She goes quiet again. 

And the Demon Lord starts up her song again.

Eventually, the wild landscape below gives way once more to cultivation and the patchwork signs of habitation. It looks... very similar to what Lily is used to. Not at all like the stories.

She is Very Suspicious of this, but will start asking questions about the landscape (to interrupt that stupid song, if nothing else).

She clearly knows her lands and people very well, to the point of being able to name the workers of a given parcel, their military service record, the current crop, and the past few seasons of performance.

(...Lily'd been working on that kind of knowledge of her father's - of her lands and people. She'd been slowed down a little by no one in her father's estate actually having that information, and she's young yet, but... She wants that.)

She's just as hungry for an indication of how and where her surviving people will be living. 

They will be placed in the capital to begin with. The city (which they are approaching) sits at the foot of a mountain, fronted by a river that tumbles down from a higher elevation. Carved into the living stone above the city is a citadel that extends as widely as the buildings below, looming protectively with trebuchet emplacements that could easily loft a stone beyond the far shore of the water.

It looks like a pretty clean city...

There is an extensive system of sewers; she has firm standards for the conditions in which she is willing to live. Waste is managed and disposed of appropriately.

She wants more details on the standards of living of the common folk - and of forced workers like her people will be. 

The basic standard is the military pension- service is compulsory. One meal per day, paid in coin or in kind. Anyone doing actual work (including those in active service) will have or be able to have more than this. Lily's people will likely be in the mines, the Demon Lord doesn't see the point of sorting noncitizens by aptitude, where they will have ten-hour shifts and three meals a day.

They circle in for a landing on the mountain citadel.

Lily has opinions on where her people should be instead, but she doesn't know enough right now to really articulate them. 

She doesn't really care what Lily's opinions are, either.

They land, and she unceremoniously hoists Lily off the horse before dismounting herself.

She lands on her feet with only some stumbling. "Where am I staying?"

"Would you prefer a guest suite or a cell?" It's very hard to tell if she's being serious or not.

Unimpressed frown. "Does my answer even matter?" she asks, suspiciously. 

"Of course it does, child. It will help me to learn more about you."

"Are you going to just stick me wherever you want, no matter what I answer? Are you going to give me the opposite of whatever I say?"

"Yes, and no."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "Then I'm not answering."

She inclines her head. "Thank you, that's very helpful. This way." She motions towards the door.

She walks very grouchily.

The foyer the door leads to is clean and well-lit, with coat hooks and bootracks and armor stands.

"Wipe your feet," she says, taking off her mask and cloak and hanging them up.

(...Horrible evil monsters shouldn't have normal human faces. Especially shouldn't look like someone could mistake them for Lily's mother. (And isn't that a horrible thought itself?))

She just sort of shuffles her feet, not really wiping them properly. 

"If you track ash through my hallways, you will be cleaning it up yourself."

She nods, and just takes off her shoes carefully. They're kind of caked in ash and worse. (That's more than reasonable, not - the kind of extreme reaction Lily had been half-subconsciously checking for.)