"Hello, sir! You look like a real connoisseur of fine literature!"

Rab looked up from the books he'd been eyeing on the merchant's shelves. The middle-aged man with a mustache almost as impressive as Rab's was watching him over the counter, grinning. "You look like a man who's got a hungering for a good book. Searching for anything in particular?"

"Perhaps." He ran his fingers along the spines. He hadn't particularly been looking for books on this shopping trip, just supplies to get them back to Puerto Valor. The trip to Phnom Nonh and the Nhou Wat ruins had been less informational than he'd hoped. But the smell of books had lured him in. "Monsters and magic, if ye've any on those."

"Monsters and magic? I assume you're not meaning a good fairy tale." He came around from behind the counter, examining the bookshelf. "We have a few guides to regional monsters, if that's what you're looking for?"

"Nae, something more..." More like something about Mordegon, Lord of Shadows. "Like unnatural behavior. Mass attacks, or controlling them."

"Mass attacks? You mean like what happened to Dundrasil a few years back?" The merchant frowned. "Don't think I've got anything like that, I'm sorry to say. What kind of magic are you looking for, then?"

"Combat magic. Offensive or defensive."

The merchant considered the bookshelf again, then pulled a few down, handing them to Rab. "Some of these might suit your fancy? I'll check in the back and see if I've got anything else."

"Let's see." Rab ran his fingers over the cover of one of them before flipping it over, scanning the contents. Ach, but the books with their detailed, textured covers and careful ink on crisp pages reminded him of the library that he'd had back home. Shelves upon shelves of learning on almost any topic you could think of, plus plenty of good old fashioned stories and even the children's books he'd gotten for Eleanor as a child that she had intended to pass along to her son. Books that he'd lost many of to the fires and damage in the attack that had taken his country. And those that had survived, he'd largely sold off to make money for his travels. Right, the contents. He continued to flip through, but nothing he saw that he didn't already know or that looked like it would be helpful for defeating a great evil.

When the merchant returned, he was grinning. "I knew I had something a man of your refinement would appreciate. Take a look at this, sir. You're clearly a man who understands quality and condition."

Rab looked at the slim volume the merchant laid on the table. Not a book, but a magazine with a painting of a masked woman in a bunny outfit on its cover. "Ogler's Digest, eh? Now there's a name I havenae seen in a while."

"Volume one, mint condition. It's completely immaculate, no scratches or bent pages." The merchant smiled knowingly. "Would you like to take a look at the... articles?"

"I... I cannae, I'm traveling with my granddaughter." He looked over his shoulder. Jade was still across the street, staring hard at the list he'd given her and the vegetables on the stand in front of her.

"Comes with a protective opaque cover," the merchant said. "It'll keep it safe from prying eyes. I understand, sir. Men of our age need something to get their blood going."

Rba sighed, but curiosity prompted him to open it and turn the pages. How long had it been since he'd seen a volume of this magazine? He'd had a number of them in his youth, when the magazine had just been getting started, but he'd let them all go sometime in his adult life as an immaturity, a frivolous distraction. Family came first. He didn't think he'd ever seen volume one before, though.

Much of the pictures were focused on the same masked bunny girl on the cover, a woman who posed with whips and ropes, her stare unyielding. Her figure, her eyes and hair, but moreso her demeanor and expression... It reminded him of her so much. "How long has it been, sir?" the merchant asked quietly.

"Since what?"

"Since your wife died."

Rab stared in surprise. "It's been decades, but..."

The merchant nodded. "But in some ways, it seems like yesterday, right? You never really forget your love."

But that wasn't who the dominating woman reminded him of. Not sweet, innocent Eilidh, who Eleanor had taken after so much. Eilidh, who had agreed to marry him because she thought she could do some good as queen of Dundrasil, not because they were in love. He'd tried his best to be a good husband and love her, but he'd never been able to bring his feelings as deeply as he had with his first love. No, that was who this masked woman reminded him of, his first and only true love, a woman he'd known from the start he could never have, and yet his feelings still persisted to this day. All this bunny girl needed was a stick and she'd be the same woman he fell for all those years ago.

"Would you like it?" the merchant said. "I'll cut you a deal. It's extremely rare, but going to someone that appreciates it is important, too."

It was tempting, but it wasn't like he had money to spare on luxuries... "Would ye take a trade?" he asked, pulling off his bag. He still some of the books that were still in good condition from the Dundrasil library, that he'd been using to fund their trip. "Since yer a man who appreciates art, maybe ye'll take this in exchange?"

The merchant looked at the offered book, then his eyes widened. "This is... A near-perfect condition copy of 'A Monstrous Love'!" he gasped out. "And it's signed!"

Rab nodded. "So do we have a deal, then?"

The merchant held out a hand, and Rab shook it. "I knew you were a man of taste when I saw you."

"It was a pleasure, sir." Rab placed the magazine inside its cover, then tucked it carefully into his bag. Let him have this small piece of nostalgia. He needed something besides Jade to remind him of things other than revenge. Speaking of Jade, it looked like the girl had just finished up her own task, packing the food in her bag carefully. "Did ye finish yer task, Jade?" he asked as he rejoined her.

She offered the list up to him. "I got everything on here. And I checked it off, too. See?"

He accepted the list and looked over it before tucking it away. "Good lass. We should be set, then. Are ye ready to set off again, then?"

"Yeah." She wrinkled her nose. "I don't like those ruins, they're creepy."

Rab chuckled. "Well, hopefully we'll nae have any reason to return any time soon, eh?"

"Did you find anything you needed, Uncle Rab?"

"Nae much. Just a trinket." He ruffled her hair. "Let's be off, then."