Ruyo was in a lab for mages the next afternoon, studying the nameless guardian spirit she'd salvaged from an underwater base. She could compare it to Nusina herself, and to the fire spirit Pir. (That one kept his distance from Ruyo and insisted on being on the far side of the room from the guardian, though he tolerated Nusina.) Pir was a middle ground between Nusina's human-level mind and the minimal one she was looking at now. Then of course there were her elementals, supposedly mindless but able to follow a command like "attack".

Ruyo sat at a workbench with several scholars, studying spell diagrams and peering at the spirits as they tried to figure out what they were looking at. The technical arguments going back and forth were mostly beyond Ruyo.

The clatter of boots and sword belts drew her attention. Elly came in wearing a finely tailored tunic and cloak of violet and black. Ruyo got up to greet her and get away from the academics.

Elly still looked tired, but since she now had a few basic shrines in place that was probably due to spending days getting interrogated, indoctrinated and assessed. And her troupe of bodyguards had all pushed into the room too, distracting the scholars.

Elly said, "I'd like to move on. Is there more we need to do here, right now?"

The chief Hunter said, "Lady Elly's shrine here is finally running."

Elly said, "It works, yeah."

One of the mages said, "Lady Elly! Have you learned to grant magic yet?"

Elly started to speak, stopped, took a deep breath, and finally answered. "Yes. Just the very basic part, after much practice. And it still takes a lot out of me. Have any of you prayed at the shrine yet? I can do one today."

Only two had prayed, and one let the other step forward. Elly braced herself, took his hands, and concentrated. Ruyo watched what she was doing. Elly had a faint aura of deep purple shadow that reached into the man and left a fragment of itself behind.

The others watched too. Nusina commented silently. "I can't tell if her technique is fundamentally different, or just inexperienced."

"Probably both. I've never gotten to watch someone else do that before."

Elly leaned against the workbench and panted. "Done. So try this..." She caught her breath and then did her simplest spell, the little ball of darkness.

"How?" asked the bewildered mage.

"Like this!"

Nusina said, "I'm hardly an expert, but..." She pointed out a few features of the orb between Elly's hands. To Elly she said, "Show them the startup process again."

Elly let the mana bubble pop and re-form. The new caster was able to imitate it, staring into his creation. "A whole new spell element! Thank you, Lady Elly! I'll pray some more to support you. And, ah, find out what else your power can do."

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One of the other scholars said, "Do you have any abilities outside of the spell system, like Ruyo's item creation?"

Elly shook her head and yawned. "Soon, probably. I'm going to bed." She stomped out of the room, pausing only long enough to turn back and bow stiffly to the mages. "Thank you, really. Just tired."

Ruyo followed her, pushing past the guards. As soon as they were out of the room, in a lounge that formed the stone building's center, Ruyo spoke. "Enough. Elly, can I borrow you for the evening to study element interaction at my chapel?" She positioned herself where she could attempt to wink without the guards noticing.

"What? Oh, I... yeah, we should do that."

The guard captain said, "She's scheduled to meet with the Councilor of --"

"No," said Ruyo. "This is important." Without waiting for an answer, she headed for the door, and Elly followed.

At the temple door, Ruyo told the Brotherhood men, "Wait outside or elsewhere."

The captain said, "I understand what you're trying to do, Ruyo, but she has obligations."

Ruyo took a breath. "Nusina, would you mind explaining on my behalf?" She added silently, "Because I am on the verge of getting rude."

Nusina floated closer. "Your patron goddesses need some time to commune, and Elly in particular isn't fully healed. Or at least that's what you can tell the Council until at least tomorrow morning. The best thing you can do for your charge right now is to leave her alone."

Elly nodded, yawning. She retreated into the chapel.

The chief Hunter sighed. "Fine. Until morning, then. We'll bring food and keep watch outside."

Ruyo smiled, thanked them, and firmly shut the door.

"Thanks," Elly told her.

Ruyo created a blanket. "I can't do pillows yet but would a rolled-up blanket work? Or you can borrow my bed."

"Right now I'm not picky." Elly waved one hand slowly through the area. "I feel the element difference in here, now. Doesn't hurt or anything. When we deal with that thing my guards care so much about, is the element conflict going to matter?"

"Good question," Ruyo asked, and fussed with preparing a decent blanket-pile for Elly in a back corner. "You're getting pushed too hard."

"They wanted their first payoff right away. It's a politics thing. If that upstart girl can't demonstrate new magic, why, we should try taking it back!" She rubbed the spot where she'd been stabbed.

Nusina commented, "You've done well for starting off weak and without a proper adviser."

"I had you two." She hugged the water spirit. She lay down and was out in seconds.

Ruyo looked toward the closed church door. "This treatment isn't going to stop until we deal with Zovvah, or make it clear we're ditching the guards."

Nusina floated back and forth over Elly. "It seems like her basic pool of mana is better than yours initially was, since she'd done those exercises I taught her. But between the injury and stress and being new to her element, she's not in condition to use it efficiently."

"Is she leaking dark mana all over the place?" Ruyo peered closely. Seen by magic sense, there was a faint dark shimmer to the air, like spilled lamp oil. "Actually I think I see that."

"Very good, milady. Yes. Harmless to you, and there isn't much of it, but there might be unpredictable harm if she gets stronger without relearning control."

"Then maybe she needs specialized lessons next, but there are no experts. Also I want to ask what she wants to do instead of pushing her around, but she's continually half asleep or the guards are in charge."

Nusina said, "Try in the morning. Oh, you've got a note." A message swirled into existence atop the altar.

Ruyo read it, frowned, then went out and passed it to the guards stationed there. "Your order is asking for a status update." She handed them spare paper and a pen. "While I'm thinking about it, Nusina, could you zip over and check on the rest of the party?"

"Need privacy?"

"No, just want to make sure they're okay."

The spirit left.

One of the guards peeked into the church and glimpsed Elly sprawled in a corner. "Asleep?"

"No, we had an epic but really quiet battle." Ruyo took their reply without reading it, went back inside, and spent a while cranking out what was hopefully the last batch of the military's ration-sticks. When some citizens knocked on her door, Ruyo met them outside and did some blessings without asking for any prayers today.