Exiting the cafe, they were greeted with a blast of cold air and Liliana almost stumbled at the drastic change from the cheery warmth of the cafe. She almost stumbled again when two small children, dressed in layers of fabric that could barely even be called rags, darted in front of her. One collided with her and was trying to dart away when a hand flashed out and caught the child’s arm. The child held in its grasp a small pouch of coins Liliana kept on her hip specifically to fool such pickpockets. It prevented them from trying to grab other things from her person if she gave them an obvious target.

“The punishment for stealing from a noble is the removal of the offending hand,” Alistair’s voice carried on the chill air, dark and threatening.

The child in question, covered in too much dirt to even discern a proper skin or hair color, trembled in her brother’s iron grasp. The child’s partner had tried to run off, abandoning their friend, but a guard had stepped up, holding onto the squirming second child. Liliana felt her heart break for the children. Despite the rags they’d tried to bundle themselves in, she could tell they were little more than skin and bones, their stomachs distended from hunger.

“Alistair,” Liliana’s voice bit out a warning, as sharp as the winter wind.

Her own hands gently grasped the child’s shoulders, which trembled from fear or cold, she wasn’t sure. Her brother hissed, but released his hold. The child tried to break her hold, but his Unawakened body was no match for hers, even when she wasn’t trying to exert her Strength. Liliana knelt down until she was on eye level with the child, and she saw a pair of mismatched blue and green eyes looking back at her between strands of greasy hair, full of terror. The eyes of weak prey confronted with a predator so strong and overpowering it knew only death awaited it. Two furry ears atop the child’s head were pressed closely against their greasy locks. Combined with their wide eyes, it made them look like a feral alley cat.

“What’s your name, little one?” Liliana asked, her voice far more gentle than what she’d used on her brother.

“F-F-Fl-Flint,” the child stuttered out, tripping over their own tongue. Liliana smiled at them kindly, releasing one shoulder to carefully move the hair out of the child’s eyes.

“Do you have parents, Flint?” Liliana asked softly, getting a head shake in response. Her heart clenched and her eyes stung, but she kept her empathy off her face.

“Do you have a home, Flint?” Liliana asked and once more she got a shaking head. Liliana sighed. She had expected as much.

The orphanages in Ravencross were full, children sleeping two to a bed at times just to make room for more. And yet there were always more orphans, children left alone. They might not be in a war right now, but this world was dangerous for all that it tried to pretend it wasn’t. Commoners died traveling from towns to cities, lives lost to deadly beasts or bandits, for all the nobles tried to keep order where they could.

“Well, future lord Rosengarde. What would you propose we do with two children that our family has failed?” Liliana asked, turning her head to look up at her brother.

Alistair was staring at the children, eyes wide. She could see he’d never really looked at the homeless, the poor of his domain. Like most, his eyes had simply passed over the beggars and urchins playing in the gutters as if they did not exist. Easy to ignore. If one had done it so long, it had become a habit.

“We should give them money?” Alistair said, but it was a question, and Liliana shook her head.

“They're likely to get attacked as soon as they dart into an alleyway if we give them money, besides that would only keep them warm and fed for a short time if they managed to avoid falling prey to their own comrades,” Liliana informed him, having been told herself such things months ago when she’d thought of the same solution.

“We should take them to an orphanage,” Emyr said quietly, and Liliana shook her head again.

“All the orphanages in Ravencross are full to bursting,” Liliana informed him, her voice betraying the heartache she felt, knowing the problem and being unable to do a single thing about it.

“Then what, Liliana?” Alistair asked, frustration clear in his voice and body language.

“Well, I think it’s about time I got some new servants,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders, looking back towards the child she still held in her grasp.

“Would you like to come with us? You’d have to work from dawn to dusk, but you’d be fed three times a day, have clean clothes to wear and a warm place to sleep,” Liliana informed the children, the trembling in the small body she held had lessened, but did not subside entirely.

“W-W-Work fe-fer a n-noble?” Flint asked her, and Liliana nodded.

“You’re fast and nimble. It’s good traits to have for a servant, and when you’re old enough, you could even train to be a guard instead,” Liliana offered. Flint nodded and Liliana looked towards the other child, who had shrunk almost into the guard who was holding them. They too nodded their head eagerly and Liliana gave the both of them a smile, finally releasing her grasp on Flint.

“H-Here ye a-are, m’l-lady,” Flint said, thrusting his stolen goods back at her, Liliana shook her head and gently pushed his hand back, ever so careful about her own strength, far too aware of how delicate the child was.

“Think of that as your sign-on bonus, for the both of you,” Liliana said as she stood, dusting off the knees of her dress.

“Are you sure about this, Lili?” Alistair asked, looking at the children with guilt, pity, and suspicion. Liliana knew he was thinking the two of them would likely run away with as many valuable bits they could find as soon as possible. Liliana, however, had a good idea that the idea of stable money, and, more importantly, a place to call home, would be far more enticing to two orphans.

“As sure as I am about any decision I make, I don’t like to have regrets, Alistair. And helping someone else will never be one, whatever the consequence might be for me,” Liliana told her brother. Looking towards the guards, she motioned to the two children. “Take them to an inn and get them cleaned up. You, pick up some clothes that will fit them. At least three shirts and trousers, under clothes, cloaks, good boots, gloves, scarves and hats. We can’t have them coming into the manor looking like this. Also, after that, take them to see a healer, then meet us back here,” she ordered, her voice taking on a commanding tone.

Immediately, the guards split up. Two, a man and woman as they did not know the genders of the children, took the two bewildered children in hand and marched them towards an inn. Another guard darted off after taking gold from her in the direction of a clothing store.

“So,” Liliana said as she turned back to her brother, tiredness leaking into her face and tone, “what will we do about the hundred other homeless orphans hiding in the back alleyways of this city?” she asked her brother. While her tone was heart weary, it held an undertone of steel.

She had wanted to eventually show this side of the world to Alistair, to force him to face the people he should see as his responsibility as much as any working man. It had only happened sooner than anticipated.

“We need more orphanages,” Alistair said immediately. “I’ll have to speak to father about beginning the process. I’m sure I can spin it as me taking care of city planning and management, while also building a charitable image of the Rosengardes. Mother will probably support it as it can be spun to show me as the official heir, and will also gain the people's approval. Which, while not necessary, is a good thing to have.” Alistair continued on, getting into a comfortable stride as he spoke.

“And what about the source of the orphans?” Liliana prodded, trying to gently direct her brother towards attacking the problem at the root, rather than simply treating the symptoms.

“We can increase the funding for the guards, encourage more recruitment for them, and that would increase patrols for the roads,” Alistair said, easily following her hint.

“Perhaps we can try to create areas along the road that are safe zones? For those who cannot travel from a village to a city in one day?” Emyr spoke up, seeming to be deep in thought himself. Alistair brightened before immediately dimming.

“Such a thing would be expensive, and how would we make a safe zone? An area with permanent guards? A way stop? Enchanted or runed? Such things are expensive, especially if multiple must be made. Opening even ten orphanages would be cheaper than setting up such things across all the territory,” Alistair said, obviously disheartened.

“We couldn’t ban travel that takes longer than a day, even if we stipulated you could still travel with guards. We’d have riots,” Liliana spoke up considering the issue.

She wasn’t sure how much enchanting an area, or using runes for it, would cost. She knew the manor had enchantments and runes to protect it, but nobles were known to splurge money freely for themselves. Using money for commoners was a harder thing to convince them of, even if the money they enjoyed was thanks to the taxes from said commoners.

“I’ll talk to father about the orphanages, and the increase of funds for the guards. That’s as much as I’ll be able to do for now. I’ll consider the way stations but unless we can find a way to easily fund them, or a way to make a profit off of them, such an endeavor may need to wait until I have enough power to make such a choice on my own,” Alistair said decisively. Liliana nodded slowly, not entirely happy with the answer but understanding there wasn’t much more to be done yet.

A royal proclamation for such a thing would force Father to fund them. But I don’t entirely feel comfortable stealing Alistair and Emyr’s ideas to present to Marianne or the Queen. That is assuming they’d even agree to it. Such a thing could be seen as the royal family overstepping their authority and make the noble faction hostile towards them. Liliana thought. Looking at Alistair and Emyr, she could see they were unsatisfied by the solution they had arrived at, much as she was. Looking around, Liliana spotted a bakery, and an idea struck her. It wouldn’t be much, but perhaps it would give them some comfort.

“Come with me,” Liliana instructed, grabbing Emyr and Alistair’s hands she tugged them forward.

“Wh-What are you doing?” Alistair asked, but he didn’t resist her as she led the boys to the bakery.

“Doing what we can right now,” Liliana told him as she released their hands to open the door. The smell of freshly baked bread filled her nose and Liliana sighed happily as she approached the counter. It might be the late afternoon, but the bakery still had a good amount of stock available and displayed for purchase, which was good. Liliana mentally bid farewell to the last of the money she’d been allotted for today.

“Give me all the bread from here to here,” Liliana instructed the shopkeeper pointing to the side wall full of displayed bread, “as well as anything you have left from yesterday that you couldn’t sell, and anything good enough to eat that you would throw out,” Liliana finished. The shopkeeper blinked at her in shock before bursting into a flurry of movement. Several workers helped the shopkeeper get what she wanted and Liliana just stood back and watched the chaos she’d caused.

“Why are you buying so much bread? You don’t need to put on anymore weight,” Alistair asked, his small taunt as weak as the smile on his face.

“We might not be able to do anything for them tomorrow, but we can stop a good number of people from going to sleep tonight with empty bellies,” Liliana told him, a sad smile on her face. Alistair blinked at her, his eyes filled with understanding and wonder before they hardened.

“Make it the entire store. Anything edible in here, we’ll buy it all,” Alistair called out to the shopkeeper, summoning a blank check from his storage, slamming it on the counter. Liliana had never seen a shopkeeper look so frantic and excited at the same time.