The cat nodded at her. “Ask her again what tome she is looking for,” said the Cat.

“He wants to know what specific tome you want,” I relayed.

She glanced between the two of us, then nodded softly. “I’m looking for a tome to help restore the golden acorn. Once it's restored, I can fix the fighting between the dryads and the huntsmen.”

The cat gave me a look. “That’s a powerful book, dangerous in the wrong hands.”

I gave her his speech.

“I know,” said the woman. “To prove I want it for that reason, I’ve brought the guardian crystals from my home.” She let out a sigh. “I don’t want to part with them, but I need that book, and the fighting needs to stop. Both of my people are dying, all because someone messed with the natural balance of things.” Her voice raised at the end but she cut it off.

The cat nodded.

She reached into her dress and pulled out a smooth bright blue crystal. It was the size of my fist, and I couldn’t help widening my eyes. Something moved within it, and I quickly shifted my gaze into my mug.

“The water guardian, a mermaid with the power of the deep.” Next, she set down a deep amber, chunky stone. The presence on the counter felt heavy. “The earth golem with the power of stone and sand.” Then came out a fiery red spiky stone. Jagged edges covered all sides such that it seemed impossible she wouldn’t cut herself. It flickered with an inner light. “The fiery phoenix with the heat of the sun, and last,” she said. A clear small stone with streaks of purple running through it. “An airy sylph with the power of the winds.” She took a deep breath. “They have guarded my home for centuries, but ending the war is more important. If I can stop the fighting, then I don’t need the guardians.”

Her eyes hadn’t left the stones as she spoke.

She glanced at the cat. “So do you have something that can fix the golden acorn?”

It was such a serious moment, but I really wanted to ask about the golden acorn. Like, was it a normal-sized acorn, that just happened to be gold? What did it actually do? I couldn’t help myself. “What does this acorn do?”

I swear the cat sighed.

“Sable…” said the cat. Yet, it was too late.

The woman's eyes snapped to me. “Every one thousand years, the great oak tree drops a golden acorn, then the tree withers and dies. The golden acorn is then planted and another great oak grows in its place.” She shook her head, wisps of gray hair escaping her bun. “Without the power from the great oak, the dryads and huntsmen are dying out.” Her eyes flickered back to the stones. “My family has guarded the great oak after planting it, to help it grow, but something went wrong. The golden acorn didn’t grow. Somehow it lost power, and I need to fix it.”

Now this was an epic story, though I was glad I didn’t live on a planet that had magical trees that people died without.

“Satisfied now?” asked the cat.

I gave the cat a nod.

“There should be three books stacked in the center of the table, bring them over here. Any of them should do,” said the cat.

“One moment,” I said, setting my mug down and coming out around the counter. The large center table had stacks of books all over it. Yet, in the center stack of five books, three looked different. All were a deep green, and one even had green pages. I shuffled the books around until I had the ones I was sure the cat was talking about.

I headed back to the counter but realized the woman was still staring at the crystals she had placed on the counter. Her fingers wrapped tightly around her mug, but she wasn’t drinking it. Instead, she was gripping it like it was a security blanket.

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“Any of these three should work,” I said.

I set each one down on the counter next to the four unique stones. One had the same oak leaf on it that matched her mug, another had something in writing I couldn’t read, and the last was blank on the cover.

“Any of them will work?” asked the woman.

The cat nodded, drawing her attention.

“And you will trade one book for the stones?”

Again the cat nodded.

Carefully she touched each of the books but didn’t flip through the pages. As soon as she touched the first book her fingertips turned a deep green. The second caused her hair to shimmer and I swear small little horns appeared. Nothing changed when she touched the last book.

“Each has power, but how do I choose? What if I choose wrong?”

The cat said nothing, only stared at the woman. The silence was too much for me to handle.

“Is there really a wrong answer?” I asked. “If any of them will fix the problem, which one calls to you?”

This time she set her whole hand on the cover of the first book. “This one calls to the dryads,” she stated with reverence. She pulled away reluctantly, then set her palm on the center one. “This one calls to the huntsmen.” Her fingers fled much quicker. Yet, she didn’t place her hand on the last one, just pointed. “That one doesn’t call to either, which is probably the point. One shouldn’t have power over the other, we need both for the forests to thrive.”

She nodded to herself, and her eyes landed on the crystals. “They have been in my family for the last two hundred years, but the forest is more important. I’ll take the last book.” After her statement, she drained her mug dry.

I picked up the first two books and set them under the counter. The third I picked up and held out to her. “This is yours then, and we will take the crystal guardians.”

She nodded. “Thank you.” Then she grabbed the book, and it vanished somewhere. Once more she glanced at the crystals and then set the mug down. Her hands trembled, and she stepped back.

“Good luck with the golden acorn,” I said.

The cat moved forward to the edge of the counter and sat in front of the stones. That seemed to shake her from the hesitation she had. The woman turned and fled the shop. The bell rang behind her as the door closed.

“Well, that was different,” I said. “What was the book?”

The cat snorted and turned to look at me. “Nothing special. Some story about planting seeds in new spots with flowing poetry and care.”

“Wait,” I paused. “You traded her magic stones for a normal book? How is that going to solve the golden acorn problem? You can’t be tricking customers…”

The cat chuckled. “I solved the problem.” He nudged one of the stones.

My eyes flicked to them and energy danced inside each of them.

“You're saying the stones were the problem, not the acorn?”

“You're on the correct path, keep going,” said the cat.

I sipped the last of my latte and automatically went to make another. Thoughts flowed easier if my hands were doing something. “She mentioned her family had gotten them a couple hundred years ago, and I assume the gold acorn failed to thrive.”

I turned after grinding the beans and poked at one of them. “They look magical enough, but do they use the same type of magic that the acorn used to grow?”

“Correct,” said the cat. “The stones drew on the magical energy in the land, which stopped the acorn from sprouting.”

“So, the book talking about planting in new soil will hopefully direct her to plant it in a different area where there is still more magic?”

“Close enough.”

I chuckled. This magic stuff was strange, but it seemed to be all about transferring energy. Like the cat’s magical paint for the spears for the trolls. I shook my head and finished making the latte. “Do you want this? I probably should lay off the caffeine a bit.”

“Sure, fill my cup.”

I filled his teacup after grabbing it back out from under the counter.

The four stones glowed on the counter. “So, what about these now? These guardians?”

The cat’s tail flickered. “I don’t know. I just needed to get them away from her. Right now, they’ll go into storage until they’re needed.”

“Are we just a magical thrift shop that solves problems?”

“We are not a thrift shop,” growled the cat.

We were totally a magic thrift shop, we had to be with his tone like that. I chuckled and filled my cup up with the rest of the latte. Who needed to sleep anyway?

#

I watched her head upstairs and turned back to the stones, sniffing each one. My magic poked out and touched them, but they were what she’d said they were. Guardian stones, with the spirits of each of the elements.

Normally, I knew what each item was going to be used for. Most of the time it was needed soon, occasionally it would be years, but these… I had no idea, and that worried me.

Why wouldn’t I know?