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saw.
                    But she couldn’t take this child with her, or all these other children, she knew.  For one thing, this was the child’s family, her home, all she’d ever known, and for another, Gwenneth could hardly offer her a safe and stable life.
                    She could hear Rhonwen’s voice echoing through her head again. You can’t save the world.
                    “I can’t stay for long, so I want you to tell me everything that’s been happening with each one of you,” she said as she sat down and began handing out pastries to the children. 
                    She pulled out a packet of hand wipes from her purse. “Wipe your hands and faces first,” she said to them.
                    The little girl made a face. “You and your hand-washing,” she complained, but she pulled a hand wipe out of the packet and handed the packet to the next child. She scrubbed at her hands and face, grimacing as she did so.
                    Rhonwen had made these children wash their hands?
                    She sighed, sitting down on a concrete block. A little boy wearing ragged shorts crawled into her lap, chewing on one of the pastries she’d bought.  He held out his arm, showing off a scar. “See, all better now!” he said to her happily.  This must be Hiro.
                    “Tell me all about what you’ve been up to,” she prompted them again.  They all started talking at once, and by listening carefully, she managed to get all their names.  The girl who’d brought her there was Tana. 
                  The one who seemed to be in charge of them was a boy named Pern who appeared to be about 13 or 14.  He was barefoot, and a rope served as a belt holding up the shorts which hung off his thin frame.
                    “So you’ve been getting the money that I send every month?” she asked.  Where is Rhonwen sending that money from? And why?
                    “Yes, the guild leader delivers it to us.  It’s still Farruki. He’s never late,” Tana said, nodding.
                    Of course. The local guild leader have his filthy fingers in all shantytown business. 
                    “There he is.” Hiro pointed. A skinny jaguar shifter in his thirties was strolling towards them.  His glossy black hair was slicked back, and a pencil thin mustache curved along his top lip.  He wore a nicely tailored blue linen suit, paired ridiculously with flashy orange sneakers.  A couple of big, hulking thugs trailed behind him, draped in gold chain necklaces.
                    “Excuse me a second,” Gwenneth said. She set the little boy down and walked over to where Farruki and his men were standing.
                    “Hello, gorgeous.  Miss me?” He smirked at her.
                    “Like a bad rash.” She smiled back without warmth, and his smirk twisted into a scowl. “Hello, Farruki. I see you’ve been helping yourself to quite a large portion of my monthly gifts.” Here he was, decked head to toe in nice new clothes, and half the kids didn’t even have shoes.  He probably left them barely enough money to eat.  That was why they still had to steal.
                    He shrugged. “As per our agreement.”
                    “No, you’re taking more than we agreed.” It was a guess, but from the angry, defensive look on his face, she knew it was an accurate guess.
                    “You challenging me?” He puffed himself up and black hair rippled on his face.  His claws extended, and he pretended to examine them closely.  His thugs let out growls that she supposed were meant to be menacing.
                    She smiled. There were aspects of her old life that she’d hated – but this wasn’t