She waved her arms to signify to the merchant that they were much more than a single king after all. They should dethrone him. 

But the man only shook his head regretfully.  

"The king has a powerful sorcerer. All those who tried were cruelly punished by him, now the people of the land dare not speak against him. It is even under penalty of death to speak against the king." 

A powerful sorcerer? Havir! Possibly he was good for more than adulating himself after all.  

"Did you find a book?" Wildly she shook her head at the conversation, she had forgotten to even look in the little cart. Therefore she now devoted herself to the search, beaming with joy. The sun was already high in the sky, threatening to scorch the inhabitants under the searing heat, when Phoenice, clutching a half-crumbled storybook to her chest, walked up to the merchant. 

"Ah, this used to be my daughter's favorite book too when she was little. For you, a quarter of a silver." 

Phoenice didn't know her way around, but she thought the kindly old man had given her a good deal, just too bad she'd missed asking Havir for sparkles. Sadly, she gave the bookseller back her find and waved goodbye. The mage seemed to be right, to be happy in the human world you needed a lot of that so-called money. 

Pondering how she could persuade Havir to buy her the book, she walked back to the square in front of the library. 

There stood two women, beaming as they ran toward her. Somewhat startled, Phoenice stopped mid-step. 

"You're the girl traveling with that man, aren't you?" called out the one small, slightly chubbier one with a smock apron. Phoenice nodded. 

"Then you can talk to him, you are not married, are you?" the tall gaunt one with the long blond hair. She didn't know what that was "married" so she shook her head. 

"Excellent!" Happily, the women clapped their hands. The chubby one stepped forward, grabbed Phoenice hands in hers. 

"We want to use the handsome one to make our friends jealous, can you talk to him about going to the inn with us?" Phoenice tilted her head as a sign that she didn't really understand. She only knew this much, that Havir had better not hear that the two of them thought he was beautiful. 

"Come on, we'll give you a little something if you can persuade him." winked the little girl behind her the blonde nibbled at a strand of her hair, she was embarrassed by the whole thing, her cheeks already covered in blush. Phoenice thought, if the women gave her money, she could give it to the bookseller.