Ruyo got a messenger sending her to the Tower of the Magi, home of the Mages' Guild. Several of the local Councilmen got summoned while she was chatting with Nusina and the secretary she'd recently empowered.

The young man rose from his desk and bowed. "Thanks again. I imagined I'd be special if only I had magic. Now that lots of people have it, the novelty wore off. I'm thinking more about trying to invent spells instead of just flinging them around, now."

"That's what you were daydreaming about anyway, right? You knew the theory and just didn't have the knack."

He nodded. "Sort of. Couldn't understand it completely without having ever used it!"

So she talked with him about elementals and the medical experiments. He had some thoughts on that trick of trying to put a water elemental into someone without flooding the patient's lungs.

Zol, Harbor Lord, arrived with a gaggle of other officials she barely recognized, though one was the City Watch captain and another, the Most Honorable Cobbler and Tanner. Zol said, "I hear you made quite an entrance, Lady Ruyo."

"My anonymous days are over. Glad to see the city looks intact."

"We lost some good people in the war," said the Watchman. "But we've won."

The elderly woman Ruyo still thought of only as Magus came down by a magic-driven elevator. She gave Zol an impish smile before turning to Ruyo. "Well! I suppose you're off to drag us into danger somehow while making two or three new discoveries."

Nusina said, "Is Elly here?"

"Yes. Shall we?"

Ruyo nodded politely to the secretary, asking him, "Did you meet her this time?"

"No; she got rushed upstairs. Is it true that --"

The Watchman said, "This isn't really public information, not yet."

Ruyo said, "What, you want to hide that she's now the Goddess of Night and beginning to grant a new type of magic?"

The young man's eyes bugged out. Ruyo grinned and let Magus usher them all upstairs, to a lounge and conference room.

There wasn't much controversy to this meeting. By now Ruyo had proven herself useful.

Elly was sitting around eating noodles, and she waved weakly. Only two of her guards were present.

She said, "All right, another demonstration." She did the same shadow trick as before. "Magus hasn't had much time to coach me, but she's pointed out how my type of mana seems to work differently. Think I've got better control already."

The Councilmen began talking details, but Ruyo paid attention to Elly's weary, stiff responses. "She hasn't mastered the showmanship part of this job."

"Having more tricks would help, but yes."

Someone had addressed Ruyo. "I'm sorry," Ruyo said aloud. "Could you repeat that?"

The Honorable Cobbler said, "We're prepared to build a basic altar of the type she has elsewhere, with room to expand, and to provide some prayers. In return, well, we're not sure what she can provide." He was looking more at Ruyo than at Elly.

Magus said, "The question is where to put it. Next door to Ruyo's? In the mines, for darkness' sake? On an island?"

Elly fidgeted, looking uncomfortable among these bigwigs. "Does it matter?" She saw Ruyo nodding, and thought harder. "Ruyo's temple is at the edge of town. It's gotten enough traffic to be useful. But she's a water goddess, so being on shore is right for her. Could you dig a basement somewhere in town?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Magus explained, a moment before Ruyo could, "Water is too close to the surface here. Dig and you get a swampy pit."

"Maybe the mines, then. That's far enough inland to be dry, right?"

"There is some flooding in the mines, but we can pick a spot near or even above the surrounding ground level."

The Cobbler said, "Another option would just be to take over a spot in the Glasstown district. We've got some vacant property."

"In which you've got investments," said the Watchman.

"I would sell the chosen building cheaply. And, ah, make it dark and shadowy. People could come visit it more easily than some damp hole in the hills."

Ruyo figured he'd then make money off of redeveloping that district. "Elly, you're not obligated to pick one site and make that your main temple. I still have my first altar in Averell separate from the church there."

Elly frowned at all the options. "An island would be even less convenient. If I'm going to connect to this element of Night, I shouldn't stick the place just anywhere though. I say to build this one in the mines."

"Very well," said Zol, cutting off further argument. "We'll create something nocturnal for you. Any special requests?"

"Bat wing designs," she said.

#

The next few days were busywork for Ruyo. Besides having a meal here and there with her parents, she watched and hung back as craftsmen used her technique of wood-buttressed ice to build a new concrete wing for her temple. This remodeling would make the private area better gated off, and give the place tiny private bedrooms for an entourage of ten plus Ruyo's apartment and a similar one for priest Miras. Since she'd expressed concern for security there were no windows, and the building was stuffy and hot in the sunlight.

Ruyo stood at her altar with her hands on her hips. The masons had found their work stymied by magical resistance when they tried attaching anything to the walls, which had made Nusina realize the building had a small version of the integrity-reinforcing enchantment at Wellspring. Ruyo hadn't put it there deliberately. She temporarily disabled it to let her followers reshape the building. The deed felt like pulling something heavy away from the wall.

Ruyo opened her mind to the spiritual reflection of the building. In the distance the mages chattered and worked, leaving part of the original wall broken open for redesign. That change made the place seem damaged, making her uneasy.

Nusina said, "With the remodeling there's an opportunity to change the enchantments you put on the building."

Ruyo nodded. "We talked about fixing the deliberately flawed magic granting feature, so that people can keep the second tier without frequent prayer. Still in favor of that?"

"I think so. It'll sweeten the deal for the city. Might let people access the fourth level without your personal attention, too, if they do pray. But how about making the building colder?"

Ruyo blinked. "You know, I've never asked if you can feel heat or cold."

"I can. Temperature is an implied part of your element, since water changes so much with it."

They talked about the magic field here and how it channeled the energy of prayers. As the Water Goddess, now that she tried, heating and cooling seemed to be within her grasp. She thought back to Elly playing with Pir, and adjusted the mana flow in a way that pulled heat from the air and funneled it into the ocean. It'd do the reverse in winter. "Suppose I could keep food cold in here?"

Nusina said, "Maybe, but don't overtax the place. You shouldn't spend half the prayer income on the building itself."

"Seems like water can absorb a lot of heat without actually getting hot."

"I believe so. Something to study more, maybe."

Ruyo let her spellcraft remain fluid, unfinished, pending the physical construction work. "Just the basic heat control for now, and this improved magic-channel granting."

She manufactured some iron ingots for sale. Then she played tour guide for the westlands visitors, pointing out her old neighborhood of multi-tiered streets with overlapping shops. People had started to recognize her as the "patron saint" or occasionally even "patron goddess" and not just as a girl who used to live here. She enjoyed meeting the people who'd known her before all this. Her tourist friends found it all confusing, very open and bright compared to the deep woods.

"Excuse me, madam! Lady Ruyo!" said a man she dimly recalled was a tailor. Or maybe she just noticed his tasteful puffy-sleeved pants and shirt with a marvelous orange sash. "I noticed that you lack a suitable outfit for your stature."

She wore practical traveling clothes in dusty tan, usually, though she owned a nice dress with most of its frills made detachable. "These days I need something that can stand rough wear and getting wet. Have something in mind?"

"I've been thinking about it. May I show you my shop?"

He owned a compact shop much like her parents: a cube whose roof was part of the terraced street above. It was cluttered, a good sign that his profit margin wasn't huge.

He wanted to sell her a whole set of uniforms for her group. "You went to war and you didn't even have uniforms?"

"Not much of one, no." She said to Nusina, "If the price is reasonable, I don't see the harm."

"So long as you don't mind him boasting about being the one who sold to you."

"Hey, you're learning the merchant trade!"

The tailor watched the silent conversation and said, "Miss... Spirit, maybe you should be the inspiration for the design. Something flowing, blue-tinged."

They went over a few sketches. Ruyo didn't commit to a full set yet, but paid him for a single outfit for herself. He said, "Are you sure you don't want a different, more impressive design for yourself?"

"No. I should stand out for what I'm doing."