The doors opened and a few guards stood there with one hand on their undrawn swords.

"What do you want with Roderic?" Said the guard standing closest to us.

I was trying to read the situation to gauge how much to tell them in order to allow us to enter the town peacefully. Something in my gut told me to keep it vague.

"Jen, Roderic and Mina's daughter, recently lost her husband when the dragon attacked Roseglen. I was asked to bring her back to her parents since she has no other family to live with," I said not mentioning the part about wanting him to go back to Bettyford. I wasn't sure why they were so interested in our business.

"Is that true?" Asked the guard who had directed the question at Jen.

"Yes, sir," said Jen meekly. She was playing along and acting the part of the grieving widow. Technically she was a grieving widow, but I could tell she was acting worse off than she had previously.

"Who's this?" The guard motioned to Barry.

"He is a good friend. He wanted to make sure we got here safely. His name is Barry and he doesn't speak much," Jen answered the man quickly before Barry could speak for himself. It was probably wise since she was our ticket into the city.

The guard raised an eyebrow and looked us all over again. "Fine. You may enter, but don't cause any trouble." The guards took hands off of their swords and relaxed a bit.

We walked past them quietly and didn't start to speak again until we were out of earshot. I wasn't overly afraid of them but they did seem a little jumpy.

"We should ask a few of the locals for information about your parents. It seems like he should be well known enough to find someone that knows something seeing as the guards know about him." I spoke as we continued to walk deeper into the city. Up ahead I caught glimpse of a few signs hanging from the buildings on either side of the street.

Jen saw the signs as well and said, "There is an inn up ahead. Maybe someone in there knows where we should look."

"Yes, of course, the inn," I said eyeing the other signs. "We should check the inn after checking these other shops with my main interest in them being to find your parents and not to trade goods." I glanced over at Jen with a smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, we can check the shops first."

I was so excited. I finally had found a trader to haggle away some of this junk and get something good. I looked up at the signs and saw that one shop had books and scrolls, one appeared to be a general store, and the final one had something to do with plants. We went in that order.

Upon entering the book store I was a little disappointed. There were a few magic scrolls, but no spellbooks that I could see. There were some books here, but it seemed to mostly be a stationary store. I approached the shopkeep.

"Hello sir, how can I help you?" He said quietly. He looked like someone who appreciated a good book and a peaceful life.

"I have a few questions. First, do you have any spellbooks hidden away anywhere?" I asked motioning behind the counter.

He looked a little surprised as if he had never heard that question asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do have one spellbook. No one has ever asked about it and it is far too valuable to keep out. Before I bring it out I do have to protect myself, just in case you are planning on robbing me. Do you have something of great value that you could show me so that I know you are serious?" I could tell he was a little nervous to ask, but I understood as they are very rare.

"How about this? It should be of similar value." I popped the Waterball spellbook into my hands as he stared in amazement.

"You're a wizard!" He exclaimed excitedly. "I'll grab the book right away, sir."

He almost ran into the doorframe behind him trying to get to the back room of the shop. He quickly reappeared with a spellbook in his hands. "It is the only one I've seen in my entire life until you set yours on the counter. I don't have the ability to use magic and I've never seen one used before. How does it work?"

I looked at the symbol on the book and it was different than the others I had seen. I quickly explained. "I just open the book and its magic flows into me. Then I know a new spell. It is a little difficult to describe."

"What happens to the book?" He asked hanging on every word out of my mouth.

"Nothing. It stays exactly the same. I've already learned that spell and the book didn't seem to change at all."

"I have a favor to ask and it won't cost you anything. Will you learn this spell in front of me? I've always dreamed of seeing it happen." He had his best puppy dog eyes on full blast and I didn't see a reason to deny him.

"Absolutely," I said to the curious man. "Ready?"

He nodded his head and stared at the book intensely.

I picked it up and opened it. The pages started flipping and a golden light flowed into me. After a few seconds, I had a new spell.

Spell of Distant Utterance

Caster is able to focus on a solid surface within two hundred feet and cause a word or short phrase to originate from that point instead of from his or her own mouth.

Casting is silent and volume can be controlled by the caster ranging from a whisper to a shout.

Costs 5 MP per utterance.

"Wow," I said thinking about the possibilities. This spell had a lot of utility.

"What?" The shopkeeper asked in response to my reaction. I gave him the description of the spell I had received. He was excited to have witnessed what he did but underwhelmed by the spell itself.

"Hey!" There came a sudden shout from behind him that almost made him jump out of his skin.

"Sorry," I said sincerely. "I didn't mean for that to be quite so loud."

"That was amazing!" He said with a huge smile on his face. I handed him the book back and it seemed to be even more treasured to him than before. "Thank you."

"I do have one last question," I said getting us back on track. "Do you know where we could find Roderic Rhodia and his wife?" His eyes widened upon hearing the names.

"I'm sorry. I have to close for the day so I'll have to ask you to leave." He started attempting to shoo us out the door.

"You know the names. We just want directions." He continued to push unsuccessfully.

"Please, I don't want any trouble," he said giving up on trying to push Barry.

"We don't want any trouble for you either. We won't tell anyone where we got the information," said Jen trying to comfort the man and calm him down. It was no use.

We walked out of the shop. The man shut the door, locked it, and flipped his closed sign faster than I thought possible.

"Well, onto the next. At least we know that people know the name. We may have to switch tactics. Jen, why don't you try doing the talking next time. Maybe you'll get some sympathy with them being your parents and all."

We walked into the next two shops and as soon as Jen mentioned their names the people shut down completely and asked us to leave. It was getting pretty weird.

I guess onto the inn. Maybe we'll have better luck in there. It was mid-afternoon when we entered the Wobbly Wolf Inn.

"Welcome grab a seat wherever you like," said the opposite of dainty woman behind the bar.

We sat and looked around the room to see if anyone looked like they wanted to talk. The man that had been behind the counter in the last shop we visited came in and sat at a table by himself. It was a potion and plant shop, but I hadn't had a chance to speak with him at all. Jen had gone in solo and asked about her parents. I filed it away for now.

The innkeeper came over and explained some exchange rates for trading items for a room and meals since we were outsiders. Apparently, this city had developed a currency of gold coins, but it was customary to offer trade for travelers. I told her some of the items I had access to and she was most excited about the common household items and furniture I had in my dimensional space.

I had cleaned out that old hermit's house in Roseglen two times, before and after my first death here, and I finally saw the benefit of grabbing all his old cupboards, tables, chairs, and dishes. The woman gave us access to a room with four small beds for as long as we were in town, basic meals whenever we wanted them, and twenty of the gold coins. She seemed to know what she was doing so I just went with it without haggling. I had no idea what any of that stuff was worth, but I felt we were getting enough to justify the trade.

I followed her to a storage room and pulled out all of the items we had discussed. She had never seen furniture coming out of a dimensional space before, of that I was sure. She handed me the twenty coins and we shook on the deal. I went back and rejoined my party.

As we waited on our basic meal I pulled one of the coins out to inspect it. It was a round coin about two inches across with the imprint of a man's face on one side and a wolf's head on the other side. I put it away when the waitress came over with three bowls of stew. I looked over at the man from the potion shop. He was already three or four drinks in by this time and looking a little spooked.

I walked over and sat at his table. "Are you okay friend? You look as though you have seen a ghost."

"I don't want to talk about it," he said not caring to tell me to leave.

"That's alright," I said gently. "I wanted to offer you a bowl of stew. The waitress brought it over to me but I'm not hungry and didn't want it to go to waste." He took the bowl and began to eat.

"The cook adds such fresh herbs to their stews," he said as he ate the stew. He was enjoying every bite.

"Are you a plant person?" I asked.

"Plants and other ingredients for potion-making. I own the potion shop across the street."

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" I asked setting a spider fang on the table in front of him. I hoped that since it was an uncommon ingredient that it would spark his interest.

He quickly reached over and picked it up examining it closely. "Where did you get this? I could make a powerful antivenom with one of these." I had him hooked.

"What could you do with thirty-six of them?" I set all of the spider fangs I had in a pile on the table. I only kept the giant set in my inventory in case I needed another bargaining chip.

He looked up at me like I had just set a million dollars in front of him.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm just a person who is willing to trade all of these for a little information about this town and some of the people in it," I said not breaking eye contact.

He glanced over and saw Jen. "Oh, you must be with her." He thought about it for a moment and whispered to me, "I'll talk, but not here." We shook on our deal and I put the fangs back in my inventory for now.

The four of us went to our room and shut the door. I messaged Jen on the way up. She had seen the exchange and must've gotten the main points as she followed at the appropriate time with Barry in tow.

Theodore: Time to find your parents, Jen.

Jen: Thank you for helping me.