Ruel is out in the southwest end of Kiraavi's domain when he gets word: A particularly vicious god-fight up north has resulted in the death of one of the combatants and the displacement of nearly his entire follower base. Kiraavi's nearby priests are scrambling to help them leave and find them temporary refuge, and others are consulting with various friendly gods to try to find them suitable places to settle in the long term, but handling so many refugees at once is going to strain even Kiraavi's network of contacts. Ruel, then, is tasked with continuing south and west, after dropping his current traveling companion off at her destination, to meet with the new gods there and see what sorts of new followers they might be interested in having sent their way.
There's one of those telltale terrain-discontinuities. It's all grassland ahead, with a few clusters of trees, or individual trees.
Usually at this point Ruel would ask Kiraavi for his impression of the place; he often picks up on different details than his mortal priesthood. That seems rude, today, though; he's presumably stretched much too thin for that kind of thing.
Ruel continues up the road, keeping an eye out for settlements or likely-looking locals to talk to.
The road is just as well-maintained on this side as on Kiraavi's. There's a little outpost town by a spring some half a mile from the edge.
He heads that way. It's probably not big enough for a temple - though there's always a chance - but he'd rather know the basics of whose domain he's in sooner rather than later.
Is there anyone around to talk to?
Yup. Farmers, working to bring in and dry out a bunch of hay in a kind of assembly-line process and singing some kind of hymn about assembly-line processes.
That's pretty neat. He spends a moment sussing out the various tasks and then steps up to join one of the groups where he's pretty sure he can help without interfering. "Want a hand?"
"Well enough, I think. I haven't seen this method used before, it's interesting."
Eventually they have all the hay in and baled; persons who have been relieved in the work cycle spent the intervening time fixing a lunch for everybody and Ruel can get some since he helped.
It's much appreciated.
"That assembly line technique works pretty well! Was it your idea, or...?"
He nods. "Did they say what it has to do with your god's interests? I'm on a bit of a diplomatic mission, but I don't know anything about them yet."
"Oh, She's a god of efficiency," someone else pipes up. "She likes it when things get done just as well in less time, or nearly as well with much less work, or in advance so you're not playing catchup later, stuff like that."
"That sounds like a nice thing to have a god of. And useful for our current situation, too, if she wants to help - do you know how she feels about other gods, at all?"
"That's fair enough. My god does roads and travel; he's busy with a refugee crisis right now and could use the help figuring out where to send everyone. I think there's some overlap in interests even without that, though - you definitely have to think about efficiency when everything you have needs to fit in a pack you can carry."
"Oh, yeah, I think She'd like that kind - she thinks a lot about moving people to where they're most useful."
"Sounds like I'm in the right place, then. Do you know where the nearest temple is, from here?"
"She likes leftovers, offcuts. You could take a handful of hay that wasn't enough to make a bale along, if you like."
"Huh! I think I'll take you up on that, that's one kind of thing I don't carry."
"Yeah, I think it's something about, like, you bale the hay, and that's because you want it in bales, and bringing her what wouldn't make another whole bale is about how you're being efficient and not fretting about the little spare bits."
"In that case I might see what she thinks of whatever's been hanging around in my offerings pocket the longest, that seems like more the spirit of the thing."
He finishes up his meal and heads up the road, taking a mental tally of the contents of his pack and how they might be presented as offerings.
The road is smooth and the wagon ruts are at a consistent width throughout, with carveouts in the surrounding street to make it easy to get out of one set of ruts into another at crossroads and a consistent ditch by the side for rain runoff. There are more farms, and orchards, and wells, and villages, and then, yes, the market hub.
This is an impressive road, and he asks Kiraavi to let him know when he has a spare minute to look at it. ("Probably not until tonight, I'm afraid.")
He takes a look around the market when he gets there, rather than look for the temple immediately.
It's unusually quiet, for a market - prices are written and up on signs. Instead of yelling about those to attract attention some sellers seem to have hired entertainers, dancing and singing with some advertising thrown in. Traffic flows consistently in one direction per side of the avenue, and a number of the intersections have rotary-style interchange with the flow of pedestrians.
How charming! Ruel adds it to his mental list of places he might want to settle, when he's ready to settle. (He'll add it to his written list later.)
And what is the temple like?
The temple is a boxy stone thing, with ornamentation mostly in the windows and around the edge of the roof where they don't affect its footprint, though there are several different colors of stones used in charming abstract patterns. Steps lead up to the front door and there are short windows near the base indicating that there's a basement getting its lighting that way.
Wooden stacking chairs - they stack very neatly, there's a tower of them in a corner - and a priest talking to a young couple, and another priest oiling the mechanisms on the windows.
Huh, usually the offering hall is easier to find (or more clearly indicated) than this. He approaches the priest at the window: "Excuse me."
"Well, I was looking for the offering hall, but I'm not sure I shouldn't be talking to someone about why I'm here, first - I'm Ruel, priest of Kiraavi of roads and travel, he has a project we're hoping for some help with."
"Ah! Our goddess takes offerings directly off the front steps, so it's easy to drop them off on the way in or on the way past. There's a sign but I think it's too easy to overlook; it's on the list of things to do with more budget if we get it."
He chuckles. "You know, in retrospect I feel like I should have guessed. I'll be back in a few minutes, then. - I also haven't caught her name yet, if addressing her by it is traditional here."
"Thank you!"
Back outside, he retrieves his chosen offering from his pack, unwrapping it from its protective cloth and holding it up to admire in the light for a moment before setting it on the steps. "Greetings, Iabeltha. I offer you this pressed-flower pendant, constructed in the glades of Ylithresia far to the east and carried through no fewer than fifteen gods' domains without finding its purpose as an offering. I appreciate the opportunity to lighten my pack, and hope that collaboration with Kiraavi of roads brings new opportunities to you both."
The priests are still there. The one who was oiling the windows is now working on something at a desk behind the lectern.
The one counseling the couple finishes with them in a few minutes and smiles at him.
"Hello! I'm Ruel, priest of Kiraavi of roads and travel. There's been a bit of a disaster up north, and he's looking for help in settling refugees, or perhaps resettling people who the refugees can replace in their communities. Do you think your goddess would be interested in working with him on it?"
"Oh, yes, I think she'd like that very much. Are the would-be resettlers on board with this plan, moving aside to a whole new place so someone else can live in their house?"
"Probably not many just yet, it takes time for something like this to get moving. But I've seen this kind of thing before - admittedly not quite on this scale - and there are always some people interested enough in trying something new to take us up on the offer of help with the trip once they've heard about it. Especially if we have new places to suggest."
"In this area it's mostly farms, which often have use for a few hands; the harbor city, or Nisith, even more than the farms, has use for anyone with a strong back; we've got a very strong papermaking and bookbinding industry; and Iabeltha always loves inventors and entrepreneurs."
"We can certainly work with that. And what should we tell them are the advantages of moving here, over other gods' domains?"
"I haven't personally traveled much! I think we're - prosperous and no-nonsense. Iabeltha doesn't put up with her hierarchy posturing and wasting time."
"Mmhmm. It seems like she's also fairly flexible compared to other gods, there's not really a particular thing she's looking for in her followers? And I'm not sure yet whether she likes people trying new things or if she has things mostly how she likes them and doesn't want to experiment, but if it's the former, some people find that to be a draw."
"Oh, there are some things she doesn't like at all - there's a saying, 'it matters what you are efficient at' - but maybe all the other gods are much more rigid? Trying new things is great, so long as it isn't too disruptive before the point where it's understood to work and so long as it doesn't unnecessarily destandardize things people might be relying on to be interchangeable."
"Most gods have some sort of interest or personality trait they're looking for in followers - the last goddess I visited wanted everyone in her domain to be able to play an instrument, for example, and of course Kiraavi doesn't have much use for anyone without some reason to travel. It's not too uncommon for them not to care very much about that sort of thing, but it's still an advantage. So - what kinds of things does she like or not like people to be efficient at?"
"Well, you can't be efficient at, say, hurting people, or worshipping plague deities, we don't hold with that. But it's good to be efficient at your farming and your traveling and your business and even your leisure, minding of course that many people find not thinking about efficiency for a while to be by far the most efficient way to relax."
"That's what I thought, good, nothing wrong with being pragmatic. Is there anything else you think we should know? I'll have a look around, too, if you don't mind, so you can skip anything that'll be obvious but if there's anything that needs context it'd be good to know. And I'll come back with any questions I have, of course."
"What terrain type will these refugees be coming from? What are their age demographics and range of skills?"
"Warm shrubland, and I haven't gotten a demographic report but it's nearly the entire population of the domain - there was a dispute that turned nasty, one of the gods involved was killed and his successor turned out everyone who'd ever made an offering to him. If I'm remembering the god correctly he was big on fishing and hunting, but he was another of the more flexible types so I expect there'll be a reasonable mix of skills. I can ask for a more detailed report tonight."
"Hm, we have a fair amount of fishing along the coast but not so much hunting, we're more pastoralists and farmers. The warm shrubland at least shouldn't mean too much of an adjustment to the savannah. She likes it because it's easy to travel through without being shadeless and barren."
"Makes sense. We can let people know about the hunting situation, certainly - I don't expect that to be a problem, there are enough gods who facilitate at least a little hunting that we should be fine placing anyone who really cares about it."
"It's not that you aren't allowed to hunt here, as long as you don't get someone's goat by mistake, it's just not popular."
"All right. We might still want to avoid sending you too many hunters, I think there's a risk of it disrupting your animal populations if your goddess isn't used to compensating for that, but I don't personally know - managing things like that is a big part of what my god is so busy with right now."
"Yes, that makes sense. Just, someone who occasionally wants to take an antelope will not be violating any taboos in so doing."
"What languages do they speak? Will they be impaired in their ability to pack and arrive in need of supplies?"
"We generally help refugees with basic supplies, but if you're willing to handle some of that I'm sure it'd be appreciated - if you'd like to donate supplies we'll make sure everyone knows who they came from, too. I don't expect the language to be a problem, it's a bit of a different dialect that far north but not too hard to understand."
"Are they going to need anything unusual? I know a lot of people from the islands can't have nuts."
"Not that I know of but you'll want to wait for tonight's report to be sure of that."
"All right. If you want a copy of the report to go to every temple this size or bigger you'll need thirty."
"I think we can manage that. Kiraavi?"
"Yes?"
"Goddess of efficiency wants thirty copies of the report tonight."
"I'll prioritize it."
"And of course you can just drop them on the steps. Is there anything else you need from me?"
"I do, actually, my nephew's in-laws run the Cat and Bird. It's a fifteen minute walk north, bear right."
"Sounds good, thanks." And he'll head that way; from the sound of things Kiraavi's 'this evening' may well mean midnight or later, and if he's going to be up half the night he wants a nap first.
The Cat and Bird is an inn; it has outdoor and indoor seating for the people who are there to eat, and a big shade tree out front, and a very busy waitress.
The cooks are also busy. There's a dishwasher in there who is humming a song!
She swings by him when she comes back inside from handing out dishes to the outdoor patrons. "Hello there welcome to the Cat and Bird how can I help you!"
The stairs sport a sign: "Rooms upstairs - Innkeepers' Office First Left".
"Yes please. I'm not sure yet how long I'll be staying, but most likely a day or two."
"If you pay in advance we can be slightly more flexible about things like checkout times."
"That's fair enough." And he does have a long night ahead of him, doesn't he. "I'll take two days."
The price is reasonable and the room is small but clean. They seem to have a local industry of cunningly space-efficient furniture; he could fit a lot of stuff into this room if he wanted to, but not a lot of people.
What a clever setup. He writes up some notes on the day so far, including a sketch of the table's workings, and then copies out another set of notes to match the first; it's not traditional, but he suspects that Iabeltha is the type to appreciate the feedback.
That done, he takes his nap, and heads downstairs for dinner when he wakes.
The Cat and Bird is serving stew - beans, vegetables, and some little bits of egg - and bread and goat cheese. There are figs and dates with honey available too. Meals are charged separately from the rooms.
It's pretty good, too! They don't pay a ton of attention to presentation but everything tastes great.
There's no complaints here.
After dinner, he heads off to have a look around town, particularly keeping an eye out for 1) anyone who seems discontent with their situation, 2) more examples of things being arranged unexpectedly, and 3) notebooks for sale. He doesn't personally need a new notebook just yet, but he bets they do nice ones here, and if so Kiraavi will want a stack to pass out to his priests and acolytes.
Notebooks for sale are the first thing he finds; the inn is just around the corner from a stationery store which also has signmaking boards and various paints and inks. There are cheap bulk notebooks and nicer individual ones.
That will cost a tidy sum but he gets a free paper bag with a purchase that large!
It's much appreciated.
He'll drop the notebooks off at his room and go back out to look for the other two items on his list.
There's an intersection with what appears to be a public hearth, where a bunch of people are cooking things rather than using fires in their homes.
Oh, that's clever, it'll be more efficient with the fuel and this way no one has to overheat their house in this climate.
It also appears to be a social hub for the members of each family who cook!
The town is pretty prosperous but there are a few street urchins running around.
He finds a restaurant that has meals to go, and heads back to where the urchins are with an obvious to-go bag in one hand and a box of pastry in the other. "Hey, kid, come talk to me for a minute?"
"I have some questions about Iabeltha's domain. Trade you dinner for it? I have barbecue goat and fruit pastries."
Yeah, that'll happen sometimes. He'll come back tomorrow and see if the same kid is around.
Wander wander?
More public hearths. It's getting darker, and some people are sitting near them just to warm up a bit, though most people around here seem used to the range of temperatures and don't feel the need. A well, with a short queue people are "standing" in by leaving their shoes in place while they sit on a bench and chat waiting for the current front of the line to draw his buckets. Some kind of school letting a flock of teenagers out for the day and a bunch of food carts there to meet them with sandwiches and kebabs and handpies.
It's all very cozy. He starts meandering back toward the temple when the sunset begins to fade. "Kiraavi? How's it going?"
"Still pretty busy. You wanted reports, right? About half an hour for those."
"Works for me, thank you."
The temple's right where he left it. Apparently they don't go in for evening services; the place is dark.
He can sit on the steps if he likes, or there's a bench across the street.
The bench across the street is fine; he's not sure how Iabeltha feels about people sitting where she receives offerings.
He rests for a few minutes and then begins humming, to pass the time - it's too dark to do very much else. It's been nearly an hour when Kiraavi asks if he's ready to receive the reports, and he takes his vial of road dust off and sets it on the steps before telling him to go ahead, then retrieves the vial and sets Iabeltha's copy of the morning's observations next to the stacks of press-printed books, with a pebble on top against the breeze.
"Hello, again, Iabeltha; I offer you these reports of the troubles in Kiraavi's domain, and also my own report of my morning here, from the perspective of an outsider. I hope you find them useful."
And back to the inn he goes. He'll have last night's cheese pastry for breakfast, and head out to have a look at the outskirts of the settlement, giving Iabeltha and her clergy time to look over Kiraavi's notes before he shows up at the temple.
(The notes themselves are mostly made up of details about the refugees - yea many farmers, fisherpeople, hunters, weavers, traders, et cetera, with families comprised like so and hobbies and additional skills like so and preferences to stay with or avoid other families like so; there's also a section detailing the conflict as well as Kiraavi can put it together (the refugees were largely not meaningfully involved, but there's a list of people who put up active resistance to the agressing god who Kiraavi would like to see taken good care of, ideally far away) and one detailing the other gods involved in the resettlement effort - a few dozen, though some are only interested in taking in a modest number of settlers - and a summary of the resources available to the project. It's actually fairly well supplied, just big and complicated and it's not clear that there are enough places for all the refugees to go yet.)
The outskirts of town are mostly just increasingly widely-spaced houses with bigger and bigger gardens until it's farmland. People have their own chimneys, away from the center of the town.
Back at the temple the priest he spoke to before is sitting on the steps and doing some figuring, occasionally corresponding with presumable other priests by putting notes down and picking them up.
"Hello! The report was very useful. Apparently with this many people Iabeltha is interested in having them start a new town - she's got a river god interested in cutting through the area, it'd open up some good farming and trading sites and having people ready to break ground on that right away makes the deal more appealing. I don't know if you've sent him a separate representative."
"I think I'm the only one in the area; I can head that way next if that's what makes sense."
"I think it does - Kaneer, god of rivers and - cooking, medicine, stuff like that, I think there must be a better word for it in the language he started near, mixing stuff together to make better stuff."
"Interesting, it sounds like I'd want to go have a look anyway. I have a few more things to do here but I should be ready to go in the morning."
"I'm intending to bring Kiraavi out to make a claim by the edge of Iabeltha's domain, if nobody objects to that - he's too busy right now to discuss cutting through but I'm sure he'd like to if she's amenable. Anyway, if she sets notes out within a mile of him, or speaks to him there, he'll be able to see and hear it; his acolyte power extends his senses beyond his domain."
"Roads! I haven't had a chance to tell him about your intersection innovations yet but I expect he'll be very enthusiastic."
"It'd go very well with the rivers, you see. I think it'd suit Iabeltha quite well to have roads and rivers criscrossing all over."
"That's good to hear, I think they'll get along very well. Especially the bridges; they're expensive to make, if nobody's helping him out with it, but once he has them you never have to worry about them falling down."
"We can have barges going one way and caravans the other, it'll be great!"
"The harbor city's trying to grow into one. It'll go much faster with the passthrough."
"Here's my very preliminary estimate of how many people of what sorts we can take and where." It's a map, with the harbor city ("Honeyguide Harbor") marked, the site for the proposed river and new town to be built at its delta also indicated, and a few other places that are having this or that dip in labor supply or this or that surplus in available grains and beans this season and could absorb people.
"This'll be a big help, thank you. Should I wait for you to ask Iabeltha before I help Kiraavi with his claim? I think that's next for me."
"I'd like to take Kiraavi out just beyond your domain, to make a claim - his terrain is roads, and he'll want to discuss cutting through with you once he's not so busy, I'm sure. You'll want to know that his acolyte power extends his senses beyond the boundaries of his domain, by a mile, so if he has a claim at your border you'll be giving up a bit of privacy even if he doesn't overlap you. On the other hand, it'll be useful for coordinating about the refugee project; you can leave notes in the visible area for him to read, or speak to him there. I've never heard of him being a danger to any human who wasn't a bandit or any god who was willing to let people come and go from their domain, and he's usually willing to abandon a small claim like this if a neighbor decides they don't want him there."
"I was planning on using the road I came in on; it'll be easiest for him to join up with the rest of his domain that way." He can describe the area in question.
"I know the place. He can have the area leading into the savannah; there is nothing very secret a mile from there."
"I'm wondering if you know that worship from people outside your domain works, actually. My apologies if I'm overstepping."
"Yes, I've noticed from the sailors. Otherwise I'd be much less sanguine about adding rivers and roads crisscrossing me."
"All right." He doesn't particularly like telling unfamiliar gods when he thinks they're making mistakes, in person, and it's not like Kiraavi is especially in need of more physical resources for the refugees. "I think that's all."
"And thank you for your help."
And off to the edge of Iabeltha's domain he goes, if nobody else needs him for anything.
Letting Kiraavi make the claim doesn't take long, and neither does offering the blank notebooks, brought along in a hand-cart rented from the market. He returns the cart when he gets back, and goes to see if the kid from last night is around again.
He can't find the same kid, though there are others of the species about.
Nah, the chance of that kid having told all his friends about what an easy mark Ruel is are too high for trying again from the start to be a good idea. He'll get himself an order of barbecue goat - it did smell really good last night - and sit and people-watch for a while.
People are stirring their meals at the hearth; someone spills hers to a general chorus of sympathy and gets two dinner invitations for her family. Kids are climbing trees. Somebody's repainting his house.
It's so nice here. And if Kiraavi will be around... maybe he'll settle down sooner rather than later.
(The present situation comes first, of course.)
After dinner he looks around for - pubs? music halls? ball games? What do people do for fun at the end of the day, here?
Alcohol seems remarkably unpopular, actually, but there is an amphitheater over there, and there's a play on. He can buy a ticket or if there are extra seats sit down after the first scene for free.
He can afford a ticket, at least as long as the price is vaguely reasonable.
What's the play about?
Somebody in a ridiculous stack of disguises pretending to be someone on behalf of an employer who thinks they're someone else who is a fictitious identity created to avoid a debt collector who is actually after the previous moniker who was etc. The play starts in media res, with the character gradually managing to shed disguises and finally go home to what is his original self - or is it?
Fun and funny!
And then it's time for bed; he'll stop by the temple in the morning just in case they have any last-minute issues for him, and if not he'll start on his way to Kaneer's domain.
No last-minute issues, but a more refined version of the plan for where they can take an influx of refugees updated by the acolytes in Honeyguide Harbor.
The updated version includes a vouch for a free ticket to the islands if he wants to catch a boat out of Honeyguide Harbor to go check out the island gods.
Sounds like a neat place to go, plus he does want to see the harbor; he'll tentatively plan on doing that next. For now, he's off to see the river.
The river presently runs parallel to the eastern border of Iabeltha's territory. It's big and slow and clear. Water tupelos are growing in a deliberate double row, making a path of their swollen roots to a bit of island where a church stands.
He hasn't, unfortunately, had any luck in spotting anyone to ask about Kaneer as he approached the river, but that's not so unusual that he's worried about it. Still, he'll wait by the edge of the river for a bit to see if anyone happens by.
He only really has the one important question. "Do you know what kind of offering the god likes?"
It has a nice conventional offering table and a priest who is stirring some kind of bubbling concoction.
He barely has to dig in his pack at all to retrieve what looks like a large cookie studded with dried fruit. "Greetings, Kaneer. I'm Ruel, a priest of Kiraavi of roads and travel, who is likely to be moving into this area soon. I offer you this travel biscuit, made of suet, wheat flour, and barley, and flavored with elderberry syrup and dried currants; it was baked in the domain of Listravestial, to the northwest. While none of its ingredients individually would be worth carrying with any regularity, biscuits like this have been an important source of sustenance for me for years now, and I appreciate the inventiveness involved in their creation."
"Thank you. I hear that you're in touch with Iabeltha; has she mentioned Kiraavi or the refugee problem he's working on to you?"
"Yes, she thinks we'll complement each other neatly. I don't have much space of my own for anyone who doesn't live on a boat, but if there are some of those, they can put their boat on my river."
"I don't think there are many like that, but I can mention it. Is there anything in particular you look for in followers?"
"I favor naturalists and experimentalists. Jioji over there has been observing the behavior of ants for most of his life now, that sort of thing."
"I'll pass that along. We're also interested in any suggestions of other nearby gods who might be interested in taking in settlers, and in any material support you might want to give - Kiraavi will of course tell the recipients of any aid you offer where it came from, and finds that refugees are often appreciative enough to make it very much worth the investment, if you have things to spare."
"Well, I have food, but they'd need to come here to get it if you aren't planning to bring it to them."
"I can arrange to transport it, if it's the type of food that'll keep for a few days."
"Thank you. When and where should I come for it, and about how much should I expect?"
"One barge about three-quarters the size of this temple full. It'll be very mixed, grains and beans and some of the better-lasting vegetables and all, though I'll organize it insofar as I can."
Hmm... "I should be able to arrange for the transportation within a few days, then, I'll say four to be on the safe side."
"I haven't explored the area very much yet; if there's a dock near here that would work well, but otherwise here is probably fine if you don't mind the fuss near the temple."
"It's mostly a marina where boats stay for extended periods but you can get around without a boat of your own, they park close to one another and put out planks. But ideally you would be able to swim."
He'll swing by the marina before he goes to hire wagons, to get a feel for the place.
Dozens of boats - houseboats and barges and rafts and canoes and suchlike - arranged around a row of piers. The piers seem to be exclusively for walking on, with all actual socialization and business conducted on the boats, and there's another little island with some of the piers terminating there rather than on the shore and a bit of settlement on the shore and the island both for, it appears, people too old or feeble to live on boats.
"Hello! I'm expecting a delivery by barge here in a few days; do you think you'll have enough people here to load it onto wagons for me or should I hire them elsewhere?"
"Of course I'll pay, thank you."
Next: up a tree with a spyglass to check for any towns closer than the one he has in mind, and off to look for wagoners to hire; he's back on the evening of the third day leading a small chain of them.
"I am! What are you asking to unload it?" He'll haggle them down a little, of course, and also pitch in himself if their methods don't seem too complicated.
They're not super complicated, no, and their prices are reasonable, maybe because some guys over there will undercut them if they're not or because it's for Kaneer.
Well, Ruel has no complaints either way. The wagons can be loaded, and then the dockworkers can be paid, with a tip for good service.
He'll stay with the wagons on the way to Kiraavi's new claim, which takes a few days; once there, he gives the contents of the wagons to Kiraavi as an offering (no need to unload, he can accept the supplies right where they are), pays the drivers, tops off his wallet, and makes his way to Honeyguide Harbor.
Honeyguide Harbor is a bustling city. It has a few canals and a lot of people and a great big temple with a suitably eye-catching sign reminding people that offerings can be dropped off on the front steps. There's a lighthouse and a shipyard and a paper mill and a textile mill and dormitory housing and rowhouses and a school and an every-day market square and a separate seafood-in-particular market and a few little shrines for offerings so people don't have to go out of their way to the big temple.
Ruel pokes around in much the same way as he did in the town, asking the first likely-looking person he talks to for an inn recommendation and then taking in the nearby sights. He'll try bribing an urchin to talk to him again as it gets close to dinnertime; sometimes that works a little better if he makes it clear that they'll get dessert if they stick around that long.
Here's an urchin who has been drooling over a fried dough thing that gets served drizzled in honey. She will accept her bribe dinner in a very businesslike fashion and do her level best to earn the sweets. "So whaddaya wanna know? I know where you can get wholesale fabric straight off the boat before they mark it up. And where they do the side bets on the races."
"I might want to check out the betting later, yeah, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you for - I'm a priest of a different god, Kiraavi of roads, and he's thinking about working with the goddess here, but we want to know a little more about what she's like first. She seems pretty good for most of the traders and farmers and things but I thought it'd be interesting to hear what she's like for someone like you."
"I don't talk to her much. She never did me a bad turn or anything. What's it like other places, do their gods do more stuff there?"
"Some places, yeah. Gods are different from each other the same way mortals are, some are friendlier or busier or like things to be just how they want them or things like that. My god is pretty busy a lot of the time but he likes to talk to people when he's not, he's pretty curious about things. And the goddess where I grew up was kind of mean, she wanted things a certain way and she'd get upset if she didn't think people were helping with that enough. Most gods are pretty good, though, they're just good in different ways from each other."
"Huh. Well she's not nosy or mean. She's just kinda there. I guess I'd ask her if I wanted there to be a tree someplace. Or something. My friend asked for a tree one time by his fishing spot for shade."
"And she did it? That's pretty good. Is there anything else like that that you'd want to ask for? Even if you think she wouldn't do it, I mean."
"Yeah, she put a tree. I dunno what-all gods can do besides tree kinds of things and picking stuff up and putting it down. I'm pretty sure she won't just give me stuff for the asking if it's stuff stuff and not trees..."
"They can do that but it's harder than trees, yeah. Kiraavi does that, he asks people to give him their travel supplies at the ends of their trips and then gives them to people who want to travel but don't have the supplies, but he couldn't do it if people didn't give him most of the supplies. He'll tell people things, too, like if someone wants to move to a different kind of place but doesn't know where there's a place they'll like, he'll help them figure out where to go, or ask one of his priests to help them, or if they do know where they want to go they can ask if the roads are good to get there and he'll tell them if there's bad weather or dangerous animals or anything. Or some gods introduce people to each other, like if you wanted an apprenticeship when you were a little older some gods would help you find someone to apprentice to, that kind of thing."
"If I was starving she'd give me somebody's leftovers that they gave her, for sure, but I'm not. Maybe she'd do the apprenticeship thing. If I asked. I wanna be a weaver but I don't know about the whole apprenticeship thing."
"Well, if I find someone who seems like they wouldn't mind you watching them weave and seeing what you can pick up that way, I'll let you know about it." Nom. "Do you know of anyone else who's asked for things?"
"I know people who've gotten leftovers before. And one time Simby got a bit of a rag and... Miu's sourdough starter."