Ruyo sat at the cave's table, using magic to pile up more of the plain, sturdy cloth that was easiest for her to make. Since it was most like canvas, it served for tents and canopies but not so well for blankets. It would have to do for the moment. "Need more lessons with a weaver or tailor," she said.

Nusina called from below. "Bringing the guests back upstairs."

Ruyo let her focus on that. She went out and delivered the heavy armload to the ex-slaves. They'd brought what little they had from the old campsite, so their first night here wouldn't be completely awful.

The explorers came back up, the father first. "So that's what you've been hiding down there -- an ancient power source!"

"Indeed," she said. "Did you learn anything useful from it?"

"Well now," he said, hooking his thumbs through his belt straps. "It might be information worth trading. For whatever you know about the place."

She smiled. "You probably know more about interesting old ruins than me, maybe even more than I do about this place. I should probably throw in the gift of magic just to make it fair."

"That would be appreciated," he said. "That crystal you have is especially interesting. I've seen bits and pieces of the stuff before. It's fragile and it doesn't react much to mana, so I wondered what it was for. But it looks like even crude modern repairs are enough to mold it. And now I see it's part of this alternate type of magic." He fished out a small, glassy grey stone from his pockets. "Can you shape this material? Is it the same?"

Ruyo took it, waved to the younger brother as he rode back up, then focused on the stone. By itself it was inert, but by pushing a trace of mana into it the substance became like clay. Similar to the welding job she'd done downstairs, she molded it into a ball and then into a finger-sized rod. "That turned out smoother than I'd expected. Maybe it likes to take regular shapes."

He took it back and peered at it through a runic monocle. "I still see a bit of magic to it."

"How is it made?" Ruyo asked. "For me it helps gather and store energy, so having more would help."

"Well, this piece is mine. I wish I knew the secret of its manufacture. But I can tell you it's probably not dug out of the earth in great big chunks like yours."

"Did Nusina point out the missing cables? That's something I've been hoping to fix."

"She did. I think it's similar, something like an alloy."

"Interesting. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"The magic?"

"Yes. Ah, that requires you to have prayed at least once."

"Your rule?"

"A rule of how my powers work, sorry."

The man coughed into one fist. "Someday... well. Ahem." He dramatically bowed and said, "Oh Lady of Waters, you are mighty and wise! Wielder of ancient secrets, please grant unto me the power you possess!"

Ruyo rolled her eyes before he could notice the gesture. There was a trickle of power in that display and it would probably be enough. So she did the usual ritual and told him to come back tomorrow for more.

His sons were upstairs now, watching. She was worn out. "Are you leaving tomorrow morning?"

"I'd like to make observations for another day."

"You may," she said, half to remind him of her ownership of the site.

When the three had gone back to their tents, Nusina said silently, "He wants godhood."

"Can't blame him for trying. I wonder now if it's only a matter of gathering the right materials and gadgets, and somehow connecting to some primal elemental principle. With skill and morality completely optional."

"All the more reason to try being better than the bare minimum."

"Yeah." Ruyo locked the door for the night and stood in the central room. "How are we doing? There's more power and knowledge and equipment coming in, but am I doing this right?"

Nusina floated around the room, studying the old mural. "I'm not an objective judge, milady. I like you and it seems that you've used your power to make people happier. But nobody is going to award you a glowing tiara that proclaims you to be Good."

She nodded. "I'm pleased to hear it from a friend, anyway. Let's keep going and become even better at this."

#

The next few days were satisfying. Ruyo spent time churning out the enchanted sticks and sent yet more of the blasted things off to Averell by courier. She supplied food for her followers. They revolted, making her attend a cooking lesson led by one of the ex-slaves, so that she could get a little better at it. Somebody had bought vegetables on the way here.

It was time to improve the camp. They didn't have proper yokes but still made use of the horses to help lift logs. Tamur lent impressive strength to the work too. The Brotherhood monk had been practicing his magic and slowly lifted more stone up from the ground like a professional mason-mage, turning the outline of a building into something more livable. Increasing amounts of cloth and pre-cut boards continually added to the group's supplies, but not enough to assemble a whole building in a day. A couple of large tents, anyway, with the help of some stitching to attach the pieces.

With what energy she could spare, Ruyo began handing out more magic. That led to a bunch of people mastering basic elemental summoning. Tamur got to show off by smashing and cleaving the things, including Virid's rocky creations and Ruyo's Quills, which kept the scarred man happy for now. Nusina was happy to challenge him but Pir didn't seem to understand.

Virid helped with the monk's stone-shaping. "You should have a proper road instead of this dirt path," he said, as a merchant wagon came west from Averell.

Ruyo was paying attention to the wagon. The monk said, "We don't have the manpower. Too few wizards to do it the relatively easy way."

"But now we can have as many mages as we need! At least, if they get trained in earth."

Ruyo idly thought about the muddy tow-path that hindered the beasts pulling riverboats from the coast up to Averell. A decent road there would make the work easier. She thought of hours and hours she'd spent cursing and struggling when her cart was stuck in the mud and one time she'd nearly been seriously hurt in a wreck. Roads would be nice, yes, but who would pay to build them?

The incoming wagon had a husband and wife traveling west and a bulging canopy hiding heavy, creaking cargo. Ruyo gave them a friendly wave. Because the construction around here was just uphill from the usual trade path, the place was hard to miss these days.

The man called out, "Is this the new settlement?"

"It is! Rest here if you like."

They looked wary, but pulled their two-horse wagon to a halt by the stream. "We're headed for the westlands. I hear you're buying food?"

Ruyo said, "We have a supply of food."

Khulis, one of the guards, overheard. "Yes we're buying. Please, teach this woman to cook!"

The wife said, "I take it you're the chef here?"

Ruyo snorted. "You could say that. I'd trade for a cooking lesson, yes, and we've got a horse groom if you want help."

So Ruyo got shown how to make a sweet berry cake and a thick, savory bean soup, and spoke to Nusina. "By popular demand, I really ought to master greater variety to copy this stuff."

Nusina appeared. "It shouldn't take much effort at this point."

The traveling merchants stopped in the middle of chatting with Lisette. The husband said, "You're that wizard?"

"Ruyo, at your service."

Nusina said, "She can grant the power of magic to all who've prayed at her shrines, one of which is right here!"

The husband smirked and conjured a little flame in one hand. "Oh, I have a few tricks for making camp and scaring off trouble."

The wife looked thoughtful. "I don't. Praying, though? Isn't that blasphemous?"

Ruyo said, "The Steadfast Church accepts me and even built a temple. I'm personally... well, I'm doing work for the war effort." From what she understood, she was personally feeding a light, fast military unit.

The merchant woman was a thoughtful, religious sort who wanted the power Ruyo had to offer but didn't simply accept that the Church said it was all right. Ruyo talked doctrine with her and learned more about her home, the inland town of Vaporway. Ruyo had been there in her past merchant travels but had bypassed it and other places when sailing to Starshore. Mediocre farmland, a troublesome gator tribe, but a friendly community specializing in pottery.

Leaving the conversation aside, Ruyo went back into the cave and found the explorer contemplating the mural, with his hands behind his back. Ruyo let him be. She touched the cave floor and concentrated, seeing once again the network of her shrines.

The man turned and spoke, distracting her back to reality. "What are you doing?"

"A little ritual. Quiet, please. Watch if you like."

She reached out again. As she'd done in Averell, she tapped into the power of the shrine's stability and strengthened its connections. The line to and from the city now felt especially strong. She nodded in satisfaction and stood up. "Improving the shrine. I should be able to send messages instantly between here and Averell now."

"Messaging?" he said. "How is that even possible? No, the shrines would have to be linked anyway to share mana. Slight fluctuations in the flow..." He muttered, studying the old mosaics with new intensity. Then he spun. "Can you get a letter here and pass it along? From Averell to Brotherhood, say, saving me several days' delay in sending word west?"

Ruyo said, "Passing it along? Let me test something."

She took up paper and pen, and wrote a note. "To Tulia: Here's a bit of aquatic mail. Can you reply to it by magic? Can a non-priest?" She added an outline of the method for "sacrificing" a note, then destroyed the paper by splashing it on the floor with an extra drop of magic.

The explorer stared at where the paper had vanished. "A potentially instant mail route from Brotherhood to Starshore. That by itself is a valuable thing."

He was right; there were people who'd want to send a letter quickly. Her shrines could be a conduit for that. All the more reason to set up more! She left the cave and relayed the good news to Nusina.

The spirit said, "A great idea! My opinion of that man has gone up a notch. We won't know if we can receive until Tulia visits the church again though."

The travelers, guards and refugees seemed to be getting along. Ruyo sat by the campfire, which had Pir resting inside it. He leaned away as Ruyo approached.

"I'm not morally opposed to fire," Ruyo told him. "I like my food cooked."

She took a crude iron pan and set it on the ground beside her. The scent of the berry cake lingered in it. Ruyo focused her magic and tried to imitate every detail of the stuff. Slowly a block of doughy food materialized between her hands and dropped into the pan. She carefully picked it up, took a bite, and spat it out. Sour! On the third try, though, she made a pretty good imitation. Then she looked into the cookpot to pour out a little of the remaining soup into a wooden bowl. It was more complex, with beans and carrots and cabbage and dandelion shoots. Her attempt to copy it was an utter failure, just making foul-tasting water.

"Just bread for me, I guess."

Nusina said, "You could try learning to create a greater array of liquids. Dye or ink might be useful, or acid."

"Acid?"

"A... poisonous sort of liquid, but not always harmful. Oh, orange juice! Make that!"

Virid had brought a few oranges from home. He sacrificed one for the cause, and Ruyo experimented like a mad alchemist. It took her an hour of fooling around with tiny glass bottles she'd made for the occasion, mixing and diluting her products to see what happened, boiling things over the fire, and confusing Pir. But at last, she held up a jar of orange liquid and said, "Behold, my latest creation! Who volunteers to try it?"

Elly took a sip, with some worry. "I haven't exploded. That's good."

Virid tried it, looked thoughtful and said, "Our own grove is better, but I've had worse from some of the outlying farms."

"We need to get you samples of wine and beer," said Khulis.

Ruyo made a pitcher of the stuff to share. "That's a little experience with food variety, anyway." The army would be pleased.

A little while later, the traveling merchant woman found her in the cave, writing notes. "They seem to like you."

"Some of them have fought by my side. I've been working to end slavery in Averell too, though that's really priestess Tulia's doing."

"And you have spirits here, talking with people. I saw that fire creature getting quizzed by the explorer and his sons, as though they understood a word it's saying."

Ruyo waved her quill. "Pir only speaks the Lost World language. The sisters have been working with some friends and recent enemies to translate it. Oh!" She stood and called out, "Where's that music player? Did we get that back?"

The monk was fooling with the door. "It's under your bed."

Ruyo fetched the boxy thing and its flat "record" discs and set them on the table. She said to the lady, "We can bring this out and listen tonight. Ancient music machine my friends found. Which reminds me, Nusina has a whole list of devices she wants to recreate from Lost World technology. She's hardly said a word about it lately but we've all been so busy."

The woman laughed. "So it seems!" She looked around the cave with its old art and modern, makeshift furniture. "Do you plan to keep going like this? Building, exploring, establishing a town, handing out magic?"

"As long as I can. I need praise and offerings and whatnot to keep it going."

The lady walked up to the mural and bowed her head. Ruyo couldn't hear what she said if anything, but sensed her good wishes.

"I can grant you magic now, if you like."

"That's not my main reason, but yes please."