As soon as she was near Wellspring, Nusina called to her mind. "Hoo-boy. Milady, we ought to talk."

Ruyo rode on, waved to people, got settled in, and went to the cave. The men were struggling to assemble more beds in there under Nusina's gaze. Ruyo said, "Downstairs?"

They sealed the hidden door and Nusina carried her down. Ruyo leaned against the metal wall, and told her what she'd just done back in Brotherhood.

The spirit bubbled. "I wish you'd consulted me! You worked a permanent enchantment on that shrine and it's another ongoing energy drain."

"It was what they wanted, though. I can't kill their bright overlord yet, but that ought to help hold it down while we look for solutions."

"Soon after you left town I got a message from the monks, saying, 'We don't know how you did that but thank you, we think'. You didn't stop to tell them what you told me?"

"I was a little dazed."

"That's the other thing. I think other people's impressions and wishes are starting to rub off on you and affect your powers. And now, you've gone and issued another edict, haven't you?"

"What?"

"I can see them." Nusina held herself rigid in the air, looking icy, and recited. "No gift of Ruyo shall be used to keep people chained, save as just punishment. Just worship of Ruyo is willing; lack of worship may mean a lack of blessings, but not punishment. Divine power is best used to create, improve and protect. You've told people all that in your Serious Voice, haven't you?"

Feeling sheepish about making commandments, Ruyo looked aside and scratched her hair. "I have."

"Be careful with those! At least you've chosen reasonable ones so far, not a hatred of trees or worship of puppets. These ideas you're starting to lay out will affect your own powers. You've just made it known that you're bad at directly smiting people."

"Am I mystically forced to only use self-defense, now?"

"No. But you're shaping the directions you can go most easily, like a river carving its own channel. These decisions might have very long-term impact."

Ruyo shivered, standing in waist-deep water. She picked up a handful of it and said, "I think I need something small to focus on right now, and re-center. I've been wanting to learn a Destroy Water spell so I can flood and empty this place. Is that still possible?"

"Yes, easily. These commandments are big-picture themes and not hard limits; you can even be an outright hypocrite if you have to. And within your core domain of Water especially, you're not violating any of your own rules just by draining a pond. Unless you know it's someone's only water source, say."

Nusina coached Ruyo through an inversion of her very basic water creation power, to destroy the stuff instead. She felt a puff of heat when she did so, like being fluffed with a towel. Nusina said, "This one ought to cost you little or no mana, even restore it a bit."

Ruyo looked up at the deep shaft around her. "Then this place is a literal well. I can store power with water itself."

"With some practice, yes. And if it's not utterly obvious, the equipment down here is waterproof."

Ruyo smiled. "And perpetually clean! I really ought to learn a waterproofing spell."

Nusina's eyes glittered. "We have quite a to-do list, don't we?" She drifted closer.

Ruyo hugged her. "It ought to keep us both busy. You, by the way, ought to put the machinery aside for a little while and learn more self-defense. I hear the head of the Witch Hunters has a magic sword that might hurt even you, and I doubt he's the only one."

"Probably. And anyway... I'm glad you didn't go in the direction of war and curses."

#

Ruyo asked for volunteers for a trip to the hospital. Guards Hastro and Khulis wanted to come. Once again the third former bandit, Nodens, said he was happy to not get himself killed and wanted to just work in peace. Elly and Lisette insisted on coming, as did Virid. Nusina had never seen the place unless it was ages ago, and the sisters said Pir wanted to follow. Tamur simply raised his hand. Among the ex-slaves, none were really combatants but the horse-groom rightly said he'd be useful outside.

Ruyo did a head count. "Eight humans, four horses, two mysterious ancient spirits."

An odd silence reigned. The monk said, "That's... not quite right."

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Nusina silently added, "Seven."

Ruyo suddenly felt like hiding under her bed. But asserting herself was part of the job. "Well. Two spirits, four horses, seven humans, one god."

#

After a day focused on training and equipping themselves, they set out to the south along the path they'd used before.

This time everyone was trained up to the third level of water magic, even the groom, and could manage at least one basic elemental and some ice-flinging. Virid's natural talent added some versatility, and he'd gotten Elly and Lisette to learn the basics of earth magic as well.

For weaponry, Ruyo favored hanging back with a crossbow and spear and Elly with a bow. The group shared an assortment of spears, knives, and hammers except for Lisette who proudly wielded a sword.

For defense they'd all donned improvised cloth vests and whatever assorted other bits they could make or buy, including wood shields. Last time the opposition had been from sturdy electric-powered machines or earth elementals. So blunt weapons and padded armor seemed like the best approach where magic failed, but they needed to be ready for anything.

They reached the ruin entrance without trouble. The outer room lay in a little valley where portions of an ancient floor mouldered outdoors. The room was a neglected, dirty wreck that any valuables had been looted from long ago. The inner door, though, stood secure.

Ruyo said, "The leaders of the Inheritors had a way to get through doors like this. As far as I know, we never pried that secret from them."

"How do you do it?" asked Virid.

Ruyo touched the door and bid it to Unseal! It slid slowly open. "It recognizes my authority."

"By name?"

"Sadly no. Maybe we can find the names of the old gods somewhere."

Nusina said, "If you find any mysterious lists, show them to me first." Silently she told Ruyo, "Remember, there's a name we don't want known."

The spirit had described the name of the Light God as being something like "Zovvah", and knew the real one via Brotherhood. The monks had warned that Zovvah might grow stronger if its name were more widely known. It was infectious information.

The group thought it was a strange command, but shrugged and moved on. Having practiced and been briefed, they moved down the first hallway and made sure nothing horrible had moved in since last time. Hastro stayed outside with the horses so that the groom could do a little sightseeing first. The young man looked worried but had a grin on his face to see this fragment of the Lost World.

The old lighting was gone, leaving everything in pitch darkness. Most of the group called forth light spells, creating some glowing orbs that hovered at various heights. Virid's preferred green shade added contrast to the several blue tints of the people relying on Ruyo's gifts. Pir glowed a soft red.

"We think this room was a shop," Lisette said, as they came to a trashed room with shelves and a counter. Last trip, they'd left a few tools here for convenience. There were still minor ancient treasures: well-preserved cheap shirts with a feather-like logo, and plush toys.

Nusina had been quiet so far about the place. "So we have a security door built to respond to a divine override. These toys are a little disturbing."

The sisters had taken a few and left them lying around ignored. "Are they supposed to be animals? They look like fuzzy blobs, a spiral, maybe a spider." Each had cute beady eyes.

"I think they're meant to be the creatures that cause diseases."

Elly squeaked and dropped the one she was holding.

"They're toy versions, Elly. Can't hurt you."

"I knew that."

Tamur loomed over everyone. "They don't seem mighty."

Ruyo said, "Anyway, this is a good campsite. Get organized and leave whatever stuff you want here. I'll let Hastro know we're okay."

She went out and told Hastro, "Looks safe so far. Mind staying out a little longer?"

"It's fine. I'm enjoying the sunshine."

Back in the hall, the group was scouting ahead but following the plan of staying in groups of three or more. She nodded in satisfaction and warned about the skeletons on display in the T intersection nearby.

"What happened here?" asked the groom, shuddering at the sight of them.

"I think there was a massive war, and this was just one skirmish. I've heard tell of a faraway battlefield, and of other echoes of past violence."

Nusina said, "But... but we're going to rebuild."

Ruyo hugged her. "We will. Just be prepared to see more signs of death and destruction. It was a long time ago and the world's healing."

Many of the side rooms were smashed, as though the hallways were the sturdiest areas. Going right from the skeletons took them through a set of rubble-strewn corridors.

Eyeing two doors along the wall and a third in the distance, Khulis said, "Bathrooms. We left a mechanical monster in one of them, but it was probably dead."

"Maybe alive?" asked Tamur, looking hopeful.

Ruyo summoned a pair of Quill elementals and said, "Go for it."

He pulled open the door while the others stood back, weapons ready. In a room of pipes and sinks and stalls, a cracked grey pillar of some stonelike material sat with a rod extending from its body, clutching a sharp crossbow bolt. The moment it spotted Tamur it whirred and lurched toward him.

Tamur let the swing of the improvised knife thump against his shield and he sidestepped, so that the creature passed him. He instantly got behind it (not that it had a head) and slammed his mace down on the thin arm, snapping it right off. "Is that all?" he said, as it tried slamming into him.

"The plating is cracked already," Nusina said. "Water might wreck it."

Ruyo watched Tamur brawl with it, using his greater weight to knock it back into the restroom. "It crackled with lightning when I hit it with that crossbow bolt. What is that thing?"

The sisters hung back; they'd been hurt by it last time. Lisette said something to Pir, and the fire spirit answered with the unfamiliar word, "Robot."

The tall man stumbled, catching his foot on a stall door, but recovered and smashed the machine once, twice with his mace. This time it cracked and a coil of smoke wafted from it. It moved no more. He knocked it over and gave it one more blow to be sure.

"Strange hide on that one," he said, snapping off a bit of the grey material. He was hardly winded.

Nusina floated into the room. "All right, a little of this is coming back to me. I don't remember being here, but this is obviously plumbing. The shell material is called plastic, as in 'flexible', and some of it is built into Wellspring's equipment."

Elly said, "What is it doing in a bathroom?"

"That's a good question."

Ruyo asked, "Can you flow through the pipes?"

Nusina bobbed in agreement, then decided to vanish into one of the sinks. Good choice.