After Lori had sat down for a little while to recover from her completely understandable and appropriate surprise, and then resigned herself to not getting River's Fork's core this time, things had to be arranged. Their people, whose tenure at River's Fork had become almost double what they had expected, were all taken to be taken home by Rian, the most qualified at controlling Lori's Boat at high speed, while Riz and the others stayed with Lori to free up room on the boat and to watch her back.

The buildings of Deadspoken wood had fared surprisingly well under the dragon's onslaught, though there were more holes in the branches of the dome. The dome was no longer perfectly dome-like, but had random branches growing out of it now, reaching up into the sun and providing more complete shade. Left unchecked, the town might need to start burning lights during the day just to be able to function in their own homes.

Shanalorre's office was one of the places that had managed to survive relatively intact and undamaged, though there were signs someone was sleeping there. Had Shanalorre's house been damaged, or was it simply too difficult to keep making the trek up to… whatever level of the central tree she apparently lived in?

"Have you recovered, Binder Lolilyuri?" Shanalorre asked rhetorically from behind her desk, that lord of hers next to her. His name was just on the tip of Lori's tongue…

"Quite, Binder Shanalorre," Lori said. Riz stood at her side, once more doing duty as her temporary Rian while her lord was occupied. The woman wore a face of professional calm, and Lori hoped she was truly as ready to protect Lori as she had claimed when she had, predictably, volunteered herself for the position when Rian had asked. "Though in light of your survival, it seems there are matters to discuss."

"I would offer my condolences that you are not in a position to claim my demesne's core, but they'd be insincere," Shanalorre said. "There is little reason to live, but what little that is there is sufficient for now."

"May I ask how you and the people of your demesne managed to survive?" Lori asked. "Clearly it is possible, even with your limited resources, and I wonder if a similar measure could be implemented in my demesne."

"It wasn't anything complicated," Shanalorre said. "I had my people move supplies to the mine and we all barricaded ourselves there. We would not have dared do such a thing if it weren't for the air circulation device you provided, which managed to survive and operate for long enough that we did not fear for lack of air in the mine. Thanks to the device, as well as the weeks of work by the miners you provided, we were able to excavate fairly deeply, so there was room for everyone."

"Everyone?" Lori repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Even the criminals?"

"Everyone," Shanalorre said with finality. Her impassive expression shaded towards grim. "I chose not to kill them, and they will not be killed."

"It seems a waste of resources, keeping them alive."

"Your opinion is noted. However, you lost your chance to execute Grem when you remanded him to my judgement and custody. Besides, it is my decision and my demesne's resources. Until you can complete your portion of our agreement, they are provided with work so they can remain productive."

Lori nodded to acknowledge the point. Much as the thought of such wastefulness grated on her, it wasn't she who was losing anything from this. "On to the next matter, then. What restitution do you require for housing and feeding our people over the length of their unexpected stay?"

"There's no need for that. While they were not mining, they assisted with preparations for the dragon and have since been helping us rebuild," Shanalorre said. "I am willing to see it as falling under the same provisions as providing labor for mining, and had them fed and housed as such, once the resources became available again. Except for the matter of this month's ice, I see no need to negotiate anything beyond the continued fulfillment of our agreement."

Lori nodded slowly, considering. "The matter of this month's ice?" she repeated.

"Unfortunately, our meat stores was one of the casualties of the dragon," Shanalorre explained. "The door to the smoke house was forced open by a beast or abomination, and they consumed what we'd left behind. In addition, the cold storage room we'd been maintaining since you have begun providing our demesne with ice had the ice melt and the meat went bad in the interim. We now need to replenish our stores, and in addition to the ice for this month, would like to request half of next month's ice in advance."

Lori considered that. "I'm willing to double this month's ice to serve as interest for the delay," she said. "With the understanding this doesn't set any sort of precedent."

"That… would be very helpful, thank you."

"How is your water situation?"

"We've managed to sink a well low enough water is filling it, and we've been boiling it to prevent any diseases. However, we shouldn't need to for much longer. The river is almost clear."

Lori frowned. "It is?"

A nod. "Yes. While I only know healing, any living thing is a viable recipient for healing. I've learned how to tell if there's anything living in the water."

Oh! Lori hadn't realized that. Yes, that made sense. A savant might only be able to heal, but with the awareness a demesne granted…

"We have wounded. Would you have time to handle them according to our agreement?"

Shanalorre nodded. "Everyone that could be healed here has been healed already."

"I'll arrange for them to be brought, then."

The waterwheel had thankfully not been damaged, merely lightly nibbled on by bug abominations, and had stopped working when the imbuement had run out. Lori supposed that River's Fork had been very, very lucky there. She didn't have her syringe with her and was reluctant to borrow one, so she supposed she'd have to use some of the bloody water in the water jet to imbue the waterwheel when Rian came back for them.

After that, Shanalorre excused herself do deal with matters since her demesne was also still rebuilding, and Lori stepped out to wait for Rian to come back.

She and Riz walked through the disheveled dome, what little sunlight coming down filtered through the thick leaves far above. As with the last time a dragon had struck this place, there were holes in the dome, allowing for the occasional lone shaft of sunlight to shine through, but this time the holes were clearly smaller and half-obscured by growth. Lori kept a wary eye out for anyone colorbrained enough to attack her, and she was glad to see Riz was following her example, looking around as well.

"They're actually surviving," Riz murmured to herself. She probably wasn't talking to Lori, since she'd know better by now.

Still, Lori acknowledged the inherent fact in her statement. These people were surviving, that much was obvious. Quite comfortably, almost, barring dragons. Their small numbers was almost an advantage, since they'd been able to hide in the mine.

"You're free to leave and come live back here, if you want," Lori said.

"No, I don't think I will, Great Binder," Riz said. "I'll admit, I enjoy having hot baths, and we didn't have those even back when Binder Koshay was in charge."

Lori considered that and shrugged, then went to the river to make ice, with interest.

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It took three trips for Rian to bring them all back home. Lori spent that time imbuing the water jet so when she removed the blood to put it in the waterwheel, they'd still have enough imbued in it to make it back home.

When they finally made it back to Lori's Demesne around mid-afternoon, there was a celebratory air in the town that she hadn't expected.

"Well, it's to be expected, right?" Rian said when she'd inquired. "After all, people expected the miners to be dead from the dragon. To find out they actually survived… why wouldn't people think that was something worth celebrating?"

Lori stared at him, then sighed. "Well, I suppose it means more people to do work," she said. "We'll need a new ice boat for the next batch who are going tomorrow—if you can find anyone still willing to go—and I'll have some blood ready for you to add to the waterwheel there, just in case. I suppose people will be trying to roast beast or seels for dinner?"

"Probably beasts, it's a bit dark to go after seel," Rian commented. He shaded his eyes. "Looks like we've got people coming back with some now. I'll just go and make the celebration official in your name, shall I?"

"No. Music," Lori emphasized.

"I think they've gotten used to dancing accompanied only with singing," Rian said with a bright, innocent smile.

"You realize I know you're mocking me, right?"

"I would of course not argue with you, your Bindership."

"Is that an admission of guilt?"

"It's an admission of not arguing."

Lori rolled her eyes. Well, let him have his sick fun. Given his complete and utter obliviousness to the blatantly obvious and his bizarre and unnatural lack of enjoyment at constantly being able to win at a board game, it was probably his only source of entertainment. "Get to work, Rian."

"Yes, your Bindership."

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As the afternoon wore on, the celebratory air increased. Lori sighed as she saw work getting neglected in favor of dragging out tables and benches again, lighting up cooking fires to cook the cuts of meat from the beast that was being slaughtered, and people dancing to clapping and singing and hands being drummed on the tabletops, which were rhythmic but she was hesitant to call it music, so she let it pass.

Lori found herself sitting at her usual table in an almost empty dining hall. The few other people in it were taking advantage of the clear light to play board games, and they mostly crowded around the tables near the entrance. In front of her was her square stone plate, which was loaded with roasted beast—tail and thigh meat, for preference, and sizzling with fat—mushrooms fried in collected beast fat, and sliced vegetables cooked in same. There were some micans, golden buds and pink ladies to one side, trapped inside a cube of bound ice so they'd stay nice and cool for her dessert.

She was popping a mushroom into her mouth and chewing slowly, enjoying the taste and texture when Rian sat down opposite her. She glanced at him, but he only gave her a tired smile before starting on his own food.

For a moment, they ate in silence.

"I'd have thought you'd be out there," she commented, waving vaguely in the direction of the Dungeon's entrance.

"I wouldn't add anything to their enjoyment," Rian said. "This is about the fact people we thought were dead, aren't. About us managing to survive the dragon in general and without any casualties specifically. Telling them how to enjoy themselves—like saying they can't play music—would just take the fun out of it. Besides, I thought I'd keep you company and watch to tell you no one's sneaking up behind your back."

Lori paused ever so slightly. "You realize I can feel people coming up behind me, don't you? It's something Binders can do."

"Sounds like a lot of concentrating," Rian said. "Isn't my way easier?"

Well, Lori supposed she had to give him that. So she made a sound of acknowledgement and continued eating, even as she started counting her heartbeats.

She'd reached 372 when Umu casually put a plate of roasted meats, vegetables and fungus down on the table and sat down next to Rian. The latter turned to stare at her. She nodded casually at him. "Rian," she said, and began to eat.

About 22 heartbeats later, Mikon and Riz also put down plates on Rian's other side, sitting down together and prompting another stare from him. They didn't even say anything, just nodded at him and then turned to their meals.

After a moment, Lori frowned. "Wait," she said, making everyone paused. She looked towards Riz. "If you're here, who's at the Um?"

"It's not my shift tonight, Great Binder," the northerner woman explained.

Lori tilted her head. "All right, fair enough." She went back to her meal.

Rian looked around one last time, shrugged, and decided to follow their example.

Dinner was spent in quiet appreciation of food as the sounds of clapping, singing and dancing came from outside the Dungeon. And the food was delicious. When her plate was empty, Lori altered the binding on the block of ice, letting the fruits rise up the surface. She took the cold fruits off the now empty block of ice and hesitated. Then she deliberately put them in the center of the table, got a pink lady, and started to eat.

Hesitantly, hands reached for the fruit in the center and joined her.

Well, it wasn't like she could finish all the fruit she still had upstairs by herself.