Aery nodded and slipped her needle back into her purse. One of [i]those[/i] people. She'd not been around to see the Tesserans herself, having been born only after her uncle had taken over the nation, but she'd heard enough of the older people talking to know what the accent sounded like, before the Adarlanian language had mangled it beyond recognition. And she had no animosity towards them, despite her lineage.
She turned on her heel and walked into a darker alley. Mudden Alley, the sign on it said. There were a few houses on it, but all of them were old and practically falling apart. So she turned back to the beggar, who was no longer talking like a beggar, and handed her one of the bottles of fruit juice from her basket, and after another moment's consideration, a few of her personal allowance of coins. The king could spare them. So could she, for she rarely, if ever, spent money on cosmetics or jewelry as so many other girls her age did.
"So, what is it that you would like to discuss that demands such secrecy?" She discarded the city urchin voice for her normal one, an educated, polite tone, that had been acquired from years of being tutored in "how to act like a lady."