"I'm not sure. We can ask tonight?"

...Victòria feels kind of nervous about the prospect of sharing her room at the temple with a man she just met, even though he seems perfectly nice. Probably she should get over herself.

"If they don't what hour do you want me to report, half a bell before dawn so I can watch your back when you're at prayer?"

"That sounds good to me."

"Lead the way, then, Avenger."

She heads out of the convention hall.

(She likes him. She really hopes she doesn't accidentally get him killed.)

Desnia wanders in, holding her baby, mostly succeeding at looking confident and not like she’s about to fall over from tiredness.

“Is this where delegates can get bodyguards?” 

"Yes it is, any preferences for yours?"

“So my most substantial safety concern isn’t for myself, it’s for my baby - that’s why I’ve been bringing him into the convention with me every day, but this is distracting for both me and the other delegates. I was wondering if it would be possible to take advantage of the vetting process involved for the bodyguards to assist with childcare, since family members are also under the protection of the archmages and have been resurrected.”

Desnia decided on this angle of approach on the way over. This is just enough like talking her way past checkpoints and guards that it in some ways easier than talking to delegates. It’s even all kind of true.

"...so, the vetting process is that a bunch of people were hired to be bodyguards, in Absalom and Osirion. We didn't vet them for being willing or able to take on babysitting tasks, just for... working for money and having good references from previous clients or party members."

“I know it’s not exactly what they signed up for, but would it be possible to ask and check if any of them would be willing?” 

"What is it exactly you want them to do, hang out with your kid outside the convention till you're done every day?"

“Doesn’t need to be right outside, they can go to the park or a cafe as long as it’s not too far and I know where to look for them during breaks. Anyone who has younger siblings they helped with can probably manage just fine.” 

Desnia herself hadn’t had much to go on besides half recalled memories of younger siblings and some advice from mothers in the towns that she passed through, which mostly seemed to match what she recalled.

Except the other mothers thought she paid too much attention to her baby and should leave him alone to cry more than she did, and that he could sometimes use a light smacking even as a baby. But she suspected those pieces of advice as being Hellish. 

Probably if they’re from Absalom or Osirion they’ll know better what to do about children that isn’t as influenced by Hell so she’ll be able to find out if she’s spoiling him too much? Her parents had been stricter with her and her brothers but probably this was because of the need to keep up appearances? 

"I can ask but I have to say I'm not sure the Archmage will be amused even if somebody's willing to give it a whirl. You can afford to hire somebody yourself, that's the kind of thing the stipend is for."

“Lots of delegates family members have gotten killed already, and raising them was surely more costly than the bodyguards.

If I’m allowed a bodyguard, and the bodyguard is guarding someone who the Archmages would need to resurrect if something happened to them, seems like that’s what they’re for? It’s not like I’m asking for two.

Thanks for asking, I appreciate it.” 

"No, no, I see your argument, but - it's not the same job and it would probably be hard to do the bodyguarding part while holding a baby. I guess maybe there should be... convention daycare... with some of the guards standing watch..." Shrug. "Be right back." He heads over to the pool of bodyguards.

He comes back a bit later with a big Kelesh-looking guy in leather armor with a smile-distorted grey beard. "This is Bijan. Says he has ten grown kids."

"Saving up to marry off the youngest few of 'em," Bijan says. "If this little fellow eats solid food we'll get along fine, I think."

Desnia smiles at both of them. 

She does not comment about the marrying off, though she does wonder about exactly what he means by that. She vaguely recalls that Osirion is - bad about women being free - though she doesn't remember exactly what that means. Probably it doesn't change much about babies, and her baby is a boy anyway. 

"Pleasure to meet you, Bijan. He can eat some solid foods, I've been giving him bits and pieces of whatever I'm having and he's been mostly taking to that fine, as long as the pieces are little enough." 

He probably would have been fine without her using a cure the one time that she didn't make the pieces quite little enough, but he was better at eating solids now anyway. 

"I can come out and check on him during breaks the first day, see if you're having any trouble."

"Sure. You don't need me outside convention hours?"

She quickly considers. 

Bijan seems - fine, safe - but not so much so that she wouldn't be more stressed with him following her around than she'd be on her own. 

Probably less likely to run into trouble from using the guards in a way that she isn't supposed to if she's also using them less than she could? Hard to say. 

"I think I can protect both of us just fine outside convention hours, though I might be at the convention late in committee meetings if I'm joining more now. I'll let you know if that changes or if I'm doing something that might be slightly riskier than my usual activities."

"All right. Where should I meet you in the morning?"

Desnia describes a spot in the park that it'd seemed her little one had liked earlier. "Or you'd maybe prefer to spend your day in a cafe if the weather is poor, but I'm not sure which one is safest or most comfortable for sitting in all day." 

"Oh, I'll probably want to bop around between the park and a cafe but we should pick a specific place for the handoff so you're not kept late looking for me."

"Let's do the handoff in the spot in the park then - and which cafe do you think you'll be at, if you're not at the park? I'm fine checking both the park and a cafe since I'm not sure when I'll be done, but I don't want to try to check every possible cafe." 

"I got teleported here this morning, I don't know the restaurants yet. We can go find a suitable one now if you wish."

She is so so so tired and she wants this conversation to be done with and she wants bask in the success of free childcare and conversations that feel tricky to get right but in a more familiar way than politics. But it's probably important to figure out where she'll be able to find her child after leaving him with a stranger all day. 

She tries not to let the exhaustion and irritability into her voice. She probably succeeds. 

"Ah, that makes sense. I also haven't explored the city much yet, I came here for the first time just as the convention was starting and I left right after the riots and only got back in last night, and otherwise have been at the convention. Let's look around for a suitable one now if that works for you." 

"Certainly."

There's a lot of cafés near the convention hall. It's not too hard to pick one that is still open at this hour.