Part 3

"Two rooms, please." Elyn told the innkeeper. She didn’t mind sharing a room with her partner in crime, but sometimes a girl needs her privacy, and they’d be right next door to each other.

"Two rooms... names, Mr. Zittle; if you need something, let me know," the man whistled, giving Elyn and Toll Keeper their respective keys.

"Tell me, young man, what is there to do in the fine village of Maldorv?" Toll keeper interrupted

"Well, you could check out Maldorv's prized treasures; this is home to the largest collection of different artifacts from all over Adamas." Zittle said proudly. It was true that for such a small location, Maldorv had a pretty big presence. With it being in the middle of several larger cities (Loor and Mica, to name a few), even the King of Marget frequently visited from time to time.

"Well, how riveting." The tollkeeper answered.

The streets of Maldorv were relatively calm, adding to the majestic symphony of a hundred songbirds singing, accompanied by idle chitchat between customers and merchants. TollKeeper's favorite past time was to sit back and observe human interactions. It was like watching a play where only he knew how the show was going to end. Which he did, knowing that the ending was, well, boring to say the least,but humanity was anything but that. No, they’re spontaneous and chaotic; humans fight over the most trivial of things,yet for some reason they can create magnificent worlds through their imagination alone. Mortals have always puzzled him, but solving humanity's eccentricities was one of Toll Keeper's hobbies.

So of course, or maybe it was more like a delightful mistake that the tollkeeper found the village little library, Maldorv crowned jewel, as their innkeeper described.

The library in Maldorv was quite impressive. It wasn’t as big as the libraries of the big cities, but the books it did have were very rare; there was a mixture of books from around the continent of Lithuania.

"W-w-wel-cccome to the Mal...do...rv...li...br…ary." a voice nervously called out.

The librarian of Maldorv was a petite woman, wearing glasses too big for her head and messy hair. Surrounded by towers of books, almost like her own makeshift castle.

"Oh, good day, my fair lady," replied the tollkeeper, walking to the pile of books in front of him. "Please tell me, as keeper of this fine establishment,what do you suggest I begin with?"

There was something about being able to enjoy a nice, long, warm bath after a hard day's work. Elyn took a deep breath as she dove into the water, staring at her underwater surroundings for a brief moment before rising again. The inn had two separate bathhouses; the woman’s house was surrounded by various types of flowers and a lovely apple tree.

"Hey, hey, hey," a tiny voice said, followed by a small splash perfectly aimed at Elyn’s face. The culprit in question was a mermaid, smiling brightly as she waved at Elyn.

" Hi." Elyn waved back the merpeople, who are known to be a helpful and mischievous bunch.

The mermaid continued to swim around in the bath, showing Elyn the many gifts like water lilies and stones ideal for skipping.

"Are you human? I've never seen a human before," the merchild asked.

Elyn nodded. "Well, I've never seen a merchant before."

"Do humans have names?"

"Yes, I’m Elyn. What’s yours?" She answered 

"My name is Uma," the young girl said.

"Are you doing everything to your liking?" the librarian asked. Admittedly, she was in complete awe of the stranger in front of her. He seemed to be someone of high status, maybe nobility, but his outfit didn’t seem familiar to any known place in Lithum.

Not to mention the white owl mask he wore covered his face, yet from what she could see, he had two mix-match eyes, one ruby and the other turquoise. His hair was a pristine white, neatly tied.

"Wonderful, just wonderful, little one." The tollkeeper said his head was still in the book in front of him. It was quite interesting that the book told recipes from all over the continent and the history of food within Adamas.

"We..ll..iiifff y... You need anything... pppplease ask. 

Within a few minutes, the tollkeeper was alone again, reading every word on the pages in front of him.

‘Humans are such fascinatingly weird creatures."

‘Hehehe, so are you, master."