A few of the things Amber had said made some sense to Lily. She could understand how being a princess might give you a different understanding of how the world around you works. Even Lily had taken pains not to do anything a princess might find offensive when they first met. A consideration your average student would never have received. She didn't quite understand how that may have led to Amber appearing foolish, she did at least appreciate that it would change her view on

"I... well, I've already learned a lot since I've been in Vytal,"

She said in response to Amber telling her she'd learn everything she needed to know.

"I guess the hardest part is figuring out what it is that I need to know. Once I know what I don't know though, it's pretty easy to figure out what I'm doing wrong."

She finally relaxed her arms and turned back to the princess as she said

"And if you wanted to teach me a thing or two, I certainly wouldn't disagree. The longer I'm here, the more I learn that other people can have a lot to offer. I've learned as much about myself as I have about what life is like inside of here. Without the threat of grimm constantly hanging over you."

That wasn't totally true though. She recalled the gigantic grimm which would have leveled Setek if not for the intervention of all those hunters that day. The grimm were still out there, and always growing stronger. And then there was that guy who had seemingly empowered that monstrous grimm... The idea of anyone working with the grimm absolutely disgusted her. That someone would ever give power to the enemy of man was a horrifying and detestable thing. Such a man both worried and angered Lily. Given the opportunity, she would have to do something about him.

It wouldn't be the first time she'd drawn human blood. The main difference was that it wouldn't be for her own safety alone. Such a man was dangerous to all.

"Every new thing I learn helps, I'm going to grow into the strongest Huntress that I can, I'm going to protect these kingdoms, and as many people within them as I can." She said, all traces of her former melancholy had burned away in the face of her determination. She had been saved by these kingdoms. They had spawned the ones who'd saved her, and trained them. She did not doubt that if one of the clan members from her former life had come upon her, they'd have left her for dead. She owed this society a debt that she intended to pay back.

Lily listened to Amber's story intently, soaking up as many of the details as she could. The princess' life and motivations fascinated the girl. She wanted to ask her what her favorite story was, she hadn't had too much of a chance to familiarize herself with the stories about the hunters and huntresses. She'd focused her reading almost entirely on catching up for her classes. She had been so far behind every other student in every field with the exceptions of aura control and combat oriented classes. Even her tireless study hadn't left her with much spare time to spend on anything that wasn't martially important, or academically required.

She wanted to ask the princess about her father, and why he would oppose her dream. About the things that drove the princess forward, and what had inspired her.

"I will definitely graduate, and I will absolutely hunt with you when I do! You'd better not let anything happen to you before then."

Such a dark addition to the end of the sentence might seem rude, or inappropriate to most people, but to Lily it seemed a perfectly inoffensive request. When she'd met Amber, the princess was fighting a man who seemingly had the ability to empower grimm. She then moved to fight the gigantic snake monster. In that selfless, heroic moment Lily had first come to the respect the princess. She was proud to fight beside her that day, and proud to have been a small part of the destruction of the snake.

That she could help fend off such a monstrous beast made the nevermores that haunted her sleep some somehow less menacing.

When the conversation moved inevitably towards the shopping trip at hand, Lily couldn't help but feel as if her questions would have to wait. Her mind began churning instead to figure out exactly how she was supposed to answer that question.

"Uhm... Mostly just this, and the other one I have like it." She said, gesturing down to the black tattered dress her mother had sewn her. "It's easy to move in, and I like it pretty well."

Lily had noticed the slight shift in Amber's demeanor. Her bubbly exterior shifted towards a more dour mood. If only slightly. Lily put a hand on the princess' shoulder. It was simply what she felt she needed to do at the time. It was a brief touch, and Lily said nothing. She didn't really think about the action until she'd carried it out. Once she realized what she had done, she quickly withdrew her hand and put it behind her head, her face flushing slightly.

As they entered the clothing outlet, Lily's eyes went wide, and wild.

Her first response was to scan the people all around them. There were a lot. With the Vytal festival coming up, tons of students were out looking for proper clothing, not to mention the business' regular customers and people visiting from out of the school. She hadn't expected such a crowd.

Her eyes began scanning each and every face for intent, sizing up body language. Her head started to swim, and she could feel a panic attack coming on.

She hadn't had one since her first week at Vytal had ended, but she was taken by surprise. Her breathing became heavier, and she froze.

There was one tool she had added to her arsenal that she hadn't quite developed on her first day. She activated her semblance.

Prior to joining Vytal, she hadn't ever really needed to use her semblance for anything other than running. At the school however, she found herself constantly using it in different ways. In this instance, she used it to slow the world around her. She breathed. She looked at the faces one by one. Happy faces, stoic faces, faces with hungry eyes staring at beautiful garments. Those faces that were cast towards Amber and Lily were not registering any kind of intent. One face seemed somewhat concerned, perhaps having noticed Lily's state, the rest seemed to be staring at Amber with curious looks on their face that Lily couldn't quite place.

None of these faces radiated ill intent. They were all going about their days, happily. Somehow each and every one of them was indifferent to the crowd.

She began to breath a little less shallowly. When she had calmed herself, she allowed her semblance to fade. The white, peace inducing glow of her aura remained for a moment as she began to breathe. The world resumed. Lily had successfully navigated her panic, and was now free to stare like every other girl in the shop at the wonderfully extravagant clothing.

From an outside perspective, it would appear as if the girl had gone from terribly upset to almost bubbling over with joy in the span of an instant, but for Lily the time that had passed seemed to take at least ten minutes. She grinned, looking up at Amber as the last of the white light surrounding her faded, no longer needed. "So, where exactly do we start?" She asked brimming with excitement for the trip to come. She hadn't realized how envious she'd been of the pretty garments others wore until the prospect of getting something for herself became apparent.

When Lily actually took a second to consider what is was she wanted to get for herself, she drew blanks. "Uhh... Maybe something black?" She said looking down at the tattered black dress she had on. It's old black fabric had been the only thing she'd really known for quite some time. She was used to how it looked on her.

"Or uhh.. I guess white?" She said, sounding puzzled. She was straining to imagine herself in other kinds of clothes, something she'd never really spent too much time thinking about until this very moment.

Her thoughts shifted to the small blue flower Sol had created for her, and a soft smile spread across her face. "Blue would be kinda nice too I guess." The lasting memory of the boy she'd stalked not even three days prior to this meeting with Amber returned briefly to her mind. The image of him presenting the flower made from military grade myomar fabric made her face flush red slightly. 

When they arrived at the section of the store amber had indicated, Lily looked around in awe. There were so many different kinds of dresses. Pleated dresses, bubble dresses, pleated dresses, sun dresses, and all sorts of others. All arrayed neatly in a multitude of colors and sizes. Lily had so many questions. What kind of dress fit her best? Which would be the best color to wear? Which would make movement more restrictive? She looked at Amber, and then back to the clothes in front of her.

"There are so many to choose from," she said her voice full of wonder. This was only a small corner of the store, and already she couldn't believe how much variety was to choose from.

"What do you think?" she asked holding up a green strapless dress that was obviously far too big for her. "I like green as well, and browns, and greys." She said, listing off the colors that reminded her most of the woods and caves.

She smiled, suddenly a little thrilled with the idea of having other things to dress in. She had seen some people who looked really pretty in clothes like this, maybe she could too if she found the right dress.