Lori finished with the mold prototypes that afternoon. There was one made from pressing a bead down on softened bone, one made by a ring of bone, and various other arrangements of shapes, each with the copper ingot as a contact point on the bottom. The bindings would be imbued as long as they were in contact with the metal while they amalgamated into beads, and when the beads reached the right size, their own growth would lift them up off the metal contact point, ceasing the amalgamation.

Once she had exhausted the variety of shapes she could think off that would lift up the bead once it was properly grown, Lori deliberately set aside the mold as she centered the first prototype on her table and began doing new experiments. She'd let her mind wander slightly as she had shaped the mold prototype, and had come up with some new ideas she wanted to try out. Taking some bone, she made a rudimentary hoop, about the size of the circle made by putting her thumbs and forefingers together. She carefully secured that hoop to the supporting rod of bone that held up the copper shell with the setting of white Iridescence inside, moving the ring so that the copper shell was at its center.

When Lori was satisfied that the equipment was set up to her satisfaction, she took a moment to write down her experimental notes. A part of her wanted to just speak them out loud, but she stepped on the urge and continued writing carefully.

…

Why did this feel like it was taking much longer than it should?

…

Had she been talking too fast when she asked Rian to write down notes?

…

Finally she finished writing, and proceeded with the next step. Claiming and binding the airwisps inside the ring, she anchored them both to the bone ring and the firewisps embedded into the copper shell. She gave the binding directionality and intensity, then sighed and studiously wrote the details down on her bone tablet. Lori took the bead she'd been using previously for testing the first prototype, and quickly measured it so that the wisps around her wouldn't cause much seepage with the metal calipers. She took note of the dimensions again, and only then placed the bead onto the little spiraling wire bowl.

Immediately, the binding she had made was imbued, and a strong breeze began blowing over her face from the bound tool prototype. Lori nodded in satisfaction. Well, that was the unsuitability of the prototype's shape for moving air—and presumably water—solved. The configuration wouldn't be much use for circulating air through her Dungeon, because of the wires that powered many of the bindings essential to the livability of her Dungeon—but it would be useful for the desiccator sheds, and for the air circulation vents in River's Fork. They'd have to find a way to keep idiots from trying to take out the beads, or stuffing things in the bead receptacle, but that was a separate problem.

Following success—and taking off the bead, deactivating the prototype—was a brief break to write down the results, and then she moved on to the next thought she'd had while working.

First, she had to make sure that the little airborne water that was in the air trapped within the copper shell was dealt with so that it wouldn't suddenly condense on the sample and dissolve it. Thankfully, the copper didn't prevent her from perceiving and claiming the wisps inside through her connection to the core. There were waterwisps inside—not much, but still present—and she claimed those, using them and the airwisps inside to try and move water vapor down below the void of wisps that was the sample of white Iridescence, before she made the waterwisps solidify. There was a sudden burst of firewisps, which she mitigated lest the copper shell rupture.

It was the best she could do at the moment when it came to keeping the white iridescence from getting wet. In future, she'd have to make special preparations to keep moisture from the space inside the shell. For now, having what moisture there was be ice at the bottom of the shell should do.

The firewisps inside the shell were still in place, but she integrated the released firewisps into the binding. Then she modified the so-far idle binding, inverting it to destroy heat. The binding wouldn't do much, just enough so it would be obvious there was a decrease in temperature. This was simply a test, after all. Combined with the binding of airwisps anchored to the bone ring, it should produce a simple cool wind.

Once she was done writing down all the notes and had put in the bead however, the end result was disappointing. While the breeze was as strong as it had been before, the firewisps didn't seem to be as effective as she would have liked. The flow of moving air was only a little cool against her face. Was she doing something wrong?

Taking off the bead—she didn't want to waste it for adjustments—Lori imbued the binding herself as she adjusted the firewisps to destroy more heat. The resulting breeze, however, was only slightly cooler than before. Frustrated, she adjusted the firewisps one more time, then activated it. The breeze on her face was still only just cool, and barely at that—

Wait. Why was there white condensation on the copper shell? If it was that cold, then why couldn't she feel—

…

Oh.

Lori sighed, and then reached out and consciously deactivated the firewisps around her. Immediately the cold hit her, confirming that the firewisps had indeed been working properly.

…

She missed Rian. He'd have remembered to remind her about this had he been around.

Sighing, Lori began writing down the results of the experiment.

––––––––––––––––––

This time Lori was mostly expecting it when Riz knocked on her door. She put away her tools, set the bead she'd been using aside, and grabbed her chatrang board to bring it down to the dining hall.

Lori was in the middle of setting up the pieces when Shanalorre and her cousin arrived, leading the other children from River's Fork. The former gave Lori a nod as the younger girl sat down on the bench some distance from Lori, her legs swinging freely, as the Dungeon Binder and the two Mikon-faced women with her had the other children sit and settle down to wait for the food to be ready.

By the time the children were settled, the actual Mikon had arrived, now with a more normal, if still pleasant expression on her face. Though the weaver did smile again when she saw the chatrang board laid out on the table. She sat down opposite Lori, where Rian usually would be, next to Riz, whose squirming implied she'd moved away a little even if she seemed to remain in the same place. Hesitantly, she reached for one of the white pieces, then paused, glancing back up towards Lori.

Lori waved a hand negligently, and Mikon made her move, having her Horotract go around the militia in front of it. They played chatrang silently as they waited for dinner to be ready. Umu was the last to arrive, sitting down some distance away from the pair of pink-haired women, almost as if she expected Rian to sit down between them.

"Erzebed," Lori said, and the woman raised her head from where she'd been trying to nap on the table. "I'll be going to the edge tomorrow. Make the arrangements."

"Uh. yes, Great Binder," Riz said. "Do… do I arrange for a couple of people to coming along and harvest ropeweed?"

"I leave that to your discretion," Lori said. "Also, inquire with the smiths when the second prototype will be finished and inform me when it is." She'd probably need the reminder to collect it.

"Yes, Great Binder."

"That should be all, Erzebed. I'll inform you if I need anything else."

"Yes, Great Binder. Uh… how long do you think you'll be out there?"

Lori considered that. Prototype testing, perhaps putting up the ice shed Rian had suggested, maybe leaving a sample of white Iridescence to test what happens… "We might be some time. I'm going to be building something, but it shouldn't take the whole day. "

"Should I ready food, then?"

"…no… no, we shouldn't be staying that long. At worst, we'll return for lunch and then head back."

"Understood, Great Binder. I'll… see who are willing to come along."

Surprisingly, Mikon reached over and put a hand on Riz's shoulder. "Don't worry," she said. "Rian will be back in two days, remember? This isn't like last time."

Riz blinked, and suddenly started laughing. "R-right! It's only three days! Two, now. I can make it that long." She sighed. "Thanks for reminding me."

Mikon's hand patted the shoulder reassuringly as the smiled at the militiawoman. "Of course, Riz. I'm always here when you need me."

Lori twitched, but the weaver drew her hand back, so that seemed to be the extent of the flirting. Ugh, it was bad enough that Rian sometimes acted like one of her mothers, she didn't need these two flirting like her mothers too!

Eventually, Umu and Mikon got up to get the food, and dinner proceeded largely as lunch had. There wasn't any conversation save between Shanalore and her cousin. Despite the reminder that Rian would only be gone two more days—and not even a full two days at that—Riz once more slipped to quietude, and Umu said nothing at all. Mikon, of course, didn't make conversation as she and Lori played chatrang, but beyond her one shoulder touch she made no other flirtatious movements towards the women on either side of her.

…

Well, not her problem. This was a 'dealing with people matter', so she'd leave it to Rian when he got back.

When Mikon lost the game after they had finished eating, she simply nodded at Lori with a smile, rose and left.

Lori put away the game pieces, and retired to her room. Tomorrow was another day of work, and she needed her rest.