The rider from the east waved a scroll at her. "Are you the one called Ruyo? I have a message from the Council of Averell."

Ruyo said, "Yes, I am," and read the letter, letting Nusina see.

To the mage of unique abilities, Ruyo: We are surprised and disappointed that you vanished without warning. We assume you had good reason for interrupting our negotiation and training, and if these words reach you we have caught up with you. The Council still wishes to have you provide your brand of instant training for a group of our candidate mages, as soon as possible. We offer to teach you further magic theory in the hopes that your training, in turn, will be more effective. We can also provide training in mundane crafts such as those you expressed interest in. For now we will allow the unorthodox religious practices you have encouraged within the Vissio estate.

Ruyo groused, "They know perfectly well why I ran off. I didn't want to be tracked down before I was ready. Even now we're still vulnerable, if someone better prepared than the last bunch shows up to raid the shrine."

Nusina said, "This deal gets us at least a token round of prayers. Notice that your new guards are offering that daily, by the way? And you get more skill to back up your raw power. It's a good offer."

Ruyo ruffled the paper and read it again. "It is. They're going to try drawing us further into their circle though."

"Ask them to make you a noble!"

She laughed. "That would be its own jar of worms! It'd mean they're using me as a way to claim ownership of land way out here. Clever."

The rider heard none of their talk. "Is there a reply, ma'am?"

"One moment." She asked Nusina, "Any objection to saying 'yes, please'?"

Nusina's eyes shook back and forth.

Ruyo told the messenger, "This offer is fine with me. It's best if we meet here, though I plan to make a short trip to Sor's Hill. My preferences for craft training are weaving, cooking and lead-smithing. Be prepared to camp out; I don't have proper housing."

"I'll let them know, ma'am." He held one hand edge-out in front of his heart, in the sign of the Church.

Ruyo hesitated, then returned the gesture. The messenger nodded and rode off.

Nusina said, "Was that part the real message?"

"Big part of it, I think."

#

The man she'd sent to Sor's Hill returned, bearing vegetables for a few good meals. Being able to trade iron and other trinkets was good for pocket money. He also brought back news of a simple shrine's completion.

Ruyo hesitantly left her shrine behind in the care of Nusina, three elementals it was a strain to maintain, and the three guards. Nusina let them be armed and was pretty sure they were cowed into not trying anything. Ruyo put more trust in the fact that it was in their interest to cooperate.

After a long hike east, she reached town and found a new addition to the village outskirts, near the pond. The shrine of Ruyo was carved from the stump of a newly felled tree, its bark stripped. The exposed wood had carved and painted blue waves and droplets and a childishly painted drawing of a woman standing at the edge of a pit, her hands glowing as she faced down a horned monster. The villagers had clearly put days of effort into it. When they showed it off proudly, she smiled and put her hand on the wood, formally accepting it.

Something had bothered her on the way here. Tulia was the official priestess for Averell, but had her own goals and a job serving Quintus. So who would do the consecration for this place? She asked.

Only a few people had attended the little dedication ceremony, and they looked sheepish about the idea of really praying at the thing. One of the men said, "If you need someone to dance around shouting your name in the moonlight, Moira's your best bet."

Moira was among the guests. She met Ruyo's eyes and said, "My family's expected to be in contact with spirits. Maybe that's our destiny."

"Is it what you want, though?"

The woman looked askance.

Ruyo said, "I'll have to think about it." She excused herself and went to find the town's best tailor to ask for advice.

The local expert was a farmer half the time, but was currently repairing shirts. Her first reaction to Ruyo was, "Goodness, what happened to you?"

Ruyo looked down at her tattered clothes, still slightly bloodstained. "I'm in the market for a new outfit. But I wanted to show you something, first." She gave the woman a sample of magically created cloth.

The clothier frowned at it. "I hope you didn't pay much for this, dear."

"I didn't. What's wrong with it?"

"There's no real weave. It's like the threads are just overlapping."

"But they do have layering. Warp and weft, right?"

"Nothing holds them together. I bet that..." The tailor tugged at the cloth and it tore slightly. "Sorry."

Ruyo's bedsheets had already torn somewhat, too. "So they need to be pulled together tighter?"

"I suppose that's one way. But what sort of loom made this? Is it handmade?"

Ruyo blushed.

The tailor looked her damaged tunic over again, and whistled. "Oh, you're that wizard! I heard about you. Making things, and making twice as many promises. Whatever you may be, a weaver you're not."

"That's why I'm asking."

"A good first step. I don't have a loom of my own to show you, though. Would you like to see what I'm doing with this stitching?"

While Ruyo crouched beside the woman and watched, someone knocked, and a commotion came with it. "Would you mind?" the tailor asked.

Ruyo got the door, and all her hair prickled. There stood three men trying to restrain the misshapen, tusk-faced man who'd recently fought her. She swallowed and said, "Hello?"