Having Karina sleep over that night had been a comfort. While it didn't make the ache of being separated from her cousin again go away, it was… nice… to have her friend nearby. She had wanted to apologize to Koyan and Kayas, as it meant that one of them would need to sleep on the floor again, but they had taken one look at Karina and had actually looked relieved. They'd even given the girl a nod of approval as Koyan added her bedroll to the bed and Kayas had swept the floor before laying hers out on it. The two didn't comment on her reddened eyes.

The bed was a bit more cramped with Karina occupying it with her instead of Yoshka… but the three of them still managed to fit without too much trouble. Shana found herself occupying the middle position on the bed at Karina's insistence. While she had no real objection to sleeping there—if Karina wanted to sleep on the outside of the bed, than as host Shana would indulge her—there was something about that particular berth that bothered her, and she couldn't articulate why.

Shana lay there, trying to sleep, eyes closed as she waited for slumber to overcome her, as she let her idle mind turn over the question. What was it about lying between Koyan's warm mass to her right and having Karina lying on their side with one arm hugging Shana to her left that brought about a strange feeling of both comfort and disquiet…?

It was only as she was falling to the inexorable gravity of sleep to drown in the darkness behind her own eyes did Shana realize what it was about the position that bothered her.

Lying there felt like sleeping between tota and tyatya.

Perhaps it was because of her muddled thoughts as she slipped into unconsciousness, but there was no pain at the realization, only a warm peace followed by blackness as she fell into the da—

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The next day, Shana woke up and left the comforting abyss of empty, thoughtless sleep, and for a moment she was warm.

And then she remembered and everything hurt all over again. Tota was dead. Tyatya was dead. Dyadya resented her. Mushka had grown distant. Yoshka had left and wouldn't be coming back…

She lay on the bed, staring tiredly up at the familiar ceiling and taking deep, deliberate breaths, hands folded over her stomach. With each breath, she felt magic filling her, enriching the life within her, energizing her thoughts to wakefulness, even if she didn't want it to…

Shana closed her eyes, trying to ignore the world a little longer, ignore her pain, ignore herself…

Eventually, Shana opened her eyes. She dabbed at her face, but it was dry. She'd already shed her tears last night.

Next to her, Karina still slept, every breath whistling against the side of Shana's head, the girl's arm and now a leg still draped over her. She tried to get up, but quickly realized she wouldn't be moving without waking up her friend.

Carefully, so as not to disturb Koyan sleeping next to her, Shana began to nudge her friend awake so she could get up.

She had duties, after all.

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That night, Karina had slept over again, and this time she had invited other children to join her. Shana should probably have been annoyed that Karina has inviting people to her house, but after all this time, the sounds of children in the confines of those stone walls as she was getting ready to sleep was comforting to hear. Not everyone stayed—not many had their own bedrolls, and there wasn't enough for them to share with someone else now—but two or three would sleep over very other night or so, even if the reed mat and a pillow of some sort made from a pack was all they had to lie down on.

On the third night of this, Shana had laid down her bed roll on the mat with them, letting Koyan share the bed with her sister. It had seemed only right to join the children, since they were staying for her benefit… well, ostensibly for her benefit. All the children who came in to stay in her house always walked towards the breeze-making bound tool and stuck their face close to it to feel the breeze before joining everyone else on the reed mat.

Even with the mat and her bedroll, the stone floor was hard, and Shana was both glad that she'd had Yoshka… sleep on the bed and ashamed she hadn't tried to get more padding for the children under her care. She could have gotten some of the straw from the first harvest of the year, at least, and Binder Lori would likely have authorized it.

With each passing day, Shana expected Binder Lori to request that the breeze-making bound tool be returned, but the order never manifested. Lord Rian continued to supply her with the necessary wispbeads to utilize the device. The thought occurred to her that perhaps she should bring up the subject, but if she did, she might be ordered to return the bound tool.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Well, as long as she hadn't been told anything to the contrary, Shana supposed she had no reason not to keep using the bound tool. The children who spent the night in her house certainly enjoyed it, and she was willing to admit that it felt much more comfortable going to sleep with it keeping the room relatively cool.

…

If Binder Lori still hadn't made mention of it when the season turned, Shana would bring the matter of the bound tool up herself. She wouldn't want Binder Lori to think she was defying her or anything.

And by then the weather would be cool enough the bound tool wouldn't be needed anymore.

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The conversion of Lori's Boat Three into a mobile work shed had taken a bit longer that had been estimated, and Lolilyuri had also been too busy to really check up on it before now. After expanding her demesne for two days, she'd gone back to River's Fork Demesne to continue excavating the water reservoir, bathing area, and catch basin for the bath water, followed by another two days of expanding her demesne before going back to finally finish the excavation. The doors had also been finished by then, and she'd installed them to let her block off her sleeping alcove and the reservoir. It was only after another two days of expanding the demesne—with Rian cheerfully predicting that today's expansion will be what finally pushes the demesne to being five taums in diameter—that she'd finally remembered to check on the boat.

It was a little bit before dinner, and Lori looked at the boat dubiously, with its higher sides that were supposed to keep out splashing water out of the boat. Wooden poles had been mounted vertically on the boat's corners, at the end of which lengths of cleaned and polished bone had been inserted, fused to the wood with Deadspeaking.

Lori had been expecting those features—well, not the bones, she had thought she would have to soften stone and wrap it around the poles—but those were not the only things that had been added to the boat.

In the middle of the boat, solidly slotted into a plank that ran laterally above the bottom of the boat, was a chair. It was… was a very strange chair. It consisted of a plank that was inserted into a slot in the lateral plank at an angle, with another shorter length of plank joined to it with a cross lap joint. The latter plank supported the seat, another wider plank which was also cross lapped to the first plank and angled slightly upward. The three pieces of wood somehow came together to make a chair-like shape.

In front of the chair were a pair of trestles that slotted into holes on two more lateral planks—no, wait, that wasn't a plank, that was a beam, and on a closer look the 'plank' the seat was slotted into was also a beam—that had been added to the boat, forming legs for a tabletop that was absent, although Lori recognized the dimensions.

"Well, what do you think?" Rian asked. His voice was as cheerful as usual, although this time it seemed to be genuine.

"Why is one of the outriggers gone?" Lori said. Indeed, only one side had an outrigger extending from it.

"Because after testing and deliberation, we've ascertained that our riverboats only need the one," Rian said.

"Why did all the other before have two, then?"

"Well, the others before this consisted of your original boat, your original ice boat, and the Coldhold. We had to use two outriggers on the first because we couldn't cut into the boats hull to secure the beams need for the outriggers, so laying them on top and pinching them into place was the best way to mount them. If we'd done only one outrigger, the wood would have popped off. However, we have Deadspeakers now, so we have more building options available to us."

"And those options mean we only need one outrigger?"

"Pretty much. We have better ways to secure the outriggers to the boats now. Don't worry though, we took into account the trouble you have getting in and out of the boat because of the high sides and made those little steps. See?" He pointed.

Lori turned her gaze in that direction, and sure enough, little steps had been built into the inner sides of the boat, interrupting the bench-like seats that ran along the long sides of the vessel. Ah. She'd been wondering what those breaks in the wood were. The steps were positioned opposite each, with one lined up with the ramp to the outrigger. There was a bone-topped pole next to each of the steps, likely meant as a handhold while climbing up or down. "And the chair?" she said.

"Well, we thought you'd be more comfortable in a proper sitting position when you get to work making beads rather than having your legs folded up. When the trestles and chair are pulled out, the planks can act as more bench seating. The trestles are sized to fit your bead-making table, and we made sure it was a snug fit. You don't have to worry about your table sliding around." Rian grinned. "Go on, try it out. We can still to adjust it if it's too short for you."

"What do you mean 'we'?" Lori said as she tentatively used the steps to get down, one hand on the pole next to them to steady herself.

"Hey, I'll have you know I actually did help with making the chair," Rian said.

"… you designed that strange thing, didn't you." It wasn't a question.

"Well, we needed to make a chair in a hurry, and this was actually the fastest way to do it. And I'll have you know it's actually comfortable and easily disassembled for storage."

Lori gave the alleged chair another skeptical look, then sighed. Well, while Rian might have designed it—or more likely just had the idea for it—the carpenters were no doubt the ones who had built it, and they wouldn't have put it here if it was likely to fall apart when she sat on it! If nothing else, she knew her carpenters were too capable to make that mistake!

The boat shifted under her as she walked towards the chair. Tentatively, Lori sat down, leaning back to rest on the upright plank.

…

Huh. It… wasn't immediately uncomfortable, which was a good sign. And while she couldn't be sure, the rocking of the boat didn't seem as obtrusive from this position…?

Shaking her head, she stood up. "I suppose it's usable," she said. "I'll take it out tomorrow." She gave Rian a piercing look as she carefully climbed back up the steps—very helpful—and back onto the dock. "You did remember to put the jar outside of the demesne yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yes, your Bindership," he said. "I lit a fire near it and everything, so it should have Iridescence all over when you go get it tomorrow."

"And did you—?"

"Yes, I put it at least twenty paces away from the edge of the demesne so it wouldn't end up inside the demesne after you expanded today! I told you that already!"