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Shun nodded graciously to the master, handing him a pouch with the retainer fee of 2,000 Jakatas, made up of his own remaining fees and part of Takera’s, inside before he bowed and stepped to his cart. He grabbed the horses by the reigns and lead them back to the location they had gotten for themselves. A heavy sigh escaped his lips once they had arrived with Takera and Averus. The male walked over to his traveling companions, specifically looking Averus in the eye. ”I am sorry that I tried to sell you off… but it was for our goal… if I had not pushed so hard we may have been able to garner information from him… and ally here in this market, but now I feel we have only made an enemy.”

Zarathos and Sha both wandered opposite sides of our soon to be built stand and laid down as a way to outline how far we could go and to keep people away, most would be relatively fearful of such large beasts. ”Let us get started… we need to start selling or I will be taking from both of your Jakatas to keep us going.” He withdrew the tarp from the cart and began to unload the crates of goods they had been carrying, storing them near the back of the location. He purposely separated the vials that Averus and Takera had filled, knowing one would not be toxic until he shifted back to his other form. Shun whistled and Zarathos sauntered over, laying beside them to watch over them. He wandered back over to the cart and began to assist Averus and Takera with unloading their building supplies. They had opted to go a rather simple setup as opposed to something elaborate; four poles in every corner securely set into the ground with tables set around three sides of the stall.

During their work to set up the stall, Shun had scribbled a message on part of a torn scroll, handing it off to Takera. It came to my attention that it would seem the people here do not like the Malazans, so if they are indeed in the city they must be in a place… not in the city. I remember there mention of a mine in the city somewhere… take a satchel of goods and Sha with you. Whistle for him when you are leaving. Shun resumed his duties as he laid out a rather elegant rug on the ground within their location, giving them a place to sit and rest if need be. He could feel himself getting rather tired, but the effects of hunger were starting to whittle him down. The male grabbed his pack and set it down on one of the tables, pulling out three wrapped sweet buns. He handed each one to Takera and Averus before taking his own and downed it in a few bites. ”Mmn.. delicious.”

He knew it wasn’t much, but it could saite him until he finished setting the supplies up. He setup three tall stands behind him and began to fill each one with fabrics of varying colors. On the left side of the stand varying dried meats from venison, beef and chicken hung on display with what was for sale wrapped underneath them to keep them relatively fresh with canteens of water set in rows between them. Located on the right side of the stand he had set the five crates up at an angle with two filled with small, inexpensive wooden toys, the other two with various bags of candy and the final one had bags of candied nuts. Shun wiped his brow before he brought over the crates containing their healing tonic and alcohol sold side by side, he specifically left the crates containing Averus’ chakra in the back of their shop.

Once everything seemed to be set in a way that would attract people of varying ages, he worked with Takera to write the signs for their items. He made an obvious note on the sign containing the tonic that if taken while drunk it would sober you up faster, allowing you to drink even more. It was in that moment that it hit him when he looked over to Averus and then Zarathos. He can talk… he is bandaged… perhaps maintaining this enemy was not as bad as I thought.. Shun whistled, beckoning Zarathos over from his sleeping location as he placed a hand onto Averus’ shoulders. ”You my friend will make us millions of Jakatas.” Shun grinned wildly without really thinking of the phrasing of his statement before he withdrew three stools from their cart and set them up behind the counters they created. Zarathos sat behind the counter as he was large enough to be seen with most of his upper body and head sticking out from above the counter. Shun led Averus over to one of the stools next to Zarathos, making him sit down before he grabbed a sign and began to scribble upon it. Zarathos, the ama~zing talking wolfhound! He set the sign up in front of their stall before he took a position in front of it.

The male took a deep breath as he looked up into the sky, noticing that it was getting later and they had barely just opened the shop. This is bad… hopefully the night market is as busy as during the day. Shun cleared his throat and began to speak, expelling a rather loud voice to the crowd. ”Come one, come all! Be amazed at the talking wolfhound, the ama~zing Zarathos!” He purposely emphasized the word ‘amazing’, grinning as he looked over to see the utter look of disgust and hatred coming from the beast. You… You will pay for this humiliation, Shun… I will end you. Zarathos growled for a moment before he looked out in the market. ”Greetings, travelers… I am Zarathos! Come take a look at our items and buy something! We have all sorts of goods!” He howled loudly, not entirely sure what to say or do… especially since he was being exploited in a way that was non-violent, something that he was not entirely used to.

As she made her way into the market place Nisha looked around the market, taking in the sights of the market as it had switched for work in the evening with the increase in lantern lights brightening the area, most of the stores didn't really catch her attention as she was ether too young to enter them, or didn't have anything interesting for her as she had already eaten and was full at the moment, however something did catch her eye, it was a huge building that seemed to stand out of the rest of the area, it was the Holy Citadel, Nisha smiled and made her way around the market to the Holy Citadel.

As Nisha made her way around the market place she would hear from some of the bars and eating places with outdoor area, people talking about the events that had been happening today, the capture of Leoman and the others who had been brought with him, she didn't catch any names about them but she said to herself that she should ask when she talks to someone, she had learned about Leoman from that group she had spoken too just after he had been brought before the Citadel, with that in mind she finally reach the area outside the Citadel and took a moment to look up at it, and then around at the stores near it.

Spotting a older gentleman who reminded her of her grandfather, had a cart that seemed to be filled with scroll and books, he seem to be packing up but due to his age was slow, Nisha made her way over them him, and stood near him so he would notice she was there, and as he looked over at the young girls wearing a robe style outfit, Nisha cocked her head. "Hello, I was wondering if I could look at yours books and scrolls, and would you like some help?". Nisha said as she stood there waiting for a reply.

Once the alarms started sounding in throughout the city, Shun noticed the other merchants that were rapidly packing up their items. Something is going on… Shun stood up and peeked his head out from his shop, noticing the mass chaos of guards running throughout the city. ”Averus! Take care of the merchandise, Zarathos to me!” Shun slipped out of the stall he had been selling from and dashed through the market, hoping he would run into Takera before he ended up reaching the city. It was only when he noticed a group of guards surrounding a female with their weapons drawn and ordered she be placed under arrest or die. ”Well.. This could be worse… Zarathos, go back to the shop and keep watch with Averus… I may be arrested.”

Shun rushed over to the group of guards and yelled rather loudly. ”Oy! Oy! There you are, you stupid girl! Please forgive my sister, she is not well! The alarms blaring scared her off and I could not find her until now! I have all of our proper documentation here with me, please allow this one indiscretion and I will reprimand her the moment we get home!” Shun eyed one of the guards with rather pleading eyes, hoping that they may decide to seek pity on her if they thought she was not doing well. He held onto the bag of Jakatas they made earlier today, he was not afraid to pass along more money in order to save his and hopefully her skin.

Zarathos raced back to their shop, growling and barking at Averus. ”Hide now! In the back!” Zarathos bit harshly onto Averus’ hand, forcefully dragging the boy into the back behind the stacked crates as he laid down and waited in hope they would not be bothered. That foolish boy… he had better not get himself killed... He growled lowly to himself, wishing he had stayed with Shun instead of deciding to abandon him.

Averus sat behind the boxes for a good long while, or at least that is how he felt it was. He kept turning his head to Zarathos for answers, but knew that he was not going to get anymore out of the dog than what he already knew. As far as he was concerned at the moment, he needed to do something, something that was not just hiding behind a large amount of boxes for whatever was going on in this city. Taking a moment to basically stand a little and stretch his legs, he was taking a quick look around the shop. With no signs of Shun at the moment, he gritted his teeth behind his bandage mask. Deciding he was going to have to do something that was not at all along the words that had been plaguing his mind since he had sat behind the boxes, ‘doing what he was basically told to do’, he turned to look at Zarathos one more time, before he slowly walked out from behind the boxes.

He knew he couldn’t just walk away however, his team would be more than likely mad at the fact that he left the shop unguarded. But, in his mind, if Shun did not return and Takera went off to find something of either interest or value, then the shop was going to go to waste either way, and he was not going to be the one to have to deal with the master merchant and his rather strange, lewd hobbies that seem to interfere with the man’s work, or even influence it. But, he was not going to leave the shop just yet. Walking over to the lock box that held the vials of potion that the group had brought, he knelt down to make sure it was secure with the metal lock he had placed.

It was just a combination lock, with a simple code that each of them knew after the box and lock were purchased. Making sure that no one was looking, he wrapped his hand around the metal and gave out a small amount of his miasma-laced chakra into it. Not infusing it like other jutsu or such, but enough to give it a mark that Takera and Shun would be able to recognize if that were to come near it. This way, they would be the ones who are most careful in handling it, and not some ragtag thief who would try to take what is not theirs.

Once he was done, he took a moment to look around, and then snuck his way toward the back of the cart and other empty crates they had stacked to take a good look around. Since they were close to the entrance of the city things would be a little harder, as that meant more people. But, he was counting on the fact that the alarms had sent most people to do what he had done, which was to hide. He had now seen this as the right chance to see if he can learn anything that might be going on around the city, as well as maybe eavesdrop any of the guards or soldiers that were more than likely prowling about the city for whatever reason.

The most obvious answer to a question he had in the back of his head was what was causing an alarm of this scale that made everyone in the area dart for safety? Clearly it had to be something that threatened the entire city as a whole, or perhaps it was something like a large scale fight or riot was happening at that very moment, and to make sure no one was going to get hurt in the cross-fire was to run and hide, less you were a guard or a rioter. If Averus was going to head out into the city, he needed to make sure he was going to have to stay very hidden from any who might have a curious eye, outside the guard. More than likely, the people of this city, if they were anything like the master merchant his group had to deal with, were most likely out for themselves. If they catch him out and about during this time of emergency, they would more than likely take the chance to yell out for a guard to come capture him, and hope for some kind of reward of some kind in return as well. Averus took a moment to breath a little, calm his nerves before he finalized the decision to leave the shop and begin to sneak around.

Looking around now for the closest wall he might be able to scale, he darted for the most obvious place he was going to have to hide in for him to continue with his adventure into the city, and that was to stick to whatever shadows were nearby. With any luck, he might be able to find the source for all this panic, or find an opportunity to use for a later moment in time. That is, of course, if he doesn’t get caught or killed. The next logical step for, if he was able to get into the shadows to hide, was to find a wall that he might be able to climb, and attempt to do so in order to gain the advantage of the rooftops. Of course, that was if there was no kind of archers or other enemies that might be up there.














[Word Count: 916 ]
[Total Words: 2337 ]