Without a trace

Alexis was honestly surprised to be met with such willingness to help. All things considered, that was anything but to be taken for granted, and she did her best to express her gratitude as she gladly accepted the support.

Alexis kept her features somewhat obscured, not wanting to stir unnecessary unrest about another foreigner around the oasis, and let the merchant do the talking.

A lot of asking around later, all that could be unearthed was that Tarmen seemed to have been enjoying some games a good bit into the night, but after the merriment had come to an end, everyone involved had dispersed to go home.
Nothing after that.

The inquiries with the elders likewise brought no further findings. It was like the man just had vanished into thin air.

With such sobering results, Alexis found herself at a loss about what to do now. In yet another show of unexpected kindness, the merchants offered to stay until the next morning to give Tarmen a bit more time to find his way back from wherever he had gotten himself to, but clearly, they couldn’t wait any longer than that.

Deeply grateful, Alexis accepted. She really wished she had anything to express her thankfulness other than with broken sentences.

Wandering around in and around the oasis, the sun unsympathetically as ever making its way over the sky, she finally had to face the inevitable question of what to do should Tarmen not turn up again.

Should she let the caravan go and do searches with the oasis as her base? Hope to secure a passage with another caravan? Wasn’t impossible, there seemed to be a good amount of traffic here.

But to what end? This was a freaking desert. Not really much hope for some timely footprints or the like, was there? Not to speak that she had limited supplies as well as eventually limited financial resources. And the little issue that it had been quite the challenge to even secure this current passage, and that had been with the intercession of a highly respected shaman.

Alexis stopped in her tracks, frowning at her own thought process. It felt… alien to her, uncomfortably true as it was. Was she truly considering to continue without Tarmen?

She testily shook her head.
Not… not yet.
Glancing up at the sky, she found that the sun was actually beginning to set. It was time to set up camp. And to hope.