Msaka's anger had settled somewhat during the night, but he was still in a bad mood when he awoke the next morning. He spent the morning in his room, and slowly, with great precision, practiced his magic to keep his mind off of what had happened, and what was to happen that night. With his temper no longer ruling him, he again found himself bothered by the consequences for the people of the city if he followed through on his plan. But he found himself with no other choice. He could have gained a water elemental if Aziza had been cooperative, but she had turned him down. As a result, he was left to fret - a little - over what he had to do.

Irritated as he was at the thoughts he was having, he worked longer than he'd really intended to, and was mildly surprised when he found he didn't have sufficient power left to call his staff into being for the final time. He immediately realized that he'd been so consumed by his thoughts that he'd forgotten to pay attention to how low his reserves were getting. He found this annoying, and a little bit unsettling as well. With a heavy sigh, he flopped down on the bed and puzzled over the situation in his mind, trying to think of anything that would mitigate the effects of the elemental's loss on the city.

True, the population wouldn't just die overnight, but the lack of water from the fountain would have a serious impact. The last time the fountain had dried up, according to all the tales he'd heard, had been during the troubles of the previous year, and water had quickly become a scarce and precious commodity. It could be brought in from elsewhere, including from up in the mountains, but those alternate means of supply would be a significant drain on the city's financial resources, and even then, the city wouldn't be able to keep up with the high demand. There would probably, as there had been last time, be a slow decline in the number of people living in the city, with many of them migrating to Shapier.

Eventually, he realized that there just wasn't any way around it. The city would have to live with the results, unfortunate though they might be. He stood and left the inn, pacing slowly through the plazas and streets towards the Adventurers' Guild. He wasn't really in the mood to talk to the guildmaster, but he reasoned that perhaps reading some of the books there would help to take his mind off of the inevitable.

He reached the guild without incident and entered, pausing a few moments to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim light. It seemed as though the lamps were burning a bit more dimly than the last time he'd visited, though not so much so as to make seeing things a problem. The guildmaster was absent from the main hall, so Msaka selected a couple of the books from the shelf and sat down to read.

A few hours later, having managed to politely ward off the guildmaster when he had entered, a much more well informed Msaka closed the second book. Both had been written on the subject of exploring caves, as well as some of the things that could be found in them. He was somewhat puzzled as to what vorpal bunnies were, but the legend in one of the books suggested that they'd originally been encountered at the entrance to a cave, and that that first one had required a sacred magical artifact to defeat. They sounded rather dangerous, but fortunately Msaka wasn't planning to visit any of the lands they were noted as inhabiting.

He considered returning to the inn to get something to eat, but immediately thought of the previous night's events there and decided against it. He retrieved some of the food from his pack and ate it instead. It wasn't fresh or hot, but it was definitely preferable to potentially being subjected to further monkey business, if the entertainer was at the inn again.

After, he returned the books to the shelf before leaving the guild. There was still most of the afternoon and all of the evening left to spend, and he resumed his habit of simply wandering about the city. It would, after all, make people less likely to think it odd if he was seen wandering around at night if he was also known for wandering around during the day.

As the afternoon faded into evening, he returned to the inn. He had one final preparation to make there before his venture that night, and intended to make certain it was taken care of. Entering the place, he headed straight to his room, resting for a while to recover from the day on his feet. He kept an eye on the scene out the window, making certain to track the fading of the light from the evening sky. He didn't want to act too soon and take the rist of there still being people out and about when he went.

His worries over the task returned, though he managed to ignore them for the most part. Time was too precious to waste any of it fretting. With another small sigh, he got up and performed the Mark spell again, leaving his magical imprint where he'd stood during the casting. It would make for a quick departure from the plaza once he'd finished there, rather than having to walk back to the inn and risking being seen leaving the plaza.

He continued waiting in his room for a few more hours, until most people had gone to bed. Onc he was sure there would be few people out in the common room, he left his own room and crept down the hall. Peering into the dining area, he saw that he was in luck. There was only one person still in the place - the katta owner, sitting in his usual spot near the door. Not only that, but the katta was looking tired. The gnome's spells were going to come in useful again, and save him from having to explain his way past the katta.

With a slow, sweeping motion, he cast the Calm spell once again, sending the wave of pacifying energy through the area. The katta's eyelids slowly drooped, then closed, in response to the magic. A few moments later, the innkeeper had fallen asleep.

Msaka quietly moved across the room, careful not to make any noise that might awaken the katta. The door, which might have been an obstacle to silence in some places, was not so here - the owners took such care of the place that the door made nearly no noise on being opened. Msaka shut the door behind him with equal care, making certain to ease the latch back into place, rather than letting it click suddenly.

He invoked his Hide spell, once out in the plaza, and crept across it towards the street. Between his magic and stealth, he went unnoticed by the guard who came patrolling through the place along the way. The street itself was dark and unoccupied, and Msaka soon reached the fountain plaza.

He recast his Hide spell, just to be sure it wouldn't expire at an inconvenient moment, and began moving towards the fountain. He stopped twice, letting his spell shield his presence, as guards patrolled through the area.

Finally, he reached his objective. Quietly, he enacted his detection spell again, checking that nothing about the fountain's magic had changed. The appearance of the elemental and surroundings was the same as when he'd last scanned it, bound only by its own nature, and not by any secondary enchantments.

"Good," he thought. "This won't be too difficult."

He renewed his Hide spell again, glancing around the plaza. His next spell would take a couple of minutes, but would be fairly quiet and with Hide running, invisible. Still, he thought it best to time it to coincide with the next guard patrol leaving the plaza. After a few minutes of waiting, he had the opening he wanted.

With the guardsman entering one of the streets leaving the plaza, Msaka turned his attention back to the fountain, readying an empty waterskin in one hand. One final time, his doubts returned, but in the end it came down to a choice between the needs of this city, and the needs of his tribe. The latter won out.

He began the Ritual of Rebinding.