Once he gets close, he can see that she has a delegate's mark on her hand. She's attempting to wrangle a small child, maybe three years old, through the streets.

"I'm trying to figure out where to bring this child. His mother was killed in the fighting last night." That's a safe neutral phrasing that leaves it ambiguous which side of the fighting his mother was on. "I'm sorry for my ignorance, sir, but I'm here for the convention, I've only been in town for a few days."

“I’m new to town myself, but I’ve been here a bit longer, I rode in on my casting of mounts as fast as I could after I was elected.”

There, that advertises he is a wizard, and if she’s a delegate her stipend means she has money to spare, so he doesn’t even have to feel bad about charging a premium if she wants a spell…

But, he’s been working on Goodness, so maybe he should try to help without expecting a sale or due payment afterwards.

“Have you tried seeing if anyone knew the mother and knows any kin of hers?”

He is ignoring the child as best as he can.

"I don't know how I'd find them. She was the innkeeper at the inn I was staying at, but it was just her, she didn't have a husband."

Okay, this is problem he can figure out to solve.  He’s always been great at finding angles on things even if his solutions are sometimes evil.

“So… I assume you checked with people staying and working at inn… her inn doesn’t exists as an island, she may have had loans at the bank, people she bought from, taxes she paid.  Surely someone most know some kin of hers we can pass the child off to.”

He did not mean to say ‘we’, he’s fine spending a few minutes helping someone, but a morning wasted is too much.

"The other people who worked there were all gone when it happened and none of them had come back this morning yet. I know her name was Àïxa and she ran the Glass Rabbit Inn, but I don't know who I'd talk to in a city to find anything just from that. Do you?"

"Àïxa is my mama," says the child.

Well, it looks like this is going to be his morning.  He continues to ignore the child as best he can.

“The Church of Abadar should be well organized with any loans or dealings the Glass Rabbit Inn has with them.  I don’t know what government building would have records on Àïxa.  I at least know the nearest Abadaran temple.  But both of them might be busy given… recent events.”

"I don't know where the Abadaran temple is either."

“Do you want me to walk you to it?”

And then he can bail with a good deed done without further obligation!

"I'd appreciate that, sir."

“Then follow me this way, the closest temple of Abadar isn’t too far.”

Should he make smalltalk?  Or risk discussing the convention?  Maybe one of the safer more obvious things, like the slavery vote?

She follows him, bringing Ot along with her.

"I'm glad we rejected the works of Asmodeus," she says when he brings up the slavery vote. She thinks of slaves as the sort of thing that's only relevant to people much, much richer than her, but it's obvious what the right answer here is.

“I’m also glad.   And I’m surprised so many voted against rejecting slavery and Asmodeus.”

Oh no, she's not sure what she's supposed to say to that. 

"I hope they'll reconsider now that we've clarified the issue."

He’s glad he has so many people he’s doing clearly better than, but he’s not sure if it’s good to say that.

“Indeed, I thought the issue of slavery was clear enough in advance, it should be even more blatantly obvious what the right and good answer is now that good citizens like us have voted against slavery.”

Oh good, that doesn't sound at all like he's planning on having her executed at all. She nods.

He is content to walk in silence for a bit before bringing up one more question before they reach the temple.

“Are you on any interesting committees?  I’m on one led by a Paladin.  And another committee I’m on, on magic, has some very interesting and promising ideas.”

After seeing the extent of the riots, he’s even optimistic the Queen might actually use some of the convention’s ideas, so his loan problems could be solved cleanly once and for all!

"I'm on the Forests Committee. We were going to present a proposal to the convention yesterday morning, but we got distracted by all the arguing."

Shit, what’s the Good orthodoxy on Forests and Druids?  He’s pretty sure killing everything in them is evil, and letting monsters run rampant is also evil, and he’s not sure of how to thread the needle between those options in a way that comes up Good.

“Huh, interesting, what proposal did you all come up with?”

He tries to sound nonchalant with his question.  If he can find out the proposal in advance, he can figure out the Good way to vote on it in advance!

"We voted that the Queen and the wizards she was working with should go to the Whisperwood to close the portal to Hell there and kill the dragon, and that we should send ambassadors to the other two forests, and that monsters shouldn't eat people. Yesterday during the meeting we also voted on the things the elf woman was talking about during the morning, with the dryads and the logging."

Okay that actually sounds like stuff he knows how to vote on.

“And we are here…”

The temple, being one of the smaller secondary ones, seems not to have been the target of looters or a mob.  There are lots of people milling about, perhaps waiting on a channel or some other service or taking refuge at the temple for lack of better options.

Fernando tries to sound confident.

”Who is responsible for updating records and such in response to last night’s events? I have uh, information, uh about a nearby business that may be relevant!”

Come to Cheliax, they said, it'll be great, it's an untapped market, you can make so much money just from being a remotely competent and trustworthy financial institution. At least in Absalom they have something resembling rule of law, most of the time. 

"I am, but we're a bit overstretched at the moment," he says. "We're still offering the standard bounties for information pertinent to our operations, but if you want to jump the line it'll be five silver."

5 silvers isn’t cheap even with his stipend, and if he waits here, maybe he will see someone he can sell an infernal healing to.

“Uhhh… I’m fine waiting.”  

He glances over at Tais to see if she wants to pay five silvers to move things along faster.

"Waiting is fine with me."

The Abadaran gestures them into a line.

He gets into line and turns to Tais.

“Let me know if you see anyone that looks like they’ve got money to burn and no time to waste that needs healing, I prepared some infernal healings this morning.”

Probably it won’t offend the Abadarans too much if he sells a spell or two in their temple?  It would be really hypocritical if they took offense.  And he doesn’t care as long as they don’t have a way of acting against him.

Nod nod. (It looks like there are some people waiting for healing inside, but they're gathered in the channel area; none of them seem to be actively dying.)

He’ll keep an eye out for any richer looking people that need healing while he waits in line.

The line isn't that long, but it keeps growing in front of them as people pay to jump it. A wealthy-looking man with a bandaged arm shows up after a few minutes.

Score!  

“I’ll sell you an infernal healing for 15 silver if you don’t want to wait for the channel.”

He’s decided to go lower than his originally planned 20 silver to be sure to beat the Abadarans’ prices on first circle spells, if not there price on channels.

Yeah, sure, his time is valuable. "Deal. ...I'll pay once the spell is cast." It would be stupid for someone to try to scam him in the Temple of Abadar but sometimes people are just that stupid.

He casts one of his infernal healing without delay. 

If anyone with good spellcraft is watching they might notice his somatic components are indicative of some irregularities in his spell preparation, but not enough to mess up the spell.  And particularly notably to anyone with even moderate knowledge of the spell, he casts it without any material component.

Rich Dude is not inclined to complain as long as it works. He counts out fifteen silver and heads off.

Eventually they reach the front of the line.

“I have pertinent information about a nearby business related to events of last night.  Could we get part of the bounty in a reciprocation of information, I believe it will be evident it is information the business operator would want us to have?”

"Of course. Standard practice would be to discount the value of the bounty by the amount we would have charged you for the information, is that acceptable?"

“Yes, that works fine.  The operator of the Glass Rabbit Inn, uh Aixa, I mean uh Àïxa,” he glances at Taís for confirmation he got the name right, “was killed in last night’s events.  She had a small child, uh” he turns to Taís “did you get the child’s name?”

He looks at the toddler.

“So eh, anyway, if she’s had any dealings here I thought you might want to know.  And if you have records of any next of kin, business partners, heirs, family or whatever they probably want to know about the child and would be responsible for the child?”

He is suddenly realizing he doesn’t know the laws about who gets the kid!  Well, maybe he can pass the blame back to Taís if they mess something up.  He’ll try to do this right before he gives up though.

“And I guess if that information isn’t of any use to you and there’s no bounty I’ll pay 10 silvers of my own if you can find any relevant information to this situation?”

Well he’s probably out 10 silvers now.  Maybe he can undercut them on the price for healing another customer in revenge?

She nods at the name. "The boy's name is Ot."

The priest says something to a runner, who darts off towards another room. While he waits, he takes down the information they've given him; it's not long before the runner is back.

"She did have a next-of-kin designated with us. Castàlia Vidal, residing at 17 Erebus Lane — I believe people are calling it Olive Lane now, I don't think it's been updated in a while." She counts out two silvers to Fernando.

“I believe that is all the pertinent information we had, and that was just the information we needed, we’ll be on our way then.”

He hands one of the two silver coins to Taís.

“Do you need help locating 17 Erebus Lane or 17 Olive Lane, whichever it is called?”

"Yes, I'd appreciate that. Thank you, sir."

As long he makes it to the palace today and sells at least one more healing he can’t really complain.

“If we can’t find Castàlia Vidal at the address we could ask for help at the palace when we go to check in… you heard the mage’s decree earlier this morning with instructions to do that, right?”

Nod. She glances at Ot. "I'd like to sort out this situation first, if I can, but if not I'll see if someone at the palace can help."

Then he will lead them to Olive Lane at a reasonable pace.

“Okay it should be on this street somewhere… I’m not sure if it’s 17 from that end.” He gestures towards one end of the street. “Or the other?”  He gestures the other way. “I guess we’ll figure it out?”

And hopefully 17 isn’t looted or burnt out?  

It is not! The entire block looks basically untouched.

He’ll go up to 17 then.

“Castàlia Vidal? We have news for a Castàlia Vidal.”

They find a terrified woman in her thirties.

"What do you want?"

“Uh, huh, Aixa, I mean Àïxa, died last night and uh”

He looks at Tais, he’ll let her finished explaining.  He isn’t sure why this topic is triggering his stuttering.

"She was killed last night, but her son survived." She gestures to Ot. "We were hoping to find someone to take him in."

"Well, I don't want him. I told her to smother him, not my fault she didn't listen."

It turns out that's Evil, actually, but she's not about to point that out.

“I think smothering babies is Evil, so it isn’t something a sensible loyal person does, even if it isn’t illegal yet.”

He gives the woman a pointed look.  Maybe he can intimidate her into taking the toddler off their hands.

"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.

"If that's what you think is best."

He can lead her over to a temple of Erastil, the one where he had a conversation not too long ago.

“You can find your way back to the Palace and orphanage okay, right?  If a Sower isn’t any help you can always just leave the child at the orphanage, it’s what they are supposed to be for.”

He feels the need to justify himself or something for some reason.

“We can tell the family committee at the convention to propose some new taxes to better fund orphanages or something.”

He turns to leave.

She enters, along with Ot, and looks around for an unoccupied Sower.

It's starting to calm down around here, which means that Narcis got a minute to catch his breath and can be interrupted at it. "- hello again. Who's this little one?"

"His name is Ot. I was staying at his mother's inn, but she was killed in the fighting last night. One of the clerks at the palace suggested I take him to an orphanage, but the one I went to — didn't seem like any place to bring up a child."

"They aren't. No father in evidence?"

She shakes her head. "I was able to find one of her other relatives but she said she didn't want him."

"And wouldn't point you on to more amenable ones?"

"If she knew of any she didn't tell us so. —She also told us to take him to an orphanage."

He gives her a bit of a hard look. "He's an orphan, wouldn't you say?"

Oh no, is he mad at her? "Yes, I'd say so."

"This church doesn't have an orphanage. What are you looking for here?"

"One of the other delegates thought the temple might know of a better place to leave him than an orphanage."

"Nope. It's families or it's strangers, and orphanages are the strangers who make it their business, unless someone's meaning to look out for this lad in particular."

"It doesn't seem right to just leave him there but I don't know what else to do."

"Mm?"

She wishes she were talking about this with any other priest of Erastil. This is a pathetic and contemptible thing to wish, obviously.

"It seems rather like — abandoning — a child, like we were talking about yesterday, to leave him in a place like that."

"He'd probably live."

"I'm not sure that he would, sir. Lots of children die even when they aren't being raised in a place like that."

"And?"

"...And so it feels like it would be wrong to just leave him there, when I know it wouldn't be a good place for him to grow up and there's a good chance he'd die of it. But I don't know what else I'd do with him instead."

"Well, what do you normally do with children when you care how they grow up?"

Is this a trick question? Why can't he just tell her what she's supposed to do?

"...If it were one of mine, I'd try and bring them up how I thought was right, if I could. If it was someone else's it would depend on what the problem was, only it didn't really seem like telling the woman at the orphanage she was doing it wrong would help."

"What would help, then?"

"...I don't know how to make the orphanages be an alright place to bring up a child. The woman there said they're always like that."

"And hadn't the time to answer more questions, I suppose?"

"She ran off halfway through to stop two of the children from fighting, and that's when the other person I was with suggested that we find a temple of Erastil."

"Who were you with?"

"Delegate Fernando Marti, only he didn't want to come into the temple with me."

"...huh. He say why?"

She shakes her head.

"Well, the boy looks big enough he doesn't need to live on milk any longer. Still, I imagine it'd cost at least a silver a day, to feed an extra mouth. And a few more on top of that, to pay someone to watch him, if whoever were taking charge of him had something to be doing during the day. And who has that kind of money?"

"...Well, right now I do..."

"...I guess I could take care of him while the convention's still going, but I'm not sure what I'd do afterwards."

"You're a sortition, right? Teleported here, probably going to teleport home again?"

She nods.

"They can take two in a teleport."

"...I don't know if my husband would be alright with that."

"Yeah, I don't know if my wife's going to be happy when I come home with three more kids than we had last month either but that's what it's looking likely to be anyhow."

...Wow, she really does not want to end up taking care of three extra children.

"...I guess I could probably think of something to tell him. If — if you think it's okay to do that to him."

"Can he read?"

"A little, same as me."

"Then you can send him a letter. Maybe get one back too in the time it takes this convention to wrap. If he says it can't be done - well, then you think of something else, or the boy goes with the other orphans."

She's pretty sure he doesn't read enough for a whole letter but he can probably ask his brother.

"Thank you, sir."

"Anytime. Good luck with the lad." He tousles Ot's hair.

Ot claps his hands.

Taís heads back to the inn with — her new son, apparently.