"-we should ask Reedbeaer Amaani and Suhail first but I imagine that'd be much appreciated."

    "It should be fine for them to know. We do want to make sure word doesn't go far, it'll cause some serious problems if the Piper finds out about Cam."

"They'll be fine," he nods. "There's no love lost there. I suppose we shouldn't tell the scions, though."

    "I wouldn't. Have I explained paladins?" Raafi asks Cam. "The Scions of Adnauk are a similar kind of holy order, I expect we'll be seeing some of them."

"You have not explained them but I've encountered the word in Oerth context."

"The relevant thing here is that they don't like secrets and aren't always very good at keeping them - I think they'd try in this case, but it wouldn't be a smart risk. In general they're another kind of servant of the gods, more focused on solving specific problems than clerics are. Regular paladins are fairly martial, but Adnauk's scions are more about being there to help the people of the river day-to-day - Adnauk's the local river god, Reedbearer Amaani is his high priestess."

"I didn't realize they came in 'specific river' size. I suppose those would be less interdimensionally inclined."

"He actually seems a bit more powerful than Lastai, his influence is just very concentrated in the one area - you're right that he won't be as interested in things elsewhere, though."

(Prince Maziar steps out to speak to a servant in the hallway for a moment.)

"Lastai probably also has, like, a higher possible power ceiling, if I understand correctly?"

"Mmhmm. Lastai's still young, as gods go, that's the main reason she's so small."

"How young is young?"

"Lastai hasn't reached her first millennium yet, I'd say anything under two you could make a case for. Some gods start on better footing than others, though, ascended mortals in particular seem to take much less time to figure out what to do with themselves."

"A little like ex-human daeva that way, maybe. Though naturally-occurrings are usually up and running in less than a millennium. Do you happen to know what the staple foods are in this region, I can look up ideal storage and cultivar considerations..."

The main local crops are wheat, rice, and various kinds of beans that he can describe; they're going to be claiming to be importing things from the jungle, though, which has a different and wider variety of plants - the main one they'll expect to see imported is in the same family as breadfruit and jackfruit, but other kinds of fruit and nuts will also make sense, and salted meat and fish would also be plausible.

Prince Maziar comes back while he's explaining, and gestures for Cam to take a seat on one couch before guiding Raafi down to sit with him on the other.

Cam plops on the couch with his computer still showing an article on sulfides in dried fruit.

The prince waits for them to come to a stopping point. "Reedbearer Amaani is at the scions' lodge; Suhail will be here when he's done feeding the animals - we have a zoo, if you'd like to see it later. I have to ask, though, what is that?"

"It's called a computer! The short and flippant explanation is that it is a device for doing enormous amounts of math very fast and this has the results you see. A slightly more usable model would be that it's a tiny library I can flip through by willing it."

The Prince blinks, and looks to Raafi, who grins. "He's very foreign. It's not even magic, don't ask me how they do do it."

    "Huh. And what does your library have to say?"

"Apparently you can ferment breadfruit. I don't think I've ever actually tried breadfruit in any preparation before." He makes a nibble of it, tastes it. "Huh."

"It has a stronger taste that way, yes - fresh ones are better as a staple."

"All this is stuff from my world, though, better to have a shopping list from you."

"What do you need to know, exactly?" And he can put together a list - the local breadfruit variety, the most common varieties of jungle-growing rice and cassava, a number of different fruits and nuts and species of fish or game that could plausibly be imported.

"...and I'll arrange with His Majesty to have it distributed. Is there anything we can do for you in return?"

"Nah, I'm happy to help, your specs on how to package and ratio everything will do me."

"The scions will - no, that's too suspicious. Raafi, do you have an idea of what we should be sending out to the farmsteads?"

    "How long has this been going on?"

"Four or five months, at this point."

    "So staples, mostly..." He muses aloud as another list is produced, now with amounts and packing instructions. "You'll want Reedbearer or Serir to check that for plausibility," Raafi says, turning the written draft over to Prince Maziar, "but it'll feed someone for two weeks reasonably enough, and then the scions can tell you how it worked."

"Thank you." He gives Raafi a squeeze and a kiss on the forehead. "Serir Farhat's most likely in the temple if you'd like to get started rather than waiting for druid Suhail," he adds to Cam.

"I'd like to start, Druid Suhail can catch up with me whenever. Am I responsible for explaining why the Piper can't learn about me or will anybody talking to me already have this information?"

    "We can explain it. I do think I'd like more detail, though."

"Well, he's from another world - I don't mean another plane, farther than that, the gods themselves hadn't known about it. And - they don't have gods, it's very different, but the Lady of the Forests won the whole world and then some half an elf's age ago, there."

    "And when he finds out it'll be war, I see. You're sure you don't need anything from us?" he asks Cam again.

"If this is a cultural obligation or something I can come up with favors but it's really no trouble."

"He's not personally involved - I'm not sure anyone there has taken it up yet. Shining One and the Lady have been importing their churches though."

    "Ah." He stands and offers Raafi a hand up. "Well, do let us know when there's someone we can talk to about it."

"I will," Raafi nods.

The temple is a short walk away through sandstone hallways; Cam gets a few second looks from the servants they pass. The temple itself is a fairly small room, with three rows of pews facing a small altar in front of a stained glass window showing Pelor's sun shining over a wide river flanked by palm trees and sand dunes, with a flock of birds and a handful of colorful kites flying overhead. A woman in brown robes kneels to one side of the altar, praying; the prince pauses at the door and calls softly, "Serir Farhat?"

She stands after another few seconds. "Yes, your highness?"

    "Could you look this over and tell me whether it's something that could plausibly have been imported from Naroyale in bulk? Not whether you think we can get them to - if we suddenly had a warehouse full of this would you be suspicious of it."

        She looks vaguely confused, but takes the offered parchment with a "yes, your highness," and looks it over. "I'd wonder about the bananas, it wasn't a good year for them even before the drought. Everything else seems all right to me - what's going on?"

    "Cam here is a conjuration specialist, but he doesn't want to draw attention by working publicly."

        "I see," she turns to take him in properly. "We certainly appreciate it."