"Somehow I don't think anybody will know if I ask when I return the books!"

"Me neither. It seems like the sort of question that might be hard to answer even if you were trying to study it - I mean, if you tried to ask the gods directly I don't really expect Their answers would be helpful..." 

"Yeah. Whatever senses they have they are not ones that lend themselves to clear conversation."

"It's very inconvenient of Them." 

"They probably can't help it. They vary so if they could help it one of them probably would."

Nod. 

"...Oh, right - did the woman who got possessed by Bestet remember anything about what it was like?" 

"Yeah -" She points to that spot in her notes. "She seemed to have, uh, fond if vague memories."

Ma'ar leans in, rereads that spot in her notes. 

"....Honestly, I think being possessed by a god sounds terrifying - I guess I'm glad she's not traumatized about it, though?" 

"Yeah, I wouldn't like it but, uh, tastes vary."

"Apparently!" Ma'ar shrugs again. "I'm thinking a bit about whether it makes sense to, I don't know, try to help the order that worships Bestet open temples in Predain - obviously I'm not making a decision on it now, I'll have much more information later, but...well, it might help with the problem where I think women get mistreated a lot there. Maybe. I don't think I understand it well enough yet to know."  

"I guess it probably wouldn't hurt anything. The Eternal Flame sounded cool too but they apparently take marching orders from the god about where to send missionaries so if they aren't a place maybe they aren't supposed to be."

"Maybe not. Although - I don't know, depending on how things look whenever I'm done studying here, it might seem worth it to pray to Them and...see if there's any information They're missing about why helping in Predain would matter?" 

"Maybe! Or, uh, ask someone who's slightly more comfortable with possession risk to do it."

"I mean, if I had to get possessed by a god in order to fix Predain, that'd - probably be worth it? ...But I'd still prefer to avoid it, so if there were someone else I trusted and could ask, that seems better." 

"I can bring you with when I return the books if you want to talk to the Eternal Flame's priests yourself."

"- I think I would like that."

Ma'ar's voice is level but his body language is very tense. 

"I mean, you could also give me a list of further questions... Or I could bring Aala if you think Predain-specific expertise is called for."

"Maybe Aala and I can both come, she - looks more harmless than me, that might help. But I want to be there." 

"If you say so."

"Anything else we should talk about now?" 

"I think we covered it."

Ma'ar nods. "When are you planning on returning the books?" 

"After I've read them, probably end of the week."

"Well, Mindspeak me when you're ready to go and let me know, I guess?" 

"Will do!"

She tackles the books in her spare time over the next few days.