Kanalynne looked suddenly over to the pretty young shopkeeper. She smiled and compulsively fluffed up her layered mane of koolaid-red hair. "Thank you, very much... Ummm..." She stepped up and reached a hand inside her bag, pulling out, of course, an old red book. It was tattered, in its age, but well-kept. The binding was mostly intact, and there were no loose pages. The cover read NUMBERS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE THROUGHOUT HISTORY (A BRIEF COMPENDIUM OF ARITHMANCY) By MANNY KINN

"My father tells me that this is a first-edition copy... It's even signed by the author and everything," she said, handing it over. "We were wondering if you had any way of knowing if it actually is, and if you would be interested in it... Don't get me wrong, I love books," she added, "but books about numbers... Kinda cancels out the interest for me."

The bag at her side was now mostly empty. Mostly. The little ferret inside shifted around again, upset that there was nothing shiny to fawn over. He trilled quietly. Kana tried to ignore it.