"We should get as many of them as we can for the Plant Growths and I guess they're also good for everyone's souls but I can't say that I have a deep understanding of the emotional appeal."

"Family is - almost all of the high-stakes decisions most people make are made at home, actually. But I cannot say I have a personal affinity for him. Abadar."

"Is going to have to loan me an enormous amount of money to repair the duchy but I negotiated a very good interest rate."

"Did you." It is the first time she has sounded actually impressed with Lilia including on learning that she sold her soul to serve the forces of Good.

"I'm a Lawful sixty-year-old sixth circle wizard with a clone just in case and probably soon a duchy, I'm not that much of a credit risk. But yes, I did. There are a lot of infrastructure improvements that need to be made - the castle was looted by its fleeing nobility and then looted again several more times after that -"

"What is even a good interest rate on Golarion?"

"I got fifty five thousand Absalom pounds at seven percent annually. It's twice what Lastwall pays but it's much better than an individual can usually get."

"- luxury. Restaurant meals, things like that."

"- I like nice things but if I liked them more than fixing Cheliax I'd have stayed in Axis instead of fixing Cheliax. They can wait, though there's no reason to avoid them on principle."

" - okay that one is actually almost exactly what I was going to say. With the caveat that it seemed possible I'd actually find no longer being in Axis quite bad for me and I didn't want to - fail to notice the possibility because it didn't sit well with my self-image."

It is immensely satisfying to be told by Carlota that she got Carlota right. It is a satisfaction she last experienced when she was a little girl and her mother was giving her a test.

"Alcohol."

"...what about it?"

"it's actually - oh, damn it, I don't think I can afford to tell you that. Never mind."

"Of course."

"Privileges of the nobility."

"Nobles should not be allowed to murder people with impunity. Or rape people with impunity, or rob people with impunity, or terrorize people with impunity. They should be selected for being good people who won't abuse their powers and then should have the power to run their duchies well, which requires the ability to enforce the law and make arrests and go after monsters and maintain a private military in good order and collect taxes. Iomedae was suspicious of the whole institution but no one's ever successfully built Lastwall outside Lastwall, so."

"Well, no one's tried that hard. I don't know if it would work but if there was a real credible attempt at it I certainly wouldn't want to be a barrier to it. ....your little girl, four years old, tells you that she wants to wear boy's clothes and learn riding and swordfighting."

".....maybe she can have those things as a reward once she's done her assigned tasks, only I have no specific recollection of what appropriate assigned tasks for a four year old are."

"They can learn their letters. ....your little girl, thirteen years old, tells you that she hates you and wants you to die because you won't let her marry the boy she's pining over."

....'torture her for insubordination' is going to be the wrong answer. Realizing this does not get her the right answer. Whip her for insubordination? They whip people for insubordination in Lastwall, right? Probably it is better to err on the side of being too lenient, here, except if you have a thirteen year old who speaks disrespectfully to you you've clearly been being too lenient for a very long time. 

There is nothing wrong with torturing your thirteen year old daughters for insubordination. They'll thank you in the long run. 

"- I guess I'd ask her how her problems would be solved if I died, as her father also wouldn't let her marry at that age?"

Carlota beams at her. 

Lilia loves getting the right answer to Carlota problems. It feels like being valuable again. All the happiest memories of her life are of being valuable.

"You know, that's actually kind of strikingly good parenting for the Material. That is how my mother handled it but a lot of mothers wouldn't."

"It is not how my mother would have handled it. But - I can see the - environment that you are a product of. And it seems like it was good for you."