Wind by Naomi kritzer(14)

“If she hadn’t stayed, would you have been born?”

“Maybe not, but she’s withered here like a wildflower cut for a vase. I’m not going to do the same.”
“What does she say about that?”
“She doesn’t want me to go away. She thinks I should be her apprentice, which is mad: I have no skill in healing.”
“Why have you stayed as long as you have?”
“I’m not sure what she’d do without me. Besides, it’s a very long way, and I have no money to pay for an apprenticeship.”
“Bring me pen and paper,” Zimeya said. Madel did, and Zimeya wrote a short letter. “This is a letter of introduction,” she said. “If you take it to Yngvar the Stone Worker, he will take you as an apprentice for no fee. He owes me a favor, and he’s an artist with no magical powers of his own, so he will be sympathetic to you.”