Headcanon: Penelope's Street Knowledge
We know that nobility during the Regency and Victorian era often did charity, such as providing food and clothes for the poor, and generally as an act of benevolence and their "noble duty". We know that this is a thing in the Eorka Empire with Winter. Thus, the illustrious and noble Eckhart family must also do such things from time to time, right?
Originally, they don't bring Penelope because of her horrid personality, thinking that she'd throw a tantrum. However, on one occasion, they begrudgingly bring her. Turns out, she is a great help.
The street children are wary of nobility and for good reason. They've developed a system of code words and hand signals that every child on the streets is intimately familiar with. Only those from the lowest of the commoners have knowledge of them; not even Winter, a noble known for his genteel kindness towards the ill-fated, knows.
In the past when the Eckhart men walk the streets and provide food, not many come, with a handful of the braver and older ones stealing closer. However, with Penelope, things are a lot different. She twists her fingers in a set of gestures, which to them, looks like it's from nerves. However, she's signing something different entirely.
At the same time, she whistles a short tune, which all street children pass on to each other. A series of childish voices whistle back, completing the melody.
Before any of the Eckharts can ask what she's doing, children start flooding out of the dilapidated houses, from alleyways, from broken-down gardens.
Their hunger-starved faces and fearful caution make the Eckhart brothers realize "oh, this was Penelope's reality before she came to the duchy." However, none of the children go near the men, opting to huddle around Penelope, hands clutching at her skirts. They look at her with hope. One of the children taps a short code on Penelope's wrist.
And though she hesitates, she knows that the children of the street will recognize the body language and the attitudes of the Eckharts towards her. So she signs, "Green for you. Yellow for me. Shopped. Replacement child."
Several tiny faces turn dark with bitter anger.
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