"Lady Jilia?"

She's not wearing her badger jacket anymore, but she has saved it. She will wear it again. 

She has some of the other girls with her, hanging back. They're not the right material for what She wants to do, but Lady Jillia might have a use for them.

"Oraneta, right? I'm glad to see you still well. I wasn't sure if you might be hurt by the attack on Eriape."

Oraneta bites her lip. "No, we were all in the warehouse. Was what you said to Paloma...a warning?"

"A little. Eriape angered a lot of powerful people, and the adventuring nobles attacking was going to happen. I was mostly warning her you would all be without jobs soon, and apologizing that there wasn't anything I could do to stop it."

"Eriape was very prepared, but from what I heard they were just too many, and too powerful. I'm sorry too."

She pauses, and looks up at Jilia. It's not that far- she's quite tall for an urchin, and the tallest in her group.

There's a fountain nearby, and Jilia takes a seat on the edge to be shorter.

"It happens to almost every lich soon enough. They do terrible things to become liches, and so society does not trust that they will stop. Being kind enough to you and the other urchins that you are loyal to her is... so rare almost no one really believes it."

"I mean, we were- valuable to her, as skilled and trustworthy- and so she treated us well. But I think she only really cared- cares- about the Badgers. I had the sense that the whole thing- the Badger" meaning the publication. "-and everything around it was just a means to- entertainment for them? Oh, perhaps there was a plan to influence the Constitutional Convention, but- you wouldn't do that this way, right? You'd just bribe or send thugs or use magic."

"That sounds more like what I've heard," she agrees, "And yes, particularly for something unpopular, you'd want to make bribes, or use magic if you thought you could get away with it. Not a pamphlet that a quarter of people reading thought was a very long very committed joke."

"So that leaves- us. The Urchins. We have the warehouse to live in- and Haria gave us all some money before she [Teleported] away, and Paloma, she's a true believer, and she's going to try to sue the Queen or something- but-"

"But you need something to do. Fortunately, I have work for young women like you. Probably not pamphlets, but I think you know the city well, don't you? How to get around, how to be noticed or not be, where people gather, and where they talk?"

"Well, the other girls do. They would be very suitable. I have slightly higher ambitions. I'm going to be an adventurer."

"Adventurers die young, usually," she says gently, "Don't let that stop you, if you're determined, but don't ignore it. Power and wealth for one, death for fifty more no one remembers, just to get to the point where aura sight can see your alignment."

"And yet Eriape cleaned out tombs, and the Queen killed the Tarrasque. I have goals of my own, you see. And we- Sutge and I are ready now. Do you need adventurers?"

Thousands of people died trying to become them. But that's... she lets her hand brush the hilt of her sword... wrong to say, probably. It's her choice, even if Jilia wishes she'd wait. "I don't. I wish you well, though. And may Cayden and all the other gods smile on you and Sutge."

"If you visit the office every couple days, I'll keep track of rumors that might be a good fit for a new adventurer," volunteers a woman dressed as a clerk but with an unusual number of hidden knives to a trained eye.

"Zoè was an urchin in Kintargo once herself." And does not always do what Jilia expects, though rarely anything she actually actively doesn't want.

"That sounds good. This is Violant," Oraneta says, and gestures forward a girl. 

Violant stands at the front of the pack, looking properly deferential.

"Violant will introduce you to the other girls. Thank you for everything, miss Jilia."

Oraneta pulls some leather armor from her pack, and puts it on,

And Sutge grows.

into the size of a panther.

And Oraneta stalks away with her animal companion. 

It's not quite perfect, but she has the walk of an adventurer pretty well down.

Well, she's off to a better start than it looked, at least.

"Hello, Violant. There's no need to be shy; I hire staff, not servants."

"Yes, Archduchess. What do you want us to do first?"

"I've been trying to pay attention to the mood of the city, whether people are nervous or angry or mostly content, through the help of my scouts and listeners. I think you'd all be very helpful with that, with a little guidance from them for what to do. But before that - you're all fine? Content living in 'the warehouse'? Well enough fed?"

Also, what range of ages are these girls? And how many?

"Well, we have money for food. Cinta has the cough, but the's had that since she was little.  But we're not well defended anymore. The warehouse has a lock, but if a girl is taken- that's why we need someone to work for."

"I understand. I think I'll have a couple women stay there with you, to be able to defend you, and if you decide you want to move to an apartment building I can find one closer by. Those are safer if the warehouse isn't a secret; locks outside and in and city guards usually watch the outer doors because they don't remember who lives where, even when they aren't paladins like the guards we have this week."

Also she'll make a note to have one of her Shelynites prepare a lesser restoration and see if it helps Cinta. She can check whether they own the warehouse or Eriape still does, and buy it out if it's Eriape. Badgers owning it? That's ridiculous. Zoè can either be one of the guards or a messenger... trainer, probably. They'll probably need some practice and definitely checks to see they get it.

Some whispers. 

"I think we'd prefer the apartment. Eriape was not good at keeping secrets."

Some louder whispers

"She wasn't! Or she wouldn't have been caught!"

"Very few people can keep secrets when a eighth-circle wizard wants to learn them. There's two I can think of who might have gotten involved, when she started annoying duchesses and archdukes. But that does mean most of her other secrets are known, too, at least to somebody. I'll find you apartments soon. Maybe a week, maybe less."

Violant bows. "Thank you, Archduchess."

"You are welcome, Violant. You all are. I'm going to have some of my scouts go with you back to the warehouse, and they'll give you a little in the way of lessons in how we work. I think you'll all take to it quickly. Anything else before I do?"

"No, My Lady."

She elbows a girl next to her who is still bowing, and they withdraw.

"Gods watch over you." Because Jilia's a little busy and might need the help.