The whole household mood is definitely getting to Lily. She's been very clingy all afternoon, though at least it hasn't escalated to a tantrum or even particularly bad behavior. 

Jeremy has been doing an Internet deep dive on immigration law, but it seems like it might be too early to excitedly talk about that with Iomedae, and also he doesn't, like, have a plan yet, and is mostly still at the stage of being very confused. 

Evelyn's phone rings about halfway through dinner. 

On a Sunday night? Wow, she's going to be so annoyed if it's a salesperson. And...incredibly torn if it's an emergency foster placement, honestly, she does not feel like she has room to stretch right now to support another kid while Iomedae is, well, having so much trouble with the adjustment. 

She excuses herself and takes the phone with her into the study, shutting the door, before she answers it. "Evelyn speaking." 

It's Diel. "Hey, Evelyn. I'm sure you can guess why I'm calling. How're you doing? How is Iomedae settling in?"

Presumably Diel has not seen her email and it feels vastly more awkward to bring up over the phone. "...It's been a rough weekend," she admits. "It's a huge adjustment for her, and she's very worried about her friends. I do have plenty of good things to say - she's learning more English very quickly, and she's helpful and lovely - but she's very stressed and anxious right now. I'm - not sure I would feel good about taking another emergency placement right now," which is indeed almost certainly what this is about. 

"Right. Well, I completely understand if you can't do it but it's the weirdest thing - we've got, uh, about sixty kids whose parents were picked up in ICE raids today, mostly in Clark County but they called us in for help because they've got absolutely no beds for them. And I was going through processing these kids, and I run into one who has the same homemade style clothing as Iomedae did, poor English and poor Spanish, and I'm thinking, maybe same cult? - I think it has to be a cult in Mexico or something, by the way, I forget if I mentioned that to you in my email. But anyway. She claims she doesn't recognize the name 'Iomedae', but she does recognize the city name Iomedae gave the police, Taldor. 

So I'm thinking - maybe they know each other, and Iomedae gave us a fake name. Or maybe they don't, but - they're sure going to have a lot in common. And maybe Iomedae'd have an easier time with the adjustment if there were another kid from her same background. But if you think Iomedae's too much trouble to add another one, I completely understand, I'll keep looking."

[you may now wish to read this thread]

Wow. 

What a not-even-slightly-a-coincidence. (...And makes it seem more likely that maybe the raid on Iomedae's friends' camp wasn't that directly prompted by the events with Martin; this sounds like a coordinated sweep of the whole area, which surely take weeks to arrange. Evelyn had also been starting to suppress a sneaking suspicion that it might be her fault, for mentioning to Diel that Iomedae said the migrants had kids with them, but - probably not that either.)

On the one hand: this sounds like an exhausting disaster in the making. On the other hand, there is no way in the entire world she can say no. Not when Iomedae is lonely and scared and incredibly worried for exactly those kids. 

"- Of course I can take her," she says immediately. "The poor thing. And you're right, they're going to have a lot in common, and - similar needs, that should make this a lot more doable." 

She's tempted to ask for information on the other kids, but one, it's none of her business and Diel will reasonably look askance at her if she asks, and two, it's not like Iomedae is even going to be very reassured to learn that they're all billeted with nice foster carers. 

"Thank you so much, Evelyn, you're a lifesaver, really. I swear, they've had the kids in a high school gym here since 4am and didn't call us in for help until the afternoon. I guess I'll drive her over, then, probably in about an hour because I have to drive over anyone else I can place in your general region, too. The name she gave us is Alfirin. She's, I don't know, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Not the most trusting kid I've ever met but I'm sure she's had an even worse day than I have. You take care."

Evelyn has SEVERAL DOZEN QUESTIONS which she is not going to hassle poor Diel with right now, Evelyn had thought her day was going badly until she heard that. "Wow. Oof. Yeah, an hour is fine." She would offer to take more - she's very tempted to offer - but random migrant kids sounds like a doomier proposition, and also that's now all the bedrooms accounted for. "I'll explain to Iomedae." 

"You're my hero." Diel hangs up.

Iomedae has finished eating and stood up to clean the kitchen.

Evelyn goes over. "Iomedae, I have something important to tell you." 

"Yes, ma'am?"

She takes a deep breath. 

"That was the social worker you met on Friday, Diel. She's been finding homes for sixty children from migrant camps like your friends' camp. I think it might have nothing to do with Martin, that your friends were caught, it sounded like they were just searching the whole area. Anyway. She asked if we could have one of them stay with us, since I have one more spare bedroom. And...the other thing is, she says she knows of Taldor, where you're from. She might even speak the same native language as you do. She's going to be confused and scared about the same things, probably, and - I'm hoping you can help explain." 

"Yes. I can explain. And if she is from Taldor, she know what a holy warrior is. So I have be a good one. - God see so far, God have plans we only see bits of! God so good! Thank you, Evelyn, thank you."

Evelyn is fairly sure this was not God's plan all along except maybe in the sense where everything that ever happens is supposedly God's plan. She's not going to have an argument about it. 

"Thank you. Diel said they'll probably be here in about an hour, she needs to drive over some other children who she can hopefully find places to stay with different foster carers here." 

"After I clean kitchen I can get ready for her! I think space for both us in my room, if I move bed then space even if she want sleep on floor too."

"- Oh, no, you won't have to share. It's very generous of you to offer, but there's another bedroom that nobody is using right now, the one beside Lily's. But you can help me put fresh sheets on the bed, and find some clothes for her from the ottoman of spares - though I don't know what size she would wear, Diel said she's 'twelve or thirteen or fourteen' which is really not very specific. Her name is Alfirin, apparently. She said she hadn't heard of you but she must be from the same area." 

"It is your house and your laws but she will think it strange, and I cannot keep her safe if she in other room.

Taldor very very big. I don't know she from same area."

"...The house is locked at night and nobody is going to be able to come in and hurt anyone. But if she feels less scared sleeping in your room at first, that would be okay too." 

The kitchen's strikingly clean so she will go help prepare the other smaller room for the new girl. She sings to herself while she works. The imperial anthem, because it seems appropriate. 

In English it's hard to say complicated things but the thing she'd say if she could say complicated things is that Aroden probably has millions of plans, that's what being a god is, but there is something in this odd place that is nearly as rich as lost Azlant that He wants done, and Iomedae is His agent here to do it, and if there are more people here from home then that's a sign about how hard this place is to get to and how hard it'll be to get home. 

They can have plain neutral-colored sheets on the bed, and Evelyn finds a few different sets of pajamas that would fit children ranging from 'small for a twelve-year-old' to 'big for a fourteen-year-old', and there really isn't a huge amount of preparation to do other than that, once she's explained things to Lily, so she sort of hovers. 

Jeremy is not sure how much he's a useful addition to this situation, but three kids is a full house and it seems like maybe Mom should have backup just in case. He'll stay, and read about immigration law rather than hovering.