Endless Supply
Chapter 9 – A Pinch of Salt
A thrum was evident in the air, a product of all the conversations going on in the market place. Prices were haggled over, deals shouted out to the crowd in the street, greetings were given, and plenty of 'sorry's were heard. The street was lined on either side with tented booths, leaving a narrow walkway for pedestrians to travel. It was inevitable that shoulders would be bumped, backs would be pushed, and toes stepped on.
Donald and Mickey had the worse of physical confrontations with the people of Agrabah, but also got the most heartfelt apologies. Being short may have some advantages, none of which were evident in this crowd. Eventually Riku made the suggestion to put the two of them in the middle of the group to much success.
"I've never seen so many people in one place!" Kairi bounced her eyes back and forth from one side of the bazaar to the other. "Or so many things!"
Riku chuckled. "Yeah, home's pretty tamed compared to this place. But our food it probably better because it's fresh." He frowned at a fish stall they were passing where flies hovered over the display.
Roxas shrugged. "Don't be so sure. I'll agree with you about the fish though." He wrinkled his nose a bit. "But some of the fruit here is quite good. And you won't find it in Destiny Islands."
"Really? I'ld love to try some. Oo, look Riku!" Kairi grabbed her friend's hand and pulled him across the traffic to a booth on the other side of the street. Roxas heard the apologies the two of them gave out to those the bumped into. With a shake of his head the blonde made his way over to the booth too, following the residents from Disney Kingdom.
"Sorry, excuse me, pardon me, sor--" Roxas felt a jolt of …something shoot up him arm from where he had bumped into someone and caught a faint whiff of sea salt. He stopped and looked around for who might have caused it, but his attention had been on the others in his group and thus he had no idea who he had contact with. Who ever he, or she, was they had felt familiar and strange at the same time, like hearing a voice that sounded like a friend only to realize that the speaker was a stranger. Roxas had a strong desire to chase after who ever it was.
"Hey watch it!" Roxas received a push from behind that was too hard to be accidental and returned to his senses. Standing stock still in the middle of traffic was a sure way to wind up with a bruise.
"Sorry," he muttered to no one in particular and crossed the rest of the street with out incident.
He found the rest of them searching the wares of a fruit stall up traffic a little bit and made his way toward them, refusing with a smile and a dismissive wave any of the offers of jewelry, clothing, or other kickshaws he received from stall owners.
Kiari was listening with rapt attention to the stall owner describe each of the fruit she offered, eyes wide and hungry. Next to her Riku stood with his arms crossed over his chest looking doubtful.
"How fresh is all this?" his voice was skeptic.
"Very fresh! I picked these yesterday morning."
"Try the pitaya," Roxas said coming up behind the group. "It's that orange-red one there. It has a lot of seeds, but spongy inside unlike anything else I've had."
"Alright!" Kairi brought her hands together at her chest in excitement. "6 please!" she told the vendor with a smile.
"Good choice Miss, very good choice."
"Can you cut them for us?" Roxas asked politely.
"Anything for a costumer as cute as you are," a saucy wink was given. Roxas blushed.
Donald's mouth watered as he watched the woman cut the fruit in half length ways and then made another long cut into the pulp of the fruit but stopped just before the skin; it allowed the edible part of the fruit to be accessed with just teeth as opposed to with a utensil. She gave every one half a fruit and tied the rest up in a make shift bag and handed it to Kairi.
"70 gil please,"
Kairi reached for her pouch by Riku placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'll get it. Save your money for something else."
He dropped the coins in the waiting hand. "Have a good day sir." Riku didn't respond and started walking down the street the rest of the faction in tow.
A sound of disgust came from the mage and all turned to see his screwed up face. "Its sour!" he exclaimed, holding the rind out in front of him and looking like never wanted to see it again.
"Hehheh, sorry about that. I guess I should have warned you guys. Take small bites." Roxas looked accusingly at piece Donald was holding, or rather at the quarter of it that was missing. A faint brush of pink appeared across the duck's face.
"This is actually pretty good," Riku said softly as if afraid to admit the potential to be wrong.
"Told ya'" Roxas smiled.
"So you've been here before Roxas?" Goofy asked after swallowing a bite.
"Yup, just once on a mission."
"Where to now?" Kairi took nibbled on her pitaya.
"The palace," Mickey said, "We need to check up on Jasmine."
"Right. This way," Riku took to the front of the group, eyes alert for the least troublesome path through the crown, mouth occupied with chewing.
Roxas hung back and took up the rear, scanning the area. The colors of the stalls blurred and faded from his attention while the people around him became clearer, sharper. That person who bumped him earlier still intrigued him and the sent of sea salt seemed to haunt him. If only he could find who ever that was! He concentrated on seeing and smelling, not paying attention to the sounds of the marketplace and just aware of touch. The apologies he gave out were toneless and automatic, his attention focused elsewhere.
The crowd all looked the same. Brown headgear, tan tops, caramel pants. Splashed of color were seen on belts and jewelry. Salt was in the air, but it was a spiced salt used for seasoning food. The salt he was looking for came from hours of swimming and lying on the beach.
A tug on his jacket hem loosed his concentration and the noises around him started to filter into his ears.
"Roxas?" The voice was worried, but calm, and was willing to help.
"Sea salt," the blonde said, "If you want to help, look for sea salt."
"Roxas?" Louder this time, and confused. Roxas blinked and looked down to see King Mickey by his side, a slight frown on the monarch's lips.
Concentration lost, all of Roxas's senses snapped back into their normal place. The blonde looked up to see Goofy's head bobbing along and light shining off Riku's hair in front of him. The gap was not large, but it could have been closer. Roxas shook his head and made to make up the gap.
"Roxas, are you alright?" Mickey kept pace with him, frown still in place and worry in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about." He looked straight ahead and not down at the mouse.
"Okay, just checking," his frowned evened out to become a serious line. It was obvious something was bothering Roxas, but it didn't seem to be serious. "Why were you looking for sea salt?"
Roxas blushed and stumbled into a man in front of him. "So sorry!" he said hastily to guy before him. The man waved it off and Roxas slowed his pace until it was even with that of the group Riku led. He really didn't want to explain to anyone why he was looking for the scent of sea salt. He could tell Mickey not to worry about it, but he if he did spill he knew the sovereign would not judge him. Plus he felt he owed it to Mickey in some way, and perhaps the mouse could help if the opportunity ever presented itself. Still, he took his time answering.
"Sora smells like sea salt," he said under his breath so only the mouse below could hear.
"Pardon?" Mickey jerked his head up, he had been willing to drop the subject since it seemed like the nobody did not want to talk about it.
"Sora smells like sea salt, and I ran into someone earlier who I thought smelled like it. I was trying to find him."
"I see," Mickey's voice was heavy with thought, but nothing seemed to show on his face.
"Stop! Thief! Someone grab that lad!" Roxas went on high alert and looked around. The voice came up the street and was accompanied with a shaking fist above the heads of the crowd member. Cries of indignation came from the people the thief pushed aside as he ran down the street against traffic. The blonde witnessed Riku get a hard bump on the shoulder and the look of annoyance that appeared on his face fade into one of alarm and surprise. Riku looked up and behind to catch Roxas's eye before the ruffian almost knocked down a young women in front the blonde.
Roxas froze. He smelled sea salt again, but it was very muted as if the scent was an after thought. It was coming from the figure before him. A dark tan hood covered his face and black boots were visible under the dust colored wrap he wore. As the thief passed Roxas he threw him a glance. Roxas's breathe hitched; blue eyes stared at him, eyes that should have felt familiar but did not. Something shifted behind those eyes and then they were gone, leaving a trail of disgruntled people.
Roxas stared at the make shift path for a moment before heading down it. He had only moved three steps when a large hand gripped his wrist. The keyblader prepared to twist to free himself from the grip and continue his chase when another equally large hand captured his other wrist and brought both of them together behind his back. Roxas struggled to get out of the strong hold.
"Listen, you've got the wrong guy! He went that way!" Roxas pointed toward the quickly disappearing trail with a chin jerk. "Now let me go!"
A throaty chuckle came from behind him and above; meaning the man who had seized him was a head taller. "I was right there when you stole from Altaf. I know it was you Theif! Taking your robe off won't fool me." He gave Roxas a bodily shake. "No one gets away with things on my watch." A kick to the back of his right knee caused the blonde to fall to a half kneel.
"Let me go," Roxas spoke in a cool, collected tone laced with a warning. He stared at the dirt underneath him, the trail left behind by the thief was gone.
"Hah hah! You sound like you think you could take me on. I'll tell you what," Roxas's wrists were transferred to a strong one handed grip and the sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard sounded. The thin layer of ice that made contact with Roxas neck caused his body to tense.
"I don't think you could," the voice was whispered against Roxas's ear, hot air sending goose bumps down the blonde's neck. Who ever he was, this man was no stranger to a fight. Light started to twinkle around the wielder's hands.
"Hey now, that's the wrong person you've got there," Roxas looked up to see Mickey breaching the two foot bubble the crowd had formed around him and his captor. He stopped calling forth his keyblades
"You can't fool me, I saw this lad steal a ring," the man snarled.
Roxas made a weak move to through the man behind him off. "Look, I don't know what you're talk--" he stopped talking as more pressure was applied to his neck. Mickey shot him a worried glance.
"Here, look," Mickey placed a pouch hanging from his belt in to his hand and opened it. "If I give you money for the ring will you let him go?"
The man's eyebrow's furrowed in consideration. Roxas took opportunity to lean backwards to get away from the sword. A tight squeeze on his wrists caused him to wince and stop moving. Without a healing, tomorrow morning there would bruises in the shape of fingers on the sides of his wrists.
"How much was it?" Mickey asked as he started taking coins out from the pouch.
"300 gil,"
Roxas watched the mouse count the money out and mentally urged him to hurry up. His right thigh was straining to support his awkward position. Finally Mickey held out a cupped hand containing the money. The sword disappeared from Roxas's neck but another forceful wring on his wrists warned him against doing anything. The sword was sheathed and the hand was extended so Mickey could drop coins into it one by one enabling the man who held Roxas to check the mouse's math. Finding himself with 300 gil in his hand the man hmphed and placed it in a pocket. The man looked down at the blonde he held in his grasp.
"Let him go," Mickey said in a firm voice, shifting into a position easy to attack from.
"I'm gettin' to it!" he released one of Roxas's wrists and took the other in both his hands. There was snap and Roxas let out a muted scream before he was pushed face first to the ground.
The man glared at Mickey as if daring him to do something and then turned to be swallowed up by the crowd. The king stared after him for a moment before hurrying over to Roxas's side. The blonde pushed himself up from the ground to a sitting position with a hiss of pain.
"Are you alright?" Mickey's voice was higher than usual with concern.
"I'm fine," Roxas rubbed his neck with his left hand to make sure the sword had not cut him. "Just a few bruises and," A hiss escaped him as he tried to circle his right wrist, " and a broken wrist it looks like."
"Come on, let's get you up before we get trampled on," Mickey helped Roxas to his feet as the bubble that had been around them got smaller and smaller. "Let's find the others."
The rest of the gang was not too far way, about 7 stalls down and in a side street.
"Roxas!" Kairi exclaimed at seeing his dirty face and how he held his wrist. "What happened?"
"We ran into some trouble with a guard," Mickey sighed.
"Yeah," Roxas's voice was bitter, "He thought I was the thief."
"He did feel like you when he bumped into me," Riku voiced.
"Really? I was reminded of…of Sora."
Riku threw a sharp glance at the nobody and Mickey looked at him in curiosity as well.
"Any way," Roxas shrugged, "there's no trail to follow so we'll just have to wait for him to show up again. Come on, we have get to the palace."
"Shouldn't we heal you first, hyuck?" Goofy asked with concern.
Roxas shook his head. "Not here. Lets find some place where the glow of the keyblades or the spell won't be noticed," he slipped back into the moving crowd, careful to shield his right wrist.
"Roxas, wait up!" Kairi went after him, followed by a sighing Riku. Mickey looked to his subjects and after a shrug from Goofy the three of them exited as well.
A/N: So, as I'm sure you guys can tell things tend to pick up from here. Hopefully you guys liked this chapter, I certainly enjoyed writing it, as well as the ending for the next one. It's the middle of ch. 10 that needs some work. -_-' Sorry this is out later than I was expecting, my classes this year are filled with readings and I really don't have any free time. But I'll still be writing, albeit a bit slowly.
