Ruyo descended along the walls of the ruined shrine's vertical metal shaft. It wasn't the least bit safe; she was relying on the beginner-level magic that the water spirit, Nusina, had taught her. Which meant creating icy platforms along the walls and trying not to fall several stories into the too-shallow water below.

Every faint creak of the ice beneath her feet scared her. She gradually circled around the room, making each foothold lower, until she reached a second metal ledge halfway down. She sank down on her rear on the cold surface and released her magic hold on the latest batch of water, a kind of invisible muscle tension she was only now aware of.

She said, "Tell me about the old days. Who built this place? Why? Do you remember any of it?"

Nusina floated nearby. "I know only bits and pieces of the past, and I was never important. Just the keeper of an out-of-the-way shrine. Back then..."

She spun a tale about an age when there were vast dams and aqueducts, and something called "water parks". Everyone had plenty of food of all kinds. Chariots flew through the sky. The water goddess was just one of several, but naturally she was the best. She took sacrifices of art and wine, and offered blessings of healing and other magical feats in return.

"I haven't heard you say her name yet."

Nusina gasped. "I... I don't even remember her name! What a useless guardian I am if I can't keep even that memory!" It sounded like she was crying.

Ruyo reached out to touch the spirit, who felt more damp and clammy than usual. "Hey, droplet, calm down. You barely survived some kind of disaster. It's all right to not have all your thoughts in order. You'll remember later, I bet."

"Y-yes, milady. We should get moving again."

Ruyo cracked her knuckles and prepared to keep repeating that ice platform spell. Good practice. As for the goddess, Ruyo hadn't just been asking out of curiosity. She'd been begged to help revive some kind of mystic power, without knowing quite what it was. If the things Nusina was proud of were good ones, her mistress probably was all right. A predatory god probably wouldn't tolerate the little creature as a servant.

Near the bottom, Ruyo let out a sigh of relief. "That went better than I feared. Is it safe to get into the water? How deep is that?"

"Waist-deep. Go ahead."

Ruyo hopped down the last few feet into the pool at the shaft's bottom. The water was warm. She paused to relax a bit and look around. When she splashed at the water around her she felt she could amplify the move, making waves if she wanted.

"Any other surprises through that door?" she asked, pointing to a doorway blocked by a pane of frosted glass. Its handle was corroded bronze.

"Honestly? I expect yes at this point."

"Why would it be so dangerous? What happened to this place?"

"Wish I knew. But we'll get through this together."

Ruyo nodded, and opened the creaking door.

Beyond it, the floor reared up into the shape of a monstrous creature of slush, and screamed like a drowning man.

It flowed drunkenly outward from the round room ahead, which held some kind of broken sculpture that pulsed with light. Ruyo staggered backward and paddled for balance. Then, she used that same water-shaping power to try flinging up a wall of ice to block the creature's advance!

The water dutifully rose and flowed into a sheet of white-veined ice, but the monster smashed through it, sending shards right back at Ruyo.

Ruyo fell back and crashed into the pool with a loud slap. Nusina yelped and flung water at the monster's shapeless face as though that would help. Ruyo staggered upright. That hurt! Just then, the crystal in the next room pulsed with light, and the slush-thing roared as though pained by it. It shambled forward, away from the door and toward Ruyo. That gave her an idea. "Nusina, is that glowing rock dangerous to me?" It was a bright and polished crystal, but its upper half was sheared off and shattered, laying in the water.

"No. I'm sure."

"Good enough!" Ruyo fled, wading past the slow-moving creature. The rock flashed again, leaving spots in Ruyo's vision, and the beast cowered from it. "Aha, it's repelling the thing. Is there another way out? I can't see well."

Nusina said, "No, this must be the foundation room. You have to activate it."

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"How?" Ruyo looked at the doorway she'd just come through. The door was in shards and the monster beyond it was hanging back, fearing the light. "Yeah, you'd better stay back, whatever you are! Nusina, what do I do with this thing?"

Nusina said, "You need to claim it. Touch the runes here, here, and... there should be at least one more. It should feel like casting a spell when you do it right."

In the intermittent pulses from the broken crystal, it was hard to see the carvings on the walls. Their shapes meant little to Ruyo; some forgotten language, mostly eroded. Ruyo thought there was some sort of puzzle to the arrangement, or at least the designs caught her attention. It was going to take some effort to find the runes and figure out how to tap into them with magic.

It was too bright and then dark again to figure out what to do! In frustration, Ruyo slapped runes on the walls and said, "Activate! Presto! Do your job!" Lo and behold, it seemed like she got the right combination. The room hummed with magical energy... and the malfunctioning crystal shut off entirely. The slush monster burbled as though pleased. After all, it now had Ruyo trapped.

She swore. "If I can get past this thing, can we even get out?"

"The place is active now. We should be able to open the cave wall -- look out!"

The monster shambled in after Ruyo, lunging with its icy body.

Ruyo tried to use the big crystal for cover, splashing around and hoping to find a way to escape right past the beast. She couldn't get it to leave her alone to escape the crystal room.

"If I can control water, can I control this?"

Nusina said, "Tougher for creatures, but maybe?"

Ruyo reached out magically and tried to force the slush-thing to become solid, freezing in place. It roared defiantly but its movements grew stiffer, literally frozen in a pose of rage. And blocking the exit.

Ruyo shivered. She was soaked and frightened. "I think that did it." She stepped backward, ran up, and kicked the statue as hard as she could. It cracked. A second kick snapped it in half, and what was left bobbed harmlessly at the surface.

"Whew. Now I just have to climb all the way back up before the rest of the place decides to kill me."

Making platforms of ice and trying to climb them was tough work, especially on the way up and while battered. Ruyo was only three ledges up when she ran into real trouble. She toppled from a flimsy platform and crashed into the water.

Shaking herself, Ruyo said, "There's got to be a better way."

Nusina hovered around her, humming. "Since you're right next to the water here, you should be able to control more of it than if I have to fetch it by the bucketful."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Ruyo set to work practicing ice-making on a larger scale, raising a solid pillar to stand on. As it grew higher she lay flat on it, hanging on for dear life.

"Um, milady... You're going to have to learn to trust the element of water."

Ruyo's nails dug into the tower of ice. "I'm pretty sure falling from this far up will hurt!"

"If you get powerful enough you can just tell the water to grab you safely."

"I doubt I can do that yet. Let's try making bigger ramps or bridges than the little platforms this time."

With patient effort, Ruyo made it up a series of improvised stairs, bridges, and ramps. She crawled onto the starting ledge and lay there dripping. "Door, please!"

Nusina hummed and struck the stairwell's exit with a flicker of magic. "Now that it's activated I should be able... aha!" It rumbled back open at last, and Ruyo left the underground chamber.

#

Up in the surface-level cave, the forgotten shrine had changed. A watery blue haze now came from the circle of stone on the floor, casting its light along the walls. Nusina danced in the air, saying, "It's working!" She flitted around inspecting things and said, "Well enough for now, anyway. How are you?"

"Well, I'm bruised, tired, hungry, and oddly enough I'm thirsty. This is a lot to take in."

"I can purify water for you. You can learn the trick too. You should've said something earlier."

"Before or after the slush monster?"

"Ah... sorry. I'll go fetch some water from the other room."

"I need to check on my cart anyway. I'll be right back."

"Are you sure you have to go?"

"I'll come right back, honest!"

"Sorry."

Ruyo made her way carefully back out of the cave. When she saw daylight again she leaned against the rough walls and took a few deep breaths. She'd made it back to safety. It looked like late afternoon.

She headed downhill through the woods to go check on her horse and cart. But the mare had slipped free of her harness and vanished, leaving the cart wedged against a tree on the downhill side of the trail.

Ruyo whistled and called out. But it was a man who answered: "Who's there?"

He stepped out from the woods, wearing a bow and quiver and a dark green outfit. When Ruyo startled, he held up one hand and said, "Peace. I'm a ranger. Are you the owner of this cart?"

Ruyo's mind felt dislodged after all she'd just seen and done. "Y-yes, I am. My horse ran off while I was away."

He pointed to the snapped harness. "Something spooked it, looks like. And I'm not surprised. Did you feel the earthquake?"

"What?"

"Guess not. The ground shook and there was something strange in the air, like a rainstorm about to happen and a fog that lifted as suddenly as it began." He peered skeptically at her. "Where were you, if not by the cart?"

Ruyo started to glance back over one shoulder but stopped herself. She didn't need a meddling official quizzing her right now, not when she barely understood what had happened. "It's not your business, all right? I just lost a horse and got banged around and soaked and I don't need to play twenty-questions right now when I just need time to rest and think!"

The guard snorted, unimpressed. "Is there something the authorities ought to know about?"

"No," Ruyo snapped.

"All right then," he said, and backed away. He whistled for a horse of his own that was waiting nearby, better trained than hers. He rode off westward with only another glance at her.

Ruyo rummaged through her wagon and took out a bit of bread to chew on. The ranger or whatever he was hadn't obviously stolen anything. She had a load of lacquer, finely made toys, powdered dyes, and bits of amber, all westlands products of moderate value. She filled a backpack with a few bottles of the most expensive stuff, covered the rest as well as she could, and headed back uphill to the cave. There she sat on the chilly floor and ate. Her canteen was standing upright and full.

Nusina left Ruyo alone for a minute. Then she said, "Ruyo? If you had a lot more magic, what would you do with it?"