Demesne Patron EX SS 40 – What She Saw

Nansi Hightown, formerly of the militia of Lomabuyar Demesne , now retired, had been looking forward to seeing River’s Fork Demesne. When she’d first seen it… well, the view had been from the air as she had flown on the grip of her own thought force, so she had only seen a large dome, and it had taken a second look to see the gaps of the branches beneath the leaves.

At ground level, the fact it was a village was much more obvious.

Admittedly, at a first glance it looked like some kind of logging camp. Loggers tended to build their shelters among the trees they would not be cutting, to better protect them against wind and rain, and when they had Deadspeakers among them—common enough since they helped ensure that either the trees didn’t die completely or that the new sapling were taking root properly—they tended to make little huts out of scraps wood and the branches they didn’t use for firewood.

While the houses in River’s Fork looked nothing like those rude shelters, being larger by far, their graying wooden exteriors still brought the ones the Mentalist had seen to mind. It took a second look to see how the wood had been sealed and fused with Deadspeaking to keep them moisture out, which the Deadspeakers in those camps seldom bothered with. Those huts were only for the season, and would be torn down for firewood as the logging crew moved on.

Not all of the houses were in good repair, though. While there were houses with chimneys that let out smoke, paper windows to keep out drafts, and shutters to protect the paper, there were also houses that were clearly in neglect. They had doors but nothing over their windows, and while a few were being used to store firewood. The word was that they’d be cleared out so people could live in them, and so the ones who had been invited to visit friends—or had simply been curious as to what the village was like—had been looking at the houses that were unoccupied.

Nansi was among the latter. It was simply some harmless curiosity and her friend Kalo, who was among the few people living in the demesne, had said it was all right to look in the unoccupied houses as long as she was careful not to move the things being stored there.

There wasn’t really much to see. The houses were all one room, usually with a fireplace along one wall, alcoves in the wood that might have been places to sleep or might have been for storage, and a sand pit in the middle of the floor. It was woefully inadequate for a Lomabuyar Demesne winter—the fireplace lost too much heat for an aboveground house and was too big for a belowground one—but she supposed it was sufficient for the winters they had here? The weather was still as warm as the heart of summer despite it being the beginning of autumn.

In hindsight, the fact the house had a door and there had been a bench in front of it should have been a sign. The sign on the door itself—which she noticed once it was pointed out to her—should also have been a clue. However, the house had been standing amidst a group of other abandoned houses, and she had been going from door to door, with the house being the next one in the row.

When she realized she’d entered what seemed to be someone else’s house, it had been deeply embarrassing.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Nansi apologized when she saw the two young girls standing inside. “I didn’t realize anyone lived in this house.” One of them looked like a southern farmer’s daughter: tanned skin, the beginnings of muscles that would one day let her pick up farm beasts with one hand and carry them under her arm, and a skirt whose wrinkles said it was girded often. The girl was carrying what looked like a short spear at first glance, but turned out to be a seeling rod. Nansi was impressed at that. While there were people who seeled using rods in the north, they… well, they tended to be much more heavy than this girl, the fat keeping them insulated in cold waters.

The other girl looked properly northern, with pale skin and pale white hair, although her hands and arms were slightly tanned. She looked a little sad as she turned towards Nansi. “This is my office,” she said, and Nanasi had to repress her urge to grin as the girl had to jump up to get on top of the tall seat. Once she managed to get on top, she acted like nothing had happened, lacing her fingers together on the table and sitting up straight as she played at being… well, someone who worked at an office. Was she pretending to be a mayor or something? “How may I assist you, Wizard…?”

She decided to play along. “Ah, my apologies,” she said as she raised her hands to chest level, her palms pressing against each other as she bowed. “I am Nansi Hightown, and I beg your pardon for this rude intrusion into your… office?”

“You are pardoned, Wizard Nansi.” Huh? Why was the girl frowning? Nansi thought she would like someone playing long with her. “As to your implied query, this is River’s Fork’s primary administration office. It’s written outside on the door. I will be working here for the next week.”

Nansi blinked and glanced at the front of the still-open door. “Oh!” To her surprise, the word ‘office’ was carved onto the door. Was this building actually an office for the demesne? But then, why were these two girls playing here? Though more embarrassing was the fact that she’d missed it! Ugh, her teachers would be so disappointed in her for not being aware of her surroundings! Or at least not having a schism formation active to pay attention to her surroundings for her! “I’m sorry for missing that. I was hoping to find a house the no one had claimed yet, and… well, I should have realized this was in too good repair to be empty.”

With a vague sense of guilt at letting this habit slip—it was oversights like this that could result in slipping on a wet path when running over roofs, falling and hurting yourself!—Nansi arranged some of her thoughts into the formation for a schism. It was a simple schism that was only capable of limited independent cognition and action, which knew she had been arranged to pay attention to details in Nansi’s other senses, peripheral vision or moving quickly across her field of view. It would then log them in Nansi’s memory, and bring anything immediately important to Nansi’s attention.

“Understandable,” the girl sitting behind the table said. Nansi noted with amusement that the other girl had moved to stand next to her, spear help upright. Was she pretending to be a guard? That was both cute and very strange. Who played by pretending to be a guard? “However, it is unlikely that anyone would be allowed to simply choose where they wish to live. The Great Binder has set a precedent when it comes to prioritizing housing, or so I understand. Families with many children and infants will be housed first, as they would be in most need of shelter. The rest will be placed in communal housing to get them out of tents, and only then will the construction of new family housing be authorized. And the construction of new housing will not occur until we have managed to expand the dragon shelter to be able to accommodate the new arrivals.”

…

What?

“Oh… I see,” she said to buy her a moment to think. As her mouth spoke the empty platitude, her schism helpfully noted the girl’s expression. While her face was impassive, there was something about her eyes, an intensity…? Of course, Nansi could be reading her wrong, but… well, if the girl was older, she would have called the expression stern, perhaps even displeased. Subtly taking a deep breath, she imbued her thoughts, and the world seemed to slow as her mind accelerated, allowing her to review the girl’s rather extended statement in its entirety. Almost she would have thought the girl was still playing. The language used was rather formal, but it did not contain the inexpert and exaggerated pompousness a child would use in trying to speak like that. In fact, she seemed utterly serious… if still cute. “You said you worked here… I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“I’m Karina!” the farmgirl in the back said cheerfully, giving her a little wave. “Nice to meet you, Wiz Nansi!”

“Nice to meet you, Karina,” Nansi replied with a smile of her own. She cast about for something else to say. “Um, why are you carrying a spear?”

“It’s not a spear, it’s my seeling rod,” Karina explained helpfully.

“Karina will be catching seels in the river later to add to our food stores,” the pale girl said. She was starting to sound like one of Nansi’s old teacher Wizard Iranitef, who enunciated each word clearly and had a vague implication of terrible consequences for those not paying attention. “As we are, there is still not much margin for safety in our winter stores, so every bit of meat helps. Thankfully, since the new settlers brought their own provisions, we do not need to alter our rationing to accommodate feeding them, or else we would be at quarter rations. As for myself, I am Dungeon Binder Shanalorre.”

…

The colors?

Her eyes flicked towards the girl’s hair, and she subtly began to breath rhythmically, filling her lungs with air and with it her soul with magic. The first breath made the whole world slow just the tiniest bit as the greater amount of magic imbued her thoughts before she began to actively direct the incoming imbuement towards her purposes. Nansi had heard the name ‘Shanalorre’ before, and while it wasn’t something that arose on casual recollection, she was a Mentalist. She never forgot anything, although it took a moment—and a hair of imbuement—to recall things.

Still, with a name, she recalled where she had heard it before. She’d overheard Captain Yhal mention it a few times in passing, but further back there had been mentions by Laven, and by her husband Koshay. The two had spoken fondly of their daughter, a cheerful, energetic child who could sit still and climbed so well she could get anywhere. With that connection, she was able to place the color of the girl’s eyes, the same as her mother’s, and her hair, the same as her father. This girl was about the right age and had the right features, but instead of not being able to sit still and greeting people with a wide smile, she looked like an officer who’d heard of some misdeed you’d done but couldn’t really prove it.

“Oh,” was all Nansi could say, because what else was there?

“Will that be all, Wizard Nansi? I have many matters to see to in preparing my demesne for new residents,” the girl—Shanalorre… Shana?—said, and now she was an officer wondering why you were still there and wasting her time.

The impression was so strong Nansi instinctively stayed still to try and not attract any attention, and it took her a moment to realize how ridiculous that was. The girl simply met her eyes and waited. Finally, Nansi managed to grasp for something to say. “Do you know where I could buy some fruit? The ones you have here are delicious, but someone said we weren’t allowed to just pluck them from the trees.”

“Unfortunately, fruit is not for sale,” Shana said, and her expression looked eerily like an officer whose time was being wasted, even if they weren’t actually doing anything. “All fruit produced into the demesne goes into the winter stores. As I have already previously said, we lack a sufficient margin for safety. The fruits you were gifted on your arrival was the entire demesne’s fruit allotment for their next four meals. They were only able to start eating fruit again this morning at breakfast.”

“…oh.” What else could Nansi say? Those eyes stared into her, through her, and seemed to climb down her back and shook every shiver on the way down.

Shana nodded. “It was very informative to speak with you, Wizard Nansi, but I must really get back to work. Please do not let me detain you further.”

… all right, that had sounded far too much like Wizard Iranitef being very disappointed in her that time. It took until Shana waved at the door behind Nansi to her get flow of thought moving again.

“See you later!” she heard the other girl—Karina—call out as Nansi left and closed the door behind her, letting out a breath as it shut behind her. “She seemed nice,” she heard through the door.

…

For a moment, Nansi just stood there, rolling her shoulders as she tried to unshiver her spine. That had been…

Her spine shivered again, and Nansi stepped away from the house—the office—walking away with alacrity, those green eyes still staring at her. Almost, she could believe that girl was a Dungeon Binder instead of playing at it…

Another shudder rippled through her, and she began to walk a little faster.