While waiting for news, she worked on sticks, mostly. A few customers stopped by, and Ruyo felt embarrassingly out of practice with sales. A weary-looking woman stopped by, smelling of something rotten, and asked for "anything cheap to freshen up my home". Her parents generally didn't do cheap.

"Do you have a good supply of soap?" Ruyo asked.

The lady eyed the small array of fancy scented soaps on display. "Out of my price range."

"One second." Ruyo dug a spare chunk out of her own pack. "Here. No charge."

The lady took it and nodded gratefully, heading out without a word. Ruyo was troubled. She usually carried a little of the stuff, much preferring it over some places' habit of rubbing oil on your skin and scraping it back off with a metal prong -- or just remaining filthy. What was it made of, fat and ashes? Maybe she could start generating it by magic. But she also had leather on her list of things to make, and better food, bigger quantities of everything. How much should she specialize? And was she neglecting water itself, the core of her domain?

She stamped her foot to quell her own chattering thoughts. She had one priority right now: acting on whatever rescue information the sisters gathered. Other than that, she had her production quota for Averell to meet. Everything else was merely nice to have.

#

Ruyo took a break when her mother returned. Her father was still setting up a sale he'd cleverly arranged to draw the cultists' attention, with the sisters standing by to lurk and spy. Ruyo proposed hiring actual city guards, but her parents insisted secrecy was key here. "In fact," Mena said, "we really need to present you to the Council as soon as the immediate problem is done. We've been holding off."

Ruyo nodded, expecting another awkward conversation with important people.

She had a pleasant evening with Mena, and didn't do anything exciting until that night when Elly crashed into the door and pounded on it.

Ruyo opened the door. Elly was disheveled, panting. "They got Lise!"

Ruyo said, "Mom, hand me my armor." Not a sentence she'd ever expected to use.

Mena grabbed the leather breastplate and handed it over, then grabbed the pack with Ruyo's other bits of armor and weaponry. Meanwhile she asked, "What happened? Take a breath first."

Elly leaned on her knees, hiccuping and wild-haired. "Saw the buyers. Two guys. Lise made a noise. Ran. I had Pir spook 'em. Turned a wrong corner. Lost sight. Came back to fetch you."

Ruyo had struggled into her breastplate and had a glove in her teeth. "Where?"

"Can show you."

Ruyo said to Mena, "Now's the time to drop subtlety. Lisette's in trouble and I don't know if these guys are going to lay low, or rush off to their base."

"I'll rouse a few neighbors." Mena reached under a shelf and her eyes widened. "Oh, that fool."

Ruyo knew the spot her mother had just checked; it was where they kept a scary-looking "Hatchet of Deterrence". If it wasn't there, then Palis had it, and he wasn't just cooling his heels in a bar.

Ruyo said, "Do it. Elly, lead me."

#

Elly was armored and had a knife; Mena handed over the bow and quiver she'd left behind for stealth. "I should've taken it and shot those guys! If they've hurt Lise..."

Ruyo followed her out the door. "What, you'll kill them?"

"You've killed people."

"Didn't enjoy it."

"What if they've hurt Nusina?"

Ruyo followed quietly. "Point taken."

"Or your dad," Elly said moments later. "He said he was leaving the job up to us, but I bet he was lurking nearby, that sneak!"

"So where'd you lose sight of your sister?"

"I don't know; I was running! It was... no, this way. We were at the warehouse and then down this alley."

Lisette stepped out from the alley, frightened and battered.

"Lise!" Elly flew at her and crushed her in a hug, which she returned.

Lisette said, "I tried to get away but they caught up. I managed to nick one." She patted the metal sword she'd picked up in Averell, favoring it over the knife on her belt. The blade had blood on it. "But one of 'em had a mystic cage like what you said Nusina's in, and they scooped Pir right up and ran away."

Ruyo hugged her too. "Have you seen my dad?"

"No."

"Okay. If he didn't join the parade out of the warehouse, then he's at the shore watching for any boats trying to sneak away. My mom's gathering angry townsfolk to go whip some cultists."

"I like your parents," Elly said.

Ruyo and the sisters hurried toward the docks, where there was noise and light at any hour. Especially tonight since the cargo ship had just come in. A couple of bars, gambling dens and a brothel littered the curving street and the beach. The shoreline itself was dark, and Ruyo strained to see any boats active out there. Nothing obvious.

"Maybe we can detect if any water magic's been used here lately," Lisette suggested.

"It's a harbor, so the answer is yes." The girl looked sheepish. Ruyo added, "I was about to suggest it myself, not that I know how."

She hurried toward the man waving for attention in the distance. Ah, her father! Palis stood in the light from a bar where a sour scent wafted out. He said, "I might've seen it! A rowboat with a flickering light, that way." He pointed. It wasn't visible now.

"Pir," said Elly. "Let's sneak after it and see where they go."

Ruyo set down her backpack. "Have to find it first. Grab some boats to hurry after me."

"After _you_?" her father said.

"Yeah. Let me just do one thing first." She ran up to the bar's open front and whistled. "Hey! Any brave men in there want to help me kick some evil magicians' asses tonight? Especially anybody with a Current spell?" She showed off with a flashy display of her own magic.

A pair of sailor men slapped their empty glasses down. "Sure, why not!"

She pointed to her father and the sisters. "Okay, talk to these people. Leaving in a few minutes." Without further ado, she ran onto the water.

The sea buoyed her. She ran with each step landing just beneath the waterline, sinking a little. Far from slowing her down, the sinking helped her bounce forward faster. She hurried along as though on open ground. The problem was in spotting the fleeing boat... There! A flicker of firelight stood out in the harbor in the right general direction. Interesting that the cultists had had a device or spell for catching Pir, but it didn't hide the little guy perfectly. She adjusted course and ran on.

The splash of muffled oars caught her ears. They were speeding up. They didn't seem to have water magic to speed their way. Probably hadn't been expecting to meet her tonight! Even so, she was getting tired and was competing with two men working the oars. Their craft was barely visible ahead, the fire creature decently hidden now, and she dared not lose sight of it.

What if she tried something else? She began pushing the water away behind her, leaning forward, letting the sea keep her from crashing. She rushed ahead as though falling across the waves, feeling forceful splashes in her wake. Swifter and easier than running. The boat loomed larger ahead and she heard the men arguing, shouting.

"Surrender!" she said.

Both men stood up in the boat at once, making it wobble, and shouted in unison. A jet of swirling flame shot out at her. Ruyo yelped and ducked, which sent her tumbling and crashing into the water. From just beneath the surface she saw the orange flash of magic whoosh by and felt its heat. She was soaked now and weighed down. She struggled to climb back onto the surface. Another, weaker spell shot past her from a single boatman but just grazed her wet clothing. She made it back to her feet, standing uncertainly on the water. It took most of her concentration to stay up, leaving little free to attack. Another flame rushed at her and she batted it away with a swipe of water. She countered with a second, more aggressive splash but did no harm. She tried flinging a blade of ice but couldn't put enough force or effort into it.

One man had a chunk of his torn robe wrapped around his arm as a bandage. He leaned close to the other guy and said something. Then they chanted, planning something big again. Ruyo stepped toward them and raised a thin wall of water.

A gust of wind shot from the hands of one cultist, powerful enough to stagger her. She fell back, flipped, and landed on her feet again. That was when the second spell went off, another flame jet. It struck her dead on. Ruyo shouted and fell into the waves again, extinguished but hurt.

She tried to get at the boat underwater. Swimming was exhausting in full clothing and her boots felt like lead. She struggled on and tried to make the water around her cooperate. Her lungs ached. When she had to surface she was behind it and to one side. She tried to shout at the rowers but only coughed.

One man drove Ruyo back with more fire, easily countered but blocking her chance to get back on her feet. The other said, "Back off!" and whipped a cloak off of a cage. It was the first time she'd gotten a good look at it: a collection of black rods forming a many-sided ball with mana coursing along its edges. Inside it, the fire spirit Pir whipped back and forth, his mouthless face expressionless but his eyes flicking around and seeing water, water everywhere.

The man holding the cage said, "Go away or I dunk this thing!"

"You don't want to do that."

"Why not?"

She bluffed. "Have you ever seen powerful fire magic detonate around water?" She'd heard vaguely about exploding steam, once. "I hear your skin slides right off."

The boatmen's faces were barely visible in the darkness, shown only by Pir's burning light, but they looked shaken. "What do you even want?!" the other man said, holding an oar like a pike to fend her off.

"You're going to give my water-spirit friend back. And your boss is a wanted man, along with whoever did the kidnapping and loosed fire monsters in Averell." She tried to stand up on the water again.

The man with the oar recoiled, surprised for long enough that Ruyo got back on her feet. "They did what?"

"Oh, are you innocent? That's great. That means you'll live."

A shout reached her ears from behind her. "Ruyo!" her father was calling out.

She shot a jet of water into the sky, making it glow faintly. The pyrotechnics a minute ago had helped guide him. She said, "You've been caught. Tell me where your headquarters is and whether Nusina is there."

The man holding Pir cursed profusely. The oarsman said, "We surrender! Come on, Jack, let's give up."

His buddy panicked and leaped over the side, throwing Pir's cage at Ruyo. Ruyo leaped at it.

She smacked face-first into saltwater. The cage landed on her head and bounced away, splashing and sizzling. She swore and yanked it back out of the sea, holding the hot bars and trying not to burn her hands. Desperate, she chucked it back into the boat. Pir was still in there, sizzling and emitting a screech like a kettle. Nobody was sustaining him.

Ruyo staggered up to her hands and knees on the water and shouted at the oarsman. "You! Open the cage and feed Pir with your magic or I'll stab you!"

"How? What?"

"I don't know how to explain right now! Figure it out!"

The other cultist was swimming away for dear life. The oarsman dropped his paddle, flicked the cage open, and flailed as Pir zipped toward him.

Ruyo advised, "He's probably too weak to burn you. Power him like you might attune to a magic item. Now."

Pir swarmed around him like a bee, ghostly and flickering almost to nothing. "Why can't you do it?" the man said, shielding his face.

"Water goddess, dummy!"

The cultist shuddered and held out one hand, concentrating. Pir gravitated toward it, seeming to steady somewhat, and the man grunted with effort. He conjured a small flame in his other hand and Pir licked at it.

Ruyo sighed in relief. "Well, he didn't explode. That's good. Excuse me while I go kill your buddy."

"Please, don't!"

The other guy, Jack, was still trying to escape by swimming. At this point it was a pathetic effort. Ruyo said, "You know what? Fine. But my friends and I have questions."