"I would like to begin," Shanalorre began, "with an apology for my absence. I was not here to act as your Dungeon Binder and lead you over the past several weeks as winter ended. For that, I apologize." She stood on one of the higher steps on the spiraling stairs built into the central tree of River's Fork's dome to allow herself to be seen. Despite her size and the open space, she was able to make her voice carry.

The group that had gathered once Shanalorre had given the word looked small to Lori. From the numbers, she knew that River's Fork had only about a quarter of the people in her deme—in her primary demesne, but looking at them, there seemed to be even less. They also looked more disheveled than the ones in her primary demesne, with many people standing on the muddy ground without shoes. Others only had leather wrapped around their feet.

Lori herself stood among the volunteers from her demesne, standing off to one side next to the wooden house that she remembered Shanalorre using as her office. Their position allowed her to keep both Shanalorre and the crowd in sight. Some in the crowd were glancing in their direction, probably curious as to why they were there, but most of their attention was on the Dungeon Binder. Or at least, the one they thought was their Dungeon Binder.

"However, you will all be glad to know that during this time, I was able to make an arrangement with Binder Lolilyuri," Shanalorre continued. "In light of our… deficient dragon shelter measures, Lorian Demesne has agreed to allow the children of our demesne to reside with them, to keep them safe in the event of a dragon." That caused a murmur of interest among those present. "I understand that many of you might be reluctant to allow you children to be away from you, so you need not decide immediately. However, know that it is an option. I am assured that any children sent to Lorian will be well taken care of while they are there. In addition, after some consideration I have decided to implement measures to curtail the rampant theft of our food that—"

"We need that food, you brat!" someone in the crowd yelled out. Lori followed the sound of the voice towards, predictably, somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

"I am aware people need food, which is why each family unit is provided with specifically measured—" Shanalorre began, and a stone flew out from the same general area of the crowd. Shanalorre stepped out of its way, and it struck the steps behind her,"—amounts that are enough to sustain everyone in the household."

"Ah…" Rian said tiredly. He rotated his wrist, spinning the baton in his hand. "Here we go. The unrest has once more stopped being civil." He glanced at Lori then shook her shoulder for some reason. "Look alive. I can't have you freezing on us."

She glared at him indignantly. "When have I ever frozen?" she snapped.

"Two times that something violent has involved Shanalorre," Rian said.

That… that… That was absolutely…

Lori turned away angrily. "Be ready to deal with this, unless you want me to set them on fire."

"Ah, yes, 'dealing with people'," he muttered as the uproar rose. Lori saw another stone flung, but instead of stepping out of its way, Shanalorre swept her hand, deftly sweeping it out of the air, then nonchalantly began bouncing the stone up and down in her hand. Huh. Impressive. It also must have hurt, even with the force partially mitigated by coming at it sideways, but it would be relatively trivial, and might also be something she could just heal away.

…

She hated it when he had a point.

Fortunately, there was something else she needed to deal with right now. While people were making exclamations, and many looked angry or disapproving, the people immediately near the source of the thrown stones were conspicuously not responding to whoever was throwing the rocks. In fact, some people on the outer edges of the crowd were being pushed back from getting to the middle of the crowd.

A third rock went flying, but now lord someone-someone was in front of her, and the rock struck his chest, to which he grimaced. Thankfully, the ground around the central tree didn't seem to have any very large stones.

Shanalorre took these attacks on her person with calm dignity that Lori was willing to admit she wouldn't have been able to equal if she had been in that position. "Are you quite done setting a terrible example for children, Master Sahil?"

"Rainbowed bellringer!" the same voice as before swore, and parts of the crowd seemed to ripple in outrage at the vile obscenity. "You think you can just come back after abandoning us? Where were you when we had to deal with the floods?"

"I was absent, but I never abandoned you," Shanalorre said, much more reasonably than Lori thought she should have been. On the one hand, she was being very calm about all this. On the other hand, if this was her usual response to people challenging her, no wonder her demesne had deteriorated to this state. "And as to the floods, I had already directed for the construction of flood barriers to begin. While the schedule was tight, it should have been finished in time provided all were assisting in construction as they should."

"You abandoned us! We've had to walk through floods for weeks, and where were you?-!" Some of Shanalorre's militia were wading into the crowd, trying to find the man talking, but were having difficulty getting through the crowd. "Run off again, leaving everyone else to—"

Shanalorre's arm blurred, the rock flew, and there was a sharp crack of impact. Lord someone-someone winced, one hand coming up to his throat. Lori's eyebrows rose at the implication of her target as cries of shock and surprise sounded from the crowd.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted, I have decided to implement measures to curtail the rampant theft of our food supplies that will lead to food shortages in the near future," Shanalorre said, as she began climbing down the stairs. "This is part of why I encourage, but do not require, that children be sent to Lorian Demesne to help reduce the strain on those supplies, along with a few upstanding individuals who are well-regarded by all to act as chaperones to ensure the children's well-being, for those who do not believe our mutual friends living there will be sufficient at doing so. Now, I must ask everyone to please make way. If Master Sahil's throat is not healed, he might choke to death."

The crowd parted, and Lord—Lori checked her rock—Yllian led the way, while other militia fell in behind and beside Shanalorre. When they reached the part of the crowd in the middle that had previously difficult to pass through, it parted with clear reluctance.

"Ah, Master Sahil," she heard Shanalorre say, her voice a bit muffled now but still audible. "I will not ask you to apologize, foul as your words were. Such an apology would have no meaning, in the face of what I see in your eyes. I will heal you, and then you will cease interrupting my announcements. We have delayed much because of your foolishness."

There was a pause. Presumably that pause was so that Shanalorre could heal the injury, because there followed an angry roar of "YOU BELLRINGING LITTLE—!" Then there was the meaty sound of an impact, and the words cut off.

"That was rude and ungrateful of you," Shanalorre said. "Lord Yllian, please have Master Sahil detained so that he may be disciplined. He will be kept in confinement until the morning of the day after tomorrow. In that time, he will be provided with water but nothing else. I am reasonably sure he will survive the experience."

There was a high-pitched cry, and Lori heard orders being given. She couldn't see Shanalorre, but she could see Yllian as he walked out of the crowd, most likely at her side. The other Dungeon Binder stepped out of the crowd, and climbed back up to where she had been before. Lori glanced at her, but turned her attention back towards the crowd. She saw some militia seemingly dragging someone while others kept the way clear for them…

"I think she's trying to impress you," Rian said softly.

Lori turned to look at him. His eyes had narrowed, and he seemed… displeased. "What do you mean?"

"You've commented that you disapprove of the way she runs River's Fork," Rian said. "Not enough discipline. So I think she's trying to act the way you think she should have acted to try and impress you. Or at least utilize your ideas to see how effective they are."

Lori grunted. "Don't be foolish, Rian. She's a Dungeon Binder. She doesn't need anyone's approval."

Shaking her head, she turned back towards Shanalorre.

"Unfortunate as it was, Master Sahil has given me an appropriate example," the other Dungeon Binder was saying. "It has become apparent to me that despite my best efforts, I have failed as your Dungeon Binder. People are no longer safe for violence in my demesne, theft is rampant, our infrastructure cannot be maintained, and given how our food stores are being depleted, we are likely to starve to death before we can harvest our crops." She glanced to the side, narrowing her eyes for a moment. "Which I cannot even say has been properly planted and growing in my absence."

The crowd quieted, and Lori imagined them looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

"These failings are ultimately my failings," Shanalorre continued. "I was unable to properly enforce discipline and social order. I was unable to properly organize everyone to preserve our infrastructure. I was unable to properly instill the urgency of how much we needed food. In this and more, I have clearly failed in my responsibilities as a Dungeon Binder, and in so doing have failed you all. After much consideration, I have decided to surrender my position of Dungeon Binder of River's Fork to someone more capable and more worthy of leading you." That finally caught everyone's attention as the crowd, and in fact the militia, broke out into exclamations of surprise.

Next to her, Rian suddenly started to chuckle quietly. As she looked at him, frowning at his reaction, he met her eyes and snickered. "Look at Shana's uncle." Then, remembering that she didn't know what he looked like, he added, "The pale-haired man over there in front."

Lori gave him a bemused look, but looked, trying to understand what her lord found so amusing—

Ah. Now she realized. Shanalorre's uncle was standing straight and proud, a condescending smile on his face.

"He thinks she's talking about him," Rian said, then started chuckling quietly again.

"Idiot," Lori said, rolling her eyes.

"For once, I'm in full agreement. Ah, I think she's signaling that you need to step forward and show yourself soon."

Lori glanced back to Shanalorre, who was looking in their general direction and making a small, subtle beckoning gesture with her finger. "Follow me, then," she said, moving towards Shanalorre.

Shanalorre nodded, then continued speaking to the crowd. "In my place, River's Fork will have someone who is capable, knowledgeable and able to provide the leadership and care that we so desperately need."

At the front of the crowd, Shanalorre's uncle stepped forward… and his foot slid as he set it down on the muddy ground. He flailed his arms to keep from falling, and was barely able to catch himself as Lori walked past him. As she reached the foot of the stairs, Shanalorre began to step down. Once she reached ground level, she bowed to Lori. Lori inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement.

Had this been a theater production, everyone would have fallen silent at that gesture and, and then the musicians would have started playing a dramatic score, probably with a lot of wind instruments. Then she would have made a dramatic speech that would close the scene, and the curtains would fall, and then it was over except for getting through the crowd trying to exit the theater.

Here, no such thing happened. The exclamations of surprise grew louder, as Lori and Shanalorre faced them. The loudest exclamation of all came from Shanalorre's uncle.

"What have you done?-!"