Chapter Seven

  Part Four

  A new day washed over the city of Yor, and after completing her usual morning routine, Line had begun to make her way north to the northern point of Merchants Street. Fresh morning dew covered the just awakening flowers, and the streets shone from the rain fall that had just passed. The air was clean and crisp, bringing with it a sense of clarity. She should walk the streets this early in the morning more often, especially since there were less people at this time.

  As she walked, she passed by people setting up their stalls for the day. Some with odd trinkets and jewellery, others with fresh food and perfumes. But she was looking for a particular stall. She didn’t know the exact location, so she had to walk the length of the northern Merchants Street. But then she spotted someone.

  Ali was currently at a just set up stall, buying a smattering of baked goods. When Ali had moved away from the stall, Line slowly made her way to Ali who was quietly giggling to herself.

  “Ali?”

  Ali jumped and spun. She immediately softened when she saw who had called her “Line. Here eat this”

  Line looked down at the freshly wrapped baked good that had been shoved into her hands.

  “please don’t tell me your fasting again?” Ali moaned.

  “No. I’ll eat it”

  Ali beamed and watched as Line took a bite “what are you doing in the city so early Line?”

  “I’ve finished talking to the victims’ families”

  “so have I. Do you think Arasha will come here today?”

  “she might. But for now, let’s see what we can find”

  Ali linked an arm with hers “you know, it’s been a while since it was just the two of us. I kind of miss it, but at the same time, I like that we’ve made some friends now”

  “So do I”

  “I bet you do”

  Line frowned “what’s that supposed to mean?”

  Ali smiled “...nothing”

  Line pushed that aside and instead said “I’m looking for a dairy stall. Someone there might have a little more information for us”

  “oh. I’m looking for a bakery”

  “So that’s why you have pastries from so many different shops”

  “here, eat more”

  “Ali, you do know that you don’t need to buy something from every single bakery stall, right?”

  “but I felt bad for not buying anything”

  “So at least just buy one thing, why did you get so much”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “...because, it looked tasty”

  “...Ali...”

  “No. Don’t ‘Ali’ me. Not with that tone”

  Line sighed “fine. Let’s continue”

  “Wait. You not going to argue with me, are you?”

  “No”

  “then why do you sound so annoyed right now?”

  “I’m not annoyed. I’m perplexed”

  “Hyde says that too”

  “...”

  “Line? Do you think I'm too annoying?”

  Line softened “no, no I don’t. I think your quiet endearing sometimes”

  Ali beamed “endearing? Really?”

  “I said sometimes”

  “oh”

  They walked in silence for a short time before Line spoke up again “Ali? Has any of the bakery’s told you any important information yet”

  “well I always ask them if they saw anything suspicious on the particular night that those people disappeared on. But it’s pretty useless, since most of the bakery’s say that they’ve generally already packed up by then. They said that they only stay out past nightfall when there’s a festival of some kind happening here”

  “Alright, then let’s hope that the dairy stall has more to say”

  “I’m sorry Line, but why would a dairy stall know more?”

  “Because, the most recent missing person was last seen in the afternoon, not night. She was even supposed to buy something from the dairy stall that afternoon too, so maybe we can find something there”

  “Alright then. Should I now also be looking into dairy stalls?”

  “No. We should still follow up on your lead too, so keep checking”

  Before they continued further, Line stopped them both “Ali, I have something for you”

  Ali smiled “what is it?”

  “remember a while ago, you got me my arm band? Well I made you something as thanks” Line pulled the same pink pouch from her pocket and handed it over to Ali.

  Ali beamed as she removed a small carved wooden statue of a chicken from within the pouch “you made this?”

  “I did. I learned wood carving just for this. It took a while, and might be a bit rough in places”

  “Line! How could you say that, its perfect!”

  Line smiled “I’m glad you like it”

  Ali gave Line an overly tight hug “...Line?”

  “Yes?”

  “...can I borrow some money?”

  Taken aback by this question after such a sweet moment, Line just asked “how have you already spent your monthly allowance?”

  Ali winced “as you can see, I’ve spent the last bit of it on pastries”

  “fine. Here” Line handed her some gold coins.

  “Thank you. Also here” Ali loaded off some more baked goods “eat them for me” she then ran ahead to another baker’s stall giggling to herself.

  Line sighed, and continued walking ahead.

  “you shouldn’t have given her any money”

  Line turned to see Arasha walking towards her “Arasha, good timing. Here eat this”

  Arasha raised an eyebrow “Now even you are passing off what you don’t want”

  “just help me out, would you?”

  “I’ll take this as paying you back for helping me in the first place”

  “so kind”

  Arasha just sighed and bit into her baked good.

  “what lead are you following?”

  “I don’t have one in particular, just that all of the missing people disappeared around here”

  “I thought that since Merchants Street is connected to The Back Flow, we might have an even bigger problem on our hands than we first thought”

  ”that thought came to me too. But right now, all we can do is take this case as far as we go”

  “Arasha, we might not be able to end this in the time given”

  “We have no choice”

  If only Vax’dian was here, he might have been able to persuade the king to give them extra time.

  The pair followed Ali around a wide corner, where sat a just done up dairy stall.

  “Arasha, hold these” Line gave her all the fresh pastries and bread Ali had gave her “this is why I’m here”

  Arasha gave her a nod, and stood back to watch Line walk towards the dairy stall.