Warlords Rising by Honor Raconteur

water. Well for town.”
    Bala caught on first what she
wanted to see and gestured for her to follow. Becca went right on her heels as
they left the building and headed for the outer wall. They passed Nolan as they
walked, who was kneeling next to an injured dragoo with a pitiful expression on
its face. Becca called to him as she passed, “Meet me at the well over here
when you’re done.”
    Nolan sank back onto his haunches
to respond, “Is there a problem?”
    “I think so. But finish there,
then I’ll explain.”
    He waved a hand in acknowledgement
and bent back to the dragoo.
    Fortunately the well was right
around the next corner, so Nolan wouldn’t get too lost trying to find them.
Becca bent down to give it a thorough examination.
    With no Weather Mage other than herself
in existence, there wasn’t a ready teacher for her. Garth had instead cobbled
together a curriculum of history books and two professors from Coven Ordan to
give her some idea of what she could do. She had been taught by both an Air
Mage and a Water Mage, and so had the basic teachings of both. She used that
knowledge now to trace the water source as far as she could feel, but
eventually she lost track of it. What she could feel did not seem adequate to
really supply a town of this size with enough water.
    Frowning, she stood up again and
found Nolan right behind her. “Problem?” he prompted.
    “Nol, I’m not liking what I see,”
she stated, gesturing to the well. “This is the main water source for the town,
but I wouldn’t think it could support more than half of this population
comfortably.”
    Nolan leaned so that he could peer
down the well. “My water sense isn’t nearly as strong as yours, but it doesn’t
seem that deep.”
    “It’s not. Also, I checked their
food storage, and what they call ‘food storage’ for a town is ridiculous. They
have about ten varieties of vegetables. That’s it.”
    His eyebrows shot up. “You’re
kidding.”
    “I wish I was. We want to do
something to make up for the damage we did here, right? Then I think we should
create an aqueduct system, a water reservoir, and create a garden with more
variety of fruits and vegetables. To them, it will seem like a luxury.”
    Nolan flipped a hand up. “It
should be easy enough to do if the three of us put our heads and magic
together. Want me to call Trev’nor?”
    “Yes. I refuse to leave for the
ruins until this is done.”
    She had no argument from him. To
the three waiting women, he explained what they intended to do. It was funny to
watch their reactions because even though he spoke in their native tongue it
was clear they had no idea what he was describing. But then, how could they,
when they had never seen the like before?
    Nolan gave up and said to her,
“I’ll get Trev. We’ll have to just show them; they don’t even really know what
the words mean.”
    “I caught that. Go, go. I’ll start
studying the layout while you fetch him. We have our work cut out for us here.”
    “It will take more than a day,”
Nolan agreed. Then grinned.
    She knew that look. “You’re
looking forward to playing, aren’t you?”
    “What’s the fun of being a mage if
you can’t be creative?”
    Creative? With plants? Oh dear.

Trev’nor greeted her idea with an
enthusiastic, “Great idea! It’s perfect for what they need here.”
    “In other words,” Becca drawled,
struggling not to laugh at his enthusiasm, “any excuse to play in the dirt will
do.”
    “Yes?” he responded as if this
were perfectly obvious.
    Boys. Give them a dirt pile and
they were happy. “I’ve studied the area a little and I think I have an idea of
how to work an aqueduct in here.”
    “Hey now, I’m the builder in the
group,” Trev’nor objected.
    She pointed toward her own nose,
“And I’m the one that understands best how water flows.”
    He had his mouth open for a retort
only to think better of it. “I see your point. Together?”
    “Probably for the best.