Nusina relented and hung back as Ruyo pulled open the heavy iron-shod door and set foot inside, alone.

The Steadfast Church officially had no one headquarters, but this city was its main seat of power. This building was once an actual fort but now served as a house of worship. Its entryway stood empty but the way to its main room stood open. In there, Ruyo found colorful sunbeams and the smell of incense. Her footsteps echoed on the stone floor. Rows and rows of simple stone benches filled most of the room. And at the far end, a man in a brown robe was sweeping the floor.

Ruyo called out, "Hello? I'm looking for someone to talk with. Someone not too high-ranking."

The cleaner leaned on his broom and smiled. "Well, you're not here during formal service hours, so would a second-level brother be good enough?"

"I don't even know the ranks, or much else." Ruyo faltered and looked at the floor. "I'm expected to know too much. And do too much."

"Have a seat, miss. I have a few minutes."

Ruyo sat. "Do you know who I am?"

He joined her on the bench. "No. Should I?"

Ruyo ran her hands through her hair. "No! That's good. Look, I... got some major responsibility handed to me recently, and I suppose I'm glad for it. I made some new friends and I might get to be rich and important and do useful things. I'm used to people wanting things from me, which is fine."

The Church man said, "But?"

"I can't shut my door and be away from business, maybe ever again. I need to get better at my work and then do it constantly. Already I've got people dependent on me to keep them fed. Maybe I can handle that. But I'm also being told to get involved in convoluted politics, and I'm almost certainly going to look arrogant as all hell. Or like a complete fool under someone else's control, if I don't boss people around."

Her listener looked up into the colorful beams from the windows. Scarlet predominated, but gold and green added to the patterns of light splashing across the benches and floor. "A young professional being handed too many responsibilities, hmm?"

"You could say that."

"Is there a husband in your life, or parents or children?"

"Parents are off in Starshore. No men or kids yet; I've been trying to establish myself so that I'm not just a commodity. But now I have the reverse problem: any relationship is going to have somebody thinking about how valuable I am."

"You are more than a product for sale, miss. You should find someone who accepts that. As for your troubles, it sounds like you have a great deal of work to do. Part of your responsibility is to build yourself up, not just the world around you. If you don't feel up to the tasks before you, it's your responsibility not to take on something you're unready for. A woman like you who volunteers to hold up a heavy weight is doing no one any favors."

"But I did take on this job. I can't run away from it."

"Then maybe you've made a mistake. I have to speak in general terms, here, since I don't know the specifics of your situation. Likely the most righteous act you can do now is to pause, refuse duties you can't handle yet, and take time to labor at becoming more skilled and confident. Can you support yourself financially while doing that for a little while?"

"I could." Ruyo thought of the powerful Church organization, its eagerness to recruit her, its offers and possible veiled threats. But here in this sanctuary with just one man who probably didn't know her troubles in detail, her problems seemed a little simpler. They would grow only if she invited them to, and she'd be a fool to accept that right now. "Yes, I should hang back for the moment. There are a few tasks I need to keep doing. But besides that I'm probably best served by training and learning before I accept a... promotion to bigger things."

The priest nodded. "Based on what I know, that sounds reasonable. I hope that helps clear your mind a little."

Ruyo stood and bowed.

She accepted a blessing from him: a brief prayer for the strength to labor with honesty and skill. She didn't feel that it did anything magical to her to hear the words, but they still were welcome.

On the way out she admired the stained glass, whose beams' angle had shifted while she talked. She looked up past them at the ceiling, painted dark like a starry sky. "Is there a reason for this style, by the way?"

The priest said, "This building was once a fort --"

"I know that part."

"Well, the modern windows are a matter of civic pride, replacing some foreign ones from before the industry in Glasstown grew up. The ceiling, though, is a depiction of the Glittering Fastness. It represents the ultimate strength of the Church and its people, composed of countless lights shining in the dark."

It contrasted oddly with the more terrestrial, rocky symbolism of the Church, but she did like it.

#

Outside again in the sunlight, Nusina floated and watched people walk by. She flicked her eyes through her body to face Ruyo and said, "How did it go?"

"I need to turn down the Church's offer to be their mascot, for now. We should help them, but I'm not going to make any public announcements about it until I'm better prepared."

"Fair enough."

"Now, you wanted to browse magic items, I think? Let's go shopping."

#

She soon met up with her henchmen at the inn. Khulis had gotten in contact with a Church official for funding, and had brought an interesting metalworking tool that he called a hand mold. "I got the owner to agree to come along for a few days to teach us."

Hastro had obviously been fooling around on his own and was slightly drunk, but he'd acquired some cards and dice and cookware and new boots. "I would've gotten clothes, but I'm hoping you can start making some decent fabric."

Ruyo laughed nervously. Another thing people expected from her. But this one was definitely within her abilities, or ought to be. "I'll see what I can do."

The next morning, she went to visit Quintus and Tulia. She answered the door of the mage's workshop home. "Ruyo! Good to see you. Come in."

"Hello. How has your work been?"

Tulia shrugged. "Surprisingly not a huge change in my life. What being a priestess means is apparently that I show up for an hour every other day at the Vissio place to do a quick prayer for your success and meet with anyone else that wants to do that."

Nusina said, "Only every other day?"

"I'll take what I can get."

Tulia said, "I can see you pausing there. How're you doing, Nusina? You're the real expert among us."

The spirit appeared. "We're getting better at the job, and more able to travel. There isn't as much energy coming in as we'd like. Are people attending the shrine with you?"

"A few, mostly the household staff."

Ruyo said, "This again? Are they being forced to?"

"No; I asked. It's no longer required. Most do it anyway. They're hoping you'll come back and teach them magic."

"I did get better at that, so I can empower you a bit more already."

Nusina said, "Though of course that will take energy. If you can gather some people at the shrine, we should be able to help you and a few others." Silently she told Ruyo, "Don't sell it so cheaply, merchant!"

Ruyo snorted. "Fair. How is Quintus doing?"

"Asleep at the moment. The Council's been pushing him lately." Snoring came from the back room.

"On what?"

"Trade you a story for a story."

Ruyo took the priestess out for a cheap meal. There, Tulia quietly said, "Earthworks, to the north. Officially new holy watchtowers for travelers, but there's not much difference between those and the kind you'd want for practical reasons. And, officially, the only trouble is with the gator tribes."

The gators were scaly, hunched-over beasts that liked to ambush humans. Although none were left along the east-west stretch of road Ruyo had been traveling, the threat was well known in other regions including part of the roads to both Starshore and to Khyber.

Ruyo talked about the pressure she was under from Church and State. "I'm not going to get involved in that right now. I need more experience." She sighed. "Which means that the Council might start trying to shut down worship at the Vissio shrine."

"I'm not looking to become a martyr for you, Ruyo. No offense."

"None taken. Don't get in trouble. I need to build up an organization, and it needs people from different places going back and forth, working in different ways and crossing paths. It's complicated, but the more of this... trade and interaction there is, the stronger the whole setup will be. I'm trying not to rely on any one shrine or one gimmick. Or even on just my own powers and judgment."

"I've got some leeway, then?"

"Yes, so long as you're careful. The Church knows you're speaking out against slavery. How is that going?"

Tulia said, "I've been meeting with a few fellow slaves and telling them about you. Hearing the latest news of your adventures will help keep their interest. I've had to be a bit of a storyteller." She looked devious. "If you're not planning to join the Church outright, you can let slip that you're particularly troubled by the slavery problem."

That wasn't Ruyo's real motive, but it could be part of her excuse for remaining at arm's length from the Church for now.

"Anyway, the whole group wants magic powers. And I'm afraid they think that means a lot more than just flinging water around."

"Unfortunately, right now it doesn't."

"Work on your magic, then! I want sparkles!"

Nusina said, "Sparkles would fit with your existing light spell and performance skill."

Ruyo chuckled. "Let's meet up at the shrine later today and I'll do what I can."