Ruyo took a short break, then worked in her temple. She was being called on to produce a lot of materials now. Provisions for Wellspring and Trueharbor, conjured remotely. And now as much food as she could make for this town plus some blankets. And the smiths were asking for metal. And now a group of five people were walking into the temple, each missing an arm or hobbling on crutches.

Nusina flared up like a cold bonfire. "I'm sorry, no, the Lady of Waters is not available right now. Please come back another time."

Ruyo waved to them from the floor cushion where she sat, surrounded by a runic circle and an ever-growing pile of goods. "I can do a few --"

"No, milady. This isn't the time."

The wounded folk backed away and left without a word. Nusina floated to the door and deftly used conjured levers of ice to lock it. "Ruyo, you're pushing yourself too hard and not in a good direction right now."

"How many people should I let go hungry tonight?"

"You promised to listen to me. This is one of those times."

Ruyo sighed and rested her head on her hands. "All right."

Nusina floated closer. "I understand the pressure to be a food dispenser and everything-else dispenser and healer. Today though, you were at the limits of your magical finesse, and people could've gotten seriously hurt in ways I barely remember. That's one problem. A second problem is, you've been doing the same two or three spells over and over for hours, on top of doing similar work every day for your other commitments."

"I'm at least not doing the army bread-sticks anymore."

"True. But remember, the things you do carve a channel for your future powers, like the course of a river. It's great that you can provide help in an emergency, but do you want your mythos to increasingly mark you as that lady who mass-produces mediocre bread rations for the masses?"

"You haven't tasted them yourself."

"I know; I mentioned eventually wanting a spell to try becoming more human-like. But that's part of my point. I want to do lots of different things with you and not be locked into one narrow stream. You also risk having people become far too dependent on you, unable to feed themselves."

Ruyo said, "The food-making artifacts will help address that someday soon."

The spirit boiled and bubbled. "You're missing what I mean. There's such a thing as being too compassionate, letting kindness turn into a poison that doesn't make you happy and makes other people resent you as often as praise you. When we met, I thought you were more likely to get too selfish and just use your powers to help yourself."

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Ruyo spread her hands. "I haven't been some self-denying saint. I've got multiple homes, I'm getting fame and fortune, I've got these." She hefted her magically enhanced chest.

"No, but again, you're feeling guilty even from taking a few days off -- which was really a business trip anyway."

"Well, that comes back to my first question. There are people in need, right now. Should I tell them no, I won't use the power that I have to feed them? A long-term principle is tough to hold to when somebody's hungry."

"But you need to stick to it, usually anyway, if it's to mean anything." Nusina held herself vertical and rigid. "We haven't talked about it, but you defined another tenet recently, didn't you? I can feel it engraved on you."

Ruyo blinked. "I did?"

Nusina spoke, and her words echoed in the temple with unnatural resonance. "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. And...?"

Ruyo could recall the fourth one perfectly now. She'd been very distracted at the time, by beating a would-be god to death. She recited, "The strength of free minds working together can flow around any foe."

"Yes. The list you've built for yourself isn't necessarily the One Perfect Moral System; it's what you've written on your own divine heart. Now, look at what you're doing: sitting in one spot for hours, being the sole source for rations for far too many people. Banging your power against one problem all by yourself again and again. Are you honoring what you believe is right?"

Ruyo glanced down at the stacks of bread and blankets and ingots. "The diving wasn't alone, or the same thing over and over."

"I've got no problem with that part, other than that you need to get better at it."

The Lady of Waters stood up and paced, stepping around the cushion with an impression of her divine butt on it. And around the small fortress of bread and the runic circle. She pictured herself spending years and years doing the same spell-weaving rituals to make herself a production machine, making even her thoughts run constantly in the same channel. Performing one function in roughly the same way endlessly because it was expected of her, and letting people's expectations become an obligation that shaped the limits of what was even possible.

She said, "I... could end up practically becoming a tool. An enchanted item, not a person."

Nusina bobbed. "In your case that might even be literally true."

Ruyo stretched. "All right, droplet. If I had a fifth divine rule it'd be, Nusina is usually right. It ought to be the people of the southlands in general doing this, working together to fix the places that took the most damage. They're not used to being more than casual military allies, though. This'd be a step toward some kind of closer union."

"Is that important to you?"

"I suppose I'd like to see it. Encouraging better roads and the like will help everybody." She shook her head. "But that's not my business right now."

"Yes. Thank you for not making me point that out."

She ruffled Nusina's rippling form. "All right. How about I take the group out for a good meal, you help me practice juggling multiple spells, and I make it clear I'm nearly done with the free food for now?"