That gets a bit of a smile out of him.  "A laundry wizard, really?  I'm having trouble imagining that."

Tiny smile in return.  "I imagined not how much more I should walk between houses asking after their laundry and how much less I should actually cast it."

"Huh, is there not-- a laundry you can work at, or some other arrangement such that someone who isn't a wizard is doing all the walking and asking?  ...And in Abadar's country, of all places?"

"I did say I was a dumbass at such an age- I'd not yet then thought of a laundry, ours always came to the house.  But to hire out the walking and carrying I'd must pay the child first, and have a place to bring it back to, and I dared not go to the Church for a loan lest they bring me to my father and it were- talked about?"

"Ah.  ... And it being talked about would be the important thing?"

"... Forgive me if I'm prying again."

She doesn't look offended or upset this time, so much as deeply confused by the question.  "...I have sisters."

"Oh. Of course."  Did he... ever think about that, really... No, he didn't, but in the way in which he usually doesn't think about things which don't feel like a meaningful problem, and they aren't.

"So do I.  I don't think their lives will be worse for my father losing some of his respectability, but I can see how this might be different elsewhere.  ... And it probably matters that I'm not a girl."

Tiny nod.  "I know not how it is in Taldor, but-" Deep breath.  Assemble the sentence.  "A not respectable brother is- much less worse for one's husband options than a not respectable sister."

"Yes, that would make a difference.  But also... hmm... you don't have to be respectable to marry, in Taldor, and I think the men who are most insistent on perfect respectability are often the ones you don't want to marry anyway."

"Though I could be wrong.  I've never asked my sisters about it.  Maybe I should."

She frowns at him, trying to parse that out.  "...perhaps we use differently the word?  I should think it the opposite.  Or, hm- I don't know 'insistent'?"

"Insistent is really wanting something and trying to get it."

"So, again, I might be wrong about all this.  But if I imagine I'm a girl... if a man wants to marry me because I obey my father and none in my family have ever done a disrespectable thing, it's because he wants someone who will obey him and never do anything he dislikes.  If a man wants to marry me even though my sister ran away from home, he will probably not worry so much about it if I ever do something that looks suspicious, and he won't mind me, I don't know, reading odd books or wanting to learn some unfeminine thing.  I would rather the second one.  No?"

"Hm- holding all else equal perhaps?  But both are choosing- I don't know the Taldane- suppose there's a man who's strict but predictable, and one who's permissive most of the time but drunk every other Oathday and angry over something he never disliked before, you'd choose which you preferred, and another girl might choose differently.  But a third man who's permissive and predictable you obviously like better than either, and so do all the other girls, and so he has the most choices first?"

"But will your father give you to the one you like best, or to the one who brings him the most advantage, whether he's drunk or strict or any other unfortunate thing?  Maybe that's really what makes our answers different."  A sigh.  He did not quite realize how different other families might be, though it's obvious now that he's thought about it at all.

"Oh- well, yes, in the toy example they are all equal rich, in life this is another- mm, choice among choices?  But... yes, holding all else equal I think most fathers to prefer their daughters happy, even though they more prefer their grandchildren fed."  

She contemplates her horse's ears for a bit, then huffs a quiet laugh.  "Even if he dislikes you but is yet sensible, I think it to his advantage to make at least a tolerable match?  If your husband should abandon you, this reflects also on your family."

"Oh, yes, my sisters will get tolerable matches and their children will be fed, but this is true no matter if my family loses half its status.  And I... don't know if it's true that my father prefers us happy all else being equal, because it never is quite equal, is it.  You're probably right that most fathers do, I just... never really thought about that."  A rueful half-smile. 

"Mm.  ...I'm sorry."

"All else is scarcely ever equal in Sothis either, I don't mean to say it's perfect.  Just- one can't hold the whole question at once in one's head, save Nethys Himself, it's like-" learning a spellform, but that example isn't going to be any use-

"uh.  Eating a pie all at once rather than-" seven hells she definitely knows the Taldane for 'to bite', where did it go... well, it's obvious by now that she got stuck, maybe it's time for some levity anyway... she makes exaggerated teeth-gnashing motions.

He laughs at that (clearly fond rather than mocking).  "Bite?"

"Bite!  Yes!"  She laughs ruefully and covers her face with both hands for a bit.  "I did know that..."

"I thought maybe you only knew complicated words," laughing.

More giggling.  " 'Excuse me, sir, could you tell me the way to the Temple of Abadar?'  ...oh, hm, I mean that actually- did the maps tell which towns may be large enough to have one?  I'd meant to visit in Kenabres, which I expect is the largest, but Cabrera said yesternight the one closest to the Chelish forts may be best suited."

"The commander didn't, uh, let me look at his maps."  Mendev is doing great and important work and is also an awful mess full of people at cross-purposes despite needing each other to survive.  "But from what everyone says, the nearest temple of Abadar may just be the Kenabres one.  Or, well, there may be a chapel with a cleric somewhere else, but not one that can do much of use to you."

"Yes, a moneychanger none know how to find could hardly be doing his work.  Kenabres it is, then."  She looks rather relieved at the prospect.

Huh, he's not sure why.

"Did you want to still see one of the smaller towns for other things you might need, or are we going straight down the fort line to Kenabres?"

"We may well go straight, anything a smaller town may have Kenabres also should.  I'd only thought a smaller town might save time, but if we're definitely to Kenabres it should instead cost it.  ...my former party's there," she adds in explanation, "unless they've been very fortunate or very not fortunate."

"Oh!  I was wondering, when you mentioned them.  They didn't want to stay on the Chelish side with you?"  He looks like he's maybe judging them a little, though he doesn't say it.