Swamped

"I'm curious. Do siblings usually want to be adopted together?"

"That has a lot to do with their upbringing, as you'd expect." Hmm. No obvious reaction. She does adjust her glasses slightly, though, which might be something. "If they're old enough, and were raised together in a supportive household, then yes, they usually do maintain a bond of family and want to stay together. Not to mention that it's hardly uncommon for orphaned children who aren't blood relatives to grow that close."

"And what do the orphanages do to keep them together?"

"I asked about that myself. There isn't a formal system for it, but what they do makes it very difficult for separate adoptions if the children are unwilling. Every prospective parent has to commit to providing a month of foster care, and check in with the orphanage every week. They talk to the child during those check-ins, so they can usually see if anything's going wrong." She looks down for just a moment as she says that. Perhaps thinking of a time something went wrong? "So if either sibling has separation anxiety, that will usually become clear in that time. And the adoption is only approved if the foster care went well."

"Well, I suppose that would be a bit of a relief if I did consider it. I wouldn't have to commit to raising a child, just see how I did with a month of it." You decide to make things slightly more personal. "How has adoption worked out for you?"

"For myself? It could have been better. But I think it's been good for my new children."

Interesting.

"Sorry, are you adopted yourself?"

"I was, and to be clear, I don't hold anything against my parents. They did what they could. But Kandria is a terrible place to raise children. I'm glad I got out of there."

So even if she is related to those other two, she might not know it. This seems like a good spot to drop a name... but if she knows Kandrian, she'll know what it actually means. Best to pass it off as a mispronunciation.

In which case, it would be good to pick a name you know is a real one, and mess it up slightly to be a word. Preferably a word that the informant will know is one you meant to say...

Ah. You have just the word.

"Did you ever hear about a fellow called Igluff when you were in Kandria?" you ask.

"Igloff," she corrects you. "Igluff means "deliberate". Not very practiced with the language, are you?"

"I make the occasional mistake."

That's odd, though. She identified Igloff's name, but had no reaction to it. Given what he was famous for, you find that a bit surprising.