They question the butcher girl

"Let's talk to the girl manning the butcher shop," Kazex proposed, pointing at said girl. "She looks efficient and capable; if she saw anything, she should be able to tell us."

Following his eyes, Talanah looked at the girl, who looked to be haggling with a customer for several cuts of some animal - probably cow or a bull. "Well, it's as good a first option as any other," she commented with a nod. "Let's go."

Approaching the stall, snippets of the conversation between the girl and her customer reached their ears.

"- telling you, these rib cuts are sloppy! I'm not gonna give my coin to such shoddy work!" exclaimed the customer, a dark-haired woman which Kazex idly noted, had a particularly large ass, perfect for slapping. He immediately felt like slapping himself.

'This is not the time to focus on such things, fool!'

The girl, however, wasn't feeling charitable and she looked ready to start cussing at the hard to please customer in front of her. "And I am telling you - how you cut your meat in your home is not my business. My meat is treated the best way it can be handled in the capital, salted with new methods to keep it fresh for long periods of time and I sincerely hope you're not questioning how I'm supposed to do my own job," she told the woman with narrowed eyes.

The older woman looked scandalized. "Why, I'll be-! Is this how you talk to your elders, young lady?!"

"Are you going to buy something or not? I've got work to do and mouths to feed back home," the girl retorted acidly as she crossed her arms. Unfortunately, her disrespect proved too much for the older woman, who stormed away with a huff. Seeing her go, the auburn-haired girl couldn't help the slightly malicious smile that spread over her face.

"Yeah, you go, idiot. Let's see the look on your face when you realize I'm the only butcher this time. See what you say then," she muttered to herself before focusing on the approaching pair. "Well, slap me silly - the first time I see an elf and she's walking with a goblin side by side!" she exclaimed.

Kazex groaned. "We'll probably get that a lot," he mentioned to Talanah, who could only nod with a sigh.

"Sorry, sorry, you're just a strange pair," the butcher told them with an apologetic look. "You two must be the reason there was such a commotion a bit ago, then? Well, as long as you've got coin, I don't really care. The name's Letha, what can I do for you? What kind of meat were you looking for?"

"Ah, sorry - we're not here to buy, I'm afraid. Rather, we were hoping you could help us in finding a friend of ours. She told us she'd be around here today, but we haven't seen her yet and perhaps she's staying somewhere." Kazex explained, earning a perplexed look from Letha and a quick glance from Talanah.

"Why not go to the town guard for that? I'm not even from around these parts!"

"That's exactly the reason. As a merchant from the capital, you must've been here yesterday so maybe you saw our friend?" Kazex reasoned. Frowning, Letha considered the request and though she didn't look entirely convinced, she ultimately agreed.

"Eh... alright, but in exchange you're buyin' me something. I do need to bring some coin home, after all," she said, grabbing the large meat cleaver lying off to the side of the main table before starting to cut several pieces of meat from a larger one.

Though slightly wary of the knife on her hands, Kazex tried to give Letha the same level of courtesy she had shown them. After all, she hadn't freaked out when seeing him. Her request posed a problem, however - Helga didn't have much need for money, which is why she didn't have that much coin. He grabbed a handful, but who knows how much-

"That's no problem. Tell me, how long has it been hung?" Talanah asked as she threw a small pouch of money onto the counter. Kazex was surprised to see Letha's face break out into a huge smile.

"You know your stuff, master elf! Well, I won't lie - I wanted to let it hang for two weeks and half, but we got the meat way too late. I'd say, it's pushing the two weeks, but not quite," she explained, though to Kazex it might have been gnomish for all that he understood.

However, Talanah did seem to understand, nodding along to Letha's explanations, so he refrained from speaking. He was more shocked in the fact Talanah had just pulled that pouch of money out of nowhere.

"Give me some cuts from the rib and flank areas. That should cover the coin I just gave you and while you prepare them, you can answer our questions."

"Hells, I can do that," Letha cheerily replied as she set to work. "So, deal's a deal. What do you wanna know?"

"Well, you were here yesterday. Did you see a redhead woman around here? She has a very distinct appearance, somewhat tall, wearing a dress and kind of elegant."

"Oh, you mean the fancy lady? I remember that many of the folks came and went talking to her for a little bit!" she exclaimed.

"Excellent, you really remember her?" Kazex asked with a pleased look.

Letha laughed. "Of course, as if I could forget her! With those huge breasts on her chest, I remember thinking I'd love nothing more than to bury my head between them and never leave!" she declared with a grin before stopping abruptly when she realized who she was talking to. "Uhm, that is, what I meant is-" she stammered, blushing brightly.

"Don't worry, I think we all understood what you meant," Talanah replied with an unamused look. Kazex, on the other hand was trying very hard not to laugh, despite his own worry for Helga.

"Well, at least she remembers. We should be lucky Helga has such... remarkable features," he said with a slight grin, which quickly fell when the elf sent him a look. "Right, right, sorry about that. So Letha, did you see Helga?"

Clearly embarrassed, Letha gripped tighter her cleaver and kept her gaze down, solely focused on preparing the meat cuts without daring to look at them. "Well, yes - she stopped by my shop actually, which is why I, huh, remember her. She didn't buy anything, said she didn't need it, but she gave me a bit of conversation while others bought. She was nice," she explained.

"Yes, I'm sure her breasts looked very nice too," Talanah said with evident sarcasm but Letha merely gave her a slight shrug in response. It was obvious she wasn't particularly sorry for appreciating Helga's figure, but she wasn't willing to confront Talanah over it either, considering the elf was her friend.

"So, what then? Did you see where she went?" Kazex asked, trying to steer the conversation back to what truly mattered.

"Not really. I mean, most of the other capital shops are placed behind me, so I can't really keep an eye on people who go past mine. The Lady did say she was going to check on the shop with herbs and such further back - but I did see her going to Galiana's shop once she left my stall," Letha told them.

"Galiana's shop?"

"The weapons shop," the girl clarified, pointing at it. "Women can use arms as well as men, but your friend Helga looked way too fancy even for a dagger. I wonder why she'd be interested in weapons."

"Very well, thanks for the information. Put aside the meat, please, we'll come back to pick it up later. Let's go Kazex," Talanah ordered as she whirled around and left the stall with quick strides. However, the goblin didn't follow her immediately.

"Please, forgive my friend. She's blunt, but means well," he told Letha with a sympathetic look before giving her a conspiratorial grin. "Just so you know, I do agree that Helga's breasts are quite large."

To that, Letha could only snort in amusement. "Of course you would, you lecherous beast. Still, no apologies necessary, I've gotten my fair share of reprimands for acting like I do. Just - are you two... you know, fucking?" she asked with a raised eyebrow and it was Kazex's turn to look flabbergasted.

"What?! No, why?!"

"Oh, well... I wouldn't judge, you know. Some people have... particular tastes and I've heard of much more freaky things, anyway," Letha quickly assured him, laughing nervously. Kazex could only gave her a deadpan stare.

"I think I won't ask."

"Probably for the best, yes." Kazex was going to give the girl his farewells, but Talanah's sudden yell of impatience demanded his attention.

"Kazex, are you coming or what?!"

Glancing behind him, the green-skinned goblin could see Talanah standing in the middle of the street, arms crossed over her chest and a look of annoyance on her face. Looking back at the butcher girl, he gave her a nod before hurrying to reach the elf's position as Letha shouted to his retreating back that she'd keep the meat safe until they returned to pick it up.

"Done making friends?" she questioned with a frown once he moved to stand next to her.

"The girl is quite crass, yes, but there was no reason to be so obviously judgmental," Kazex told her with a shake of his head.

Talanah merely scowled. "You're telling me I should smile as she talks like that about a friend that, should I remind you, is currently missing?"

"Well... no," Kazex allowed with a wince. When she put it that way, it definitely didn't sound good. "However, nobody seems to think anything is amiss. I'd rather not create mass panic if they think something has happened to Helga."

"Yes, I didn't miss that lie back there - it was some good thinking on your part. Anyway, let's talk of our next destination. Weapons shop or the herbs shop in the back?" The frown on her face made obvious Talanah wasn't happy at all with Letha's attitude, but seeing as she was willing to drop the subject, Kazex refrained from saying more on the matter. However, she continued talking before he could give his opinion. "I think the herbs option is our best choice. We know Helga would need them and she probably went there after going to the weapon shop. We'd be saving time this way."

The elf's reasoning was sound, but Kazex still found himself being curious about said weapons shop and the imposing woman -Galiana, he remembered- manning the stall. True to Letha's words, Helga definitely didn't look like a woman that would use a weapon - that is, one that wasn't magical in nature. So if that was the case, why would she go to a stall that sold them in order to check it out?

"Well, there shouldn't be a problem if we want to inspect both of them. We're relatively close to each one."

Notes: I rolled for the merchant using rolz.org and got a 2, so butcher girl it is. I had about 95% of this written some days ago, but RL happened and I went to watch Infinity War and yeah, one thing after another... Anyway, I'm working for a writing contest in a forum I hang out and the deadline is May 21 so if there's no chapters before that day, don't be surprised.

I'll be rolling for the next shop as well.