The store in front of Wilwarin was a normal house with a big display window. It was a wooden house, oak color, the display windows looked clean but the edges of the glass told Wilwarin that they must have been quite dirty.

As he looked at the dirty spots on the glass, he heard Ardon's voice behind him, "Nice magic stones, but we wouldn't find any that we need under them."

Wilwarin nodded, not letting Ardon catch the real thought of the dirty window. He followed Ardon inside and looked around all the shelves full of strange and intriguing stuff. Wilwarin stared at a weird-looking head, it was like a fish and an ant-eater had a baby.

The eyes were outward, and it had a trunk nose, the neck had gills. It looked disgusting.

"Admiring the Qiufe, it was quite hard to catch and preserve. It lives in the deep sea and has some magic properties, those are now gone though. Only its corpse is the reminder that such a fish exists in the deep sea," Ardon explained as he looked at the Quife head. He took Wilwarin's arm and dragged him to the back, through the door to the storage, and up the stairs. There they met both the elf princess and Cyrene.

Or rather the elf princess leaned against the door, lazily looking into the room Cyrene was in, "You don't have much, I can see that from here."

Wilwarin only heard the voice of Cyrene hauling out of the room, "I thought your Highness had other things to do."

Wilwarin saw Princess Ninor laugh and walk into the room, "I'll be gracious and help you, that is my thing to do."

Ardon smirked and walked in front of the door, Wilwarin got dragged and saw a mess in the room. That's when he noticed that the sentence that Cyrene didn't have much was probably sarcastic.

Ardon laughed, "How can it look like that already, we moved into this house yesterday?!"

Cyrene sent a death glare at Ardon, Wilwarin could see the Princess muffling a laugh.

Ardon smirked, "Need our help too?"

"Go away! I don't need help from anyone. That goes to you too, princess. I don't like strangers going through my stuff," Cyrene angrily told them, and focused on the packing of her things.

The princess smiled but did not stop herself from helping Cyrene to pack.

Cyrene only rolled her eyes, but did not say anything. Wilwarin looked at the two and smiled, somehow he was reminded of the idiots of the world before. That would be impossible though, so he shook his head and followed Ardon to the room on the opposite side.

The room was nice, it had not been decorated yet, and some spots seemed a bit bare. It was not unusual considering that Ardon moved into this room just the day before.

Ardon smiled and closed the door behind them, "So this is my room. Which you probably guessed because I wouldn't just lead you into a different one. Anyway!"

Wilwarin smiled a bit, "What it is your room? I wouldn't have noticed if you had not told me. Thank you for telling me."

"Well, yes... You're welcome? Anyway, we should find the card that the guy gave me together with the key," Ardon said and blushed a bit as he looked for it on his desk.

Wilwarin looked through the room and out the window, he found it nice. It was a lot calmer and less busy, if Ardon opened his shop just a little more down, the bustling street would be heard and all the other merchants trying to sell him something.

Wilwarin recalled the outside of Ardon's shop and thought if he were to make it just a bit more earthy and mossy, maybe it would make a great attraction, like an old shop. Like being inherited by his ancestors or something like that, of course, it would be a lie, still, it was likely that it would become a well-known shop.

Then again you can't be a merchant if you don't oversell your products a bit.

"Here!" He exclaimed and held up a piece of paper. He walked to Wilwarin and showed it to him properly, "See here is an address we can go to. Let's go, it shouldn't be far from her right?"

Ardon looked at Wilwarin expectantly, like Wilwarin would surely tell him he was right.

He took the little card from Ardon and then at the address, 'Lobstercorner 24'. Wilwarin furrowed his brows and then walked outside the room, Ardon smiled over both cheeks and followed him in a hurry. They walked by the room that had almost been emptied and then they stood on the street in front of his shop.

"So? You know where we have to go?" Ardon asked full of expectations, he praised himself for how smart he was to ask the most local here.

Wilwarin walked forward and asked a merman, "Do you know where this is located?"

The merman's scales shone a beautiful light blue color in the sun, the exposed scales on his cheeks and a few on his hands, "The rich circle, ay?" His eyes looked Wilwarin up and down and then he smirked, "Of course, he would pull a cutie like you. But I don't think you'll make it in time, but hey I could also give you a good time if that is what you want from him."

The merman looked at Wilwarin with eyes of lust, Ardon walked up behind Wilwarin and laid his arm over his shoulders, "Sorry, this one is taken. We want to go to the guy out of business."

The merman tsked, gave the card back, and was about to walk away but then he looked at Wilwarin one last time, "If your boyfriend gets borring, maybe try with me. I'll give you a good price."

Wilwarin's face cooled as he slapped Ardon's arm off his shoulders, "First I am certainly not for sale, second you wouldn't even live after one night with me."

Amused the merman asked, "Because you're that good in bed?"

Wilwarin smiled, but his eyes showed no kindness, "Because you'd be dead in some ditch if you even tried touching me."

The merman widened his eyes in horror, the feeling he got from the pretty elf was murderous and dangerous. He looked to the ground and walked away, his steps going quickly.

Ardon was in awe, just a second ago he was questioning his life decision of bringing an elf that had no clue of the merpeople's structures. And now he looked like a cold beauty, he was regretting even trying to save Wilwarin just now, he was clearly capable of saving himself.

Not even a ripple of bothered went through Wilwarin's eyes, only pure indifference, then like it never happened he softened his features and looked at Ardon.

"Sorry, it must have scared you a bit. I am usually not like that," Wilwarin said guilty looking at the ground. It looked a bit lost and confused.

Ardon held his hands high, "You're good man, I shouldn't have intervened. You can take care of yourself, you're no damsel in distress." Ardon admired the toughness of Wilwarin, the sliver of determination that he saw, and the emotional coldness. It was something he felt like it must belong to Wilwarin like the time to a clock or water to a fish.

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But Ardon understood that Wilwarin wanted to hide that part, because the embarrassment in his face was real and so was the guilt in lashing out. Though it was subtle and he only saw it for a fleeting moment.

"You heard him, meet again tomorrow?" Wilwarin asked and looked down to the pier.

Ardon nodded, "I guess so, I will walk around a bit and look for the location so I we can go there together tomorrow." He was a bit sad that he would already depart from Wilwarin, but it seemed like he had to wait until they meet again.

"Yes, seems that way. I'll look around the library of the elves, see what I can find there about those objects and more importantly, about the old magic symbols on the willow trees," Wilwarin said and looked at Ardon, unsure as to how they say goodbye now.

Ardon nodded and began to walk slowly in the direction of the pier, Wilwarin mimicked his movements and walked toward the forest. Without a proper goodbye the two parted ways.

Both seemingly reluctant to part with the other.

...

The library was quite big in size, Wilwarin was unsure as to how he was supposed to find what he was looking for. He saw an approachable person sorting the books and walked up to them, "Excuse me, could you perhaps be so kind as to show me where books about pixies are?"

The elf almost fell over but caught themselves just in time, fixing the books in their hands, they looked up at Wilwarin. Warm hazel-colored eyes looked up at him, "Pixies? We have a whole section on them alone, their habits, their appearance, and the like. Could you maybe specify?"

Wilwarin smiled, "Maybe about the pixie tribe not far from here, and the symbols on their inhabitant willow trees?"

"You're the second person to ask me today, the other being the princess of our hearts. Let me put these books away first, then I will guide you to what you are looking for." They put the rest of the books in their assigned area and walked in front of Wilwarin.

Wilwarin followed them, as they walked higher and higher, then right, then left, and then he couldn't remember where he came from. He might need their help again finding the exit.

Then they stopped and pointed with their arm to the whole assortment of books, "Here we are, under these books are records you probably can't read as they're in ancient Elvish, and a few diary books from adventurers. About the willow trees are only a few, if you're in luck the princess didn't take them all. If you need anything feel free to call me. It's Leathne. May wisdom be bestowed on you."

Then they walked away, and Wilwarin looked at the shelves of books in front of him. At a different time a dream to read this many books no doubt, but he had to do research and seeing so many books it felt like a burden.

He reached for the journals first, knowing the pixies through their past actions should be the smart thing to do first. Wilwarin saw a few worn-out journals, when he opened them they were at least over a hundred of years old. He took those, hoping to find hints about the willow trees later. He looked further and saw a few biographies, from people hoping to learn the habits and creation of pixies.

He took them and the worn-out journals and sat down at a nearby table. 'Let's get to reading, I guess,' he thought as he opened the first page of one of the biographie journals. Boring stuff, a soap opera about leading a miserable life, leading to the last hope which was the research of the "supernatural". Trying to learn what the magic of the pixies does and why magic existed through the magic of the pixies. A lot of theories were in all of the biographical journals, but only a few were proven. It told Wilwarin many things about the pixies, from their habits to the way they lurk unsuspecting people into their doom. They have the ability to confuse beings with illusion magic and lure them to themselves. They appear in any way the victim would imagine, or an even more amazing look, like they never expected. Their true appearance is never written down.

Closing the last biographie-journal, he breathed out deep and long. It was very interesting to read all of this, but Wilwarin knew he needed a break. He stretched and got up to walk around a bit, as he wanted to get going he saw the elven princess, looking through the shelve he was focused on.

He approached her slowly, he even spoke softly as to not scare her, "What might the princess be looking for?"

Ninor still looked up fast, as if startled, "Nothing much, a catch-up lesson if you will. I am to... trade with the pixies near our mother." The word 'trade' was said as if it was thought of on the spot, Wilwarin didn't believe it, but then again who was he to oppose the elven princess?

Wilwarin nodded and was about to leave when he heard Ninor, "And you? No offense, but I haven't seen you around before. Even if our library is huge and full of knowledge, we still would have crossed parts once." She smiled to herself as she looked upon the books as if their her big treasure and not public treasure.

Thinking about her words, Wilwarin had a feeling he could share the task with her, "Those pixies, gave me a task actually. Ardon and I, we ha-"

"You too?" Ninor asked, the excitement clearly in her voice and relief all over her face. "They gave me that task a week ago, still I can not find anything. I was hoping to find anything about the willow trees as they have runes engraved, but so far nothing. None of the old journals even mention it, and when I asked the pixies, they said the trees were so old that even they couldn't remember. Then I went through the rune section downstairs, but they didn't have anything either. None of the runes on the willow tress, looked even close enough to me compared with other runes. To think I finally have someone to find a solution with me."

Wilwarin was overwhelmed, he couldn't even understand half the words of Ninor as they were said so fast.

With his hands in the air, he tried to calm her down from speaking, "Yes, indeed. Ardon met them together with me, we want to ask a merchant tomorrow if he has anything. You know that merpeople sell anything for the right price. How about you talk slowly, your highness? My ears aren't fast enough to hear every word you say." His head was hung in guilt as if he was really sad he couldn't keep up with her speaking pace.

"No, no, no. It is me who should apologize, I really need to stop myself from going too fast. Sometimes my mouth can't keep up with my brain, so I say everything at once," Ninor said, speaking considerably slower. Then she thought about something, "How about I tell you everything I found out, over the last week, and tomorrow evening you tell me how that meeting was. Don't worry about the money, I will give you more than enough should they have something like the item. Don't get ripped off though, the merpeople merchants love to do that. If one shall describe them with a trade it would be greed."

Wilwarin nodded and listened as the elven princess walked around the library with him telling him everything she found out.