The tension in the office was thick enough to be oppressing and Tori watched sadly as Greer broke under the pressure of it and was unable to tell the story. He knew it would be a difficult pitch for Madame Talamh to get passed this issue but Tori knew she was a fair and just woman and he was confident the right decisions would be made. Once Greer had shushed Tori told the Mistress the story which he had been given. He explained to her why (justly so) Greer had been afraid to approach them but it was not until the very end and after some prompting that he was willing to admit the name of the customer.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"Paeder,"</span>he said finally at the end of the story.<span style="font-weight: bold">"It seems very hard to believe that he would do such a thing--but that makes me even more inclined to believe that Greer is telling the truth about this. As well as the clear evidence that she shows no signs of having used,"</span>Tori concluded the story in such a way to let Madame Talamh know he felt Greer was innocent. He chose not to mention that Paeder hardly looked like a user, but the signs were not always evident; especially only people who were only occasionally taking the drug. After that he took in a long deep breath and exhaled slowly as his eyes flicked between the girls.<br/><br/>After all he had done to convince Greer to confront Madame Talamh and promises that she would judged fairly, Tori truly hoped he would not be escorting or throwing Greer onto the streets any time in the near future.<br/><br/>------<br/><br/>The business went quickly and soon the two girls were leaving the fabric shop with their drapes and smiles. The old woman was friendly and kind and Kitty found for no other reason she liked the woman. It was such a nice change from the looks and the sneers of others within this city square that it was hard not to feel happier. The idea of going to the book store made Kitty perk up quite a bit more and she nodded eagerly.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold">"As long as you think it will be okay!"</span>She said happily to Mae as they walked. The day was still quite early and most of their clients came later in the evening so it seemed okay to stay out a little longer.<span style="font-weight: bold">"I can't read at all... so I don't know how I'd pick a book..."</span>The young woman frowned at that thought. She'd not seen many books, mostly because she had previously not been allowed to go inside stores. Orphans and  homeless people generally were not allowed in stores at all. When they did arrive at the book store Kitty was surprised and excited to find there was more to books then she had thought.<br/><br/>The store itself was quite large and there was plenty of books. Kitty was delighted to find that many of them had pictures on the covers and she soon learned pictures within the pages as well! Although some were novels with 100s of pages of letters, there were others that were much shorter with less words and pictures to illustrate the stories.<span style="font-weight: bold">"Maybe... maybe if I got one with pictures and less words you could teach me to read it...?"</span>Kitty asked Mae as she flipped through one particular book with illustrations of knights riding dragons into battle against monsters of some kind.