Scyelen blinks. "Oh, uh, you wanted... a private," she still droops a little at the reminder, "conversation. With Miss Vaux. That's. Um. Okay, I'll just..."

Scyelen doesn't finish the thought just, gestures vaguely and then goes... somewhere. Away.

He goes to find Miss Vaux.

Miss Vaux is in the library, taking notes out of a tome of some sort. She closes the book and stretches when she notices him approach.

"Raafi. How'd it go?"

"Adventurer nonsense - ah, we're making progress but it's not straightforward. Siesta was all right when we left, though."

She stands, picking up her notes.

"I'm glad to hear that. I looked into the legal side of things a bit while you were gone, only found bad news though."

"That's what Scyelen said, too. I'm not well positioned to do anything about that, but I'll see if I can call in help from my world, Fharlanghn and Pelor both should be more than willing to send diplomats."

"Now there's a spectacle I'd like to see. After all, what's a little holy war between friends?" There is a maybe-disturbing lack of sarcasm in that second sentence.

"If that's what it takes you could use one, frankly. Anyway, I'm not really here about that - there are a couple things I'd like to talk to you about in your capacity as - the closest thing to a cleric of Lastai we have around, if you don't mind."

That gets a softer, more genuine smile.

"Alright."

She leads him down the hall and into an empty classroom.

"How can I help?"

Oh, she's good at this. That gets a little smile in return.

"The first one I hope will be pretty simple - I'm wondering what the attitudes towards homosexuality are, here."

"What's homosexuality?" she deadpans.

Miss Vaux shakes her head. "It's basically invisible. Tristainian culture doesn't recognize same-sex relationships as 'real', so it doesn't bother to persecute anyone for them like some countries do, but a public display of affection with a same-sex partner will get you just about the same kind of reactions that masturbating in public would."

"I suppose I can work with that, all right. The other one is - more complicated, and I need to meet Scyelen for dinner, but I think you'll want time to think about it, anyway. My world has - a taboo, against relationships with significant age gaps. It's considered similar to attraction to children. You - don't seem to, here, and that - I'll leave it to Pelor and Lastai to sort out, I'm not going to assume it's more than a cultural difference until I hear otherwise. But it still - people keep assuming I might, uh - be - interested - in that way - and it - I'm not comfortable with that. And it seems to be causing problems."

"People other than Kirche?" She almost says something else, before stopping herself, a flicker of frustration crossing her face before she composes herself.

"I'm not sure what to tell you about that. I've been to some places that had some age-related taboos, but nothing so extreme. And even I see the bright line between a youth with sexual urges and a youth too young to have developed any such urges yet. That line is... quite distinct and incomparable."

"We see it as - there's a maturity gap, and that matters, it harms people to always be lagging behind like that in an important relationship, and for more casual things, it's predatory to approach someone less capable of looking out for themselves, or to take them up on what's likely to be a lapse in judgement. There's some flexibility, especially as the people involved get older - nobody would be very surprised to see someone my age with someone a decade younger - but it's still something we're supposed to be cautious of."

She hums, thoughtful.

"I think I see why you've been having trouble. It is usually much less effective than you would intuit, to reject someone over a taboo they don't share. I'd suggest you avoid appealing to principle and double-down on being clear about when someone falls outside your own tastes, regardless of the origin of said tastes."

He nods. "I've been doing that with Kirche, and it seems to work fine for situations like that. My problem is more - it's upsetting in any context. That's why I was so insistent on not sleeping in Scyelen's room, and why I froze up with you and her a few weeks ago. I'm a little worried that Mott is going to suggest I'm interested in Siesta and I'll end up attacking him over it."

"Mott is a fairly generic product of his culture, from what I've heard, and this is not a lovely culture, so I honestly wouldn't blame you. But if you're waiting for me to validate your taboos, because that's what a cleric of Lastai would do, then, well, I may have to lose a little bit of respect for them."

He blinks. "No, not at all - I don't know what they think about this, whether it's that they agree that those relationships are harmful or are just not pushing back on that taboo because they have higher priorities. I'll ask, when I get back, I'm sure they'll have something to say. But for now, the taboo isn't serving me well, I just don't see a way out of it."

"Hm. What, then, is age? Maturity? No. Maturity is a function of experience, not time. Power? No. Power is a function of circumstance and will, not time, and there are far greater imbalances to worry about. Aesthetic? Perhaps, but if you are compelled to judge the morality of a relationship on aesthetic, you can simply look away. What remains?"

"It takes time to accumulate experience and power; there is some connection."

"Formative experiences are usually single, significant events. Usually, if you repeat the same routine for a year, you are not so different before and after that year as you are before and after a single significant experience. There is some correlation because such experiences are usually random, and more time means more chances for them to happen. But the sort of person who grows as a person, while left undisturbed to carry out their routine, is significantly rarer that the sort of person who simply doesn't. This is merely more difficult to notice in older individuals because the sickness of age ossifies the mind against even significant experiences in the much same manner as it enfeebles the body."

"I don't think that refutes my point. Someone Kirche's age will have had less opportunity to have significant experiences than someone my age, in nearly every case, and definitely less time to think about them and learn from them. And there's something to - being allowed, to be young and foolish and do silly things with low stakes that teach you about yourself, before you try to be fully an adult."

"-I'm going to need to go to dinner soon."

"Kirche currently has seven recurrent partners, some younger, some older, though all students. Who all believed however tenuously that she was courting them alone, before I stepped in and convinced her to be more honest. I could've done the same when she was younger, or I could've found her twenty years from now having not yet learned better."

She shakes her head and gives him an understanding look.

"Only you can decide if you want to continue to have this taboo or not. I can't help you make that decision. But maybe, while you're at dinner, think about some of the advice you've given Scyelen, and imagine receiving some of that same advice yourself."

He considers, for a moment. "I don't think that's my problem but I'm not sure what is. But I'll think about it, thank you."

She nods and, after a moment's consideration, she hugs him.