Aery didn't even hesitate. She took the dagger, lightly pressed it to her palm. It cut her skin without her even pushing. With the bloody hand, she gripped the hilt of the dagger, letting her blood soak into the leather and mark the knife as unmistakeably hers. "You've been better to me than any of the royals have. And you treat my friends like people, not like trash. Besides, my talents would be wasted, drinking tea with the ladies and flirting with the gentleman and tatting lace all day."
She readjusted the backpack, slightly jostling Ame. With the hand not clutching the dagger she grabbed Silly's hand. "Will you come with me to see the other urchins to safety? Actually, better question: does the offer still stand for them? If not, I've got some contacts out in the country who could use some extra hands on the farm, and then they'd be out of harms way until we get the killers. But they want to help, and..." She hesitated. She wanted no more bloodshed for the urchins, but... "I think we should let them. They always resolve their own fights, even with the nobles. Remember my lord of Bellhaven?" He'd gone insane after all of his household had been found in the street with their throats cut. The murderers? The friends of a teenage street girl whom the lord had brought into his household as a mistress. She turned down one of the side alleys to head for the park, confident that Celaena would be following her. But then she froze, still in the shadows, as she heard a terribly close shout of "I will pay 500 gold coins to whoever kills the assassins!" which meant that, probably, whoever was against the group of them was right in that alley. She pushed the girls into a broken-down doorway, heard a hissed code-word repeated twice, and knew instantly that they'd be safe, as that was one of the other urchin camps she attended to. She beckoned Celaena over. "He really made it that easy?" she whispered, the sound not carrying further than Celaena's ears. "He's right in here; I'll circle around to the other side. We'll corner him, and make him pay for what he's done." That said, she sprinted off, down two streets, back a block, cutting up two streets. She recognized the door and broken windows and knew this was the right alley, which meant that the man would be trapped between her blades and Celaena's, when the moment came.