"Exactly. Work is off the table," Dale said firmly, giving Junior a glare. He shrugged.<br/><br/>"Fair enough. We can talk about it later after someone gets tucked in for the night."<br/><br/>"I suppose..."<br/><br/>"So, uh, your little friend is, how did you put it, Dale?"<br/><br/>"Involuntarily undocumented."<br/><br/>"Yeah. Trafficked. She's from the northernmost duchy in Cordonia, right on the border with Draconia, of all places. The Ducal line has a long history of being pragmatic, ruthless, and generally nasty in a fight. The Nevakris family."<br/><br/>Anya made a rude noise.<br/><br/>"Yeah, well, not the most nurturing people. About, oh, around the time your Bunny would have been in diapers there was..."  The Jackal seems to fight for the right word. "Some internal trouble. A lot of orphans resulted."<br/><br/>"Jes," Anya cut in. "Old Duke dead, new Duchess was little girl. Long regency." She made a face, sipped her drink. "State school is also boarding school."<br/><br/>"Well, last year, the Regent got herself accused of treason. Something about having married the Duchess to a rival claimant to the throne and attempting to assassinate the new King. The new Duchess was probably as pissed off about that as everyone else, since she'd been hoping to marry the King."<br/><br/>Anya's eyes went wide, then she uttered a few passionate words that sounded quite rude.<br/><br/>"Ah," Dale nodded. "And you suspect that the previous administration may not have scrupled to leverage their surplus population?"<br/><br/>"No, I mean the motherfuckers trafficked kids."