The spirit floated over to it and answered silently. "You've just been affected by a spell, milady. I think you're all right, but this is a confusing one. How do you feel?"

"I suddenly know how this thing works."

They both thought for a moment. Then both swore. Nusina said, "Mind magic."

"Dangerous?"

"This application of it? No. It seems not to work on me at all, and I get the sense that it's pure information rather than compulsion. Looks like a holdover from Brotherhood's 'friend'."

The mayor looked at the two of them. "Something wrong?"

Ruyo shook her head. "Just startled by the magic there. So, you reached the bottom level. Are you working with the Averell authorities to share the medical equipment?"

"They have a few people camped out there. We also showed them a map we found in the tunnel. Looks like there was an incredible transport network in the old days. Tunnels for miles!"

Ruyo whistled. "Would you mind showing my friends here how to reach the place? I need to get going."

The mayor said, "All right, I'll send someone along. Do you want to see our own little ruin before you go?"

She did. It turned out to be a concrete bunker in a corner of the quarry, its original ladder rusted and removed. These days it held spare tools for the laborers.

Their tour guide was an old rock-miner taking a break. "We think this was somebody's home when the end came. We found rusty cans of what was probably food, but the place didn't look like anyone had spent much time in it. No bones, no trash, half the shelves empty."

"I can appreciate the idea of having an emergency backup hideout. Doesn't do much good if you can't get there in time."

Until now, the miner had kept one hand in his pocket, and he'd hung back from the blessings. Now he revealed it. He was missing three fingers. "Ma'am, making spare sheets is nice, but if you are what you say, can you heal the sick? I've heard of fancy healer mages fixing people up. What about you?"

It was possible to regrow a finger with the right magic and years of training. She admitted, "My healing skill isn't nearly up to that. I'd like to learn more but my focus in medicine has been on keeping people from bleeding to death."

He grunted. "Got a couple people in town who expect you can do anything."

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"Not quite; sorry. I'll do what I can."

She left priestess Tulia and the westlanders to make their sightseeing trip to the hospital, telling them to bring back a copy of the tunnel network map. She rode back north and made it to Wellspring by evening.

Nusina said, "I'm glad to see you delegating."

#

A message had arrived from Brotherhood, saying that Elly was coming. And, could the people at Wellspring please build her a shrine and worship her a little?

Hastro laughed when Ruyo explained the request to the assembled group. "You have a giant well. What are we supposed to do for Elly; build a dark room?"

"It'll have to be basic. Right now she just needs token altars. You've seen the dinky ones I have in a few places, so... well, this is not a command. But if you help out, she'll probably repay it soon."

"With shadowy magic, right?"

"I'm not sure. And to reiterate, if any of you want to take off and get on with your lives, you're free to do that. I can load you down with materials and food on the way out, and you have your smithy for making weapons or wagons."

Hastro had attacked her once, and had been through plenty of trouble on her behalf since then. He said, "At this point I'm a respectable specialist mage. I could go anywhere. Think I've got what I want right here, though."

She suspected that meant Lisette. Which was fine.

The Lady of Waters thanked everyone and dismissed them for now. She conjured some more food and materials, then slept.

#

Due to expecting Elly, she puttered around the camp, helping out with the ongoing construction. Today's big project, the shadowy shrine, was something she couldn't directly help with. So Lobb the monk was the number one man for this work. He started with a cleared patch of ground just north from the stream, a bit downhill from the homes and workshops. By magic he slowly raised a low platform of stone. Ruyo's other followers added a crude wooden altar painted with stars like the look of the drained Shroud.

Lobb spent hours sitting in meditation before it, sometimes reaching forward to prostrate himself with his hands on the ground. Or he would kneel and use his chisel to carve additional, intricate designs into the platform.

Ruyo found these ceremonies embarrassing to watch. Mere mortals were establishing these shrines by showing submission and inferiority to the divine. As Ruyo was painfully aware, "the divine" was capable of being stupid, petty or simply wrong.

Who died and made me a god? thought Ruyo. I have a literal answer to that. But what put old Loruna in charge of the world?

If she had respect and authority she hadn't earned, the best way forward was to keep trying to earn them.

A caravan of four trade wagons from the east snapped Ruyo out of her thoughts. She went to greet the party of travelers.

"So you're the supposed patron goddess?" asked one wagon driver. "They shut down the new church for a little while. What was that about?"

She shrugged. "I had some questions to answer about the war, and the Council members were arguing about exactly how we should have handled it. But that's cleared up."

These travelers hadn't been involved with the church yet but were willing to offer prayers at the Wellspring shrine, so she dealt with that. It felt like a simple transaction, as often happened, and she was comfortable with that. But there was a note of curiosity she found flattering; they were asking about the war and she had stories to tell, even without getting into the secret part.

She spent the afternoon working as usual, converting prayer energy to raw materials. She was still making the usual bread-making sticks for the army but was ending that job soon. She'd be very glad to stop the tedious mass production.

Near sunset, a cart came from the west. With it came four riders from Brotherhood, armed, plus Lisette. Nusina spotted them from a mile off.