," I said, "as a Dungeon Binder, we can't let you put yourself in that sort of danger, especially since you have no means of defending yourself."

"You know, this wasn't mentioned when you were recruiting us in Covehold," Lidzuga said, giving me a displeased look.

I shrugged. "You don't have to volunteer. We'll just go out there without a Deadspeaker to provide emergency healing if we run into anything sudden and violent. I'm sure we can survive whatever violent dragonborn abominations are out there without you."

"You won't be alone, Lord Rian," Shana said. "I can accompany you."

"Shana, you are a Dungeon Binder and a child," I said, emphasizing each word. "I am not risking your life like that. You are not coming with us. You and Lori might not consider yourself a child, but the rest of us do, and we are not putting you in that kind of danger. Also, you being alive keeps Lori safe in River's Fork. "

"Binder Lolilyuri would go if she were in my place," she insisted.

"Lori can throw fire, lightning, and sink people into stone," I said. "And even outside of her demesne, she still has two out of three of those. She's a lot better suited for protecting herself than you are. Besides, if things get so bad something happens to me and Kolinh, we'll need you to take charge until Lori gets back. People will listen to you. I'm sure you can guess what would happen if Tae and Lidz try." Namely, Lori will assume they killed me and are trying to take over the demesne, at which point she's likely to do something violent to them without me to talk her out of it.

Shana glanced towards the two wizards, then nodded. "Yes, that would be… regrettable. Very well. I will remain here, though I want it known that I protest this. Should you encounter a dragonborn abomination and there are injured, immediate attention would save lives."

Sighing, Tae and Lidz resigned exchanged looks.

"You don't have to go," I said, letting some of my sincerity come out. If they didn't want to come with us, then they didn't want to. "Just stay here, we'll take care of things. We can just bring a few of the medics with us."

Ignoring me, the two laid their hands down on the table. There was a pause, and suddenly their hands shot out, seemingly trying to slap the other's hand, and it was a confused blur as they both literally tried to get the upper hand. Eventually, however, there was a resounding fleshy smack, and Tae's hand was pinning Lidz's down on the table.

"Gah! How are you so strong?" he exclaimed, wincing as he shook his hand.

"Farming," Tae said smugly. She tilted her head. "Though given how slowly you move, maybe I should be the one to go. You might not be able to react in time."

For a moment, Lidz looked tempted, but shook his head. "No, I'll go. Besides, you're better at plants than I am, and we'll need more harvests after this. Besides, I might see something interesting…!"

"Don't bring a notebook," I said immediately. "Just remember it in your heart and draw it later."

"… of course, that's exactly what I was going to do. I'm not a fool, after all."

Meet my eyes when you say that. I dare you.

"Well then," I said. "Let's all get ready. Lidz, I suggest putting on boots instead of those tsinelas. They'd be better for running."

He looked down at his feet. "You're right, I better do that."

As everyone got up—I needed to put on boots too—I turned to the winner. "Tae? A word, please?"

She blinked, then nodded. "Sure, Rian. What about?"

I glanced towards Lidz, but he was already hurrying away. "About that win of yours…"

"Yeah, my farming muscles are impressive, aren't they?"

"I think using Deadspeaking to push your muscles to move faster than normal is more impressive."

She went still, staring at me with wide eyes. "Don't tell Lidz?" she said nervously.

"I won't tell him," I said. "But you do the next three things we need a Deadspeaker for."

She sighed. "Fine… that's fair, I guess." Her head titled as she gave me a considering look. "How did you know? That's internal Deadspeaking. It doesn't leave any outward sign."

"Lidz was in pain from how hard you hit him. You weren't. You must have done something to dull the pain, and that means you could have done other things too."

Her eyebrows rose. "Ooh… you're good. No wonder Lori made you lord."

I shrugged. "Tae?"

"Yes?"

"How does someone who knows the human body finely enough to do that end up a bad carpenter and enthusiastic amateur farmer on the new continent?"

Her eyebrows rose, and her smile widened. "How does someone smart enough to be able to recognize all that end up a lord in the new continent? Well, obviously that's how, but you know what I mean."

I tilted my head in acknowledgement. "Fair enough. Someday?"

"Sure. Someday."

We parted, and I headed downstairs to put on my boots.