A/N: RL is kicking my butt. No two ways about it. If I didn’t have these chapters already written up, I’d be in a world of hurt. As it is I’m hoping more sleep will make the world easier to deal with tomorrow.
“Balbadd’s so big.” Aladdin slumped. “Where do we even start?”
“With the Fog Troupe,” Morgiana said plainly. “People will know where to find robbers. Or know who will know. Smugglers… they could be on ships, other islands, and we’d never know where to look.”
“Not a bad plan,” Sinbad allowed. Very straightforward. Would make excellent use of a Fanalis’ skills at violence. He’d use it himself, if he didn’t have a better option. “But Ja’far overheard the dock-master tell everyone who came to witness the execution that the pirates claimed to have privateer’s privileges, yet they were enslaving citizens of Balbadd-”
“Covering for his masters,” Ja’far said darkly.
“Well, yes, anyone who hired pirates in the first place won’t take kindly to finding out they failed,” Sinbad agreed. “But how did they fail? Dock-Master Shahidi doesn’t have a coast guard. And yet he had pirates – pirates whose guilt he didn’t doubt in the slightest – delivered to his front door.”
“You mean, the smugglers brought them,” Aladdin realized, stepping back to lean against Ugo’s comforting solidity. “They brought people to be executed, that’s really scary….”
“You say Shahidi worked fast.” Morgiana looked between the three Sindrians. “The smugglers are still here.”
Masrur nodded. Glanced at Ja’far. “Merhdad?”
“He’s the one we need to find,” Ja’far agreed. “The rumors weren’t definite – but people believe he’s in port. Now. We have to catch him before his ship sails again.”
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
To paraphrase Dominic Deegan, Oracle for Hire (who may be lifting this from elsewhere): “Dance, my puppets! Dance! Bwahahaha!” *ominous thunder*
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*EG*
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Later . . .
“Does no one living in or visiting this city ever give their right name when introducing themselves?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Most people would give their right name. Just not kings who need to be incognito sometimes or lost princes who don’t need their idiot half-brothers finding out that they are not only alive but back in the country.”
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*G* Something along those lines, yep. 🙂
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“Merhdad? No, never heard of him.” The street rat didn’t even have the decency to *try* to make the lie believable. “Sounds Partevian, check the Parts side of town. If you can get past the damn spears.”
Ja’far gritted his teeth. He knew what was happening. If they went to talk to Balbadd’s ex-Partevian population, they’d doubtless send them on to another part of town in a dizzying pattern until they either gave up, ran out of bribe funds, or revealed themselves to have deep enough pockets to override someone’s good sense and become involved in an attempted mugging. With Morgiana on a slow simmer, anyone attempting violence of that sort would end up facing a very upset Fanalis, which might set off Masrur, some Fanalis got very touchy about kittens in danger. Even lethal kittens not even close to being in over their heads. And if Masrur went in, *Sinbad* would go in, having never mastered the art of letting perfectly capable Generals ‘have all the fun.’ And then Ja’far would have to get involved to make sure the purple haired idiot didn’t start using Djinn in a perfectly legitimate street brawl like the flamboyant teenager his king sometimes forgot he wasn’t.
The street rat was getting increasingly pale and sweaty as Ja’far’s glare grew darker, and spread to encompass Sin.
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*Cackles* Fortunately, they had a better plan….
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A much better Plan. *snrks*
And Ja’far was a merchant. And a bureaucrat. He knows how to talk to people. 🙂
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*G* Surprisingly so, sometimes…
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I wish you luck and pleasant sleep. RL this past month for a lot of people was harsh and I’m sorry to hear you’re one of them.
And it figures Jafar would have a much better idea of how to actually track down smugglers, due to his own job in Sindaria.
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*G* That, and he knows they have a way to find a trail. Alibaba plus smugglers plus Fanalis nose… find a hidden marketplace!
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The marketplace is going to be fun to see from the outside, I think.
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I’ve had the same problem. Near warhammer40K choices(Grimdarkness trope namer).
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Let’s hope we can at least get it to the Ciaphas Cain level of grimdark. 🙂
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May i suggest tea and just sitting (especially if you have a cat that likes to snuggle)? It helps me get set for bed…
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Mocha is my preferred stimulant mix. Would love to snuggle with a cat, but part of family allergic. Sigh. Sitting, though – sitting is good. Decluttering for a zpoc, also good….
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