Oh, wow. This is definitely really really important. She had better pay close attention.

Audrey does her best to read the screen. Archey - oh, that's "archive" again. And that second word is... um... ack.. ackses? Access. 

Slowly, Audrey puzzles out the words, but it only leaves her more puzzled. What's a life-float? Why would she want an oathbound advisor?

Wow, Mae has no idea what those are.

She can tell this is serious though, so she does her best to read though it herself. She's not quite as fast at reading as Audrey, but she slowly puzzles through each option, until…

"…What's a 'oathbound advisor'?"

"Civilization promises that young heroines such as you should have friends even outside your own families. Oathbound advisors are those friends: people who have promised to put your needs before their own and give you the aid of their secret skills even if it harms them. Some may know how to cross cities or countries in hours, some may know how to climb trees without falling, some may know how to build intricate jewelry, some may know how to draw art, some may know how to make friends - all manner of secret skills are theirs, and you're encouraged to add their strength to your own. Some may require payment for their skills, but they always have promised to put your needs first. Most of them are adults, but some are small heroes and heroines not much bigger than you!"

"Clematis has a similar duty to put your needs before her own, but instead of healing injuries, knowing other young heroines to talk to, sharing secrets of how to make things or repair things, or other such areas, she is considered an expert on you - until you are old enough to say what you want for yourself! And you're quite old enough for that, now."

"In other words, they're your minions, toadies and flunkies to bribe with money owed to you by civilization to enact your wills upon the world!"

The artificial voice giggles, a surprisingly lifelike noise from its naturally monotone cadence.

"Ooh, minions!" 

Audrey wiggles in her seat and grins. 

Mae grins. She likes the sound of minions!

"Wait, civilization owes us money? How much money? Like a hundred dollars? A thousand?" 

A hundred dollars is a really nice new skirt. A thousand dollars is a clamshell like the one she just got. She can't really imagine amounts bigger than that, except that millionaires and billionaires do exist sometimes. She thinks they run organizations?

"Between the two of you, Civilization owes you one hundred and seventy-two thousand, eight hundred dollars, half of that to Audrey, half of that to Mae. Even in the adult world, this is a serious amount of money! It is not an extreme amount, but it is enough that to save up this much you would likely need to work hard for multiple years, or else have secret skills adults will pay a lot for. It is an important no-nonsense amount of money. And it is yours, and not even Clematis can take it from you. But you can take it from you: once you spend it, it's gone."

The voice pauses, letting that sink in.

"Wow, that's so much money. A scary amount of money. That's more than..." Audrey tries to count orders of magnitude on her fingers. "... a hundred times as much money as a clamshell?" 

Wow, that is… so much money.

"That is scary! What do you… do with so much money?"

"The most expensive thing people usually do with it is pay to stay in houses, because houses are very expensive to build in ways that are safe and useful. This much money would be just barely enough for you to support yourself for six years, in a cheap little nook-house living on your own. But running your entire life that way is scary and big, so big that even some adults can't manage it. So instead young heroines who are learning are taken care of by their families — people like your mom Clematis. Your mother and her partners pay for your clan-house from their money, and that means the money that is set aside to support you with food and a place to live instead is saved, to be given to you when you learn to read and do math. This is because civilization has made two sacred promises."

"The first is that everyone in civilization gets enough money to survive on. No exceptions, not even tiny little ones. Even one exception on this destroys the purpose of the pledge forever. Even a baby who can't buy things should get money to live on."

"The second is that that money should be yours, not given to someone else to look after for you. Clematis should not be able to spend your money. Civilization should not be able to spend your money. Only you should have the ability to spend your money."

"So, since you have existed for six years, and your mother Clematis has been keeping you in her clanhouse for all that time, and you haven't been able to spend any of it since until now you were too small to understand you had it and how to use it, you have saved a lot of money! And for most young heroines your age, it is the same."

"But what do we do with it?"

"That is why you have advisors. They can teach you all the things you can do with that money, and then you will have to decide for yourself if those things are things you want or not."

"So our minions will tell us how to spend our money...?" 

Audrey feels dubious about that prospect. She's only just gotten this amount of money, but it seems too important to entrust to another. But it's also a scary amount of money... 

"Absolutely not. If a minion tells you how you should spend your money that minion is a no good sneaky saboteur. Minions know what things can be bought but they're worse than useless at knowing what you want. You have to know what you want. That is a big responsibility, but one you must learn if you are to fight for life, hope and joy against all the uncaring cruelty of the world. You must know what life is, what hope is, what joy is. And those are questions Civilization cannot answer for you, because to do so is to crush your fragile heart before it has a chance to see its own good given." 

The monotonely-cheerful voice quiets for a moment, as if pausing to consider. Then it speaks up once more.

"It is not for nothing that you are young heroines. To be your own guide-star is a heroic responsibility."

Wow, this feels very important!

…

…Mae taps the button labeled "call an oathbound advisor". This feels like obviously the correct thing to be doing now.

This much power all of a sudden requires advice!

Mae's screen fills with a set of categories. 

HAVING FUN

MAKING FRIENDS AND ALLIES

MAKING MONEY

HELPING OTHERS

TRADING FAVORS

HEALING AND REPAIRS

BUYING USEFUL THINGS

BUYING SECRET KNOWLEDGE

BUYING SINGLE MINION ACTIONS

LONG TERM MINION CONTRACTS

Ah, a sublist! This is— oh my… BUYING SECRET KNOWLEDGE!?

Mae taps the option without even a tiny bit of further thought!

…Wait crap, that was not necessarily the best option to start with.

Mae quickly clicks the "back" button and… no, no it wants the secret knowledge actually. Back to secret knowledge it goes.

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN:
WHO [Identify people.] 
WHAT [Identify objects.] 
WHEN [Find things in time.] 
WHERE [Find things in space.] 
WHY [The true secret knowledge.]
HOW [Practical secrets to accomplish goals.]