They sat on the floor cushions and ate a simple meal of beans, a sweet-fleshed fish Ruyo had been craving, and a leftover berry cake. Ruyo demonstrated most of what she could do including generating bread, but the sisters revolted against eating any more of the repetitive stuff while other food was available. Her father scribbled notes while her mother paced the shop, asking questions about obscure details.

Mena finally said, "You're either becoming dangerously important, or pulling a scam so impressive I should applaud you." She smirked. "You're definitely not pulling all those items out from your hat to trick us, are you?"

"I'm not wearing a hat."

"Whyever not? You shouldn't be walking all day in the sun without a hat. Get that man you like in Averell to make you a nice one."

"Mom!"

The sisters giggled. Elly said, "Anyway, ma'am, as far as I know it's all true. We've met Nusina, We've been in the ruins, and... we haven't introduced Pir yet!"

Ruyo had been paying the fire spirit little attention and that suited him fine. "This part's your show, then."

Elly spoke a word in the ancient tongue, probably for "Activate." Pir manifested, turning more solid to Ruyo's eyes. Elly hunched over slightly as though shouldering a weight.

Ruyo's parents recoiled from the sudden fire in their room, and from having it look at them with its beady eyes. Mena said, "Will it hurt us?"

"No, but I'd recommend not hugging him."

Lisette said, "You can, actually." She demonstrated. Pir seemed confused by the gesture but wrapped a bit of his flames around her arm.

Ruyo said, "Maybe it's just me, but that's a little alarming."

Mena tentatively touched the spirit and looked delighted not to be burned. Palis settled for a friendly wave.

Ruyo explained, "Nusina looks like that except watery. And more talkative. Pir, though, knows some of the Lost World language."

"Spoken and written," Elly said. She spoke another word and Pir faded to his more ghostly state, taking a load off of Elly's mana.

Palis rubbed his bearded chin. "There's a lot of opportunity here."

"Also a war," Ruyo reminded him.

"Right. Seems to me, the first thing we need to do is build a shrine. The kind you can use for your more advanced powers."

Mena said, "You want to go right along with getting people to pray to our girl?"

"Why not? It seems to work."

Ruyo blushed. "Again, this job doesn't come with ultimate power or raising the dead and so on. But I'm advancing quickly even if you only look at my normal magic. It'd take a year or more to get water-walking for instance, and I can speed people through a few months of training in a day."

Palis nodded and scribbled another line. "The bit about the elementals interests me too. It's not a power unique to you, but barely anyone knows how to do it yet. Anyway, shrine first. Then you have more followers, two at the least. Then you can see about talking more people into this."

Mena finally sat down again. "I've always believed in you, Ruyo. This will be a little different, but I can see the use of it. And now we've heard about it from your own lips and seen your power with our own eyes. We've been looking into this idea of a shrine since we got your letter, and can get that started tomorrow."

Palis asked, "Can you help to pay for it with your iron and such? That will help talk a few people we know into helping, too."

Ruyo nodded. "Thanks very much for not laughing at all this. Now, the other reason I'm here." She reminded them of Nusina's kidnapping and said, "I was told to contact two men named Clovis and Aristes, a merchant and a retired fisher. Do you know either?"

Her parents shook their heads. "We can ask around," her father said.

"I can claim I'm trying to deliver messages, which is basically true." Ruyo yawned. "It's good to be back somewhere safe."

#

Ruyo dreamed of alien glyphs and leering faces, and woke up vaguely worried. She shook off the feeling; she had enough real problems without throwing omens into the mix.

There wasn't a dedicated guest room, so she and the sisters had camped out in the shop, uncomfortable but secure. They might do better soon... if Ruyo got a suitably designed shrine. She yawned and got up to start the day.

Her mother saw to tending the store, while her father coached her on talking to a few of his contacts. He said, "I don't think you can pull this goddess routine until after the shrine's completed and the instant magic-granting becomes possible."

Lisette said, "We can tell people we've seen her do all these things, and show off magic."

"Sure you can, but you won't get locals to do more than humor her. Not until she can obviously grant people a serious long-term advantage. How's the third part of the, ah, initiation going, Ruyo?"

"I haven't managed to grant the third tier yet. Been focused on learning enchantment."

Palis said, "It'd help though! That's, what, wound-cleaning and water-walking and a general boost to the simpler spells?"

"Yes, though I don't think even my directly water-related spells perfectly match what others can do at the same skill level. I know healing in particular takes more practice than I've had, to really do well." She winced. "I'd love to give everybody healing powers, but I'm obligated to spend a lot of my energy cranking out those bread-sticks for Averell. And I need to do the usual morning spells; excuse me."

Her parents watched her sit and concentrate on magic that had no obvious effect. Ruyo felt embarrassed as though she were faking, when really she was miraculously conjuring goods to faraway places. The advanced shrines northwest of her at Wellspring, Brotherhood and now Averell stood out as pinpoints in her imagination.

She said, "About granting magic, it's not the best way to get a continuous prayer stream because there's no obligation for anyone to keep praying after they get the power."

Elly commented, "I did suggest finding some way to make it an ongoing price."

Mena said, "Good that you're thinking about the profit and loss, but business isn't all about that. Building up a good reputation helps too."

Ruyo nodded, planning.

#

The sisters went with her to explore the market. "I expected a big open plaza like Averell," said Lisette. "Why do it this way?"

Ruyo shrugged. "The town grew up naturally, adding one street to another."

She knew most of the area well, and enjoyed seeing the changes and gauging what they foretold. Not surprisingly the blazing-white neighborhood called the Kiln, next door, had continued losing its glass business to Averell due to the cheaper fuel there. That ship with all the metal hadn't flooded the market yet, so she was able to sell a heavy load of iron and lead. She handed some coins to the sisters.

While browsing she asked about the merchant Clovis, and got directed to a building she vaguely remembered but had never visited. It was a stall selling fishing gear, occupying a narrow strip between two tool shops.

The shopkeeper was a doddering old man who paid her little attention until she mentioned having a message from Averell. That opened his eyes wider. "Might you be the woman who's been visiting the Vissio family? Yes? Come around back."

The neighboring merchants were eavesdropping. He grinned at them and said, "Friends of a friend, you know." They obviously didn't believe that was all.

Ruyo and company found that "around back" really meant a labeled hatch in the next street up. The shop was a single cramped room, not a home, forcing the sisters to stay outside.

Clovis pulled down a canopy over his storefront. "Welcome. Mind the neighbors."

Ruyo kept her voice down. "The message is just that I've been told to ask you about finding my friend."

"Right. So. See this?" He picked up a shiny bit of golden metal.

"Brass for some complicated fishing thing?"

He snorted. "Yes. A new kind of mechanical reel. It is indeed brass, which is made of...?"

"Mostly copper?"

"And calamine, found locally."

He showed her a tiny chunk of milky yellow-white ore. Starshore lacked the mineral wealth of the northern lands like Khyber, but it did have a few mines. She recalled that a few of the unusual stones were valuable for uses like alchemy, as opposed to the more obvious value of iron.

Clovis went on, "Brass has some interesting properties, one of which is that it's good for mechanical gadgets with bits spinning and sliding around. Also any situation where sparks are dangerous. And while trying to make and sell better fishing rods, I noticed there's been a sudden run on all the brass around here, and some of the other odd ores. Just in the last few weeks."

Ruyo frowned. "You think there's some connection?"

"I was told to look out for any unusual market activity that might be related to a group seeking ancient secrets. I'm not sure this is related, but I was thinking, what if they're not just after spells?"

That was a good insight. Nusina's knowledge of the Lost World was limited, but she had enough memories to help re-invent devices like the printing press. Ruyo said, "So if we find out who's buying the stuff, that might lead us to someone experimenting with new devices?"

Clovis laughed. "Who's 'we'? That's about all I know."

"All right; that's helpful. Might you know someone named Aristes, a retired fisher?"

The merchant blinked and spoke even more quietly. "Him? He's also in this circle of 'friends'? I sold him some hooks."

Ruyo had just blown a spy's cover, apparently. She winced. "Where can I find him?"

"Out on the islands, I think."

That didn't greatly narrow it down, since there were plenty. But a man being paid to pay attention to things would likely be stationed where he'd see ships passing by and have easy access to the city.

She said, "Thank you, sir. Would a few pounds of lead help with your lures?"

"Sure."

Ruyo conjured a block of metal and handed it to him with a flourish.

He stared for several seconds before taking it. "So you really do have unusual powers."

She winked. "If you're at all interested in water magic, start studying now. I'll have a way to grant the talent for it very soon."