Three dolphins had followed her in, carefully swimming through the doorway. One squeaked loudly. Ruyo smiled apologetically at the humans and crouched to rub the dolphins' fins and snouts. While she was doing that, she got a faint sense of a prayer from them. It wasn't as clear as the emotional hints she got from human followers when she paid close attention, but there was a childish sense of wanting her to do fun things!

She cast a simple spell to juggle three globs of water, cheating by making them float. Then she touched the nearest creature's nose and applied the magic of the Sorcerous Initiation to it. The dolphin squeaked and drew back with a look of confusion.

"What are you doing?" asked Miras.

"Granting magic." She did the same for her other two new followers, and coached them through the idea of lifting up water with their minds. They couldn't understand her words, probably, but one of them got the concept quickly and another figured it out, leading to a little splash fight.

Their family problems forgotten, Miras' visitors came over to watch. "I'm just wrapping up," Ruyo said, ruffling the critters' fins. "They're easier company than the gators were."

"Gators!" said Miras.

"So, what can I do for you?"

The older woman said, "I think we've got our answer, ma'am. But thanks for what you're doing here. Seems like you're getting a bigger group of friends than we'd thought."

When the animals and farmers had cleared out, Ruyo sat down on the benches and smiled at Miras. "Any problems?"

"The city's safe, but we're hurting for iron and other imports. There's been some fighting at sea."

"It should be ending around now, at least. You getting paid enough?"

"I get a stipend from the Council and I've been staying in one of the guest rooms in here. Your apartment is empty and clean. I suppose you'll want to move me to a cot in the enchantment workshop or the meeting room." He glanced back at the locked-off living area behind the public chapel, and handed Ruyo a key.

She took it and said, "I've got too many people to house them all here comfortably. We should probably remodel and get a permanent room for the priest. You, as long as you want to stay."

"Thank you; I'd like that. So far this place has been an experiment for the local government. It's gotten magic for the common people, but in return the city is mainly just encouraging prayers here and providing enough money to keep me around."

"And they neglect the building otherwise?"

"We get enough guard protection to keep vagrants and thieves out, but I wouldn't trust anything of deep mystical importance to this building's lock." There wasn't even a front door so much as a sailcloth flap.

"I'll keep that in mind." She rummaged through a waterproof bag in her clothing -- bought, not self-made -- and handed Miras a few silver coins. "Get yourself something nice. I'll churn out some iron while I'm here. Elly is top priority, though."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Miras nodded. "I got your messages. I don't know the girl well, but congratulations to her. The Council's been told you want another shrine." He chuckled. "They're thrilled at the extra demands, of course."

Nusina told him, "Go easy on Elly for a while. Maybe we can get Ruyo's followers to build you your own house."

Ruyo said, "Put it up against the church walls to save materials?"

Nusina shook her eyes back and forth. "A temple ought to be a separate place, not an anchor for ordinary houses."

"What if we used concrete to make it integrate nicely into the apartment area? That'd be a chance to lock it more securely too. This is no common inn but I want my group to be comfortable."

Nusina dithered, splashing back and forth in midair. "I suppose. But you personally can't do the work if it's part of the temple, and we're already pestering the authorities on Elly's behalf. I should go check on the others if they've made it to shore yet."

"Please do. I've got an idea about construction; ask about concrete while you're out."

#

The usual way to build a concrete structure was to make a two-layered brick wall and fill it in, or to use a scaffold of carefully arranged wood to hold the fluid mix while it hardened. The Water Temple had been shaped partly by magic, where earth and water mages helped to hold the concrete. She could sense water or something like it still trapped inside the hardened stonework, which surprised her.

A small delegation of mages, sent by request of Ruyo's merchant parents, met her next to the church. She greeted them and showed them what she was working on: blocks of ice mixed with sawdust to create a rough brown substance. She explained, "This ought to be a quick scaffold material. Make some of this and pour the concrete in."

The mages were construction men more than scholars, and wore practical clothes and toolbelts. One lady rapped on the ice, then tried melting a bit of it with a weak flame spell of her own. The material warped slightly but held. "I see. You'd need magic to keep it cool long enough, but that seems easier than supporting plain ice or just holding the concrete with raw magical force."

"Easier than wood, though?" asked another.

"Quicker to set up, if you have unlimited apprentices to flail at the spellwork for hours." The female mage frowned slightly.

Nusina said, "How have you been adapting to having more people get magic?"

An obvious water specialist in a blue outfit of stylized water droplets had been trying to look carefully neutral. "They overestimate their skill. Spellcraft is about more than flinging an element around."

Ruyo said, "Are you teaching them to know better?"

"By the strong suggestion of the Mages' Guild and the Harbormaster, we've held some public lectures."

A more earth-focused mason said, "They're even worse at the earth and air spells. No special talent to cheat their way past the basics of those. At least that forces them to study."

Ruyo had been worrying about the economic effects of granting a food-making spell, but handing out magic to all takers was a problem too. The more that the formerly magic-less folk had powers and skill to match, the less valuable these professionals' work would be. Ruyo wished nobody any harm by granting magic, but she couldn't help but disrupt people's lives and threaten their fortunes.

Ruyo said, "You could become the main resource for all construction around here, if your method got cheap enough to replace normal carpentry."

Miras had watched the demonstration. "And an apprentice with a little earth training like me can help with stonecutting and foundation-laying."

Ruyo nodded. "You professionals can still be the expert supervisors doing the hard parts. I could pay you to try the technique by expanding the church a bit."

They promised to come back and try. She felt the money was what persuaded them more than the promise of slightly more efficient construction techniques. And if the sawdust ice really did help, there'd be harm to the wood-based construction industry. She summarized all that to Nusina and said, "A problem for another day."

"Who would have thought that giving out free stuff would break the market?"