Jade listened closely as the thief outlined his discoveries for her. His observations were mostly what she'd known already, although she was mildly surprised to hear that the Eltevian assassin knew his way around Valencia. Jade had lived in the city-state her whole life, and even she would get lost if she wandered randomly through the market district or poor sector. Valencia certainly wasn't a small place-Jade knew of people who'd gone their whole lives without stepping foot in the poor sector, and there were probably many more who hadn't ever had the chance to visit the wealthier section of the island. Either the man was just really good with directions, or he wasn't new to the island. Jade strongly suspected that it was the latter.

The list of people was a pleasant surprise. Jade gratefully accepted it, scanning through the six names. "Thank you. How did you know who they were?" Jade questioned with a raised eyebrow. "These are mostly all people who avoid the poor sector like it's the plague," she said rather bluntly, not bothering to sugar coat her words. Jade didn't think that the thief would take offense to it anyway. He seemed more logical than the drunken hotheads Jade had encountered many times in the past. "Nathaniel Sills would rather have his eyes gouged out than be within a ten-foot distance of the slums. He said that verbatim one time," Jade went on dryly. Sills was in the jewels business, which was probably why he harbored such a fierce hatred of the poor. The Guild was known to be especially fond of jewels. "Eric Peytin, well, he's a scribe and lawmaker who inherited a lot of money. I don't think he's been to the market district once in his life. Hell, he rarely steps foot outside his house." Jade read the rest of the list-Desdemona Heath, Ebeneezer Oliver, Minerva Ygitt, Cecilia Cryll. All wealthy, powerful merchants, artisans, and scholars, save for Ebeneezer and Cecilia, who were former merchants and known smugglers that had disappeared off the face of the earth after the League had started investigating their illicit goods. Jade noticed that all of them had been denied Council positions at least once, which made her frown worriedly. That was certainly interesting.

When the thief produced a coinpurse and offered Jade payment for a contract, Jade was taken aback by his proposal. She wasn't treating the whole situation with the Eltevian assassin like a job; she was treating it as more of something that needed to be done if the League was going to survive. If word got out that assassins were being killed, well, the Council would throw a fit. If the Council threw a big enough fit, then the League's position could be seriously compromised. 

But then Jade realized it was her own coinpurse. Her hand instinctively went down to where she usually kept it, only to grasp empty air. She narrowed her eyes and studied the thief for a moment before shaking her head slightly and accepting her own money back. "Well, that teaches me to never keep my money unattended around here," Jade said wryly, although she was a bit troubled because she'd never noticed him taking her coinpurse in the first place. "And if it wasn't clear, I'm not going to treat this as a job. More of something that needs to be done," she told him sincerely.

Jade hesitated, and spoke up again. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" Jade inquired, figuring that knowing the thief's name would make communicating easier. She paused for another second. "You probably know who I am," she admitted. Being as young as she was and already third-in-command of the League was rare on Valencia. The only other person who'd ever accomplished anything like that was Syra.