The Central Bazaar

Roy shuddered. He liked cats, but not overly large ones. Anything with the ability to eat him worried him, and he tried to avoid such creatures. Uncle Roarin wasn't scared of them, but he wasn't scared of anything, so that didn't count. Laisha's teasing didn't help one bit.

"Well...if you say so. I still think I'd rather not see one, though...What's that about a storyteller? There's stories at the Bejeweled Gardens? That sounds kind of neat. Maybe I'll go see that after all this spice business is sorted out."

He sighed. These spices seemed like more trouble than they were worth. Hopefully Uncle Renalt liked them.

Orani walked down the bazaar streets, notes in hand and massive pack on her back. She seemed to be looking for something but, being from another country, was lost and confused. She tried to get the attention of the larger folk but most ignored her, causing her to sigh in frustration and meander onwards to the next unknown destination. She had heard this was the magic capital of the world- if anyone could help her, it was this place. Orani had come all this way, she refused to let herself give up.

Orani looked up to him and smiled, nodding as she did so.

"You could say that. I'm trying to find someone who could help me with something magic-based. Or at least someone who knows a thing or two about dryads. Would you be able to direct me in the general direction?"

She smiled.

"Oh, thank you, I appreciate it!" Orani said as she followed close behind. Despite the size difference she was pretty good about keeping pace with him.

Grandma moved slowly through the bazaar, shuffling forward at a tottering pace. From the looks of it, the old woman was held up by nothing more than pure will power and a plain wooden walking stick. To the onlookers, Grandma appeared to be a beggar of Sakandi descent, skin dark from many a day out in the blazing Sakandi sun. Her usual commanding presence was gone, replaced with the presence of one who simply wanted to survive until their next meal.

Grandma had been quite careful to lose any Sakandi trails that Fairuz might have placed on her, before taking on this form. Suffice it to say, she was satisfied none would recognize her nor had anyone been tipped off that she had taken on this appearance in the first place. Her reason for coming to the bazaar was simple, to locate a test subject. She needed someone of the middle class, one who wouldn’t be noticed missing, but would possess knowledge of Sakand and preferably it’s magic.

The Bazaar offered her the perfect opportunity to find just such a person. It was filled to the brim with merchants selling off their wares, and busy enough that it was unlikely for someone to notice when she abducted her target. For the moment, Grandma simply wandered the streets, eyes searching for someone of the merchant class. While her eyes searched for the appearance of a merchant, her mind searched the presence of a mage. It didn’t matter that the magic used here was different, all magic left some type of signature that Grandma could use to locate a mage.

The girl drew Grandma’s attention. Although she could capture the various men who were around without much trouble, a younger girl would suit her purposes much better. The girl appeared to fit all her criteria. She was someone of wealth and therefore most likely educated to at least a reasonable degree. More importantly, Grandma could sense that the girl possessed magical talents. Yes, this would be her target. Even if this girl didn’t work out, Grandma could simply go capture another one on a different day.

Approaching the girl at a tottering pace, Grandma stopped when she was about seven feet away from the girl and simply watched her as she made the necklace. Grandma wore an expression of interest as she watched the girl at her work, leaning heavily on her plain wooden walking staff as she did so. Letting out a cough after a few moments passed, she addressed the girl in a voice that sounded about as parched and dry as the Sakandi desert itself.

“How much would it cost to buy a necklace like that from you?”

It was a rather bizarre question coming from an apparent beggar, but Grandma simply wanted to get the girls attention. All she needed to do was make sure no one around them was paying too much attention before she could make her move. Grandma had already gathered magic while casting a spell to conceal the fact she was holding magic in the first place, although she had doubts a girl such as this one could even properly sense such things in the first place. Still, it never hurt to be overly cautious.

“Are you sure about that, girl? Surely you’ve been taught not to judge people based on their looks alone.”

The jingle of coins came from the side of the beggar's robe as a wrinkled hand plunged into the pocket. After searching about for a second, it retrieved a blackish colored coin pouch, one that was obviously full of coins. Moving forward, she extended her arm out, coin pouch in hand. It was clear she intended for the girl to take the coin pouch from her.

“So, I’ll ask again, how much is that necklace?”

As soon as Laisha’s hand reached out and took the bag of coins from Grandma, she would find the old woman’s hand clutching her wrist with a vice like grip. A faint smile appeared on the old woman's face as her hand wrapped around the young girl's wrist, the beggar’s face had a predatory look about it.

“I’m afraid my interest is actually with you, not the necklace.”

Without waiting for a response to this, a gust of wind would swirl around the two of them, blowing up a cloud of dust to obscure the two figures for a moment. It must have been a powerful gust, for it left gouges in the hard packed dirt floor. The gust of wind was gone in seconds, the dirt falling back down to the ground below, but there was no sign of either Grandma or Laishi.

Laisha would most likely be feeling a bit dizzy and disoriented, but even in such a state, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to tell she was no longer at the Bazaar. She had been transported somewhere else.

@felina

The young women, one a lovely Sakandi girl wrapped in nonchalant high fashion and the other in a rag of the past and draped with a Sakandi shawl, stepped into one of the clean alleyways of the bazaar from a door that was no longer there. Instead, it was simply a wall, with one oddly placed tile at its center.

"Here, wear this," Hasna said, and gave Felina a cuff to wear as she out on her own. It was pretty, if plain. "It marks you as Sabina Taliph, which you're not yet, but will be. Maybe." She paused, looked at Felina, then grabbed her hand and brought her forward, toward the people and color of the bazaar.

"The Mistress said that you're a broken dove," Hasna said as they walked. Quite a few people stopped to look at Felina, drawn to her golden hair. "That act is cute once, but the men will quickly get bored of it. What other tricks do you know?"