More middle-aged men

"Two for two," Ami smirked as we got on the move again.

"Will you still have enough perfume by the time we get to Sto?" I asked.

"Oh, worry not. I stocked my wagon full of perfume exactly for this reason. Fear not, I've rationed things out so that even after Forshmak and Gefilte, I'll still have plenty for Sto. Why, we could even hop across the bridge to Flódni and still have a fair supply for Sto," Tal chuckled.

"So you plan to capitalize on the Ober-Kreplach route," Ami mumbled.

"The what?" I asked.

Ami pulled out the map. "See, the route we're on now is actually the main trade route if you're going from Ober province to Kreplach province or vice-versa. More importantly, she's planning to stock her perfume in every major town in Loew you first have to pass through when heading westward out of Traditsye. From there, all it takes is word of mouth, and suddenly, more become interested in it, which will lead to Flódni and Lokshen wanting it on their shelves. And when that happens, all of Ober and Kreplach will have it, leading to the ripple effect of Bialy wanting to stock the perfume, then Soletreo, and finally, Central and Traditsye."

"Why not Ararat?"

Ami began to frown. "Ararat's a bit of a different beast. It's the second smallest province by area and population, but carries great clout due to the duke of it forging trade deals with Ova Sfongian nobles. As such, they're more of our way to get Ova Sfongian goods as Ova Sfongia only accepts things from Blintz made or grown in Ararat due to their favorable views of the duke."

"Why is he held in such high regard?"

Before Ami could say anything, we arrived at our next destination, the town of Forshmak. It was even smaller and poorer than Volf was, but surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprising, it had the same mayor as both Volf and Tzeitel.

"Oh, hello, hello. Come from Lokshen?" the familiar middle-aged man smiled.

"Nay, Traditsye, actually," Tal smiled.

"'Traditsye'!? It's been years. I think the last time someone came straight from there was right before Brother went to build Tzeitel."

"You're brothers with the mayors of Tzeitel and Volf!?" I gasped.

"Yup, I'm their brother from another mother."

We all looked at each other in disbelief.

"Ahem, though you may be born from different mothers, you're all bound by your blood and the fact that you stock my perfume, assuming you want to that is," Tal nervously chuckled as she held up a bottle of perfume.

"A new product? Sure, maybe it could get more people to take the route through us," the middle-aged man smiled.

...

We all blinked as we stared at the man before us.

"Gefgefgefgef! Welcome to Gefilte, I'm the mayor here," an older man who bore a striking resemblance to the mayors of the three previous towns we visited laughed.

"Are you related to the mayors from the other towns on the Ober-Kreplach route?" I asked.

"Ya met em!? I'm their uncle, Gelffi! I've been here forever. Wanna come try our prized fish? Or maybe ya just want the carrots. They're the best in all of Blintz, specially when combined with the fish, and best of all, ya can't run from em. Wanna get from Sto to Flódni? Gotta come through us. Even if you're coming from Flódni n' try to go down to the next bridge below, nope, path cuts right back up to us if you're heading for Sto. And when ya come through us, boy do we have sights n' smells for ya."

"Ah, then would you like to-"

"We got a rail of mine carts, but they don't run to no mine in a mountain, they run above ground to the great lake! Oh, but we got our own great lake right here. Clearest water you ever seen!"

"Ahem, would you-"

"The fish we fish outta that lake have won prizes when stacked against all other fish from Bintz. I tell ya, you're in the best place in Blintz. Hah! Maybe they'll make me a baron one day with how fine this town's growing!"

Tal did try to pitch the perfume by just squirting some out, but Gelffi didn't seem to notice it. And as it turned out, no one in town seemed to smell it either while those that could, said it smelled awful and not "fishy enough". That meant this one was sadly a bust.

"Well, at least I'll have more perfume for Sto and Flódni," Tal nervously chuckled as we began riding out.

"We're really going to stop by Flódni first?" Ami asked.

"It is just across the bridge here, so might as well before turning round to Sto. Though I will admit, I am saddened my perfume was such a bust in Gefilte."

"My guess is the town's so used to the smell of fish, anything else smells awful."

"What if the perfume smelled like carrots?" I mused.

Ami and Tal stared at me like they had seen a ghost.

"Um..."

"PERFECT!" Ami and Tal exclaimed in unison.

Why does this feel so- Oh right, the grass.

Unlike that time, Ami didn't grab my arm and fly away without warning. Instead, Tal decided to park the wagon and rush inside to grab some perfume making materials.

"I made sure to bring my equipment if ever the need to make more perfume arose," Tal grunted as she struggled to haul out all her vials.

"Um, Tal, some of those vials are full. Maybe-"

Smash!

Ami let out a sigh as vapors began to rise from the shattered vials. "Always empty that shit before transporting it. Otherwise... Ugh..."

Thud!

Ami was out and... looked like I was about to be too...

Thud!

...

I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes to be greeted with a wooden ceiling. Must be the inside of the wagon... Feels like I'm moving...

But as I rolled over and was met with a disturbing sight; Ami was still fast asleep, but also bound and gagged. I attempted to call out to her, but as I did, I was met with the muffled sound of my own voice. I frantically turned my head towards my legs, and sure enough, all tied up.

We had been kidnapped.