"So, did you manage to read all the notes I left you?" Lori asked at breakfast the next day. She carefully watched Rian's face.

"I tried, but no," Rian said. For some reason, he was giving her a very flat look. "It was made very clear that I needed my rest, and that staying up to read wasn't considered resting."

Lori sighed. "Well, read it later when we get back. For now eat, we might not come back for lunch."

"Should I have the kitchens set aside some food to bring with us, then?"

Lori considered the question. "I suppose. Tell them to ready about… six jars." The watery stew—it wasn't quite the soup they'd had during the winter—wouldn't be at its best without some bread, but if Rian could fix that, he would.

"Are we taking that many people with us?"

"There might be ropeweed to be harvested in the area," Lori said. "If there is, someone should, and it certainly isn't going to be you, me, or whoever Riz is going to bring along."

"Wait, I'm coming along?" To her credit, she directed the question at Rian.

He reached out and patted her hand, giving her a gentle smile. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

That made her nod. "All right then, I'll see who can come along."

"Then I better go and talk to the kitchen while there might still be some food to put away." Rian stood up, and headed for were breakfast was still being served.

For a moment, the table was filled only with the sounds of eating as Lori and the other women focused on her food. Lori felt like she was forgetting something, though. She'd done something… and now she was supposed to do something else…?

It was only when Rian came back, carefully stepping over the bench between Umu and Mikon and reporting that the kitchen would set aside the food—Lori wondered what happened to the surplus of each batch of meals. Did it just get added to the next batch to be eaten?—that she finally remembered. Reaching down, she felt around inside her belt pouch, and felt the thin, hard shape there.

Lori took the piece of bone she'd made the night before and set it down on the table next to her food. A rectangle a little smaller than her flat open hand, its thickness was about half the width of her smallest finger. As she had surmised it was both lighter and more robust than stone. The little rectangle had survived getting dropped from multiple heights, and she even tried flexing the thing to see if she could break it. The sheet of bone had survived the experience. "Erzebed. This is for you." She pushed it across the table.

The four on the other side of the table blinked and peered at the little square. Rian was obviously the fastest reader, because he started snickering first, clearly trying to keep from progressing into open laughter.

"Seriously?" he managed to get out as Shanalorre turned her head sideways to try and better see the writing on the card, the other Dungeon Binder's cousin leaning forward over the table to try and see what the fuss was about..

Lori shrugged. "Given how often she has led, I wanted to affirm that I am honoring our agreement."

"It's an agreement now?"

"She asked, and I agreed. Hence, an agreement."

Shanalorre's cousin finally reached across the table for the little rectangle of bone, which Riz pushed towards her with an amused smile. The little girl picked it up, turning it over in her hands and looking at it intently. Then she let out something between a sigh and a whine. "Shasha, what does this say?" she asked, holding the little bone plaque towards her cousin.

Shanalorre took the proffered rectangle. "Erzebed, Decreed Perpetual Non-Officer," she read.

Rian started snickering again as Riz gained a strange expression on her face, and the murmuring of the dining hall took on a tone between amused and confused.

"What does that mean, Shasha?"

"It means Binder Lolilyuri promises that Riz will never be an officer, Yoshka. Since it's in writing, it is an official document," Shanalorre said.

"Glittering officers!" Yoshka cried.

"Glittering officers!" many of the children seated in the table behind Lori echoed.

"I could not possibly comment," Shanalorre said. "Many of the officers I know are fine people. Also, if mushka asks, I refuse to take responsibility for your language. It is the unfortunate result of growing up surrounded by militia."

Lori took the plaque back from Shanalorre and once more slid it towards Riz, who finally took it hesitantly. "As promised Riz, you are not, are not eligible to be, and will never be an officer."

"How wonderful!" Mikon said brightly, taking the opportunity to give the militiawoman a hug that the weaver probably not have normally gotten away with. "Congratulations, Riz! It's what you've always wanted. Not being an officer."

"Congratulations, Riz…?" Umu echoed, looking a little confused.

"This feels very strange…" Riz said, still looking at the plaque.

Rian finally got his snickering under control. "Well, at least you never have to worry about being promoted up to officer, Riz," Rian said. "Do you want someone else to come with us so you can enjoy your never-promotion?"

That seemed to rouse Riz from her strange melancholy. "No, no, I'll go with you," she said, putting the plaque down in front of her on the table. "Have to make sure nothing eats you out there, after all."

Rian smiled, and Lori decided to stop watching his face. He seemed to be back to properly smiling and being cheerful, so it looked like she wouldn't have to be forced to declare a holiday after all!

––––––––––––––––––

It had been some time since she had ridden Lori's Boat. The demesne's only wooden boat had once belonged to River's Fork, one of the many things created by the Deadspeaking of its first Dungeon Binder. It had come to her demesne along with most of River's fork's population after the first dragon that they had weathered, and she'd had it ever since.

Originally, it had only had a simple water jet driver that she had to activate and deactivate manually, as well as imbue near-constantly. Over the past year, there had been other improvements. Stabilizer fins made of bone, outrigger floats to keep it from sinking too far on one side or another, a small extension was added to the back to be better able to hold the improved water jet, now-steam jet driver…

Still, it had been some time since she'd last sat on this particular one of their boats, and Lori remembered why. There were no benches, so they had to sit down on the floor of the boat, which was far too close to the water for Lori's liking. Rian had taken charge of the steam jet driver, slipping into the role as if he'd never stopped operating one. Riz sat next to him, but rather than doing so for intimacy, she was actually watching the shore. They actually saw some chokers drinking from the river, their surprisingly pale plumage stark against the dark browns and vibrant greens of the plants around them. Somehow they still managed to fade into the grasses and growing ropeweed.

Seated at the front of the boat to keep it counterbalanced was the friend of Riz's who was coming along and two other people with baskets and sickles. The latter two were there to gather what ropeweed they could, if there was any that could be harvested. Since they were heading for the edge—the new edge—it was likely that there were plants there that hadn't been harvested. While it wouldn't be a lot, they were going there anyway and the boat had the room for it, so why not?

The sun was shining, the skies clear of clouds, which meant they weren't sitting in slowly-rising water as Lori used waterwisps to make the water flow over the side back to the river. Hopefully it lasted until they went back.

It wasn't long before they reached the edge. The sharp, curving line was as stark as it always was. On one side, the trees were dark, with trunks in different shades of brown, their leaves a rich green. The ground beneath the trees was dark with wet dirt, decaying leaves and other detritus. On the riverbanks, a mix of grass, ropeweed and other small plants grew, lush, verdant and vibrant.

On the other side, everything was covered by the same glittering, many-colored Iridescence. The growths covered trees from roots to crown. Only the leaves, which were soft enough to ripple in the wind, were not completely covered, the Iridescence a light, perpetually growing dusting thin enough to let the natural green show through. Everything caught the light and shimmered in rainbow hues as they moved, the endless facets constantly changing with every slight shift in angle. Only right at the edge of the river, where spray and flowing water lapped at rocks, was anything free of the Iridescence.

Not far beyond the edge, Lori actually saw a large beast drinking at the river, Iridescence washing away from its skinless, hard bill as it lapped at the water. If it weren't for the fact that it stood in bright sunlight with dark forest behind it, the beast would have faded into the background of the rest of the Iridescence. The reminder made the squirming inside her almost become shudders as she remembered the nights and days keeping watch as they had traveled, a binding of waterwisps ready to become a water-cutter at the slightest sign of beast-like movement.

It never failed to make Lori's insides feel like they were alive and squirming inside her. Even Riz, who presumably had been out in the colors many times when she'd been in the militia, had an expression of resigned distaste on her face, a feeling Lori was very familiar with. For that matter, so did the two with the sickles and baskets.

Rian's voice was incongruously cheerful as he said, "Riz, could you get ready to tie up the boat to a tree? We don't want to stop right at the edge, since who knows what beasts are hiding out there that we can't see."

Riz tore her gaze away, reading down for the wooden anchor made from hook-shaped branch segments as Rian carefully maneuvered them closer to shore. Once they were close, Riz leapt out, and secured the anchor around a small tree, wrapping the hook with the rope. Only then did the others get off the boat, carrying their tools with them. Riz's friend handed her one of the spears they had brought along as the other two looked around, inspecting the plants growing around them before beginning to cut down and harvest the growing stems of ropeweed.

Lori was the last one down after she handed Rian the box containing her glassware and tools. She didn't want to risk slipping as she stepped off and breaking them. The water was high enough that it managed to get into her boots, to her annoyance. She had to sit down a moment and take her boots off so she could remove her socks and dry her feet. She was not going to be doing experiments with wet feet.

Once her feet, shoes, and socks were dry the latter had been put back onto the former, she picked up her staff and the box, and walked towards the edge. Riz, her friend, and Rian fell in behind her, leaving the two harvesting ropeweed behind.

"So," Rian asked brightly, clutching his plank and charred stick eagerly, "what are we going to do first?"

"Now," Lori said as she bound waterwisps in the river, "we're going to clear a workspace."

The river surged onto the shore, flowing upriver into the riverbank beyond her demesne's borders.