Wavebound Tapestry by Kris Schnee

Author:Kris Schnee [Schnee, Kris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2020-09-29T22:00:00+00:00

5. Blessings

The next morning was warm and sunny with a favorable breeze, strangely peaceful after last night. Ruyo joined in with prayers for the dead and did what little she could to help treat the wounded. The sisters watched, looking uneasy.

Afterward, a crewman called Ruyo's attention to that chunk of brown ice she'd tried to hit people with. "What is this?"

"Improvised weapon. Sawdust and ice."

The sailor whacked it against the mast and it didn't break. "Huh. Didn't melt much overnight." He shook his head. "Thanks to you and your friends last night. Never been in a real fight before."

"It's still pretty new to me, too."

* * *

They reached Follyport and passed it to reach the better docks nearby. A wagon took the prisoners by land and from there to Follyport and the riverboat. Going upriver was harder, of course, with horses helping to haul the vessel along the muddy banks. They struggled along the uneven ground, and Ruyo and the girls felt sorry for them. All three offered to help push the boat by magic and the captain gladly accepted.

It was a dull ride otherwise. Ruyo slept in her tiny cabin next to the sisters. The prisoners were chained more tightly now and escorted by a trio of no-nonsense soldiers who'd been sent to meet them. They didn't react much when they saw there were extra convicts to watch.

She woke up early in the morning feeling strange. She scratched her head, then looked at her hands. There was skin stretched between her fingers, in a faintly shiny grey color, slick to her touch.

She gasped. Nusina sensed her alarm and Ruyo said, "Look!"

"Nice. It's been a while since you tried adjusting yourself."

"This wasn't on purpose. How do I fix it?"

Nusina floated close by, shining blue light on her webbed hands. "Remember, your shape is increasingly based on what you think of as ideal, or what you want. Same reason you heal well. So you were probably thinking about swimming and that dolphin."

"I was," Ruyo said, recalling a dream of diving. "Does that mean I'll... I'll turn into one if I keep thinking about it?"

"Unlikely, unless you really want to. Especially at your current power level. This is a part of your innate powers that I don't think you've explored much, so my suggestion is not to 'fix' yourself just yet. Experiment and learn."

Her changed hands were unfamiliar, but they didn't hurt. She turned them over and flexed the rubbery webbing. "I could probably swim better like this. Um. Worth trying, I suppose."

"And if you're not comfortable with that," Nusina suggested, "you could try growing huge breasts again. Those were some flotation devices!"

"Nusina!"

When she'd settled down again, she had another thought. "This form-shifting thing probably applies to all gods. So why doesn't the Light God just shrink to escape?"

"Huh! I'd guess it's because the trap it's in, suppresses its power. But besides that, the god can't bear to bring itself down to anything like human scale for even one minute. Not for all the power in the world.

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