"They would've thought I was an angel and wouldn't have let me summon anyone and the people I talked to didn't think much of their willingness to handle irregularities."

"All right. Well, if you'd like or if other people here would like lessons in how to develop the kinds of things they had on Godspring, we can offer those."

"It'll probably get annoying to have to translate everything but that'd be nice."

"I think we might be able to learn your language and we can certainly write in it -" he gestures at the sign.

"Most people can't read."

"Godspring was the same way. They'll get there fast."

"I haven't had much luck. Maybe you'll make it seem more useful."

"We've explained that once everyone's literate they can summon at home instead of having it all go through the dots. Can't use that as motivation here but we'll come up with something. Maybe the fact the rest of the multiverse can only communicate with you in writing will help."

"Only if you seem interesting to communicate with. Plenty of people just aren't very curious."

"I've never met anyone of your species before so I couldn't say."

"Maybe everyone will get around to it if they have more time."

"That we can do. I'll ask my colleagues to get a Vala over here right away."

"That's the god?"

"Yes."

"It's not going to do anything extra, is it?"

"Uh, if there are ongoing horrible things we are very likely to be moved to intervene in them, but the Valar will be transparent about what they're doing and default to leaving things the way people prefer them."

"I don't know what things magic gods think are horrible."

"In Godspring we objected to slavery and not-technically-slavery coercive mage arrangements, in Hazel we dismantled a prison where the prisoners were tortured by happiness-sucking monsters, in Revelation we took issue with the practice of rendering prisoners unable to write, speak, or use symbolic communication of any form..."

"We don't have prisoners, like, in general, that's not a thing."

"Us neither." Shiver. "Anyway, that's the sort of thing they've intervened with."

"Is that the only thing they don't like?"

" - that's the only thing where them not liking it would outweigh your being happy with it, if your people were happy with it. They will be distressed if you torture animals and they will be distressed if you have various kinds of coercive social arrangements but those they wouldn't tell you to stop."

"Well, we eat animals."

"Places vary a lot in how they are feasibly able to treat the animals before eating them."

"We, like, fish them out of the sea? Then eat them? What else would we do?"