She backs off. Not worth the risk.

Back to the engine without Lenora. 

Thorn will encounter more guard-urchins on the next route to the railyard she attempts.

What on earth? Now she can't get back without causing an uproar. 

There is just a chance that these urchins here are Devries' urchins. He did say "if someone asks you for a password..." 

She tries it.

They let her pass. "What kinda fancy color's 'Alabaster' anyway," one mutters.

... Well then!!

She heads back to her original urchin and tries again. This time with with the name of Captain DeVries on her lips.

They glare suspiciously but let her pass.

"Rat Den's hard to find," broom-kid comments, making a coin-rubbing motion with her hand.

She passes a shilling. "And a sovereign if Lenora is there."

She starts marching off. The other kids complain about shirking guard duty. She pokes them with her broom and says they're all getting fed today. They stop complaining.

Broom kid is a fast runner, but so is Thorn. The Rat Den is apparently three rusty old locomotives with additional platforms and passages and added-on bits that basically turn them into one large structure. Easy to mistake for a junk pile from a distance.

She passes the urchin a sovereign. "Even if she's not here, you were a good guide. I'll have another sovereign for you if you're still here when I find Lenora." 

And she marches into the Rat Den. 

The Rat Den is apparently a combination bar, private club, and contraband market.

A short-haired cutter stops her just inside the door with a blade extended across her path, stepping out of an alcove that would make an excellent ambush position. 

"Never seen you here before, luv. What's your racket, and what's your hob here today?"

She doesn't know the cant and it's driving her insane. 

Best guess as to racket, something like organization or business-in-general. Best guess as to hob, business now. Probably from hobbyhorse. 

"My racket's the good ship As Clockwork. I'm looking for a woojack name of Lenora. It's urgent."

She casually pushes up her sleeves to show her tattoos. 

"What're you calling her a woojack for? You're from the same bloody ship. And are those tats supposed to be a crewmark or somethin'? Whatever. No snitching or you'll need stitching. Don't start fights here, don't steal shit, and keep any feuds away. Basically, don't be stupid and you can come in. Deal?"

"Still learning cant, but I know the rules well enough. Deal."

The guard steps back and puts the big intimidating knife back in its sheath opposite the hidden pistol and lets her pass.

She goes into the Rat Den, and starts looking for two things - the bloods and Lenora. 

There's only one obvious blood here - A mountain of a man with his own, especially large, table who is the center of attention for at least a dozen other people. A corner of the Rat Den seems reserved for Rattus Faber - one of them could be a blood and it'd be hard to tell.

Lenora is in one of the lounges, peering over a chart with a scarred fellow. Her eyes widen in shock when she looks up to see Thorn. She says something to the scarred fellow - he replies - she waves Thorn over.

She comes over to the table. "Lenora. Captain needs us back at the engine, sent me to come find you. Much obliged to your friend, but I'm afraid it's urgent."

"'Shut up and run' urgent, or 'as soon as you can' urgent? 'Cause he has charts." She points a thumb at her friend.

"Stovepipes might be trying something on the As Clockwork. DeVries is offering a bonus. It seems fairly damn urgent, but show me the charts and I can slap down payment quickly if they're good."

"Oooh, got yourself into trouble with the Stovepipes again, have you, Nora? Didja steal something?"

"No! I don't think this is my fault. They have no way of knowing I'm even aboard and I doubt they even remember me!"

The 'friend' laughs. "Well, better figure out what has them so riled up. Anyway, 'ere they are. For Lenora, fifty Sovs, but it counts as your favor..." He waggles his finger at her.

"I don't see myself needing your favors very often so I'm glad to cash it in... Except, interfering with the Stovepipes, maybe?"

"Nu-uh. No can do. Open defiance like that? They'd bring the hammer down on my crew. Best I could do was arrange for something to be robbed if they're otherwise distracted."

"Figured." Lenora shuffles paper. "Okay, charts. They're really detailed on the parts they cover, Thorn, here-"

The charts have filled in a solid thirty or forty percent of the estimated area of the Reach, a fair bit better than the other set of charts. There's lots of detail around Port Prosper, New Winchester, Port Avon, a place called Polmear & Plenty's Inconceivable Circus, and Titania. Magdalene's, the L&S Nature Reserve, Carillon, Lustrum, Hybras, the Adipodean Gardens, Braley Rock (!Cantankeri Territory!) and Old Tom's well all have moderate detail, and there are a variety of out-of-the-way and little-used routes from place to place described.

She flips through and looks. She makes a judgment call. 

She pulls out her fifty-sovereign coin. "Here, and good luck to you."

Lenora quickly - carefully - packs up the charts into a case. "Bloody stovepipes... The Tacketies shot at us too... Both of them are escalating. That's not great."

"No, it's not. And sometime you've got to teach me proper cant for around here. I called you a woojack and I still don't know what that meant. Urchin seemed to understand "cutter" alright, but..." 

She starts heading for the exit. "God, I hardly know the cant anymore either. I think they're making it up as they go along. 'Woojack' is, like, a friend. Or an expression that someone's probably acting in good faith? Someone you respect and like, but without any implication of authority or close relations. And cutter means more or less the same thing here, or it's recognizable anyway. Berk's a laggart, or just a lag, blood's an eye or a sharp."

"Thank you kindly, now I can use the proper terms." She follows, getting a sovereign ready to make good on her promise. "I've rousted all the crew but three, so it's possible the Captain will just decide to up and leave. But it's a bad spot. We're low on supply and fuel. We'll have to see how the Captain calls it."