"Are you very certain?" Guitian had asked, looking down over his coat self-consciously at the deep blue of his gift shimmering there.

Of course, Guitian had just as much trouble breathing in the bog as anyone else. And he was no cheater: he could do plenty of interesting things with water, but he'd find Scoria water from the right place, if only because he too wanted to understand how healing it might work. Someday, his own home would have a pool of clear water, too - or so he hoped, anyway.

He and Dilahi had set out early in the morning. Anyway, the Bog was becoming almost familiar to Guitian. He hadn't quite mapped out its terrain yet - he struggled to imagine who'd be able to stomach it - but it had seemed the correct place to practice, given Guitian's abilities.

"We don't need to find it immediately, anyway," Guitian had remarked. "We can take a while to get an idea of where we're going, and there's always tomorrow." Dilahi hadn't replied, but of course they hadn't really needed to, anymore. Guitian could feel the satisfaction through their bond.

He couldn't imagine what clean water in the Bog might look like. Would there be living plants in the area? Was there a barrier of rock hiding it from the noxious fumes that ran rampant elsewhere? He'd figured it would at least look unusual, and Dilahi had agreed, so they'd begun by marking down landmarks - a crooked tree, or any visually distinctive foliage, or, once, a craggy rock rising out of the water that'd looked like -

Well. It was a rock, anyway. Guitian tiptoed around it with reverence and let Dilahi handle the note-taking.

A few days ago he'd taken it upon himself to consume that fruit that they'd found in Mistfruit Forest. Perhaps it hadn't been smart - but neither of them had wanted it to go to waste, and Dilahi had procured for him a gleaming white root to supplement it, in case anything went awry. Guitian didn't feel any different, though his magic had been going haywire recently, setting his heart pumping uncomfortably quickly at strange times. He was healthy, though, as far as the Vivify noulicorn he'd consulted could tell.

It was acting up again here, so Guitian stopped to take a breath. "Dilahi..." he said, feeling just a little uncertain.

"...I've heard consuming the Grandfather Tree's roots can bring strange boons upon gifted nouls," Dilahi said.

Guitian had heard this, too, by now. Only there weren't any convenient mentors in the subject of aqua magic hanging around the Homewood. There was an obvious target, though, and he walked gingerly to the edge of the little island they were standing upon at the moment to look upon...very blue water.

He leaned in, frowned, and touched his horn to it, only because that seemed to be the right thing to do - and then felt a little jolt as suddenly he knew that this water was filled with salt rather than toxin. But with a little nudge - he could change that.

He pulled back out before doing anything of the sort, though. "I've..." Guitian said. What was right? Was the water here supposed to be salty - was that keeping the toxins out, or at least at bay? "No, I think I've got to - "

He turned to the left as if called, though he didn't really know for sure whether he'd guessed right until he dipped his horn in again and felt the filthy mire of poison. He inhaled - a tiny gesture, more for his own comfort than anything, because he didn't want to be breathing any more of this air than he needed to - and thought about changing that.

And it happened, just like that.

It was a lot less tiring than it had been when he'd first been learning about his powers, but maybe that made sense. He wasn't an apprentice any more. And he had stuff to say, which people cared to learn. Of course now that he was more sure of himself, his powers were flourishing, too. He looked up at Dilahi - who'd scrambled over to a high point for more objective observation as usual. "I wouldn't drink it, still," he admitted.

"Still," Dilahi echoed.

They hadn't found the spring Scoria had talked about, but they had tomorrow for it, and a new goal, too. Over the next few days, Guitian and Dilahi found themselves returning repeatedly to test the limits of his new ability, and see how permanent its effects might be.

They stumbled upon the gully almost by accident. There wasn't much visible bedrock in the bog; it was all very squishy and very wet. "You should..." Dilahi began, and Guitian bent forward to increase the salinity of the little trickle of water there, too. Dilahi went ahead this time, though, comfortable in Guitian's command over his abilities.

Dilahi's wonder was a happy thing. Guitian felt it unfold in his chest and barely held himself back from following in his bonded companion's tracks. It was only the thought that he had a duty that kept him finishing up, but afterward he scrambled after Dilahi. "Did - " he called, but he found Dilahi staring down at a pure blue watering hole after.

"It's really - " said Guitian.

It seemed wrong to take very much of the water. In fact, it seemed like the right thing to do was attempt to increase it somehow. The bog needed more clean water - though it had been better lately than it had when Guitian had first begun fooling around there. But that was decidedly not within Guitian's purview, and Scoria had asked for some.

He and Dilahi each took a sip themselves, to verify the water's identity - it was strangely astringent, but definitely pure. Guitian found himself trying to look through it at the sky above, but it was troublesome. The altitude was low, he supposed.

"Here's the vial," Dilahi said carefully.

"There's no way I can manipulate that effectively," Guitian laughed, and so Dilahi did the honors.

Somehow, Guitian felt just as proud of this treasure as he had of the playground he'd built to impress Scoria that first time.