Why? James wondered. Some people seemed to actually want to help people. Like Mr. Meijer. Although he also made him go to school, so that wasn't really helping. But some people pretended to help but didn't actually want to and Noah told him to stay away from strangers who seemed nice for no reason.

He could always run away and the man would harm Ruth's kids instead.

"Uhm... I think it was Rose... but I went to the bakery and there was nobody there."

What little information the boy provided was, unfortunately, of little help to Malachi.

"Rose... alright," that was a start at least. Someone named Rose at a bakery, where the sister could potentially be found, but there was no one there when the boy checked.

"Is there anywhere else your sister would be, or should we check the bakery again?"

He would be happy enough to follow the kids around until they found someone.

"Uhm..." He didn't know Ruth that well. She had hardly been home over the past two years. Where did he normally look for his relatives? "She might be in t' pub." He might find his parents there if he didn't find Ruth and maybe they could take the kids. "I don't know which one though. I normally try several. None of us is welcome at the White Horse Inn no more.. and at the one with the swan over the door... so it can't be those. And me mum and dad are not welcome in several others, but I don't think Ruth's been banned from any others."

How old even was this child? For that matter, how old was his sister?

Malachi looked back to the children in the cart, and then nodded.

"Lead the way to one of the ones she is not banned from, then."

Why did the priest want to come? Was he one of the creeps Noah had warned him of? Were priests even allowed in a pub? "Ok..." he said, he ran forward and grabbed the handle of the cart, and started pulling, to put distance between himself and the priest as quickly as possible. The baby girl had stopped crying and was now smiling up at Malachi and pulling faces, trying to get him to interact.

"Are priests allowed to go to the pub?" James asked while he walked.

Malachi didn't seem to notice the boy's urgency in getting farther away from him -- or if he did, he didn't seem to care. As soon as the poor thing ran about and started pulling the cart, he moved to walk alongside it.

At least the youngest one had stopped crying. Taking notice of her little attempts to engage him, Malachi returned her smile and raised a hand to wave at her. Children usually took to him quicker than adults, but given his record with the people of Whitby thus far, he was not counting on even that.

Many of his past parishioners had even trusted him to watch over their children after school most days. He was starting to think that some of his current parish would sooner denounce their faith.

"Sure," he answered. "A priest can go wherever he needs to, if he's doing something important. Why isn't your sister allowed in most of them?"

The baby girl beamed wide upon seeing the response and raised her hand. She watched it with concentration while she moved it back and forth in an attempt to imitate the gesture.

"They don't like our lot," James copied his father's words. "I don't think Ruth is banned from many... only the ones she got into a fight in. And when she's gone whorin'."

Upon seeing the little girl's reaction, Malachi's smile softened. He raised his other hand to wave both of them at her, slow in their wavering movement.

"When she's--"

Had that child just said whorin'? About his own sister? Malachi's eyebrows lifted suddenly at that.

"...I see," was what he settled for. "Who all is in your 'lot?' You don't seem that bad to me."

The baby raised both her hands and shook them. The little boy grinned and raised his hand, showing his little sister how it was done.

"Uhm.. Me mam and dad and me siblings... People don't like us because we're Longbottoms." James stated. "They all think they're better than us, so they wanna put us in prison and beat us up. But we don't care, because we're cleverer than them, and we've got family and we got each other's backs."

James and the two kids he was tugging along were probably the only Longbottom children who hadn't yet worked out that that was only true in one direction.

Longbottoms. Alright, at least he had a name to put to all of them. However many there were.

Malachi was not even sure what part of the child's answer to respond to, because there wasn't a bit of it that wasn't concerning. If they were all family and had each other's backs, why was this boy always out and about on his own? Why was he toting around a niece and nephew when he was hardly even old enough to take care of himself?

"I'm sorry to hear that," he gave, with a glance at the boy. "I think it's good to take care of your own, like you're doing with your sister's children here."

He looked back to the younger boy and the girl in his arms, and offered them both another tiny smile, though his question was directed at the oldest of the children.

"Does she leave them with you often?"