Everyone made it to Starshore days later. There, a message awaited her. She and Elly were wanted at the Tower of the Magi.

They sent Nusina ahead to announce them, and found Magus the guildmaster dining together with Zol. "Some wine?" asked Zol, with Magus' parrot perched on his shoulder.

Ruyo and Elly accepted, and sat with them. Magus' top-floor office smelled of feathers and herbs. After a few minutes of chatter about ships she said, "We think the Lunar Transport Station is ready to test. The question is what to do with it."

Ruyo looked to Nusina, who was playing with a cup of wine. "As I understand it, you and I might be the only people capable of going without being splattered."

Nusina bobbed. "Unless the technicians have figured out how to fine-tune equipment that's been out of calibration for centuries, it's not at all safe for mortals. You are defined in a different way that can hold together with just the suggestion of a proper signal."

Magus said, "Are you sure enough of that to have Ruyo take the risk?"

"I'd want to look the equipment over again, but yes. I can tag along."

"What about me?" said Elly.

Nusina studied Elly, making the girl lean back in her chair. "You're harder to read, because I lack the obvious elemental connection. But you've got several functioning shrines now and you've begun defining your own powers in addition to discovering your element. If you want to come along, I'd like you to do two things to be more certain of yourself."

"A better shrine?"

"That's one thing. You haven't got any shrines of the second quality yet."

Ruyo said, "I'm sure Brotherhood would be willing to upgrade."

Nusina's eyes flicked toward her. "Think about that, milady."

Ruyo winced. The project was to help define Elly, giving her a more enduring self. Brotherhood wanted her to be a weapon.

Elly asked, "Then where should it be built? Here?"

Zol sipped his wine while thinking. "I'm willing to push for an expansion of the cave shrine. Or you could curry favor with certain other councilors by asking for one downtown."

Ruyo said, "Because of somebody's real estate plans for the Kiln district."

"Do you think no one benefits financially from Elly's mine cave? And I bought a plot of shoreland once I knew your temple would be nearby."

Elly waved to shut them both up. "My decision, right? If you build a bigger shrine for me here, I..." She laughed nervously. "I didn't expect to ever have this problem. But what do you hope to gain from that besides land deals?"

Magus told her, "Our city is leaning toward being a center of magic. I'd like my guild to outright control all of the mages, but that obviously isn't an option now. So we'd like to at least influence their training methods. Having the first greater temple for you gives us a head start at that."

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Zol said, "Lady Elly, your powers are less obviously useful for seafaring, but your description of the shadow-stuff and combining it with ice probably has useful applications. I also presume to speak somewhat for the other Council members. They have their own goals but would probably benefit from having more magic in town."

Elly sat with her chin on her hands. "So you're after the magic initiation."

"The dream magic sounds interesting too. I just don't know what else you can do yet."

Elly looked to Nusina. "What was the second thing I ought to do?"

"Get a stronger mythos. You did well by having the locals depict specific things you've done, but they've barely seen you. Right now you're mostly showing up and waving."

Ruyo teased, "She of the Sturdy Arm and Friendly Smile!"

"I did bless a few people's dreams," she said. "And what about the trouble in Port Desire?"

Ruyo said, "I appreciated the help."

Nusina said, "Me too, but this is the kind of situation where our opinion doesn't count. Elly, you need the self-confidence to say 'this is who I am and what I do', and the reputation for it."

Magus pondered. "In the training of a mage, the traditional way at least, the student learns to combine spells with ordinary work and play. You may have a mistaken impression of wizardry from me, one of the few people who do magic itself for a living."

Elly conjured a ball of shadow in her hands, shimmering with silver threads. "I could show off. Perform for a crowd."

Ruyo said, "Sounds fun. Would it help to have me along?"

#

That evening they were street buskers, showing off for the entertainment of a few hundred people in the Kiln district. The last sunlight reflected off white stone and the moon was nearly full. Ruyo took that as a sign for when the transport station might work, though she knew little of the physics behind it.

It was mainly Elly's show. She'd talked about flying, but what she had so far was agility and magic-boosted movement. Where Ruyo was used to making objects and handing them out, Elly delivered them at high speed. She wrapped bits of bread in shadow and shot them from her bow like dark meteors. Her shots sometimes went wide but the worst problem was a man getting beaned with a loaf of bread. The lack of real force behind the spells worked in her favor.

She moved, too. She'd had enough recent experience with real fighting to dodge half-hearted attacks by Ruyo and Nusina. In between shots she willed dark clouds to form at her feet, then stood and leaped from them. Nusina and Ruyo kept ready to catch her and did have to rescue her from one bad fall, sending up a gasp from the crowd. Elly splashed into a pool that had scooted along the ground for her, and stood there shaking off her fear while Nusina noisily slurped all the water off her.

But for the most part Elly excelled. She leaped between platforms that popped into and out of existence, even while she was moving, and used them to climb the side of a building. It happened to be the same one where Ruyo had once been attacked. Elly was more elegant about bouncing up to the roof and waving down to the onlookers. Particularly her guards, who weren't thrilled to see her risking her neck but had said that an increase in her fame for "physical prowess" could help them.

Ruyo didn't do much herself, but got tired just watching Elly's moves. When Elly needed a break, Ruyo tried one of her new tricks. She summoned a heavy ball of water, feeling its weight trying to slump away from her touch. Then she reshaped it and gave it a spark of independent action. It froze into ice like one of her Quill creatures, then melted and became a semblance of a dolphin floating in midair. Chilly mist surrounded it.

The townsfolk applauded. Ruyo strained to keep it fed with mana and let it move around on its own. The trace of personality built into it made it wander randomly around her, nosily inspecting people. Lacking bones or organs it couldn't do much more than fly and ram, but being hit with a ton or two of water was potentially more dangerous than being shot with a Quill's darts. It'd serve as a weapon, shield or cushion if needed.

The kids in particular wanted the creature's attention. It was half a puppet, half able to pick its own targets for -- in this case -- floating close and squeaking and blowing puffs of mist. She smiled and let it make the rounds until Elly looked ready for a few more tricks.

As the sky darkened, the show wound down and Elly promised a few beginner-level empowerments and dream-blessings to those who visited her cave.

Ruyo said quietly to Nusina, "Did that help her?"

"Doubly so. She got more reputation, and went beyond even what she'd practiced much. I would guess that her mythos now begins to include something like Motion."