When Lori stopped screaming in frustration, Rian had helpfully put a cup of water in front of her. She glowered at him, but picked up the cup with a muttered thanks that made her wince. Her throat wasn't all that sore, but it was a little scratchy, and it might get worse later as she ate. The water in the cup was green, and it took her a moment to realize he'd mixed some honey into it. Had she been screaming so long that he'd actually had time to get honey? Apparently, yes.

  Despite herself, Lori warmed the honey-water before drinking it, rubbing her hands together so that the friction would create heat. Claiming the firewisps that materialized as a result and binding them to her will, she formed the firewisps into a simple binding that she anchored to her fingertip. Moving carefully, she dipped her finger into the cup and almost to the surface of the honey-water to let the binding touch the surface, and she released the binding from her finger and anchored it to the water.

  Reaching through her core to activate the binding firewisps was no longer simply second nature and was just something she did, something she willed to happen. She moved her arm, she breathed, she thought, she was connected to all the wisps in her demesne through her core. Such was simply the way of the world.

  The honey-water in the cup grew warm as the binding of firewisps used the magic imbued into it through her core to create heat, especially once she swished the cup a little to get the water moving. Lori deactivated and dissolved the binding quickly, and when she raised the cup to her lips and drank, the liquid was pleasantly warm and sweet. Just a bit too sweet, really. Rian had put in a medicinal amount.

  "Feeling better?" Rian asked once she'd finished sipping, swallowing in small amount to let the honey wash over her throat. She'd have to drink slowly so that the honey would affect the afflicted area enough to take effect. "Or do you want Shana to heal you?"

  …

  All right, forget the honey.

  She held out her hand towards Shanalorre, who took it at the implicit command. Lori felt nothing as the savant undoubtedly claimed and bound the life in her body, taming them into a meaning. As an untaught savant, the other Dungeon Binder could perform only one, a meaning that she tamed instinctively, but was of such complexity that even now T… Ti… uh, whatever-her-name-was, an experienced Deadspeaker who resided in Lori's demesne, had still not managed to decipher what exactly it was that Shanalorre did much less replicate it.

  The contact was brief, but Lori immediately felt the itching in her throat subside, and when she hummed, there was no pain. "Thank you," she said absently as she drew back her arm. Picking up the cup of honey-water—no sense in letting it go to waste—she down it, savoring the taste.

  It was then she noticed that the dining hall of her Dungeon was more full than it had previously been. How long had she been screaming?

  Fortunately, when she directed her glare outward, her idiots proceeded to return to minding whatever business had brought them to her dungeon, which in this case was waiting for dinner to be ready. Nodding to herself, she sat back down and—

  An ear-splitting shriek rose, and she winced at the high-pitched tone. Then winced again as further tones, all high-pitched, joined in.

  "That's on you," Rian said, his normal speaking voice sounding strangely loud as she heard it over the shrieking, which didn't have volume so much as pitch that cut through the air and stabbed into one's ears.

  Lori wanted to refute him, but… "That's on me," she sighed.

  "Karina must still be taking a bath. I'll take care of it, Great Binder," Shanalorre said, swinging her legs over the bench she was sitting on and getting to her feet. "Do you require me for anything further?"

  She considered that, then shook her head. "Not at the moment," Lori said, and Shanalorre gave her a bow before turning to stride towards where more and more children were taking turns to start shrieking in… well, in what was probably a decent approximation of Lori screaming.

  With as much dignity as she could muster—while at the same time acknowledging that probably wasn't a lot at the moment—Lori resumed her seat, leaning against the back of her chair. For a moment, she stared at Rian.

  "It's probably not going to be a problem," her lord said eventually, his voice pitched low. She could barely hear him, and over the sounds of some of the children still screaming, no one in the other tables—of which the closest were still unoccupied—would be able to either. "The only ones who know how to make your bound tool cores are the demesne's smiths, and asking them to restrict that knowledge is much more doable than asking everyone to not talk about beads or bound tools. And I think I remember who was there when we broke open the first large bead so I can ask them not to mention what was inside, so we can at least delay them realizing the existence of white Iridescence to after they run out of their own beads. By the time they're in a fit state to try to reason how you do it, they'll be mostly out of the necessary resources."

  Lori grunted. "I could just order everyone not to speak of it," she said.

  "No reason you can't. I simply think it's prudent to approach those with specific knowledge."

  Another grunt, and she let out a breath. "Inform them the knowledge is to be considered a trade secret of the demesne," she said. "As are all matters related to it. While it's unlikely to curb speaking of the matter completely, those with specific knowledge will at least know the level of importance of the subject."

  Rian tilted his head. "Uh, you'll have to give me context, your Bindership. I worked at a lumberyard, I don't think we had any trade secrets, though I've heard of the term before."

  Lori took a moment to wonder what trade secrets a lumberyard would even have. A specialized saw? Special wheels on their carts? If the lumberyard was the only trade Rian had ever been a part of, it was no wonder he had never heard of them. "Trade secrets are exactly that: knowledge that is kept secret to a specific trade, or even a specific member of a trade. Usually it's a method, technique or formulation to an exclusive product. With this knowledge designated a trade secret, people should be reluctant to spread the knowledge as it is an advantage of the demesne. Also, generally anyone revealing trade secrets are beaten to death to set an example."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Ah. Now things make sense," Rian said with a nod. "Well, even with that it's not certain no one will talk about anything important, but it should properly put your wrath into context. Though on a related note… what do you intend to do with all the parts you removed from River's Fork?"

  Honestly, she hadn't really had a plan beyond 'don't let anyone else have her capabilities', although that thought had been very pressing. Besides, given how her bound tool cores were, another Whisperer could easily remove and repurpose them to their own ends, and those ends would no doubt be some kind of weapon against her! "Spare parts, at the moment, in case I need to create any more bound tools," Lori said.

  "Oh. I thought you were going to use them to build some kind of emergency dragon shelter protection bound tool so that when one came, you could just bring it over to protect the mine and then take it back with you after the crisis was over."

  "If that could be done that easily, such a bound tool would already exist," Lori said. Well, she could build a portable bound tool core and sphere to imbue a shell of darkwisps, but that would still mean manually forming such a done. And since she resolved to not enter River's Fork unless absolutely necessary…

  Well, they had several wizards. They could survive.

  …

  Ugh, they'll survive until she set something up. By design, it would have to be prepared in advance and simply activated when a dragon was present—not unlike what already existed—but she would have to find some way to keep people from trying to modify or affect the internals since she wouldn't be present in the dragon shelter anymore, not with so many wizards also present. During a dragon, while she was distracted or tired, would be the perfect opportunity for someone to try and kill her.

  "Well, I suppose you'd know best. I do have one last matter to bring up before I go find the smiths though."

  "Just one?" Lori said, well-aware of what her lord was like.

  "Well, I do still have things to do and there's still dinner for anything else that comes up," Rian said. "This doesn't really need an immediate answer, but it's something I feel needs to be brought to your attention for consideration. If and when the settlers finally stop pretending they have any other plans and decide to settle down in River's Fork, are you going to allow any of them to come settle here in Lorian Demesne?"

  Lori stared at him. "Why would they settle here? They've made it clear their destination was River's Fork."

  "I'm not sure, and I'm only speculating, but some of the people here might have family arriving with the new settlers, and they might want to be near family."

  She gave him a confused look. "They would?" That seemed completely contrary to reality.

  "Well, it depends on how close the family is," Rian edited. "They might also have friends they want to live near. While this is purely theoretical, if anyone in the demesne has such friends or family among the settlers, if you don't allow the new settlers the option of settling here, we might have people choosing to move to River's Fork. Now, this might not matter to you, since they're all still your subjects no matter what demesne they live in, but as the lord of this demesne I really don't want us losing any available people. There's more than enough work to do as it is, and having fewer people to do them would be really unpleasant."

  Ah. Now she understood. "I see…" Lori said thoughtfully. Put like that… "I'll consider it."

  Rian nodded with a smile. "Thank you. I'll need to know what you think before I go to speak with the settlers in three days, so I can use it to indulge whatever bargaining Yha—their leader thinks we're going to have."

  She tilted her head. "Thinks you're going to have?"

  He shrugged. "Whatever happens, the result of the discussion isn't in doubt. According to Yllian, they'll settle in River's Fork one way or the other. The only question is what concessions they think they can get from us and how much we let them think we're indulging them."

  Lori raised an eyebrow at him. "'We'?"

  "Oh, are you going to be the one conducting the negotiations, then?"

  …

  Well, perhaps 'we' was appropriate in this instance. "Very well. I'll leave the negotiations to you. Do not do anything that will require another convincing explanation."

  "Yes, your Bindership."

  Lori nodded, then slid down slightly on her chair and kicked his shin under the table.

  "Ow!"

  "Let me emphasize that I will be very displeased if another convincing explanation is needed. Is this understood?"

  "With painful clarity and regret, your Bindership. May I leave now before you decide to either even it out or kick the same spot twice?"

  Lori waved a hand dismissively, and Rian limped off. His limp was theatrically exaggerated, and Lori pointedly turned her attention away once it was obvious to her that he was limping in the general direction of Shanalorre. Leaning back on her chair again, she sighed. While they'd been expecting the arrival of the Golden Sweetwood Company, and had even been aware that they would be bringing wizards with them, their arrival was still an unpleasant surprise. Planning and preparing for them always seemed so unimportant when there were more immediate matters needing her attention.

  Well, they were an immediate matter now, so they had her attention.

  Nineteen wizards, all no doubt planning to become Dungeon Binders and, once they had done so, kill all the other Dungeon Binders around them to claim their dungeon's cores for themselves. While Rian's argument that they were as likely to focus on each other as her had merit, it was probably only a matter of time before someone ran off to establish their own demesnes. Should that happen…

  Well, Lori would need to move to kill them immediately, before they could get used to interpreting the awareness they derived from their connection to their core. If she allowed them time, she would lose the advantage of her experience, and they would be able to establish defensive measures in their demesne.

  Once, she had thought that the bindings she was familiar with were all she needed to kill another wizard. After all, her water cutters had worked well enough in dealing with the leapers that had attacked her and the expedition back when they had been traveling from Covehold Demesne to their current destination, even if doing so had required letting the beasts get dangerously close. However, her encounter with the Typhon abomination had made her realize the value in having bindings that worked at greater distances.

  Her tests with the bindings she had derived from studying the ill-bound wisps created by dragons had also shown her that she needed better ways to aim, especially at range. Simply holding out her arm and pointing at what she wanted to hit would get it in the general direction of her target, but she needed her awareness of the wisps in her demesne to be able to aim accurately—something she would not have if she had to face another Dungeon Binder in their own. In books, all the protagonists almost never had trouble aiming their bindings unless it was dramatically appropriate, so she had assumed doing so was easy. Clearly, novels had lied to her. It was a harsh betrayal, and it might take time for her heart to recover before she trusted another novel again. At least the theater was obviously prioritizing spectacle over accuracy, heh he.

  She would need to find a way to more accurately aim her bindings at a target.

  Lori thought back to the Typhon abomination, the beasts she had faced before, and amended that thought. She would need to find a way to accurately and quickly aim her bindings at a target. She supposed she'd have to inform everyone that she would be conducting tests with fire and lightning tomorrow so they wouldn't panic. Again.

  Really, they should know it was her by now. It's not like there was anyone else in the demesne who could perform Whispering.

  And she intended to keep it that way!