After breakfast the next day, the trip to the edge of the demesne was quick, and this time they didn't bring any people to gather ropeweed with them. When they arrived at the edge, Lori was glad to see the shed still standing, its surface unmarred. She'd been worried a beast would grow curious about the structure and try to break in or otherwise damage it, something that might still happen. The ground around it was already glittering with growing Iridescence.

She was tempted to flood the area to wash away the colors, but it was only an instinctive impulse. Lori needed the Iridescence as seeds to amalgamate beads, and with it growing in the part of the shed outside of her demesne, she'd finally have a consistent, reliable source of Iridescence crystals… since she kept forgetting to bring a sealed jar out here to grow them in. Now she didn't have to remember anymore!

…

If Rian ever asked, that had been her plan all along.

Riz and her friend went to check the area beyond the edge for beasts as Lori went into the shed. Up above, the sun was bright and there were few clouds, but Lori didn't trust that. As Lori crouched down, carefully removing pieces of Iridescence—as large as she could extract—putting them it in the prototype mold that she had modified the night before to be one long trench shape, she reflected that the shed was going to need some kind of chair. And a table. And a shelf to hold things if she wanted to keep the table clear. And maybe a window to help with air circulation…

What would have been the first batch was utterly ruined as she accidentally pulled it into her demesne when she moved without thinking. Strangling her scream of frustration, she got more iridescence, and then carefully stood up on the far outer-side of her shed—telling herself she was imagining the feeling of the colors already burrowing into her flesh—before she began anchoring bindings to the bone, anchoring the ones she had imbued inside her demesne onto her finger and from there to the bone. Lori had to carefully hold the mold level so that the iridescence wouldn't all just gather into a clump, and she carefully nudged the pieces of Iridescence into where she knew where the binding wer—

She should have anchored the bindings to the mold before she took the mold out of her demesne and started putting iridescence into the mold, shouldn't she?

…

ARGH!

…

Well, she'll remember to do that next time!

With the bindings imbued and anchored, and a piece of iridescence touching each one, she started the experiment. Still holding the new mold level—the shape actually reminded her of the brick-like molds used for large ingots, or at least ingots as depicted in plays—she detached each binding from where it was anchored and had it start amalgamating with the piece of Iridescence in contact with it at the same time.

One by one, each binding started amalgamating into a bead. The long strip of metal at the bottom of the mold was a good contact point for her to imbue the growing beads through, and the trench-like sides kept the beads on it. Lori carefully angled one end of the mold down and the small growing beads, some still a bit lopsided since they hadn't yet formed a proper spherical shape, rolled down to one end. She tensed as one looked like it would roll up and off the metal, but the trench sides stopped it.

The beads grew until their shapes pushed up against the angled walls of the trench, pushing the beads up off the strip of metal and ceasing their imbuement. One by one, they stopped growing. Lori took two at random and held them up, comparing their sizes. They looked about the same size, though one felt a hair larger than the other. She closed one eye and adjusted her grip, making sure they were both the same distance from her open eye. They seemed… close enough. She'd need to check with her calipers for sure.

Still, it was a successful proof of concept test. She could tell the carpenters to build the tray as planned.

"Erzebed," she called as she stepped out of the shed, "we're going."

"Eh? Already, Great Binder?"

"Yes. I didn't need long. Also, remind me that the shed needs a chair. And a table. And a shelf. And a window to let the air in…"

The woman who operated the boat, Lori was surprised to see, had been loading cut ropeweed that they hadn't been able to bring back with them yesterday. It wasn't as much as what they'd brought back yesterday, but Lori supposed she was only one woman. Once Lori and the other two were settled onto Lori's Ice Boat, they set off again. Since it wasn't raining, Lori used her hat as a bag to carry the beads, and used a binding of darkwisps over her face to shield her from the glare of the sunlight.

Once they had managed to maneuver back onto the dock in front of her Dungeon, Lori dispelled the darkwisps and stepped off the boat, careful not to drop her mold or the hat with the beads. Yes, she definitely needed to make a basket out of bone or something.

She went off to inform the carpenters to continue construction with the trench-covered tray.

Then she went to get some bones to make a basket.

––––––––––––––––––

Lori was finishing her new bone basket when there was a knock on the door to her room. "Your Bindership!" Rian's cheerful voice called through her door. "Lunch time!"

She gave the voice a suspicious look—well, technically she gave her door a suspicious look, since it was in the way—as she stood up from her table. When she opened the door, Rian was standing there, smiling brightly.

"Hi! I'm back!" He waved at her for some reason.

Despite herself, Lori took a deep inhalation through her nose, sniffing the air.

"Wow, is that really what you think of me? I just got back home."

"I wouldn't know, I've been busy in my room."

"Well, I just got back home, so there's no call for you to sniff me suspiciously like that. Come on, let's eat. What experiments are we going to do next? You said you'd wait for me before trying to embed white Iridescence into copper, right?"

Lori rolled her eyes as she closed and locked her door behind her, then headed downstairs. "Well, then you can take care of arranging it with the smiths tomorrow."

His smile became a grin. "Yes, your Bindership!"

On the other side of the table Umu, Mikon and Riz were all looking far more lively. When Rian sat down on the bench Umu and Riz were all over him, while Mikon used the distraction to press up against Umu from behind. Oh, it was probably also to get at Rian, but Lori recognized the maneuver from when her mothers flirted. All that was missing was Umu laughing and ineffectually swatting at the other weaver. For once, however, instead of being bashful and hesitant, Rian was merely being bashful but had a big smile on his face as… he was actually flirting back!

As Lori stared at them in exasperation, and some mild nausea, Rian glanced at her and gave her an apologetic smile. "Ah, we should stop for now everyone. Binder Lori is making the same face she does when she talks about her mothers." She was? Wait, she made a face when she talked about her mothers?

"Yes, stop," Lori said. "I need to talk to Rian, and he won't pay attention properly when you three are distracting him." She paused, then amended, "Distracting him more than usual."

"Eeeeeh?"

"Aaaaaaaw!"

Mikon merely sighed loudly, pouting at Lori for some reason, but at least didn't whine noisily like the other two. She was also forced to remove her arms from around Umu's shoulders, who had finally noticed.

"Well?" Lori said to Rian as Umu glared at Mikon, who was making an innocent face. "What is the situation in River's Fork?"

"Doing well," Rian said. "The terrace is coming together, but I'd like to bring some people better suited to building things with me next time. Some people who used to be militia engineers, just to make sure we don't make any silly mistakes. Between the meat we brought, the seels Karina and the other children have been seeling, and the beast meat we've been hunting, they should be good for a while. Well, provided no one starts stealing, overeating, or anything else stupid."

"So, they're still doomed to starve."

"Now, it's not that bad. The few people who tend to make trouble are being kept busy and are actually behaving themselves. I think that changing our approach, focusing on making them feel welcome again, and reintegrating them into the community would be more effective in making them change their ways and have them cease their behavior."

Lori gave him an unamused look. "Rian, whatever booze you drank while you were there this morning, confiscate it next time you go. We need something to distill it for medical antiseptic."

"What do you—I'm not drunk!" He actually looked offended at the accusation. "It's the middle of the day! Do I really seem like the sort of person who'd be drunk at noon?"

She tilted her head, then leaned forward to peer at him.

"I'm not the sort of person who'd be drunk at noon!"

"I wouldn't know, I have no idea what sort of person that is."

"Then why did you look at me like that?"

"As I said, I have no idea what sort of person that is, so I was making observations to learn."

Rian sighed. "Of course you were. Well, I'm not someone like that, so consider all those observations useless."

"No. You were sighing and complaining about how frustrating those malcontents were before you left. What happened that you—?" Lori paused. She shifted her gaze and eyed the three.

"Not that!" Rian said, but he was blushed as he said it. "And I wasn't drunk, I just realized that being angry with them accomplished nothing and would actually encourage them to continue to acting like the way they have been. Since that's not working, we need to change what we're doing."

"And you think that... what, welcoming them and integrating them would be more effective?"

Rian shrugged. "What are the alternatives that you're willing to do to them and their children?" He smiled. It was surprisingly toothy. "Besides, this way we don't lose people who can work. Given we can't exactly spare anyone here to move to River's Fork, and there aren't many who'd be willing to at the moment since they probably feel safer here in the event of a dragon. That's my considered advice on this 'dealing with people' matter."

Lori gave him a long, flat look. "I'll leave that to you, then. Deal with it."

Rian shrugged. "So what else is new?"

"Shanalorre wants to take some of the children who live with her to see their parent's in River's Fork."

"Oh, that's a great idea! It would help with some people who are griping and moaning about us taking their children hostage, and I'm sure their parents would be happy to see them."

Lori raised an eyebrow. "Binder Shanalorre's uncle?"

A sigh and a nod. "Binder Shanalorre's uncle."

From the table behind Lori, there was a tired, embarrassed sigh. "Uncle…"