"And done!" Rian declared, giving the waterwheel an experimental turn. It moved MUCH more smoothly than it had before in her demesne when they'd been testing it, thanks to the rendered seel fat they'd added to the bearings as lubrication. "It's all yours now, your Bindership."

Lori nodded as she finished filling the water trough under the wheel. Rather than just an open trough, it has a small partition in the middle, dividing the water into two areas. When filled, the water was essentially ring-shaped, with an amount of water at the bottom, the partition right under the water wheel that was open on either end, and then the water at the top, into which the water-wheel was partially submerged.

Lori took the bowl of bloody water that Binder Shanalorre had returned to her, untouched and still imbued heavily and connected to herself, and poured it into the water already in the trough. She touched the metal-capped end of her staff into the water, the metal conducting her will, and between that and the bloody water, she began binding waterwisps, still imbued and claimed by her. Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, the water began to flow under the waterwheel, pushing against the paddles submerged in the water. the wheel began to turn, and the fan with it. A leather hood secured around the curving, bent wood around the fan funneled the air it was blowing into the mine's ventilation tubes.

"It appears to be working, " Binder Shanalorre commented.

"It will take some time to get up to speed," Lori commented. From the mine entrance, she could hear sounds of pickaxes and shovels as her people dug into the stone of the hill. "The water will push against the water wheel, flow down, over, and up again, in a constant flowing stream. With the thick rock, we shouldn't have to worry about erosion for some time, though you might need to add more water. You see that mark?"

"The one you're pointing at?" Shanalorre said blandly.

"The water needs to be at that level for optimum flow," Lori said. "Have someone check every so often and add more water as needed. As long as there's water, the wheel will turn, and so will the fan. In the meantime, try to keep it covered to prevent dust, bug droppings and other things from getting into the water."

Shanalorre nodded. "And this mechanism will simply move constantly?"

"Yes. So do not try to stop it, alter it, or do anything except occasionally add water or rendered fat to the ball bearing for lubrication. Most especially, do NOT try to stop it so you can connect it to a lathe, mill, or whatever else. You have a perfectly good river right there," Lori pointed downhill. "The gear ratio has been calculated to operate the fan and the fan only. Any additional load on the waterwheel would be detrimental."

Shanalorre looked at the fan. "It's already spinning fairly fast."

"That current rate of rotation is not nearly enough for all the air my miners need," Lori corrected. "The water wheel is still getting up to speed."

Shanalorre nodded slowly. "I see. I will have my people find something to cover the trough then."

"And we are going back home," Lori said. She could feel her connection to the waterwisps—or at least the ones from her blood—she had bound to maintain the constant cyclical flow of water that pushed the waterwheel. The effort to imbue them without using her staff as a conduit was marginally more difficult than doing it normally, but she knew that would even out in time. And if it didn't, she'd give Rian some of her blood to pour in when he came with the next batch of miners! "Come on Rian, Tackir, get everything and start packing up the boat."

"Yes, your Bindership," Rian said, helping Tackir with the tools he'd brought and the jar with the lubricant. It turned out the man had needed to get a quick adjustment to the protective shroud of the fan to keep the leather hood from slipping off constantly. Her lord glanced up at the sun. "You know, if we hurry, we might be able to have lunch in our own demesne."

Lori glanced up to herself, noting the angle of the sun. Huh, Rian was right. At worst, they'd arrive a little after lunch was finished, which meant she'd still have most of the afternoon.

"Our business is done here, Binder Shanalorre," Lori said, nodding to the other Binder. "Rian will be coming at the end of the week to cycle in the next batch of miners."

"I will see you then, Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre said, returning her nod.

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The days leading up to exchanging the next batch of miners were oddly relaxing to Lori. There was no need to rush—beyond the usual preparations for winter and unexpected dragons—and Lori was able to slip into a routine. Between curing wood, heating the pottery kiln to bake the clay pieces that had been finished—there were plates and platters now—checking on the binding of waterwisps in River's Fork, and finishing the alcoves on the second floor, she was able to relax and just be for a while.

That said, there was still specific work she needed to do. She had to make more showers, for one thing, since Rian had pointed out the crowding in the current bath houses. And now that she had proven it effective, she had added blood to the bound wisps in the water jet of Lori's Boat meaning she no longer had to accompany it on trips out of the demesne. They just left it running. While this was convenient for her, it also required her to find a way to stop the boat while the water jet was still running. This had led to flaps that could be lowered into the water to act as a brake and a mechanism that would let them raise the whole water jet assembly in and out of the water so that it would stop having anything to push against. This took some doing, since they had to mount it on Lori's Boat without using nails or otherwise cutting into the hull, since they wouldn't be able to repair it to the same quality.

"So your solution was to extend the boat?" Lori said as they waited for dinner. She reached over and made her next move. The game was almost finished. There were few stones left.

Rian shrugged. "I figured if we couldn't risk damaging the hull, then add something to the hull that we could risk. The joins are surprisingly tight as is, they almost didn't need the bugwax. The extension fits around the back and side of the boat and locked in place with this sort of hook and wooden pins you push down on to squeeze the boat and the new part together. The new part is where we anchor the swing arm that will raise and lower the water jet out of the water."

"I'll look at it later," Lori said.

"Please," Rian said. "We'll need to test how well it can take the strain of the water jet, how it affects steering, and whether we can use it to get the water jet out of the water. Besides, you're the only one who can take off the water jet from the boat. Tomorrow, please?"

"Fine, fine," Lori said. She made her move and claimed her victory. Her opponent immediately began resetting the board.

"You know, you two are creepy when you play like that," Rian said. "Seriously, do neither of you talk to each other at all?"

Lori gave him a bland look. "Why would talking be needed?" Mikon finished resetting the board. Once more, the pink-haired weaver made the first move. While Lori disliked not moving first, that also meant she hadn't lost the last game. "Besides, I'm talking to you. How soon before the houses are finished?"

"We've got some people moving in already." Rian said. "So you'll soon be able to get started on… um…"

"Yes. Um," Lori said, responding to Mikon's move. "Please tell the carpenters we'll need doors. And feel free to tell them what the doors are needed for, so they can be motivated."

"I'm sure it will be very motivating," Rian said, not seeming to notice the blush on the women sitting next to him. "Hopefully after that we can focus on building a boat to go to Covehold. The boat will need to be specifically designed to have a water jet built into it, rather than as an external attachment."

"I will be the first to admit I have no idea how to build a boat," Lori said as Mikon considered the board. "Never worked in the industry."

"That's fine, most of us have no idea what to do either."

"Most?"

"One of the carpenters once helped the late Binder Koshay shape the boat we have now," Rian said as Mikon finally made a move. "A good thing too, or else its hull might not have been so thick. He wanted to make it thinner and just use magic to reinforce it or something."

Lori kept herself from looking up at the ceiling, now reinforced by pillars. "How unsafe," she said, reaching towards the board, hesitated, then made a different move as she realized the previous one would have given Mikon an advantage. "Then after that comes the third bath house. I suppose for the sake of fairness, I should make it as dark, cramped, and utilitarian as the previous two."

"Please don't. Please, I'm begging you." A thought seemed to occur to him. "When are you going to rebuild the baths in the Dungeon? You know, for when dragons come. It got pretty desperate here last time."

Lori grimaced. "I supposed I'll have to," she said. "And a new water reservoir, come to think of it. I should probably do that before the bath house."

"Eh, knowing you, it won't take that long," Rian said. "You're finally finished with the second floor, right?"

Lori nodded. "I think the carpenters can set up shop on the far end so they don't get in the way of the ropers. There's plenty of clear space among the pillars to lay things out. They just need to remember that water won't conveniently drain away." A thought occurred to her. "Do we have brooms?"

"A few," Rian confirmed. "They use beast feather shafts as bristles, since we have a lot of those right now. A bit stiff and scratchy, but they work. You need one?"

Lori shook her head. "Just wondering." She used blasts of air to clean her room as needed.

Umu tapped Rian on the shoulder. He gave her a curious look.

"The food's ready, Lord Rian," she said, pointing towards the kitchen.

He blinked, then glanced that way. "Ah, thanks Umu." He glanced at Lori. "Should I…?"

"Yes, you should," Lori said blandly.

As Rian and the other two women stood to join the line for food, Mikon glanced up, looking towards the kitchen, then at Lori, then at the board. Lori waved her off, and the weaver stood up, heading towards the kitchen with the others.

Now alone at the table, Lori stretched her arms upwards, and sighed in contentment. She wasn't quite sure what the weaver was doing with this, but it was nice to play with someone besides Rian, so she was willing to allow it. Though if Mikon thought this would grant her any special favors, she was sadly mistaken.

When Rian came back with her food, she greeted him with, "Rian, when the second shelter has been converted to um, we're going to need people to clean the rooms regularly."

He looked at her blankly, before his eyes went wide, and a slightly sickened expression came over his face as she took one of the bowls and began eating. "Oh right. It's going to need that, isn't it?"

"It will be necessary for health reasons," Lori said. "Unless you have a better idea?"

"Make them shower rooms instead of bedrooms?" Rian said. "That way, they'll have soap."

Lori stared at him as Umu, Mikon, and Riz looked away with blushing faces and raised eyebrows. "My mothers warned me about the minds of men."

"You asked!" Rian protested, blushing himself.

"And how quickly you answered was disturbing. Still, it does seem like a sound suggestion…"

"Or we could just have it cleaned twice a week." Rian paused thoughtfully. "Three times a week."

"Will you be able to find enough people to clean it that regularly?" Lori said, half-wondering if any of the three women would volunteer.

Umu half-heartedly opened her mouth. Mikon reached behind Rian and put a finger over the other weaver's lips, shaking her head. Umu closed her mouth and nodded, giving Lori's current sunk opponent a grudgingly grateful look.

Rian noticed none of this. "Oh, I'm sure the people who've made enthusiastic use of the facilities would be very happy to keep them maintained, especially if they ever want to use them again," he said, voice bright, cheerful, and vaguely vengeful at those hypothetical people.

Lori couldn't help it. She chuckled. "I'll leave that to you then. And feel free to excuse yourself from the cleaning duties should you ever find yourself using the um. A lord should have some privileges, after all."

Rian rolled his eyes. "That's probably never going to happen, but thanks. Will all lords get this privilege, or am I just special?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I make more," Lori said blandly. "Eat your dinner."