What????? ....Are those two statements supposed to be related. Nayoki can't tell but if they are then that's even more confusing. Also why is their visitor trying to convince her not to object to Vanyel's sexual preferences, Nayoki doesn't care which sex Vanyel's former lifebonded partner was, that is so incredibly not the point here. 

"I - have no idea what 'story' you think you are in right now," she says faintly, "but - I am fairly sure that if you continue to go around doing the kinds of things you have been doing so far - I am not even sure what you were doing in Haven, since you seem to be unwilling to just tell us, but it is enough to know that it caught Leareth's attention - if you keep doing that, the gods are going to notice you and take action against you, and whatever you think about it will not matter." 

"Ooooooh." She wiggles delightedly. "The Greek kind of gods."

"The what kind of gods?"

Are this woman's thoughts any more informative than the teasingly intriguing but not-actually-informative words she just said? 

She was thinking gods like some bullshit that's probably made up and really sex-negative, and now she's thinking gods like men with superpowers who live on mountains and come down as animals to rape all the villagers. "Uh, I mean, like, not omnipotent and all-loving, kind of specific. And will have sex with you. Which is what's most relevant for my purposes."

What is she even supposed to say to that.

...Nayoki takes a breath and relays the thoughts she just picked up directly to Leareth, for lack of any better response and in hopes that either he'll have a suggestion for what to say or at least it'll buy her time to think of something. 

:....I am deeply confused about her ontology for - how gods work - but I am not sure that is the most critical part? I want to understand why she seems to be running all of her reasoning and anticipations on the premise that she is - living in a story? That is about sex?: 

This is inconveniently not a line she can repeat back verbatim as a response. 

"I...would certainly not describe our gods as either omnipotent or all-loving? But they are also...not even slightly the kind of entity that you could have sex with and I am not sure why anyone would want to. - Why is that so relevant for your purposes?"

"So you just said, 'if you keep doing that, the gods are going to notice you and take action against you, and whatever you think about it will not matter.' Which definitely means a god is going to rape me at some point. So I kinda figured they made a habit of it but if not, maybe they make an exception for me, whatever."

That is such a strange assumption for her to be landing on! 

"Gods do not have physical forms, I am not sure how They could– ...I suppose They could possess one of Their followers to rape you, for some reason? Usually what They do to Leareth is - indirectly arranging assassination plots, or causing bridges to coincidentally collapse while he is crossing them. Vkandis did set him on fire a couple of times but that was unusually unsubtle." 

Well, they're not going to do that to her, she's not into that. 

"Okay. I'll, uh, be on the lookout. Do you want to stop doing this interrogation and flee Master Dark's organization together?"

Does she want to what? This is not a normal conversation! ...Well, interrogating a mysterious stranger they kidnapped and took prisoner from Haven is in itself not something that would lead to normal conversations but even for the realm of prisoner-interrogation this is incredibly weird! 

...Leareth advised her to be open and honest, in hopes of learning as much as possible, and Nayoki is going to construe that as including some amount of emotional vulnerability, because the response to that is going to be informative, surely. Also very personally interesting. 

"Not especially, no. I like working for Leareth. The homeland I escaped from was much, much worse than this, and - Leareth was the first person to offer me resources, and space to explore and learn and discover, and to - believe that I could do something valuable, given that investment. To believe I was someone worth investing in. ...I suspect he would feel the same about you, since you seem to have - some kind of power, and one that I do not recognize at all. He will very badly want to understand - this, you - and I think would be highly motivated to offer you whatever working conditions you need." 

"Well, worth a shot." It seemed possible this kidnapping was just to get her back on track with respect to figuring out who the villain is and wasn't actually meant to be her encounter with the villain. "If you change your mind, you know where to find me. We can fast-travel to Urtho's Tower, betcha Master Dark can't get to us there."

:....She has access to Urtho's Tower?: 

What. How?

- Actually from some angle that fits, it clicks into place and...explains some things. How Vanyel could productively spend an entire year on his Leareth-fact-finding mission, for one, and why there was no sign of him to spies for six months. And this stranger - who he's increasingly doubting is even human - must have encountered him there? 

:Ask her how she knows about Urtho's Tower. And - hmm, if she has been there I am somewhat surprised she does not know more about me. That...would presumably have been the entire point of Vanyel's trip: 

It is weirdly hot to have this person offer to run away with her to Urtho's Tower, even though Nayoki in fact has no interest in fleeing the best position she's been in in her entire life. Also why does she keep thinking that? Nayoki is...not normally this distracted about attractive people in her vicinity. She's not normally distracted at all by it, really. 

"I am curious about the circumstances by which you found Urtho's Tower," she says lightly. "While Vanyel was there, presumably? Also whether you - knew the purpose of Vanyel's travel there, and how it was related to Leareth." 

"Ugh, did I miss a plot hook there, too? Anyway, that sure does sound like an interrogation question." Her tone is lightly scolding.

(Vanyel, lost in a haze of pain and delirium on the ground, actually required days of gentle tending before he was conscious enough the erogamer could explain that he could copy Van's magic powers by sleeping with him - he did, obviously, consider fucking Van while he was out of it in order to get the magic, what with how it looked like Van was dying in agony, but if you let the erogame give you moral dilemmas like that it'll never stop and also it would not have been hot. At all. Anyway, once he had Van's gifts it was just a matter of getting the tutorial in the local magic system while petting Vanyel's hair and nursing him back to health and breaking down his emotional walls and getting the story about Tylendel and sincerely swearing that that's exactly the kind of thing his magic won't permit to abide in the world.)

(She's male, in these memories, and doesn't seem to find that notable at all.)

That...answers some questions. Kind of? Ish? It also raises so many more questions. 

Also, awwwwwwwwwwww her thoughts about Vanyel are sweet. 

Since Nayoki doesn't know what to make of it at all, she relays all of this to Leareth. 

Leareth's mind is spinning as he tries to fit these pieces together.

The person is...from another world? And has some kind of very powerful native magic, which includes the ability to copy Gifts, but is...based on sex? Which fits with all of her - his? - all of their bizarre interactions with Leareth's staff. He won't go as far as to say that it makes sense of them because nothing about this makes sense. 

He made a sincere promise to Vanyel that events like Tylendel's death were 'exactly the kind of thing his magic won't permit to abide in the world'. What does that mean? Can his kind of magic end death? 

If so, this is the most important thing that has ever happened. 

Leareth is not prompting her with anything to say, presumably because he's just as distracted chasing down implications as she is. The silence is starting to feel awkwardly long. 

- and then another of the implications falls into place. "Ohhhhh, is that why you were spending so much time with Melody in Haven? Did you manage to sleep with her?"

If this stranger has Mindhealing Gift then– Nayoki isn't sure what, actually. It's clear that one way or another, she's incredibly powerful, and presumably could leave at any moment she chose. And is...choosing not to. Because she's following some kind of plot? Which involves Leareth. 

"No!" Pout. "I actually - this is embarrassing to admit, but - I haven't gotten laid in two days and it's kind of killing me. I'm hornier than a normal person, you know."

"I had noticed that, yes," Nayoki says dryly. 

Pause. 

"- I also have Mindhealing Gift, you know." Wait why did she just say that out loud. 

"Ooooh." Head-tilt. "I hardly needed any more persuading. ....I could maybe compromise on the army requirement, you know, probably one Mindhealer is sufficient to wring all my secrets out of me."

"We are rather good at that, yes. And I have some relevant special training. Leareth uses Mindhealers for rather different purposes than the House of Healing in Haven does." Nayoki winks at the absurdly attractive woman/delicious bread and then wonders why in all hells she did that.

:...Leareth please tell me if this is a terrible idea and I should stop: she sends, and then finds herself hoping very very hard that Leareth does not think it's a terrible idea.

And she has no idea where that feeling is coming from either. :- I think she has some kind of mind-affecting magic: she adds. 

Leareth is also incredibly confused!!! 

:It does seem valuable to learn more of why she is here and what her aims are: he concedes. :And she does seem - very unwilling to engage with anything unless it is about sex. - It would be interesting to confirm if she does, in fact, copy Gifts off of people she sleeps with. And if she already has Vanyel's Gifts, then the marginal addition of Mindhealing is - not going to be game-changing, in terms of how easily she can threaten our operations. I think: 

Leareth is not entirely sure that the mysterious mind-affecting magic isn't also affecting him, but - more than anything else he wants to understand what's going on. And it seems almost impossible to make progress on that without, well, going along with the 'plot' their alien visitor seems to have in mind. 

:...If you are sure:

Nayoki has no idea how to run an interrogation that is also a sex scene! Why is this what's happening now??? She...is going to smile at the woman and then sort of stand there and wait to see what she says. 

She does not have very long to worry about this before the girl springs on her with genuine delight. "Rarely have I been at the mercy of such a beautiful woman," she whispers. "Your Master Dark is very lucky. You will have to teach me all about creative Mindhealing. I insist. I am in no position to insist but I insist anyway."

And she holds Nayoki's head still and kisses her firmly.