The resulting interest rate that was agreed upon left Lori dissatisfied, but since it also left Binder Shanalorre's lord whatever-his-name-was just as dissatisfied, Rian had cheerfully declared it a perfect compromise. Lori would have pushed, but Binder Shanalorre had finally overridden her lord and declared she was prepared to accept the last one, and since Lori had been the one to propose that rate, she had acquiesced. After all, it was considered poor manners to persist when your rate had already been accepted.

The sack of salt had been presented as a down payment, while the jar of honey had, at Rian's quietly muttered suggestion since she had already agreed, been presented as a gift of a sweet treat for the winter season. Binder Shanalorre had actually smiled widely when it had been presented to her and the jar opened, making her look like the child she was before she had hastily sealed it shut and tried to offer solemn thanks. Tried, because her lips had kept twitching.

It had been early enough that they hadn't been invited to lunch, and so they had returned home after Lori had managed to reactivated the bindings of airwisps in the air jet. The whole time, she was troubled as she contemplated the meeting. Why had Binder Shanalorre agreed so quickly, even before they had managed to present their incentives? While she was the only… Lori supposed that as Dungeon Binder Shanalorre should be referred to as a wizard… that Lori was willing to have in her demesne because the little girl was so inexperienced she would not be a threat, it was still troubling that they had agreed to visit so quickly…

A thought occurred to Lori, and she frowned. Was Shanalorre simply using this as an excuse to finally accept Lori's offer? To abandon her demesne and live in Lori's? If so, Lori would have to make it clear that while the younger Dungeon Binder was welcome, it would come with conditions. She would have to cede control and authority of River's Fork to Lori, as well as revealing the location of the demesne's core…

It would be an unorthodox arrangement, but it would only last until Shanalorre was old enough to… well. Old enough for the situation to change. A few years of such an arrangement was no problem…

And until then, they'd have a healing savant to assist the doctors and medics, and Lori would finally have control over the mine. Of course, the Golden Sweetwood Company might contest that and claim it belonged to them exclusively, but she'd be their Dungeon Binder, so who cared?

Lori shook her head at the thought, and it wasn't just because snow had been building up on her eyelashes. No, no, don't suppose and stop fantasizing! Whenever she looked forward to something like this, it ended up never happening! She'd so looked forward to having all four forms of magic when she made her core and became a Dungeon Binder, fantasizing extensively of flying like a Mentalist or using Horotracting to have as much room as she wanted, and look how things had turned out!

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They arrived in her Dungeon in the middle of lunch. Fortunately, there was still some food left, even after they had to remove all the supplies that had ended up not being used from the sled first. Lori wasn't just going to leave her bedroll outside, and she wasn't going to let someone else handle it. She slept on that thing, and slept really well!

"So," Rian said as he came back with three bowls of soup. Lori took one. "Are we going to try to develop a better means of traversing the snow, or are you content with the sled as it is?"

Lori swallowed the mouthful of soup in her mouth as she waved her hand dismissively. "I see no reason why we should expend more resources on the matter. If the only reason it will be done is to provide Binder Shanalorre with a large militia force, taking two trips will suffice. Extended research into the matter will not benefit us. It's not as if we have cargo we need transported over long distances across the snow."

"We might next year," Rian pointed out as Riz started eating her soup next to him, Mikon pressed against her in the same pose she did to warm Rian.

Lori rolled her eyes. "Then we shall find a means of solving the problem next year," she said.

"Are you sure?" Rian pressed. "If we find a way to propel your boat to proper sled speeds, it would be much more convenient for you when we go to the edge."

"The use of Lori's Boat as a sled was unfeasible, remember. You were the one to propose a lighter sled."

"Yes, because the clock was dripping and we needed a faster mode of transportation as soon as possible. Now that we have that, trying to turn your boat into a properly functional sled isn't as urgent, but would still be useful."

Lori stared at him. "'The clock was dripping'?" she repeated.

Rian shrugged, smiling brightly. "Well, water clocks are what we have around here, not nice ones with springs, gears, weights or flowing sand."

"That's absurdly specific even for you," she said blandly.

"Well, you understood what the words are meant to convey, so there's no problem."

Lori sighed, shaking her head at her Rian's… Rian-ness. Merely calling it an idiosyncrasy seemed lacking. She focused on her soup for a few moments to clear her head. "What possible use would turning Lori's Boat into a sled have?"

"Well, besides transporting Shana, which you don't care about, it might be more convenient for going to the edge for you," Rian said. "We could put a tent on it, and you'd have someplace warm to sit at when doing what you do beyond the edge. So would the rest of us, for that matter."

"Oh Great Binder, yes," Riz sighed.

"'Yes' what, Erzebed?"

There was a moment's confusion. "Oh, I was just swearing, Great Binder!" Riz said. Beside her, Mikon giggled, and even Umu looked amused.

Lori sighed. "What have I told you about swearing like that around me?"

"Sorry, Great Binder."

She let her flat look linger for a moment before turning back to Rian. "While the idea appeals—" just because Rian was the most sensitive to cold in her demesne didn't mean she particularly liked it herself, "—I thought we'd established that using Lori's Boat as a sled was unfeasible?"

"It was unfeasible at the time," Rian said, emphasizing the last three words, "but we'd come up with an idea to mitigate it, remember? At the time though, trying to solve the logistics and mechanics of it would take far longer than simply trying with a lighter sled. Now that we have a lighter sled, we at least have the option of trying to turn your boat into a sled at a more leisurely pace. Come on, think about it. A tent on a sled, with a nice warm… uh, whatever source of heat inside, the walls blocking off the wind as you sit there doing what you do. And if we build it right, you could stay inside there the whole ride to the edge…"

It was, admittedly, a tempting thought…

"Besides, when you mounted the air jets onto your boat, it wasn't at the level of output we're using on the sled now, right?" Rian said. "And it was only the two. If we put on more than two air jets and had them blowing at the strength of the ones propelling the sled, I'm sure your boat would move at a reasonable pace. Admittedly, we'd need to figure out how to steer it and a better method for controlling those flaps you designed, but that should be doable."

Lori considered that. "Then provide me a design for those two things," she said. "If I think them sufficient, you can try converting the boat into a sled."

Rian nodded. "That's fair. What about the air jets?"

"When you have met my conditions," Lori said. The air jets were relatively easy, after all.

He nodded again. "Will you need me after lunch then? I need to get to work on it."

Lori almost said no, he was free, but paused. She shook her head. "Mark out an alcove for Binder Shanalorre's use and have it prepared on the assumption she'll need to use it tomorrow," Lori said. "Unless you're relatively certain no one is about to give birth in the immediate future?"

"Yeah, I should do that first. With our luck, Keyyara will suddenly go into labor before dinner," Rian sighed. "I'll get right on it after lunch, your Bindership. We might have to set up another alcove aside for anyone giving birth as well. The hospital has fireplaces, but it might be a bit too cold for newborns. The Dungeon is much warmer, especially at the second level, once the drafts have been blocked off."

Lori frowned, then reluctantly nodded. "Prioritize that, then Binder Shanalorre's accommodations," she amended.

"Yes, your Bindership," Rian nodded. "Should I put her militia in the same alcove, or put them in a separate one?"

"It would defeat the purpose of their presence to keep them apart, wouldn't it?" Lori said blandly.

"Have them sleep on the floor in front of the alcove it is," Rian said cheerfully. "Speaking of her being here, we should probably provide her with a guide. After all, we wouldn't want her to go into the wrong baths and embarrass herself, or something like that. "

Lori narrowed her eyes. "I didn't get a guide," she said pointedly.

"Technically, we had a guide, he just tried to kill Shana before we could ask him to take us anywhere specific," Rian said. "Besides, we know where to go now, and why do you think I always make sure at least one of the people who come with us when you go there used to live there? We've had guides with us, we just haven't really needed their directions yet. If and when Shana comes, it'll be for the first time. And it's not like we have signs up or anything. At least, none that aren't covered up by snow."

Lori rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, give her a guide. One that knows not to let Binder Shanalorre enter the Um."

"…yeah… that's probably a good idea," Rian said. Of course it was, it was one of hers. "Well, I'll get to all that after lunch."

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Thankfully, no one decided to give birth that day, giving Rian time to make his preparations. Beds were moved from the hospital to the second level, since no one was getting injured badly enough to require sleeping in the hospital. One of the beds was moved to an alcove for Binder Shanalorre, and Lori used some stone to partially close off the alcove so that there'd be some privacy and no one would be able to just stare at her when she slept. The opening was closed off with some tent canvas to act as a curtain.

Two other beds were put in the alcove set aside for giving birth, which was also walled off to give privacy. Lori also added in some firewisps to the lightwisps that illuminated those areas, just to make them a little bit warmer. It was… well, actually about on par with her own accommodations at River's Fork when she had needed to sleep over. Probably warmer as well.

Lori also built another air jet, of the same dimensions as the ones she had built before and mounted to the sled. The binding of airwisps within it was set to the same output as the air jets on the sled as well. The only difference was that a piece of copper ingot was partially fused to the side of one bone panel, on top of which a bowl-like shape had been made.

She took this air jet outside her Dungeon one morning and secured it to a large block of ice so that it would remain in place. The binding of the air jet was lightly imbued. As it began to roar to life, Lori placed one of the beads she had made inside the bowl-shaped container, making sure the wisp bead was in contact with the ingot…

Eight days after their trip to River's Fork, just after the tubers in the third level had been harvested and replanted, someone started giving birth.

Or went into labor. Whatever the term was.