Nusina found her while she was selling a load of iron to a smith. Ruyo finished the sale and turned to her. "How are you doing?"

"Back from a little adventuring around the city." The sisters appeared from around a corner, laughing about something. "Are you ready to visit the Inheritors' workshop?"

"All set," she said, and greeted the girls.

Lisette waved. "We got to see a dolphin! A man from the islands was putting on a show."

Ruyo had caught glimpses of dolphins before while traveling by sea. Just a fin or a flash of grey, mostly. "Really? I'd like to get a good look."

"It would be good for you," Nusina said.

Lisette said, "We'll head back to your parents' place and get ready while you do that."

Ruyo said, "Remember we're leaving tomorrow for prisoner escort."

They looked disappointed but didn't complain.

Ruyo and Nusina went down to the beach. There was a relatively deep area dredged out near one of the docks. A tattooed, bronze-skinned man from the tropical far north was still putting on a show with a tame dolphin. Ruyo got a good look at the creature: beautifully sleek, arcing up and out of the water and slicing its way back into the waves. "I wish I could swim half that well."

"They're built for it," Nusina said. "See how the tail moves with the whole body, and how that back fin is like a ship's keel? Ah, it's nice to know they survived the apocalypse."

"Was my predecessor the one who made them?"

"Hmm? No. But she must have loved them."

Ruyo waited for the showman to look in her direction, and tossed a few of her newly-earned coins into the box he'd laid out for the crowd of a few dozen onlookers. "Could I touch your pet? I'm something of a water mage."

"All right, but so is she! Good time to demonstrate." He whistled for the creature's attention, and spoke a few words in a foreign tongue. The dolphin drifted closer, and water rippled up from around it and hovered in a ball atop its snout. The crowd looked impressed.

Ruyo created a waterball and sent it to dance near the dolphin. The animal looked confused, then nudged it with its beak. Ruyo made it wobble drunkenly, until the dolphin bit down and destroyed it in a splash. Then, the pet shoved the ball it had created toward Ruyo. She batted it back with one hand, and a game began. Ruyo conjured a little more water to make the ball bigger with each hit and throw. The dolphin clumsily missed with the next shot, forcing Ruyo to lean sideways to grab the ball and return it. The next throw was even worse, so that Ruyo had to run after the ball and fetch it.

"Wait a minute," Ruyo said, and laughed. "Who's playing fetch with who?" She made the ball even bigger and pushed it back. It overwhelmed the dolphin's magic strength and splashed all over. The creature squeaked and chattered, immediately conjuring another ball of saltwater fast enough to catch Ruyo off guard and strike her in the face. She laughed and raised her hands, drawing up all the water she could into a massive ball she could barely hold. The dolphin's jaw hung open in alarm and it dived for cover.

"Don't get carried away, ma'am!" said the trainer.

Ruyo laughed and heaved her attack as far away to one side as she could. The animal surfaced again, gaping at her. Ruyo approached with empty hands, slowly, and knelt in the shallows. The dolphin allowed her to rub her fingers along the wet, sleek, rubbery skin of its side. Nusina was saying something but Ruyo hardly noticed. One dark eye studied her, and then the beast flicked its head as if ushering her out to the water. Ruyo nodded and walked across the waves to a slightly deeper spot where they could play. She floated a blob near her show partner and it leaped up to snag the thing. Next she pulled open another ball to form a ring for it to leap through. Concentrating, the dolphin made a ball too and got Ruyo to chase it and hit it back.

The animal motioned downward and she understood its meaning. She let herself fall into the sea and meet face to beak. The weight of her clothes dragged her down but she could compensate. Down here the dolphin drifted close to study her and invite a bellyrub. She provided one and admired how the creature spun around her so easily. Her lungs burned. She hurried up, shooting back to the surface and willing the water to spin and set her back on her feet. Not to be outdone, the dolphin leaped up and jumped clear over her, splashing down in a shallow arc.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

The onlookers applauded. She'd forgotten they were there. She blushed and took a bow, waved to her new friend, and walked back to shore to take her place with the audience again.

"Um," she thought at Nusina, very distracted. "Were you saying something?"

"I said, I think the dolphin senses what you are."

She felt the stares of the crowd, divided between her and the real performer. She smiled and said, "I'm just showing off. Show some love for the trainer and his sidekick here!" She tossed another coin into the box, and most of the others did likewise.

The trainer went on, though he obviously felt upstaged. Ruyo watched politely and dried herself off. "Really ought to get a waterproof pack," she muttered, though she didn't have anything on her that'd be damaged when wet. Her remaining money was safe.

Eventually the show ended, and she applauded and started to leave. But the trainer signaled to her to stay, and she waited for the other guests to go.

He said, "Thanks for making that more interesting." He tossed a coin back to her as a token; he had a good haul. "You must be that flashy water mage people are talking about. What are you trying to do here?"

"This is my hometown. I came back to help a friend, and now I'm studying more magic."

Nusina snorted silently. "And you helped clean somebody's basement."

The trainer pointed to his dolphin and said, "My friend Sparkwave obviously likes you, but she's easygoing. I hear you were at the Council building?"

Ruyo wondered about this man. There was a chance he was in contact with Khyber, gathering information for them. A traveling performer would be a good cover for that. "Where are you from, anyway?"

"Fourwinds. We're very far from my home. I want to see all the coasts of the world. Maybe too much for one lifetime, though."

Nusina suggested, "Sounds well traveled. Ask him about ruins."

Ruyo asked, "Have you seen any interesting ruins? Especially on the equator?"

"Oh, a few. I trade stories; would you share yours?"

"I need to get going, but..." Playing it safe, she related some trouble she'd run into in the westlands, last fall. That was a boring year for the most part, but she'd had to join a caravan because of an ongoing bandit problem.

He said, "Interesting to hear about inland things. I stay by the coast, as you can imagine. Near Fourwinds there's some of an ancient road that led to an island that's gone now. I've seen the edge of the Mirror Desert, an old battlefield that people have been scrounging for parts for generations, some kind of giant crater; what else... a cave made of concrete with a village in it. That was pretty interesting, what's left of it."

She asked a bit about exactly where, but he had only a general notion. He said, "Are you an explorer, then?"

"I've been looking for places like that, yeah. There are some around here including a place in the southern islands that got fitted out as a workshop. That might get opened to the public any day now if you're curious."

"I might try that! Would you like to get dinner, by the way?"

"Sorry. I'd like to, but my friends are waiting. Nice meeting you both." She waved to the dolphin again.

"Ah, well. Safe travels!"

She left him behind with a smile on her face. But she took a roundabout route back home, saying quietly, "Spy?"

"Maybe, but I think you're being paranoid. Khyber probably has a spy in town who knows about you but isn't that obvious. Besides, you're trying to become well known, right?"

She walked through the market, trying not to wonder if the merchants were watching her. "Any idea how my 'Mythos' is coming along?"

"I'd been meaning to talk about that. I've been out of touch, of course, and getting back to a shrine would help both of us re-center and upgrade. Remember though, that your power is a function of your practical experience and your formal training. That's true for anyone. You also have the mystical effects of how you define yourself and how others see you."

She was in sight of home, now. Her friends were waiting inside, her recent enemies awaited her visit, the city leaders and wizard guild expected much of her, and distant foes were probably trying to learn about her. She said, "That sounds like it applies to all relationships."

Then she went inside and hugged her parents extra hard, reminding herself they weren't just tools or pawns.

#

Mena and Taris both wanted to come along on this trip. They closed the shop early and met up with a guard and that yellow-robed mage from the Order.

Ruyo said, "What about Pir? You're not planning to drag him along on a boat, are you?"

Lisette said, "We decided he needs to not be terrified of that. He's coming along on the ship tomorrow, right? Bad time to have him panic."

She looked at the small animate bonfire floating beside them and pictured him burning his way out of a hull. "Fair point."

They hopped into a little rowboat for this short trip. Elly and Lisette proudly showed off that they knew how to get a basic water-current spell going.

"You figured that out on your own?" asked Ruyo.

Elly said, "We trained a bit in different places. I think this goes beyond the spells that come 'free' with the initiation thing."

"Congratulations," said Mena.

Ruyo nodded too. Nice to see them advancing. "I'll have to keep studying to stay ahead!"

The yellow mage said, "I'm most interested in whether your unique spells can be taught. Fascinating to hear about the spirits, too; can they appear now?"

Nusina pushed into reality and made herself visible. "Ah, good, that works easily again. Yes, we're both here. Uncomfortably close."

Ruyo thought, "I should command you to touch just to see what happens."

"We'd blow up the city again."

"What? Really? It's not safe having you both on board at all!"

Nusina bubbled. "No, not really. But it'd hurt." She kept to the boat's stern while Pir stayed squarely in the center, like a sensible human surrounded by fire.

Ruyo helped the sisters speed the boat along without rowing. She admired the wind and waves, and thought about what it would be like to fly through the water without a care.