It sounded weak to her, but the expression on Evin’s face was pure admiration. It sent a shiver of gratification through her, which she ignored.
Arxis’s reaction was the opposite. Not even contempt: amusement. “How noble of you. Racing around after a baby, ignoring your true goals—whatever they are.” Ileni flinched. “Do you know how many babies die, or are abandoned, in this city? Hundreds. And throughout the Empire, tens of thousands. Do you think you can save them all?”
Ileni opened her mouth, then closed it. The familiar sense of helplessness swamped her.
Evin snorted softly. “We’re not trying to save them all,” he said. “We’re trying to save this one.” He ran a hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up in brown tufts. “Let’s go find Girad.”
“So we’re committed to the rely-on-a-six-year-old plan,” Arxis said. “Excellent.”
“Girad is more observant than most adults I’ve met. Once he—”
“Don’t,” Arxis interrupted him. “I’m not sure what I want to hear less: stories about how remarkable Girad is, or drivel about how superior the Renegai are.”
“We’ll try to split it evenly, then,” Evin said.
Ileni spun on her heel. “Come on. Let’s go talk to this six-year-old genius.”
In the Renegai training compound, students had been strictly divided by age. As a result, Ileni had never spent much time around six-year-olds; and while she had a vague memory of being six years old, she didn’t recall it being quite so . . . loud.
The orphanage of the Black Sisters was a rectangular building with an interior courtyard, which several dozen children were using as a play area. It was like being inside a storm of shrieks and wails. Evin, immediately upon their arrival, waded into the mass of children. Arxis and Ileni stood with their backs to the building wall, and the slightly wild-eyed expression on Arxis’s face made Ileni feel an odd kinship with him. There had been children in the Assassins’ Caves, too, but they had been silent and focused and disciplined.
“I don’t know what you hope to gain from this ridiculous excursion,” Arxis said. “If you were smart, you would return to your people while you still have your life.”
The tingle of empathy vanished. “Since when do assassins care about life? You don’t even care about your own. I find it hard to believe you care about mine.”
“Of course I don’t,” Arxis said.
“So what you really want is for me to leave.” Behind her, three children crashed into each other, and all three began screeching at once. “Am I interfering with your mission? How, I wonder, am I doing that?”
“Not interfering.” Arxis raised his voice slightly to be heard over the wails. “Inconveniencing.”
“Why did you help rescue me, then? Why not leave me to die?”
Arxis snorted. “I would have been more than happy to. But the master sent you. Besides, Evin would never have spoken to me again.”
“And why is that important to you?”
A ball whizzed at them from somewhere within the crowd. Ileni ducked instinctively, but Arxis caught it and threw it back with a twist of his wrist. “Are you under the impression that if you keep asking the same question over and over, you generate some sort of force that requires me to answer it?”
Ileni’s breath hissed through her teeth. “Don’t you understand that things have changed? That your mission has to change, too? That map in Karyn’s room . . . it was of the caves. She’s planning an assault.”
“No,” Arxis said, utterly calm. “If she was planning an assault, there would have been markings on the map. She’s planning something else.”
Evin emerged from the sea of children, towing Girad by one arm. Girad did not appear happy to be called into service. He kicked Evin’s ankle, twisted free, and raced back into the melee. Evin lunged after him.
“I was about to win!” Girad howled. His thin arms and legs flailed. “You’re ruining everything!”
“Sorry,” Evin said insincerely, and deposited him on the ground in front of Ileni, both hands firmly on the boy’s shoulders. “This is more important than your game. We need your help to find somebody.”
Girad glared at Ileni as if it was all her fault—which, to be fair, it was.
“Um,” Ileni said. “We’re very grateful. You’re doing something very important. Someone’s whole life might be changed.”
Girad looked at her dubiously, and Ileni flushed. “We’ll, uh, we’ll also give you candy if you help us.”
Girad glared up at his brother. “You had better not be in love with her.”
Evin kicked him, not very subtly, in the calf. Girad kicked back. Arxis sighed and said, “Just ask the question, Ileni.”
Ileni’s flush had now knitted itself permanently to her cheeks. “We’re looking for a baby,” she said. “Newborn, probably brought here two weeks ago. Can you help us find her?”
“Sure,” Girad said, rolling his eyes. “I could have done it after the game, too. Follow me.”