"Well, he probably did it because of some underlying deficiency of perspective or emotional safety that is fixable with sex, it's always something like that."

"...I have to say, that is an interpretation of Urtho I had not encountered before." Then Leareth's brief smile fades. "He was scared, I think. Of what I was doing in Predain. I am not sure if that is the kind of thing where sex can relevantly help with emotional safety." 

"Anyway!" Nayoki says brightly. "Leareth, you should pick something more fun and happy to tell her about! Also we can maybe go somewhere else? That has more furniture than this?" 

"...Sure." At this point, it definitely doesn't seem like letting Elfyn out of the Work Room containment is going to cause any worse problems. "Do you want to see my library?" 

"Yes! I would!"

Leareth can escort her over. 

The hallways on the way there are mostly bare stone, though very smooth and well-finished. The library itself is - surprisingly classy, for somewhere so generally low-tech? It has wood panelling, and tapestries on the walls for sound-damping, and rugs, and also a lot more books in one place than even the Palace library in Haven. There's an area with desks, one of them occupied by someone copying some text, and there are a couple of cozier reading-nooks with armchairs, and at one end of the room a cluster of people of widely varying ethnicities are apparently doing very complicated math, putting it up as an illusion rather than using a whiteboard. They immediately take it down when they see her with Leareth, though. 

Leareth lifts a hand. "You can stay. Nayoki, do you want to explain?" 

Sure, Nayoki - who did think to get properly dressed again before leaving the Work Room, but whose clothes are definitely disheveled - starts explaining what they know so far to these very very confused math researchers. 

Elfyn is not dressed, or not more than she's ever dressed, which is in a fishnet. Her glossy hair is wrapped around her in a way that makes no physical sense but maintains ambiguity about her genital situation. She's leaning on Leareth and beaming. "Is the whole base underground for aesthetic reasons or strategic ones?"

Leareth nods to his researchers and heads toward one of the armchair nooks. "Strategic reasons. The location is secret and it is not visible from the surface. ...Also we are operating out of the very far north, because this area is not claimed by any of the current powerful gods and is thus less subject to interference." 

"Second mention of gods, do I need exposition?"

Leareth sits down. "Yes. Probably. I am not sure what was explained so far, but it sounded as though your previous knowledge of gods was...different. The gods here are, approximately, very powerful magical entities that exist mostly in other planes and perceive the world primarily through Foresight. Many of them have human worshippers, and various types of relationship with them - the Shin'a'in on the Dhorisha Plains, for example, have an ancestral pact with the Star-Eyed Goddess to guard the Plains from outsiders. ...Which actually makes far more sense if some of the remains of Urtho's Tower are still intact. The Companions in Valdemar are also the result of a miraculous intervention by one or more gods, though Whoever was responsible has never tried to claim credit for it. King Valdemar prayed to all of the gods whose names he had ever heard for a way to maintain the stability of his country, and got...that." 

He waits to see if she has questions. 

"They, uh, mentioned that, but - I wasn't sure the gods actually existed? People will say things like that even if there aren't actually any gods. - uh, in my world some people say that the gods will send you to Hell if you go around being a girl and a boy at the same time and fucking everybody, and I never put much store in that but I did, like, check, when I got quests to save repressed trans Catholics and Mormons with the power of blowjobs."

“- Oh, people do that here as well. Claiming that the god they worship cares what sex acts people engage in, I mean. As far as I can tell, the gods mostly do not care unless it is instrumental for something else - the Star-Eyed probably does prefer that the Shin’a’in and Tayledras people not marry out. But the gods definitely do exist - and occasionally intervene in very blatant ways - though mostly They operate via subtle nudges and coincidences which only form a clear pattern after the fact.”

Leareth looks so unhappy as he says this.

"But they are unlike the Greek gods in that I cannot fuck them?"

Nayoki snickers.

Leareth blinks. “I…am not sure anyone has ever tried that. Or how it would even work. Does your kind of magic generally let you have sex with nonhuman entities even when that would not normally physically work?”

Nayoki is giggling too hard to speak out loud. :You might be able to fuck the Shadow-Lover! The name does seem rather suggestive:  

Leareth’s magic researchers are trying to discreetly listen in without appearing to be hovering or eavesdropping. This is such a strange conversation!

"Sex is more of a concept than a specific physical thing. Like, if I can find their sensory input and overwhelm it with pleasure and delight, then, yeah, I bet I'm supposed to solve this that way."

Leareth stares at her in what looks like utter amazement. 

"You...think...that is the kind of thing that might work? - I suppose I am not sure if gods are even the kind of entities that experience pleasure in a particularly human-recognizable way. And your sex magic would almost certainly need to be powerfully mind-affecting on the gods directly in order for Them to let you do that. But - if you could somehow cause Them to understand what I am trying to do here and why They are in the way, that...would just by itself solve the biggest problems in Velgarth. And the remainder would not make sense to address by invading any countries." 

It's really cute when Leareth looks all happy like that. 

"Well, I have yet to encounter something it would be useful to fuck which it is somehow impossible to fuck, so I bet it'll turn out fine. Do these gods have - backstories, traits?"

“As in distinguishing traits that differ between them? I think - yes, to an extent, though it is difficult to know how much of that is real versus - something that mortal worshippers came up with in order to try to make sense of beings which are fundamentally alien? The Star-Eyed Goddess has a - style, I suppose is the best word for it - of operating via avatars, often using formerly mortal spirits, and She seems to prefer social structures that are very tight knit and local, like tribal clans, not cities. Vkandis tends toward more blatant physical-world interventions - He has maintained a miraculous shield-wall around an entire country for two thousand years. And He sometimes sets things - or people - on fire, to make a point.” Leareth’s lips tighten very slightly as he says this.

Nayoki is much less reserved about it. “He set Leareth on fire! Twice! Merely for having the nerve to attempt peaceful communication with Him! Vkandis is a bastard.”

"I take it you're not into that?"