She glances up at him before most people would have noticed he was approaching.

"Hello," says the tiny expressionless child.

"Hello."

"Why are you here?"

"I was waiting for someone. They haven't shown up, yet, but I don't leave until tomorrow, so I've nothing better to do than keep waiting."

"Who are you waiting for?"

"His name is Achilles."

"I know him," he says. "What do you want to talk to him about?"

She gestures around them.

"I think you might be mistaken about who you want to talk to."

She looks at him for a long moment.

"Do tell."

"I was the one who told the leader of my crew we should get an older child to protect us so we could eat at the soup kitchen. And I planned the fight we had the first time we tried it."

"Impressive. How old are you?"

"At least four and not more than six."

"What's your name?"

"Oat."

"No last name?"

He shakes his head. "Last names are for people who have ever had legal guardians."

Nod. "Do you want one?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Do you have a legal identity?"

"No."

"Okay. I work for the IF, so I can fix that. Do you want my last name, or a different one? Mine's St. Severin, but I was an orphan too, I just got lucky enough to be raised by nuns instead of by no one, and they made it up."

He hesitates slightly.

She will wait. And hope that wasn't pushing too hard.