"Then I would love to have a memory blessing, thank you." 

Some of the others might be useful, but several seem particular to Ellayania's domain, and she's not sure yet if she'll be spending enough time here to need those. Anyway, if she does, there will presumably be more opportunities to pick up those blessings, since that would imply that they remain on good terms. 

"You shall have it."

When an acolyte confers a blessing, they have to touch the recipient. But a god within their own domain need not.

And now Ranata has a better memory than she did a second ago. Wheee!

"Many thanks," she says, resisting the urge to bounce. 

"Now, I believe I will investigate a few of these books. Are they arranged by any particular system?" 

"Subject, style, and era. Fiction tends to accumulate to the north and the west."

Ranata isn't that interested in fiction. Not as a first port of call, anyway.

"And ancient history would be...?"

"Try the southwest corner."

"Thank you; I do believe I will." Such a helpful god.

Off to the southwest corner she goes. Her acolyte power lets her read all languages, not just speak them, so finding something she can read shouldn't be a problem. 

There are books! Many of them historical in nature, even.

She picks one, finds a quiet corner, and starts reading. She is not going to run out of interesting books any time soon.

A few hours in, Merilakian speaks up from her pendant - for the first time since her arrival in Ellayania's domain - to remind her to eat. Reluctantly, she sets the book aside and goes in search of food to sustain her annoyingly mortal form.  

If she has money, there's places to eat in town.

She does indeed have money, and spends it at the closest place to the temple that sells food she recognizes. 

Once she's eaten - it's not polite to risk getting food on books, even if you know you're good at being careful - she returns to where she left off.

As natural light fades, a priest goes around and lights the candles.

That would normally get Ranata's attention, but not when there are books!

If he has to come within a couple of feet of her reading spot, she might notice. If not, she'll keep reading until Merilakian reminds her to go find somewhere to sleep. 

The candleholders have strategic mirrored backings; there are not that many of them.

Eventually, she rouses herself - at her god's prompting - to find an inn and sleep. 

Next morning, rather than returning to the temple, she reluctantly continues with her plan to tour Ellayania's domain.

This city seems like the logical place to start, since what information she gathered tells her it's the biggest. She's only seen the part of it between the docks and the temple, so she'll spend the rest of the day wandering around the rest, and finding someone who can take her to the next-biggest temple site tomorrow. 

The city is rambly and twisty, in the fashion of those that have been built over the years without any centralized planning. Businesses and places of work are clustered closer to the water, while the residential areas tend further inland. There's also a street where the small temples of foreign gods are clustered.

Oooo. She definitely wants to investigate those, and has lots of questions for those gods or their priests.

For example, how did they come to have temples here? 

By way of exchange for a similar consideration in their territory, mostly. This is not the largest port in the world, but it is one of the busiest in this region.

Her little bottle of river water is presumably listening in to this conversation; this is almost certainly in the top five most interesting things demanding his attention. The potential expansion of his domain is not her call to make. 

She leaves the foreign gods offerings of knowledge, as is the custom in Littenvale. Merilakian whispers in her ear to help her find tidbits particularly relevant to each god. Some she has met before, while others are new.

And while she's here, can they tell her anything about Ellayania that her god might plausibly need to know before entering into a similar agreement?

In a small temple made of glassy black volcanic rock, pale marble, and green sea-glass, there's a white bird that can weigh in.

"Ellayania is very straightforward, and uninterested in getting into conflicts. She says what she means and doesn't like playing politics; you won't have to worry about being blindsided with mind or power games. I think you'd be better off looking elsewhere if you'd like to find an ally against any rivals you might have, she much prefers neutrality and will resist and resent any attempt to draw her into conflicts. If instead you'd like to peacefully exchange resources with another god for mutual benefit, she's very reliable. I was the first to enter such an arrangement with her, I have yet to regret it."

"Thank you for your advice." 

Merilakian makes a note to visit Tisvetaia at some point, and discuss a potential exchange in that direction.

For now, just before they leave the volcano goddess' outpost and return to Ellayania's domain, he tells Ranata, "That's good enough for me. I think it's time to present our case to Ellayania. An exchange of temples seems like a fine place to start; I doubt I'll have trouble finding priests to staff an outpost here."

She goes to the altar again, even though she could technically speak to Ellayania anywhere in her domain and be heard; it seems the thing to do.

"Ellayania, I come, this time, with an offer from Merilakian," she begins, and waits for a confirmation that the goddess is listening.

"Oh?"

"Having toured your capital, and spoken to the other gods with which you have similar agreements, Merilakian is of the opinion that it would be in both of your interests to place temples in each other's domains." 

They agreed that Ranata would do the talking again, but now she feels like it was a mistake, and Ellayania is going to be offended that the other god will only deign to speak to her through an intermediary.

"The primary benefit, of course, would be the opportunity to exchange knowledge, of all kinds. Littenvale is, to my knowledge, the only place within a month's travel which comes close to matching your library."

And she stops there, because otherwise she'll start rambling and forget to give the goddess a chance to respond.

"I am flattered you think so highly of me after so short a time. However, such an arrangement is not to be entered lightly. I would like to meet Merilakian as he has me before assenting to this."