A patient leader quietly takes an awfully long time to get a perquisite (8)

I believe the answer is:

appanage

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a perquisite' is the definition.
(appanage is a kind of perquisite)

'a patient leader quietly takes an awfully long time' is the wordplay.
'leader' says to take the initial letters.
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'takes' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'awfully long time' becomes 'age' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
The first letter of 'patient' is 'p'.
'a'+'p'+'p'+'an'+'age'='APPANAGE'

'to get' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for appanage that I've seen is " Royal provisions".)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app