She tried to untangle the problem by talking with Miras. The misshapen man looked miserable in the hut he was living in these days. "It's all my fault," he said. "Except that I wouldn't have gambled my own family's land if he hadn't gotten me drunk first."

That was a quick retraction, thought Ruyo. She paused for a moment, expecting a comment from Nusina, then shook her head. "That guy, Esuris, is all right. Have you tried to work things out with him?"

"I told him it was a stupid drunken gamble, but he won't give in about it. I think he wants my family gone. Can you do something?"

Ruyo hesitated. She wasn't in charge of this village. "Let me see what I can do."

She found the village headman, the closest thing around to a formal mayor, working in his field. After some pleasantries, Ruyo said, "Do you normally enforce contracts consisting of gambling while drunk?"

"Miss, it's Naveen who insists on enforcing it."

Ruyo grimaced. The rich farmer was still holding a grudge against her for past business problems. "I'm trying to help my local priest out. I don't want to see him impoverished. And aren't he and Esuris friends?"

"There are old, complex land claims involved. I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"I surely don't. Can Naveen force you to honor the land transfer?"

The elderly headman's face flushed. "I said it's complicated. There's our law and then there's the influence of someone who can break our ongoing trade relationships with Averell and Brotherhood."

"Is this all just to spite me?" Ruyo asked. "I can understand him disliking me but he's taking it out on your own people."

"I'm well aware of this. I'm going to deal with it. Somehow."

"Would it help if I spoke with Esuris?"

The man waved her off. "You know what? Yes. Work your magic on him and make this go away."

So then she had to find Esuris, who was hard at work. He was using a narrow jet of water to blast away dirt around some tree roots, helping the ongoing land clearing project. Nearby stood some of the irrigation trenches he helped maintain and fill by manipulating the local stream. A smell of rich earth filled the air.

"Nice spell," she said. "I've only managed to do that one with teamwork. Think you can show me?"

"Sure; watch." Esuris worked quietly for a while, explaining some of the theory. Finally he said, "You're here about the gamble, right?"

"What exactly happened?"

"I'm being leaned on, is what. It was a card game, but we'd both gotten drunk, and we kept raising the stakes."

Ruyo asked, "Do you actually care about taking over his sister's land? I wouldn't think you want to leave her homeless."

"I don't."

Ruyo threw up her hands, exasperated. "Problem solved, then! Why are you all still acting like Naveen can blow up the village with a giant spider made of fire? I can deal with that if I have to."

The water-mage paled. "You're serious, aren't you."

"Yes! Ask the next rumor-carrier from Averell. Now is there anything I can do for you? Can I get you to officially drop your land claim, or accept it and then sell it right back or something?"

The mage paced, grumbling. "Legally, I can't give or sell it back to him. But I could sell it to you."

"Uh, would your headman allow it?"

"He wouldn't have much choice. And Naveen can stuff it, since his big loud argument has been that the land shouldn't be in the hands of a family that's been involved in this spirit possession awfulness." He grinned wickedly. "Well? If you take the land, he can't get it."

"I like the sound of this. I can pay you in iron bars, or better cloth --"

"The elemental spell. You taught me the basics, but I've been having trouble. And what about that ice version?"

"I still have trouble with the ice type myself but I'll try. You might be better at it than me. And did Miras teach you any earth magic before this gambling problem?"

"He did."

"Great. Let's practice."

With all her recent experience with the elemental creatures, she had a better understanding now of how they worked. She coached him and said, "Now try the waterball version first..."

The man gathered up a blob of water into an animate ball that hovered around him, moving while he cast a separate spell. After a few attempts he was able to do it reliably, and eventually to make a slushy blob similar to her Quill type.

"You picked that up quickly," Ruyo said. Then she explained about Virid combining elements.

Curious now, the mage tried adding his basic earth manipulation to the spell to create a small hovering mud-ball. "Nice! I've got some ideas for using these as farming tools."

"Dodge!" she said, and ran up to try punching the ball. He pulled the elemental back with a thought, and they laughed and sparred for a minute. She said, "All right. Can we resolve this now?"

"Could I get a couple of those iron bars too?"

"Sure."

Finally Ruyo managed to gather up him, Miras and his sister Moira, and the headman in one room and hammer out a deal. She would now be the official landlord of the disputed land, and charge only prayers and a token payment, a dose of alchemical salve, as rent. She regretted only that she wouldn't get to see Naveen's face when he learned Ruyo was legally his neighbor now.

That done, she huffed and found her guards at the tavern, playing cards with locals. "Please tell me you didn't lose anything important at the table."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Khulis said, "No, we're up a bit."

#

"Back home at last!" said Ruyo, spying the hill around sunset.

A voice behind her called out, "Who goes there?"

Ruyo turned. A young woman dangled from a tree, holding a crude bow and looking like she'd topple headfirst if she tried firing it. Oh, right; she was one of the gals serving as guards, from Brotherhood.

"It's me, Ruyo."

"Right! Right. I just wanted to be on duty."

"I hope you weren't there long."

"It's comfortable. There's a platform."

"Well, come along and let's eat and talk. Oh, has my food delivery been arriving each day?"

"If you can call that food, yes."

The little camp outside her cave still stood. The guard Elly and her sister Lisette, the Brotherhood monk, and the third ex-bandit were here. Baris was present, looking like he'd been just about to leave.

Baris waved. "Oh good, I caught you this time. How's the god business?"

"Up and down," Ruyo said. She filled everyone in, leaving out only most of the political machinations.

"Nusina is missing?" asked Lisette.

"And right now there's not much I can do about it. I'm trusting in the Averell authorities." Ruyo shook her head. "Do I owe anybody the second level of magic, still? I forget. I blessed a few people on the way out of Sor's Hill to keep the prayers flowing."

She handed out magic all around, which wore out her mana supply. She explained she was still trying to set up a system that would encourage people to keep supplying prayers.

Elly said, "You should just make it so the magic wears off if they don't keep paying for it. Sorcery as a service."

Ruyo wasn't sure it was possible. Of course, her best expert in divine magic theory was missing. "Maybe," she said. "I'm at a loss for how to manage my powers now."

Khulis the guard said, "Me and the others can get back into that printing project now that we've got more parts. More construction too, if you can supply wood."

Baris said, "Also, you can officiate a wedding."

Ruyo blushed. "Yours?"

"Yes. Between all the trouble in Averell and the excitement here, the lady and I would like to have a small ceremony here. Do you think you could follow the usual method for the Church?"

That was unorthodox, at best. All Steadfast Church priests were men, and she'd never tried to be ordained, and her cave definitely wasn't consecrated to the Church, and the whole prospect flustered her. But she still said, "It won't be the standard at all, but I can try. I'm honored."

#

She spent the next day at home, trying to be helpful. She created as much wood and lead as she could manage, along with sheets of cloth. The canvas-like material was better quality than the shoddy stuff she'd made before. Though she still couldn't produce huge amounts of it, her efforts helped make a slowly improving patchwork of tents, tables and canopies. The former huts had fallen down but the men insisted they knew what they were doing this time.

A smith's apprentice arrived bearing his own portable toolkit and a package of clothing Ruyo had ordered. Ruyo finally felt dressed in something that wasn't falling apart. Then a trio of monks came from the west, saying, "Your shrine at Brotherhood is ready, Lady Ruyo. And we'd like to see the cave if that's all right."

"Thank you. I'll go there right after giving you the tour. Is anything else wrong over there?"

"No, why?"

"It's refreshing."

#

She rode west on an errand for herself. Getting the new shrine activated would give her four, and a promise of regular prayer from the town. With her was Hastro, who wanted to do a little more traveling and volunteered as bodyguard.

Baris came along for the first leg of the trip, on his way back home. While Hastro was away for a minute, Baris asked her, "How bad is it in Averell?"

Ruyo told him, "War with Khyber might be coming. The weather's warming up, so we're in time for it. And elementals will probably be a part of it."

Baris swore quietly. "So that's part of why the city's playing nice with you. They want your help."

"Yeah. So I want a way to produce elementals that I can hand out, and/or supplies to support the army. So far I can't feed a large group." She thought. "I was told it's possible to retune the Initiation so that maybe other people can create food, but I don't know how."

"How long before somebody in Khyber figures out you're a threat?"

Ruyo groaned. "That's just great. I need to be well prepared by the time they come after me."

She thought about alternatives to hunkering down in her cave. "I can buy time if people get a little confused and think I live in Averell."

#

As she approached Brotherhood with Hastro, giving him a turn on the horse, an eye-watering smell assaulted them. The wind had brought the scent of a tannery on the outskirts of town, and it seemed especially active today. Ruyo approached the complex of vats and drying huts reluctantly.

The master tanner's son came to greet her. "Can I help you, sir and ma'am?"

Ruyo said, "I've been meaning to buy some armor."

He blinked. "Armor? But you're a girl."

"Why, thank you. But I'm also a troublemaker these days."

The kid slowly opened his mouth, then ran off shouting, "Pa! The holy lady is here!"

The heavyset father arrived in a hurry, with a forced grin. "You're Ruyo? The monks have been talking about you. They say you can give magic to anyone."

"Just a little so far," she said.

"We'd be happy to have it!" he said, looking expectant.

"I'm on my way to make that possible. My gift only works for people who've prayed at a shrine."

He was a little worried, now. "Then the monks aren't full of it. You're... not just a regular mage, then."

She bowed slightly. "Not anymore. I'm in the market for a sturdy vest, and I can pay in pounds of iron, raw cloth, or a few other things. Interested?"

He was, though Ruyo suspected it was half for the sake of getting to take her measurements and watch her conjuring objects from nothing. "I don't make a lot of armor-style leather," he said. "Mostly more comfortable stuff for boots, though I do make gloves. Would you like gloves?"

She experimented with a pair that was lying around, and found she could cast spells through the ill-fitting things rather than just flooding the insides. She nodded.

"Can you make cooking pots?" asked the tanner.

It was Ruyo's turn to be surprised. It was a very simple shape, so if she had any ability to shape metal as she crafted it, that ought to be possible. She was mainly concerned about getting the material up to a quality where it wouldn't crack or something. The smiths she'd spoken with had talked about varying grades of metal, just as there were for leather, useful for different things.

"I'm not sure it'll be good, but I'll try a small one." She conjured iron for him, shaping it into a hollow pot. "Try that, I suppose, and if it breaks I'll replace it."

"Where are the rings or handles?"

She snorted. "I didn't think of it. This may be a little beyond me; sorry. You'd better go to your smith for that and just get raw material from me."

With her order placed, she moved on to speak with the monks. "Are you telling everyone I'm a 'holy lady'?"

Keeper Matthias greeted her. "We know how important it is to empower you."

"Even at the cost of adapting your faith to me?"

"There's been some intense discussion about that. But it's necessary, and you know the unspoken reason. Where is your companion?"

Ruyo had to explain things to him, too, re-opening her wounds.

Matthias went pale as he listened. "Sorry to hear it, miss. We'll keep our eyes open. As for prayers, we're ready for you to activate the shrine. I very much hope it's suitable."

The monk called Brother Ecumas had done much of the construction work, with the help of several of the more artistic villagers. It was far more than just a birdbath like the Vissio family's contribution. Instead, there was a cabin of the half-timber style common in the westlands, pleasant white plaster contrasting with dark wooden beams. It sat on the west side of town near the road and just outside the effect of the magic-dampening ward. A stream wound around it.

Ecumas waved her to walk inside. "Is it good enough?"

She opened the door and found a two-room temple. The front room had a table and stools that made for a practical meeting place or shelter. Behind that was a work of art. A waterfall of sky-blue cloth pooled from a simple altar. The walls overflowed with stylized waves painted on the plaster, and boats, a scene of fishers at a river, a dolphin leaping, and designs copied from the Wellspring cave and that place's long-forgotten artist. The ceiling was painted deep blue with white stars accented by glittering bits of glass.

The image blurred. "It's beautiful," Ruyo said. She touched the altar and said, "Yes, yes, it's perfect."

The entire building glowed and it rumbled faintly. The two monks startled. Ruyo stepped outside to find the cabin fading back to normal, but a pair of farmers had seen it and were staring. She waved. They took a step back, frightened.

Matthias called out to them. "Don't be afraid! This is the power of Ruyo, our new patron."

Ecumas murmured to her, "Good timing for your show."

"I love the design, both rooms of it. It was very nice of you."

The monk looked bashfully aside. "Wasn't really to be nice. It's for our own reasons."