"In that case I might see what she thinks of whatever's been hanging around in my offerings pocket the longest, that seems like more the spirit of the thing."

"Sure, that's probably fine too."

He finishes up his meal and heads up the road, taking a mental tally of the contents of his pack and how they might be presented as offerings.

The road is smooth and the wagon ruts are at a consistent width throughout, with carveouts in the surrounding street to make it easy to get out of one set of ruts into another at crossroads and a consistent ditch by the side for rain runoff. There are more farms, and orchards, and wells, and villages, and then, yes, the market hub.

This is an impressive road, and he asks Kiraavi to let him know when he has a spare minute to look at it. ("Probably not until tonight, I'm afraid.")

He takes a look around the market when he gets there, rather than look for the temple immediately.

It's unusually quiet, for a market - prices are written and up on signs. Instead of yelling about those to attract attention some sellers seem to have hired entertainers, dancing and singing with some advertising thrown in. Traffic flows consistently in one direction per side of the avenue, and a number of the intersections have rotary-style interchange with the flow of pedestrians.

How charming! Ruel adds it to his mental list of places he might want to settle, when he's ready to settle. (He'll add it to his written list later.)

And what is the temple like?

The temple is a boxy stone thing, with ornamentation mostly in the windows and around the edge of the roof where they don't affect its footprint, though there are several different colors of stones used in charming abstract patterns. Steps lead up to the front door and there are short windows near the base indicating that there's a basement getting its lighting that way.

And inside?

Wooden stacking chairs - they stack very neatly, there's a tower of them in a corner - and a priest talking to a young couple, and another priest oiling the mechanisms on the windows.

Huh, usually the offering hall is easier to find (or more clearly indicated) than this. He approaches the priest at the window: "Excuse me."

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was looking for the offering hall, but I'm not sure I shouldn't be talking to someone about why I'm here, first - I'm Ruel, priest of Kiraavi of roads and travel, he has a project we're hoping for some help with."

"Ah! Our goddess takes offerings directly off the front steps, so it's easy to drop them off on the way in or on the way past. There's a sign but I think it's too easy to overlook; it's on the list of things to do with more budget if we get it."

He chuckles. "You know, in retrospect I feel like I should have guessed. I'll be back in a few minutes, then. - I also haven't caught her name yet, if addressing her by it is traditional here."

"Either way is fine by her! It's Iabeltha."

"Thank you!"

Back outside, he retrieves his chosen offering from his pack, unwrapping it from its protective cloth and holding it up to admire in the light for a moment before setting it on the steps. "Greetings, Iabeltha. I offer you this pressed-flower pendant, constructed in the glades of Ylithresia far to the east and carried through no fewer than fifteen gods' domains without finding its purpose as an offering. I appreciate the opportunity to lighten my pack, and hope that collaboration with Kiraavi of roads brings new opportunities to you both."

The pendant disappears. "Thank you."

And, back inside.

The priests are still there. The one who was oiling the windows is now working on something at a desk behind the lectern.

He doesn't mind waiting, if they don't seem straightforwardly interruptable.

The one counseling the couple finishes with them in a few minutes and smiles at him.

"Hello! I'm Ruel, priest of Kiraavi of roads and travel. There's been a bit of a disaster up north, and he's looking for help in settling refugees, or perhaps resettling people who the refugees can replace in their communities. Do you think your goddess would be interested in working with him on it?"

"Oh, yes, I think she'd like that very much. Are the would-be resettlers on board with this plan, moving aside to a whole new place so someone else can live in their house?"

"Probably not many just yet, it takes time for something like this to get moving. But I've seen this kind of thing before - admittedly not quite on this scale - and there are always some people interested enough in trying something new to take us up on the offer of help with the trip once they've heard about it. Especially if we have new places to suggest."