"Then take it to an orphanage, if you're so fussed about it. I don't see you lining up to take care of it."

Well now he’s annoyed.  If he could find some leverage he could force this woman to take the child… but he doesn’t have any.

“Let’s go… we can ask at the Palace where the orphanages are.”

Maybe that will at least make the woman worry she’s offended someone important.

She closes the door in their face.

"I don't know how to get to the palace from here either," she says quietly.

“Well, I need to go to the Palace anyway.  This way.”

At one point he leads them down a road that doesn’t connect the way he thought it did and needs to backtrack, but he can eventually get them to the Palace with only a few wrong turns along the way.

She follows after him obediently.

At the Palace he looks for a clerk or minor functionary that looks at least a little less busy or at least less tired.  There isn’t quite anyone that fits that description so eventually he just asks the next available clerk.

“We’re delegates here to check in.  Also a minor matter came up we could use some help resolving related to last night.”

"Names? Do you need secure shelter? Anything you wish to report about last night's events — including what you just mentioned, I suppose."

"Taís Espaillat. I don't think I need shelter, but the innkeeper I was staying with was killed, am I allowed to change my mind later if it turns out I do? And— I am also reporting that the innkeeper I was staying with was killed. Her name was Àïxa Vidal. I've been trying to figure out where to take her son." She gestures at Ot.

“I’m Fernando… Marti” he hates using his last name “uh, elected delegate.”

“I was fine in my inn last night but wouldn’t turn down more secure accommodations from her majesty if they are available?  I’ve been helping delegate Espaillat figure out what to do with the child, we’ve already reported the death to an Abadaran temple and located a next of kin, Castàlia Vidal, who refused to take the child.”

He is enjoying the chance to report Castàlia Vidal.  Probably the government is too busy from last night to plan any correction (or however Good countries do it) for her but hopefully it will end up recorded somewhere and counted against her.

The clerk nods and jots down some notes.

"The nearest orphanage is at 54 Magnolia Road. I'll get you set up with accommodations." There's a procedure; it's not very complicated. Once she's assigned Fernando a room, she waves the pair of them off.

He turns to Taís.

“Do you need help finding 54 Magnolia Road?  I don’t see what else there is to be done with the child.”

He feels a twinge of guilt, but that’s stupid, he already found what living family he could and they didn’t want the kid. And there was already basically competent orphanages even under the Thrunes, and the orphanages can’t have gotten worse with the new Queen, can they?

"I'd appreciate that, sir."

“Well, no point delaying.”

He’s irritated about having not sold one of his infernal healings, and the steady drizzle of rain is annoying him even with an endure elements up, but he wants to see this finished.  At least he learned a valuable lesson about randomly offering to help people as opposed to simply selling his spells.

He has to try a few streets before he actually gets to Magnolia Lane but he can lead them there eventually.  And there’s the orphanage.  He’ll let Taís do the taking.

Taís knocks on the door. It's multiple minutes before anyone answers.

They're greeted, eventually, by a harried-looking woman, who blinks at them like she's gotten about four hours of sleep in the last two nights. "What do you need?"

Behind her, out of sight, a baby is wailing.

"This child's mother was killed last night. We've been trying to find someone to take him in, and we were told to go here."

This woman is giving them an incredibly dubious look. "Are you sure there's no one else who can take him."

“Is there any law that could be used to force a next of kin to take care of an otherwise orphaned child?  We found a relation of his mother but she was very adamant about not taking him.”

Judging from last night, it seems the Queen isn’t trying to keep her loyalty test contained, so she might take inspiration from the laws it proposes in actually making laws, so maybe the family committee could inspire a law about this?

”If I could get access to tax rolls or similar such government records I could search for additional surviving family members?  Do you know anyone that could get me access to that.  It will be relations of ‘Àïxa Vidal’, that’s the mother.  And so far we’ve found Castàlia Vidal.”

Why is he volunteering, he’s already done what a Good Subject would do.  Well, he could take a passing look through the names and records then bail.

“In the meantime at least we need someone to take care of the child.”

"Why would there be a law about that." It wouldn't have served Asmodeus and Iomedae thinks everyone should be celibate.

"I don't know who — RAIMON, STOP HITTING ASPEXIA — I don't know who's in charge of the tax rolls these days." She sighs heavily. "I can't stop you from leaving him here."

Well this person looks too busy to hold accountable for tracking down family members.  So that is a plus?  He somehow imagined orphanages as better staffed than this, but he isn’t complaining.

He looks over impatiently at Taís.  As far as Fernando is concerned, it’s Delegate Espaillat that originally took charge of the child, so it’s up to her to make the choice to leave the child here.  He would like her to hurry up though.

"Is it always like this here, or just when there's been a riot?"

They had more money and more staff under Asmodeus but it's probably illegal to say that. "It's always like this."

She looks desperately at Fernando. "I've never been to the city before. Do you know if there's anywhere else that takes in orphans?"

"RAIMON WHAT DID I JUST SAY—" 

She runs off to a side room, out of view of the entrance.

Just leave the child and be done with it… Something is holding him back from just saying that.

“I’m new to Westcrown also, and I haven’t heard of anything besides orphanages.  I guess you could beg some Good clerics for help or ideas?  Erastil is supposed to care about family.  Maybe one of his clerics could shame Castàlia into taking the child?”

Sowers are great at throwing guilt and shame at people, maybe one could make use of themselves that way?

“I can point you towards a temple of Erastil, but I’m not going in with you or talking to any of the Sowers.”

He does not want to meet that Sower again.