I downloaded Vilja yesterday and she won my heart right from the start. What a lovely face! You need to go close by with the camera to see her real beauty (ok, it's nothing, what I would do in a real world, but hey, it's a fantasy game, so I think it is ok to be a bit 'strange' there...).
I play Oblivion with companions since months, ususally with Viconia (it's a must to me although I never started the second chapter) and a second one from the CM Partners pool. Now, that I've met Vilja, my girl from the CM Partner Mod was very sad as she heard that she had to retire. She is living now at Seaview Castle, where she is not all alone and I can visit her from time to time (i haven't had the heart to just delete her...).
I really like that Vilja and Viconia have a very similar structure of their orders. And also I like that both come with a summonig spell (what I have missed with my CM Partners, the ring they use was not very effective in my games), that they both are able to use a horse and the possibility to change between armor and casual wear. The only thing what I miss (but also with both, Vilja and Viconia) is a way that they may repair their armor by themself, something that all CM Partners are able to do.
But all over all, Viljas 'personaltity' will let me forget this little drawback very fast. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming hours in company with her and to find out what ingredients she is looking for (By now she has not found even one...). If she only wouldn't ask so much for beer... :foodndrink:

Thank you - glad that you do like her

I looked through various dialog structures for various companions, and instantly liked the way Sulteric drums had set this up, so I early on decided to do something similar (as I also know his companions are frequently used, I thought following a similar concept would make Vilja more intuitive for users - it's always good to stick with a wellworking concept

).
I believe most non CM Partners companions have summon spells or objects, their own horses and AI-packages both for armor and non-armor, so in that aspect Vilja is pretty much 'standard'. I think it's because of the concept with multiple companions that Blackie, probably wisely, decided not to add this to the Partners. The way the Partners are currently set up, it is very easy for players to make their own companions using his platform. So, even if the lack of summon spells and horses is a little disadvantage with them, it's great to have the opportunity to so easily create ones own Partners.

I didn't add any armor repair to Vilja because it seemed 'out of character' for her. Instead, she will give you an armor hammer if you haven't got any. I also excluded things like arrow fletching and combat spellcasting, as it also didn't seem to fit her personality. She is a novice alchemist, so what she will do is potions for you *). It's a balance to decide how many features to add, but I wanted her to be a 'realistic person' rather than an 'ueber-jack-of-all-trades'. She does offer one thing that is a bit out of character, though... lockpicks. But only if you haven't got any. And only because it's so horribly hard to get enough lockpicks if you want to play a 'honest' character that doesn't want to be member of the Thieves guild.
So... the lady keeps asking you for something to drink?
Well, most of her greetings are very random, and I have seen that some might pop up surprisingly often one evening... and then vanish for many hours. Maybe she really *is* thirsty?

I was waiting for one comment to show up for hours and was just about to dig through the CS to see if I had deleted it or something... then she said it. Twice within five minutes, and again after less than 20 minutes.
As for her ingredients... a hint if she doesn't seem to find any fast enough: make sure you are in the wilderness and outdoors. Start chats with her repeatedly. She will relatively soon tell you that she has found an ingredient. It's more reliable than just waiting for her to say it as a comment while you are travelling (but this does happen, too). Also, there is a topic about "her mission"... you can check there if she has found anything. Once she has found one ingredient, other things will start to happen as well...
*) EDIT: Later on, she will also offer to heal you. But you first have to know her a bit better.