Shaking his head and giving the woman a slight shrug, Grimsby crossed an ankle over his knee and spun his mug in his silent grasp.

"Is it possible she might be too big?"

"Sure, it's possible."

Giving the kid a quizzical expression as Karli tripped over the back of the sofa, landing on her face, Manx seemed unimpressed when she got back to her feet immediately and tore back towards the piece of furniture. It had been her daily routine for close to a week now.

"Tired yet?" Grimsby asked Karli, finishing his coffee and turning the empty mug upside down for emphasis.

"Nope," she huffed as she vaulted onto the couch and sprang over the back, her wings fluttering uselessly. Landing, she made a dashing arch for another try.

"Well one thing’s for certain," Manx nodded, raising from her spot and heading towards the kitchen for a re-fill. "If all else fails, she'll be able to out run a wolf..."

With a thoughtful face directed towards the back of the woman as she disappeared, Grimsby sat forward in his seat, lowering both feet to the floor as he placed his mug on the table and leaned his elbows on his knees. He'd been hunting around for information on sprites of late to see if Karli’s efforts were all in vain, but his search had come up remarkably dry. What little information there was about the vanishing race was mostly political or cultural but nothing much on the development of sprites themselves.

"Karli," Grimsby suddenly hailed her, sitting up abruptly. "Where'd Jansen go?"

"Took Granite and Opie," she began, pausing to leap off the sofa again. "Went in town to get... Opie some shoes..."

It seemed flying was no longer the priority as she began amusing herself by seeing how close she could come to touching the ceiling with each leap. "C'mon," he ordered her gently. "Let's go visit Digger."

"Why? What's Digger got?" she asked, catching her breath as she grabbed her favorite sweater off the floor and tugged it on quickly covering her wings. Trips to Digger's never involved going directly into town, so Karli was permitted to wear whatever she pleased, so long as her wings remained out of sight.

"Someone said he found a crate of books he wants to rid himself off," he told her, motioning for her to proceed him out the door as he stood.

"What kind of books?" she asked as she jerked the door open and glanced up at him as she bounded down the front steps.

"Who knows?" he replied, closing the door softly behind them. "But what use has Digger for books? We should be able to buy a few real cheap. I want new material to teach you with, so I can tell if you're reading or simply memorizing the ones we have.

"Memorizing them," Karli told him with typical truthfulness, taking his hand as they broke off the side street and onto one of the main avenues. "There once lived a man in a far off land," she began.

"Alright, alright," Grim mumbled. "I'm not doubting you."

"But not just any man," she continued with a repetative air. "This was a wise man, a mighty man. This man was one of the fabled battlemages."

"His name?" Grimsby cut in.

"Bachatillius."

"And does it matter to you?"

"Nope," Karli replied, shaking her head once as she squished her slight frame into the elfs to avoid being bumped into.

"We'll get you a book you're interested in," he told her, picking her off the ground and giving her a seat in his arms.

"One with pictures?" she asked excitedly, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Of course not," he replied smoothly, watching her role her eyes before making an annoyed face.

"But I like the pictures," she argued stalely, glancing about at the surrounding crowd.

"But the pictures won't help you learn how to read," he responded, directing them down a side street. "We want novels and stories not text books. We're not mages or apothecaries, we're a breed of rogue. If we find a book on sprites we'll get one with pistures, alright?"

"Pistures?" Karli echoed, giving him a mockingly quizzical look.

"You know what I meant," he told her, giving her a stern glance.

"We gonna swing by Anha's afterwards?" Karli inquired smoothly.

"Want to try that one again?"

Giving him an annoyed expression she had adopted from Jansen, she took a big deep breath before responding.

"Are we going to visit Anha afterwards?" she inquired again, staring at him.

"That was the plan," he nodded, taking them down an alley way.

"You guys gonna get married?" Karli asked innocently, as Grimsby gently lowered her to the ground as they came to a halt before a boarded up door.

Casting the girl a silence invoking glance, Grimsby knocked on one of the boards before stepping back.

"I'm looking for Digger," he told the door. "Heard he's got new merchandise. I'm looking to make a purchase, it's Grim," he finished, collaring Karli as she began to wander off, pulling her back to his side.

"C'mon in," a voice responded from behind the boarded up door.

Turning expectantly, Grim motioned for Karli to fall in behind him as he opened a door directly behind them and entered. Stepping over a body either dead or intoxicated, Grim hoisted Karli over the motionless man before setting her down beside the steps they had to descend. Snapping his fingers to grab Karli's attention as it seemed grabbed by the noises eminating from a door at the end of the corridor he descended into the dimly lit corridor below, then waited for Karli to follow up.

Maneuvering under the alley, the pair came to another set of stairs this time leading up. A watchman eyed them heavily, lifting a lantern high to catch a glimpse of their faces before motioning them up.

Giving Karli a knowing nod, Grimsby took her by the hand and had her ascend before him.

"Grim," a familiarly harsh voice greeted them as they broke into the murky old boathouse.

"Digger," Grimsby replied, doing a quick scan of the massive room and its various occupants.

"See ya brought yer daughter with ya as per usual," Digger pointed out, sheathing the wicked dirk he had been holding in his hand.

"Of course," Grim replied, picking Karli up before she could go sifting through the piles of weapondry and odd trinkets.

Stepping further into the room, Grims adjusted Karli's position to free up one hand as he glanced about the place again.

"Heard your guys messed up and aquired a small shipment of books a few days past," he told Digger cutting straight to the quick. "I know your market on them is pretty scarce, so I'm looking to relieve you of a fair few if you have any that interest me."

"Ya, we ditched em in the back," Digger informed him jerking his head towards the scavenge room. "We put em in with all the other useless crap," he finished, taking a set of keys from a man as they passed. "Go ahead and have a look, I don't even care if I get paid outta the deal, just get rid of them," he told him bluntly, counting the keys on the ring as he spoke.

"But ya know," he began with a sick grin. "I might be willing to trade you the entire shipment plus some for yer little..." Grimsby cut him off abruptly with a frigid glare as the burly man began into a fit of hoarse laughter.

"You're a sick man Digger," Grimsby stated as he carried Karli towards the back with him.

"Scout as I sift through these," Grimsby told Karli as they reached the scavenge room.

Their business with Digger never lasted any longer then was required. They were in and out then back to the house before Jansen had even returned with his small troop. Apologizing to Manx as he refused to hand over his newly aquired item, he immediately took Karli and his small bounty upstairs.