Princess Eleanor shook her leather money pouch. The argent within made a small chinking sound as the coins bounced around hitting each other. Enough for about two more books she thought and she pushed open the large wooden door causing the small bell to tinkle. Princess Eleanor stepped into the dim interior and breathed in the musty sent of the library. She loved the smell, especially when she first walked through the door and could almost taste the deliciousness before she became accustomed to the air.

The tall, packed, shelves of books surrounded on all sides the involute1 marble mosaic floor. There were heavy wooden tables speckled across the cavernous room with more piles of books strewn carefully2 atop them. As usual, the room was empty except for the old bookseller sitting behind a pile of books absorbed in his reading. Princess Eleanor smiled shyly3 at him but he failed to notice her. In the months she’d been coming here, since her 17th birthday when she was finally allowed to roam the town and countryside on her own, he had never not4 failed to notice.

She made her way across the floor to her favorite section, the made up stories about knights, battles, and princesses. She had already bought many of the books from this section leaving a dearth of their kind. But from the few left on the shelf she was able to find no less than 5 books that she felt she must have. She flipped through and read random sections of each to help her decide which to buy this moment. One caught her eye, it had a fancy drawing of a map on the verso and on the recto were detailed directions on how to get… Somewhere she supposed but exactly what the map led to was not disclosed on this page. She would just have to read the book to find out what adventure lay in the land of that map.

The next book she chose solely for its titles, The Bellicose Tower. Quite and exciting name that. She grabbed both books and approached the bookseller who again failed to notice her, even after she had cleared her throat politely. Princess Eleanor was no longer surprised as this was his consistent reaction and she rather suspected he was mostly deaf anyway. She emptied her leather pouch of argent coins onto the table next to him and counted out 7 shiny coins, returning the remaining 2 to her pouch. Books were priced at 3 and a half Dallions each and she was always forced to buy an even number of them since the bookseller would not notice if she needed change.