“What in Infernum’s name do you mean you lost her? She was right next to you, how could you not know where she went?”

“Father, this is not my fault, you know how she is. Don’t worry, I’m sure she’ll turn up, let’s just get back to the market and wait for her there.”

After a brief pause, an older man with greying hairs nodded to a taller, lanky teen wearing the finer clothes of a successful farmer and merchant in the golden cradle, as they both turned to retrace their steps back to the Grand Bazaar at the city center.

“Where do you think she could have run off to anyways?” Began the teen, his sharp black eyes peering about for their quarry. “I mean, she was right next to me, how does she always manage to run off like this?”

The older man turned his head slightly to face the teen, also scanning about for the missing girl and responded. “She takes after your mother, Marcus, she was always quite the explorer.” At this the man's coal eyes turned distant, as if looking at something just behind where he should, before finishing his thought with an audible sigh. “Mary would have known what to do with her, honestly, I try my hardest with the girl, but she never really seems to listen.”

With that, the two then continued down the winding streets of Tal'Amin in a conformable silence, the teen known as Marcus having nothing to add to the older man's words, and choosing to simply focus on searching for his trouble-prone sibling. Finding her wouldn't take long.

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Just as the two men walked back into the hustle and bustle of the main market center, a ruckus could be heard over the natural din as a crowd had gathered around one of the booths.

“I'll bet you a silver that that's her in there.” Spoke up Marcus with a look of practiced humor on his face, as if though this was a common occurrence, yet he still found it amusing nonetheless.

The older man's curt response of “You’d win.” was much less amused than the younger next to him as they both sped up into a steady jog toward the commotion. It took a few moments, but they managed to make it to the crowd and had begun pushing through, only for the crowd to part on its own, cheering as they parted to reveal a younger girl with platinum blonde hair being dragged along by a city guard in full plate, a red faced merchant standing nearby and looking all forms of smug, clutching an ornate platter to his chest as if it were his child.

“Pardon me sir, but would you mind telling me what just happened here?” Spoke up the senior, him and his son both stepping up to the guard as the crowd began to slowly disperse.

It was the merchant who spoke, a large man who was surely accustomed to large meals, clearly never having done a day of hard labour a day in his life. “You want to know what happened? I’ll tell you what happened! This thief attempted to make off with one of my platters!” He shouted, gesturing to the girl still in the guards arms, struggling to break free.

“That's a lie and you know it!” She retorted, “I was just coming through when someone shoved me into into your booth!” Both the merchant and the younger girl were red in the face and staring daggers at this point, both no doubt just about ready to go to blows when the guard finally spoke up.

“Be that as it may, young miss, but you were caught with the platter in your arms, and it is nothing but your word against the merchants. I’m afraid i’m going to have to ask you the follow me to the local precinct to get this all sorted out,” he then turned towards Marcus and his father before continuing on “and i’m afraid i’ll also be asking you two gentlemen to leave. This is none of your business.” He finished with sharp tone, no doubt ready and willing to use force to get them to leave if necessary.

“I’m afraid this is our business,” began the senior of the two, his face clearly betraying his mounting exasperation at recent events. “You see, this happens to be my daughter, Avina.”