Lillith's conversational reach had, in that one exchange, fully exceeded her grasp. With a child, or another given to asking questions, she could speak for hours without pause, or just as likely, quite forget herself in the middle of a sentence, and only remember when sometime later, she looked up to find herself somewhere unexpected, and often with a pen between her teeth and a journal in hand. Given an unwilling conversational partner, she could apply magic to get answers with better than usual success.

Give her a willing partner or a not unwilling one with a taciturn disposition, and she was undone, adrift in a sea of her own awkward self-reflections, like this one. Since she could think of nothing appropriate to say, Lillith took refuge in manners. "Thank you for the explanation and the company. To meet you, it has been my very great pleasure."