Welcome to Kershin Market

The group stood at the center of the road, taking in the sight of their destination. Plenty of shops as far as the eye can see, no such thing as quiet with the number of people and noises around. It was quite crowded, hundreds of voices shouting or chatting or advertising their products. The number of fruit stands grabbed Reta's attention as she turned to Janette.

"You've got competition."

She sneered. "Those guys? They're selling my product." This grabbed everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" Felix asked.

"They're my loyal customers so to speak. Each month I store several crates of fruit and they come in with their wagons to carry the goods and purchase it. Why do you think my parents made such a handsome living? Speaking of handsome." Her head followed a young looking man walking by shirtless, revealing a well toned body with appealing muscle tone. This received a chuckle from Reta and a tail slap to the cheek from Syri. "Hey haha."

"Cute." Felix looked around, noticing KuliKuli hug his arm tight. "Nervous?"

She shook her head. "Lot's 'n lot's of hoo-mans here. I'm scared they might see."

"Just stick with me, you'll be fine. Keep your paws and tails tucked away and no one will notice."

"I knooow, but these clothes are so baggy." She whined, flapping her sleeves around.

"Tough. You chose not to..." Reta started before lowering her tone. "You chose to stick to that form unlike mother and sister so deal with it. You can join them if you'd like, beats listening to you sigh and pout all night." She smirked as KuliKuli stuck her tongue out in return, with Felix caught in the middle like an awkward sandwich.

"Down, you two. You can bicker later, we got other things to do. Jay, you think it's alright to ask those people first about the horse?"

"Well duh, that was the plan." She said as she walked over to a wooden post beside the nearest shop. The workers had their hands busy dealing with customers, so this made it easier for her. Snapping her fingers twice, Emyri looked up and took the signal, leaping from KuliKuli's shoulder and climbing up hers, making her flinch. "You two need a trim, those things are sharp. You remember what to do yes?"

Both cats meowed. "Good, up you go. Stay safe." Taking note, Emyri leaped up the wooden post and climbed to the top of the shop, before being lost from their sight. As Janette approached the other side of the road, Syri gave her cheek one more lick before climbing up a nearby tree and reaching the roof-like cloths draped over her shop. Not as sturdy as normal ceilings, but it will have to work.

"Great. I'll ask them for horses. Felix, you and Reta take the horse and look for its owner. KuliKuli stays with me. Don't mess this up."

With a brief nod, each of them went to work, with Felix and Reta moving forward and Janette and KuliKuli staying behind. The Nekomata tugged at her sleeve before looking up. "So how many hoo-mans do you know here?"

"Not sure, they kind of run a monopoly of their own."

"But you said you give them all the fruit?"

"Not all, we each grow different products. Some have bananas, others have watermelons, my apples just happen to sell the most so I have the bigger hand."

"Oh." She said, squinting and taking a closer look at her. "Your hands are kinda small, so they must have super tiny hands huh?" She smiled, leaving Janette to stare before understanding what she meant.

"I'll explain later, just follow me and let me talk okay? You stay quiet and let me know if you grab a scent or not."

"Okay!"

---

"See, if I would have known you were such a tamer, I would have let you pull the horse instead. Much easier this way, feels nice."

"Would feel even nicer if you weren't riding the horse, get off. He's not yours, try to stay focused."

Reta shrugged before dismounting from the stallion. "Just saying. So where do we look?"

"Well, we start when we see some stables. There's one over there-whoa! Excuse me." He shifted around, making his way through the crowd. The view was quite dense with a high population, it would be rather easy to be lost in the crowd. Not too far away from them, a pair of yellow-gold eyes followed their movement as they arrived at the horse stable. From its view, the two people began a polite or well-mannered slew of back and forth questions, asking the stable employee what they seek to learn. At some point the tone took a sudden shift with Reta reaching over and grabbing the worker's collar, shouting demands with Felix struggling to pull her back.

Tilting its head, she was suddenly knocked to her side by impact to her stomach, scrambling on her feet to find a familiar silver-white cat glaring at her. Rolling its eyes, it spun around and lifted its tail high as the cat followed it over to a more private area behind one of the stores, where plenty of trash and unknown fluids were piled at. The black cat shook its body before morphing into her Nekomata form with the attacked doing the same. Then Na'Vi leaned back as Syri began to speak.

"What the hell!? We were looking all over for you, we thought we lost you with Dimy. I thought you were hurt, or lost, or worse!"

"Well, I'm fine. So you can calm down and not worry so much." Syri growled before pushing Na'Vi hard, causing her to stumble and fall against some filth. "Gross, what the hell?"

"Exactly, what the hell! Why are you being so-so mean and aggressive now? You want to help us find my sister, then we do and now you want to leave? Some friend."

"Don't! Don't say something before I make you regret it."

"Or what? You're gunna hurt me? Make fun of me, hit me, make me cry? Losing you did just that."

"Well you found me, didn't you?"

"Did I?" She snapped back, both girls huffing and puffing and catching their breath. For a moment, they grew calmer as the overlapping sounds of people shouting and talking stayed in the background. "We came here looking for Dimyri, she was taken."

"I know." Syri looked up in surprise. "I went for a walk outside that night when I saw them and followed. I know where they're keeping her, I'm just trying to figure out what to do next."

She sighed. "Thanks, I guess. Some sort of note would be nice next time."

Na'Vi shook her head. "Next time. I'm... I'm sorry I left you guys worried."

"You still do, you've been awful different since we found Nityri."

"I know, it's a lot to handle. I'm just trying to figure out things."

"Like why she picked him?"

"No... whatever." She muttered, crossing her arms and wiping the muck from her back with her tails. Not entirely effective, but it helped.

Syri looked up towards where they came from. "Well, let's go tell them then I guess. Mom is gunna be so relieved."

"I uh-" She looked back as her friend stuttered. "I don't know if... just tell them you know where she is."

"But I don't, you do."

"Just tell them that after I show you. I just don't want to see them yet. Just..." She paused, uncertain of what else to say leaving Syri concerned. As she approached her for a hug, Na'Vi held a paw up to stop her.

Syri looked away, a sad gleam in her eye.

"Maybe when we find Dimyri, we can find you too. I hope I can help with that." She said before shifting back into her cat form and climbing out from there.

"Thank you." Na'Vi said as she hung her head. So many things going on in her head-

Someone pushed a hidden door open and flung a greasy bag into the trash. A large looking man poked his head out when he heard a sudden crash after, but all he saw were some loose leaves falling gently down. With a heavy grunt, he pushed the door, sliding it to close.