"My acolyte is currently busy, but promises that she'll take it apart and try to figure out how it works later. She might have questions for you, but at the moment, I do not," says the god.

"They are welcome if they are actually repentant, though I think I would hint at them to live somewhere away from former slaves to prevent unwanted tensions."

"Reasonable. You should warn her not to try to open the battery - it's labelled with a lightning bolt. What's an acolyte? Is it like blessings?" He's out of wall-carvings to investigate. Back outside to the pretty desert mountain.

"I will warn her. An acolyte is a person trusted and chosen by a god, to be some combination of their ally, confidant, missionary, defender, advisor, and speaker, and is granted the god's divine power. I grant flight."

"...I think I want to explain summoning to you. Though you will not like some aspects, I think, the first thing to know is that answering a summon is always a voluntary action."

"Good. Though I suppose you cannot discern the location you are summoned to?"

"No. And furthermore, it is traditional to summon daeva with bindings to prevent troublesome ones from causing mayhem. I was summoned without bindings in this case. The bindings prevent us from doing certain things, but cannot compel action. They range from a relatively lax 'do not deliberately or negligently cause harm to any person or any person's property' to 'do nothing except agree or disagree with the deal I will propose'."

"..... I see."

Raezenoth: does not sound pleased with this development.

"I have not made a serious study of bindings, but I stress that a malicious unbound daeva is extremely dangerous and the bindings are very necessary. And answering a summons is voluntary. Every time I do it I expect to be under bindings."

"I understand the necessity for safety, and agree that a malicious unbound daeva is extremely dangerous." Pause. "I think a suitable compromise is to summon a daeva safely in a binding that will not impede their ability to talk in any way, discuss with them what bindings they are willing to be under, and then dismiss and resummon them with the appropriate bindings if they are acceptable to both parties."

"...That's one way to do it, I suppose. The point of summoning is trade. Summoners and daeva work out a deal, daeva's services for various objects usually, and once it's been agreed to the bindings gain exceptions to help fill the deal. Daeva can't be un-summoned if only one part of the deal is done."

"Loopholes are dangerous. Vague terminology is dangerous. Saying 'yeah' or 'sure' casually is dangerous, since a malicious daeva can interpret it as acceptance of a deal."

"I understand. It should be taken very seriously. What sorts of things do daeva prefer to be paid with?"

"Fairies will accept most things considered valuable to humans, with the exception of, for example, vehicles. The other kinds are less easily payable, their abilities render material goods a bit moot, but art, stories, and other media can work. The other kinds are also even more dangerous than fairies, though."

"What is the type of danger they present?"

"Risabra change things, which can include changing peoples' bodies to air. Ciavri make things, including explosives, poison, large amounts of lava..."

Pause.

"That does sound dangerous."

"Yes. It's why I didn't want to tell you at first, and why I'm emphasizing bindings so much. But trade..." He takes a deep breath. "Trade is the beating heart of civilization! Done properly and not exploitatively, trade massively benefits both involved parties. And new trading partners in daeva will help people here, if you're sufficiently careful about it."

"You feel very strongly about this," observes Rae, sounding amused. "Would you like to stay and help facilitate trade with daeva?"

"I think so. Though I should probably go home and buy a bunch of books on various useful subjects off someone if I'm going to be here a while."

"I can help facilitate this. What needs to be done to resummon you?"

"I'll write out a circle- A safe circle, one designed to get only me. No bindings." He opens his pockets to get a piece of paper and starts drawing.

"That is agreeable to me, if you don't mind me or my acolyte summoning you."

"A summons involving a god might behave oddly. Better not risk it. I'll need a few hours to get everything I want from the other side first, too."

"Very well. Would four hours do?"

"Yes, four hours would be fine."

"Okay. Tell me when you'd like to leave."