The next morning, Elly was all smiles. She met Ruyo in the Water Temple while Miras was conducting a semi-traditional service of the Steadfast Church. Miras smoothly finished the prayer he was reciting, then pointed. "And here is Lady Elinor, the second goddess to emerge to bless the people!"

Elly waved shyly. "Thank you for supporting Lady Ruyo. I hope you keep doing that. If you'll also say a prayer once in a while at my shrine in the hills, that will help me keep learning new things to show you. There's one thing in particular I'd like to try. Do we have two people in here who've prayed, er, prayed to me yet?"

Just one woman raised her hand. Ruyo said, "What's the new power?"

Elly looked smug. "I think I can touch someone and make your next night's dreams vivid... and linked to those of another person."

A man blinked and called out, "Where is that new shrine, again?"

Miras wrapped up his session, and ten people said they were heading there right away.

Ruyo stayed around to hand out magic in person, give away conjured items, and offer blessings of good health and safe travels that still didn't have a real mystic effect. Nusina helped entertain and awe people too.

When the crowd filtered out, Ruyo asked Elly, "Think I qualify for using that dream power? It sounds fun."

"Sorry; I don't think so! You need to have prayed to the supposedly mighty Night Goddess, and you're the one friend whose prayers don't count. I think." Elly looked to Nusina, who bobbed. Elly added, "Well, my one human friend. Divine friend? Er... Nusina, I'm not trying to slight you or Ruyo here; sorry!"

The spirit burbled. "I won't smite you yet!"

Ruyo said, "I wish I'd gotten to try out the Shroud's environment some more."

"It was exciting! As part of the test I tried out being the Fire Goddess for a bit. Then Air, then Cheese."

"Uh..."

"It was partly a test of imagination. The Shroud said you did well enough, but I've had more chance to dream about what I'd do as a goddess."

Miras said, "I hope that helping people was on your wish list."

Elly shrugged. "Sure, but almost any job lets you do that. The Shroud didn't get to tutor me much but he had words from old Tekinan, the first Night God. Dreams are fuel and raw material. The trick is in making something from them.

Ruyo said, "Wish I had a record of what Loruna said about my job."

Nusina glanced toward Miras, then splash-shrugged and spoke without excluding him. "We have one record of that. The underwater base that we think was named the Lunar Transport Station."

The priest's eyes widened. "Does it literally send people to the moon?"

"I and the experts think it did. The question is how badly broken it is now."

Elly said, "I'm up for finding out!"

#

That took patience. Elly remained in town to try out her new powers and entice more followers. Nusina wanted to study the LTS facility and got several people from the Mages' Guild and Inheritors to come along on Harbor Lord Zol's ship. Magus invited herself along with Zol on the grounds that they'd need to bring a second boat and shuttle people back and forth and they needed a good air mage to get underwater. And having Nusina in the group meant bringing Ruyo to sustain her. Ruyo made an extra supply of food and materials to magically deliver to Wellspring, passed out some iron profits to her followers, and rode along from Wavebound Harbor to the spot of open ocean that only she could recognize just by sailing near it.

It was easier to find this time due to past record-keeping. When Ruyo signaled a halt, the small passenger ship that had accompanied Zol's yacht sailed due west to find the coast and take a more exact bearing. Everyone geared up and the few air mages ferried people down. Ruyo and Zol just breathed the water.

In the depths, nothing attacked them this time. They made a leisurely circuit of the ruined parts of the base to get a better sense of what was here. The other domes and balls on their seabed platform were overgrown and in some cases cracked and flooded.

Nusina squeezed through a broken door. "Ah, nice! It's ruined, but this room was a garage with an undersea boat."

Ruyo peeked in and shined a light. She shivered. She was deep beneath the sea, in theory her element. But it was still dark and cold and felt like a crushing weight all around her. This room only added to the danger; instinct told her that being away from a direct line to the surface was bad, bad!

"Are you all right, milady?"

Ruyo pressed on, trusting in her skills and her companion. This room reminded her of a stable. It held pens for boats that resembled enclosed carriages. Two were sitting there in terrible condition. Shelves nearby stood bare but for some trash. An octopus had taken up residence here and startled Ruyo as it fled.

After looking around, they convened in the airlock leading to the intact central dome. They used its machinery and some air and water magic to give themselves a dry space to stand and breathe in. Ruyo said, "What did you learn about those boats so far?"

Zol said, "We poked around there a little while you were away. They're wrecked, but they've given us some ideas. We took some tools and spare parts too."

"You were holding out on us?" said one of the Inheritors.

"It has military significance."

"Then with the war over, it's time to show us the whole thing. Let's get in there, fill the room with air, and --"

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Zol held up a hand. "Yes, fine. But we have another job first."

They entered the dome. It still showed signs of the gator tribe that had lived here, and since Ruyo's group had taken away the local guardian spirit, the place had sat idle. They had left the dim red emergency lights on and the inner doors unlocked.

"That's our first problem," Ruyo said. She crossed the circular lounge to a hollow central pillar. Its stairs led down to a hotel area and machine room. She peeked in there, then continued across the main floor to a room of control panels. A big glass tank with a hatch dominated this area. At its base sat a thick grey metal platform large enough for a dozen people to stand on.

Ruyo asked, "Nusina, can you take control?"

They had brought along the nameless former guardian, too. It floated silently, latched onto the magic of Zol. Nusina splashed toward the spirit and said, "I think I'd need this guy's permission to take over."

Ruyo stared into the damaged water orb and focused in the way she'd done to commune with it before. She tried to convey the idea of giving Nusina authority. It didn't understand. Though obedient, it just didn't talk or show any initiative since the battle. Ruyo tried again but finally broke contact, saying, "It's not working any better than it would with a normal elemental."

Zol said, "I don't feel much mana drain from it."

Nusina flattened slightly in disappointment. "You may need to wrest control by magical force."

"Can I heal this one enough that it might understand me? Before we fought, it had some notion of surrendering to me."

"Maybe. For now, let's see what we can learn from studying the equipment here again."

Ruyo wasn't terribly useful for that, but paid attention. The machines were in better condition than they had any right to be, from being around monstrous gator-men who had no idea what they were. "The whole facility serves as a shrine with a preservation effect on it. I recognize that now. Lo -- I mean, my precursor liked to make emergency backups. The enchantment helps explain why this one building is in good shape."

Magus said, "And you have that altar in the basement."

"When I touched it I got a sense of the Water God's words." Her panic, too. "She said something about needing a specific time interval for transport."

"Linked to the moon's position, presumably."

Ruyo grew bored listening to the technical discussion that followed, and turned her attention back to the guardian. They didn't know how directly involved it had been in managing the station. Was it there to run the transport device, or just to monitor the place? Any knowledge it held of the old equipment was probably long gone. If what they needed was only for the watery guy to flick some arcane switches, she could probably coax it to do that. She pointed at the nearest bank of controls and mentally told it, "Activate, please."

The spirit shot up in a line like an icicle, copying Nusina's expression of alarm. Ruyo thought at it, "Why?"

There was no response but incoherent burbling. Ruyo turned instead to a different panel and tried again.

The spirit flickered, and this time there was a low hum and a pale glow from a box of dials and buttons. Everybody startled. "What did you do?" said Magus.

Ruyo explained. "And it wouldn't agree to turn this other thing on, whatever it is."

That gave everybody more to discuss, but again Ruyo felt left out of the details. They experimented with seeing what devices the spirit would activate. She got the idea that the glass tank could fling people into the sky, probably by instant transport -- hopefully! -- and that much of the equipment seemed designed to make sure the trip was safe.

Nusina finally called for her attention. "So here's what we've got. We can probably activate this thing, but we have no idea if there's a safe place to land on the other side. It could be a deadly crater."

"Deadly to me?"

"Maybe even to you. Worse, we don't know if there's a device waiting to send anyone back. We're not sure how to 'pull' as well as 'push'. And it'll take nearly a month to charge with the limited power systems still working. The good news is that the right launch time is basically once per day. Finally, there are systems to keep the platform physically and magically stable but we're not sure how to use them."

"I take it that means more than a bumpy ride."

The Inheritors said, "You could end up scattered all over the moon."

Nusina corrected them. "You might. A goddess wouldn't, since her powers should help hold her intact. Having a divine body means more than a magnificent set of breasts."

"She does look bigger than I remember," said the junior Inheritor.

Ruyo blushed and folded her arms. Now that she was paying attention, she might've been changing unconsciously. But that wasn't important right now. "Anyway. There aren't any convenient info-glyphs that tell you how to work all this?"

"Actually yes; weren't you listening?" The young researcher pointed to a complex abstract rune, in an engraved square low on the side of one control panel. "Seems best to place these where people won't constantly stare at them."

Ruyo averted her eyes from more than a glance. She felt her attention being drawn toward it but could avoid being mentally dragged into reading its message and being distracted. "Nusina, how dangerous are these things? Are people getting bewitched into becoming assassin cultists when they see the marks?"

The spirit said, "I asked Magus not to look, just in case, but I don't think this type of spell carries compulsions. Loruna wouldn't have allowed it in a place she controlled, considering how she felt about the Light God."

Ruyo wondered if she'd someday find a record from the gods of fire, earth or air saying that Etzvannos was an okay guy. So far there were no votes in its favor.

Harbor Lord Zol said, "Are you communing over there, or daydreaming about lunch?"

"A little of both. I'm trying to steer clear of the glyphs for reasons I don't want to get into. What does this one say?"

"It's technical info about the power system and how to charge and activate it without detonating the place. There might be more like it down in the basement or in an unexplored flooded area."

Ruyo said, "That's a little reassuring, if you have any instructions at all. It sounds like I'm the best candidate to try making the trip. How about Elly and spirits?"

Nusina said, "I can hang onto you. Elly I'm less confident about, but if she works at it she can adjust herself well enough to survive."

Magus walked around the central dais, avoiding looking at the enchanted markings. "It seems to me that the first experiment should be cautious. A rat in an airtight box, another in a loose cage, a rock, a fragile thing."

Ruyo frowned. "But then how do we check on the results? Seems like we can't find out without sending me on a suicide mission."

Finally Nusina suggested, "Maybe we could. I once told you it could become possible to reform your body if you were killed."

"I'm not eager to practice that!"

"You shouldn't be. You're not ready yet. And without even more power and skill, coming back would likely disrupt all water magic in the world for a while."

Zol whistled. "How long?"

"Probably at least months."

"Let's call me dying and screwing up magic itself Plan B. Besides, Elly would be even less equipped for that."

For lack of an immediate plan, the research team began the long process of charging the machinery, and then split up. The Inheritors made another sweep of the unbreathable air belowdecks and came up with some more ancient clothing, an amazingly detailed picture of someone's family, a military uniform with still-shiny insignia and an ID badge, a few good knives, and another of the glassy slabs that once held information. Not the kind meant to be plugged into the hospital equipment as a template, but something powered by electricity. Nobody had yet gotten the things working again; too delicate. But the ones down in this building had lain in toxic air for ages and not been exposed to normal decay, so they were the best bet for being preserved.

The Inheritors pointed out that the uniform and some of the other clothing looked designed for someone with a tail. Ruyo laughed. "Must have been a fashion, considering what we're learning about healing powers."

Magus and Zol had responsibilities at home, so they decided to head back. Ruyo and Nusina were about to come along, when Ruyo had a thought. "Elly and the group in Starshore seem to be in good hands for now. We haven't yet been to the towns between Follyport and Starshore. Could we get a ride in the second boat, directly to the nearest coast?"

One of the sailors had been with her on the way to town. "I thought you didn't need ships."

"Hey, it's a long ride."