Baltasar, reassured by both Ash Girl and Seven's recommendations, nodded, and asked one of the orphans to lead them to the bazaar to point out the tent's location.

[b][u]Sargon - Hisn-ul-Zahra City Plate - Bazaar - Early afternoon[/u][/b]

At the market, there was definitely a spot, now vacated, between two other stalls: a dried fruits merchant and a textiles merchant. The space was narrow and kept open due to it being a utility access point, meaning that setting up a stall in this in-between spot was illegal, even with a vendor's permit. Baltasar went up to the fruit merchant, a portly middle-aged, male perro, and asked, [color=0054a6]"Was there a tent in this spot earlier today?"[/color]

[color=fff200]"Oh, you poor boy, you missed it! At first, I didn't like them setting up shop so close, but they paid me for the trouble, so I let them carry on with whatever they were doing. As it turns out, they were just giving away dinars, which ended up bringing a lot of foot traffic once the word spread, so it actually helped my business!"[/color] The man explained jovially, clearly overjoyed at the profits he had made that morning.

[color=0054a6]"What kind of people were they? Do you know where they went?"[/color] Baltasar pushed on.

[color=fff200]"Oh, I don't know, foreigners...? They packed up pretty quickly all of a sudden. I didn't stick my nose into it. It seems like a terrible business model, if you ask me,"[/color] The fruit merchant replied, then shouted across to the neighboring textile merchant, [color=fff200]"Hey, Samer! You know where that tent went? You know where they're from?"[/color] The perro turned back to Baltasar and whispered, [color=fff200]"Samer's a lot nosier than I am."[/color]

It was the hottest time of the day, so it was understandable that business would be slow. During such times, merchants usually took a break. Those that stayed at their stalls tended to shoot the breeze like this. [color=f7941d]"Don't know where they went."[/color] Samer the textile merchant replied, [color=f7941d]"You know they're not supposed to open a stall here, right? Gets in the way of emergency services. I tried to tell them, but they just kept trying to pay me to get me to shut up, the nerve!"[/color]

[color=fff200]"Did you take the money?"[/color]

[color=f7941d]"Of course I did! As for where they're from, they wouldn't tell me that either. But I can tell you they spoke better Victorian than anyone here, so my guess would be they're Victorians."[/color]

The perro turned back to Baltasar, [color=fff200]"Well, either way, if they're from out-of-town, they couldn't get into the city without going through customs. Or out of the city, for that matter."[/color]

Baltasar weighed his options, [color=0054a6]"I could go to the city watch and file a missing child case, but those usually take a while, so I've heard. I'm just really worried and for some reason, I don't want to waste any time. I really want to go to the main gate and see if there are any groups of Victorians trying to leave, but there's always a line and they're not going to let me just walk up to the front and hold up the port. They're also not going to just tell me what foreign groups are moving in and out of the city if it's not my business."[/color]