I was feeling disappointed that I wasn't meeting the lizardman and now this. What if Simila hadn't come with me? Would Giacob have felt the need to tell me the sword was stolen before I left?

"Simila, maybe we should leave..." I tugged on her dress.

I wasn't so sure of what was going on right now. I had come here to a scary part of this city because of the note and because Simila offered, but the note wasn't from the Klisimian envoy at all, but this bully. The first thing that happened when I got here was that some boy lied to me then stole my sword.

"Hey, wow," Giacob held his hands up as if I was being unreasonable, "I didn't tell you to bring something so valuable. This is The Rookery, Lord Tilvrade. You stand out far too much dressed in that coat surrounded by most of the thieves and orphans of the city."

I blushed a bit as he pointed out the obvious.

Didn't your maid know of this place? She should have told you. A whisper from Sam cautioned me. You are here because of her but why did she tell you to come here?

I looked up at her with a new doubt in my mind.

It was Simila who had told me The Rookery was in South Gate and she seemed a bit different ever since we came here. She looked more casual, more human and emotional and maybe a bit sad than she usually did.

She started at my gaze, which was also very odd. Simila never looked surprised, always a step ahead of anyone else when it came to knowing who or what was around her.

"Sorry Tilly, I was distracted and forgot. I brought a cloak for you in case it was... something like this."

Simila took out a black bundle and whipped it in the air before putting it around my shoulders. It was a rough and a bit stained, but still a simple and elegant cloak.

I had been suspicious for a moment, but I realised as she hesitated mid-sentence that she had not realised this wasn't about the envoy either.

"In any case, I'm glad you made it. I wasn't sure you would come."

I looked up at the boy half again as tall as me who had waited before speaking again as I donned the cloak.

I didn't respond that I wouldn't have come, if I had known it wasn't the envoy, so I looked for a change of subject.

"Uh.. Your name is Giacob?" I asked his name.

"How rude of me. Yes, my name is Giacob. I was an orphan as well, but unlike little Bairun or Palama, I am actually from the Leslie duchy."

"Are you a lord then?" He was at the Elafoz's palace last night, so he must have some status.

The boy smiled.

"No, Lord Tilvrade, I am not. My father was a butler, that is part of the reason I was taught to speak and write," I was interested in his story, but that's all he shared before turning half away and walking back to the building he came out of. "Enough about me though, come inside. You can ask any questions you want as we go upstairs."

I stopped rubbing my knuckles together. It was a bad habit to show others when you were nervous.

This Giacob seemed to be reasonable enough and had returned my sword and everything. Perhaps accidentally coming here wouldn't be so bad.

I looked at Simila when he walked forward. "Don't worry, it's fine here. It's just an orphanage. I'll be by your side."

The inside of the building was dark, but Giacob had placed a candle in a holder on the floor at the door. He picked it up and we walked up the rickety stairs, past doors on the ground floor that must have been other rooms.

"Sorry about this, all the rooms are a bit tight here, but they do for the children and tenants."

I briefly wondered why they couldn't have a better location. They even had a tavern out in the front. It looked quite full, so they must make some coin.

Even if they didn't though, did no one else in the city care about the orphans?

"If you would come in here," Giacob said, opening a door on the second floor, "the cushions are a bit worn, but they're still comfortable."

I would definitely not have described the ripped and tattered cushions as 'a bit worn', but I didn't want to be impolite.

Father once told me when we went to check on the harvest in Olwick, "It's precisely when you don't know what you're doing that you need to act as if you do." It was a very different way of thinking than Sam had, maybe somewhat prideful and petty, but it was essential if I wanted to negotiate or mingle in society here.

Though, as I remember it, I ended up giving myself a cut on the leg with the scythe when I pulled it through the sheaf of wheat. The wheat had given way and then the scythe came right at me. Father just said I would get worse surprises in combat and laughed it off.

I decided I would try to ask the questions, I didn't have mother or father with me and Simila wasn't speaking up for me.

"So why did you give me that note? Why were you at the palace yesterday?"

"You're not shy, are you," he smiled, looking at me like I was a small child. "I am an information dealer. I'd like to think one of the best in Gristol."

Technically, I suppose I was a small child. I wasn't anything like the kids here though, playing around in the alleyways.

"I'm known as Black Rat in Gristol. If I wasn't at an event like that, then how could I ply my trade?"

He answered my question, and it made sense, but I felt frustrated that I must have used the wrong words. I didn't want to know why he went. I wanted to know how he got in.

But before I asked in a better way, he responded to my other question, "The note is an invitation. As I said, I didn't even expect you to show up, but I'm glad what I quickly scribbled was enough for you to find me."

The note had been brief, but it was clear.

"You seemed unusually clever. I was impressed at how you simply walked away while protecting the girl." I felt my chest rise a bit at the praise, "I was also impressed that you just left your cousin there, uncaring of what would happen in Clous' hands. It reminded me a bit of the children who grow up here in The Rookery. A certain mettle in you, an independent mind."

The tingle in my chest fluttered a bit, unsure if I liked the continuation. He was not only comparing me to street children, but saying that others might have thought what I did was wrong.

"Do you remember the two boys beside me yesterday?"

I nodded, interested now in how this related to me.

"They were the sons of Argenta vis Viscount Tram. She's a friend of the Clouses."

I didn't really know why he was bringing up the boys.

"You told me to be careful, that I didn't know who I faced." I said, repeating what he told me. "You mean the person who made Clous bully Pricel, right?"

"I was going to get there, Lord Tilvrade, please be patient. The reason I talked about Dom and Sach is that their family is one of Dastan's supporters. I don't know how familiar you are with Viscount Dastan Feles, but both he and Stegan have no love for your father."

"Stegan and Dastan? They're working together?" I was pretty concerned that both my uncle and great uncle would be working together to get at me and father.

"Hmm," Giacob frowned and scratched his temple, "not exactly. Dastan and Stegan hate each other. They see each other as enemies even more than your father."

That made more sense. Father wasn't even really in the succession, "It's just that neither of them like your father. Although their factions don't usually mix, Argenta and Viscount Clous have been known to be... friends, since they were younger. There is one thing they can agree on publicly, and they are happy to demonstrate, which is their dislike of your mother's family."

I nodded, and thought of the name that Dilthimay told me about, Sambron Bairv, who brought us all there.

"Where do the Bairvs fit into this?"

"Count Bairv? He is Dastan's main supporter."

I felt a bit stupid that I didn't know that...

Giacob frowned but then went back to his previous train of thought.

"Now, why I asked you to come here is so that I can make a proposal. I know Clous and Tram. They have both hired me before. That doesn't mean I work for them though. What I care about is here, in The Rookery."

He gestured around us.

"You are different. You are young, intelligent and I don't know what it is, but something in your past gave you perspective. It's just a feeling in my gut, but I feel even more certain now that you come here with, well..." he looked towards Simila. I really had to ask her what she hadn't told me, "If nothing else, you have everything to lose if you don't have an ally. Once Stegan or Dastan become the next Duke, your father will be in a tricky spot. Then you might come back to The Rookery again for very different reasons."

For all my dislike of grandfather, I had hoped for the first time that he stayed well and alive. He might not be a doting grandparent, but at least he acknowledged father's independence in Olwick and protected us to some extent.

If he really did pass on the duchy to Dastan or Stegan in the next few years, I certainly hope I wouldn't become an orphan, but it's possible father would lose our land and title. Would he bring us to Leslie to seek fortune in battle? Or would we rely on Count Yse and Lady Marian for their protection?

I didn't want to depend on anyone like that, and I didn't want father to either.

"Okay, that's true."

"So let's make a deal, or rather, let me make an investment in you," Giacob said. "I'll help give you information I get from the Clouses and Trams and whatever else they give me. In return, all I want you to do is come here every so often and meet some of the kids. Just don't wear those fancy clothes and you should be able to get along. When the time comes that you inherit your father's lands safely, The Rookery and I will look to your patronage to make these children's lives a bit better. They're all bright kids, Lord Tilvrade. maybe you'll even take some of them into your household."

I gulped. It sounded like a very good deal for me. Giacob was willing to help me know what father's enemies were planning before they could carry it out for a hope that I would be able to help him and The Rookery when things were more stable in Efeles.

It almost sounded too good. Was that really all that Giacob wanted?

"Okay. So what's next?" I cringed a bit after I said it. I should have probably said something cool like 'I agree to your conditions'... but it was a bit late now.

Giacob was fortunately looking down at a chest he seemed to keep documents in. I had never considered the drawers in my davenport a luxury, but it was a world apart from the Black Rat's study.

"Here. Let this be the first token of our arrangement. This is a map of where some of Dastan and Stegan's men often meet."

He handed me a piece of vellum with a bunch of scribbles on it, or so I thought at first when I saw the drawings of a castle and gate towers and some insignia over sticking out in some spots around the castle or in lower town.

The districts around the castle were probably Lookout and Westhill and then the green snake thing might have been the Tachys river curving around the west and north of the wall. I remembered one of the insignia in lower town that we passed just earlier today. It was the drawing of a singing chef from the Lard and Bard Inn.

"You can do with it what you will."

We shook hands and I gave the map to Simila. It was actually quite small, so it shouldn't be too hard to carry back unnoticed.

"I will be awaiting your visit next summer upon your return to Gristol."

Giacob didn't show us out, just opened the door of the room and handed us the candle to light our way down the rickety stairs.

"Did your meeting with Giacob finish?"

"Yes," I told the waitress who met us in the alleyway to bring us back through the tavern.

We followed her across and down the muddy path to the back kitchen door.

"... Kled, over here!"

Just as I was about to step inside, my ear caught a name shouted far off down the alley. I looked down the street and saw the boy who had first met me and tried to take my sword running behind two of his friends.