She rushes in. She has a low conversation with the doctor and hugs her slowly waking son. Eefina is gently ushered to a richly decorated sitting room by the maid and offered tea and cookies.

And then Gabriella is back, red-eyed. "He will recover, I think. Once again, from my heart, thank you. I wish to show my appreciation to you somehow. What sort of reward might you appreciate?"

"As tempting it is to get clever about this and ask for something specific, probably you should just pay me."

"The truest measure of gratitude is specie." (This is obviously a quote from something specific, it's in another language.) "We didn't agree on a price beforehand so I will pay you what I think is fair, and if you wish to discuss the remuneration with an independent arbitrator or judge, that would be entirely reasonable of you. It's something nobody else could do and it saved my son, done on short notice, but it did only take you an hour... Does one platinum coin and eight gold coins sound fair?"

"Very fair. Thank you."

She doles out the coins from inside her still-present bag.

"I know who the rest of my son's ill-advised raid party is, as well. Several of the ones who survived are also facing corruption issues, I think. Though I doubt they can all pay as well as I can."

"I'm willing to consider this partial payment for cleansing the rest of the party, in addition to payment for cleansing your son. You can take me to them as well."

"I was imagining just giving you names and addresses, but I'll contact them all and try to arrange things on your behalf, if you'd rather."

"I imagine things would go less smoothly if you merely gave me names and addresses. Unless they already know who I am?"

"No, I doubt they do. It might not go much better with me, but as I said, I'm willing to ask around. How should I contact you again? Perhaps I should simply invite you back here tomorrow?"

"I appreciate it, and you do have living-if-not-yet-walking proof that I can do it. You already know where I'm staying. You should be able to find me at the Academy tomorrow, and probably for the next month at least."

The noblewoman solicits her exact room number and hall name, then happily sees her out and even offers a ride back to campus.

Eefina gives the noble lady her exact address and thanks her for the ride! Before she goes back to her dorm, though, does this city have those 'bank' things she's read about? She now has rather a lot of money to just be carrying it around.

There are quite a number of competing banks available! The Adventurer's Guild has one, too. What is she looking for in a bank?

Gosh, she has no idea. Maybe she'll just go with the Adventurer's Guild since she's already tied to them.

They're happy to have her! They have lots of branches in this region of the world, and she can drop off dungeon loot directly into her bank account instead of doing the rigmarole with coins now.

Ooh, neat.

Eefina will keep one gold worth of silver and copper as pocket money and deposit the rest.

Most merchants in the city accept taps from the bank card as authorization for payment for things and there's a complicated set of magic that she is invited to read this scholarly paper on that ensures it's more-or-less fraud-proof!

Would she like to consider investing some of her deposited money in local businesses or commercial ventures while she's at it?

The scholarly paper is interesting and very convincing! Eefina is still going to keep pocket money, for her own reasons, thank you.

What sort of investment opportunities are currently available?

(It has a lot in common with cryptography, taken in a sideways direction by clever application of magic.)

Lots of them!

She could look into some of the specific merchants or businesses looking for investors and purchase part of their business, like this grocery store, a horse breeder, that industrial-scale bakery, or the slave collar manufacturer.

She could buy real estate and try to sell it again later, or fix it up and then sell it at a profit.

She could buy part of an outgoing boat's return import hoping they will return with a big load of spices or diamonds or something. (The boat might sink though.)

She could sponsor up-and-coming adventurers in exchange for a share of their earnings. (Typically there's an interview/matchmaking process for this.)

She could purchase 'bundled funds' which are managed by a Skilled merchant who intelligently invests the pool of money collected from everyone in exchange for a small percentage of the money each year. (This is less risky than most other investments, they claim.)

She could pay the tuition of people wanting to attend the Academy in exchange for a promise of some percentage of their income after they graduate.

Money is weird and scary.

"I'll have to think it over and get back to you on that. Thanks, though!"

"Of course! Come back anytime!"

And the banker moves on to the next customer.

...And she very nearly runs into Tret, literally, on her way out of the bank.

"Hey, 'Fina! How's the Academy treating you?"

"Tret! Hi. I've only had the one class, but I have windsight now!"

He winks and channels a little bit of ghur along his arms and jaw.

"I was going to go looking for you later! You seemed interested in my job, and there's actually a new task that I could use you along with, unlike the last one, if you want to try out scouting. Should take just a day. Interested?"

"Oh! I can be useful. What's the task?"

"There's been some confusing reports and sightings of some kind of plant monster in the marshlands to the west. The big names of the city want to know if it's the Red Waste's influence, and what it is if not, and for it to be dealt with somehow if possible. And if I'm getting close to the Waste, I'd really rather have you at hand! 'Sides, new perspectives help with mysteries, too. We'll split the pay?"