"I've been studying..." She hesitates. "Alchemy and herblore. Amira had me doing her accounts. I can read and write and do sums, I just - don't know much about the world."

She nods. "Worldly knowledge is certainly a fixable gap. I've traveled a lot and can tell you about nearly anything you'd like. Alchemy and herblore are fascinating, in my opinion, though I still prefer runes. and accounting bores me to tears unless I'm in just the right mood. What do you like and dislike about each?"

"I like learning things, and... having space, not staying in the same two rooms... and when I look up at the stars I feel like Someone is looking out for me."

"Those are all pretty great," she agrees with an audible smile. "Me too, honestly. Curious Oracle, in my case."

She opens up her other sight, which she's gradually learned to read since arriving here, and sees a shimmering coating of mythril frost tracing down Lily's arms.

"Hmm. Lemme guess... Fair Queen? Pushes you for honesty, fairness, justice? Hates undeath?"

"I don't know for sure, but... Honesty, yes."

"Fits, and particularly useful when you're trying to claw independence from manipulative starts. Nice."

She sighs warmly, catching a thermal and gaining a bit of altitude before continuing to soar.

"I can see the touch of the gods on people, and I've been slowly learning to read it. You've got mythril hoarfrost shimmering on your arms, to my Sight, which is an appearance I've come to associate with Her. Where the mark appears on a person seems to indicate something about what sorts of intervention was granted."

She hums thoughtfully. "I totally agree with you about having space, though. That's a big part of why I work as an adventurer and courier between projects: it gives me lots of opportunity to travel, and I can get to know the region and work toward building a house and workshop outside of town eventually."

"I wish I could be that free."

"Which ways in particular? I can't offer literal wings, but I can probably help you with most things short of that."

"Being... Able to do the things that I want, instead of the things other people want from me."

"Oooh, yeah, I am all about that. The thing that makes people the... shiniest, for me, is when they're chasing and achieving their wants and dreams. S'what's the most fun to be around, in my opinion."

She hums thoughtfully. "In a generalized sense, what'll do that is money and space. Money buys shelter and resources, shelter and resources facilitate doing everything else. Money's also useful for helping a girl express various forms of 'go the fuck away', whether through walls or weapons or even just incentivizing people to be elsewhere. Money can help with networking, and knowing the right people definitely helps for getting access to resources and opportunities you didn't already have. Networking gets into favor trading garbage, which you'll probably dislike if I'm reading the shit you've been through right, but it can be really useful anyway. I put up with it because I'm good at it, even if I have a love-hate relationship with it."

"More specific advice than that depends on more specificity under the heading of 'what you want', though."

Trees, hills, and the occasional pack of wild animals zip by below them as they continue to fly.

Lily still has her eyes closed, but she's relaxing a little. 

"I want to keep learning, and... I probably want a lot of sex, more than most people. And I don't want to be involved with slaves or servants to any degree. And I want to be able to be outside regularly. I'm willing to work hard, since I don't sleep, but I want to... know people who care but don't impose."

Sable laughs warmly. "Oh that's all excellent. Y'know, I've been meaning to scout out buyers for my rune projects in Relvos anyway, since the market's better in the south from what I can tell. I've got a pretty meaningful chunk of savings that I've been meaning to put toward eventually setting up permanently somewhere, so what if we work together on this? We find an inn that can figure out how to be polite to a shapeshifter and a doll, scour the town to see what sorts of alchemy and runework the market wants, and then get to work learning and making that while we hunt for a long-term apartment for you and a build-site for me? Rent the suite in your name, and I'll pay it a week or two in advance, that way if you get tired of me it's your place. I can go camping outside town if it comes to it."

"I'm not exactly a fully trained alchemist. I've been learning from books, mostly. I have a little money from working as Amira's apprentice - I've been saving - but it's not enough to set up a proper alchemist's shop with."

"I am told that I'm intelligent, but I don't know how far that goes."

"I've got a full set of alchemy knowledge scattered around my head, despite my preferring runework overall, so I can help you fill the gaps, and help you pick out some better books as well. Maybe you could do smaller private sales or a little market stall or something like that until you've got enough saved to do a proper shop. There are options! Hell, maybe I should look into getting a shop too, rather than trying for private commissions."

She trails off thoughtfully.

"Better books that I'll pay for how?"

"By satisfying my deep longing to see interesting people triumph over oppressive beginnings and achieve their dreams," she says, starting off warm and slowly dropping to a grumble, "and my deep spite toward people like whoever did this to you in the first place. I've been through some similar things myself, and I want to see you succeed in part to spite the kind of people who want girls like you and me to fail. There are far too many people who think that success should only be for the obedient, and only to approved heights, and I don't approve of their disapproval."

She huffs.

"To put it another way," she says in a suddenly bright tone, "your new acquaintance has a deep loathing for the entire oppressive system and is thus inspired to give you the books."

"... I see." 

... "Why is it that everyone I meet has some big plan in mind for me? You didn't know me half an hour ago."

"I don't have any plan in particular, Lily. I just have skills, resources, and spite. I come from a place where we've gotten rid of 'nobles', but replaced them with an oppressive system of gating education behind debt that many people never manage to pay off over the course of their entire lives. We abolished slavery but enslaved people with money. If I had my way, everyone would get a full education into their career of choice for free."

A long, tired, aching sigh spills out of her.

"I don't care what you do, Lily, as long as you're not hurting people like that asshole did you. I just want to know that you're doing it, whatever it is. I just want to make this world a tiny bit more like the world I wish existed, where people get to chase their dreams and it's not a stupid fucking struggle."

She finishes in a tired whisper, "I just want to see a tiny piece of the world I needed back then, now when someone else needs it. That's all."

"Please focus on flying."

Lily falls quiet.