A grumpy, tired trans girl is walking across the street in North Louisiana. She's boymoding, because North Louisiana. Gotta buy some groceries, so she can keep eating, so she can keep working her terrible internal-customer-service job, so she can eventually save enough money to leave this shitty place and move somewhere safe to transition.
First order of business, who's yelling and why? She walks over toward them to see what's going on.
Well, here comes one of the co-binders, visibly unnatural in hair-color, looking simultaneously like and unlike how she looked when she was healing everyone.
"Okay you three. I want each of you to look me in the eye and tell me why you think having a petty tantrum about apportioning blame contributes more to our survival than simply making a note of what happened and then getting to work."
"The boat got destroyed when the dragon passed over, right? Is it remotely sane to blame a passing dragon on anyone but the dragon? And given that the boat is already destroyed, is there any point in getting possessive over the wreckage? I'll work on growing more trees as soon as I can, but that wood will help bridge the gap for all our survival in the interim."
She conspicuously does not answer the questions about why there are two Binders or which of them is in charge.
"Do you know anything about boat design, enough to note down some things I'll want to know when growing lumber for a new boat later? Or can you gather things for fishing or trapping the river? Are there any reeds around here that are good for making fishing nets from? Are you enough of a navigator to try to make a map? Don't get stuck in what you did yesterday. Our plans are all shot and we're scrambling to make new ones, so just find something that needs doing, especially if it's something you're particularly suited for, and do it."
She shakes her head. "I'm no Great Binder," she says the title with similar sarcasm to the pilot, "nor do I want any accolades. I'm just the woman who has this job, and I'm working with Nico to keep all of us alive. All I ask is that you do the same: work together so we all live through the week."
She claps him on the shoulder with a smile. "Good man. Figure out the dimensions you need for the tank, bring 'em to me or Nico in the morning when he's rested and has the attention to make one. Anything else y'all need me to sort out?"
Awesome. She'll be glad to when the time comes. Next up, she's off to talk to Mr. Cooper.
"You're right! I don't! I happened to wander up from being lost at just the right time to help Nico with the core."
"Convenient of that to come up now! I was actually hoping to get a look at the charter, to have an idea what sort of legal and civil structure we're trying to set up here."
Lots of legalese. The salient points:
The Blue Sail company was formed to create a new home on the new continent for the approximately 1500 people who pooled their money into it.
The advance party (the current group) was to explore the new continent looking for a good place to set up, found or join a Demesne and secure permission from its binder for further settlement, and send word of its location back across the ocean to Whitecrest Demesne, along with details reports on conditions and what supplies and training should be purchased. The remaining 1100 people would then make for the new demesne in two waves, one per summer.
Controlling shareholders in the company are Donovan Montague (dead), Athus Cooper, and five others who are not present. There is no clear line of succession.
The charter specifically exists to facilitate finding a good home for the people involved, and is specifically not meant to lay out the code of laws for any new demesne(s). The Blue Sail company intends to officially dissolve once colonization is complete.
There's a common-sense code of conduct, penalties ranging from fines (measured in 'beads') to expulsion from the company.
There's some official seals and declarations from Whitecrest Demesne essentially giving the company "permission" to create new cores, having paid all applicable taxes and fees and so on.
There's a few statements about ensuring tolerable conditions and a set of standards defining 'tolerable conditions' dealing with housing space, food and water, civil liberties, etc.
She hums as she reads it. "Reasonable enough. Nico and I intend to work out laws soon. Give me a pen and I'll sign to this, and then both Binders will be signatories. I particularly like the parts about standards of living and a code of conduct, and the part about how it dissolves once the colony's properly established. Not really a fan of Whitecrest giving us 'permission' to do all the work and create new cores and a new demesne in the wilderness, but it's to be expected. We'll want to reference those living standards from time to time, too, to make sure we're building things to code."
"I appreciate it heartily. I do have the authority to add new signatories for 'significant contributions', so... Yes. And yes, as far as Whitecrest goes, the way I understood it it's essentially their way to tax the flood of riverine traffic causing overcrowding issues for them and make bank on the new world rush."
She nods. "Makes sense. I'm certainly glad to do what I can to keep us all alive, and I'm glad to sign to the document keeping us in some semblance of order while we build this colony."
He starts writing out a form authorizing an additional signatory. Freehand, on some spare paper, with a battered ink pen.
He leans close and whispers. "...Should I be concerned about the... Double binder situation? I don't know much about magic, but I know Mr. Whisp was in there for... At least a full day. Refusing to let people in, and eventually he stopped responding to calls... We were starting to make plans for a desperate sprint to Covehold, assuming he'd failed... Except that the iridescence went away about six hours into it."
She shakes her head. "Nothing to be concerned about. Things perhaps went a bit... oddly, but everything should be fine from here."
"It's hard to take that at face value... But I suppose there's no real choice."
He has finished writing out a paper saying Sable (blank spot) is being allowed into the company because she is Binder of a demesne hosting their settlers and intends to follow the charter in good faith and etc etc etc. (He writes very fast).
"I'm quite glad I don't need to spend down my beads keeping the papers safe from the colors anymore... Everything is a thousand times easier now. I'm sure it'll be fine now."
She fills her last name in as "Weller", and signs after reading carefully. "And there we go."