Ruyo received the prayers of a hundred people who'd obviously been hustled in at the urging of their lords. Ruyo gave the disclaimer that their words and devotion should be by their own choice and they were free to fake it or walk away. The energy she got felt uneasy, tinged with a sense of "why weren't you helping us sooner". The question went unasked but it weighed on her anyway. She did a speech praising the Steadfast Church and asking for the people's patience and endurance, gave out basic magic to ten random people, and conserved the prayer energy for other things.

Nusina reported, "It's not well-used enough to add much enchantment yet, but we can add this place to the postal network now."

Ruyo touched the pillar and concentrated, seeing the growing map of her shrines. It was simple to link this one. "Done," she said, and the altar shimmered again. The son of the aquatic noble, who was even more eager than the father, volunteered to be the message-sending priest. Ruyo taught him the technique and had him dash off a quick written update to the other sites.

Ruyo turned to Nusina again. "All right. How about the harbor?"

Soon, she descended. She still wasn't used to the transition to breathing water. She relied on Nusina to be her light source since it was tough to keep the breathing spell going along with anything else.

Nusina lit up the gloom below them. The Khyberian fleet had circled around from beyond the mountains and wrecked three ships in the narrowest part of the harbor. They'd also sent in one of their own that they'd rigged to burn and explode as a "fire ship". Its mast had landed a hundred paces inland.

But most of the wreckage was down here with rigging jutting dangerously up from the seabed. Most ocean-going ships couldn't get through.

Before diving, Ruyo had gotten in contact with the harbor-master of Starshore, Zol. Thinking about his advice, she said to Nusina, "Our best bet is probably to chop down the masts, then try to smash flat whatever is left of the hulls. Unless you think we can re-float any of these."

Nusina had been poking around down here. "I think all these boats are a lost cause. What little magery the locals were able to spare from the army so far has gone into the city itself, and salvage operations. There was a small fourth boat that they did manage to move."

"About that. Whenever I destroy water in an enclosed barrel or room, I get some kind of resistance. Why is that?"

Nusina's pearl eyes drifted toward Ruyo. "Wait a minute. I remember now! The spell creates 'vacuum'. Empty space. It removes the water but there's nothing left, not even air."

"I guess I thought of air as being the same as nothing."

"Don't say that to some future wind god! So, the water is always pushing inward and it's heavy. What opposes it is the air inside. If you take away the inner strength holding something intact, and you put nothing in its place, it'll get crushed."

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Ruyo thought of sunken barrels that had felt like they were about to crumple inward. "But it's safe on land?"

"No! On land you're still at the bottom of a sea of air, pushing down. Just thinner."

Ruyo began exploring the shipwrecks. "This is a whole different way of thinking about air and water."

"You're welcome," said Nusina, sounding smug.

The wrecked ships were of similar design, even the foreign one. They'd all gone down in a way that left their masts pointing upward. Ruyo swam toward one and said, "Seems like a job for two men with a saw."

"Nothing to brace against. Although... my work with the Inheritors has had me thinking about machines and forces. We could tie people to the mast, then have them cut."

"That would look very silly. Let me try something." She tried creating ice inside the mast to freeze it and weaken it, or to do the water-destroying trick on the waterlogged wood. But the need to focus on breathing got in the way each time, enough to be annoying and difficult.

Nusina said, "Still struggling to keep an advanced spell going while doing other things? I have an idea. Think about the dolphins you met, and how they hold their breath for a long time."

She did. Maybe letting herself change more was a long-term way to handle short dives more easily. "All right, but these things happen slowly. How about you? Can you do this water-crushing thing yourself?"

"I think in this case the mast's wood is too sturdy. It'd be helpful and probably safest to get some help for this one. Now that I'm thinking about it though, maybe I can collapse the hulls in on me."

"Will you be safe?" Ruyo felt sheepish. "I suppose you're safer than any human diver could ever be."

"Behold my mighty powers! Should I try it? I didn't see anything still worth salvaging but you can take a look."

The sunken ships lured Ruyo in. They were like seeing a familiar place turned empty and strange. She floated over the deck of one and pulled herself in. This had been a warship, piloted by sails or magic and meant to support archers, spell blasts and enchanted weapons like larger versions of the fire-wands some people used. The whole middle deck served as a fighting area with minimal cargo but ruined food and spare parts. Below would be ballast, unlike the "bireme" style that floated and was mainly meant for ramming.

Ruyo found the captain's cabin already ransacked. She reported, "There's probably scrap metal in the lower hold that might be useful, but I'm fine with breaking the whole structure for now. Pick through the wreckage later."

Ruyo evacuated and Nusina went below to try destroying the water. "No good. Not watertight enough." There was a crunch and one section collapsed. "Except this spot."

"Would some ice walls help? Or semi-tangible shadows?"

"Maybe. Let's surface and get some assistants."

Ruyo gagged on the fresh air above. Felt like drowning to come back up after pretending to be a fish. "Where are the water goddess' powers least useful? Underwater!"

Nusina snickered. "Keep practicing. We've got a couple of options here."

They retreated to the temple. Elly was hanging around on the second floor, trying to ignore two of the ever-present guards while chatting with some locals. A young brother and sister with remarkable red hair were going on enthusiastically about magic and machines. Ruyo imagined them as a pair of yapping foxes, but friendly.

"Oh, Lady Ruyo!" said the boy. "Could you please teach us magic? We prayed and everything."

Ruyo did. "You seem cheerful considering how the town is doing."

"We'll rebuild, and you're here with Lady Elly. Er, Elinor."

"Elly is fine," said the Lady of Night. "Ruyo, how is the harbor thing going? I'd be down there if I hadn't lost all my air and water powers, damn it."