For most, it was a particularly lazy day in the marketplace. The low din of haggling could not truly break the leisurely spell of the early evening light cast by the planet's second sun. The milling customers shuffled here and there just slow enough to be an ever present nuisance only if speed was the aim, and not an excuse for further browsing. Of course, every thief had his ways, and this particular ne'er-do-well -- a thin creature with gangly limbs and barely enough height to be called a young man were he human, but clad in too many loose scars and robes to tell -- sewed his way through the crowd with all the dexterity of an eel in water.

Tyr didn't have the boy's dexterity, and though he possessed the bearing to intimidate a clear path, it was hardly as effective when sprinting through the thoroughfare.

The thief bounded through a narrow alley between two stalls about two feet down the row, and twisted almost in mid air to dart around down the aisle. Only the wind off is fleeing back brushed Barbarella in passing. But Tyr, who came after, had a bit more trouble with wider shoulders, knocking several people out of his way and skidding directly into Barbarella.

At least he had his guns holstered.