Demesne

Karina hummed happily as she tended to the tuber planters in the dungeon farm, making sure they were watered and that the growing tubers were properly covered in soil. The walls of the tunnel where the planters were housed echoed with sounds from the main part of the farm, where inay and itay and the demesne's other farmers were checking on the crops that they'd transplanted down from the fields. They hadn't been able to move all the crops from the fields since there hadn't been enough plots that they could be planted on in the dungeon farm, but they had moved a lot, and Shana, Wiz Tae, and Wiz Lidz had said they would be able to get the crops ready to harvest before the dragon left!

It was the third day of living in the dungeon because of the dragon, and everyone was enjoying not having to go outside where it was hot, although the uncles and Lord Rian were all worried that the dragon would break the new sawmill, even with Wiz Tae and Wiz Lidz and Shana doing Deadspeaking things to make it stronger yesterday. Well, they hadn't said it would be stronger, Wiz Lidz had said it would make the sawmill 'springy' and 'bouncy' so that if the dragon dropped a big rock on it the rock might bounce off instead of breaking the roof.

Of course, there was still work to be done. The weavers still had their looms, though they had a lot of people to spin thread for them now, and the carpenter kuyas were getting planks ready for roof repairs. The floors needed to be swept since dust and sawdust had been building up in corners and under the alcove benches, and the stairs to the dungeon farm needed to be scraped since little clumps of dirt had gotten ground into the steps when they had been transferring the crops down from to the dungeon farm.

There wasn't anyone else helping Karina, but that was all right. She was nearly done anyway.

Once she was done, Karina stood up, wincing at the ache in her knees from squatting for so long. Picking up her now-empty bucket of water, she headed towards the water spigot to wash off. "Inay, itay, I'm done with the tubers!" she called out. "Do you need me for anything else?"

She couldn't see either of her parents, but she heard her itay's voice call out, "No, Karina, we'll be done soon! Go get washed up!"

"All right!"

Washing her hands in the basin that caught the water from the spigot—there wasn't a lot of water in it right then, since the cistern with the water that the crops didn't drink up was still full, and so they were using that for watering—Karina ungirded her skirt and put her water bucket with the other buckets, taking a moment to look over them all to make sure none of them were leaking or anything. Once she was satisfied, Karina headed upstairs, her knees aching a bit more as she climbed the many stairs, though she managed to resist the temptation to run. Running up the stairs was very dangerous, after all.

At the second level, she looked around, trying to spot her brothers and sisters. Usually, the second level was where everyone played in the dungeon, but today there were other people there. The alcoves were full of people resting, playing board games, spinning thread for the weavers, carding the fibers to be spun from retted ropeweed, sewing holes in clothes, or fixing things that had broken but had been put off. Not seeing the four of them, Karina headed upstairs.

Usually, the dining hall was full of tables and benches laid out in rows and columns, with enough space between them for people to walk through without interrupting the people sitting. Now, however, a third of the tables and chairs near the baths had been cleared and moved along the walls, leaving a large clear space, if one didn't count the pillars holding up the ceiling.

"No one tell Lori when she gets back," Lord Rian had said when he'd told people to start clearing the space the day after Binder Lori had left. "Understood? This going to be our little secret. If she finds out about this… I'm blaming all of you, because I'm not going to tell her!"

At this time of day, no one was dancing, so the other children were using it to play takas, piles of reed tsinelas marking out the borders of the playing field and the lines that that taggers could move along. As Karina climbed up, there was a game happening, children trying to reach the other end of the playing field and back again without being tagged, interspersed by yells that the taggers weren't on their lines, and the taggers' own yells that they in fact were on the line, and that the person complaining was definitely tagged and out, and that was a point to their side. Since the lines weren't actually drawn on the ground and were just the spaces between certain piles of tsinelas, there was a lot of yelling.

That wasn't counting all the ones sitting or standing around the field yelling out in support of one side of an argument or another, all with the wide grins of those wanting to see if the argument would turn into a fight.

Shana was sitting at one of the tables still in place next to where everyone was playing, Yoshka on the bench next to her. The younger girl was cheering and declaring that the tagger was on the line, her voice mixing with all the others as she waved her hands excitedly. From the sweat running down Yoshka's face and the towel next to Shana on the bench, the young girl had already had her turn at playing. There was a small smile on Shana's face as she sat with her back to the table, leaning against it. At least, Karina thought it was a smile. It might have just been the fact Shana's head was tilted back.

There was nothing maybe about Karina's smile as she watched the two of them, glad that the two were happy. Shana had been sad and mopey and feeling lonely ever since her cousin had left to go back to living in River's Fork. While the dragon showing up was bad, the fact that it meant all the children in the other demesne had to come to Lorian meant that Shana's cousin had a reason to visit again. The two had been practically hand in hand since then, which was good because with all the other children returned, Shana was busy being in charge of them again. That meant making sure they put all their packs into the alcove they were sleeping in, reminding them to wash their hands before meals, and to not be so noisy when people were trying to sleep.

On the table that Shana was leaning against was Lord Rian, lying down on his back on top of the tabletop with a towel over his face, his bare feet hanging out over the end of the table. His hands were on his stomach, and from the way snoring was coming through the towel, he was probably asleep. He must have been really tired if he could sleep next to where the children were playing. There was a jar that probably held cold water and a wooden cup next to his head.

Karina let her gaze roam over the playing field, finally spotting her brothers and sisters. Cif was playing with a carved wooden horned-bug and a wooden sweetbug, making them fight, while Jivoy and Malli were playing pincer on a borrowed game board. Her youngest sister Siithia was a little apart from the other three, cheering on the game. It looked like they were behaving, so Karina could take a moment to rest.

Walking carefully around the edge of the space, Karina made her way to where Shana and Yoshka were sitting with a big smile on her face. Smiles made people smile, after all. Her friend saw her coming of course, and gave her a nod. It seemed like a happy nod, even if she wasn't smiling anymore. "Hi, Shana. Need help with anything?"

"Hello, Karina. No, everything is well in hand. Are you done with work?"

Karina sat down on the bench of the table in front of her friend. "Yeah, I'm done. I'll check the tubers later if they need watering again."

Shana gave her a Binder Lori look. "Weren't you the one who told me that too much water is bad for tubers because it will make their roots rot?"

"I'm just checking! Besides, what if I'd accidentally given one of the tubers too much water just now?" Could she have put too much water in one of the planters earlier? Should she go back and check.

"If you did, then Wizard Taeclas and Wizard Lidzuga can be asked to prevent any possible rot from occurring," Shana said as she turned and picked up the jar on the table.

"I don't want to bother them. Besides, it's much better if we keep it from happening." Maybe she should go back down to check, just to be sure…

"Karina… you work too hard," Shana said, pouring water into the wooden cup. "If it wasn't for that fact you choose to do all this work yourself, the Great Binder would no doubt have already threatened someone for making you do all that work."

"I just don't want people to be hungry!" Karina declared.

"And we are all very thankful. However, after all the planting is done and you've watered everything for the day, there comes a point where you should just let things grow." Shana tilted her head, though it wasn't as far as when Wiz Lori did it. "Unless you've learned how to Deadspeak, in which case the Great Binder would probably want to know as soon as she gets back." Shana held the wooden cup out to Karina. "Here, have a drink. If the crops are going to be watered, then you should be too."

"Thanks." Karina took the cup, pulled it down in a few quick gulps as she realized she was very thirsty. Emptying the cup, she handed it back to Shana, who filled it up again. This happened two more times until Shana just handed Karina the jar.

The two just sat there, Karina glad to rest her knees and feet, her thirst sated. It was nice, just sitting and not having to do anything. While Shana had said she worked too much, Karina did know when to stop! She copied her friend, leaning back on the table to rest her weight on it. The line of wood pressing against her back was going to be uncomfortable if she did it for too long but for now it was another load off as she looked up at the ceiling.

Karina paused, staring, then frowned.

"Shana?"

"Yes, Karina?"

"You can read words, right?"

"Yes, that is something I can do."

Karina pointed up at the roof of the dining hall. "What do those say?"

Frowning, Shana leaned back, looking above her at what Karina was pointing at. Red lines glowed on the rock, forming what Karina was pretty sure were words.

For a moment, Shana was quiet, her head turning so she could see all the words. Other children were seeing them too, and one player ran across the field while the tagger in front of him was distracted, making the tagger yell about cheating.

"It means that we should wake up Lord Rian," Shana said. "This is definitely a 'dealing with people' matter and not a 'taking care of children' matter."