With her successes and failures in mind, Ruyo spent the day mainly helping with mundane construction and cleaning, while her mana reserves began to refill. It was good to work with a hammer and nails and saw again. In fact she might be able to alter her created wood a little and get a sturdier kind, or more useful shapes... but no, her focus for the moment was to get the campsite secure and comfortable. The monk had a few books to read, and the ex-bandits had bits of a printing press to experiment with. Everyone had wood to cut, shelter to improve. Ruyo was providing food and water (though there was that stream nearby anyway), so she was at least being a minimal host. Still, she would've liked to make these people prosperous rather than just surviving in crude shelters.

Doing that was going to require more magic upgrades, and supplies like ink, paper and lead-smithing tools. So, the next day, she set off again. With her were Nusina and two of the three guards: Khulis the Khyberian from the north, and Hastro the former farmer from the western lands. Carrying some iron (it was a bit easier to make at home than on the road), they set out eastward. She was mounted, they on foot.

"I'm counting on you to help shop for smithing tools," she told Khulis. He had helped set up some basic charcoal production.

"I don't know very much, but I'll try." He paused. "Are you really hoping to build up a village?"

"I need to, for my own safety. It'll probably not amount to much with Averell nearby, but I could see it being a small farm and logging camp with an inn."

Hastro said, "The soil's decent if we can clear it."

"Are you two interested in staying? Just to repeat, you don't have to."

"I don't want to go back to tilling the dirt myself, ever again! But work with Sinna's gang really didn't pay that well. I wouldn't mind staying by the cave, if it weren't so dull there."

Nusina appeared for a moment. "Dull! We got attacked by the Witch Hunters!"

Hastro grinned. "I was asleep for that. Now, the magic's nice and you're feeding us, and you brought some girls this time. But it'd be nice to have more to do. I'm glad to get away for a bit."

Ruyo nodded. If the printing idea could work, that'd keep the group occupied and earning money for themselves. Besides that, they could get more tools, a deck of cards, booze... She couldn't hope to compete with the towns for entertainment. "Hey, Nusina, how about a Create Beer spell?"

Nusina said, "Given your current skills, milady, I think these men would prefer water."

"Ouch. Maybe we need to study this subject."

#

Sor's Hill was a good stop along the way. The shrine was still in operation and a few people had been praying there, led by the deformed, tusked man Miras serving as her priest. He greeted her and said, "They're mainly humoring me. Giving me a reason to be here, and showing some gratitude for what you did. There's no tangible reason for them to keep directing prayers to the shrine."

"Understandable. I don't think I've given you the magic blessing yet, have I? I'm still a little low on power but can get started for you and a few others."

Nusina floated over to the shrine pillar where she could appear most easily. "Thank you for your service, sir."

"Yes, thank you," Ruyo said quickly. With his consent she did the Initiation ritual, giving him his first bit of magic. Or so she thought.

Miras said, "I actually found I have some ability already, after what happened to me." He picked up a rock and made it float in his hands.

"Oh! Hopefully this will still be useful. I'm told that the Initiation is like a separate tool that shouldn't interfere with other ways of casting. I can come back and give you the next level soon, if that'd help. Meanwhile I can start breaking in a few other people who're interested, this visit." She paused. "They treating you all right here?"

Miras nodded. "I still frighten some people, but I'm getting by."

Ruyo went to the town's part-time clothier to say hello. The woman took one look at her and said, "You ruined your clothes again?"

Ruyo felt sheepish. "I have an exciting life lately."

"At least let me stitch up that sleeve while you tell me about it."

She mostly stuck to talking about the fight with the bandits and how she'd been to Brotherhood, and learning new magic. The tailor said, "That isn't all of it, is it?"

"No, but I've been asked to keep a few things hidden."

"You won't be hiding much if you keep getting your outfits shredded. Get some proper armor if you're going to play adventurer!"

"I'll try."

#

Ruyo gathered a small crowd at the inn, and put on a show for them. The tailor woman was among them. Ruyo would've liked to tell them all about battling the monster of the Unspoken One, but that was secret. And she didn't want to talk about the Witch Hunters...

Khulis the guard was into his second beer when he said, "She even beat up two assassins!"

Ruyo winced as heads turned her way. "I'm not too proud of that."

"What'd you do?" somebody said. And then the rest pestered Ruyo into telling the tale.

"How do I handle this?" she asked her guide.

"Light on detail, and change a few facts?"

So Ruyo tried at least to make it entertaining, and to not dwell on the killing. "Okay, this is something that happened to me. But I'll tell you in advance, around a third of it's going to be false..."

She talked about a couple of hired killers that tried to block her magic and got in a few good hits. She tracked them down to Brotherhood, where the monks explained it wasn't their fault. And then a monster like a spinning box of eyes had ambushed her and a couple of monks while they were training outside the village, shooting blasts of flame that they blocked with shards of ice. They'd climbed trees to leap down and smash it from above.

"No way," said a besotted man.

Ruyo grinned; she'd gotten into improvising the tale. "Yeah, that's not quite what really happened. But it's not too far off. Anybody want to battle an elemental for fun?"

That turned into a party game, seeing how many hits a tipsy swordsman took to cleave a flying, dodging water-orb or how well he could dodge. Nusina joined in as a stand-in for a larger elemental by carrying a big blob around and mock-drowning people. Good combatants could cut her in half, which was harmless.

A farmer stretched out his hand and flung a whip of water at Ruyo, catching her off guard. She yipped and got hit. "Oh, we've got an actual water-mage in town? I'm new at this; want to see if you can beat a goddess?"

The villagers took bets on who'd be first to fall.

Ruyo and the wiry young farmer, the village's irrigation expert, faced off outside the tavern. A full bucket rested in front of each. "I warn you," Ruyo said to the crowd. "The first few rows may get wet."

She raised her hands and poured water upward, gathering it into a ball above her. The mage saw her delaying, and rushed her. He ran and leaped, stealing a few gallons from Ruyo's orb to add to his own supply. Villagers laughed. As he passed, he spun and flung his hands forward, launching the whole mass at her face.

Ruyo sputtered but held her ground, rapidly recharging the blob above her. She blinked water out of her eyes and lost sight of her foe. A grunt from him betrayed his position. Ruyo turned and flung the massive ball down at him.

The farmer ducked and slipped on the wet grass, barely staying on his feet. He used a jet of water to help keep his balance.

"Get 'im!" somebody shouted. "Gotta be quick against her!" said another.

The farmer whipped bits of water off the ground surprisingly hard; some turned to slush in midair. Ruyo got driven two steps back. The ground was soaked now. She raised both hands to command all the water in the arena, rising like reverse rain and flowing toward her.

Now she had an oversized ball again, barely under control. He tried to snatch it away but got only a fraction of it. a much smaller orb. The onlookers jeered at the comparison. Ruyo feinted, tried to circle around him, then slammed her weapon down on him like a hammer.

He wobbled and dropped to his hands and knees, coughing and laughing. "You got me."

She helped him up. "Another round?"

He stood but shook his head, using magic to push the water off him and dry himself. "You should move around more, if you're fighting seriously."

"Oh yeah, I did learn one trick for that." Ruyo concentrated, and lifted off just above the ground on a splashing halo of phantom water around her feet. "Can't do this for long," she said in a strained voice. "But go, attack!"

He took a free shot with a jet of water. Ruyo willed herself sideways and sailed out of the way without taking a step. The floating spell popped and she landed back on her feet.

"Nice. What about creating the, what'd you call them, elementals? Can you teach me that?"

"It's not too useful for irrigation."

He shrugged. "It might be."

"Yeah, sure; I'll try. Thanks for watching, everyone! If you offer a prayer at the shrine once in a while I'll be better able to do things like this again, and teach you the basics soon!"

The farmer-mage took Ruyo aside to train with her, talking about the elemental spell. They went out to the shrine and the nearby pond.

Nusina materialized and said, "Now that I see it, it's not that complex a spell, for a basically mindless version you have to control. Ruyo knows a slightly better version that can act as a guard and launch ice, but hasn't yet gotten it to work outside her home. Oh, ice; can you do ice yet?"

He nodded and showed off, conjuring a chunk of hail. "Now, this would hurt in a real fight."

Ruyo said, "Yes. So far I've mostly just flung water around. Throwing ice seems a little tougher, but I should try that more often. Or I suppose just hurl it by hand." She winced, thinking about the Witch Hunter woman.

He turned toward a tree and nailed it with an iceball, making a satisfying thunk. "I'm no fighter, but I've driven a bear away like this. I was a kid and I learned that trick real fast!"

"So you ended up as the irrigation guy for Sor's Hill?"

"Yeah. Which puts me in a weird position toward your boar-priest. I haven't got anything against him; it's not his fault what happened. We gamble together sometimes. But I haven't got anything to gain from him. He can't teach me spells."

"Actually, he said he knows a little earth magic now."

"Really? He hadn't told me. Might hit him up for that."

Ruyo showed him how to do the elemental-making spell, lifting a blob of water from the pond and making it float around. It wasn't that different from how each of them was able to lift and carry a heavy ball of water with their hands. They and Nusina speculated that the basis of the spell was the same idea used for controlling water without using their hands. Or repelling rain, a trick that the man already knew.

He said, "What about making a spirit that thinks and talks instead of just floating? Are you a super-elemental?"

Nusina said, "I'm different. I'm separate from any water I'm carrying around."

"And... you don't possess people I hope?"

"No!" She said to Ruyo, "I barely avoided the temptation to pretend to float through him while going 'Ooooo'."

"Good call."

The man said, "But you did say there's such a thing as a fire elemental that moves around on its own and fights without someone controlling it. And your little ice guards. Maybe Nusina is just the high end of that scale. And somebody did make you at some point, right?"

Nusina bobbed. "It's pretty high-level stuff. I wouldn't expect even Ruyo to be able to make more like me anytime soon. Maybe some more independent guards, if she works at it."

They sparred again, including having Ruyo chuck ice around, Nusina playing moving target, Ruyo swimming some more, and bleeding their mana supplies dry. Ruyo ran low first, feeling that otherworldly exhaustion creeping in again. "I've got to quit and it's getting dark anyway. Thanks for the lesson!"

"That was fun, ma'am. I'll say a few prayers in your name."

"Thank you! Every bit helps. We can compare notes again later."