The skin on zabna's hand splits along a previously invisible line in the palm. His fingers go limp and a mass of metal rods pack away the now empty skin in his wrist. Where his apparently human hand was there is now a veritable forest of ever thinner metal spikes. "I'm a human mind wearing an ultra-articulate body. If this body was to be destroyed I'd wake up back at the hub missing some memories but otherwise intact."

How curious. Such technology is beyond anything I have heard of.

He restores his hand to the human appearance. "The institute has had the technology for the last couple decades. It's based on a lot of prerequisites though."

Are you willing to share the information?

"Standard uplift procedures involve explaining the workings of all our technological capabilities including that, we try to do it carefully though, our technology can be used to do terrible things more easily than it can be used to do wonderful ones."

Goddess of libraries, remember. I am good at taking care of knowledge.

"You will forgive me milady but we have no particular guarantees of your benevolence. Perhaps your domain will be selected as the site to host one of our copies of The Archive on this world but I am not empowered to make promises like that under normal circumstances."

Perhaps I might show you more of myself, then?

"I would be delighted. I can't fly like your avatar there but I can run pretty fast when I need to."

My nearest temple is some distance away. Follow the heron, and speak up if you require a rest. The bird waits for him to read the message, then sets off at a quick trot.

zabna easily keeps up, his eyes drinking in the terrain. "Is there a good way for us to communicate while we're running?"

No. The word appears on successive trees.

"Alright, I'll save any questions till the end."

They pass through forest and fog, ponds with thick reeds poking through and apparently grassy expanses. The ground the heron guides him over is mostly solid. Slightly squishy, but he won't be leaving any boots behind. The entire region seems to be wetlands of one sort or another.

He looks a little intrigued, "Well I see why waterwalking would be useful," he muses.

Eventually they come to a road and can make better time. The mist thins out and they pass by several rice paddies.

And then there's a village, a small collection of wood and stone structures with a smooth grey building in the center. It is there that the heron guides him.

He follows the heron in. Presumably this is her temple. What does it look like inside?

The inside walls are the same grey stone as the outside. Ensconced candles along the walls provide ample light, and there are several arrangements of comfortable-looking chairs and bookshelves. Directly across from the entrance is a raised slab of dark stone that is presumably an altar.

"Nice place you have here. Does your power let you keep the candles burning indefinitely or do they need to be replaced occasionally?"

A book appears on the altar. The heron walks over and taps its beak on it.

zabna walks over and opens the book

I am still unable to converse with you normally. This village is too small for a full-time priest and my acolyte is at least a day of travel away. To answer your question: no, I cannot create an everburning candle, but it is trivial for me to replenish them.

"That's really interesting. So you can create matter but not persistent magical effects outside a limited set? Are there any limits on your matter creation ability?"

It is not creation. It is transmutation. I take material from one part of my domain, change it, and move it to where it is needed. I must understand a thing in order to make it.

"Alright, that's slightly less impressive but still useful. How much detail do you need to know about a thing in order to make it, like do you need to know precisely which compounds and in which ratios are in the things you're creating?"