Demesne

Building the new wood storage shed took two days, coinciding with the end of most of the work on the harvest. It was so hot that the sheaves of grain left out in the sun dried in a day, ready to be winnowed. The carpenters had made some kind of strange… big comb…thing… to make the winnowing easier, consisting of a wooden beam with teeth-like wooden spikes. The crops were… well, 'combed' through the teeth, and the vigas would be stripped off the sheaves by the motion, where it would fall into a hopper. The threshing comb was long enough that three or four people could use it as the same time to thresh the grain.

At the end of those two days, the dining hall was unusually quiet, the air filled with the exhaustion of a demesne, and also the smell of their collective sweat. Even the children seemed fatigued as they spoke quietly and, in the case of Shanalorre's cousin, just napped.

Actually, Lori couldn't be sure if Shanalorre's cousin was a part of the exhaustion, she tended to nap a lot.

In many of the other tables, there were people sitting backwards on the benches, using the edges of the tables as improvised backrests, or straddling the bench and leaning on each other back to back. The only reason Lori herself wasn't sitting that way was because she had her chair, which she leaned into happily.

As a result, the predictable was occurring in front of Lori. Umu and Riz were leaning against Rian, though not in the usual way. They were both turned to the side, their backs pressing against his shoulders. Mikon for her part was leaning back against Riz's chest, who didn't seem to mind. All three women were sitting with their eyes half-lidded, else Lori would have thought they were asleep.

In contrast to everyone else on that side of the table, Taeclas—who was helpfully wearing her headcloth, though it was soaked with sweat—was sitting comfortably and facing Lori, having no doubt rid herself of her pains with Deadspeaking, and seemed to be the most energetic person at the table. That said, the Deadspeaker still looked tired, her shoulder slumped slightly as her wife used her as a backrest. The only one sitting as she usually did was Shanalorre, and even she was sitting with her eyes closed, as if it was too tiring to see anything.

"Harvest?" Lori asked, too tired to actually meet Rian's gaze. That was fine, as his gaze was focused down on the table, his elbows resting on it as his hand supported his forehead.

"Done," he more sighed than said.

"Stored?"

"Yup"

"Injuries?"

"Healed"

"Yield?"

"… lots."

Lori nodded, or at least dipped her chin down and up a little. Should she be concerned that Rian hadn't managed to remember one of his numbers? "Good. Anything else?"

"… can't remember. Too tired."

Lori nodded in understanding. While her tsinelas were comfortable enough, she'd been walking back and forth in them for the past few days between getting stone from the stockpile—which had resulted in her becoming irrationally fearful of accidentally running the stone over her toes at some point—so her feet ached. And while she hadn't actually physically carried anything, continually directing all those earthwisps, with only brief respites when she had to walk to the stone stockpile for more raw material…

Well, her brain probably didn't actually ache—she remembered reading somewhere that the organ was physically incapable of feeling pain—but the contents of her head felt like she'd been studying constantly with no reading breaks, naps or snacks.

Why was she this tired? She'd worked on construction projects for far longer the year before, and she hadn't been this tired… had she? She knew that she'd certainly spent more time on the row of houses when the people from River's Fork had arrived, and she couldn't remember feeling like this after only two days of work. Four if she counted excavating the grain storage space on the second level. Was she… was she…

Was she getting old? Was this what the infirmities old age felt like? She couldn't be getting old, she was only twenty-four!

No, wait, it had been a year…

She was only twenty-five! She can't be feeling this terrible yet! Also, she was a Dungeon Binder! She was supposed to have Deadspeaking to alleviate things like this!

…

Lori let out a sigh, letting the rant slip away. To be more serious though, why was she so tired? The four days of work utilizing Whispering she had done, while strenuous, should not have taken such a toll on her. To hurt this much, she would need to have done constant Whispering for far longer, which she hadn't. Quite the opposite, in fact. She'd stayed in her room and not worked. Lori hadn't done anything except sit around in her room and… expand her demesne…

…

Ah, that's why her head ached. She'd been Whispering practically all day for a week and a half. Yes, that would do it.

She knew she wasn't getting old! Twenty-five was still young! Plenty of time for her to learn Deadpseaking so she'd live forever, unlike all those other Dungeon Binders who let themselves go and die after only a hundred years!

…

"Tell everyone to rest tomorrow," Lori said. "No working. Stay in the dungeon or bath. Sleep as late as they want."

"… sorry, what? I think I might have hallucinated from exhaustion, it almost seemed like you said—"

"Tell everyone to rest tomorrow. No working. Stay in the dungeon or bath. Sleep as late as they want," she repeated.

"…yes, that's what I thought you said. Now, it's not like I wouldn't be really happy about it, but did you remember to drink water while you were working? You're not dehydrated and hallucinating, are you?"

Lori would have kicked him, except she was comfortable at the moment and her feet hurt already. "I am not dehydrated."

"Everyone is always dehydrated," Taeclas said.

Shanalorre rose smoothly to her feet. "I shall go fetch water."

Rian frowned. "Actually… did anyone remember to fill the water jars after breakfast? I think everyone was too busy with the harvest to remember."

"Karina and I did," Shanalorre said. "As to dinner, I believe everyone will need to have fruit, which Karina and I also took the liberty of putting out to warm. I will see if they are ready to be eaten."

Lori paused, then took a deep breath. Ah. That hadn't been exhaustion in the air, merely the lack of smells of anything cooking. That, more than anything, emphasized just how tired everyone was, herself included. Her stomach was telling her it was hungry, but the rest of her… well, she almost felt too tired to eat.

Almost.

Lori shook her head, and noted there was no worsening of how she felt. "Don't change the subject, and don't make me repeat myself so many times again. Tell everyone to rest tomorrow. No working. Stay in the dungeon or bath. Sleep as late as they want."

"First, let me take a moment to admire the fact you repeated yourself word for word instead of paraphrasing. Most people would rephrase to try to convey the message."

"Most people are idiots," she pointed out. "I said everything I needed to say the first time. Why change it?"

Rian nodded, careful to stay in place so as not to jostle Umu and Riz. "Why, indeed." He raised his voice slightly. "You hear that, everyone? No working tomorrow, you can just stay in bed and sleep as much as you want! Binder's orders!"

A tired cheer that seemed to end in relieved sighs rose in the dining hall, though it wasn't very loud.

"We'll have a holinight like the last one the day after, and then it's back to work after that," Lori said.

"Holinight?"

"Of course. It's not happening during the day, after all. Really Rian, that should be obvious."

"Right, right, of course," he said, gracefully accepting he was wrong. "So, to be clear… we all rest passed out on our beds tomorrow, eating optional, and then a less 'dead-to-the-world' rest day after that followed by a holinight."

"Yes."

Rian nodded. "Have I mentioned you're the best Dungeon Binder in the world lately?"

"No, not lately."

"You're the best Dungeon Binder in the world," he said.

"Without peer or equal," Shanalorre agreed as she arrived carrying a jar of water, and a stack of cups, startling Rian.

Lori nodded, accepting her due. "I know."

"Ah, Shana—"

"Shanalorre," Lori corrected.

"—I wasn't… I didn't mean…"

"I am not offended, Lord Rian," Shanalorre said. "Binder Lolilyuri far outstrips my capabilities by any measure. She is obviously a superior Dungeon Binder."

Rian, why are you covering your face with your hands?

Dinner, once Rian could finally convince Umu and Riz to allow him to stand up to get it, was light and just barely filling. It consisted mainly of fruits, as apparently even the people who usually cooked meals for everyone had been too tired or too occupied to do so. No one complained however. The tart sweetness of the fruits—Lori had a golden bud and two pink ladies—tasted intense after the day's work and Lori enjoyed every bite.

Even while everyone ate, the dining hall remained subdued, but everything seemed more relaxed than before. Many didn't stay, simply collecting their fruits and leaving immediately. Lori supposed they wanted to go straight to the baths to cool off and get the smell of sweat off themselves, or perhaps just go straight home to sleep and leave bathing for tomorrow. For once, Lori couldn't really find it in her to be too disgusted at the latter.

That didn't mean she was going to be disgusting like them, though. She had a private bath and she was going to use it.

And then she was bathed and putting her bed roll onto her bed, and it as all so comfortable as the darkness behind her eyes took her into…