"I do," Elisabeth said, nodding. "I was a foundling left on Summershall's doorstep. The librarians took me in, but they all had lots of other tasks. So by the time I was old enough to look after myself-" which had been around the time she'd been able to toddle, really, "-that's what I did."

Oh, she still had to answer to people, like Master Hargrove and Warden Finch, and go to her lessons, but everyone had been supposed to look after her, which often meant that no one did.

"...You don't have Great Libraries where you're from?" she asked, surprised. "Where do your people store all the grimoires so sorcerers can't get up to things?"